Devotional

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January 20, 2014

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]It was a Monday, and it was one of those days. There were no big issues over the weekend, yet for some reason, Monday was filled with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy:

• How will I get everything done?
• I have no idea what I am doing.
• I know I will mess things up, and all these people will hate me.

Ever been there?

Consider Moses in Numbers 11:1-23.

Israel was in the wilderness, and there was a small group of “rabble,” who stirred the people against Moses. They had a craving for meat, so they convinced the crowd that slavery in Egypt was not all that bad – back then, they had meat.

The people were whining, the Lord was angry, and Moses was upset. He complained to God, “Why have you treated me like this? Did I conceive all these people? Why do I have to take care of them? I can’t do this anymore! Kill me now.”

God tells Moses to find 70 elders, who will help shoulder the burden of caring for the people. He also promises meat – not just for one day, or two, or five, or ten, or twenty days, but a whole month.

Moses, still wallowing in self-centeredness, responds, “There are 600,000 people out there, and you promise meat! How is that going to happen?! There are not enough flocks, herds, or fish for them!”

God replied, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not” (v. 23).

And he provided. The people ate meat until they were sick of it.

The murmuring that flows out of a sense of inadequacy is really nothing more than a verdict on God: “The Lord’s hand is too short. He can’t provide what I need. He can’t deliver me through the situation at hand.”

Moses words were filled with a lot of “me.” God was directing Moses’ attention back to the One who had delivered them, and cared for them, and was always able and willing to bless.

The murmuring of Monday needs to be swallowed by the celebration of Sunday. God is faithful. He has given rest to his people. He is not in the tomb. He lives to bless his people. The Lord’s arm is not too short. He will always give what is best.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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January 13, 2014

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“Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Mt 6:9 ESV)

“All true prayer begins with the spirit of adoption.” (Charles Spurgeon)

I know I don’t pray enough. In my mind I believe (that is, I know) the doctrine – prayer is a means of grace, through which God brings about His sovereign plan, but I often feel like God won’t give me what I want, or he will make me wait longer than I want. So, I am slow to pray.

The bottom line is that I think I am nicer to my children than God is to me. I’m not a perfect father (just ask my kids), but I like meeting their needs. For some reason, I don’t see God as a caring Father; rather, I see him as one that I have to coax and sweet-talk in order to get what I want. I think, “If I just pray enough times, I’ll wear him down.” Yet, when Jesus teaches his disciples about prayer, he begins with a reminder of who God has made himself to be to us – a Father whose nature and character is completely unique (i.e., holy or hallowed).

And who has he proven himself to be?

The person who said, “Pray like this,” is the person the Father sent to save me from my selfish desire for what is not good, my cold indifference to the blessings already received, and my vain attempts at eliminating all that is inconvenient in my life. By nature, it is easier to be the spoiled child who has moved away from the care of a father than to be the grateful dependent who trusts the one who has proven to be unequivocally worthy.

In the end, the solution is to believe (that is, trust) the doctrine found in God’s Word. The pastors at the Westminster Assembly put it well: “Our Father in heaven teaches us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us …” (WSC 100). Or, as the hymn-writer Joseph Hart wrote, “He is able, he is able, he is willing; doubt no more.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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January 6, 2013

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Yard work, though a favorite hobby, can be a never-ending chore. One week after conquering the jungle of weeds in the front flower bed, the task of planting bushes revealed new weeds had sprung from the hidden roots of the old. Would the evil ever be eliminated? What’s the use of doing all of this? Why not go into the air-conditioned house and take a nap?

The vanity of life in a fallen world is the theme of Ecclesiastes. The Preacher writes:

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep,then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.  (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17, ESV)

The context of these words is the vanity by which the righteous receive what the wicked deserve, and the wicked receive what the righteous deserve. Life goes on in a never-ending circle. Man can and does try to figure it out, but he will never succeed. Such knowledge is too great for him.

So what do we do?

And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.      (Ecclesiastes 8:15, ESV)

Joy is a gift of God that comes from resting in what he gives for the moment. The weeds in the yard are a testimony to man’s rebellion against God (Gen 3:17-19), but the “seed of the woman” has crushed the head of the “seed of the serpent,” and the restoration of all things has begun. What I consider vain, repetitive work is actually a testimony of God’s redemption. In subduing the earth by the strength that God gives – even for a little while, we point to the reclamation that will be fully realized in Christ. Joy comes as we are faithful to our daily tasks knowing that God has given us this day to serve him.

Whatever you have on your plate today, work with diligence knowing that your labor in the Lord is never in vain (1 Cor 15:58). May he give you joy as you labor in this day he has given you under the sun.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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December 30, 2013

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The Word I read was clear: verses like “The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.” (Ps 145:13), “Note the kindness of God” (Rom. 11:22). The songs I listened to were clear: “his heart is kind” (“10,000 Reasons,”), “His helping love no limit knows, Our upmost need it soundeth.” (“From the Depths of Woe” [Ps 130]).

But I wasn’t feeling it. Stress was high. There were disappointing circumstances, some of which involved the kids. Financial pressures. Job pressures.

I did my duty (reading Scripture and listening to Christian music), and believed that what I read and heard was true. BUT it applied to everyone else – not for me.

Then I considered Lk 6:35 “he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil,” and the light broke through. In my fallen nature, I tend to define God’s kindness and goodness by how he answers me in the way that I want. Like an ungrateful teenager (which was one of the discouraging events plaguing), I veiled my eyes to the kindness God had showed me, and my hardened ungrateful heart denied the kindness of God.

But he is still kind – even to the ungrateful and the evil.
Thanks be to God. Jesus gave his life for people like me.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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December 23, 2013

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Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine,
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.

These words from a Christmas carol by Christina Rossetti capture the message of 1 John 4:9: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”

Before that night in Bethlehem, the love of God had existed, and his people had experienced it. Yet, the birth of Jesus was a wholly unique expression of the love of God, as the Second Person of the Eternal God “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). Love was born at Christmas.

John also explained why love came down at Christmas – to give life to a fallen world. Though many celebrate Christmas with hearts that are beating and lungs that are breathing, they have yet to know the life-giving love that came down at Christmas. Their lives are oppressed by the brokenness of mankind, and they remain separated from the Giver of life because of their sin. In love, God the Father made provision in order to release man from the bonds of sin and death. God the Son would offer the human nature he took upon himself at Christmas as the sacrifice required for mankind’s sin (1 John 4:11). In love, the God-man sets free all who put their trust in him.

As you celebrate the birth of Jesus, may the emotions of the season include an awe-filled wonder at the immeasurable love of God as he reaches out to his fallen creation. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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December 16, 2013

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“But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.”

In his description of Ebenezer Scrooge, Charles Dickens captures the character of a man who has no joy. He lives in darkness and likes it that way. In this season of Christmas, some live in joyless darkness, even though they surround themselves with a facade of lights and bows.

In a prophecy of the coming Messiah, Isaiah describes a people who walk in darkness but have seen the great light of Christ. He goes on to explain what God does through the child that is born:

“You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.” (Isaiah 9:7 ESV)

God wipes away the gloom and anguish, and pours out the joy of his provision and victory. Through Christ, God unravels the bonds of man’s brokenness and establishes the joy of unassailable freedom. God makes all things new.

Part of the beauty of celebrating Christmas is that we see the child promised through Isaiah was actually born 700 years later in Bethlehem. Even more than that, the future joy described by the prophet is a present reality for those whose lives are shaped by a relationship with Christ. On the night before his death, Jesus promised that the sorrow of his people would turn to joy, a joy that no one would take away (John 16:20-22).

Christmas is a season of joy. Though it is easy to base our joy on the emotions of the celebration, God calls us to look beyond the facade and see the true purpose of why “a child is born and a son is given.” In Christmas, God offers a joy that will never go away.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]