Saturday, March 7, 2020
Texts: Psalm 121; Isaiah 51:4-8; Luke 7:1-10
Scripture Thought: (Isaiah 51:6-8) Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. 7 “Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults. 8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”
Reflection: Doing the right thing when the right thing is not the popular thing to do, when it is bound to be met with anger, disapproval, or worse has never been easy. Yet isn’t that what lies at the heart of integrity--standing one's moral ground in the face of opposition? How does a person develop that sort of integrity, that quality of character? To what extent is it already present, and how can it be made more robust, becoming more a matter of course than a struggle to decide each time a choice must be made? On a somewhat related level, how much do we truly trust that God will do what is needed in our lives, our circumstances that carry us beyond our ability to act? How do we forge the kind of confidence that caused Jesus to marvel when it was displayed by a Roman centurion?
Faith. The real thing, not some squooshy substitute that turns out to be no more than projecting the world we wish would exist and then trying to live as though it did, without any evidence whatsoever that it ever did or ever will, or ever could. No, that kind of faith will never move the mountains or fortify the integrity of the one who claims it. Faith in the biblical meaning of the term is tied to reality, the way things truly are, even though that reality may be partially or even significantly obscured. It is based on what God has done in creating the heavens and the earth in the first place, but also in setting creatures made to bear His image within it. He called a people for His own as the world fell into sin, and demonstrated His presence and power by “the mighty acts of God,” which His people were called to remember when the choices before them were tough, challenging. More than once, following His instruction would bring hardship upon them, both individually and corporately. When those hard decisions had to be made, people were reminded to look to the heavens. For no other place, with sun, moon, and stars, spoke of the greater power of God to hold and save His people from any of the lesser powers found below the heavens.
The centurion understood authority, and that the kind Jesus possessed transcended any earthly political power. When God speaks, lesser powers are bound to obey. But it takes faith, tried, tested, sometimes strong, often weaker than we need it to be, to stand strong in the face of obstacles of all kinds. To strengthen it, remember what Isaiah said, and look to the heavens, reflecting on the awesome power behind them. It is He who saves.
Prayer: Father, if You are for us, who could possibly be against us? What could ever separate us from Your love in Christ Jesus? Forgive us for thinking too much of the obstacles we face in life, whether ridicule, hardship, disease, or disgrace, and thinking too little of the One who made the heavens and the earth, and calls us to himself through the Holy Spirit given to continue the work of Jesus. In His name we live and pray. Amen.
Friday, March 6, 2020
Texts: Psalm 121; Micah 7:18-20; Romans 3:21-31
Scripture Thought: (Micah 7:18-20) 18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. 20 You will be faithful to Jacob, and show love to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago.
Reflection: Are you just a little tired of hearing accusations brought against just about anyone in the public eye? It’s not just about crimes and misdemeanors of recent time; it’s about alleged words spoken, deeds done in the past, sometimes decades in the past. This not to say that we should consider these things as petty; but maybe we’re showing a little, or more than a little, about how far we are from the character of God, the one in whose image we are made, whose character we are to represent. Quite simply, God is gracious; we as a culture are not, at least not in the present time--if ever.
I think about this quite often. What if there were someone recording every word we’ve spoken, every angered expression, every short-tempered moment throughout our lives, with someone waiting for the right moment to go public with the information? If you knew there was such a person, would it change the way you act, speak, plan? The recording is there on demand; it plays whenever needed in order to bring you down if you should even think of venturing to do something in the public eye, something that will draw attention to you, even if that is in no way the purpose behind your actions. That would be stifling, limiting, controlling, to say the least. We’d feel like prisoners of our own making. Many people live like this.
I wonder also if that is the view of God many people carry with them. He’s got the list; our misdeeds are ever before him, ready to be recited to us, always in the background, always on our mind because we’re sure they’re on God’s mind. Without the law, we wouldn’t know how to live as we were created to live, and our common life would be next to impossible. But without grace we’d be dead in the water. The good news is that grace is real, grace is given, and it wins the day in defining God to us. Who, indeed, is like Him? Surely not the media, surely not public opinion, surely not the politicians we’ve been hearing from recently. We should learn daily that God forgives sin. Yours. Mine. Your neighbor’s. He wants us to know our sin so we can confess it and put it behind us and live as he made us to live--as his own representatives in a world full of accusations and cries for retribution.
Prayer: Father, I want to confess my sin today. You already know it; and yet you want to free me from the prison I’ve imposed on myself by not trusting your forgiving love, not believing that Jesus has atoned for it and I am free to go and live in freedom and in praise, in gratitude that makes me want to follow your heart and do you will--today. Amen.
Thursday, March 5
Texts: Psalm 121; Isaiah 51:1-3; 2 Timothy 1:3-7
Scripture Thought: (Isaiah 51:1-2). “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
Reflection: What kind of help do you need in life? Oh, I know--none of us really needs help most of the time, or at least we want to make it appear that we are quite self-sufficient. It’s just not in us to admit that we haven’t got the whole thing figured out and under control. It’s patently obvious to anyone that this isn’t truly the case. But it’s part of the way we do life. But when we are honest with ourselves, we want a lot more help than we are likely to ask for. And at certain times, the need is just too overwhelming to play the part any longer. Help is needed. Where will it come from; whom can we ask for assistance, or even rescue?
One of the characteristics of our time is the drop in the percentage of our countrymen who attend worship or participate in other ways in the life of the church. It doesn’t seem too difficult to surmise that this has an effect on the number of times people call on God for His aid. Yet the problems for which God’s aid has been entreated in the past are still present, and perhaps more so. Where do we go for help? On whom do we call? Be sure that people who experience real or imagined distress do call out for help; they want someone bigger than they, more able-bodied than they, wiser, more experienced; they want someone who isn’t likely to say, “figure it out for yourself.” In today’s world, that "someone" people expect to come to help is the government. And we have no shortage of candidates for political office who use the cries for help as a means of bolstering their ratings, making promises about what he/she will do once in office. The psalmist had no such options; “my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” That’s a few steps above any political figure. His credentials far outweigh those of anyone else who might be inclined to answer our call. Abraham needed assistance in becoming a father--how would that come about, since his wife was unable to conceive? The psalmist had met with all manner of people, many of whom were powerful adversaries, inside and outside the kingdom. Prophets met with opposition that sought their silencing, if not their destruction. Jesus had a cross to bear, and it was going to be exceedingly painful. And they cried to the Lord, lifting up their eyes to take in the spectacular, creative power of the One who had made the hills and the mountains; surely, He would come to their aid
We settle too easily for lesser powers when we call for aid. We’ve fallen prey to thinking there is an earthly solution for everything that comes our way. Yes, God works through human agency, probably for the vast majority of his answers to our prayers. But we won’t recognize His hand behind the voice, the hands, the feet of those who help if we do not seek Him in the first place. And sometimes God blesses with the outright miraculous deliverance. Isaiah reminds the people of Israel to remember the great miracle that led to the forming of their very nation--how a childless Abraham and a once barren Sarah became the great nation they now were. That’s where to look for help. Just remember where you came from. And we come from Jesus, the author of our faith, perfecter of our righteousness, conqueror of death itself. Why go anywhere else?
Prayer: Lord, You invite us to pray. You know our needs before we ask, yet You are there to remind us that this life is too big for us to manage; there is always something to threaten us and those we love, be it disease, hardship, or temptation. Draw our eyes, our hearts, our minds toward the One who made us, both as creations of flesh and blood and as new creations of the Spirit in Jesus, Your Son, our Lord; for He is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters, even sharing His inheritance with us. Thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wednesday, March 4
Texts: Wednesday, March 4, 2020: Psalm 32; Exodus 34:1-9, 27-28; Matthew 18:10-14
Scripture Thought: Matthew 18:12-14. 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”
Reflection: So which is it?
We’ve all been faced with that question. There are two choices before us which do not seem to be compatible. You can’t have it both ways, or so it seems. Embracing one implies rejecting the other; following one implies leaving the other behind; believing one implies disbelieving the other. Is that the way it is when trying to come to an understanding of God and human sin? Is God the Divine Ruler who gives laws that cannot be broken without severe punishment being inflicted on the sinner? Is it the integrity of His law that most concerns Him? Look, for instance, at the Exodus text for today. It’s terrifying! Think about being among the Israelites witnessing the drama at Mt. Sinai, with smoke and thunder and strict commands to stay off the mountain entirely, and to make certain that your animals do the same. Is that how we picture God? Is that how we come to Him--at a safe a prescribed distance, all the while trembling in fear? Or is God the gentle shepherd we see in Jesus, out there not only to accept us if we happen to stumble and stagger our way home, but out there, actively searching for the one who is lost and in grave danger because of it? How could He be both of these? Isn’t it one or the other?
It’s not hard to identify Christians who tend toward one side or the other of this choice. Some are so zealous for the law that it would seem impossible for a person who falls to ever have hope; others are so anxious to claim grace that breaking of law would ultimately seem irrelevant. Those who are heavily invested in either side have trouble with the biblical passages that depict the other. Both are true, but how? One answer to reject is that Jesus changed the Father’s mind about what to do with us in our disobedience to His commandments. It seems to imply an angry Father, calmed down by a loving Son. The psalmist knew differently--the Father was already of a mind and heart to forgive. But he learned that through experience. He seems to have started with the idea of an angry, judgment-oriented God of whom he should be afraid, and from whom he should attempt to hide his sin--and that God would be justified if He brought down the hammer. Yet when he confessed his sin he found the peace of forgiveness, supplied by a God who loved him.
Reconciling law and grace is no easy matter, and it shouldn’t be. In fact, we only begin to grasp what either of them truly is when we see both as true. Without a sense of the seriousness of the law, grace loses its incredible power. When we cower because of our transgressions, knowing we have violated our Maker’s design for living in this world, we are rightly experiencing the fear of a holy God. It’s not a light matter; without the law to guide our relationships with one another as human beings in God’s image, grace would have no context, no meaning. Once broken, its violators could only be reconciled by some larger act of God than the giving of that law. And that larger action was to give us the grace of Jesus coming to fulfill the law, suffer its punishment, and overcome its power in resurrection, and then joining us to himself. Seeking and saving what was lost was his method of reconciling us to God the Father. Is it law or grace when we think of God? Yes!
Prayer: Holy Father, loving and forgiving, teach us Your ways. They are ways of laws to guide us and grace to hear our confessions and restore us to life that is abundant and joyfully lived in the company of Your redeemed people. Forgive us for disobedience to Your truth, but also for slowness to believe in Your grace, Your readiness to receive our wandering souls. Hold us close, O Jesus. Amen.
Tuesday, March 3.
Texts: Psalm 32; Genesis 4:1-16; Hebrews 4:14-5:10
Scripture Thought (Gen.4:3-7): Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Reflection: Is it too much to say that people today seem to have a lot of insecurities? Some of the clues to that assessment come from the manner in which many folks respond to any suggestion that they might possibly be wrong or mistaken on one matter or another. It’s also seen in the difficulty we have in separating critique of the ideas one embraces from a rejection of the person who holds them. It’s as though someone who questions my ideas is challenging my value as a person. We then only feel secure when we are with those who are like-minded about the things that are important to us. Other people are insecure because no one has meaningfully affirmed their value or acknowledged their gifts and abilities, their workmanship or craft. Still others suffer the effects of demeaning comments from people who have influence and control over them. Lack of affirmation; presence of denigration--powerful forces that work against someone’s sense of security in life.
But I wonder if the root cause of a great many insecurities isn’t deeper than these things, terrible as they are. Is the experience of Cain really so far removed from us? Do we ever get the feeling that someone else is liked by God more than we are? Or that God just has it in for us? It’s hard to feel secure in life while holding onto the idea that we are not on good terms with our Maker; and it’s hard to be on good terms with our Maker when we’re not doing what is right. We aren’t given any instances of what Cain might have done that was not right; but that isn’t the point. “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” God isn’t asking for anything but that we do what’s right. No elaborate ritual, no monumental feat, no grueling pilgrimage--just to do what’s right. And if we refuse we are in danger of getting carried away into more and more destructive patterns.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have failed to do what’s right, and we know it. And God knows it. And He’s done something about it, sending Christ into the world to atone for our sins.That means His care for us is not over when we sin; in fact, He shows us just how valuable we are in His sight by providing for us to return and find our security in His love. Indeed, if God is for us--and He is--who can be against us? That should be the basis for security in spite of mistreatment from the world. We shouldn’t look for it anywhere else. And we can grow in it by doing what is right.
Prayer: God of grace unbounded, we have nothing to offer but ourselves. You ask for nothing else. Grant that we might grow in that grace so that we might more readily and eagerly do Your will. For Your love is its own reward, and Your acceptance is the greatest security we can know. Thank You! Amen.
Monday, March 2
Texts: Psalm 32; 1 Kings 19:1-8; Hebrews 2:10-18
Scripture Thought: Hebrews 2:14-18. 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Reflection: Fear. It’s common. It’s paralyzing. It limits, it creates suspicion, it makes people defensive, even paranoid. Sometimes it creates more of itself, turning virtually every encounter with anything unknown into a catastrophic event--before it happens. We fear illness, we fear injury; we fear the loss of people close to us, we fear things being taken away from us. We fear the unknown, probably because of its potential to bring about one of those things we already fear. Currently, there is a growing fear of a virus spreading far and wide, disrupting life as we know it, at least for a time.
The psalmist feared the judgment of God, and therefore hid his sins deep inside, where the only result was inward misery. Most, and probably all of us to some extent, know this feeling. We’ve seen it from the other side if we are parents. For who hasn’t observed the child, precious as anything can be, feeling the guilt of breaking one of mom or dad’s rules, while hoping not to be found out, and hiding in order to avoid discovery? Elijah feared Jezebel, even after he had demonstrated to the nation that the God of Israel was the true God, with the power to act in the world, while the false gods of Jezebel couldn’t light a fire, no matter how wildly and fervently they were implored. The thought of being captured and brutally executed overwhelmed even the Lord’s prophet; he’d rather crawl into a cave and die there quietly.
When Jesus came into the world he came into contact with all the things that cause us fear, experiencing first hand not just what it is like to be in a human body, but what it means to face human temptations. The challenges thrown at us were thrown at him. Extreme hunger, the danger of a high perch, the lure of power--none of it bent his will away from submitting to the Father; all of it made him the perfect guide for those who would navigate the challenges of life. The fact of death is all around us; the inevitability that it will happen to us need not hold us in bondage, in slavery. Isn’t that what lies at the heart of most human fear--that we will die sooner if certain things happen, if we venture out on certain pathways? Isn’t that what keeps us from truly living joyfully, expectantly, faithfully? Let faith that Jesus really has atoned for your sin free you from the ultimate fear of death and the pending judgment; let him come near in the time of temptation. It’s his desire. Then follow wherever he leads, in faith rather than in fear.
Prayer: Lord, today we confess our fear--fear of things that Jesus has overcome, fear of consequences that we cannot control, fear of death. We also confess of fear of confessing, for we do not sufficiently trust your lovingkindness when we hide our sins. Lead us through every wilderness, every want with faith; lead us to that perfect love that casts out fear. Remind us daily that we do walk today where Jesus walked--in a world of need, of want, of temptation, of disease, of the lust for power and wealth. But remind us even more powerfully that he overcame all of it and joins himself to us as we walk the roads before us. Amen.
Texts: Psalm 121; Isaiah 51:4-8; Luke 7:1-10
Scripture Thought: (Isaiah 51:6-8) Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. 7 “Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults. 8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”
Reflection: Doing the right thing when the right thing is not the popular thing to do, when it is bound to be met with anger, disapproval, or worse has never been easy. Yet isn’t that what lies at the heart of integrity--standing one's moral ground in the face of opposition? How does a person develop that sort of integrity, that quality of character? To what extent is it already present, and how can it be made more robust, becoming more a matter of course than a struggle to decide each time a choice must be made? On a somewhat related level, how much do we truly trust that God will do what is needed in our lives, our circumstances that carry us beyond our ability to act? How do we forge the kind of confidence that caused Jesus to marvel when it was displayed by a Roman centurion?
Faith. The real thing, not some squooshy substitute that turns out to be no more than projecting the world we wish would exist and then trying to live as though it did, without any evidence whatsoever that it ever did or ever will, or ever could. No, that kind of faith will never move the mountains or fortify the integrity of the one who claims it. Faith in the biblical meaning of the term is tied to reality, the way things truly are, even though that reality may be partially or even significantly obscured. It is based on what God has done in creating the heavens and the earth in the first place, but also in setting creatures made to bear His image within it. He called a people for His own as the world fell into sin, and demonstrated His presence and power by “the mighty acts of God,” which His people were called to remember when the choices before them were tough, challenging. More than once, following His instruction would bring hardship upon them, both individually and corporately. When those hard decisions had to be made, people were reminded to look to the heavens. For no other place, with sun, moon, and stars, spoke of the greater power of God to hold and save His people from any of the lesser powers found below the heavens.
The centurion understood authority, and that the kind Jesus possessed transcended any earthly political power. When God speaks, lesser powers are bound to obey. But it takes faith, tried, tested, sometimes strong, often weaker than we need it to be, to stand strong in the face of obstacles of all kinds. To strengthen it, remember what Isaiah said, and look to the heavens, reflecting on the awesome power behind them. It is He who saves.
Prayer: Father, if You are for us, who could possibly be against us? What could ever separate us from Your love in Christ Jesus? Forgive us for thinking too much of the obstacles we face in life, whether ridicule, hardship, disease, or disgrace, and thinking too little of the One who made the heavens and the earth, and calls us to himself through the Holy Spirit given to continue the work of Jesus. In His name we live and pray. Amen.
Friday, March 6, 2020
Texts: Psalm 121; Micah 7:18-20; Romans 3:21-31
Scripture Thought: (Micah 7:18-20) 18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. 20 You will be faithful to Jacob, and show love to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago.
Reflection: Are you just a little tired of hearing accusations brought against just about anyone in the public eye? It’s not just about crimes and misdemeanors of recent time; it’s about alleged words spoken, deeds done in the past, sometimes decades in the past. This not to say that we should consider these things as petty; but maybe we’re showing a little, or more than a little, about how far we are from the character of God, the one in whose image we are made, whose character we are to represent. Quite simply, God is gracious; we as a culture are not, at least not in the present time--if ever.
I think about this quite often. What if there were someone recording every word we’ve spoken, every angered expression, every short-tempered moment throughout our lives, with someone waiting for the right moment to go public with the information? If you knew there was such a person, would it change the way you act, speak, plan? The recording is there on demand; it plays whenever needed in order to bring you down if you should even think of venturing to do something in the public eye, something that will draw attention to you, even if that is in no way the purpose behind your actions. That would be stifling, limiting, controlling, to say the least. We’d feel like prisoners of our own making. Many people live like this.
I wonder also if that is the view of God many people carry with them. He’s got the list; our misdeeds are ever before him, ready to be recited to us, always in the background, always on our mind because we’re sure they’re on God’s mind. Without the law, we wouldn’t know how to live as we were created to live, and our common life would be next to impossible. But without grace we’d be dead in the water. The good news is that grace is real, grace is given, and it wins the day in defining God to us. Who, indeed, is like Him? Surely not the media, surely not public opinion, surely not the politicians we’ve been hearing from recently. We should learn daily that God forgives sin. Yours. Mine. Your neighbor’s. He wants us to know our sin so we can confess it and put it behind us and live as he made us to live--as his own representatives in a world full of accusations and cries for retribution.
Prayer: Father, I want to confess my sin today. You already know it; and yet you want to free me from the prison I’ve imposed on myself by not trusting your forgiving love, not believing that Jesus has atoned for it and I am free to go and live in freedom and in praise, in gratitude that makes me want to follow your heart and do you will--today. Amen.
Thursday, March 5
Texts: Psalm 121; Isaiah 51:1-3; 2 Timothy 1:3-7
Scripture Thought: (Isaiah 51:1-2). “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
Reflection: What kind of help do you need in life? Oh, I know--none of us really needs help most of the time, or at least we want to make it appear that we are quite self-sufficient. It’s just not in us to admit that we haven’t got the whole thing figured out and under control. It’s patently obvious to anyone that this isn’t truly the case. But it’s part of the way we do life. But when we are honest with ourselves, we want a lot more help than we are likely to ask for. And at certain times, the need is just too overwhelming to play the part any longer. Help is needed. Where will it come from; whom can we ask for assistance, or even rescue?
One of the characteristics of our time is the drop in the percentage of our countrymen who attend worship or participate in other ways in the life of the church. It doesn’t seem too difficult to surmise that this has an effect on the number of times people call on God for His aid. Yet the problems for which God’s aid has been entreated in the past are still present, and perhaps more so. Where do we go for help? On whom do we call? Be sure that people who experience real or imagined distress do call out for help; they want someone bigger than they, more able-bodied than they, wiser, more experienced; they want someone who isn’t likely to say, “figure it out for yourself.” In today’s world, that "someone" people expect to come to help is the government. And we have no shortage of candidates for political office who use the cries for help as a means of bolstering their ratings, making promises about what he/she will do once in office. The psalmist had no such options; “my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” That’s a few steps above any political figure. His credentials far outweigh those of anyone else who might be inclined to answer our call. Abraham needed assistance in becoming a father--how would that come about, since his wife was unable to conceive? The psalmist had met with all manner of people, many of whom were powerful adversaries, inside and outside the kingdom. Prophets met with opposition that sought their silencing, if not their destruction. Jesus had a cross to bear, and it was going to be exceedingly painful. And they cried to the Lord, lifting up their eyes to take in the spectacular, creative power of the One who had made the hills and the mountains; surely, He would come to their aid
We settle too easily for lesser powers when we call for aid. We’ve fallen prey to thinking there is an earthly solution for everything that comes our way. Yes, God works through human agency, probably for the vast majority of his answers to our prayers. But we won’t recognize His hand behind the voice, the hands, the feet of those who help if we do not seek Him in the first place. And sometimes God blesses with the outright miraculous deliverance. Isaiah reminds the people of Israel to remember the great miracle that led to the forming of their very nation--how a childless Abraham and a once barren Sarah became the great nation they now were. That’s where to look for help. Just remember where you came from. And we come from Jesus, the author of our faith, perfecter of our righteousness, conqueror of death itself. Why go anywhere else?
Prayer: Lord, You invite us to pray. You know our needs before we ask, yet You are there to remind us that this life is too big for us to manage; there is always something to threaten us and those we love, be it disease, hardship, or temptation. Draw our eyes, our hearts, our minds toward the One who made us, both as creations of flesh and blood and as new creations of the Spirit in Jesus, Your Son, our Lord; for He is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters, even sharing His inheritance with us. Thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wednesday, March 4
Texts: Wednesday, March 4, 2020: Psalm 32; Exodus 34:1-9, 27-28; Matthew 18:10-14
Scripture Thought: Matthew 18:12-14. 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”
Reflection: So which is it?
We’ve all been faced with that question. There are two choices before us which do not seem to be compatible. You can’t have it both ways, or so it seems. Embracing one implies rejecting the other; following one implies leaving the other behind; believing one implies disbelieving the other. Is that the way it is when trying to come to an understanding of God and human sin? Is God the Divine Ruler who gives laws that cannot be broken without severe punishment being inflicted on the sinner? Is it the integrity of His law that most concerns Him? Look, for instance, at the Exodus text for today. It’s terrifying! Think about being among the Israelites witnessing the drama at Mt. Sinai, with smoke and thunder and strict commands to stay off the mountain entirely, and to make certain that your animals do the same. Is that how we picture God? Is that how we come to Him--at a safe a prescribed distance, all the while trembling in fear? Or is God the gentle shepherd we see in Jesus, out there not only to accept us if we happen to stumble and stagger our way home, but out there, actively searching for the one who is lost and in grave danger because of it? How could He be both of these? Isn’t it one or the other?
It’s not hard to identify Christians who tend toward one side or the other of this choice. Some are so zealous for the law that it would seem impossible for a person who falls to ever have hope; others are so anxious to claim grace that breaking of law would ultimately seem irrelevant. Those who are heavily invested in either side have trouble with the biblical passages that depict the other. Both are true, but how? One answer to reject is that Jesus changed the Father’s mind about what to do with us in our disobedience to His commandments. It seems to imply an angry Father, calmed down by a loving Son. The psalmist knew differently--the Father was already of a mind and heart to forgive. But he learned that through experience. He seems to have started with the idea of an angry, judgment-oriented God of whom he should be afraid, and from whom he should attempt to hide his sin--and that God would be justified if He brought down the hammer. Yet when he confessed his sin he found the peace of forgiveness, supplied by a God who loved him.
Reconciling law and grace is no easy matter, and it shouldn’t be. In fact, we only begin to grasp what either of them truly is when we see both as true. Without a sense of the seriousness of the law, grace loses its incredible power. When we cower because of our transgressions, knowing we have violated our Maker’s design for living in this world, we are rightly experiencing the fear of a holy God. It’s not a light matter; without the law to guide our relationships with one another as human beings in God’s image, grace would have no context, no meaning. Once broken, its violators could only be reconciled by some larger act of God than the giving of that law. And that larger action was to give us the grace of Jesus coming to fulfill the law, suffer its punishment, and overcome its power in resurrection, and then joining us to himself. Seeking and saving what was lost was his method of reconciling us to God the Father. Is it law or grace when we think of God? Yes!
Prayer: Holy Father, loving and forgiving, teach us Your ways. They are ways of laws to guide us and grace to hear our confessions and restore us to life that is abundant and joyfully lived in the company of Your redeemed people. Forgive us for disobedience to Your truth, but also for slowness to believe in Your grace, Your readiness to receive our wandering souls. Hold us close, O Jesus. Amen.
Tuesday, March 3.
Texts: Psalm 32; Genesis 4:1-16; Hebrews 4:14-5:10
Scripture Thought (Gen.4:3-7): Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Reflection: Is it too much to say that people today seem to have a lot of insecurities? Some of the clues to that assessment come from the manner in which many folks respond to any suggestion that they might possibly be wrong or mistaken on one matter or another. It’s also seen in the difficulty we have in separating critique of the ideas one embraces from a rejection of the person who holds them. It’s as though someone who questions my ideas is challenging my value as a person. We then only feel secure when we are with those who are like-minded about the things that are important to us. Other people are insecure because no one has meaningfully affirmed their value or acknowledged their gifts and abilities, their workmanship or craft. Still others suffer the effects of demeaning comments from people who have influence and control over them. Lack of affirmation; presence of denigration--powerful forces that work against someone’s sense of security in life.
But I wonder if the root cause of a great many insecurities isn’t deeper than these things, terrible as they are. Is the experience of Cain really so far removed from us? Do we ever get the feeling that someone else is liked by God more than we are? Or that God just has it in for us? It’s hard to feel secure in life while holding onto the idea that we are not on good terms with our Maker; and it’s hard to be on good terms with our Maker when we’re not doing what is right. We aren’t given any instances of what Cain might have done that was not right; but that isn’t the point. “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” God isn’t asking for anything but that we do what’s right. No elaborate ritual, no monumental feat, no grueling pilgrimage--just to do what’s right. And if we refuse we are in danger of getting carried away into more and more destructive patterns.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have failed to do what’s right, and we know it. And God knows it. And He’s done something about it, sending Christ into the world to atone for our sins.That means His care for us is not over when we sin; in fact, He shows us just how valuable we are in His sight by providing for us to return and find our security in His love. Indeed, if God is for us--and He is--who can be against us? That should be the basis for security in spite of mistreatment from the world. We shouldn’t look for it anywhere else. And we can grow in it by doing what is right.
Prayer: God of grace unbounded, we have nothing to offer but ourselves. You ask for nothing else. Grant that we might grow in that grace so that we might more readily and eagerly do Your will. For Your love is its own reward, and Your acceptance is the greatest security we can know. Thank You! Amen.
Monday, March 2
Texts: Psalm 32; 1 Kings 19:1-8; Hebrews 2:10-18
Scripture Thought: Hebrews 2:14-18. 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Reflection: Fear. It’s common. It’s paralyzing. It limits, it creates suspicion, it makes people defensive, even paranoid. Sometimes it creates more of itself, turning virtually every encounter with anything unknown into a catastrophic event--before it happens. We fear illness, we fear injury; we fear the loss of people close to us, we fear things being taken away from us. We fear the unknown, probably because of its potential to bring about one of those things we already fear. Currently, there is a growing fear of a virus spreading far and wide, disrupting life as we know it, at least for a time.
The psalmist feared the judgment of God, and therefore hid his sins deep inside, where the only result was inward misery. Most, and probably all of us to some extent, know this feeling. We’ve seen it from the other side if we are parents. For who hasn’t observed the child, precious as anything can be, feeling the guilt of breaking one of mom or dad’s rules, while hoping not to be found out, and hiding in order to avoid discovery? Elijah feared Jezebel, even after he had demonstrated to the nation that the God of Israel was the true God, with the power to act in the world, while the false gods of Jezebel couldn’t light a fire, no matter how wildly and fervently they were implored. The thought of being captured and brutally executed overwhelmed even the Lord’s prophet; he’d rather crawl into a cave and die there quietly.
When Jesus came into the world he came into contact with all the things that cause us fear, experiencing first hand not just what it is like to be in a human body, but what it means to face human temptations. The challenges thrown at us were thrown at him. Extreme hunger, the danger of a high perch, the lure of power--none of it bent his will away from submitting to the Father; all of it made him the perfect guide for those who would navigate the challenges of life. The fact of death is all around us; the inevitability that it will happen to us need not hold us in bondage, in slavery. Isn’t that what lies at the heart of most human fear--that we will die sooner if certain things happen, if we venture out on certain pathways? Isn’t that what keeps us from truly living joyfully, expectantly, faithfully? Let faith that Jesus really has atoned for your sin free you from the ultimate fear of death and the pending judgment; let him come near in the time of temptation. It’s his desire. Then follow wherever he leads, in faith rather than in fear.
Prayer: Lord, today we confess our fear--fear of things that Jesus has overcome, fear of consequences that we cannot control, fear of death. We also confess of fear of confessing, for we do not sufficiently trust your lovingkindness when we hide our sins. Lead us through every wilderness, every want with faith; lead us to that perfect love that casts out fear. Remind us daily that we do walk today where Jesus walked--in a world of need, of want, of temptation, of disease, of the lust for power and wealth. But remind us even more powerfully that he overcame all of it and joins himself to us as we walk the roads before us. Amen.