Stop Signs

Like stop signs on a roadway, some words in Scriptures invite us to pause and ponder, to stop and give our minds to deeper contemplation.  Words like, all and every and always. Words like, nothing and never. These words are expansive or extreme. Totally inclusive or exclusive.

This practice can be very helpful in looking afresh at well-known passages. When I come upon them, I let the red light flash in my mind and I stop reading so I can consider carefully what is being said.

Do I praise God with all my heart, or just parts of it?  If he really will never leave me or forsake me, then I can be comforted when I feel alone.  Do I really worship no other gods, or are there a few I hide in my tent?

Others for meditation:
"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." Deuteronomy 6:5 (NASB)
 
"Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever." Psalm 145:2 (NASB)

"always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;" Ephesians 5:20 (NASB)
 
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."  Philippians 4:6 (NASB)

"The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail." Lamentations 3:22 (NASB)

Spirit sorrow

"But they rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit." Isaiah 63:10

Our rebellion doesn't make the Holy Spirit mad. It makes Him sad. The compassion-heart of God responds to our self-determination and independence not with anger, but with the sorrow that comes with loss.

Obscurity

I was asked to give devotions for a missions recruitment event. I felt very honored to be asked. To be honest, I felt very important to be asked. When I arrived, the organizer was not there, but his assistant greeted me with a hurried, "Oh, you must be the devotional speaker. We'll be ready in a few minutes," and dashed off to take care of some other duty. When it was time for me to speak, the assistant introduced me by saying, "Our director arranged for this speaker, please welcome her."  There I stood, nameless and obscure, feeling no longer honored or important. Just a filled block on a schedule. 

Sometime later I received a note from a participant in the event. "What you said had a deep impact on me. It has changed how I listen to God's word and apply it to my life. Thank you." As I read this I recalled how I had felt as I stood before the group -- obscure (the condition of being unimportant or unknown). Yet God's word had been delivered in power and accomplished its work.

"Meanwhile, be content with obscurity like Christ" Colossians 3:4c (MSG)
 

Random #7

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

Jesus came to our world as a little child.
Makes sense that we need to become little children to enter his. 

Other "random" blogs:
#6,  #5,  #4  #3,  #2,  #1

Man-in-waiting

Luke 2:25-32

I have focused my Christmas mediations this year on these few verses where we meet Simeon as he meets his Lord and Savior. Simeon is a man-in-waiting. He doesn't just pass time as he waits (like we do at the airport), but he "eagerly" waits for God to send the one who would deliver Israel.  He doesn't sit idly while he waits (like we do at the doctor's office). Apparently he has been busy seeking and obeying God, for we are told he was "devout" and "righteous."

As he waited, God began to answer.  First, with the presence of the Holy Spirit, who 'was upon him'. Then with a promise, that he would see the Messiah before he died.  Then with the prompting to be at the right place at the right time. And finally, God put the answer to Simeon's prayers in his own arms.

On what do I wait? How do I wait? What do I do in the waiting? Is the Holy Spirit upon me so I can hear God's promise to me regarding my hope? When the answer comes, am I where I will find it? Will I recognize the answer when it arrives? And will I, like Simeon, take this gracious answer in my arms and lift it up in praise to God?

Experienced Teacher

He [Jesus] was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days.  (parts of Luke 4:1-2 NLT) 
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  (Hebrews 4:15 NASB) 

When Jesus taught us to pray, "and lead us not into temptation," (Luke 11:4)  he knew what he was talking about.

Self-protection

I Samuel 17:38-48

Little David first dressed in big Saul's armor. It was cumbersome, heavy, wearying. Ill-fitting. David cast it all aside and went out to face the enemy with five smooth stones and Almighty God. Good exchange.

Sometimes I face the day with the clunky armor of mankind about my shoulders. I put on the things I think will protect me from being wounded by a hostile world. I arm myself with defensiveness, suspicion, selfish ambition. It is a burdensome load to bare to protect myself from the fears and worries of the day.

God invites me to lay that man-made, self-protecting armor aside and instead to pick up five smooth, well-worn, stones -- stones such as faith, truth, obedience, love, and the Name of the Lord Almighty. With these I am ready to go into the day with confidence and peace.

... it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s...

Adventesimal

This poem was written by our son, Drake (26), and appears on his church's website as a part of their Advent Reflection series. Posted here with his permission.

Standing with my back to the past

I hunch slightly as most wouldn’t notice

We all do:

We maintain—collective—that you are coming

Bringing or sending

Sweet relief in the right hand

Sweeter justice in the other

A dark-grey form in the blackness ahead

Yet too distant, yet worthy of hope

But I suspect—no, anticipate—more:

More bending beneath the yoke of experience

More desperate squinting, ever straining to know

Shivering with uncertainty in the lukewarm air

Surely you are coming [Selah]

Ground beneath, its groans, reverberating

Provoke me to kneel, to steady

Groping blindly the dirt with one hand

Pressing softly my chest with the other

Peace:

I tell myself on your behalf

On your behalf, are you not coming?

Low I remain, fearfully planted

Unsure, unseeing, unable of other—

Lo! I remain:

Spring up, O righteous Jeremiah’s Branch

O living Redeemer of Job

For trembling I here of this clay and this stone

Have naught but to wait for my Lord

-------------
Happy Birthday (yesterday), Drake.

What do you want?

And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" Matthew 20:32 (NASB) 


The crowd was large. Noisy. Busy.
The men were blind. Desperate. Determined.
Jesus passed by. Merciful. Compassionate.
The men cried out.
The crowd tried to silence them.
They cried out again.
Jesus heard. Jesus stopped. Jesus called. Jesus asked:
"What do you want Me to do for you?"

My world is large. Noisy. Busy.
I am needy. Desperate. Determined.
Jesus is here. Merciful. Compassionate.
I cry out.
My world tries to silence me.
I cry out again.
Jesus hears. Jesus stops. Jesus calls. Jesus asks:
"What do you want Me to do for you?"

Re-do

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.  Isaiah 1:18 (NASB) 


When God shows me an area of my life that needs attention,

He does not say:
This is wrong. Revise it.
This is broken. Repair it.
This is a problem. Resolve it.

Instead he says:
This is wrong. Repent of it.
This is broken. Reject it.
This is a problem. Release it.

For in truth, I can't revise, repair or resolve anything.
All I can do is reason with God, who calls to me repent, reject, release.

And then my God reassures, restores, remakes me.