Tag: Faith

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Trusting God

Daily Reading

1Chronicles 3-5

Daily Thought

First Chronicles begins with 9 chapters of names, family genealogies fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham, “I will multiply your offspring as the sand that is on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17). One long list after another, but look closely, there are shiny objects hidden in the sand. For example, the oft-overlooked Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh, “valiant men who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, expert in war, 44,760, able to go to war. They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him” (1Chronicles 5:18-20). Trusting God does not relieve us the responsibility to prepare ourselves, and these tribes came ready for battle, then followed God to victory. Neither is faith blind. God writes his greatness and goodness and grace in history and this history is recorded in his Word. His Word guides us to a mighty faith.

In the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” Indy is chasing the Holy Grail, the cup of legend, supposedly shared by Jesus with his disciples at the Last Supper. The bad guy wants the cup, too, so he shoot’s Indy’s dad, not dead, but dying.  “It’s time to ask yourself what you believe,” said the bad guy. Go get the Grail, Indy, it’s the only thing that can save your dad. Indy took a book, given to him by his father, that should lead him to the Holy Grail. Could he trust the book?

The book said, “Kneel.” Indiana Jones knelt, and blades of steel passed harmlessly over his head. The book said, “Proceed on the name of God,” and Indy stepped on rocks labeled I-E-H-O-V-A-H (with an “I” because it’s Latin) to safety. Then the book said, “Leap,” but there was nowhere to leap; just a deep chasm. He stepped forward anyway. It was a leap of faith, but it wasn’t blind, because the book had proven true. Indiana Jones trusted the book.

Followers of Jesus are those who trust the book. God’s Word proves true and we put our lives in the hands of its author. “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). We, like the Hebrews, discover and develop trust in God as we immerse ourselves in Scripture, even long lists.

Daily Prayer

God, You are faithful and true. I can trust fully in You. Build my faith, God, and strengthen my trust. You are certainly worthy of it. I know that if I seek You and only You, I do not need to worry or be anxious. All things are in Your hand. It baffles me how many things distract me when I only need to keep my eyes on One. You.

May I be faithful to Your Word, reading it, no, devouring it with delight. The more I am in it, the more I am overwhelmed by Your grace and truth. You search deep inside me with Your Words, and You clean house, and You lead me to a life fully of Your majesty and wonder.

Amen

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Move Mountains

Daily Reading

2Kings 12-14

Daily Thought

Elisha was old and sick and would soon die, and Joash king of Israel rushed to his side. King’s don’t run to anyone, but this was the prophet of God. “My father, my father!” cried Joash, “The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” (2Kings 13:14). It seemed a strange utterance, but it had been said before by Elisha when his mentor Elijah was caught up by whirlwind into heaven (2Kings 2:11-12). Joash borrowed Elisha’s words to sum up Elisha’s life as the worthy heir of God’s great prophet; but there was more. Kings count their strength in chariots and horsemen, but this king was proclaiming the strength of Israel is the God of Elijah and Elisha.

Elisha instructed Joash to take a bow and arrow, and then he laid his hands on the hands of Joash and together they drew the bow eastward toward Syria, God guiding the king. “Shoot,” and he shot. And Elisha said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them” (2Kings 13:17). The prophet would die, but God would still guide Israel.

“Take the arrows,” said Elisha, and Joash took them. “Strike the ground with them.” It was an invitation to raise the bar, to reach the heavens, to embrace the power of God Almighty, “the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” (2Kings 13:14), but instead Joash tapped three times and stopped, too soon, too timid. Elisha was angry at his small action, “You should have struck more!” God is looking to see how far we will go, how much fight we have. Joash could have and should have pummeled the ground and moved mountains.

“Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.” ~Mark 11:23

Daily Prayer

My God, You have created such an incredible world. It displays Your handiwork, Your wisdom, Your majesty. You placed me in this world to rule it, subdue it, master it, and care for it. You are the giver of all good things. May my heart never stray, my thoughts never delight in other things, my eyes never wander. I will cast aside all things that could distract me from my devotion to You.

What amazes me, God, is that when I seek You first and only, all that I truly desire is mine. I lose nothing and gain eternity. But if I take my eyes off You and chase the world, I gain nothing and lose my soul. Pursuing Your delights leads to an abundant life, overflowing with goodness. I am more than a conqueror when I trust fully in my Creator, the God of the heavens and the earth. May I trust in You fully and find satisfaction in following You. Jesus, may my love for You never falter. I know Your love for me never has.

Amen

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A Beginning

Daily Reading

2Kings 6-8

Daily Thought

Blaise Pascal, 17th-Century French philosopher, proposed that at the very least belief in God is a good bet. God cannot be proved or disproved rationally, he argued. If God is, there is great gain in believing in him and great loss in not. If God is not, then neither matters. It is most reasonable, therefore, to believe, since it is the only course that provides an advantage. This is not a strong faith, but it is a beginning.

Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, led his entire army and laid siege to Samaria, and a great famine ensued. Four lepers, starving outside the gates of the city of Samaria, reasoned, “If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die” (2Kings 7:4). Like Pascal’s good bet, there was only one choice with an advantage, so they went to the Syrian camp and discovered a mighty work of God. The Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army (v 6), so the Syrians fled and left behind food and drink, silver and gold, clothing, horses, and tents. The siege of Israel was ended. God had saved them.

It was not a strong faith, but it was a beginning, and the beginning of faith changed the hearts of the lepers. For a time they feast on God’s goodness, but then realized, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news” (2Kings 7:9). It must be shared. They called to the gatekeepers, and the gatekeepers called to the king and his household, and the king cried out to the city, and the city feasted.

You don’t light a fire. You light a match and that starts the fire. “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32).

Daily Prayer

My God, Your grace calls me to You. It is good and it satisfying. May I taste of Your goodness and share it with others. You have given me life, a life so abundant that I dare not keep silent.

Lord God, in You I find life. I know why I am here and what I am to do. Your love is great, and though I first came hesitantly, I now follow fully. You are everything to me, and I give You my heart, my soul, my mind, and my strength. May my life overflow and may Your glory be evident in all that I do.

Amen

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Force, Fear, or Faith

Daily Reading

1Kings 12-14

Daily Thought

There are three ways to rule.

By faith. Rehoboam sought advice from the wise old men who had counseled his father, Solomon, while he had been king, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever” (1Kings 12:6-7).

By force. “But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him” (1Kings 12:8). Rehoboam preferred strength, and said to his people, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions” (1Kings 12:10-11). Little wonder many rebelled and turned to Jeroboam.

By fear. Anointed by God, Jeroboam nevertheless was afraid that “if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah” (1Kings 12:27). The Temple was in the south at Jerusalem, so Jeroboam made religion convenient to the north. Rather than travel to the Temple, he brought God to the people in the likeness of two golden calves, placed close to home in Bethel and Dan. Pleasing the people, he set up altars throughout the land and chose priests from any tribe, not God’s chosen tribe of Levi. By convenience and accommodation, faith was made weak.

There are three ways to rule, by force, by fear, or by faith. Only one unites. By faith, Israel would be one nation under God, but Rehoboam ruled by force and Jeroboam  by fear, “and there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually” (1Kings 14:30).

Daily Prayer

God, may You always be first place in my life. May You be my first love, my full devotion. With all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, may my love never waver or cease. May I seek Your Word, Your ways, Your will.

Protect me from the weakness of fear, and guard me against finding strength in position or popularity or power. May I, instead, at all times seek Your pleasure.

Amen

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Enough

Daily Reading

1Samuel 28-31

Daily Thought

In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against Israel (1Samuel 28:1), marching by hundreds and by thousands according to chapter 29. Saul would lose all. By war’s end, he and his three sons were dead. He was afraid, so he turned where he seldom turned, to the Lord, but “the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets” (1Samuel 28:6).

Chapter 30, when David and his men came to Ziklag, the Amalekites had made a raid, and David found the city burned with fire, and the wives and sons and daughters taken captive, including David’s two wives. David had lost all. He was distressed, so he turned where he always turned, to the Lord, and “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1Samuel 30:6).

Saul spoke of “your God”; David of “my God.” Each had lost all, but Saul had none left because he had not God to begin with and wallowed in empty silence. From David was taken his city, his family, his possessions, but none could take his God. “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God,” turning from earth’s ruin to the riches of heaven. Whatever else I might lose, as long as I have my God I have enough.

He restores my soul.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me. ~A Psalm of David 23:3, 4

Daily Prayer

Everlasting Father, all of hope rests in You. Away from You can only lead to despair and darkness. You are the light of the World. Your Word shines a light on my path and makes my way straight.

God, daily I will spend time in Your Word. I will put it in my mind and deep in my heart so that it stays with me throughout the day. Thank You for the truth. Your truth. I will build my house on solid ground.

Amen

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Lucky Charms

Daily Reading

1Samuel 4-8

Daily Thought

Jericho was the fortress city Israel first battled as they began to take possession of the Promised Land. Israel’s faith in God is reflected in the fearful cries of her enemy, “Our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11). And the walls came down!

But as the books of Samuel begin, something is different, something changed. Israel was no longer following their God, they were carrying him, “Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies” (1Samuel 4:3). To Israel, God was no longer in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, he was in a box. God had become an “it,” an object. When the Philistines learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp, they were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?” (1Samuel 4:6-8). A god? These mighty gods? The Philistines were not terrified of a people possessed by the great and mighty Creator of the heavens and the earth, as Jericho feared. Rather, the Philistines feared an enchanted lucky-charm god in the possession of Israel. God is no lucky charm we carry in our pockets. He is God Almighty, creator of the heavens and the earth. He carries us. 

Israel’s once powerful faith in their Almighty God had become little more than bumper-sticker superstition, but God will be no lucky charm. Israel was defeated.

Daily Prayer

Awesome God, mighty Creator, I worship You and give myself fully to Your possession.   You bought me with a price, the blood of my Savior, Your Son, Jesus Christ. I am a temple of Your Holy Spirit. God, my faith must be seen in more than a cross around my neck, a fish on my car. It must be evident in my life, my actions, my speech, my walk.

God, teach me to walk in Your ways, to obey Your commandments, to follow Your path which leads to life, a wonderful, abundant, overflowing life. I love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  You are my all, and all I am is Yours.

Amen

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Back to Egypt

Daily Reading

Numbers 14-15

Daily Thought

Over and over the people complain. The common theme, “Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3). We read this and we ask incredulously, how can these people ignore the memory of slavery in Egypt? 

The same way you and I do.

Just as God had delivered Israel from their slavery of Egypt, he has delivered us from our slavery to sin. And yet, too often, we want to go back. We want to go back to our sin, our prison, our slavery. It doesn’t matter what God accomplished for us on Christmas and Good Friday and Easter. God in the flesh died on the cross, then rose the third day, delivering us from the misery of slavery to sin and Satan. In spite of all that, in those moments when our fleshly desires get the upper hand, we think we had it better in Egypt. We prefer our sin. 

The Israelites forsook the journey because they lost faith in the Promised Land. All sin is lost faith, faith in the Promised Land, faith in the promises of God. All sin is lost faith, the choice of something tangible, however trivial, over the eternal.

Daily Prayer

My God, may I remember Your justice and also Your grace. May I reflect on Your holiness and Your love. I choose sin too often, and deserve slavery. But You are patient. Thank You. Thank You for Your Son who took my sins and pleads my case. That in His Name and by His blood, I have His righteousness. 

Because of Jesus, may I be holy and righteous. May I love what is good and despise the rebellion that leads to slavery. May I live freely a life that displays Your goodness and glory.

Amen

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Law of Stickiness

Daily Reading

Exodus 30-32

Daily Thought

The Hebrew people watched as God showered plagues of frogs and flies and fire, blood and boils and death. Ten plagues it took to convince the Pharaoh of Egypt to heed God’s demand to “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1; 7:16; 8:1, 8, 20, 21; 9:1, 13; 10:4), until he changed his mind and the Egyptian army boxed the Israelites against the Red Sea. So God parted the sea and the Hebrew people escaped, then closed the sea and the Egyptian army drowned. This is the Exodus and it was amazing. It would have made a great movie. The people of God had been delivered from slavery and were heading toward the Promised Land. It was the kind of thing you never forget. 

You would think. 

The Hebrew people watched as God showered plagues of frogs and flies and fire, blood and boils and death. Ten plagues it took to convince the Pharaoh of Egypt to heed God’s repeated demand to “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1; 7:16; 8:1, 8, 20, 21; 9:1, 13; 10:4), but then Pharaoh changed his mind again and the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites and boxed them against the Red Sea. So God parted the sea and gave the Hebrew people an escape, then closed the sea and drowned the Egyptian army. This is the Exodus and it was amazing. It would make a great movie. The people of God had been delivered from slavery and were heading toward the Promised Land. It was the kind of thing you never forget. 

People have short memories, They are impatient and fickle. They were then and they are now. For example, a good web site designer knows the first law of the web, The Law of Stickiness: People are sticky, but they are not loyal. If they find a web site that serves their needs they stick with it, but the moment that site disappoints (by being slower than usual or temporarily unavailable), they move to the competition. The Law of God says, “I am the LORD your God. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3); but the Law of Stickiness says God must improve his performance or we will make a golden calf.  

There is a problem, however, the golden calf is not really an alternative. “Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39). The LORD alone is God. There is no competition. And that means, you do not seek an alternative, you do not switch to a golden calf. You wait. If God is late (and God is always late), wait–“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope” (Psalm 130:5). God is often slow just so I will wait, so I will learn to wait. How much beauty I miss because I do not wait, because he makes all things beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:10), not mine. 

Daily Prayer

My Father in Heaven, how I trust in You. My confidence is in Your goodness and Your strength. My life is in Your care. I know that You offer life, life overflowing, abundant life.

May I always seek You first. May I always seek You only. Your kingdom with Your Son on the throne is my greatest hope. May I at all times maintain loyalty to You, keep faith in You, wait on You, trust in You. You are God.

Amen

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The Daily Walk

Daily Reading

Exodus 16-18

Daily Thought

Faith can be plunging forward into a future unknown, a leap of faith. But faith can be a walk, as well, one step after another, a daily discipline. God would teach Israel the latter faith as they wandered the wilderness, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exodus 16:4). Gather meat in the evening and manna in the morning, as much as you want, no more than you will eat. If you save some until the next day, it will not keep. Some saved some anyway, and “it bred worms and stank” (Exodus 16:20). Once a week, on Friday, gather twice as much, because Saturday is the Sabbath, the day of rest. There will not be anything to gather on that day. You can save half overnight on Friday; it won’t stink. Some did not gather twice as much. They went out on the Sabbath, “but they found none” (Exodus 16:27). They went hungry. 

Six days on, one day off. This is not daring to leap, it is learning to walk. It is a discipline of trust, gathering enough and only enough, believing God for our daily bread, a discipline of rest each seventh day. It is the discipline of living by God’s Word, being blessed in his care, that you might know the LORD is your God and you are his people.  

Following Jesus is not so much a leap of faith as an every day walk. 

Daily Prayer

O LORD my God, You and You alone are God, worthy of my devotion, my worship, my love, and my life. With all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, I love and adore You. You bring each day afresh and put a thankful expectation of Your grace and glory in my heart. As I live this day for You, may I see Your handiwork in this world. May I reflect Your grace to others. May I love the people You created with the same tender love that led Your Son to endure the cross.  

Fill my thoughts with the wonder of Your Kingdom and guide my steps toward righteousness. May I be so heavenly-minded that the world cannot help but see Your goodness shine. Teach me to walk in faith, to listen and obey all that You have commanded, because that’s the best way to live. I love You. 

Amen

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No Limits

Daily Reading

Genesis 22-24

Daily Thought

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Genesis 22:1-2).

God’s command of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac is one of the most troubling in Scripture. Yes, God creates life, so it is his for the asking, and taking, but not children, not child sacrifice. That is the great sin of wicked people to phony foreign gods. Right? Yet God commands this of Abraham. Explanations have been offered. Perhaps God was dramatically displaying that he is not like these pagan gods because he stops Abraham’s knife before it plunges into Isaac’s chest. Maybe this was a terrifying test to the ultimate length Abraham would stretch his faith. Certainly this is a foreshadowing of “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son” and Jesus on the cross was God’s sacrifice for the sins of the world. It is okay, is it not, for God to ask this of Abraham in light of God’s willingness to do it himself with his Son. These are some of the offered answers. Do any satisfy?

Martin Luther, the 16th century reformer, during devotions with his wife, read the account of Abraham offering Isaac on the altar. Katherine Luther argued, “I do not believe it. God would not have treated his son like that!” “But Katie,” Luther replied, “He did.” That may be as good an answer as we get. Abraham trusted God for his son; now he must trust God with his son. That’s what we know. “A man’s got to know his limitations,” cautioned Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, and Abraham learned his faith has none. Abraham proved himself faithful, and God proved himself faithful. So what do we learn? We learn what God expects from us, and what we can expect from God. God gave his only son. There should be no limit to my faith because there is no limit to God’s love.

Daily Prayer

God Almighty, You are faithful and just, and You are good.  I trust You no matter what, because You are the one place where trust is always satisfied. This means, God, that the times when I don’t understand, it’s okay, because I don’t have to understand. You have a plan and a purpose, and that is enough.

Teach me to be strong in my faith, to place my all in Your hands, no limits, to love You completely.  

Amen