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Undeserving

Daily Reading

Genesis 27-29

Daily Thought

Jacob was a conniving son of his mother, and she taught him to deceive. He stole his brother’s birthright, then his Father’s blessing, and now on the run because big brother Esau was mad, Jacob was alone. He “left Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set” (Genesis 28:10). He was somewhere, but who knows where, and he laid his head on a rock and fell asleep and “he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12). Jacob was nowhere special, but it was exactly the right place, for God was there with him. 

“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it’” (Genesis 28:16). God had used Jacob’s circumstances, bad circumstances of Jacob’s own making, to bring Jacob to “this place.” It is the common course of man and woman that we must be brought down before we can be lifted up. God had plans for Jacob, but not because Jacob deserved God’s attention. 

What if God only paid attention to us when we deserved it? 

God displays his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8

Daily Prayer

God of heaven, thank You for looking down on me, even when I’m not looking up.  You saved me before I knew I needed rescuing. I was spiritually asleep and You showed up, but no, You were always there. It is me that became awakened to Your presence.  

Now, my Lord, I know that You are in me, that You have numbered my days and created me for a purpose, for good works that glorify Your name. I commit each day to You, because by Your grace, I am a child of the Almighty.

Amen

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The Bible

Daily Reading

Genesis 25-26

Daily Thought

When I meet with a bride and groom to go over plans before a wedding, one of the most important questions I ask is, “What can I expect from your families? Is there bad blood? Are there in-laws and outlaws and ex’s and anything else I need to be aware of? What are the land mines that might explode?” Families misbehave in general, particularly in two settings, weddings and funerals, and I want to be prepared.

They also misbehave in the Bible. Genesis 25:28, Isaac (the dad) loved Esau (the older son) because he ate of his game, but Rebekah (the mom) loved Jacob (the younger son). Family favoritism never ends well. There is a godness to the Bible that lifts us to a world not our own, things that are above (Colossians 3:1-2), heavenly things–God’s Kingdom. There is also a humanness to the Bible. It’s real. It deals directly and honestly with my world, my situations, my life. It knows me.  

In these first 26 chapters, we’ve seen polygamy, adultery, favoritism, jealousy, judgment, pride, lying, and murder. Some people look at things like this and say, “The Bible is ridiculous. Its families are as dysfunctional as mine. Look how crazy these people are.” I read the same thing and say, “The Bible is incredible. It knows my world and speaks to it honestly.” It has an honest answer, too. I need a Savior. 

Daily Prayer

O Lord my God, what a world I live in. Bad, yes, because of sin, but glorious, too. Your handiwork is everywhere, especially in the people You made. How can I not love them! May my love for You increase, more and more daily, and may it be displayed in my love for people, for my neighbors, my community, for the world.  

Thank You for loving me so much that You gave Your all to reach me. You deal with my sin and rescue me from it. May I continue to take off sin and clothe myself in 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

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Sodom and Springer

Daily Reading

Genesis 19-21

Daily Thought

Genesis 19–what a chapter! The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are a carnival of perversity, but their time is up. The depraved men of Sodom clamor for sex with two men/angels staying in Lot’s home. Lot offers to them his daughters instead. Are you kidding me! Their sin has eclipsed the threshold of God’s patience. God’s mercy is drained as he destroys the cities, yet God’s grace endures and Lot and his family are rescued before the downpour of fire and brimstone. Still, as the cities smolder in the distance, Lot’s unrepentant daughters get their dad drunk and take turns sleeping with him. Both end up pregnant.

It’s “The Jerry Springer Show,” the original trash TV. Jerry was asked if it was difficult to find his outlandish guests. “Are you kidding?” he laughed. “They are in every neighborhood in America. Yours too.” He’s right, of course. Millions of people watched Jerry’s show. If you watch the show, you are like the show. Look at our entertainment, our websites, our video games, our politics, or look at the daily news headlines. Nothing stays in Vegas. Lot’s wife looked back with a longing desire. She loved the lifestyle, and we do, too. What’s wrong with the world? In the words of G.K. Chesterton, “I am.” We all are.

And still God’s grace endures. Jesus took our sins, like those of Sodom and Springer, and mine, and made them his own. He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). He took what I deserve. That’s mercy. Then he gives me his righteousness. That’s grace. He became like me so that I can become like him. That’s love.   

Daily Prayer

My Lord and Savior God, Your love is overwhelming. You love me and I am not worthy of it. You love me anyway. Thank you for that, and thank you, as well, for hating sin. I need to hate sin more. What it does to me, what it has done to Your creation. I look forward to Your coming Kingdom, when sin is removed, when holiness is the way of the world, when Jesus reigns. Turn my longings toward You, my desires toward Your ways.

Amen

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Chutzpah

Daily Reading

Genesis 16-18

Daily Thought

Chutzpah, a Yiddish word, means audacity, utter nerve, effrontery, nearly arrogant courage, impudence, supreme self-confidence, unbelievable gall, insolence. It sounds bad and often is, most frequently, perhaps in New York City when jaywalking pedestrians stride into traffic oblivious to car, taxi, or bus, then pound on the hood and holler at the car that would have hit them had the driver not slammed on the brake.

There is bad chutzpah. Arrogant insolence. Don’t do that. 

But there is good chutzpah. Abraham had a good chutzpah. He argued with God over His plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. “What if there are 50 righteous? 45? 40? 30? 20? 10?” (Genesis 18:23-33) Moses had good chutzpah. He, too, argued with God to save His own people, even when they were wrong (Numbers 14:13-19). Jacob wrestled all night with what appeared to be a man, but was at least an angel, and he won, or survived, at least (Genesis 32:24-32). In the morning God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, “for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28). Jacob’s chutzpah was on display and the very name of the nation Israel is a kind of chutzpah. It means “wrestles with God.” 

Jesus draws a picture of prayer by telling a story of a widow pounding all night long on the door of the town judge, demanding justice against an adversary (Luke 18:1-8). It seems God invites a certain kind of chutzpah, good chutzpah, into our relationship with him. How’s your walk with God? Routine? Perhaps it could use some chutzpah.

Daily Prayer

My God, I love Your promises. Ask anything in faith and it will be done for you. You do not have, because you do not ask. God, may I be bold with You. May I trust You so much that I believe You go before me. That You have my best in mind. Not my will, but Yours be done. Delight myself in You and I will have the desires of my heart. All things work for good to those who love You. 

With great boldness, God, may I step out in faith and call on Your promises. May I walk in expectation that You mean what You say, and that my life has meaning because You set my path in front of me. God, I trust You. Transform me, God, into a person of bold, even audacious faith. 

Amen

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Self-Made People

Daily Reading

Genesis 12-15

Daily Thought

Written one after the other, there is a noteworthy contrast between the stories of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and Abram (Genesis 12:1-3). Both the people of Babel and the children of Abram aspired to become a great people. Abram’s hope came from God. God said to Abram, “I will make your name great” (Genesis 12:2) and promised the 75-year-old and childless man he would give birth to a great nation. The citizens of Babel, instead, pursued a glory of their own making. “Let us make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4), and they began building a marvelous city with a tower that reached the heavens. 

Both had their eye on a great nation and a great name, but the difference is self-made versus God-made. The people of Babel said, “Let us make”–they desired to do without God. Abram’s vision, on the other hand, was stamped “Made by God.”  Because Babel was self-made, they were made for themselves. Their focus was inward, “lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” God, rather, turns our eyes outward. 

The difference is self-made people are made for themselves and God-made people are made for everyone else. Put yourself in the hands of God and let him do the construction “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. ~Ephesians 2:10

Daily Prayer

Creator, You made me.  Fearfully and wonderfully, you formed me for a purpose.  You are in charge, You are God, and, best of all, You are good.  My passion is to do the good You have made me to do. To be a blessing, as I have been so blessed.  To love, because You first loved me.  

I find myself on my knees in worship, because I am amazed, in awe of You.  The heavens and earth proclaim Your majesty.  And You would think of me, one so small?  In my smallness, You’ve placed Your image, given me Your Spirit, and You call me to be a blessing to others.  Of course, I’ll do it!

Amen

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Pride

Daily Reading

Genesis 8-11

Daily Thought

Why was it wrong for the people of Babel to build a city and a tower? (Genesis 11:1-9)

Debbie and I were staring into the sun watching our 7-year-old’s soccer game. I had a hat; Debbie didn’t, but wished she had and thought she left one in the car. I hiked to the car and looked and found no hat. Taking off my hat, I returned to the sidelines, and put it on her head. She thanked me for getting her hat, and did not notice I was missing mine. She never noticed. Finally, after the game, we walked to the car and I opened her door, and as she got in, I took my hat off her head and put it back on mine. I wanted the recognition and I was willing to trade nobility for it.

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” ~Genesis 11:4

God created us to fill the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:28; 9:1). He created us to worship Him and rule the world. But the people of Babel said, “No thanks. We’d rather stay in Babel and make a name for ourselves.” They wanted the recognition and they were willing to trade nobility for it.

God made us in His image, reflecting His glory, but we prefer the praise and the image of God is dulled. We pay a terrible cost for our pride.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, God of glory, You are so very much worthy of my devotion and praise. I see Your handiwork in creation, I sense Your majesty in myself made in Your image. But most of all, I see You in Your Son, Jesus Christ. The authority of heaven blended with the humility of grace. Born in a manger, died on a cross, You rule on the throne of heaven.

May I follow You so closely that Your ways become mine. To be first, be last. To serve rather than be served. To be a praise giver, not a getter. To love You and others.

Amen

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Kittens

Daily Reading

Genesis 4-7

Daily Thought

Cain and Abel each bring an offering to God, one of fruit and the other a firstborn lamb. God found Abel’s acceptable, but why not Cain’s?

The essence of worship is faith and trust, humility and submission, devotion and awe. The Lord said to Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” (Genesis 4:7). The problem was not fruit or flock, but Cain’s attitude. There was no contrition, no faith, no love or adoration. It was, at best, an offering of duty, and more likely one of greed and rivalry and pride. Cain gave in hopes of getting.

The warning is in verse 7, “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Sin has a life of its own, crouching tiger-like, waiting to spring and strike and devour. My dad told us boys, “The problem with kittens is they grow up to be cats.” My dad did not like cats. Beware when you keep little sins as little pets – they grow up. Sin craves repetition until it takes hold and becomes a habit and so becomes master.

This is why worship more than willpower beats the beast in this battle. Willpower gives us strength but worship guards our heart and transforms our desires. When I worship rightly, I shoo the beast away from my heart and put God back on his throne.

Daily Prayer

My wonderful God, may my life be the first thing I bring to You as an offering, as worship. I shall love You with all that I am, my heart and soul and mind and might. And sin I shall hate. You are going to have to help me with this. Please, do whatever it takes.

Amen

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In the Beginning God

Daily Reading

Genesis 1-3

Daily Thought

God says that after eating the forbidden fruit, Adam became like him in knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:22). Why is that a bad thing? My children know good and evil because I teach them good and evil (preferring good). Have I been feeding my children the forbidden fruit?

The answer is found in the first four words of the Bible, “In the beginning God.” This is the worldview into which Adam and Eve were created. It is where they belong. They did not perceive good and evil, they simply lived in God’s creation in the manner he designed it. They did so without thinking, without choosing. Now that they have eaten the fruit, they get to think about it. They get to choose. And their lust to choose was stronger than their love of living in God’s Eden.

We must teach our children good and evil because Adam and Eve made that knowledge available to us, and we must teach them how to choose. The best way to choose wisely is to follow closely to God, the way it was in the beginning before the serpent. In God’s Kingdom Come, evil is abolished. We will return to “In the beginning God.”

Jesus said, “Follow me.” ~Mark 1:19

Daily Prayer

Creator God, Loving Father, what a world you created! Awesome and amazing. Thank You for life. It is purely wonderful, meaning it is wonderful when it is pure. I am so sorry for fouling things up, for going my own way, for not following You. So, thank You again for changing my heart. For pursuing me and teaching me to pursue You. For giving me life anew.

I look forward to Your Kingdom. Today and everyday, may I live for, may I follow closely my King, my God, Jesus Christ. My Savior.

Amen