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Two Fires

Daily Reading

Job 17-20

Daily Thought

T.S. Eliot wrote,

The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre-
To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Two kinds of fire. One consuming. We name it “despair.” This fire burns out into emptiness. Another fire purifies. This is “hope.” This fire burns on, it burns eternal. We have a memory of eternity. God put it in our hearts, but it was buried deep by sin. It is a hope now hidden. We live today in the tangible moment, consumed in pleasure and power and passion. But moments don’t last.

These are the two fires: one momentary, consuming. The other eternal, unseen.

Job discovered that hope is a gift found in suffering. Wrestling with despair, he suddenly explodes, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth!!” (Job 19:25). He had opened the gift. In the middle of a fire that was consuming him, he found the fire that saves.

T.S. Eliot’s epitaph, his own words, “In my beginning is my end. …In my end is my beginning.” Apart from Jesus, all of life points at an ending. A bad one, actually. Despair. Open the gift of salvation, the end is no longer ominous, but the beginning of eternity. “My redeemer lives! I know it!!”

Daily Prayer

My Father, my Creator, my Sustainer, my Ever-Present Help in Time of Trouble, my Joy, my Life, my Passion, my Love. May the desire for you consume me.

I seek first your kingdom, your way of life, your righteousness. I have confidence that everything else is best placed in your hands.

Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, my Savior, my Hope.

Amen

Daily Question

If you know you will live in eternity, how does that change the way you live today?

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Is That All There Is?

Daily Reading

Job 14-16

Daily Thought

Job fought hopelessness from his seat in the ashes, a poem of pain. Describing life as a withering flower or a shadow that fades (Job 14:2), he asked is it only that life is hard and then you die? The question is as modern as it is old. Peggy Lee asked it in song back in the sixties, “Is That All There Is?” Jack Nicholson settled for “As Good as It Gets.” Bugs Bunny reminded us every Saturday morning, “That’s All, Folks!” 

But Job persisted, and his questions were as deep as his sorrow and suffering. His friends continued asking (and answering), “Why?” as if an explanation would bring peace, but Job looked to hope, “If a man dies, shall he live again?” (Job 14:2). We die before we are dead when hope is lost. The answer is long in coming and it will not be why, but who, because it’s not a solution that’s needed, but a Savior.

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” ~John 11:21, 25-27

That’s all there is and it’s everything we need.

Daily Prayer

Eternal God, you are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The End and the Beginning. Your ways are pure, You are holy and true, a firm foundation. You do not change with the wind, but I do. When I do not trust in You with all my heart, when I do life my way, when I forget You, I lose my way.

Thank You for sending Your Word, written, which lights my path. Thank You for sending Your Word, living, Your Son, Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. May I walk this life with You for the few years I have. Then a bigger and better journey begins!

Amen

Daily Question

What is the most important thing you are living for?

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Silence Was Better

Daily Reading

Job 11-13

Daily Thought

Your friend is suffering. What do you do? 

First, what you don’t do.

Avoid the comparisons, “It’s not as bad as that time I…,” or “My brother-in-law had the same thing.” 

And don’t lay blame, “Well, you had it coming…,” or “You just need more faith.” 

Be careful trying to explain God, “This is God making you strong.” 

You’re not the doctor, so don’t tell them, “I read on the internet about a special treatment.” 

Beware “at least,” like, “at least you’ve had a good life.” 

And, oh, those clichés and platitudes! “Look on the bright side.” “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

We fear the silence, so we fill the silence. Awkwardly. 

“If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.” ~Job 13:5

If these are the don’t’s, what are the do’s? 

First, show up. Job’s friends got it right …for a week (Job 2:13). Just be there. 

Then love them, talk relationally. 

And serve them, see a need and meet it. 

And pray, bring God with you.

Daily Prayer

Father God, you are my comfort and my refuge. You are all-powerful and all-knowing. There is nothing so big that I cannot bring it to you. You are an intimate, loving Father. There is nothing so small that you are not interested. You delight in my prayers, which is amazing and wonderful.

God, may I walk through my days with you, speaking to you always, sharing my pleasures and my pains, my desires and my concerns. Then, God, may I find peace and contentment, because I do not walk alone.

Amen

Daily Question

When you are suffering, what do you most want from your friends?

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I Can’t Solve Me

Daily Reading

Job 8-10

Daily Thought

Bildad’s callous solution to Job’s suffering is simply, “If you are pure and upright, surely then he (God) will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation” (Job 8:6); to which Job rightly replied, “Truly I know that it is so, but how can a man be in the right before God?” (Job 9:2). Job is saying, “You are right, Bildad, and that’s why you’re wrong.” Bildad believes you can be good enough before God, and Job despairs that good enough is impossible.

Job is a story of the contrast between two views of suffering, but, more importantly, two views of God. For Bildad, it is “do right before God”; for Job, it is “be right with God.” Bildad puts his faith in the character of man because Bildad is looking for a solution. Job simply needs to get his act together. Job trusts in the character of God because Job knows there is nothing he can do and he seeks a Savior. 

At first, Job fears there may not be one–“There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both” (Job 9:33), he cries, looking for someone to bring him together with God. As the story continues, Job’s hope will increase, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth (Job 19:25). Job is correct and his name is Jesus.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” ~John 1:14

“I can do this” means I am the solution. “I can’t do this” admits I need a Savior. The Gospel begins its work when I realize I can’t solve me.

Daily Prayer

My Father in heaven, You are holy. I am amazed that You even think of me, because I am not holy. Far from it. Yet You love me and seek me out. You save me, not because I have something You want or need, but You save me out of Your own pleasure. This is astonishing love.

Thank you for Your Son, Jesus Christ. Through His obedience, His life, His death, His resurrection, I am made righteous and given the certainty of eternal life with You. You have given me all I ever need, and therefore I can love others the way You love, not to receive something, but for the sheer pleasure of loving and giving and serving.

Amen

Daily Question

What do you do when you have a problem that can only be solved by God?

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Why Do the Righteous Suffer?

Daily Reading

Job 5-7

Daily Thought

Job’s three friends came and sat silently seven days. In this they did well. When they did speak, Eliphaz, likely the oldest, spoke first, “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty” (Job 4:7). 

You must have done wrong, Job. What else could explain your suffering? 

The other two, Bildad and Zophar, concur. This is the simple religion of easy equations: the unrighteous suffer, the righteous prosper. We like simple religion. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” the disciples asked Jesus (John 9:2).

The problem is Job was “a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). He was righteous–those were God’s words. The friends were sure they had Job, and God, figured out–“they are ashamed because they were confident; they come there and are disappointed” (Job 6:20). Job’s friends were actually sad that Job was not bad because it meant their religion was not safe from suffering and it scared them. Job called them out for this, “For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid” (Job 6:20-21).

Jesus corrected his disciples question, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). Jesus did not explain suffering, he entered suffering–Christ and a cross, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 11:2). A suffering Savior for a suffering world, one who teaches us how to “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4). 

But Job’s friends kept talking.

Daily Prayer

My God, You became like me and took the cross of my making. You bore my sin and died my death. In a world full of suffering, You gave me hope for the future. May I now become like You and embrace the suffering of others, coming alongside them and sharing this same hope.

You have taught me a deep joy and a powerful peace that strengthens me when I face trouble. I know I can rely on You because You have gone before me and overcome. You are my strength and my Savior, and in the midst of a world in turmoil, in You I can by silent and find rest.

Amen

Daily Question

Does suffering draw you toward God and push you away?

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Zero

Daily Reading

Job 1-4

Daily Thought

Zero is quite powerful. When you add zero, nothing much happens. But try multiplying! Go ahead. Multiply anything by 0, and what do you get? Zero. Zero dominates! 12 x 0 = 0; 20 x 0 = 0; 8 billion (the number of people on planet earth) x 0 = 0. We spend our entire lives adding and subtracting, but at the end, everything we have gets multiplied by zero. Zero is the death of everything. Zero is death. Does that seem disheartening? Think again. 

Look in your closet, your attic, your garage, your hope chest, your cupboards. Nothing we accumulate adds value to who we are, nor does losing anything or everything take it away. It is incredibly powerful to realize that our worth comes from nothing more and nothing less than being a child of God made in his image. And Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

Satan thought he could take everything away from Job and Job would curse God. “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 1:9-11).

Take it all; I still have my God. Nothing can touch that! No one can touch that. Not a demeaning boss, nor a degrading father, nor a disloyal friend, nor the devil himself. When we delight in God we find rest, contentment, peace, significance. Nothing can rob us of that, because God is not going anywhere.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~Romans 8:38-39

Daily Prayer

Father in heaven, you are the Creator of all things. I give you all glory and honor and praise. What a world you have created! Forgive me for focusing on the trivial when the majesty of your creation is forever in front of me. Oh Lord, may I be content in you.

Faith, hope, and love, these are essential. And the greatest of these is love. Out of my faith in the God of truth, out of my hope in the God who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, may I love you with all of my heart, my soul, my mind, and my might. And may I love others, and thus display my love for You to the world.

Amen

Daily Question

What would be different if you saw yourself the way God sees you?

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Behind the Scenes

Daily Reading

Esther 6-10

Daily Thought

The players in this story include King Ahasuerus of Persia, his queen Esther, her cousin Mordecai, and Haman, the king’s right-hand man. God is behind the scenes, hidden. 

Haman hated Mordecai and as the first half of the story closes, “his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, ‘Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.’ This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made” (Esther 5:14). 

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. ~Proverbs 19:21

The following verse opens Act Two: “On that night the king could not sleep” (Esther 6:1).  This is the author’s whisper: God is up to something. God is not mentioned, but God is not absent. Haman had gallows built fifty cubits high, and you can sense the coming irony. These gallows meant by Haman for righteous Mordecai are meant by God for wicked Haman. 

In chapter 2, Mordecai had done a good deed unrewarded, and on that night in chapter 6, “the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king” (Esther 6:1). He asked for the reading of the Chronicles (a cure for insomnia?) and learned how Mordecai had revealed a traitorous plot and rescued the king. Mordacai was summoned and honored, and Haman’s plot was revealed, “so they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai” (Esther 7:10).

The righteous is delivered from trouble,
and the wicked walks into it instead. ~Proverbs 11:8

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, over and over again You remind me, as I sow, so shall I reap. I should live life accordingly. Looking ahead, I shall do today what will produce a good tomorrow. Thank You for teaching me what is right, and for changing my heart so that I now desire Your ways instead of my own, some of the time, at least, and more and more as I make a habit of holiness.

Help me remember always that this world is Your creation and Your design and it works Your way. I enjoy life when I enjoy You and live according to the joy of Your Word.

Amen

Daily Question

How can you make sure your plans are in line with the plans of God?

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Do It Anyway

Daily Reading

Esther 1-5

Daily Thought

Haman was the king’s right hand, and he reveled in his position. All bowed before him, except one. Mordecai the Jew refused to bow and remained standing. This infuriated Haman and he plotted Mordecai’s death, but not just his–he sought to destroy all of Israel, for they were an obstinate people. They bowed before no one except God alone. 

Meanwhile, Ahasuerus, king of Persia, needed a new queen (he had discarded the old one), and the virgins were paraded before him. Among them was Esther, a Jew but no one knew that. She was also Mordecai’s cousin and adopted daughter, but no one knew that either. Ahasuerus “loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen” (Esther 2:17). The book of Esther is more political than religious; the name of God is not found on its pages, but God is at work. He has his servant Esther in place. 

It was a time of national peril for Israel and Mordecai appealed to Esther to approach the king. Esther’s response is to call her countrymen to fast on her behalf. Courage cannot be ignorant and Esther knew the danger of Mordecai’s request, “if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law–to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter (Esther 4:11). 

“Do it anyway,” was Mordecai’s response. 

“Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” ~Esther 4:14

Mordecai knew the danger, for he also had stood courageously. Mordecai is not careless of her life. He loves her and has cared for her since childhood, but cares more deeply for her soul. To keep silent when courage is called for may (or may not) save your life, but you will die inside.

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” ~Luke 9:24

Esther understood, “I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16). This is no statement of despair, but of devotion to her nation and her God. 

The story continues, but that is for tomorrow.

Daily Prayer

God, wonderful Savior, I will be prepared always to stand for You, as You stood for me in my place at the cross. I will be prepared, putting on Your armor daily, the faith in Your care, the hope of eternity, the love which You showed me. I will be prepared, pouring into Your Word, always ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope I have in You.

You set the time, I’ll be ready.

Amen

Daily Question

What do you typically want to know before you say yes to God?

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Cleaning House

Daily Reading

Nehemiah 12-13

Daily Thought

Nehemiah led the effort to rebuild Jerusalem. He returned the Word of God to public reading, reestablished the worship, the Sabbath, and the festivals of the Jewish faith, and rededicated a confessing people to follow their God. 

Then he left for a time, traveling to Babylon to visit her king. 

He returned after who knows how long, but it was too long, because sin had moved back into the city. Eliashib the priest had invited his cousin Tobiah, an Ammonite enemy of Israel and God, to live in a room in the temple, but purity cannot mix with the unrighteous. Evil doesn’t have to be in charge, but merely tolerated to do its work. Soon enough. the temple was neglected, the Sabbath was ignored, and the people were marrying foreign women who worshipped foreign gods.

In a fit of rage, Nehemiah attacked, “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin” (Nehemiah 13:26).

So Nehemiah cleaned house, literally. “And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber” (Nehemiah 13:8). There is a time for tantrums because there is such a thing as too much tolerance. “And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair” (Nehemiah 13:25). Not unlike a man who walked into a temple and began turning over tables.

Daily Prayer

Holy God, I love Your Word. Everything in it tells me about life, how it should be lived and Who it should be lived for. It displays Your goodness, Your righteousness, Your holiness. Your grace and mercy. Your love.

God, I commit myself to You. Set me apart from the sin around me. Surround me with others who love what is good. Keep me good, keep me righteous, keep me holy by Your Word. Forgive me when I stray, and lead me back to the right path.

Amen

Daily Question

What makes you angriest? What does your answer reveal about you?

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All In

Daily Reading

Nehemiah 10-11

Daily Thought

“On the seals are the names of Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these are the priests. And the Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. The chiefs of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, Malluch, Harim, Baanah” (Nehemiah 10:1-27).

How many names did you skip when you read this passage? Most? None? Some? All? It is just a list of names, right? But if you were Hacaliah, your name on this list is a big deal. That goes for Kadmiel and Azgad and Zadok and all the rest. Each signatory sealed the deal, each said I am all in, committed. It’s like signing the Declaration of Independence, only bigger because that was against the British and this is before God. 

“If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” ~Numbers 30:2

The signers say they will each “join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes” (Nehemiah 10:29).

It’s like marriage. The essence of marriage is “I Do,” and “I Do” changes everything. It means I’m all in. Each name on this list is the backbone of Jerusalem, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us part.

Daily Prayer

My God, You gave Your Son the Name above every name, that all would bow before Him. I bow. He is my Lord, my God, my Savior, the King of kings. There is no One better to put in charge of my life, and I willingly and eagerly serve Jesus Christ.  Thank You Jesus for leading me to life, the true life I seek, a life overflowing with peace and justice and purity and love. You have all authority, and when I walk in Your Name, I have the confidence of heaven.

I am so glad that You know my Name, that it is signed and sealed in Your Book of Life. I am a citizen of heaven, a bride of Christ, an ambassador of God, a saint. And all I did is sign under Your Name, You did all the rest. Thank You for salvation in Your Name.

Amen

Daily Question

When you became a Christian, what did you think you were signing up for?