Tag: God

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Chivalry

Daily Reading

Joshua 1-4

Daily Thought

From the day I met Debbie, I began opening the car door for her. When we are leaving…

“We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt. As soon as we heard it, 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 2:10-11

And when we arrive…

As soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water, the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.  ~Joshua 3:15-16

It is more than a gesture, it is an announcement. I want the world to know she is my girl, my one-and-only, and I’d do anything for her.

And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’” ~Joshua 4;21-22

I learned this from the Lord my God..

“For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” ~Joshua 4:23-24

Daily Prayer

Lord God, not only do You go before me, but You set the path in front of me, and light the path for me with Your Word. Father, You came to bring me life and life abundantly. Almighty God, you hold the door open for me. And I hesitate? You announced that Your Kingdom is here, right in front of me. God, I choose to follow You, the King of heaven and earth.

King of kings, I pray for your guidance and protection. I pray that I would reflect Your way of life. That I would embrace goodness and godliness. Thank You for not only instructing me as to what is good, but showing me the good by sending Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Amen

Daily Question

How do you know you belong to God?

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Jesus of Nazareth

Daily Reading

Mark 6-7

Daily Thought

His miracles, his teaching, his kindness, and his confidence set Jesus apart and above the typical celebrity and left people astonished and in awe, and then Jesus went home. You would never know of Nazareth had Jesus not grown up there. Population 500, it was a little place, 25 miles southwest of Capernaum, in the middle of nowhere. Jesus came home “and they took offense at him” (Mark 6:3). They knew Jesus and his brothers and sisters and his mom, and they do not mention his dad because it is a small town and there were rumors about his birth. He was not what they expected of a prophet, let alone a Savior. They sought majesty, he was ordinary, too ordinary to be extraordinary. They deserved better, “and he could do no mighty work there” (Mark 6:5).

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, ~Isaiah 53:2-3

Later, far from home, outside Israel, a woman fell at his feet. “Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter” (Mark 7:26). Jesus is Israel’s Messiah, the Savior of God’s children, and he rebuffs this foreign woman, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27). I do not know how to make that not sound rude, yet the woman accepts her role as dog, and still insists on her food, “she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs’” (Mark 7:28). She is not allowed at the table, she is not of the tribe of Israel, she does not worship Israel’s God, she does not read the Bible, she does not follow the Law. She knows she is unclean and unworthy in the eyes of Israel, and so she does not ask Jesus of Nazareth to give her what she deserves because she is good; she asks Jesus to give her what she does not deserve because he is good. “And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone” (Mark 7:30).

One of the disciples, when he was first told of Jesus, asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Another answered, “Come and see.” (John 1:46).

Daily Prayer

My God, You are righteous and good, but more than that, You are full of grace. I do not deserve Your favor, I am neither righteous nor good, and yet You looked upon me with love, and sent Your Son to bring me back into Your family. Thank You.

May I look at others as You look at me. May I see each person as a special creation, lovingly made by You, and give them the grace and the goodness You have shown me.

Amen

Daily Question

What is your favorite Jesus story? Why?

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The Tide Came In

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 25-27

Daily Thought

God now prophecies, not against Judah, but against the nations surrounding her, for they took pleasure in her pain, yet shared her guilt. The climactic judgment is against Tyre, for she prided herself most of all. 

“O Tyre, you have said,
‘I am perfect in beauty.’
Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
your builders made perfect your beauty.” ~Ezekiel 27:3-4

There is a story told of the wisdom of King Canute of England. When entering a room, the flattery began. “Your highness, there is nothing you cannot do,” sang one. “Great Canute, you are the monarch of all,” fawned another. “Nothing in this world dares to disobey you.  The world bows before you, and gives you honor.” 

The king answered. “In that case, bring me my chair, and we will go down to the sea.  Put it right at the water’s edge.”

“Sea,” cried Canute, “I command you to come no further! Waves, stop your rolling!  Surf, stop your pounding! Do not dare touch my feet!” He waited a moment, quietly, and a tiny wave rushed up the sand and lapped at his feet.  Another wave swept forward and curled around the king’s feet. The tide came in, just as tides always do. The water rose higher and higher. It came up around the king’s chair, and wet not only his feet, but also his robe.

“Well, my friends,” Canute said, “it seems I do not have quite so much power as you would have me believe. My men, there is only one King who is all-powerful; and it is he who rules the sea, and holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand. It is he whom you ought to praise and serve above all others.”

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves” (Ezekiel 26:3). Tyre, a seafaring port on the coast of Phoenicia, boasted of her ship building and sea trade. But a ship serves the sea and the sea serves at the pleasure of God.

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” ~Mark 4:39, 41

Daily Prayer

God, You are God and I am not. That’s one of the smartest things I can say. “I did it my way,” one of the dumbest. I am not in charge and the universe does not revolve around me. Sometimes I act like it does. I am sorry.

Almighty God, You are the center of my universe, my King of kings, my Lord and Savior. To live for Your pleasure is to live life to its fullest because it is what I was created to do.

Amen

Daily Question

Is it okay to be proud of your accomplishments? Why or why not?

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Loving Good

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 23-24

Daily Thought

Ezekiel writes of sisters, “Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem” (Ezekiel 23:4); Samaria, the capital of Israel, and Jerusalem of Judah. During the reign of Rehoboam, the Hebrew nation split in half, into two sisters. “To your tents, O Israel!” (1Kings 12:16), cried the older sister as she broke with Judah. Oholah means “her tent,” and Israel began worshipping idols and set up her own temple and priesthood. Oholibah means “my tent is in her,” and God’s temple remained in Jerusalem, but she was no more faithful than her big sister.

Confused yet? The names make this difficult to follow, but here is what happened: “Oholah (Israel) played the whore” (Ezekiel 23:5), and the consequences were terrible. “Her sister Oholibah (Judah) saw this (both the whoring and the consequences), and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister” (Ezekiel 23:11). 

It is baffling! Why doesn’t Oholibah learn from the mistakes of her sister and choose to do what is right?

At youth events, speakers often share with teenagers how bad they had been when they were young teenagers, and the consequences of their badness. “If the kids hear what I went through,” they reason, “they won’t make the same mistakes.” The speakers are usually wrong. What teenagers hear is if someone speaking up front at a youth event did bad things then they could do bad things, too. They ignore the consequences. 

Why? It is not that hard to figure out. It is because they like bad. We like bad.

Oholah liked bad, and Oholibah watched the bad things Oholah did and the bad things that happened and went ahead and did bad anyway. Because they wanted to.

God created this world and called it good. We chose to do things our way and it has gone bad ever since. Consequences be damned, we like bad. 

We will love good again when we love God again.

Daily Prayer

My God, I did not love good, but was delighted with my own way, until You came along and showed me a better way. You loved me and brought me back into a relationship with You, and I found what I needed, my great God and Savior.

Thank You for the righteousness of Your Son Jesus Christ, which became my righteousness when I gave my life to Him. By Your grace, through faith, I can live again displaying Your goodness, serving others with the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. May I, at all times, stand for Your Kingdom and Your righteousness.

Amen

Daily Question

Do people do bad things because they love to do bad things? If so, why do we love bad? If not, then why do we do bad things?

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God

Daily Reading

Job 38-39

Daily Thought

God speaks, at last, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” And he began to question Job, “Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” (Job 38:8, 11).

There are 362 quintillion gallons of water in the ocean. That is 362 billion billion or 3.62×1020 or 362,000,000,000,000,000,000. Or 7,250,000,000,000,000,000 bathtubs or 15,000,000,000,000,000 swimming pools, if that makes it easier.

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?” (Job38:31, 33)

On a clear, moonless night, a few thousand stars are visible, of the 10,000,000,000 in the Milky Way galaxy. Some estimate there are 10 billion billion stars in the universe, but NASA put the number precisely at gazillions.

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion? Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey, is the wild ox willing to serve you? Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?” (Job 38:39; 39:1, 5, 9, 19, 26-27)

Estimates range from 5 million to 100 million different species on earth, but we’ve identified less than 2 million. Breaking this down into categories, zoologists come up with 20,000 species of fish, 6,000 species of reptiles, 9,000 of birds, 1,000 amphibians, and 15,000 species of mammals. The remaining millions are, you’ll be happy to know, insects and spiders. As to the total number of individual animals, the scientific estimate is, “I have absolutely no idea.”

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements–surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7).

God. That’s the answer. To everything. God.

Job said nothing. Sometimes it is the right time to be quiet, be still, and know that He is God.

Daily Prayer

Creator God, what a world I live in, created by Your hands, Your Word, Your breath. What a delight to look at the heavens and think of You. I marvel at the myriad shapes and sizes of Your creatures. Look at us, man and woman, a reflection of Your image.

May I, God, never cease my amazement at Your creativity. May I be a good steward of what You have placed in my care. May I use all things as You intended, to ultimately glorify You.

Amen

Daily Question

What are some of the things in creation that cause you to be still and worship?

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Masterpiece

Daily Reading

Ephesians 1-3

Daily Thought

I was a kid taking guitar lessons, and Jack was my teacher. Jack was a master on the classical guitar. Torroba’s Sonatina, Etude #5 by Villa-Lobos, Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie, I practiced and I played as best I could. Then I would hand the guitar to my teacher. Jack would perform the same music, full of plunks and scratches when I played, in his hands something beautiful, heavenly. The guitar was in the hands of the master now.

Paul, in verse 10 of Ephesians 2, calls us God’s workmanship, which is in the Greek, poiema. You can hear our English word, poem. God the poet, and “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). In the hands of the Master now.

Notice it does not say “you” or “I,” but “we,” we together, and not merely by being human, it is the work of Jesus Christ in us. We must be placed in the hands of the Master, and then, we together, the body of Christ, his church, become something beautiful, heavenly, the majesty of God. Every artist has their masterpiece, and God is an artist, and we are his poem, created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Daily Prayer

Father in heaven, You are wonderful. Truly wonderful. What a world. What a creation. The heavens, the oceans, the mountains. Fabulous. And me, too. Fearfully and wonderfully made in Your image.

As I return myself to Your hands, making You master of my life, may I respond to Your leading and reflect Your wisdom and truth and love. Mold me again into a vessel for Your glory. Make my life count because it is lived for You.

Amen

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The Lord Is There

Daily Reading

Ezekiel 46-48

Daily Thought

Ezekiel was a prophet to a nation that had forgotten God, but a nation that forgets God destroys not God, but itself. Had God forgotten her became Israel’s true fear. He had not, and Ezekiel, a book of hope, closes with the prophet’s final word, “And the name of the city from that time on shall be, ‘The Lord Is There’” (Ezekiel 48:35).

A nation that had forgotten God was first to space in 1961. “Why should you clutch at God?” Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, challenged any who believe. “We have flown into space and saw no God.” United States astronaut William Anders responded on Christmas Eve, 1968, as Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit on the first manned mission to the Moon, “We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Astronaut Jim Lovell continued, “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”

Astronaut Frank Borman closed, “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.”

Seven months later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin step onto the surface of the moon. “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou has ordained,” read Aldrin from Psalm 8, “What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the Son of Man, that thou visitest Him?”

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” ~Romans 1:20

Astronaut John Glenn, who had circled the earth three times on a space flight in 1963, did it again in 1998 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. At age 77, he took time to reflect as he observed the heavens and earth from the windows of Discovery, “To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible.”

“The Lord Is There” ~Ezekiel 48:35

Daily Prayer

God of Heavens, Your glory shines in all that I see. The whole world speaks of You. Your majesty is seen in the depth of sea and the breadth of space. The world is in Your palm, and You breathe life into me. It makes sense that my thoughts turn to You, but I am amazed that Your thoughts turn to me. Who am I? And yet You delight in me.

God, may I find my pleasure and purpose in following You.

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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Measuring Up

Daily Reading

Numbers 11-13

Daily Thought

Twelve spies were sent by Moses to check out the land of Canaan, the Promised Land of God. They returned after forty days, with good news. The land was flowing with milk and honey. However, there was also bad news. The people were strong and their cities fortified. “There we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (Numbers 13:33).

There would be, someday, another warrior of God thought too small for battle against a large opponent. First King Saul told David, “You cannot fight Goliath. You are only a boy.” Then David put on the armor, but it did not fit. If you are too small for the armor, you are too small for the battle. Finally, the big Philistine himself laughed at David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?”

The Israelites’ problem was someone thought they were too small for battle, but it wasn’t the Nephilim or the Amalekites or the Hittites or the Jebusites or the Amorites or the Canaanites. It was the Israelites themselves. “We seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers.” 

It never occurred to David to measure himself. He measured Goliath and he measured God. “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel” (1Samuel 17:45). 

“What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?”
~Romans 8:31 

So David killed Goliath with a slingshot. Then he cut off his head.

Daily Prayer

Awesome God, You reign from heaven above with wisdom, power, and love. You are the Almighty, the Everlasting, my Stronghold, my Shelter, my Fortress in time of trouble. You are my Savior.

My God is an awesome God. May I never rely on my own strength and may I never forget Your strength. I shall place my trust in it, in You, always. If my God is for me, who can be against me?

Amen

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A Jealous God

Daily Reading

Exodus 33-35

Daily Thought

Why does God describe himself as a jealous God? “For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). Isn’t jealousy wrong and unworthy of God?

The answer is, God is #1. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, ever-present, fully good, full of love. Is he hard to beat? No, he is impossible to beat. As ten plagues pummeled Egypt, Moses proclaimed to Pharaoh, “so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God in all the earth” (Exodus 8:10; 9:14). 

“I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God” (Isaiah 45:5). God says this, not because he is cocky, but because it is true, and God is always true. God is jealous, not of us, but for us. We belong with him. He promised, “I will be your God; you will be my people.” It is a relationship akin to marriage; Jesus calls the church his bride and he is the bridegroom. No one would fault a husband’s jealousy for the affection of his wife. It is not to be shared or spread around.

But it is more than that. When God says, “I love you,” he is also saying, “I want the best, the very best, for you,” so he gave you himself. He is saying, “I love you enough to die for you, so that you can have the very best.” And what is the very best if not God? Always. Forever and ever. God’s jealousy for us is the best thing that ever happened to us.

Daily Prayer

My heavenly Father, from eternity past to forevermore, You are God, who was, and is, and is to come. Timeless, You created time, then entered time. I long to be present with You in eternity, where Your holiness reigns forever.

Forgive me, God, when I pursue something less than you. and everything else is less than You. May You always be my first love, may I first and always seek Your Kingdom, your righteousness, and leave everything else in Your care.

Amen