Tag: Trust

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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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The Name on the Front

Daily Reading

2Chronicles 32-34

Daily Thought

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, had grown accustomed to winning. He was confident, if not cocky. Trash talk came easy. “Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands at all able to deliver their lands out of my hand?” (2Chronicles 32:13). 

“Do you think your God can do any better?” he taunted Judah. 

“Yes,” said Hezekiah. 

Hezekiah knew the army of Sennacherib was strong, stronger than Judah, nevertheless he rallied his people against the Assyrians, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles” (2Chronicles 32:7-8). 

They have muscle; we have God.

Herb Brooks coached the U.S. Hockey team to gold at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. In route to gold, they defeated the best hockey team in the world, the Soviet Union. Before the game, Brooks rallied his team, “Think you can win on talent alone? Gentlemen, you don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone. When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates. And the name on the front (USA) is a lot more important than the name on the back.”

The Lord said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever” (2Chronicles 33:4). The name on the front. 

“And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land.” ~2Chronicles 32:20-21

Do you believe in miracles? Yes!

Daily Prayer

Lord in heaven, may I wear Your Name with confidence, knowing that there is none like You. You are God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I trust You with my life, because all that I am is Yours. You gave me life in the first place.

I know that, for those who love You and follow You, all things will work together for good. No matter what I face, I remember You went to the cross, and out of that saved the world. So I will bear my cross, whatever it is, because I’m excited to discover what You will do with me. I believe in You.

Amen

Daily Question

What battle do you need God to fight this week?

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From the Heavens

Daily Reading

2Chronicles 13-17

Daily Thought

The Hebrew people were now a divided Kingdom, Israel to the north under Jeroboam its king, Abijah reigning over the southern kingdom of Judah. They were divided and different. Judah was ruled by a man born from God’s chosen line of David; Israel’s king was a rebellious son of Solomon’s servant, illegitimate to the throne. Judah followed the Lord God, whose priests were of God’s chosen line of Aaron and the tribe of Levi. In Israel, “whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams” became a priest (2Chronicles 13:9) and presented offerings to golden calves made by Jeroboam.

Judah was following God; Israel was not. However, one difference seemed to favor Israel–they had an army of 800,000, twice as many as Judah–and now they were at war. Judah was surrounded by an enemy twice its size, to the right and left, in front and behind, but Israel could not guard the skies, and Judah’s strength came from the heavens. God was on high, and he was Judah’s God–“Behold, God is with us at our head,” warned Abijah. “O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed” (2Chronicles 13:12). 

Jeroboam fought anyway, did not succeed, and never recovered–“The Lord struck him down, and he died. But Abijah grew mighty” (2Chronicles 13:20-21). Israel and Judah were divided and different, but only one difference mattered, “We keep the charge of the Lord our God,” said Abijah, “but you have forsaken him” (2Chronicles 13:11).

Daily Prayer

My Lord and Savior, You have placed me in a battlefield on earth, in a world that loves neither You nor Your ways. I cannot be a friend to the ways of the world and follow You at the same time. I must make a choice and I choose You, which means I fight the world and the world fights me. No matter, though, because You are with me and will never leave me, so I can stand in Your Name.

Thank You for so great a salvation. You are my strength and my confidence and I trust fully in You. My eyes will stay true, my heart pure, my path straight, so long as I love You, listen to Your Word, and follow Your ways.

Amen

Daily Question

What can you point to in your life that demonstrates your trust in God?

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Do Nothing

Daily Reading

1Chronicles 15-17

Daily Thought

David had learned to trust God when he had something to do, something to accomplish, something to conquer. When he was young, David stood before Goliath, a giant warrior, “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, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head” (1Samuel 17:45-46). Such was David’s faith and God was with him. David learned to seek God before each battle, as he did in his most recent, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up, and I will give them into your hand” (1Chronicles 14:10), and David trusted God and fought the Philistines and won.

David intended to build a house for God and this was a good intention–“Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent” (1Chronicles 17:1). David had a house; God didn’t have a house. Build him one. Nathan the prophet agreed, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you” (1Chronicles 17:2). Then God visited Nathan and said, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in’” (v 4). For David, a man of action, a hands-on guy with a vigorous faith, “Do nothing” may be most difficult to hear. Sometimes the hardest thing God wants us to do is nothing. David must trust God when he has nothing to do, nothing to add or accomplish. 

“Be still and know that I am God.” ~Psalm 46:10

So David trusted God and did nothing.

Daily Prayer

Lord God, You delight in me. There is nothing I can add to Your worth or Your wealth. You have no need of my offerings or my sacrifices. You desire them, not for Your gain but for mine. When I give I gain. My faith and trust grows. My relationship strengthens.

All that I am, God, comes from You. I am happiest when I pursue what You have created me to do. Take my desires God and shape them to Your will. You delight in me. I long to delight in You. May I listen to You.

Amen

Daily Question

Is it easier for you to accomplish something for God or wait patiently for God to do his work?

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Trusting God

Daily Reading

1Chronicles 3-5

Daily Thought

First Chronicles begins with 9 chapters of names, a genealogy of families fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham, “I will multiply your offspring as the sand that is on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17). These long lists are names, the sons of Judah (1Chronicles 4:1) and Simeon (1Chronicles 4:24) and Reuben (1Chronicles 5:1), etc., are the grains of sand advertising that God has done exactly what he said he would do. It is a trail of trust; our faith is not blind. The God who has always been faithful is forever faithful, and, based on that, will continue to be. We can trust him with our lives.

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 shoots 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 before him. He stepped forward anyway onto a bridge unseen. 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 full of Your majesty and wonder.

Amen

Daily Question

Why do you trust the Word of God to be true?

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In His Time

Daily Reading

1Samuel 13-14

Daily Thought

Have you noticed how often God is late? God and I have this disagreement–I think now would be a good time, but God thinks later. Later is usually better, but that’s not how I calendared it. God has an agenda, and all too often it’s not the same as mine, and that’s my problem.

I’m not alone in this. Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that their brother Lazarus was dying. Hurry, they urged him. Instead, he waited two days. Both sisters accused Jesus, “If you had been here…”; but Jesus had a better plan, “I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe” (see John 11:1-44).  Peter observes that the whole world thinks God is late and scoffs, “Jesus said he would return. Where is he?” But God has a better plan, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (see 2Peter 3:1-9). The writer of Hebrews calls God’s people to be “imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12).

King Saul had little patience, and thus showed less faith. Saul was anxious to fight the Philistines, but Samuel was yet to offer sacrifices to God before the battle. Seven days passed and Samuel, and therefore God, was late. It was time for war, so Saul wrongly offered the sacrifices himself. Then Samuel showed up and said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart” (1Samuel 13:13-14).

Unless we learn to trust God and wait on his timing, we will never experience his better plan. Being obedient is more important than being on time. Saul failed to learn this, but a couple kings later, a wise King Solomon observed, “God makes everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Not ours.

Daily Prayer

God, Your ways are not man’s ways. By faith, I follow You. I trust You and I will jump when You call. I will also wait until You say, “Go.” I know if it is according to my strength and my wisdom, I am in danger of taking credit. Therefore, God, not by my strength, my wisdom, nor my timing, I submit to You my heart and my soul, and I will follow You in faith.

And You get the glory.

Amen

Daily Question

When have you seen God’s timing was better then your timing?

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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

Daily Question

What is the difference between believing in a religion called Christianity and having a personal relationship with your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

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Follow the Science

Daily Reading

Joshua 9-11

Daily Thought

Joshua 10 describes the fantastic defeat of five armies from five cities. Israel battled and God threw hailstones from heaven and the armies ran. To annihilate them, Joshua requested of God, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon,” and the “sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day” (Joshua 10:12-13). 

Did it really? Did the sun actually stay in the sky, giving Joshua and his army a longer day so they could bring the war to completion? First of all, the sun didn’t stop, because the sun doesn’t rise either. This is phenomenal language, the language of appearance. The sun does not orbit, rather the earth rotates, so, if anything, the earth stopped. One Old Testament scholar suggests that the word for “stand still” may be translated “stand silent.” Joshua, in this case, was praying for extended darkness rather than light, which was provided by the clouds. Clouds would be consistent with the large hailstones God threw down from heaven at the enemy (Joshua 10:11). Another argues that the words are merely symbolic. It has also been suggested that the earth’s rotation slowed for a time, resulting in a longer day.

You may have been told a tale about NASA mapping out the movement of the sun, moon, and planets, and running into an error of exactly 24 hours for which they could not account. So the story goes, one scientist recalled two lessons from Sunday School. The first was Isaiah asking God to back the sun up 40 minutes as a sign to King Hezekiah. The other, our passage, which they calculated at 23 hours, 20 minutes. Added together, one complete day, and the computers reconciled the discrepancy. Voila! 

Except this never happened. A Mr. Harold Hill fabricated the story when giving lectures on Science and the Bible, and it was published in a newspaper, printed in a book, and passed from pulpit to pulpit. Science argued the miracle was not possible (what miracle is?), yet this is God’s Word, so Mr. Hill thought to bring Science and Scripture together.  (Was not the con man in the musical Music Man also named Harold Hill?) 

Where does the idea God needs rescuing come from? We pit Scripture against Science, as if God and Science are at war. When Science and Scripture conflict, the issue is as likely to be my interpretation of Scripture as the scientist’s interpretation of nature. God is not anti-science and good science is not anti-God. Rather, God’s eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made (Romans 1:20). “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1).

My answer regarding the sun standing still in Joshua 10? Frankly, I don’t know the answer. I favor some explanations over others, but when all is said and done, I don’t know, and that’s okay for now. I know God and that’s who I need to know.

Daily Prayer

Mighty God, the heavens declare Your glory, and the sky above proclaims Your handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

I rise to a new day, made by You, and I shall delight in it. I shall stop often and listen to Your voice in the world around me, worship You as I ponder Your creation, stand in wonder at the wisdom of beauty in Your handiwork. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Amen

Daily Question

How should you resolve issues when the Bible seems to conflict with science?

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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, longingly look back, 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

Daily Question

What sins attract you the most, and why?