May 18, 2012

Friday: May 18, 2012

READ: Isaiah 18-20

BACKGROUND: Isaiah 18 & 19 contain God’s judgment prophecies against two of the most powerful nations in the world at that time, Ethiopia & Egypt. Chapter 20 stands as a very short and hilarious (in my opinion) side story about how Isaiah had to walk around naked & barefoot for 3 years to demonstrate the judgment that was coming to these nations.
By Verse:
18:1 – Cush/Nubia/Ethiopia (Northeast of modern day Ethiopia) was located South of Egypt and was so powerful that they conquered Egypt in 715 B.C. and set up a dynasty there. For nerds like me who’d like to read more about it (and get a little glimpse – at least – of some of the spiritual evils that were going on in both countries when the book of Isaiah was written which was during the Nubian reign of Egypt) check out this link.
7 – In the end times, the Ethiopians will worship God. This same prophecy is echoed in Zechariah 14:16.
19:1 – It is funny when Isaiah writes the Egypt’s idols will tremble. Obviously idols aren’t real and can’t tremble. But what he is doing is recalling the 10 plagues of the Exodus in which God systematically embarrassed, judged, & shattered Egypt’s idols. They want no part of him.
2 – Egyptian civil war, predicted here, happened frequently in the years that followed.
4 – The “cruel master” in question is Esarhaddon of Assyria, who conquered Egypt in 671 B.C.
5 – Drought pretty much crushed every single facet of the Egyptian economy
16 – Remember, in prophetic passages, the phrase “In that day” refers to the day of judgment.
18 – 5 probably isn’t literal. It just conveys “many.” The “City of Destruction” is likely a reference to Heliopolis, city of the sun-god, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar – see Jeremiah 43:12-13.
23 – When Jesus returns and sets the world right, enemies will no longer fight but be united through the bond of brotherhood/sisterhood in Christ.
25 – This universal vision – that God loves everybody and wants to save everybody would have been pretty shocking to some of the Jews who read it as many had become convinced that they were the only people that mattered.
20:1-6 – This just cracks me up. God told Isaiah to go naked and barefoot for 3 years as a symbol of the slavery that awaited these wicked nations if they did not repent. Don’t you just really hope you never get that call? 🙂

THINK: Jenny and I got the most ridiculously comfortable recliners ever on clearance at HOM Furniture a couple years ago. I have no idea how they ever made it to the clearance section because they’re so plush, and I love to sit in them. I wanted to sit in one really bad on Tuesday. I was doing the Plyometrics workout in P90X – really thankful that I was all alone and nobody could see the pathetic, out-of-shape, fat guy trying to jump around – and I looked back and had an overwhelming desire to just sit down in the chair. Because the chair is comfortable. And working out is not.

I think a lot of times we’re “Recliner Christians.” Our faith and the way we live it out is really comfortable. We like to just sit back and relax because we know that we’re saved and we’re good to go when we die. So who really cares, right? Well, God does. He cares about lost people, and he is calling us to do something more that live out Recliner Christianity because it’s comfortable. He called the nation of Israel to do that in the Old Testament too. But they just kept going back to the recliner. They kept on relying on the fact that they were God’s chosen people and deciding that meant they didn’t have to reach outside their comfort zone and share with others. And they lived shallow lives with shallow faith.

What is crazy about this passage of Isaiah is that God very clearly demonstrates that the Messiah – the Savior – isn’t just for the Jews. He is for everybody! And he calls the Egyptians and the Ethiopians his people along with the Jews. His heart is to save everybody. He declares – despite the punishment that is coming as a consequence of their wickedness – that they are his people.

William Booth, the man who founded the Salvation Army, was once walking in London with his son, Bramwell, who was then 12 or 13 years old. The father surprised the son by taking him into a saloon! The place was crowded with men and women, many of them bearing on their faces the marks of vice and crime; some were drunk. The fumes of alcohol and tobacco were poisonous. “Son,” Booth said, “These are our people; these are the people I want you to live for and bring to Christ.”

It was crazy to the Israelites to think the Egyptians and Ethiopians were God’s people. It was crazy to a young Bramwell Booth to think that prostitutes, drunks, and gamblers were God’s people. It is crazy for us to think that every person around us is someone for whom Jesus Christ came and suffered on the cross. But they are! Look around you. At your neighbors, your classmates, your coworkers, your teammates. At the drunks, the pot-heads, the cutters, the depressed, the oppressed, the jocks, the band kids. These are our people! If they have been placed in the path of our lives then God wants to use us to draw them closer to himself someway, somehow. We cannot afford to sit back any longer. No matter how comfortable and tempting is seems, we cannot be Recliner Christians when action – bold, uncomfortable, radical action – is required.

PRAY: Ask God to give you to courage to step outside your comfort zone. Ask God to open doors for you to have conversations with people. Ask God to give you the wisdom and guidance to know what to say.

Posted by on May 18, 2012 in Prophecy.

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May 17, 2012

Thursday: May 17, 2012

Read: Romans 9

Background: Paul, the author of Romans, is a very Jewish man. It is his nationality and he loves his fellow Jews. In this section of Romans he struggles over the fact that Israel, the Jews, are God’s chosen people but many are not living according to Jesus Christ. Chapter nine shows his angst in this situation, wanting to  believe God’s promises to Israel are true and wanting desperately to see his brothers saved, but knowing that not all have trusted in Christ.
By Verse:
1-3- Look at what Paul is saying! He wishes that he could give up his salvation so that his Jewish brothers and sisters could be saved. He has an unquenchable desire to see them come into the Kingdom of Jesus.
4-5- Paul lists some of the foundations for the Christian faith-they are all Jewish traditions and things God put in place for Israel.
6- What Paul refers to here is God’s election of Israel. All through the Old Testament it is clear that God has chosen Israel (not for their glory and benefit, but for God’s). However, if Jews are not following Christ than they do not have the salvation talked about in the Old Testament. Election, then, is not the same as salvation (as some would argue). You can be elected (physical/hereditary Israel) to serve God’s purposes and bring him glory but not saved (spiritual Israel). This is an important distinction to understand when reading what Paul has to say about God’s sovereignty.
7-9- Israel does not refer to the physical bloodline of people, but rather the spiritual children of Abraham’s promise.
16- No amount of good works can gain our salvation; it is only by God’s mercy that we are given the rights of children of God.
17- Paul reminds us of the story in Exodus of Pharaoh. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in order to display His glory among all the nations. God’s glory was more important than Pharaoh’s heart.
24- God’s salvation includes not only Jews, but also Gentiles, non-Jews. Gentiles who believe were not God’s chosen people, but are adopted as spiritual children.
32- Righteousness comes through faith, not by works. Israel tried to earn righteousness through works alone. Christ’s message was a stumbling block for Israel.

Think: I traveled abroad to Spain for a semester when I was in college. I was not super excited about going and my first night there was awful! I already missed home and knew I was a $500 plane ticket away from my family. My Spanish was appalling and I was so scared to meet my host family. My friends were with me at the not-so-clean little hostel we were staying at, and we decided to go to the roof and play some cards. There was another group of international students up there too and we avoided them. They were probably nice enough, but I was not about to make friends since I was feeling so sorry for myself. Then God started tugging on my heart. He very clearly was asking me to go hang out with these fellow travelers and share the gospel. He gave me the opportunity and the courage I needed, but I refused. In that moment I cared more about feeling sad and lonely than engaging people with the life-changing message of Jesus.

Paul’s longing and desire to see his fellow Jews come to know Jesus brings incredible conviction to me. He wanted nothing more than to see them become disciples of Christ. Paul even says that he wishes he could trade in his own salvation so that his brothers and sisters could be saved! He is radical about his faith and selfless in his pursuit of Jesus. Are we?

The best way for us to grow a desire to see our lost friends saved is by praying for them. It is amazing how God stirs our hearts for the things we begin to pray about. We also need to be looking for opportunities to share our faith. Maybe your first step is to expand your circle and meet some people who don’t know Jesus. Begin sharing life with them and letting them see how Christ’s power works in you.

Ask: Who are people God is calling you to? What are the next steps you should take in order to help them come to an understanding of Jesus? Maybe it’s just as simple as having a conversation – not one where you feel pressure to “convert” someone of bring them all the way to salvation, but one in which you are sensitive to the Holy Spirit and you just tell them a little bit about what God means to you and what Jesus was all about so that they understand him a little more. Who can you have a conversation with today?

By: KVH

Posted by on May 17, 2012 in Epistles.

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May 16, 2012

Wednesday: May 16, 2012

READ: Genesis 18:16-19:38

BACKGROUND: This, to say the least, is one weird and messed-up story. It is heartbreaking, disgusting, and powerful all at the same time. The story picks up right after God and two angels (appearing as men) come to Abraham to promise again that he and Sarah will have a child and he’ll be the father of many nations. Then they turn towards Sodom & Gomorrah.
By Verse:
18 – This is one of the key themes of the Old Testament: That all the people of the earth would be blessed through and by God’s people!
20 – The horrific, unspeakable sins of Sodom & Gomorrah cry out to Heaven to be deal with.
21 – God already knew what was going on (after all, he knows everything) but he demonstrated his justice by noting that he would first gather all the facts.
23-32 – Abraham, a mere man, came face-to-face with God, and boldly made requests. Notice that those requests were motivated not by selfish ambition but out of a deep concern for others. Sadly, there weren’t even 10 righteous people to be found.
19:3 – Lot insisted they stay at his home because he knew the danger they were in.
5 – The men of the city wanted to rape the two men who were staying with Lot.
8 – It was customary in that culture to protect your guests even with your own life, which maybe explains Lot’s actions and his thinking here. It doesn’t make them right though. Lot is not always the best example of faith. Offering up his two daughters to be raped instead of the two guests was not a good solution.
11 – Being angels and not simply humans, the two men afflicted the men of the town with blindness. The Hebrew word here indicates blurred vision that results in mental confusion and bewilderment.
14 – The fact that Lot’s sons-in-law thought he was kidding around demonstrates the level of moral authority he had even in his own household. That is, very little.
19 – Lot doesn’t want to go to the mountains. He’s comfy where he’s at. So he asks the angels to spare Zoar (literally “tiny place”) so he can go and live there.
24 – Major deposits of sulfur (brimstone) and  asphalt have been found in this area. It’s possible that God destroyed these towns via an earthquake and that lightning ignited some of the underground gases that were released creating a rain of smoke and fire.
26 – The area also has massive rock salt deposits from the thermal brine brewing underneath the surface. Lot’s wife was struck dead when she looked back (or returned back). It is highly possible that describing her as a “pillar of salt” means either she was killed in the earthquake when a giant shower of salt deposits that had been blown skyward came crashing back down.
31-38 – Gross! Huge failure on the part of Lot and also on the part of his daughters. The Moabites and the Ammonites became bitter enemies and persecutors of Israel.

THINK: Have you ever met anyone famous? I haven’t. Not like actually met and had a conversation with anyways. I shook Bill Clinton’s hand once when he spoke at my high school, I got Mark Prior’s autograph over a fence before his arm fell apart and doomed the Cubs, and I once shouted “Hey Jo!” at Joakim Noah on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. That’s as close as I’ve come. And frankly I can’t imagine having the chance to meet some of my heroes (past & present). Just think about it for a minute. What would it be like to meet your hero? What would it be like to sit down with the President of the United States for a conversation? Or go back in time and hang out with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln? Or get whisked to California and watch a Lakers game with Justin Bieber? 🙂 We’d feel super nervous in those moments, and we would really want to impress the person on the other side of the table. We might be so intimidated and overwhelmed that we’d stumble over the things we wanted to say. It just feels, in some ways, like celebrities are unapproachable. We can read about them and watch them on TV, but actually meeting them and getting to know them seems way out of reach.

Sometimes I think we treat God like this. We think of him as so big and so powerful and so holy that we can’t really have a conversation with him or even picture ourselves doing that. We’re intimidated by the idea of prayer because we feel like we don’t have all the right things to say or like God wouldn’t listen to us even if we did. God just seems out of reach.

If there is one awesome thing in this heartbreaking section of Genesis it is this: it gives us an amazing picture of how we can approach God and how deeply God loves us! Abraham acknowledged that he isn’t worthy to speak to and make requests of the LORD (even though he was way more righteous and way more worthy than most of us, he still wasn’t nearly worthy enough), but God listened to him anyways. God allowed Abraham to pour out his heart. And in praying boldly, Abraham learned not only that the Sovereign God of the universe is ready and willing to have conversations with us and listen to us and make himself approachable to us, but also that he is a God of incredible love and mercy (look how many times he listened to Abraham’s pleas). When we pray we learn a lot about who God is and who he is calling us to be. That is an amazing gift!

ASK: Do I sometimes avoid praying because I feel like God is unapproachable and he doesn’t/wouldn’t listen anyways? What does it mean for my life – going forward – that the Creator of the world is willing to listen to me, that he is approachable?

Posted by on May 16, 2012 in Law.

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May 15, 2012

Tuesday: May 15, 2012

Read: Proverbs 6

Background: Proverbs is a book of modern wisdom. Even though it was written thousands of years ago, it makes sense for us today-proof that it is God’s word. Writers of wisdom literature, like Proverbs, value both tradition and their own experience. They also have a broad range of people in mind. When Solomon wrote Proverbs his audience was the old, young, rich, poor, skilled and unskilled. This means that Proverbs 6 has something to say to each one of us.
By Verse:
1-5- If you are unable to keep a promise, be humble about it and make things right. Do not be trapped by that unmet promise and allow it to burden you. Work at making the situation right.
6-11- Don’t be lazy! Poverty is the reward for laziness.
12-15- Disaster is the reward for stirring up evil.
16- There are seven things that are detestable to the Lord and that he hates. Seven is the number of perfection so this signifies God’s perfect hate for these sins.
20-23- Obey your parents because they have wisdom for your life.
25-29- Sexual immorality is a huge temptation in this broken world. Solomon is urging us to not even come close to such a sin. Know the areas of your life where you are tempted most, and stay far away!
32-33 Disgrace is the reward for adultery.

Think: I feel like Proverbs 6 can be best described through the old cartoon of Wile E. Coyote and the Road-Runner. Coyote thinks he is wise in all of his scheming and plotting, but over and over again ends up in a worse place than where he started. He wants more than anything to catch his enemy, the Road-Runner, and he pursues that desire with everything he has. As he does this, Road-Runner always outsmarts him and the destruction ends up on Coyote. As we watch him we wonder why he doesn’t give up his pursuit. His plotting leads to destruction and he cannot seem to escape the cycle.

One of the cycles we see in this chapter is laziness. It is so easy to continue to be lazy and so hard to be productive, but Solomon warns us that if we don’t escape our laziness poverty will come. We may disregard this but I don’t think financial poverty is the only thing going on here. Think about this, if you are lazy about reading the word of God you are creating a heart that is spiritually poor. If we don’t pursue the schooling or work God has put before us we are robbing ourselves of intelligence.

Next, Solomon warns us against the cycle of stirring up dissension. It is so easy for us to fall into this cycle too! A little gossip here and a complaining attitude there will stir up dissension among us. We have to fight against our natural desire to complain and gossip because it has huge implications. Remember, our only reward for such talk and actions is disaster!

Sexual immorality is another path to destruction, Solomon says. A short look at a magazine and watching the commercials during your favorite show may seem innocent, but Proverbs warns us that it may be like scooping fire into your lap. Lust is a very real temptation for us and it is easy to go from one glance to an addiction quick. It is easy to get into a situation where boundaries no longer seem to matter. If we do not fight against sexual immorality, if we do not fight to protect our souls, we will be overcome by a cycle of lust. And lust leads to disgrace and shame.

Seems a little depressing huh? Sin is tugging at us constantly and we have to fight to not give in. Yes, this is true, but there is also hope. Solomon encourages us to look to our parents for wisdom and insight. He is assuming that our parents are being obedient to Christ and desire to see us doing that as well. Hating the discipline of our parents is the pathway to death, but obedience is the path to life! Wow, there is great promise in these words. God has given us parents to teach and correct us and Solomon encourages us to take advantage of that.

We must always remember that no amount of obedience is possible without the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives and that no amount of disobedience disqualifies us from God’s grace. Jesus came to heal our broken cycles and reverse the patterns of sin in the world. May we rejoice in that truth as we pursue obedience.

Ask: Do you feel like Wile E. Coyote, caught up in sin and reaping the disaster of that? Pray and ask God to speak into the areas of sin in your life right now. Ask him to discipline you so that you can be on the path of life. Ask God to reveal his grace to you in a new way.

Written by KVH, recent recipient of a B.A. in Religion from Central College  🙂

Posted by on May 15, 2012 in Poetry.

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May 14, 2012

Monday: May 14, 2012

READ: Psalm 14-15

BACKGROUND: It’s kind of cool that these two Psalms are put right next to one another. They’re both written by David, and in Psalm 14 he mourns all of the sin and corruption that have overtaken the whole human race while in Psalm 15 he offers hope and describes the kind of person who can have a close relationship with God.
By Verse:
14:1 – “The fool” is someone who is morally corrupt not mentally deficient. Also, David isn’t just talking about people who are self-proclaimed atheists here. He is talking about people who live their lives like God doesn’t exist.
2-3 – Paul quotes these verses in Romans 3:10-12.
7 – David longs, hopefully, for the final establishment of God’s perfect kingdom. “Zion” means Jerusalem – the capital of this kingdom – and it is often used instead of Jerusalem when talking about the future, perfected kingdom.
15:1 – Though the thoughts in this Psalm absolutely apply to all of us, when David talks about coming to God on his “holy hill” he is invoking the powerful imagery of the temple in Jerusalem and all of the things that it meant to come before God there – even the fact that only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies where God’s presence dwelt.
2-5 – The simple answer to the question: “Who can come…?” is “The person whose life and actions show obedience and love for God.”

THINK: A few weeks ago there was a huge soccer game in England between Manchester City and Manchester United. The winner of the game was basically guaranteed to win the championship. The early reports estimated that over 650 million people worldwide – including me – tuned in to watch. I’m a Manchester United fan and I thought, going into the match, they had a really good chance to win. After all, they’re the defending champions and they basically own the city of Manchester. The “rivalry” is kind of like saying the Yankees and Mets have a rivalry in New York City. One team is legendary. The other just isn’t. United has more championships than anyone in history. City are kinda like the Cubs; they never win. So it should have been simple enough for United to dominate them. It should have been a walk in the park. But it wasn’t. They stunk. They came out and played horribly – as bad as I’ve ever seen them play. And I was really frustrated with them because not one single United player played well. None of them did what they were supposed to do – and they lost.

After the game, as I was processing my disappointment and my grumpiness towards my favorite team, I was preparing to send a text to my brother about how every single player stunk it up when a thought hit me: Wow, I wonder how frustrated God gets with us when we continually mess things up – even after he’s given us the Holy Spirit and it shouldn’t be so hard to get them right. Seriously. Stop for a second and think about it. I got frustrated with 11 guys for not playing a game well. How frustrated must God be with 7 billion people for not living well?!?

The reality is, as David says in Psalm 14, that we don’t. None of us lives the way that we ought to live. And even though we acknowledge God with our lips and claim to believe, we become practical atheists when we walk out the door and deny his existence by our lifestyle. And that grieves God’s heart. I can’t even imagine being in his position. But Psalm 15 gives us a great vision to shoot for. We can grow in our relationships with God and become the people he created us to be by being obedient to him. By living with integrity and righteousness, by speaking truth and love, by honoring the Lord and avoiding sin, by being honest and generous and upright.

ASK: Are the qualities listed in Psalm 15 things that define my life and my interaction with others? What are some steps I can take to start living like the person described in Psalm 15 rather than living like the person described in Psalm 14?

Posted by on May 14, 2012 in Psalms.

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May 13, 2012

Sunday: May 13, 2012

READ: Proverbs 4-5. As you read the passage, think about the things in your life that seduce you – the things that suck you in, mislead you, or even corrupt you.

THINK: Again, something a bit different today from Pastor Eugene Peterson:

1. Consider what has caused you to squander days of your life and left you full of regret. It might be patterns of relating to people, patterns of spending your time, or patterns of making decisions. Read Proverbs 5:8-14 again and wait for thoughts to rise to the surface of your mind.

2. Read Proverbs 4:20-23 and see what comes to you about the ways in which you need to avoid such patterns. Do you need to listen? Keep God’s message in plain view? Keep a watchful heart?

3. What would keeping watch over your heart look like? Keeping watch might mean something different for you than it does for others. Avoid just answering this question simply or quickly. Honestly ask yourself what it would/will look like for you to keep watch over your heart.

PRAY: Begin by confessing your regrets about time and energy you’ve wasted. Be honest with God and take the time to fully describe the regrets and let them go. Ask God to help you listen to him better and ask him to give you a watchful heart.

Posted by on May 13, 2012 in Poetry.

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May 12, 2012

Saturday: May 11, 2012

READ: Psalm 12-13

OUT LOUD: Today we’re going to do something a little different. I borrowed the idea from a pastor named Eugene Peterson. To start: Reread Psalm 13, but read it out loud this time. Get into character. Put yourself in the position of David as he was writing & praying these words. Read the passage with passion, and allow yourself to experience the shift in emotion.

THINK: As you hear David’s desire for God’s attention, be aware of how you feel similarly. Search you awareness of what you want or need from God until you have identified and named that desire. Desiring something practical and applicable to every day life – like a good grade on your upcoming finals – is okay. But stop for a second and try to identify the deeper desire behind that. Maybe that desire can be summed up in a single word like significance or maybe in a phrase like to know that I am loved no matter what.

Now think about what characteristic or name for God is most meaningful to you in light of the desire you just pinpointed. For example, if your deep desire is to be delivered from a difficult circumstance, maybe God’s power is most meaningful to you – perhaps you’ll think of him as the Deliverer or the Almighty One. If your deep desire is that God would soothe your hurts maybe his love and compassion jump out – perhaps you can identify him as Daddy.

PRAY: Consider that God is inviting you – right now – to express your deepest desires to him. Be honest and don’t bother beating around the bush. Combine your deep desire with the name you thought about for God, and come up with a short one-sentence prayer like “Powerful One, give me justice.” Spend a couple of minutes praying this prayer – simply repeating it to God and knowing that he hears you.

LIVE: Throughout your day, pray this phrase often. As you go through the regular tasks of life, pray it as you think about it. And then wait for God’s response. Remember: Praying it repeatedly isn’t what gets a response from God – he responds even if we pray it only once – but praying it repeatedly and keeping it on the forefront of our minds allows God to work powerfully in us and allows us to be more conscious of his response.

Posted by on May 12, 2012 in Psalms.

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May 11, 2012

Friday: May 11, 2012

READ: Isaiah 15-17

BACKGROUND: This section contains prophecies against Moab & Damascus for their wickedness. It also reflects and reveals God’s heart – that he does not delight to judge them and bring them down but instead longs that they would turn to him. And he promises that one day a throne of love will be established where all things are set right.
By verse:
15:1 – Moab was a country East of the Dead Sea who was a continual enemy of Israel.
2-3 – Shaved heads & beards and sackcloth were symbols of great mourning.
9 – The “lion” in question is a likely reference to the powerful Assyrian army.
16:1 – Moab – often an oppressor of Israel – is advised to pay tribute and submit to the king in Jerusalem.
3-4 – Now the Moabites are seeking refuge in Israel from their “destroyer” – which, again, is likely Assyria.
5 – What a picture! “In love a throne will be established…” The “one from the House of David” who will establish this throne is the Messiah – Jesus.
9-11 – The Lord weeps over the judgment and destruction that will be brought to Moab because Moab has turned from him. He wants to save them. They refuse to be saved.
17:1 – Damascus was the capital of Syria (Aram).
4-11 – The prophecy shifts from Damascus to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
11 – This pain will be brought on by the Assyrian invasions.

THINK: After my softball games this season we’ve been going to Dairy Queen with a few of our friends from the team. Frankly, this has been one of the only highlights of the season so far because the team has been so bad, but that’s another story altogether. Anyhow, last Thursday, as we were sitting down to enjoy some of the delicious tastiness of the new cake & frosting blizzard, one of the guys in the group said, “Hey, does anybody remember Nerd blizzards?” Instantly I was taken back to some awesome childhood memories. I loved Nerd blizzards growing up. What could be better than small, hard candies mixed with soft-serve? It was really fun to stop and remember something that I’d forgotten about – to recall all of the great memories of being a kid at Dairy Queen with my family. But it made me think, too, about how easy it is to forget. If my friend hadn’t brought it up, those memories would have stayed buried.

It’s easy for us to forget spiritually too. In Isaiah 17:10, God says, “You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock of your fortress.” God is pleading with us to take the time to intentionally remember who he is and what he’s done for us because if we’re not intentional it’s easy to forget. Not to forget that God exists. But to forget what that truly means for us. If we’re honest, we have all forgotten God our Savior from time to time. We’ve had huge spiritual highs from camp or a retreat or a missions trip and then come crashing down from them once we got back. And, if our memory is jogged – like mine was with the Nerd Blizzard – memories coming flooding back. But if our memory isn’t jogged then the feelings, emotions, and experiences of these amazing times of closeness to God simply stay buried and we forget. It is easy to forget. It is so good to remember.

PRAY: Take some time to think back to some of the moments in life when you felt closest to God and you felt his presence most powerfully. Remember those times – let the memories wash over you. Thank God for them and ask him to reveal himself to you anew and afresh.

Posted by on May 11, 2012 in Prophecy.

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May 10, 2012

Thursday: May 10, 2012

READ: Job 6

BACKGROUND: The last 2 chapters have been Eliphaz speaking to Job and basically telling him that all this bad stuff is God punishing him for his sin, and chaper 6 kicks off Job’s response.
By verse:
4 – Job seems to share Eliphaz’s theology in believing that God’s punishment is upon him.
5-6 – This is a two-fold complaint: 1. God has wounded him & 2. His friends haven’t helped.
9-10 – Job is still intent on not cursing God’s name or turning from him, but in his pain he feels tempted. So he wishes for death – to be totally crushed – as a way to escape the pain while avoiding that sin.
29 – Job is pleading that his friends will take back their false accusations

THINK: Roy Clark and his father sat in the family car in the funeral home parking lot for several minutes. As a teenager, he wasn’t sure how to respond when his dad put his head in his hands and moaned, “I don’t know what to say!”

A friend from their church had been in a car accident. She had survived, but her three daughters had all died when a truck hit their vehicle. What could they say to their friend at a time like this?

In the Bible we are told that during Job’s time of grieving, his three friends came to mourn with him and to comfort him. For the first 7 days they sat and wept with him because he was in deep sorrow (Job 2:11-13). “No one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great” (v.13). Their presence alone was a comfort to him.

But then they began to lecture. They told Job he must have sinned and that God was punishing him (4:7-9).

When Job was finally able to respond, he told his friends what he needed from them. He asked for reasons to continue hoping (6:11), for kindness (v.14), and for words that did not presume guilt (vv.29-30).

Remembering the story of Job and his friends may help us when we don’t know what to say.

From Our Daily Bread, Anne Cetas, October 18, 2007

ASK: Am I naturally more likely to listen or to lecture? Is there anyone I know who is hurting that could use some listening and encouragement today?

Posted by on May 10, 2012 in Poetry.

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May 9, 2012

Wednesday: May 9, 2012

READ: Genesis 17:1-18:15

BACKGROUND: God’s covenant with Abraham – that he would be the father of many nations – is one of the most important themes woven throughout the entire Bible.
By Verse:
17:1 – “God Almighty” = El-Shaddai. El is the standard word for God. Shaddai conveys might and great power.
2 – The covenant belongs to whom? God! He calls it “my covenant.”
8 – This land could be lost due to unfaithfulness (the failure of God’s people to fulfill their part of the covenant). However, God’s promise was ultimately that they’d inherit the land forever – for eternity. We can hold onto that promise today. Heaven wont be some weird ethereal reality. It’s a place. The inheritance of God’s people is the land.
10 – In the Ancient Near Eastern world every covenant had a symbol. A mark. A sign. A ritual that demonstrated faithfulness to the covenant. In this case, God says that circumcision is the symbol of the covenant. This means that Abraham – and his descendants – showed their faithfulness to God and their intention of covenanting with him, following him, and claiming his promises by participating in this.
14 – Rejecting God will result in being cut off from the covenant.
18:1-2 – It says that the LORD – Yahweh – appeared to Abraham & then Abraham looked and saw 3 men. This entire encounter in Chapter 18 is something called a theophany. It is a very clear appearance of God taking on human form. One of the 3 men is God. It’s not the Trinity though – the language in the passage indicates that 2 of the men are angels and 1 is God. The church fathers are unanimous in saying that this is Jesus appearing to Abraham in the Old Testament. How cool is that ?!?!
12 – Sarah laughed just like Abraham had laughed in 17:17.
14 – It’s a rhetorical question. The obvious answer is “no” but we – like Sarah & Abraham – don’t always live like we actually believe it.
15 – I find this verse funny. It makes me laugh. 🙂

THINK: I grew up attending Sunday School every week. When my teachers told stories like this one of Abram and Sarah, they were automatically heroes in my mind. I pictured them as super-human, perfect beings. Thankfully I’ve come to realize that while these individuals are heroes of the faith, they are far from perfect. They’re perfectly human. I’m now absolutely amazed that in the midst of their insecurities, their doubt and their denial of God, He used them to accomplish incredible things.

Aren’t you grateful that God does the same for you and me? Like Sarah, I’ve laughed in doubt and disbelief at some of God’s promptings on my life. In fact, when I was working a full-time job in marketing a few years ago I felt God’s prompting to quit and pursue a job in Christian ministry. I laughed in disbelief. I doubted that He could use me.  I thought there was no way He would provide for me if I walked away from a good job. A few months after ignoring God’s call, I was laid off. God was tremendously gracious with me and led me to a position at a church.

God chose to make Abraham great, despite his doubt, his disbelief, and his sin. He chose to use Sarah after she led her husband into sin with Hagar (Gen. 16) and laughed at God’s promise to Abram.  If we have true faith in God, we too may experience unbelief and we will most definitely disobey. Praise God, He uses us despite our weaknesses and our failures.

ASK: Am I listening for God’s promptings? Do I have faith that God wants to use His people, despite their inadequacies, to accomplish His purposes? Pray and ask God to begin to reveal to you what he has for you and to build your faith and confidence in Him.

Written by Cari Widdel

Posted by on May 9, 2012 in Law.

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