Eternal Security

Readings for today: Jeremiah 9-12

I grew up with a deep sense of insecurity. I always felt like I had something to prove. Always felt like I needed to impress others. I cared a lot about what others thought. An unkind word would send me into an emotional tailspin for days. Sure, I covered well. I developed an instinct for self-preservation. I guarded my heart and let no one in. I overcompensated by chasing achievement. I drove myself hard. I refused to ever quit. Though I was never the smartest, I graduated high school with honors. Though I was never the most athletic, I lettered in two sports and made the all-state team in lacrosse. Though I was not excited about Boy Scouts, I achieved the rank of Eagle. Though I wasn’t sure what I believed, I was a leader in my youth group at church, sang solos in the church choir, and even played the lead (Jesus) in a production of Godspell. By the time I got to college, I was tired. Tired of having to keep up appearances. Tired of having to pretend every single day. Tired of having to project a perfect image to the world. Furthermore, I had no close friends. No community to speak of. My family was an hour away. I felt very much alone. The results were not good. The house of cards I had built came crashing down around me. I began drinking heavily. Skipping class. Failing out of school. That’s when I met Jesus. He overwhelmed all my defenses. He penetrated to the depths of my heart. And He let me know I was deeply and dearly loved. Loved for who I was not who I pretended to be. Loved fully and completely and unconditionally. To say it was life-changing would be an understatement.

I love this verse from our reading today…“Don’t let the wise brag of their wisdom. Don’t let heroes brag of their exploits. Don’t let the rich brag of their riches. If you brag, brag of this and this only: That you understand and know me. I’m God, and I act in loyal love. I do what’s right and set things right and fair, and delight in those who do the same things. These are my trademarks.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭9‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭MSG‬‬‬)‬ It describes the old Doug and the new Doug so well. I used to be the guy who would boast in his wisdom. Boast in his strength. Boast in his success. But I knew deep down I was just covering for my insecurity. After meeting Jesus, I learned to boast only in Him. He became my security. He became my wisdom. He became my strength. Serving Him became my success. Learning to practice steadfast love and justice and righteousness in the earth became the goal of my life. After almost thirty years, I can say with confidence that my life is richer and more full that I could ever have imagined. I am wiser and stronger than I’ve ever been. I’ve experienced far more success than I ever deserved or could have achieved on my own. All because of Jesus.

It’s so tempting to boast in the things of this world. To get caught up trying to keep up with those around us. Compare ourselves to other people’s highlight reels on social media. Cover for our insecurities by chasing temporal wisdom, riches, success, or power. It’s so easy to spend our lives trying to find something…anything…to boast in. To base our self-esteem on our own abilities and accomplishments. But God wants so much more for us. God has so much more for us. If we will simply turn to Him and let Him in, He will do more than we can ever ask or imagine.

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 13-16

An Emotional God

Readings for today: Jeremiah 5-8

“I drown in grief. I’m heartsick. Oh, listen! Please listen! It’s the cry of my dear people reverberating through the country. Is God no longer in Zion? Has the King gone away? Can you tell me why they flaunt their plaything-gods, their silly, imported no-gods before me? The crops are in, the summer is over, but for us nothing’s changed. We’re still waiting to be rescued. For my dear broken people, I’m heartbroken. I weep, seized by grief. Are there no healing ointments in Gilead? Isn’t there a doctor in the house? So why can’t something be done to heal and save my dear, dear people?” (Jeremiah‬ ‭8‬:‭18‬-‭22‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

This passage from the end of Jeremiah 8 is one of the most poignant in all of Scripture and it bleeds into the beginning of chapter 9. Most English translations put these words in Jeremiah’s mouth. Primarily because of how uncomfortable we are with God experiencing deep, heartbreaking grief. As Western Christians we are heavily influenced by Greek Platonic thought whether we realize it or not. We tend to believe God is fundamentally distant. Fundamentally different. Fundamentally beyond all human experience, including emotions. We believe He is untouchable. Unmovable. Unchangeable. We associate emotions with feelings of change. Instability. Unpredictability. And these things cannot be true of God...right? 

But what if we were willing to embrace a different understanding of emotions? A deeper understanding? Again, it is without question that God experiences emotions. Love. Anger. Frustration. Joy. We read about them over and over again and they are not simply anthropomorphisms. (A way for God to express Himself in human terms we can understand. Ex. “The arm of the Lord...”) What if our understanding of God could be expanded to include the full range of emotions? What if us having emotions is part of being made in God’s image? What if our “emotionalism”, which breeds the feelings of instability and unpredictability, is actually a result of sin and brokenness? What if God, because He remains untouched by sin, is able to experience all emotions without being driven by them? 

This brings us back to the passage cited above. God is expressing the deepest, most heartbreaking grief possible.  ”I drown in grief. I’m heartsick.” God is experiencing an incredible sense of loss. His people have betrayed Him. They have abandoned Him. They have turned around and blamed Him. “It’s the cry of my dear people reverberating through the country. Is God no longer in Zion? Has the King gone away?" They refuse to bow the knee. Refuse to repent and return to Him. Refuse to humble themselves before Him. Quite the opposite. They brazenly continue in sin. "Can you tell me why they flaunt their plaything-gods, their silly, imported no-gods before me?" This is a stiff-necked people. A foolish people. A rebellious people. They take their relationship with God for granted. They are entitled. They are spoiled. They assume God will come to their rescue despite their unwillingness to walk in His ways. "The crops are in, the summer is over, but for us nothing’s changed. We’re still waiting to be rescued."

The perspective shifts back to God at the beginning of chapter nine which we’ll read tomorrow. (Remember the chapter and verse divisions are somewhat arbitrary and appeared much later than the original text.) ““I wish my head were a well of water and my eyes fountains of tears So I could weep day and night for casualties among my dear, dear people. At times I wish I had a wilderness hut, a backwoods cabin, Where I could get away from my people and never see them again. They’re a faithless, feckless bunch, a congregation of degenerates.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭9‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MSG‬‬) Again, one pictures deep, heavy sobs. God weeping a flood of tears. God experiencing unimaginable pain. Because He has freely joined Himself in an unbreakable covenant with His people, their wounds become His wounds. Their pain becomes His pain. Their heartbreak becomes His heartbreak. Things get so bad, God wishes He could leave. Abandon them to their fate. Leave the Temple in Jerusalem and return to the wilderness. To the time when He tabernacled with them on the Exodus journey. But the Tabernacle is gone. There is no lodging place in the desert God can run to. He is stuck. He is committed. He will endure. This is the great faithfulness of our God! It is costly. It is hard. It is painful. But it remains true. 

Really, God is being faithful to Himself here. Faithful to the promise He has made. To be our God, come hell or high water. This was the message He communicated through the covenant He first made with Abraham in Genesis 15 and sealed through the death and resurrection of His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. His steadfast love establishes the fundamental reality of our lives. The bedrock on which we can build our lives. Without fear. Without shame. Without worry that somehow, someway there will come a day when God will finally lose patience and abandon us. God will not leave us or forsake us for in doing so He would be unfaithful to Himself. Let this truth be your firm foundation today, friends!

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 9-12

The Grief of God

Readings for today: Jeremiah 1-4

Jeremiah is a hard book to read. Especially if one gets in touch with the pain present throughout. Not only Jeremiah’s pain as he watches his people and his nation struggle and suffer and eventually be destroyed, but God’s pain as well as His people betray Him by chasing after other gods. So intertwined is the pain of God with His prophet that it is often hard to know who’s speaking. For example, Jeremiah  4:19 says, “I’m doubled up with cramps in my belly— a poker burns in my gut. My insides are tearing me up, never a moment’s peace. The ram’s horn trumpet blast rings in my ears, the signal for all-out war.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭4‬:‭19‬ ‭MSG‬‬) Traditionally, these words have been ascribed to Jeremiah himself because we simply cannot fathom God saying such things. However, when one looks closely at the text, it is just as possible that God is speaking. I know this is probably a challenging thought but could it possible that we are so uncomfortable with the idea that God might feel pain that we automatically bracket this reading out of the text? 

We’re going to see this dynamic pop up over and over again throughout this book and it forces us to come to grips with how we see and understand God. Classically, the question goes to the “impassibility” of God. The idea that God doesn’t have “passions” or “pathos” which has to do with suffering. Some have interpreted this to mean God doesn’t have emotions but that’s clearly not true. God expresses a whole range of emotions all throughout the Scriptures. More specifically this idea has to do with the suffering of God. Can God suffer? Does such suffering suggest a change in God? Does it threaten the immutability of His nature and character? Historically, the answer has been “yes” which then forces us to find other explanations for what we read in texts like the one before us today. But what if God suffers? What if God chooses - in His freedom - to be the kind of God who moves towards suffering? Who embraces suffering? Who welcomes suffering without it changing who He is? Is this not the heart of the gospel? Is this not part of the mystery of the Incarnation? Eternal God choosing to take on human flesh? With all its weaknesses and struggles and hardships? Is this not the heart of the passion of our Christ? God suffering with us and for us even to the point of death?  

It seems to me that we lose nothing by embracing the pathos of God if we understand God has embraced such pathos according to His own will and good pleasure. Certainly, such suffering is not forced on God. It doesn’t take God by surprise. It doesn’t enact a change on God’s experience. God is beyond all these things. He truly is immutable or unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. There is no shadow or turning in Him. But at the same time, God has revealed Himself in a particular, one might even argue, peculiar kind of way. He is a God who embraces a broken creation. A God who covenants with a broken people. A God who is steadfast and faithful and loyal and true even in the face of evil. He is a God who likens His relationship with His people to a marriage and the faithlessness of His people to adultery. He frequently uses the language of betrayal and heartache and pain to express His dismay over the sinful choices His people make. No one forces God to remain faithful. No one makes God forgive. No outside force can drive God to do anything He Himself has not already chosen to do in complete freedom. Which makes passages like the one we read today and others like it throughout the book of Jeremiah so intriguing. 

What if God is in anguish over us? What if being in relationship with us breaks God’s heart? What if God’s choice to love us from before the foundations of the earth involved Him choosing unimaginable suffering? Would this change how you relate to Him? Change how you see Him? Change how you experience Him? Change how you love Him?  

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 5-8

Revival

Readings for today: Joel 1-3

Joel is one of my favorite books of the Old Testament mainly because of the clarity with which it teaches when it comes to revival. There is a lot of talk in the church today about revival. A lot of prayers ascending to God, asking for revival and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We want God to awaken the slumbering hearts of God’s people across our great land and heal our nation. Why then does revival not come? Why does our culture continue it’s rapid descent into chaos? Why is there such a rise in hate and anger and rage? Why is God not answering our prayers? 

According to Joel, the answer is quite clear. Repentance always precedes revival. We have not yet come to the end of ourselves. We have not yet exhausted our strength. We still believe on some level that it is up to us and our programs and our resources to bring about revival. If we could just elect the right person. Just put the right programs in place. Just worship more often and with more fervency. We will seemingly do anything and everything to avoid falling on our faces, helpless before the Lord. We will do all we can to avoid acknowledging our failures, putting on sackcloth and ashes. We simply refuse to bow the knee, confess our sins both personal and corporate, and cry out to the Lord. And this is why revival has not and will not come to the American church. We are too puffed up. Too prideful. Too divided. Too rich. Too comfortable. Too consumer-driven. We spend more time complaining and arguing about worship styles like music than we do in heartfelt prayer. We spend far too much time guarding our hearts because we’ve been wounded than forgiving those who hurt us. We have such little faith and are not willing to put the time and effort into deepening our spiritual lives. I know these are generalizations but study after study confirms they are true. 

Joel speaks prophetically to the American church. To our church. To my church. To my own heart.  

• “Listen up you priests, put on your robes and join the outcry. You who lead people in worship, lead them in lament. Spend the night dressed in gunnysacks, you servants of my God. Nothing’s going on in the place of worship, no offerings, no prayers—nothing. Declare a holy fast, call a special meeting, get the leaders together, Round up everyone in the country. Get them into God’s Sanctuary for serious prayer to God.” (Joel‬ ‭1‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

• “But there’s also this, it’s not too late— God’s personal Message!— “Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!” Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now, maybe he’ll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all’s said and done, there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!” (Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

• “Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion! Declare a day of repentance, a holy fast day. Call a public meeting. Get everyone there. Consecrate the congregation. Make sure the elders come, but bring in the children, too, even the nursing babies, Even men and women on their honeymoon— interrupt them and get them there. Between Sanctuary entrance and altar, let the priests, God’s servants, weep tears of repentance. Let them intercede: “Have mercy, God, on your people! Don’t abandon your heritage to contempt. Don’t let the pagans take over and rule them and sneer, ‘And so where is this God of theirs?” (Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

These are challenging words. Joel is unafraid to get in our face. They leave us no room for equivocation. We either accept them or reject them and the consequences of our decision is clear. Reject them to our own peril. Accept them and receive the promise. 

•  “Children of Zion, celebrate! Be glad in your God. He’s giving you a teacher to train you how to live right— Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do. And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain, casks of wine and barrels of olive oil. I’ll make up for the years of the locust, the great locust devastation— Locusts savage, locusts deadly, fierce locusts, locusts of doom, That great locust invasion I sent your way. You’ll eat your fill of good food. You’ll be full of praises to your God, The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder. Never again will my people be despised. You’ll know without question that I’m in the thick of life with Israel, That I’m your God, yes, your God, the one and only real God. Never again will my people be despised.” (Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭23-‭27‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

• “I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters. Your old men will dream, your young men will see visions. I’ll even pour out my Spirit on the servants, men and women both. I’ll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below…” (Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭28‬‬ ‭MSG)‬‬

The answer we keep avoiding is simply this...surrender. Relinquishment. Submission. Surrender to God’s will and God’s ways and most importantly, God’s love. Until we do this, we will not see revival come. Repentance is the precondition to revival. Surrender is the precondition to the pouring out of God’s Spirit. We cannot receive from God until we open our hearts and unclench our fists. And this is a process. It’s not something that happens easily. It is a daily decision we make to place ourselves before the Lord.

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 1-4

Reading the Bible Cross-Culturally

Readings for today: Habakkuk 1-3

I am sitting in the United Club in Washington/Dulles, waiting for my next flight which will take me to the Horn of Africa. My youngest daughter is with me. Our trip is long. Many hours over many flights to get where we are going. Eventually, we will fly on a Mission Aviation Fellowship plane and land on a dirt runway in a rural area where we will spend the week. No showers. No A/C. Little food. It is going to be a challenging experience but also a rewarding experience. I can’t wait.

We’re crossing a lot of barriers to get here. Geographic barriers like oceans and continents. Political barriers as we fly in and out of different countries. Economic barriers as the people we will serve are among the poorest in the world. Cultural barriers like language, dress, and other customs. The area where we are going is located in a nation where the rule of law has yet to be fully established. Infrastructure is almost non-existent. Traveling by road is dangerous and uncertain so we fly our team and our supplies in. We are working with some of the most courageous Christians I have ever met. They endure all sorts of hardship and persecution in order to spread the good news of the gospel among their people. It’s a privilege to support and resource them.

When I think of some of the people I know who live in this particular region, I am struck by how much closer they are culturally to the Scriptures. Verses like the ones we read today in Habakkuk are not philosophical abstractions for them. They live these verses. They pray these verses. They preach these verses. Consider these words from Habakkuk 1:1-4 MSG, “God, how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen? How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!” before you come to the rescue? Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day? Anarchy and violence break out, quarrels and fights all over the place. Law and order fall to pieces. Justice is a joke. The wicked have the righteous hamstrung and stand justice on its head.” This is their lived experience. They know what it’s like to stare evil in the face day after day. They know what it’s like to see anarchy and violence break out as roving gangs from rival tribes burn and pillage their way through their towns and villages. The leader of their country is as corrupt as they come. He stands justice on it’s head with regularity. Day by day, they cry out to God. How long? How long before you come to our help?

They also walk by faith. They claim the promises of Habakkuk as their own. Through drought adn famine and persecution and tribal warfare, they cling to the hope they have in Christ. The sure and certain knowledge that God’s rule will prevail. Listen to how Habakkuk describes it…“Though the cherry trees don’t blossom and the strawberries don’t ripen, Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I’m singing joyful praise to God. I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God. Counting on God’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength. I run like a deer. I feel like I’m king of the mountain!” (Habakkuk‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭MSG‬‬) I don’t know about you but it’s hard for me to reconcile these verses with my life. I am blessed beyond measure. I am wealthy beyond measure. I am rich beyond measure. I’ve never known life-threatening hunger or water-born disease or lawlessness. So it’s hard to put myself in the shoes of those I will serve this week. That’s why I come. I want to learn. I want to grow. I want to see the world through their eyes. I want to read the Bible through their eyes. I want to see Christ through their eyes so I may draw ever closer to Him.

Readings for tomorrow: Joel 1-3

This is the Way

Readings for today: 2 Kings 22-23, 2 Chronicles 33-34

“This is the way.” When Star Wars fans hear this phrase, they immediately think of the Mandalorian. When Christians hear this phrase, they most likely think of Jesus. In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” Throughout the Gospels, Jesus makes it clear that He isn’t just preaching to the head or to the heart but to the whole person. He is offering not just another ethical system or abstract philosophy or a different take on theology. What He is offering is a radical shift in how “live, move, and have our being” in this world. This is nothing new by the way. It’s actually been God’s plan all along. Ever since He delivered them out of slavery in Egypt, God has set His people apart. He calls them to a different way of believing, a different way of feeling, a different way of acting, and ultimately, a different way of living.

Consider what we just read today about King Josiah. Here’s a man who loves God with all His heart but he is the descendent of many rulers in Israel who wanted to live just like the nations around them. This is why we see so many different altars to so many different gods in the different towns, villages, and cities of Judah. They have compromised their faith. They have syncretized their belief systems with those of the pagan tribes and nations around them. It wasn’t that they stopped worshipping Yahweh, they simply layered in the worship of additional gods and goddesses along the way. In so doing, they lost their distinctiveness. They lost their exceptionalism. They broke faith with the covenant their ancestors had once made. Even at a young age, Josiah discerns the truth. He sees their divided hearts. He understands the judgment that is coming. And he does everything humanly possible to turn the tide. To bring God’s people back to true worship and a right relationship with Him. Tragically, it’s not enough.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with many different churches, many of which were struggling for survival. I’ve had the privilege of working with many different pastors, many of whom were discouraged and defeated. I’ve had the privilege of working with many different lay leaders, many of whom were anxious and afraid and worried about the future. All of them believe in the Truth of Jesus. All of them have tasted the Life of Jesus. Most of them, however, do not follow the Way of Jesus. They do not trust His ways over their own ways. His thoughts over their own thoughts. His wisdom over their own wisdom. They believe the Way Jesus went about His ministry is obsolete. Irrelevant in today’s world. Instead, they seek guidance from the current cultural trends. They seek comfort in the traditions of their past. They seek to adopt the best business and organizational leadership models of the world. Sadly, the results speak for themselves. Almost 40% of pastors expressing a desire to quit ministry. A significant percentage of church leaders crashing and burning due to moral failure. 80% - by some estimates - of churches plateaued and/or declining. A significant number of churches paralyzed by conflict or the inability to manage complex change. Church attendance dropping each year at an alarming rate. The rapid rise of the “nones” and/or the “deconstruction” movement due to the prevalence of abuse (spiritually, relationally, sexually, etc.), disappointment, discouragement, frustration, and a host of other factors. Without a doubt, the church in the West is experiencing significant decline across the board and most of it is due - in my estimation - to the fact that we continue to take the Way of Jesus seriously enough to orient our entire budget, programming, worship, and mission accordingly.

Imagine what could happen if pastors understood their primary role as discipling their elders. Their “12” as it were. Imagine if board meetings were oriented around prayer and the study of God’s Word and the intentional seeking of the will of God. Imagine a church’s life built around mutual sacrifice rather than catering to generational and/or cultural preferences. Imagine a church creative enough to mine the depth and breadth of the Christian tradition for any number of spiritual practices to help people grow in their relationship with Christ. Imagine a church who sought Christ with their whole heart, mind, and strength. This is what our world so desperately needs and it is what God promises to honor if we will simply submit our ways to Him.

Readings for tomorrow: None

Humility

Readings for today: Zephaniah 1-3

I once met a man who gave up a six figure income here in the US to return to his native country where he did not draw a salary for three straight years. He went from being in the top 1% of the world’s wealthiest people to the bottom 1% of the world’s poor. He gave up security and safety to live in danger and place his family at risk. He gave up power and influence and privilege in one of the world’s most significant NGO’s to work among those who have been forgotten. When I expressed my admiration for such a sacrifice, his response was confusion. “What sacrifice?” he said. “My life is not my own. My life has never been my own. My life is in the hands of God to do with as He wills.” This, friends, is true humility and it’s what Zephaniah talks about in our passage for today. “I’ll leave a core of people among you who are poor in spirit - what’s life of Israel that’s really Israel. They’ll make their home in God.” (Zephaniah 3:12 MSG) It is hard to overstate the importance of humility to the Christian faith. Humility is what keeps us grounded before the Lord. Humility is what keeps us dependent on Him. Humility is what opens our hands and our hearts, allowing us to release the things in which we too often place our trust. Wealth. Health. Power. Privilege. Status. Authority. Pride. We are fools to place our trust in these things and yet it is so hard to resist temptation. We who have so much actually fall prey to our own desires. Our ability to gratify those desires instantaneously only serves to tighten our bonds. Thinking we are free, we choose to become slaves and there’s nothing more pitiful than a free man or woman choosing to remain in bondage. Nothing more heartbreaking than sitting in a cell with the door wide open, refusing to leave. This is the state we find ourselves in today. Our culture has made Self a “god” and the result is entitlement. Narcissism. Selfishness. Greed. Self-protection. And far too many of us worship at this altar. 

So how do we resist this temptation? How can we uproot Self out of the center of our lives and re-focus our devotion around God? Humility. The fundamental recognition that my life is not my own. My future is not mine to determine. My hopes are not set on the limited horizons of this world. My happiness does not come from chasing temporal pleasures. Humility honors God as sovereign over all of life, including my own. Humility submits. Humility surrenders. Humility bows before the God of the universe and willingly entrusts Him with all that we are and all that we have. This is the secret that my friend understood. He owned nothing. Not his house. Not his salary. Not his job. Not his family. Not his lifestyle. Not his degrees. Not his professional success. Not his future. None of it was his to own. All of it came from God and all of it was used by God as He willed for His good pleasure. So when God called him to leave adopted home and move back to his native country to help his people recover from a genocide, he went. No questions asked. The Master called. My friend answered. The King issued a command. My friend obeyed. The Father made an appeal. My friend responded in faith. Though life has been much harder. Much more difficult. Much more painful and heartbreaking. He has no regrets.  

Humility. It’s not just an attitude of the heart. Not just a thought process in the mind. It is a way of life. It means holding onto the things of this world loosely, knowing the Lord may require them at any time. It means holding onto our hopes and dreams loosely, knowing the Lord may change course at any time. It means holding onto even our pain and heartbreaks and suffering loosely, knowing the Lord often leads His people through such experiences to teach them of His sufficiency. It means holding onto our strength and safety and security loosely, knowing the Lord may demand our lives at any given moment.

Now all this may sound scary. Frightening if this has not been your path. Here’s the good news. God doesn’t ask for blind obedience. He doesn’t require us to step into the great unknown. He gives this promise to all who walk humbly before Him...“Don’t be afraid. Dear Zion, don’t despair. Your God is present among you, a strong Warrior there to save you. Happy to have you back, He’ll calm you with His love and delight you with His songs.” (Zephaniah 3:16-17 MSG) God can be trusted. God is true to His Word. His faithfulness never ends. His love never fails. Simply believe and let God take you by the hand today. 

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Kings 22-23, 2 Chronicles 34-35

The Judge of Nations

Readings for today: Nahum 1-3

Every day I try to read the news. I scan the headlines from the BBC to CNN to FoxNews. I read the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. I keep up with breaking news on Twitter. It’s not easy. The headlines are often heartbreaking. Most of the time, I have to wade through all sorts of disinformation. Truth is in scarce supply these days. Not only that but every single article seems to cry out, “there is no god!” After all, how could a righteous God allow such political corruption to exist? How could a good God allow such human suffering? How could a just God allow tyrants to sit on thrones? How could a compassionate God allow things like life-threatening poverty while others live in luxury? If I dwell on these things too long, I start to lose hope. The forces arrayed against the righteous in this world seem so strong and my faith is so weak. That’s why reading a book like Nahum is so important.

In Nahum’s day, Assyria was the dominant world power. She had conquered the nations around her with absolute ruthlessness and cruelty. Just over one hundred years prior to Nahum’s prophecy, Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, literally wiping her from the map. Jonah had been sent to Nineveh about 15 years after the destruction of Israel to preach revival but the fires his preaching kindled had clearly gone out. Assyria was back on the warpath. As she rampaged through the Middle East, it must have been hard not to be afraid. It must have been challenging to maintain faith. It probably felt like the future was bleak at best. After all, Assyria had no rivals left. No one powerful enough to check her power.

Nahum, however, is not fooled. He knows God reigns sovereign over the nations. He knows God rules the world with justice. He knows God will bring His righteous judgment in due time. I love how Nahum puts it, “God’s orders on Nineveh: You’re the end of the line. It’s all over with Nineveh. I’m gutting your temple. Your gods and goddesses go in the trash. I’m digging your grave. It’s an unmarked grave. You’re nothing—no, you’re less than nothing!” Look! Striding across the mountains— a messenger bringing the latest good news: peace! A holiday, Judah! Celebrate! Worship and recommit to God! No more worries about this enemy. This one is history. Close the book.” (Nahum‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭MSG‬‬) What a great reminder that God is in control. No matter how bleak things may seem, God is at work to bring about His will. He simply will not let this world go. He loves it - and He loves us - far too much to walk away.

As you engage the world around you, don’t give into fear. Don’t let despair set in. God is still in charge after all these years and God will bring His will and His way to pass. Our job is simply to trust.

Readings for tomorrow: Zephaniah 1-3

Rationality of Evil

Readings for today: 2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33

No one sets out to be evil. No one wakes up in the morning thinking to themselves, “How many bad things can I get away with today?” No parent raises their child to love evil. No child sets out to stick it to their parents by becoming as evil as possible. No one starts out loving evil and no one makes evil their life goal. So why then is evil so prevalent in our world today?

Evil is what happens when we set our hearts on something other than God. As soon as we displace God in our hearts, evil becomes far more rational. For example, as soon as I set my heart on loving someone other than my wife, adultery becomes rational. As soon as I set my heart on achieving some position or some promotion, lying about other candidates becomes rational. As soon as I set my heart on wealth, greed becomes rational. As soon as I set my heart on political power, corruption becomes rational. With me so far? Any time we set our sights on something lower than God. Something lesser than God. Something other than God, we are opening the door to evil. When we set our hearts and minds on God, we naturally follow God’s will because we know it is the only way to arrive at God’s purpose for our lives. To pursue any other end. To chase any other dream. To set any other goal means we must find another way. We must take another path. We walk a different road. And that road - by definition - leads to sin and evil and death.

Consider the case of Manasseh. A young man raised by a godly king in the lap of luxury in Jerusalem. He became king at the very young age of twelve. He reigned for over fifty years. And during that time, he engaged in all manner of evil. Why? Why would a young man, raised on the stories of his faithful father and the miracles God had wrought, turn to idolatry? Perhaps he could sense the coming demise of his own kingdom. Perhaps he looked around at some of the other nations and coveted their power and wealth. Perhaps he wanted to fit in. Perhaps he wanted to be esteemed in the eyes of his royal peers. After all, his father had this fatal flaw, right? Showed the Babylonian envoys all his wealth in order to impress them? Whatever it was, I seriously doubt Manasseh got up one day after being crowned king and did a U-turn. I doubt he set out to do evil. I doubt he thought to himself, “How can I become the most evil king in Israelite history?” Again, no one sets out to do evil. Evil is what happens when you’re on your way to somewhere else.

So where is your life headed? What are your life goals? If someone were to challenge you at whatever stage of life you find yourself in to write them down, where would God fall on your list? Seriously. Be honest with yourself. No senses in hiding. It’s not like God doesn’t already know. If someone were to look at your calendar. Look at your checking account. Look at your social media feed. Look at the way you vote and the causes you advocate for and why you advocate for them. If they were to interview your spouse. Your children. Your close friends. What would they find? What would these sources reveal? Would they show a strong commitment to the Lord or would they tell a different tale? Remember, “evil” is defined by God as putting anything before Him in your life. It’s not just a term reserved for the Hitlers of our world. So where do you stand? If you find yourself on the “evil” side of the ledger, don’t lose heart. Manasseh repented and God answered his prayer. Trust me when I say God will answer your prayer as well if you but turn to Him.

Readings for tomorrow: Nahum 1-3

The End

Readings for today: Isaiah 64-66

I meet people all the time who are asking the question, “Is this all there is?” Is this world all there is? Is this life all there is? Are the 70, 80, 90 years of life all I get? And to what end? I spend my life working hard to provide for myself and my family. I achieve some measure of success. I do my best to stay active and healthy. I enjoy some wonderful experiences along the way. My wedding. The birth of my children and grandchildren. Certain milestones or achievements that hopefully leave the world a better place. But then what? Is all I have to look forward to in retirement a slow, steady decline? Or perhaps a tragic diagnosis that robs me of what little strength I have left? Will my mind start to fail along with my body? Will I be missed after I’m gone? These are real, honest questions asked by many thoughtful people I’ve had the privilege of walking beside as a pastor over the years.

Thankfully, the Lord doesn’t leave us guessing. He doesn’t leave us groping about in the dark for answers. He tells us exactly what’s going to happen. He lets us in on the end of the story. Listen to how Isaiah puts it, “I’m creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten. Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I’m creating: I’ll create Jerusalem as sheer joy, create my people as pure delight. I’ll take joy in Jerusalem, take delight in my people: No more sounds of weeping in the city, no cries of anguish; No more babies dying in the cradle, or old people who don’t enjoy a full lifetime; One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal— anything less will seem like a cheat. They’ll build houses and move in. They’ll plant fields and eat what they grow. No more building a house that some outsider takes over, No more planting fields that some enemy confiscates, For my people will be as long-lived as trees, my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work. They won’t work and have nothing come of it, they won’t have children snatched out from under them. For they themselves are plantings blessed by God, with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed. Before they call out, I’ll answer. Before they’ve finished speaking, I’ll have heard. Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow, lion and ox eat straw from the same trough, but snakes—they’ll get a diet of dirt! Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill anywhere on my Holy Mountain,” says God.” (Isaiah‬ ‭65‬:‭17‬-‭25‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

It’s a beautiful picture of the life to come. A life not lived in some vaporous, ephemeral, spiritual existence but one that is physical and tangible and as real as it gets. God is going to renew the heavens and the earth. The heavenly dimension where He lives and reigns will eventually absorb this world and all that is in it. Life as we know it will be transformed. All that is wrong about this world will be set right. Every injustice will be addressed. Every hurt will be healed. Every tear will be wiped away. Every grief will be comforted. Every pain erased. Death will be no more. Sin will be no more. Evil will be no more. God Himself will rule and reign over a renewed creation and a renewed people as He originally intended. This is the end of all things. This is the telos of all things. This is where all of history is headed.

So here’s our challenge. Living with God’s end in mind. Living today for the world tomorrow. Trusting God for the future even as we labor in the present. Believing that every thought, every word, every action carries eternal weight because of what God has done and what God will do. Simply put, heaven is the answer to our deepest questions. Heaven is the satisfaction for our deepest longings. Heaven gives meaning and purpose to every moment of our lives. We are called to live as citizens of heaven in a world full of death. Our lives to be light in a world full of darkness.

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33

Paradise Lost

Readings for today: Isaiah 59-63

“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” So says Satan in John Milton’s classic book, Paradise Lost. I can’t tell you the number of people I’ve met over the years who sadly have taken this sentiment to heart. They live life according to their own rules. They believe they are the captains of their own fates. The masters of their own destinies. Their primary goal is the pursuit of their own happiness. They aren’t bad people. In fact, they are quite normal people. They get married. They have families. They love their kids. They work hard. But life is oriented inward rather than outward. Ultimately, they seek to serve themselves rather than God or those around them so if/when the life they’ve built stops working for them, they move on. They get divorced. They leave their families. They quit their jobs. They cut off friendships. Anything that gets in the way of their happiness is considered toxic, phobic, unhealthy, you name it. Sadly, they never do find what they are looking for. I know. I’ve met many of them on their deathbeds. Talked to them as they neared the end of their lives and they express so many regrets. Or, even worse, some of them don’t have any regrets at all for all the pain they’ve left in their wake.

In today’s reading, Isaiah describes a similar situation in Israel. Rather than living for God and trusting His will for their lives, the people of God largely lived for themselves with devastating consequences. “We long for light but sink into darkness, long for brightness but stumble through the night. Like the blind, we inch along a wall, groping eyeless in the dark. We shuffle our way in broad daylight, like the dead, but somehow walking. We’re no better off than bears, groaning, and no worse off than doves, moaning. We look for justice—not a sign of it; for salvation—not so much as a hint. Our wrongdoings pile up before you, God, our sins stand up and accuse us. Our wrongdoings stare us down; we know in detail what we’ve done: Mocking and denying God, not following our God, spreading false rumors, whipping up revolt, pregnant with lies, muttering malice. Justice is beaten back, Righteousness is banished to the sidelines, Truth staggers down the street, Honesty is nowhere to be found, Good is missing in action. Anyone renouncing evil is beaten and robbed.” (Isaiah‬ ‭59‬:‭1‬0-‭15a‬ ‭MSG‬‬) Isaiah paints a terrible picture, doesn’t he? There exists in the heart of every person who has ever lived a deep longing for justice and peace and righteousness and goodness but these things seem forever out of reach. And the reason they are out of reach is not because of God. His arm has not grown short. His ears have not grown deaf. The problem is not with God, it is with us and the sinful orientation of our hearts that always presses us to seek our own good above those around us. Selfishness lies at the root of all evil. Our desires are simply insatiable. Our will is not strong enough to resist. Thankfully, God sees all this and takes pity on us.

“God looked and saw evil looming on the horizon— so much evil and no sign of Justice. He couldn’t believe what he saw: not a soul around to correct this awful situation. So he did it himself, took on the work of Salvation, fueled by his own Righteousness. He dressed in Righteousness, put it on like a suit of armor, with Salvation on his head like a helmet, Put on Judgment like an overcoat, and threw a cloak of Passion across his shoulders. He’ll make everyone pay for what they’ve done: fury for his foes, just deserts for his enemies. Even the far-off islands will get paid off in full. In the west they’ll fear the name of God, in the east they’ll fear the glory of God, For he’ll arrive like a river in flood stage, whipped to a torrent by the wind of God. “I’ll arrive in Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who leave their sins.” God’s Decree.” (Isaiah‬ ‭59‬:‭15‬b-‭20‬ ‭MSG‬‬) This is God’s promise to all who believe. What we cannot achieve for ourselves, God will do for us. What we cannot earn for ourselves, God will freely give to us. What we cannot even seek for ourselves, God will seek out for us. He will find us. He will gather us. He will wipe away every tear. He will heal every hurt. He will right every wrong. He will make all things new. Including me. Including you. We will be given a new heart and a new spirit. Our desires will be reoriented towards God and those around us. Our minds filled with the wisdom and knowledge of God who will make our paths straight.

So let me challenge you to reject the lie of this world. The lie that says it’s better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. The lie that says it’s better to serve yourself than those around you. The lie that says it’s better to chase your own happiness rather than seek to make others happy. The lie that says you don’t need to bow the knee to anyone or anything. The lie that says you’re in charge. You’re the boss. You’re the master. Open your eyes and see these lies for what they are and honestly take stock of the impact of these lies on those you love. Cast them aside and instead believe the Truth. Place your trust in the truth of God as it is revealed in the Person of Jesus Christ. His way is better. His way leads to eternal and abundant life.

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 64-66

Seek. Surrender. Celebrate.

Readings for today: Isaiah 54-58

There are three basic movements to the Christian faith. Three fundamental principles that undergird who we are as believers in Jesus Christ. Christians are a people who seek hard after God, willingly and gladly surrender to His will, and live in the fullness of joy as they celebrate all He has done. We see this dynamic played out in today’s passage from Isaiah 55.

“Seek God while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.” (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭MSG‬‬) The Christian faith arises from a deep sense of spiritual hunger. A desire for spiritual food that will satisfy. This hunger - created by the Holy Spirit - prompts a person to seek God. To seek the only one who can fill the hole each of us has in our hearts. Thankfully, He is near. He delights in being found. He doesn’t play cosmic hide and seek. As we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. The result is transformative. The wicked abandon their way of life. The evil abandon their way of thinking. The sinner repents and returns to God who is merciful and quick to forgive.

“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.” (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭MSG‬‬) Having received the mercy and forgiveness of God, the Holy Spirit now begins to open our eyes and minds to the vastness of God. The holiness of God. The beauty of God. The majesty of God. These things bring us to our knees in surrender. We acknowledge God’s greatness and goodness. His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. Our finite minds cannot contain, much less explain, His infinity. Having caught a glimpse and being overwhelmed in awe, we are drawn into His work as servants. People who willingly and gladly give all they have to serve a cause much greater than themselves.

“So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines— Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God.” (Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭MSG‬‬) As we give ourselves to God, He gives Himself to us. As He is the source of greatest joy in the universe, we are now able to draw on that well every day of our lives, in every circumstance of our lives. We walk in joy. We walk in peace. We are given new eyes to see the world around us as it bursts into song in praise of it’s Creator. We join the singing because we cannot help ourselves and our lives become living monuments to God.

Readings for tomorrow: None

Suffering Servant

Readings for today: Isaiah 50-53

Today, I took a look back at some previous devotionals I have written over the years on these particular passages. The one that resonates the most with me after all these years is the one I wrote after spending time with Bishop John Rucyahana in Rwanda. Bishop John is a dear friend who writes and speaks powerfully on the subject of the genocide that horrified a watching world in 1994. He wrestles deeply with the question, “Where was God as over one million people were being slaughtered?” And he comes out the other side with this answer, “Where was God when a million innocent people were being butchered? Where was God when priests and pastors helped massacre the people in their churches? I’ll tell you where God was. He was alongside the victims lying on the cold stone floor of the cathedral. He was comforting a dying child. He was crying at the altar. But He was also saving lives. Many were saved by miracles. God does not flee when evil takes over a nation...God is the giver of eternal life, and He can bring great good out of any situation. He raises the dead; He can also raise the broken. He can restore their hearts and minds and lift their spirits to renewed life. In my country God is doing this today by the thousands. There is so much pain here, so many real tears, and so much guilt that our ministry is like preaching hope from the top of a pile of bones. From atop a mountain of mutilated bodies, we are stretching a hand upward to proclaim a message of transformation and recovery.” (The Bishop of Rwanda ) It’s a powerful message he continues to preach even to this day.

I cannot fathom the journey so many in Rwanda have endured. The horror. The pain. The suffering. It’s immense. Indescribable. Beyond words. And yet, I would argue the forgiveness and reconciliation they have found is equally, if not more, profound. When I was there, I remember asking a woman if she was ethnic Tutsi or Hutu. “Neither” was her reply. “Here we are all Rwandan.” She went on to describe some of the hell she and her family had been through and the freedom they had found through forgiveness. Only Jesus could provide such grace. Only Jesus could give them such strength. How can I be so sure? Because Jesus knows the depths of human suffering. He experienced the absolute worst this world has to offer. He knows evil intimately and through his death defeats it once and for all. Listen to how the ancient prophet Isaiah describes the suffering of Jesus, some hundreds of years before His death and resurrection.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed...He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth...Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand...Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah‬ ‭53:3-5, 7, 10, 12‬)

The same God who bore the sins of many. The same God who makes intercession for the transgressors. The same God who loved His enemies so much He died for them is the same God who is alive and active in Rwanda, bringing about reconciliation through forgiveness. Preaching hope from atop a pile of His own bones. From atop His own mutilated body, He is stretching a hand upward to proclaim a message of transformation and grace. It’s truly incredible and it is available to all who would place their trust in Him. Friends, if God can bring about reconciliation between the victims and perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda can He not accomplish the same in our lives as well? Can He not bring together husband and wife on the verge of divorce? Can He not bring back together children and parents who’ve been estranged? Can He not help Democrats and Republicans find common ground? Can He not heal the racial tensions in our own country? These are just a few of the problems we face that only the gospel can solve. 

What is required? Repentance. Confession. Truth-telling. Courage. Faith. Humility. Most of all, a deep and abiding and enduring trust in the power of the gospel. 

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 54-58

Lean on God

Readings for today: Isaiah 46-49, Psalm 135

Today’s reading is a great follow up from yesterday. It clearly outlines the choice we have to make when it comes to who will bear the burdens of our lives. If we trust in false gods, we end up carrying them. If we trust in the true God, He ends up carrying us. Either we load ourselves down with idols…idols that are false, idols that are dead, idols that cannot save…or we let God bear us up on eagle’s wings. I love how Isaiah puts it in chapter forty-six, “The god Bel falls down, god Nebo slumps. The no-god hunks of wood are loaded on mules and have to be hauled off, wearing out the poor mules— Dead weight, burdens who can’t bear burdens, hauled off to captivity. Listen to me, family of Jacob, everyone that’s left of the family of Israel. I’ve been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, And I’ll keep on carrying you when you’re old. I’ll be there, bearing you when you’re old and gray. I’ve done it and will keep on doing it, carrying you on my back, saving you.” (Isaiah‬ ‭46‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭MSG‬‬) The picture Isaiah paints here is of foreign nations carrying their gods around from place to place. They put their gods on carts borne by beasts of burden. They are heavy loads. The oxen have to strain to keep going. And all of it is for naught because the idols are dead and empty. The end result is defeat. Exile. Captivity. Contrast this with the Living God of Israel. No idol can depict him which means there is no statue or totem to carry. Israel’s faith was so strange and unique that many of their Ancient Near East neighbors considered them atheists! All because they didn’t appear to have a god! And yet Israel’s God is real. Alive. Active. He bears them up from birth even to their old age. They didn’t make him, He made them. They didn’t bear him, He bore them. They didn’t carry him, He carries them. They didn’t save him, He saves them. ‬

You and I are faced with the same choice everyday. Sure, our idols are not as obvious. At least, that’s what we tell ourselves. Most of us don’t have statues or totems or anything like that. Instead, we have bank accounts. Homes. Careers. Relationships. These are the things we place our trust in rather than the Living God. We place our faith in ourselves. We worship ourselves. All our energy and resources are directed towards making sure our needs, our wants, our desires are fulfilled. We are told we deserve this. We are told we’ve earned this. We are told we want this. We would be nothing without it. Life is not worth living unless you have it all. Such lies place burdens on our shoulders too heavy to bear. They wear us down. They sap us of our strength. All of us know the rat race we’re on is killing us. We simply cannot maintain the pace. So what’s the answer?

Turn to God. Let Him bear the burden of your life. Trust the One who shaped and formed you in your mother’s womb. Trust the One who gave you breath and life at your birth. Trust the One who endowed you with your gifts and talents and abilities. Trust the One who knows every hair on your head. If you’ll let Him, He will lift you up. If you’ll lean on Him, He will give you strength. If you trust Him, He will never let you down. He has made you. He has borne you. He has carried you. He will save you. This is His promise.

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 50-53

Bearing Burdens

Readings for today: Isaiah 43-45, Psalm 80

Recently, I’ve been feeling the weight of some heavy burdens. Some significant life changes. My oldest child has moved across the country. My father is experiencing a precipitous decline in health. In addition, I’ve come alongside some dear friends to help through some serious marital issues. I’ve taken on an additional national leadership responsibility with my denomination. I am heading to South Sudan with my youngest daughter in a couple of weeks for some intense church planter training. All of this is on top of the normal weight of pastoral ministry I carry. I don’t share this to gain sympathy but simply to describe the kind of seasonal pressures I know we all go through in life. It’s impossible to plan for and we often find ourselves coming quickly to the end of our resources when we enter such seasons. Perhaps that’s why I loved the words from Isaiah 43 so much this morning…

“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You’re mine. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end— Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in! That’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you! I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.” (Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

It reminds me of Jesus’ words from Matthew 11 where He invites all those who are weary and heavy-laden to come to Him. To yoke ourselves to Him. To be led by Him. God is so faithful. In the darkest times, He is our light. In the hardest times, He is our strength. When we are afraid, He is our courage. When we are depressed, He is the lifter of our head. No matter how challenging and overwhelming our circumstances may get, He won’t ever let us go. He is with us. He is for us. He will not let us be crushed by the weight nor drown in the flood.

God is personal. We can’t take that for granted. He is personally involved in our lives. Personally invested in the people we are becoming. Just as He paid a huge price for Israel, so He paid a huge price for each one of us. He gave His own life in exchange for our own. We are no longer our own. We were bought with a price. An inestimable price of infinite worth. That’s how much we mean to God! That’s how much God loves us! He sold off so much more than the world to get us back. He traded for more than creation to save us. He gave up His own Son. He laid down His own life. On the cross, Jesus stretched His arms wide, laying hold of both heaven and earth, and laid claim to every single human soul that has ever lived and/or will live. The image Him hanging there still leaves me breathless after all these years. And it’s why, when I fix my eyes on Him, my burdens become easy and my yoke light for I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is with me.

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 46-49, Psalm 135

The Faithfulness of God

Readings for today: Isaiah 40-42, Psalm 46

One of my favorite memories is of the first time we took our son Josiah to the beach. We were living in Mobile, AL and we took a short day trip to Dauphin Island. Josiah had just turned two and we were excited to introduce him to the Gulf of Mexico. We parked. Grabbed all our stuff. Chloe ran on ahead. Kristi and I were walking with Josiah. When we got to the beach, he started to run towards the water. I was pumped for him, thinking this was shaping up to be a great day. After getting about halfway, his little legs suddenly dug in. He stopped so fast he almost left skid marks in the sand! He stretched out his little arms and started shouting at the waves. “You stop! You stop!” They didn’t obey. He got more frustrated, kept yelling, started crying, and finally sat down. His little two year old brain just couldn’t make sense of the movement of the waves and he was scared. Watching all this go by, I quickly dumped all our stuff and went to Josiah’s side. He looked up at me, his dad, with big eyes full of tears. Pointed to the waves and said, “Don’t stop, daddy. Don’t stop.” I picked him up in my arms to calm him down. Then I set him back down on the beach, grabbed his hand, and we walked to the water together. 

Today’s reading is awesome. The picture of God taking us by the hand and leading us, guiding us, showing us the way is tender and special. Isaiah speaks of a God who comforts. A God who forgives. A God who gathers His people in His arms like a shepherd gathers little lambs. Let the power of these words wash over you as you reflect and pray today...

• “Comfort, oh comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem, but also make it very clear That she has served her sentence, that her sin is taken care of—forgiven! She’s been punished enough and more than enough, and now it’s over and done with.” (Isaiah‬ ‭40‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

• “Like a shepherd, he will care for his flock, gathering the lambs in his arms, Hugging them as he carries them, leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.” (Isaiah‬ ‭40‬:‭‭11‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

• “Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts.” (‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40‬:‭28-29 MSG‬‬)

• “There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.” (Isaiah‬ ‭41‬:‭10‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

• “Because I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I’m not letting go. I’m telling you, ‘Don’t panic. I’m right here to help you.’ “Do you feel like a lowly worm, Jacob? Don’t be afraid. Feel like a fragile insect, Israel? I’ll help you. I, God, want to reassure you.” (Isaiah‬ ‭41‬:‭13-14 MSG‬‬)

• “God’s Message, the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies, laid out the earth and all that grows from it, Who breathes life into earth’s people, makes them alive with his own life: “I am God. I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.” (Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭5‬-‭6 ‭MSG‬‬)

There is a lot in life that makes us afraid. Crisis. Uncertainty. Unexpected experiences. Illness. Disease. Job loss. Aging. Growing up. These things are like waves crashing on the shores of our lives. We cannot stop them anymore than Josiah could stop the wave action in the gulf. What we can do is let God take us by the hand. Lead us to the water’s edge. And help us find safety, security, and peace in His presence. When we do, we discover the very things we fear become opportunities for significant spiritual growth. Our greatest trials become the source of our greatest victories. Our greatest struggles become our greatest strengths. Playing in the surf of life is where the action is and with God at our side, we have nothing to fear. Whatever you may be facing today, know God is with you! He is at your side! If you reach out, He will take you by the hand!  

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 43-45, Psalm 80

The Hope of the Resurrection

Readings for today: Isaiah 38-39, 2 Kings 20:1-21, 2 Chronicles 32:24-33

One of the things that’s difficult to keep in mind when we read the Bible is that we are looking at things through the lens of resurrection. We know the end of the story. We know the Person to whom all prophecies point. We know the fulfillment of the salvation story. We know Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, took on flesh and dwelt among us. We know He suffered, died, and was buried for our sins. We know He was raised bodily and physically on the third day to new life to defeat the powers of sin and death and the devil once and for all and to open the way to the heavenly dimension of life. We know all these things. Hezekiah did not. Isaiah did not. All the Old Testament saints did not. For them, death represented the end. They had no hope of heaven. They had no well-developed theology of the afterlife. That comes much later in their history.

I think about the people I know who do not believe. They too have no hope of heaven. They too have no expectation of an eternal life with God in glory. They have no hope of reunion with those they love or seeing Christ face to face. I found myself thinking about them this morning as I read. Grieving for them. Praying for them. Hezekiah’s words about his own death reflect their utter lack of hope in the face of death...“In the very prime of life I have to leave. Whatever time I have left is spent in death’s waiting room. No more glimpses of God in the land of the living, No more meetings with my neighbors, no more rubbing shoulders with friends. This body I inhabit is taken down and packed away like a camper’s tent. Like a weaver, I’ve rolled up the carpet of my life as God cuts me free of the loom And at day’s end sweeps up the scraps and pieces. I cry for help until morning. Like a lion, God pummels and pounds me, relentlessly finishing me off. I squawk like a doomed hen, moan like a dove. My eyes ache from looking up for help: “Master, I’m in trouble! Get me out of this!” But what’s the use? God himself gave me the word. He’s done it to me. I can’t sleep— I’m that upset, that troubled. O Master, these are the conditions in which people live, and yes, in these very conditions my spirit is still alive— fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life! It seems it was good for me to go through all those troubles. Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline. You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing. But my sins you let go of, threw them over your shoulder—good riddance! The dead don’t thank you, and choirs don’t sing praises from the morgue. Those buried six feet under don’t witness to your faithful ways. It’s the living—live men, live women—who thank you, just as I’m doing right now. Parents give their children full reports on your faithful ways.” (Isaiah‬ ‭38‬:‭9‬-‭19‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

The dead don’t thank you. Choirs don’t sing from morgues. The buried don’t bear witness. One can almost hear King Solomon from Ecclesiastes saying, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” Such is life without Christ. Yes, you may enjoy the days you’ve been given on this earth. You may find great success and some measure of joy. You may find love with your family and enjoy great friendships. You may make your mark on society and history but to what end? It is Job who describes human life as “sparks that fly upwards from a campfire.” We are given such brief moments in this world. Thankfully, God has created us for so much more! He has given us the opportunity to spend eternity with Him in a new heavens and new earth! He has given us a foretaste of that glorious dimension to life in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Strangely enough, Hezekiah foreshadows this when he says in Isaiah 38:20, “God saves and will save me. As fiddles and mandolins strike up the tunes, we’ll sing! Oh we’ll sing, sing, for the rest of our lives in the Sanctuary of God.” Hezekiah was talking about the fifteen additional years he’d been given but the Spirit of God speaking through Hezekiah was promising something even deeper. Something more enduring. A life of praise that will last forever in the presence of God.

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 40-42, Psalm 46

Empty Threats

Readings for today: Isaiah 36-37, 2 Kings 18:9-37, 2 Kings 19, 2 Chronicles 32:1-23, Psalm 76

Last summer, I was blessed to visit the ancient city of Amman. At the center of the city is the citadel whose history traces back to the Bronze Age (3300-1200BC). Over the years, archaeologists have uncovered a ton of information about the city, including the fact that it has been conquered several times. The Persians, Greeks, Nabateans, Romans, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Ayyubids, Mamelukes, and Ottomans all had their day. Every time a new empire would sweep in, they would often raze the city to the ground and rebuild on top of it. They would establish their dominance by repurposing important, often sacred structures like churches, as storage rooms or stables or trash dumps. It’s fascinating to walk through the ancient streets and think about all the different tribes and nations that called this place their home.

It also gives you a sense of the threat Hezekiah was facing when the Assyrian army invaded. They had just wiped out Israel to the north. Now they were moving south with designs to end up in Egypt. Assyria seemed unstoppable. They had crushed nation after nation. Forcibly uprooting the populace and sending them into exile. Their war machine was brutal. They left nothing but complete destruction in their wake. They believed they were following a sacred call. Destroying god after god to demonstrate the supremacy of their own god, Nisroch. Not only that but Judah was weak. She could barely seat an army of a couple of thousand. She had no chance against an army that was almost 100 times her size. Resistance seemed futile. Their fate sealed. All hope lost. But Hezekiah turned to the Lord. He called on God to hear the mockery of the Assyrians. He called on God for deliverance and salvation. He called on God to make His name known by destroying the most powerful nation on earth at the time. And God hears Hezekiah’s prayers. God responds to Hezekiah’s cries. He sends His avenging angel to strike down the Assyrians. He sent Sennacherib back home in disgrace where he is assassinated by his own children.

The Lord makes all human threats empty. No empire - no matter how mighty and strong - can defeat Him. No weapon that is fashioned against Him shall stand. No king or emperor can aspire to ascend His throne. God will brook no rivals. God will allow no pretenders. God will not be mocked. Not by any human being, great or small. Listen to how God Himself describes it in Isaiah 37:23-29, “Who do you think you’ve been mocking and reviling all these years? Who do you think you’ve been jeering and treating with such utter contempt all these years? The Holy of Israel! You’ve used your servants to mock the Master. You’ve bragged, “With my fleet of chariots I’ve gone to the highest mountain ranges, penetrated the far reaches of Lebanon, Chopped down its giant cedars, its finest cypresses. I conquered its highest peak, explored its deepest forest. I dug wells and drank my fill. I emptied the famous rivers of Egypt with one kick of my foot.” “‘Haven’t you gotten the news that I’ve been behind this all along? This is a longstanding plan of mine and I’m just now making it happen, using you to devastate strong cities, turning them into piles of rubble and leaving their citizens helpless, bewildered, and confused, drooping like unwatered plants, stunted like withered seedlings. “‘I know all about your pretentious poses, your self-important comings and goings, and, yes, the tantrums you throw against me. Because of all your wild raging against me, your unbridled arrogance that I keep hearing of, I’ll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I’ll show you who’s boss. I’ll turn you around and take you back to where you came from.”

Friends, greater is He that lives in you than is in the world. With God at your side, you can stand against a legion. You can leap over a wall. The next time you feel anxious or afraid. The next time you feel isolated and alone. The next time you start to doubt the provision and protection and power and promise of God, read Psalms 18. Claim David’s words as your own. Let them fill you with peace and a deep sense of security. God is on your side!

Readings for tomorrow: None

Escape Routes

Readings for today: Isaiah 31-35

Last summer I spent some time in Jordan. While I was there, we went to a Greek Orthodox Church with a famous mosaic on the floor. It’s a map of the trade routes of the ancient Middle East. Part of the map was destroyed by earthquakes that have hit this region. Other parts were carried off by pilgrims over the centuries. Most of the map remains and it essentially shows the King’s Highway from the Sea of Galilee through the Dead Sea down into the Red Sea. It highlights significant cities along the way like Hebron, Jericho, Bethlehem, and especially Jerusalem which is where almost all caravans in the ancient world were headed. It also highlights the many Byzantine churches that had been built in the region, giving travelers a road map that would help them find places for food and rest and especially water along the way. It’s truly an amazing sight and one of the many reasons Christians should take the time to visit Jordan.

I thought of the map when I read today’s text. I’ve always wondered why Israel would ever be tempted to flee to Egypt. Why go back to the nation that enslaved them? Why go back and seek help from a regime that had brutally oppressed them for hundreds of years? Why place your life at risk by undertaking a hard journey through the desert wilderness? Well, when one looks at the map, it becomes relatively clear. Caravans often made their way up from Egypt to Syria along the King’s Highway. This was a well-traveled road filled with all kinds of people from all kinds of different tribes and nations. When the other nations were defeated or faced a grave threat, they fled north or south depending on where the threat was coming from. In short, Israel was simply following in the same footsteps as the nations around them. Flying to Egypt to escape the Assyrian invasion would have made perfect sense to an ancient person living in the Middle East at the time.

But God wanted something different. God wanted His people to trust in Him. God wanted His people to look to the Holy One of Israel for their salvation rather than the pharaohs of Egypt. God wanted His people to consult Him before making any decisions rather than trust in the common wisdom of the day. The Egyptians are just men. They are not gods. Their horses are flesh not spirit. Their military might is nothing compared to the might of God. The only one who can save Israel from the wrath of the Assyrian army is the Lord of hosts.

“Assyrians will fall dead, killed by a sword-thrust but not by a soldier, laid low by a sword not swung by a mortal. Assyrians will run from that sword, run for their lives, and their prize young men made slaves. Terrorized, that rock-solid people will fall to pieces, their leaders scatter hysterically.” God’s Decree on Assyria. His fire blazes in Zion, his furnace burns hot in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah‬ ‭31‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

What was true for God’s people back then remains true for God’s people today. Only God can deliver us from the struggles and trials we face. Only God can protect us from the evil one who prowls about looking to devour and destroy. Only God can deliver us from sin and death and it is to Him we must turn. We must learn to seek God again. Not just on our own but when we are together. Worship. Bible studies. Small groups. Leadership meetings. All present opportunities to seek the Lord as a community of believers. And the promise of God is sure. If we seek God with all our hearts, He will make Himself known to us. We will experience Him in a powerful way. And He will give us the strength to stand firm when the storms of life come.

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 36-37, 2 Kings 18:9-37, 2 Kings 19, 2 Chronicles 32:1-23, Psalm 76

The True Vine

Readings for today: Isaiah 27-30

“I am the vine and you are the branches.” That’s the first thought that came to mind when I read our passage for today. Take a step back and one can easily see how Jesus draws on the imagery of the Old Testament when He teaches His disciples. He’s not just making it up. He’s taking them back to their history. Back to the sacred words of the prophets. Infusing new and fresh meaning in ancient words of revelation.

In the midst of all the fire and judgment, Isaiah looks forward to a day when God will plant a fine vineyard. He will tend it Himself, refusing to trust the work to another. He will watch over it, refusing to trust her safety to another. He will protect it and provide for it. He will cultivate it and nurture it. Even when weeds spring up, God will simply pull them up and burn them so the vine stays healthy and strong. This vine will cling to God. She will find her life in God. She will hold onto God all her days. Listen to how the Message version describes it,

“At that same time, a fine vineyard will appear. There’s something to sing about! I, God, tend it. I keep it well-watered. I keep careful watch over it so that no one can damage it. I’m not angry. I care. Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes, I’ll just pull them out and burn them up. Let that vine cling to me for safety, let it find a good and whole life with me, let it hold on for a good and whole life.” The days are coming when Jacob shall put down roots, Israel blossom and grow fresh branches, and fill the world with its fruit.” (Isaiah‬ ‭27‬:‭2‬-‭6‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

Why does Isaiah use the image of a vineyard? And why will Jesus lift this image up when He could have chosen so many others? I think it has to do with the last sentence, verse six from the above passage. Vineyards are planted for one purpose…to produce fruit. They are cultivated to produce the finest of grapes which, in turn, produces the finest of wines. The goal of the vineyard is not to keep the fruit to itself. The goal of the owner of the vineyard is not to keep all the grapes to himself. No, the goal is to fill the world with what the vineyard produces. Fill the earth with beautiful grapes and fine wines so that all might taste and see how good is the vineyard of God. Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” In other words, if you cling to Me, if you find your whole life in Me, if you hold onto Me alone for a good and whole life; you will bear much fruit. You will fill your home, your neighborhood, your place of work, your school, your city, your nation, and even the world with your fruit. Cling to the True Vine, friends. Cling to Jesus.

Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 31-35