Devotion.al

  • Lost in Memory

    Genesis 39:21–41:36, Psalm 9:1-16

    Old , being “blonde”, being scatterbrained, being AD(H)D, having a bad time with names are all often used to excuse memory issues. While there are definitely cases of that being true, another cause of memory issues is being overly mentally occupied and pride. Each person and even each situation may have a different cause for why we don’t names, dates, or other important things. Today it is quite easy to be overly mentally occupied. We are being bombarded with messaging and media. Even if you don’t have Facebook or Twitter, the bombardment doesn’t stop.

    The question we need to ourselves when it comes to memory problems is it about me, or is about how important they are to me? Yes, that’s a poke indeed, isn’t it? You just met someone and ten seconds later you forgot their . It sadly probably means that you don’t care enough to remember. Yes, that is harsh, and we all bear that failure to some degree or another. The reality is that we only have so much capacity to remember, and we prioritize information unconsciously. If we don’t think we need to remember the person, or that it’s okay that we don’t, we won’t. The Dale Carnegie course trains people to remember people the first time. Yes, there are other things with the course, but often the feedback from the very first day is the instructors’ ability to remember everyone’s name the first time and keep the to the next week. We don’t deliberately think this way. It’s natural.

    That’s part of what makes this part of Joseph’s story so interesting. With the help of God, he interpreted the dreams of two men. All he asked in return was to be remembered. Think about this. Both the baker and steward were in the midst of a significant event. Generally, when people are involved with our significant life events, we remember them. The baker, of course, would have liked for Joseph to be wrong. The steward’s dream was positively affirmed, and then the baker’s demise was yet another confirmation of Joseph empowered by God…yet the steward forgot. It seems it was a pretty quick forget, too. While we might be quick to condemn the baker for forgetting, we have to remember that we, too, forget people, and even those that were part of a significant life event can be forgotten.

    Remembering people’s names is important. They feel cared for by that simple gesture of being remembered. We show we care for them when we remember.

    Eventually, the steward did remember, and it’s a good thing, too! Imagine what would have happened had the baker continued to forget Joseph! Egypt would have enjoyed its bounty and been destroyed along with the of the region during the famine. God’s would not have been . Who knows what would have happened to the tribe of Israel? What about ? Yes, we can say it was God’s plan, yet like so many things it revolved around singular defining events, including remembering a Hebrew slave prisoner.

    1) Have you had the experience of someone remembering you unexpectedly? How did that feel?

    2) It is important to God that we remember. What is something significant that God has done in your life that you continually remember?

    FD) Do you have any special trips or experiences you like to remember? How do you keep them in your memory?

  • Remembrance, Power and Identity

    Genesis 9:8–17, Psalm 8

    Remembering is an essential part of the human condition. The philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot the past are condemned to repeat it.” Through technology, humanity is creating nearly 50 billion GB of data a day. At most, the Bible as is 10 megabytes. This means that if the bible is rewritten everyday, it is only .00001 of the data made in a day. It is quite easy to see that it takes effort to keep the Bible from drowning in the mass amount of data created everyday.

    ‌In the early days, when humankind was still relatively simple there was still a barrier between humanity and God. Through poor judgement and pride, humanity had separated itself from God.

    ‌As a result, humankind received punishment…the flood. While there are many arguments regarding the depth and extent of the flood, the truth that a majority of religions around the world have a flood story. There is something there that cannot be ignored. A story that is almost universal even today, and yet to many it is exactly that. A story.

    ‌Story is what binds humanity together. Story helps humanity know who it is, where it has been, and were it is going. So, why does God need to remember? After Noah, God set the rainbow to remember, or did he? Sometimes a parent has to say something like, “I’m doing this for me,” so that their children will remember. That is what God is doing here.

    ‌Think of the rain as sin. As it continues, it soaks us to the bone. It gets inside of us. Then the sun comes out and dries the rain. In the midst of from soaked with sin the comes to warmth us. The beauty/ of that change is the rainbow.

    ‌Another way to tell the same story. The flood was the result of the mass of sin that humanity had committed. The of Noah and the promise of the rainbow are the and restoration of us all.

    ‌Remembrance is . Remembrance is .‌‌

    • 1) What family stories do you tell, , or repeat? What do they tell you about your family and your identity?
    • ‌2) Our salvation stories can differ from person to person. Each is unique. Do you remember your story? Tell it to someone.
    • ‌3) In an attempt to share the story, we sometimes focus on the wrong parts. What elements of the story do you think of? How do they expand or limit the story?
    • ‌FD) What is/was you favorite bedtime story? Why?

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  • Not Always Better

    Deuteronomy 9:1–9:7, Psalm 36, Romans 5:20–6:11

    You have been trouble from the beginning of this! Moses’ long good-bye speech (all of Deuteronomy) is a summary of God, God’s message, God’s calling, and Israel’s past, current, and response. It’s not pretty.

    We can often look at the Israelites and question their memory, , or sanity. How do they keep making the same basic mistakes? Of course, we really get the Cliff Notes or Spark Notes version. A quick summary of the highlights, 40 years of highlights. If you could only write the highlights of your , you could make it short, too. Plus, you would write about you, and some close family, and maybe some large events. This summary of the Israelites journey from Egypt to the threshold of the Promised Land (for the 2nd time) is for a populace that many times larger than the City of Marysville. If we took only our highlights, or perhaps lowlights, our story may sound similar. Moses is driving home a point. Don’t take God’s for granted, and don’t ruin the inheritance of God.

    Much of the story of the Israelites’ travels from Egypt to the Promised Land is about hearts that were not continually grateful (and therefore humble). They had food they barely worked for (Mana). They were (generally) protected from enemies. Their clothes and sandals didn’t wear out. They had plenty of herds. They had plundered Egypt. They became comfortable with what they had and felt they should get more. They looked back at an idealized and false view of Egypt and threatened to return to Egypt if they didn’t get what they wanted. They certainly weren’t righteous. They were definitely stubborn. They were receiving the result of God’s promise to people long dead. God was faithful.

    Even in Moses’ time, the of ‘s words still rings loudly, “…where multiplied, grace multiplied even more.” (Romans 5:21) Throughout the journey, God’s grace was abundant. While the Israelites didn’t think this way, apparently there were Gentiles that wanted to sin more (or thought they should) so that God’s grace would be even larger. Paul’s head may have not been in his hands in disbelief, but nevertheless, his disbelief comes through his writing. Of course, we should seek to sin more! That’s what we were saved from! Why would we go back to that life? Oh, wait, that sounds familiar. The Israelites wanted to go back to “that life.” Somehow, the slavery that they left (the law and sin) was somehow better than the Promised Land (grace and blessing).

    That is, however, the problem with many of the sins we struggle with. It seems “better” to live that way. It seems “better” to the world. It seems “better” to those around us. It must be better than.

    1) Why do we often return to the bad stuff (habits, behaviors, thoughts) that has been and is working out of us?

    2) Why does our of the way we used to live still pull us back?

    3) The Israelites left harsh conditions. Why would they choose slavery over ? When have you done the same?

    FD) What is grace?

  • Interceding Love

    Genesis 44:18–34, Isaiah 59:15b–20, Hebrews 7:11–28, Romans: 8:26–39

    It has been said the person who does not pray for their spouse will have their prayers bounce back. It has been said that a person who is not prayed for by their spouse will experience the same. It does seem to be a catch-22. It isn’t. This is to be a lifestyle of prayer, not once or twice. It is to be regular. One should know best what one’s spouse needs prayer for, maybe even better than their spouse. Prayer shouldn’t end there. People should pray for their parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, and other members. People should pray for friends. People should pray for their #. People should be praying…a lot. This sounds like a lot of shoulds, and it is. Intercession is an act of love toward and for . Do you love people? Pray for them.

    Not all intercession is prayer. In Genesis, Judah intercedes for his brother Benjamin on behalf of their , Israel. Yes, there is a lot more to than just that. Intercession is often putting oneself in the place of another, just like Judah was trying to do with Benjamin. Understanding the “putting oneself” piece is put into a larger context when Jesus says, “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Life has many places where one can and should intercede for others.

    While Judah was trying to avoid the breaking of his father’s heart, Isaiah speaks to the people of Israel. The leaders are not interceding on behalf of their people. They are not supporting and out . Therefore God has to exercise salvation. Justice and salvation are part of intercession. Think about that for a moment, and go back to intercessory prayer. Justice and salvation are part of that, too. THANK GOD! That’s where Jesus comes in!

    The author of Hebrews notes that Jesus’ intercession on our behalf means that we receive salvation. As Jesus continually (until the end of this world) is before the Father interceding on our behalf. Just as Judah interceded to keep his father’s heart from breaking, Jesus (from the Tribe of Judah) intercedes on our behalf so that God the Father’s heart is not broken by losing us. When Judah died, there could be no more intercession. Jesus is eternal so the intercession never ends.

    As if that wasn’t enough, the Spirit intercedes on our behalf in the intent of the first piece, intercessory prayer. 2/3 of the is interceding on our behalf. Jesus and the interceded in one heart/mind/spirit with God the Father, on whose behalf Jesus came for us. It is just amazing!

    1) If that much of God is about interceding, should our be any less?
    2) God obviously views intercession as important. Do you view intercession as an important part of your walk with Christ as God views it?

    3) Why is intercession for others so important? Does intercession change your heart regarding those people for whom your interceding?

    FD) Have you ever defended somebody who didn’t “deserve” it? Why or why not?

  • Disappointment Not Punishment

    Psalm 34, Job 1:1–10, 1 John 4:7–21

    There is something in the Old Testament that remains unresolved. The Psalmist declares that the wicked will not be remembered and the righteous will be. This is a common theme. Yet, when we look at scripture, and we look at the world around us, we rightfully question that. So, what is going on? Perhaps we ought to question who is doing the remembering. Both Old and New Testaments are testaments of God to humanity. In other words, humanity is the object of the story (the Bible), God is. Scripture tells the story of the imperfect revealing the , , , , mercy, ,… of God. Humanity is just the target of all of that. Since we tell the stories, we confuse being the tellers of the story with being the subject of the story.

    There is another tension in both Old and New Testament: of God. The psalmist talks about teaching the fear of God to people. How does that match with this loving God we tell people about? First, of course, is our language. That is the start of the problem. There is also an automatic opposition to the word fear. Fear is bad. Except when it is not. When driving to work, one cannot be by fear (you’ll never leave the driveway). Yet, defensive driving (a form of fear) is very wise when driving with all the other people that are obviously not as good of drivers as you are.

    The opening verses of Job tell us that fear from the of Scripture may not match our own. We read that Job makes sacrifices on behalf of his children, for he fears they might have sinned. In support of Job, God (proudly) declares that Job fears him (God). What? How about the insight from Satan (how’s that for weird), that of course Job fears God, for God has protected him and blessed him with property and . Fear? Well, fear must not mean…fear.

    Our last insight comes from 1 John, with fear and love being polar opposites. And this is that final insight. Bad fear, the fear that we should not have toward God, is the fear of punishment. Which leaves us with good fear, which is having the right perspective of God. God is almighty. God is love. Right fear is the fear that we are not in fellowship with God, but God so loves us that he pours out his grace and mercy upon us, so that we need not fear punishment, but are devastated by God’s disappointment.

    1) What about God do you fear?

    2) What about people do you fear?

    3) Why does true love cast out (bad) fear?

    FD) When you think of God, which is a stronger emotion: fear or love? Why?

  • Growing Knowledge

    Isaiah 5:18–24, Luke 11:37–44, 2 Corinthians 11:1–11

    Much of today’s passages revolve around religious leaders, religious know-it-alls, and egotistical maniacs using religious language. It is really easy to point out the flaw of our and of course everybody else’s religious leaders. Oddly enough, they’re too. The easy thing to point out is when their pride gets the best of them, and it becomes about them, and not God. We should not be so quick.
    In Jewish tradition, just accepting one’s faith was being a child (which was good). Yet, owning one’s faith meant digging into God’s words and ways, especially with . Ignorance was no excuse. Christianity continued that tradition (despite what many naysayers would have you believe). We weren’t just to inherit the faith, we were to embody the faith. There is one point where admonishes his charges to be eager to stop being children (“spiritual milk”) and become adults (“meat of the faith”). We are not to have a milk toast kind of faith.

    The flip side, however, is that there are those who take their to the extreme. These aren’t even the, “so heavenly minded, they’re no earthly good.” These are the people whose quest for knowledge or pride in having knowledge overrides their with God and others. These people are often the religious leaders that struggled with. Their knowledge or legalistic formulae were perfect. Their walk was anything but.

    The “super-apostles” that Paul wrote about were people who were great debaters or scholars. They believed they have the corner on the right spiritual knowledge. They certainly had the rhetorical skills to make Paul acknowledge that he wasn’t good at public speaking. Yet, while he was religiously well-trained he set it aside to have a relationship with Corinthians so that they could see how the life was to be lived out. Paul took his knowledge and applied it to their lives. He also lived with them. He them. When we talk about this is what we are talking about. Milk knowledge is starting knowledge. It is not supposed to stop there. That’s just the beginning. As we walk in the life, we learn from and teach others. We struggle . We live life together. Great religious knowledge is the flip side of great religious ignorance. That little space between them is where we need to be.

    1) Have you ever experienced a Christian that saw themselves as so knowledgeable about the faith that you disliked them? What about that was uncomfortable for you?

    2) Have you ever experienced a person that called themselves a Christian, but as you talked with them, you realized they didn’t really understand what that meant? What was the feeling you had?

    3) The biggest thing about is walking beside one another. How can you walk alongside another in those situations above?

    FD) Isaiah uses the “woe”. There are 2 primary meanings: sadness and beware. Which do you think Isaiah meant?

  • Growing Foundations

    Romans 1:19–23, Isaiah 2:1-5, Nehemiah 8:1–12, 2 Corinthians 1:12–14
    From the foundations of the world, God’s hands are at work. We often are blind to our own ignorance, sometimes willingly so. God doesn’t want us to remain ignorant of , its ways, and certainly not his ways. The high ways of God are often easy to see, but hard to travel. We may know the paths, but remaining on them is hard. One of the biggest obstacles is our own pride.

    In Nehemiah, the pride of Israel has already been struck hard. They are at the mercy of a powerful empire. This powerful empire through a powerful act of of God, allowed the exiled Jews to to their homeland. However, sadly, many of them had lost, or never learned, what the ways of the Lord even were. They did not know the law. They did not know the law that their forefathers violated leading to their exile. They did not from their past. Many, apparently, willingly avoided learning from the past, just based on the ignorance of their history conveyed in this passage in Nehemiah.

    The appointed religious leaders had to teach the people what they should have already known. While it is easy to blame the religious leaders, it had always been the duty of the families to pass on the history and laws. The religious leaders had their duties, but it wasn’t to replace the responsibilities of families, clans, and tribes to teach their people. As the people were taught, they learned. They mourned. They began to understand how far they were. It may have not been their fault, but it was their responsibility. Now, however, the religious leaders interpreted and explained the basics. Then they probably built upon that. They had to rebuild an entire religious understanding in a people with no foundation.

    There is no fault here. It just is. There is responsibility. The responsibility each of us have with God’s words and ways. In his letter to the Corinthians, knows that he cannot convey everything to them in a letter, or even multiple letters. It takes with them to teach them to the depth of understanding he wants for them. Yet, by laying the foundation which they can understand, the leaders the follow after Paul have a foundation they can build on to explain the depth, height, and width of God’s grace, , and mercy.

    1) What can you do to deepen your understanding of God’s word? Now, will you commit to doing it?

    2) -y language (or jargon) is often mysterious to people with no religious or church experience (and sometimes even to those that do). What can you do to in a way that people are better able to understand God and God’s ways?

    3) We often cast blame at others saying, “they ought to know better.” Instead of that attitude, will you take on an attitude of, “how can help them better understand God, and be full of grace, and be open to learning myself?”

    FD) What is the difference between fault and responsibility? Why does that matter in our with God?

  • How Do We Look?

    Psalm 120, Mark 13:9-13, 2 Peter 1:20-2:9

    Psalm 120 is a lament. The psalmist is among those who live a of lies. These same people are warmongers, seeking strife and conflict. The psalmist is living in foreign lands that seek no peace, but the cry of the psalmist’s heart is for peace. The psalm begins with the end. God answered him, the rest of the psalm is about what the problem was. The is that while the psalmist was referring to a specific people, we all know the type. There are those that do not seem happy unless there is conflict. There are those who do not peace. When one does not have peace, one resorts to force fairly quickly. We are all guilty of this to some degree. Sometimes the response is yelling, crying, ambivalence, disregard. These all are violent to the heart and soul of others, and often to ourselves. We quickly think that all violence is physical. The truth is that violence is the outward of an inward .

    Jesus’ words in Mark are certainly not comforting. They can be terrifying. The internal strife of families torn apart. Neighbors calling out neighbors. Remember the Second Great Commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. This is the outward sign of it not being so. Jesus is warning that his peace is not the peace of this world. All too often, the peace of this world is bought and paid for by blood and death. The peace of God is not so. The psalmist understood this. The response of the psalmist to those around him was, “God save me!” It wasn’t a slap to the face, or something more. It was prayer. As Jesus continues, he refers to the . The is the source of the peace of God. When the Holy Spirit resides in us, we can respond to those around us with a grace and that is not ours.

    The God-ly wisdom of the Holy Spirit requires our humility. Peter has to confront people already who say that they have a new revelation from God. Peter is quick to point out that the prophets themselves did not understand their prophecies (unless granted so by God). It was only after the fact that it was proven that their prophecies were true. This is an important thing as the , and groups that masquerade as the church, often have those that call themselves prophets or revealers or divine actors of some sort that are bringing a new truth from God. Often these new truths are then used in ways that are violent to the hearts and souls of the innocent (and even not-so innocent). These people use the power of media, guilt, society, anything at all to crush the hearts of the people of God. We too can be guilty of using God in this same way. God’s ways are the ways of peace. God’s ways are the ways that sooth and heal.

    1) Has some “religious” person ever said something to you that was hurtful? How did that make you feel toward the religious they claimed to follow?

    2) Often (and rightly) people are told that if they are abandoning religion because of people, then they are looking at the people not God. What does that mean, then, when we also say, “we may be the only Jesus they every see?”

    3/FD) Being a peace-lover or peace-maker does not mean being a pushover. How does one make peace without violence?

Devotion.al

Lost in Memory

Genesis 39:21–41:36, Psalm 9:1-16

Old , being “blonde”, being scatterbrained, being AD(H)D, having a bad time with names are all often used to excuse memory issues. While there are definitely cases of that being true, another cause of memory issues is being overly mentally occupied and pride. Each person and even each situation may have a different cause for why we don’t names, dates, or other important things. Today it is quite easy to be overly mentally occupied. We are being bombarded with messaging and media. Even if you don’t have Facebook or Twitter, the bombardment doesn’t stop.

The question we need to ourselves when it comes to memory problems is it about me, or is about how important they are to me? Yes, that’s a poke indeed, isn’t it? You just met someone and ten seconds later you forgot their . It sadly probably means that you don’t care enough to remember. Yes, that is harsh, and we all bear that failure to some degree or another. The reality is that we only have so much capacity to remember, and we prioritize information unconsciously. If we don’t think we need to remember the person, or that it’s okay that we don’t, we won’t. The Dale Carnegie course trains people to remember people the first time. Yes, there are other things with the course, but often the feedback from the very first day is the instructors’ ability to remember everyone’s name the first time and keep the to the next week. We don’t deliberately think this way. It’s natural.

That’s part of what makes this part of Joseph’s story so interesting. With the help of God, he interpreted the dreams of two men. All he asked in return was to be remembered. Think about this. Both the baker and steward were in the midst of a significant event. Generally, when people are involved with our significant life events, we remember them. The baker, of course, would have liked for Joseph to be wrong. The steward’s dream was positively affirmed, and then the baker’s demise was yet another confirmation of Joseph empowered by God…yet the steward forgot. It seems it was a pretty quick forget, too. While we might be quick to condemn the baker for forgetting, we have to remember that we, too, forget people, and even those that were part of a significant life event can be forgotten.

Remembering people’s names is important. They feel cared for by that simple gesture of being remembered. We show we care for them when we remember.

Eventually, the steward did remember, and it’s a good thing, too! Imagine what would have happened had the baker continued to forget Joseph! Egypt would have enjoyed its bounty and been destroyed along with the of the region during the famine. God’s would not have been . Who knows what would have happened to the tribe of Israel? What about ? Yes, we can say it was God’s plan, yet like so many things it revolved around singular defining events, including remembering a Hebrew slave prisoner.

1) Have you had the experience of someone remembering you unexpectedly? How did that feel?

2) It is important to God that we remember. What is something significant that God has done in your life that you continually remember?

FD) Do you have any special trips or experiences you like to remember? How do you keep them in your memory?