Devotion.al

Tag: strength

  • Hope Together

    1 Chronicles 29:14–19, Psalm 31, Isaiah 2:1–5 (read online ⧉)

    It is pretty universal across humanity for people to question their value and their purpose. In the ancient world, the view of gods was often not particularly positive. Much of the activity was done to appease the wrathful gods and to “bribe” them enough to maybe get what was desired. The progressive understanding of the Israelites was that while God required sacrifice it was much more than that.

    David rarely seemed to view himself particularly highly (which have actually been a problem, at times). This gave David an interesting insofar as he knew that while God had him (and his family), he didn’t take it for granted. He was grateful and amazed. In addition, part of his history (and that of Israel) was one of constant strife with the nations around them, and often at the losing end.

    It was the non-losing end that remained the underlying story of the Israelites…hope. David understood that while Israel was often in trouble, often through its own misbehavior, with God’s selection of David and his family that there was indeed hope that the people would finally be unified. Through unification, perhaps the people of Israel would finally be strong enough to stand against the forces around them.

    Regardless, for David at least, it all relied on God. While David and his military might could protect the nation to some degree, it was only through God’s mighty hand and care that the nation, and its people, would thrive. In Psalm 31, David calls upon God’s faithful love. Foreshadowing a significant event in the of his descendant, David wrote, “…into your hand I entrust my spirit.” Hope and in God are what allows us to continue in when we cannot see in the dark.

    Isaiah’s vision shows us that even then God was looking forward to everyone worshiping God with each other. This would cross national, ethnic, language, and cultural barriers. This hope, of a world united in worship of God, is what we have to with those who don’t know God. Let us take the of hope forward into our lives.
    1) Have you ever questioned your value or purpose? What do David’s words say to that?

    2) Why is entrusting yourself to God such an important perspective?

    3) There is more than just worship involved in Isaiah’s vision? What else is there?

    FD) What do you think David means by his spirit to God?

  • Different Not Defeated

    Obadiah 11–17, Joel 2:12–19, Luke 21:12–19 (read online ⧉)

    The problem with being a follower of is, well, being a follower of Jesus. First, it makes you different. There’s step one. Being different. We all want to fit in, but as a follower of Jesus Christ, we aren’t supposed to just “fit in” to the world. Sometimes that may mean we don’t fit into the church or even our family. We don’t like that. It is uncomfortable.

    The next problem, or at least something that should be a problem, is that we aren’t liked for being followers of Christ. This doesn’t mean that we are to be unpleasant or cruel. We are to display , which we ourselves struggle with and against. There will be trials and tribulations, or there should be. That has been one of the biggest pitfalls of being in the States. We have lost most of the tension that our has with the world. We have become comfortable with the world, especially as expressed in the United States. This is why we should embrace our growing discomfort in the current culture. We are beginning to rediscover the cost of being a . We certainly are not at the place where Christians are being targeted programmatically. While many of our beliefs are being challenged in the culture and government, we are still free to practice our faith without .

    What gets interesting is how much of the non- and anti-religious people are beginning to gloat with their apparent victories against the faith. History doesn’t support their victory laps. The faith was practiced behind closed doors for years and flourished. We are seeing it now in other countries. The greater the oppression, it seems, the greater the growth. Obadiah’s warning to the gloaters is that they ought to be careful in their gloating. They confused discipline and training for destruction and defeat. Sadly, so do many Christians.

    We are called to be in a healthy state of continuing repentance. It’s not as if God doesn’t already know that we messed something up. God is God. A state of ongoing repentance means that we do not think too much of ourselves and too little of others. This is how we keep ourselves from surrendering to defeat and allowing ourselves to embrace God’s discipline.

    The part that often confuses Christians and non-Christians alike is that if Jesus Christ is King, then why does all this bad stuff happen to anyone, let alone Christians? That is a great question, and if asked honestly, it is working through. That doesn’t mean we will have all the , nor does it mean we will have the right answers for everyone. We need to have the right answer to that question for ourselves. When we are confident in the and strength and of the King of Kings the power of our answers is not the facts they convey but the Truth that is God.

    1) What do you think of the current culture compared to so-called church culture?

    2) Where do you see yourself not fitting into wider culture? Where do you see yourself not fitting into church culture? How does following Jesus affect either?

    3) What is your emotional response to apparent cultural victories over Christianity and even faith in general? What does that response tell you about yourself?

  • Rules of Mercy

    Exodus 25:16–22, Isaiah 33:17–22, Psalm 118 (read online ⧉)

    So much of the Levitical law was about the dos and don’ts. Israelites and (later) Christians became overly concerned about the blood being shed, and all the sins committed requiring it. Yet, God set out an that was right there for anyone to see, if they were able.

    God talks about the Ark of the in this passage. The that carried the 10 Commandments, a sample of mana, and later Aaron’s sprouted staff was capped with the mercy seat. The mercy seat. All of this was covered by mercy. God’s mercy. Then God goes and states that the mercy seat is where God will the people.

    Why is this significant? Perhaps if people had focused on mercy, rather than the rules, God’s great commandments ( the Lord your God with all your , soul, mind, and . Love your neighbor as yourself.) would not have been so lost in rules that were lived out in a way that made God into a horrible vicious creature that so many people feared (the bad kind of ) and didn’t love.

    When you can “see” God as sitting on the mercy seat, you can better understand Isaiah’s words about the beauty of God. Isaiah continues on about the majesty of God. This passage ends with God being judge (with mercy), lawgiver (in mercy), and king (of mercy).

    1) Having a right understanding of God is essential to having a good with God. Can you have a good relationship with someone seemingly always angry, bitter, belittling, dismissive, judgemental, unforgiving, or harsh?

    2) If we do not start with God seated on the mercy seat, how would we relate to God?

    3) When we read Psalm 118 we read about God being the source of true . How does this fit into the narrative of God being seated on the mercy seat?

  • A Little Tempted

    1 Samuel 25:36–42, Luke 22:39–46, James 1:13–15

    is a tricky thing. It can seem easy to succumb to, and it is. It can also be easy to beat yourself up should you fall to temptation. In many respects, after the failure, it is the mind game you play with yourself afterward that sets you up for or failure.

    The first by many is…it’s God’s fault. That could be a twisted understanding of God made me this way (so, whenever I , It’s God’s fault). There is also a thought that God is the one tempting me (and he knows that I’ll fail, so it’s God’s fault).

    As David notes, God does provide a way (or more than one!) to avoid temptation. Sometimes we are blind to it. Sometimes we deliberately ignore it. We have free will. We do have a choice.

    Temptation will come. was tempted in all ways like us (not necessarily the same expression). You are not better than Jesus. It is what you do before and after temptation, and after failing that sets you up for maturing further in the faith.

    1) Do you have anyone that holds you accountable? Are you holding anyone accountable?

    2) After a failure, how do you (or do you) ? Do you include in your confession?

    3) Before and after temptation, how do you bolster your to resist?

  • Strong Protecting Love

    Isaiah 26:1–6, Psalm 18:1–9, Nehemiah 6:15–16

    is measured in many ways. When you’re the one being attached, often it is by fists (or equivalent). Another way is deterrent. In other words, what will be the cost to attack? When a strong city is called out, it is a city that, yes, can defend itself. It is also a city that would not want to attack. This particular city, Jerusalem, had God as its ultimate defense.

    What country or military would want to attack God? This was the of the Israelites, that God would protect them.

    God does want to protect those who God, and and honor God. The phrasing, however, gets odd when we talk about jealousy. Jealousy always seems to be bad. Even when we say God has a jealous love for us, it sounds bad.

    Rev. George Harrison calls jealousy the shadow of love. That doesn’t sound much better. However, he notes that what we often jealousy is actually love corrupted by envy. True jealousy—or righteous jealousy—is when wholesome love and devotion are denied, betrayed, or destroyed.

    God, then, is jealous when the love due by right (as Creator) and relationship (whether Israelite, Christian or the not quite) is no longer. God’s jealous love is the of one betrayed. As the one whose love is faithful and never-changing, God would do just about anything for those God loves.

    1) Re-read the last paragraph. What do we have of this?

    2) Re-read the with this understanding of God’s jealous love. Does your understanding change?

    3) What is important to understand God’s jealous love and our lives, and how we live them?

  • Freeing the Rules

    Psalm 119:153–168, Deuteronomy 6, Galatians 5:1–15

    Rules and regulations. We often don’t like them. At the same time, there are many who are calling for more and more rules and regulations. People want to control people’s thoughts and their expressions of their thoughts. People want to control ‘ behavior, but don’t want theirs controlled.

    When refers to the Law of the Jews (e.g., circumcision), there is a Jewish understanding that the Jews failed miserably to follow the Law perfectly. So, to do a better job of following the law that they couldn’t already follow, they added more laws.

    The whys of rules and regulations should often be more the focus than the actual rules and regulations. When Moses talks about the whys, it is contained within Deuteronomy 6:4–6. “Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your . These words that I am you today are to be in your heart.”

    It’s not that breaking the rules wasn’t serious. It was. What was of primary importance was a with God.

    Note also what comes after that, teaching and guiding others into that same relationship.

    Then, and only then, do we get to the rules. Many Bibles have a heading before verse 10 to the effect of Remembering God Through Obedience. So, the rules aren’t about the rules, they’re about God. For Christians, the “rules” of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers are more like guidelines, good and healthy guidelines for , but guidelines. They are for a time and place and context, which isn’t ours.

    So, Christians create more rules. These rules are in many ways far worse than the rules of the Law. Many people use the “new” rules to condemn people to Hell, without knowing them. The rules are often used with and intimidation. That certainly isn’t the that Paul was talking about.

    1) When you think of rules, what are your feelings? How do you feel when someone else breaks the rule? How about when you break the rules?

    2) Why do you think the rules and remembering are tied ? How does that affect the way you feel about rules?

    3) We all set rules and expectations regarding the behavior of others. What do you do when someone violates them?

  • Buildings and Foundations

    Psalm 74, Ezra 3:1-11, 1 Corinthians 3:10-17

    In Seattle, building after building is going up with those huge cranes on top. The population of Snohomish County is projected to grow by 10,000 people per year for nearly the next 20 years, and the first couple of years of that projection (already having passed) have exceeded that growth. As we look around the area, there is a lot of building going on. Around Generations Community , there are multi-house developments being completed at an amazing pace. As those homes are built, a lot of effort goes into them. The community (the City of Marysville) has requirements for the development, roads, and houses. The developer has to all those requirements. In addition to meeting those requirements, the builder has to meet the expectations of people they’ve never met…the buyers. There really is a lot that goes into building a house.

    The first is the ground itself. The ground has to . Everything goes from there. The next is the foundation. The interplay of ground and foundation are critical to the durability and lifespan of the house. If both are not prepared well, and in harmony, there will be trouble.

    Through Creation God created the ground. All of us, believer and nonbeliever, walk upon it. It is the foundation that is the dividing point. When the foundation is Christ, it should be different than the “foundation” of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, even Judaism (though there will be similarities there). The biggest difference is the understanding of who Jesus is. Jesus is the one and only begotten of God. Jesus is God. Instantly, the foundation of Christianity is different. However, the problem in the church (and has been for centuries) is the concern about what is on top of the foundation.

    When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem from exile, the temple was no more. It still held its preeminence in Israelite religious culture, but its magnificence was long gone. However, the foundation was still there. Instead of being stuck with the outward appearance, the exiles celebrated the next feast. The feast they celebrated was the Feast of Booths, intended to annually remind the Israelites of their ancestors’ wandering in the desert. They celebrated wandering on a firm foundation. When we wander through life (or just take the next right) and remain on the foundation of Christ, all will (eventually, at least) be well.

    As Paul writes about foundations, he acknowledges that people will build the “temple of their hearts” with what they can. Some people, through no fault of their own, only have twigs, rocks, and mud to make one with. Some people, through wrong decisions, will have -scarred wood to build with. , through the grace and mercy of God, will build with gold and jewels. Now, we aren’t talking about literal gold, jewels, or mud, or twigs. We’re talking about the spiritual condition of the . What makes it even more interesting is that we may be deceive ourselves with what we are thinking are building. We may think we are building with gold, but we are building with mud. Or, we may thing we’re building with twigs, but we are building with jewels. In many ways, though, it doesn’t really matter what our spiritual temples are built with, but that they are built. The refiner’s fire will burn away all the and misery, and all that remains between us and God.

    1) Foundation as the starting point. How do you view Jesus as your foundation?

    2) Can you see the foundations others might have? What is the weakness and/or strength of their foundation?

    3) Why do people look past the foundation, even of their own homes, let alone their spiritual life?

    FD) Only before God’s creative grace and can mud, stick, jewel, gold, stone be viewed as the same. What does that tell you about how God looks at people?

  • Trusting Joy

    Trusting Joy

    Psalm 37:3-6, Joel 2:12-13, Isaiah 12:2-6, James 1:2-4

    Integrity, so it is said, is doing the right thing when nobody is watching. It can be tempting to do the wrong thing when no one is watching. It is often easy to do the right thing when everyone is cheering.

    It’s when no one is cheering, or people are even grumbling or threatening those who do right, that we come to the hard part of living out our .

    “Trust in the LORD, and do what is good…”
    Psalm 37:3

    “…I will trust [the LORD] and not be afraid…”
    Isaiah 12:2

    When it gets tough to do right, all we can do is trust God. Sounds easy, but how often do we fail to trust God, and instead trust ourselves, , or things?

    James calls on us to be filled with in these situations. Joy? Yes, even in these situations. Perhaps, joy is most critical in these situations. The freedom to feel joy is fully reliant on trusting God.

    Let us pray:

    Dear Heavenly Father, we know with our heads that we need to trust you. As we are frail beings, help our hearts to trust you further than yesterday, and even more so tomorrow. Grant us the peaceful assurance of your grace, , patience and love. Help us to continue to seek the coming Messiah, and to be filled with joy of knowing you.

    Spirit, be with us through the remainder of the Advent season, stirring our hearts to not take Christmas for granted, but to be stirred into action of joy-filled of the Father, Son, and You. Continue to quicken our hearts and aid us in our journey of faith.

    Jesus, Son of God, thank you for becoming like us. Thank you for experiencing a life like ours. We are thankful that you know temptation, yet did not , us strength to choose the God-lit path of faith that goes through the darkness.

    Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we lift you up on our praise. Help us to joyfully sing your praise, for your .

    Amen.