10 How prosperous Israel is— a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit. But the richer the people get, the more pagan altars they build. The more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful their sacred pillars. 2 The hearts of the people are fickle; they are guilty and must be punished. The Lord will break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. 3 Then they will say, “We have no king because we didn’t fear the Lord. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us anyway?” 4 They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.
5 The people of Samaria tremble in fear for their calf idol at Beth-aven, and they mourn for it. Though its priests rejoice over it, its glory will be stripped away. 6 This idol will be carted away to Assyria, a gift to the great king there. Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed, because its people have trusted in this idol. 7 Samaria and its king will be cut off; they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave. 8 And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble. Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars. They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!” and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 The Lord says, “O Israel, ever since Gibeah, there has been only sin and more sin! You have made no progress whatsoever. Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked? 10 Now whenever it fits my plan, I will attack you, too. I will call out the armies of the nations to punish you for your multiplied sins.
11 “Israel is like a trained heifer treading out the grain— an easy job she loves. But I will put a heavy yoke on her tender neck. I will force Judah to pull the plow and Israel to break up the hard ground. 12 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’
Hosea 10:1-12
Dear God, it is easy to take this passage from Hosea and think of it on a national level. Whether it’s our own country. Whether it’s the modern Israel. How have we let our impressive possessions and accomplishments tear our hearts away from you? That’s the easy thing for me to consider. How have all the people I share this country with done this awful thing?
But here’s the harder question: How have I done it? At the place I work, we are expanding our facility. You were gracious and led us to donors who helped us raise all the money. We have donations to help us run our operations. You have even brought us providers, although the search continues for a couple of people we need to help us. On a personal level, my wife and I are not wealthy (by American standards), but we are solidly middle-class. I can get sloppy in my prayer to you, humility before you, worship of you, and gratitude towards you. My eyes see so little. What they see is success. The see affirmation for me by this world. What I’m doing is working. That’s what they see. But I think the Holy Spirit is telling me this morning that if I find myself with resources it’s so that I can offer them to you to do what you want done. At work, we have a responsibility to make sure we are doing everything we can do. Personally, my wife and I need to be offering you the same. You’ve given us a lot of resources. How can we keep the soil of our hearts plowed and weeded before you so that you can plant seeds that will find good soil and produce great fruit for your glory?
Father, I’m sorry I take so much for granted. I’m an ignorant fool. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m grateful to you. I’m grateful to be called your child. I have such a small role to play in this world, but if just one thing I do, word I speak, or dollar I spend can be exactly what you need it to be then I will rejoice that you want me and that you made my life count.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
I love You, Lord And I lift my voice To worship You O my soul, rejoice! Take joy, my King In what You hear May it be a sweet, sweet sound In Your ear
Dear God, I started to read Psalm 18 this morning, and David’s first words, translated into English in the New Living Translation, were these first four words: “I love you, Lord.” He goes on to say you are his strength, and all of that is great. But I just want to stop with some worship this morning and tell you that I love you.
I lift my heart to you through this prayer. I don’t even want to tell you I need anything this morning, although I do. I don’t want to ask for anything. At least not right now. No, what I want to do is just tell you that I love you. My only desire right now is that my love for you would be a sweet fragrance to you. A sweet sound in your ear. The only thing I ask of you is that you take this love for you and help me to also direct it to others and then lead others to the narrow path. I know the narrow path is hard and few will find it, but that’s what I want my life to be about today.
Father, I love you. I lift this prayer to worship you. Oh, how I rejoice in you. How I receive such life and fruit through you. Please take joy in my little life. Let everything I do be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.
Dear God, this evening, I will be presenting the Gospel to a group of men. Help me. I want you to speak through me. I want you to draw them to yourself through me. I don’t want to scare them. I don’t want to threaten them. I want to invite them. I want to show them who you really are and what you mean to me. Why I’m here nearly every morning praying to you. Why I pray to you througout the day. Why I listen to Christian teaching. Why I read Christian things. Why I have Christian friends. I’m not here because I’m afraid of hell. I’m here because I love you. I’m here because I worship you. I’m here because I need this relationship with you today. You make me better. You grow your fruit in me. That’s what I want to offer these men tonight.
I still love this one interview that Andy Stanley did with John Dickson on how Christians have poorly played the music of a faith you authored for us through Jesus 2,000 years ago. What makes us misunderstand what Jesus taught us? I think it’s grasping for idols. Power to mask our uncertainty. If we think it will be more beneficial in the short-term then we will go for it.
The one I think about is the Crusades. What were they trying to prove? Where did they find that in Jesus’s teaching?
Father, maybe I’m wrong about all of this, but I go back to another thing that Mr. Dickson said in this interview. At least I think it was Mr. Dickson in this interview. Anyway, someone told Andy one time that you gave us four tools to use to impact our world: Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering. Help me to embrace those tools and those tools only today, tonight, and tomorrow as I tell the world–and these 24 men tonight–about the narrow path and your love.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
4 In that wonderful day you will sing: “Thank the Lord! Praise his name! Tell the nations what he has done. Let them know how mighty he is!
Isaiah 12:4
Dear God, when I first read this verse this morning (the verse of the day from Bible Gateway) my thought was, “What day?” What’s Isaiah referring to. Is it some day when Israel is returned to glory? I’ll admit I was a little cynical about “that wonderful day” Isaiah talks about.
Then I backed up to chapter 11 to see what the day was that Isaiah was describing, and I found that he was describing a day that I materially benefit from. The day of Jesus (Isaiah 11:1-5):
11 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. 4 He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. 5 He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.
May I just say now, “Thank the Lord! Praise His Name! I will tell the nations how might you are and the things you have done. Let all the earth praise your name!”
The stump that was taken to the ground still had life, and it gave us a shoot. It gave more than Israel a shoot. It gave one to the whole world. It gave one to me.
Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection was quite remarkable. He taught us so much. He showed us so much. The history the men of the time recorded for us to have, even to this day, is really beyond belief. He was so special that even those who cannot bring themselves to believe in the resurrection want to follow his teaching and example.
Father, I don’t want to lose my awe and wonder about who Jesus is (he is part of who you are–God, man, alive today) and just how much I’ve been forgiven of. I’m presenting a Gospel message to the men in Christian Men’s Life Skills tomorrow night, but I’m also very distracted by the other lesson I’m supposed to teach afterwards. Wow. You just gave me an idea as I typed those words. Thank you. I think that will help. Tomorrow night, I’m supposed to teach a Bible study explaining the Gospel and inviting those in the room who are not already following you to follow you. Then I’m supposed to teach about applying for jobs. The idea you gave me just now is to switch the order so that we talk about the applications first and then we do the Bible study so they will be able to marinate in the Bible lesson and the seeds of it won’t be taken away by the birds like the seed that fell on the path. Thank you.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Dear God, the creation of this document and the path it set the world on has been incredibly consequential. As a country, we have certainly had a great influence over the last 120 years or so. Therefore, I wanted to spend a little time with this document this morning. I don’t think I’ve read it since high school. My first reaction is that it’s longer than I remember it being. I had it more along the lines of the preamble to the constitution. So here’s an outline of what I’m seeing here:
Paragraph one is like we are serving England with divorce papers.
Paragraph two is saying we all have a right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” but England has been deying those rights to us. We’ll give you some examples. [My note: I heard someone recently compare gerrymandering that’s been going on all over the country by both political parties as a form of taxation without representation and that only 35-ish of the 435 US House of Representatives seats are competitive. That worries me.]
He won’t support the laws we want to make for ourselves. [Interesting that this one is the lead-off hitter.]
More about not supporting local colonial laws by the King. [This must have been a bigger deal than I realized. I thought it was more about England passing laws we didn’t like. It’s interesting that these are the first two.]
Several paragraphs about how he has handled the local governing bodies in a way that is manipulative.
These manipulations of local governing bodies has left the colonies vulnerable to outside attacks.
Unfair court practices.
He has used his own puppet politicians to control and harrass. [It strikes me that this must have been felt at the most basic levels of society for these men who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence to have been able to recruit an army willing to fight to the death over it.]
Quartering British troups. [This was such a sticking point that they later made it an amendment to our own constitution that the government couldn’t force this.]
The military could supersede local civil power. [I think they ensured against this in the constitution as well.]
Cutting off trade with different parts of the world.
Taxation without representation. [I would have thought this one would be higher on the list because it’s the one we talk about more today.]
Unfair judiciary system including sending people to England for trial.
Suspending English laws nearby and then trying to cause that system to reign over the colonies.
Setting up puppet local governments.
“…declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” [I need to know more about this.]
Sending mercenary armies to enforce his will on the colonists. [I thought the mercenaries were a result of the war, not one of the causes.]
“He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.” [What’s that about?]
He has incited the Native Americans to attack us.
We’ve tried to address these issues peacefully, but to no avail.
We, therefore, declare our independence from England.
So that was it. And now, here we are 250 years later. Still so young compared with some civilizations and countries. Just a baby nation, really. I think about our enemies in the world, and while some of their national names and borders might not be as old, their cultures and cultural identities go back thousands of years. I heard a quote from President Reagan that says something to the effect that you can move to France and not be a Frenchman. You can move to Germany and not be a German. But anyone can move here from anywhere and be an American.
Father, I am grateful for this country. I’m incredibly grateful to be part of the 5% of the world’s population that lives here. I’ve been especially proud during the World Cup to see all of the people from around the world who have come here and found how great it is here. Yes, we have problems, but it’s a remarkable society. So show me my part. If we have 350 million people living here, I am only one person, but I have a part you want me to play. It’s to love you and love my neighbors. It’s to do what I can to make the people living around me as fulfilled in you as they can be. And that’s not done by coercion or passing laws that will supposedly make them respect you. It’s through what Jesus did: prayer, service, persuasion, and suffering. Thank you for putting me in a place where I can have the space to live that way and have these priorities.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
20 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.
3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. 4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. 5 So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.
6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’
7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’
“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’
8 “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. 9 When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. 10 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. 11 When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, 12 ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’
13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’
16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”
Matthew 20:1-16
Dear God, it’s interesting that the theme of my series teaching Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and David to the Christian Men’s Life Skills class over the last eight weeks has been the danger of self-pity. I’ve tried to teach them that we are all at our worst when we are claiming our rights and feeling sorry for ourselves. I’ve been that way often (I’m still sometimes that way) when I get upset about how different people treat me. “How dare they?!?” “I deserve better!” But do I? Do I have a right to the rights I’m claiming, or am I allowing my self-perceived rights to distract me from loving and worshipping you and caring about and loving them? If I start to make an idol out of my rights with my self-pity then that’s the top of the slippery slope into selfishness.
I thought of this story this morning because I am supposed to be teaching the guys about work ethic over the last two weeks of the class. This next week will be mostly about applying for a job, interviewing, explaining their legal past, etc. But at some point we are going to be talking about working as unto you. So I’ll explore these passages a little bit. For me, while this story is mainly about those coming into your Kingdom at the end of their lives getting the same reward as those that come to you early in their life, it is also about this idea of dying to yourself. The other one that comes to mind is Colossians 3:23 which talks about working as unto you. Again, am I in it for me or for my love and worship of you?
Father, as I enter this day, help me to work as unto you. Help me to love as unto you. Help me to die to myself. Help me to sacrifice my selfishness and rights to the cross and take up your cross and follow you. Jesus didn’t show us his own rights while he was here. He showed us selflessness. Help me to live that way today.
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos is hatching a plot against you right here on your very doorstep! What he is saying is intolerable. 11 He is saying, ‘Jeroboam will soon be killed, and the people of Israel will be sent away into exile.’”
12 Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos: “Get out of here, you prophet! Go on back to the land of Judah, and earn your living by prophesying there! 13 Don’t bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel. This is the king’s sanctuary and the national place of worship!”
14 But Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one. I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.’ 16 Now then, listen to this message from the Lord:
“You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel. Stop preaching against my people.’ 17 But this is what the Lord says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in this city, and your sons and daughters will be killed. Your land will be divided up, and you yourself will die in a foreign land. And the people of Israel will certainly become captives in exile, far from their homeland.’”
Amos 7:10-17
Dear God, how do I make sure I’m more Amos and not Amaziah? What was Amaziah’s path for discerning your voice? Or did he even have one. We know Amos was a legitimate prophet and Amaziah wasn’t. But we have the benefit of hindsight. How do we figure out if we are right or wrong in the moment?
I think about this thing the Southern Baptist Convention is considering this year regarding women as pastors. They’ve adopted an amendment that can be ratified at their annual convention in 2027 that will prohibit women from serving in a lot of areas. There are people on both sides of this debate, and both have compelling arguments. Personally, I don’t have to make an argument on this one way or another. I have my opinions, but I have the luxury of keeping my opinions on this to myself. Another one is the LGTBQ+ issue in the church. Many opinions on many sides. What to do?
What I appreciate is sensitivity to you in prayer, and I admire that my wife really has it. I have it sometimes, but not at the rich depths she does. She felt compelled to pray for my coworkers this morning, and then when she got home from her walk I told her about a situation that has come up with one of my employees overnight. That’s when you revealed to her why you had compelled her to pray. She would make a good Amos. Not that she prophesies, but she makes room to hear you.
Father, help me to make some room to hear you. I normally listen to things–podcasts, YouTube videos, music. I rarely allow for silence. That’s probably a mistake. It’s most assuredly a mistake. So help me to be comfortable in silence, to hear your voice in the stillness, and to know how to discern between your leadings and the corrupt desires of my own heart. I want to hear you. I want to know you deeply. I need to allow for more silence if I’m to accomplish that. And I do pray for my employee and also for the mother of a young man who died yesterday. My employee has a difficult path. Give them your peace. Help them to shed any pretense and simply be at peace in you and then share that peace with others. For the mother, please find her and comfort her. Guide her. Love her. Raise up people around her who will strongly support her. She mourns. Let her be comforted.
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Romans 12:3-5
Dear God, I took a personality test nearly 30 years ago, and my wife and I still joke about it to this day. It came back with something like, “John does not see a reason to change the way he is doing things…John needs a lot of affirmations.” I told my wife, “Translation: John is confident but needs compliments. OR: John is arrogant, but the arrogance needs fed.” And I’ll admit there is something to that. I do tend to think I’m right and my way is the right way until I’m proven wrong. Now, I think I’m willing to be proven wrong. I’m approachable and willing to see someone else’s idea or point of view, but I won’t go down without a struggle.
Case in point, the nonprofit where I’ve worked over 20 years now is going through a facility expansion. I’m completely on board with it now, but when the idea first came up, I was very resistant. I was comfortable and things were going just fine as far as I was concerned. But some board members and a staff member had a vision for more. I wasn’t too stubborn about it. I heard their arguments. I helped us plot a path forward to examine if we needed expansion and what we’d use it for if we did, and through that process we came up with something really great. And you seem to have blessed the process. It’s going remarkably smoothly, including the fundraising. I’m grateful to you for so much, including this.
But my point is, I still need the reminder Paul gives here. I’ve been fairly successful in my job now, but I’m not perfect, and I make mistakes. I make them daily. My personality and abilities are an important part of the team, but they aren’t all of it. I need other people. I need their opinions that differ from mine. I need their talents. And I have some great talent around me. I’m grateful for my coworkers. My wife and I have embraced a line from the old TV show “The West Wing.” They are recruiting someone from a different political party to work for them and the chief of staff tells the prospective employee, “The President likes smart people who disagree with him.” I want to be that kind of person. But they don’t have to be what might be the traditional definition of “smart.” Maybe I’d add the word thoughtful. But everyone–EVERYONE–has something to offer if we let them contribute.
Father, help me to lead those around me today in the spirit of this passage. We need each other. I cannot be everything. Nor can anyone else in the office. And you know we have some specific needs regarding staffing. Please guide us to the person we need, and guide them to us. I love you. I worship you. I give you my flawed, sinful self and ask that you take this offering and do what you will with me.
23 Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.
27 The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”
Matthew 8:23-27
Dear God, I’m convicted this morning that I haven’t prayed intentionally enough lately. I have a friend who had a mild stroke a couple of weeks ago. I prayed for him and his family initially, but I haven’t prayed for him enough lately. I have a young man who is special to me, and he has a hard life. I’ve thought about him a lot, but I haven’t prayed for him enough. There is a host of others–too many for me to count–for whom I haven’t prayed intentionally enough.
It makes me wonder if I really (and I mean really) believe in the power of prayer. In your power to intervene and move the needle in someone’s life. I see this story from Matthew about you calming the storm, and the disciples just left asking, “Who is this man?” It’s like they’re asking, “What have we gotten ourselves into with him, and what is the limit of what he can do?”
Father, I look at my stroke victim friend and ask that you please move to solve the myriad of problems facing him. Healing. His wife’s health. Limited financial resources. Limited family able to help. Please use this pain in all of their lives. I know he has a grandson who has issues. I know there are other things facing them as a family. I know he has responsibilities in the community. I know there are a lot of people who depend upon him. While you are healing him, while you are strengthening him, please make this pain count for your plan and your glory in a lot of lives and the community. For the young man I know, his situation seems so awful to me. Help him, Father. Help his family. Help him to grow. Use the pain for your glory. I have so many people running through my head right now. My children. My wife. My family. The couples my wife and I have done pre-marital counseling with. our priest, my coworkers and volunteers, our patients and clients, our political leaders here and in the rest of the world, Oh, God, please be powerful. Calm the storm. And if it is not your will to calm the storm. If there is destruction you need to happen, give us peace and comfort as we sail into it. All for your glory. All for your plan.
138 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; 2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. 3 On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.
4 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, 5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. 6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. 8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Dear God, I love the idea that part of David working out his relationship with you was through his poetry. I will be teaching tonight about How he responded to Saul’s and Jonathan’s deaths, and what did he do but write a song for others to sing? Much like I use these prayer journals to process how my mind and my spirit meld with you and get to know your Spirit, these psalms were how David worked. I was listening to a man be interviewed the other day and when he was asked about how he spends time working out his faith, he mentioned that he reads. My wife is a reader. She is a singer. She is a silent prayer. For me, the heart of mine is through these prayer journals. There are other things I do as well such as listen to sermons, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc., but the real depth is explored through these moments.
Going back to David’s psalm here, it is a reminder to just thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve done. I was talking to someone last night about a friend who cannot get beyond her self-pity. It’s so frustrating, but I know that I can really wallow in self-pity when I want to. Often, the anecdote to that is either being thankful for the things I’ve missed that I should be thankful for or just deciding to love the person who is offending me and considering whatever pain is driving their hurtful actions more than my own hurt.
Father, help me to continue to work out my faith each day. I want to know you better. I want to love you better. I want to love my neighbors better. Yesterday, could have been a day filled with self-pity, but instead you gave me gratitude. Help me to embrace that and, in my private prayers, turn loose of any pain and simply pray for those who are estranged from me.
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