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Author Archives: John D. Willome

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About John D. Willome

I post a blog of daily devotions that are my prayer journals based on scripture.

Zechariah 14:1-9

30 Jun

14 Watch, for the day of the Lord is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! 2 I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city.

3 Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. 5 You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.

6 On that day the sources of light will no longer shine, 7 yet there will be continuous day! Only the Lord knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light.

8 On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter.

9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshiped.

Zechariah 14:1-9

Dear God, I’m going to confess that I don’t have the full context of this passage, and I probably shouldn’t even being praying on it out of context. I got here because verse 9 was the verse of the day from Bible Gateway, and it made me think about my thoughts on the end and what things will look like on that day.

Frankly, I think my thoughts are simultaneously about as both heretical and truthful as anyone else’s because we just don’t know. I say that because I don’t think any of us really know.

The video I watched on Christopher Hitchens about his antagonism towards you and your people has stuck with me the last couple of days. Not because anything within me was shaken. No, it was more because I felt sorry for him. And, again, not because I think he’ll end up in “hell,” but because he seemed so unhappy and to be wallowing around in his unhappiness and enticing others to join in his unhappiness. Frankly, if I’m right and at the moment of our death we enter into your new earth through your timelessness, I hope Jesus looked at him and had mercy on him, just as he did Paul on the road to Damascus.

My wife was talking with someone who had a near-death experience recently and they told her about seeing a white dome and all was well. I know some neuroscientists have explained the stories as something biological that happens. And the fact that the man heard a voice say it wasn’t yet time for him to die is not what really happened. But I simply don’t think that can be discounted. Physical explanation? Maybe. Does that mean it’s not real? No.

We have been living and dying on earth for a long, long time. Billions and billions, and billions of people have lived and died. So far, I am on part of that list, and one day my journey will be completed. And it doesn’t matter what I think about what will happen. It doesn’t matter if I am right or if I am wrong. But I think my mission should be to work the opposite of Mr. Hitchens. As I perceive him working so hard to drag people into his misery, I should be about offering your joy and peace, relationship with you and reconciliation with you, as possible. Help me to be better about that, including in my conversations with friends today.

I offer all of this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 30, 2024 in Zechariah

 

Numbers 21:4-9

29 Jun
“Desert Serpents” by Tanja Butler as presented in Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard.

4 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, 5 and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. 7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

Numbers 21:4-9

Dear God, before I get into praying about this passage, I want to just spend some time with this image. Is there anything here I can learn from Tanja Butler’s “Desert Serpents”?

  1. I see Moses holding his staff which is shaped like a shepherd’s crook. Is that right? Were all staffs that way? It’s not important, I suppose, but it reminds me of all of the images of Joseph in the stable with Mary and the baby Jesus that portray Joseph as holding a shepherd’s crook. Why?
  2. The serpents on the ground are mainly black while the serpent on the staff has much more white in it.
  3. Moses has his hand up towards the serpent and he is looking at the serpent.
  4. I’m trying to tell what that is behind Moses. Is it supposed to be a hut? A pile of hay? I’m not sure.
  5. The staff upon which the serpent is mounted looks a bit like a cross as we perceive the Roman crosses to look later in history.

Really, that’s about all that I’m noticing. Bustard points out in his commentary that later in 2 Kings 18:4, the Israelite king breaks destroys this very serpent because the Israelites had turned it into an idol. And of course, Jesus references this serpent in John 3:14-15 when he’s talking to Nicodemus and he compares himself with this life-saving serpent.

I think about human nature and our wont to complain. Our wont to take over our lives ourselves and abandon you. Our wont to only submit to you after we’ve come to the end of ourselves.

I was listening to an interview yesterday with John Dickson, an Australian who was comparing Christianity in the United States with Christianity in Australia 12 years ago. I’ve heard him before. He is where I got the line that Jesus gave us four tools and four tools only to impact our world because they are the only tools he used: prayer, service, persuasion, and suffering. One comment he made is that now that Christians are a minority in Australia they no longer have the option of political power and enforcing their will on the minority, so they are having to lean into these four tools. His perspective is that even with Christians still in the majority in the U.S., if we don’t limit ourselves to Jesus’s example and continue to push to politically force our will on the rest of the country, we will only hasten our decent into what Australia has become.

Father, the thing I need to be better at is persuasion. I need to first understand why I believe what I believe. I need to not just spout off opinions without thought, but to think through why I believe what I believe and then form those thoughts into coherent, legitimate arguments to persuade my neighbor. And if I lose, then I need to lose well and prepare harder for the next time, both in exploring why I believe what I believe and then articulating it in a good way. So help me to do that. Help me to be the man you need me to be in the lives of others. Help me to love well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 29, 2024 in Numbers, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

 

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2 Peter 3:8-10

28 Jun

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
2 Peter 3:8-10

Dear God, all of us have trouble really knowing you. Even now, as I sit and type this, I’m not sure what to make of it or say about it. Peter goes on to talk about the new heavens and the new earth. What does that look like? How does that fit into who you are? Your existence as an entity—a deity—THE Deity?

At the behest of a friend yesterday, I listened to a couple of YouTube videos by a renowned…I guess I would call him a humanist. Maybe atheist. Anyway, he was certainly hostile towards you. It was interesting to hear the effort he has gone to to not only refute your existence but also get others to join him in his cynicism and anger. He just seemed so unhappy. It made me wonder, “Who was it? What was the name of the person who pissed you off so much that you dove this deep into this life mission? Because I doubt it was God Himself. It was probably someone. Perhaps a pastor or priest he heard about abusing his power. Perhaps someone he knew who was hypocritical. Perhaps someone who was simply mean to him and represented Jesus poorly.” That’s what I thought as I watched him speak. I just didn’t see any peace in him at all. And none of what he said shook my faith in you because I rejected the premise of his argument which was that we should be equal to you and deserve the same agency you have. I just don’t believe that.

Father, I look at the world and the things I don’t like and ask myself, what would I do differently if I were God. The Bible is this weird collection of books that have been combined together to give me insight into you and who you are. I can read it and let it mold me into who you want me to be for my sake. But it’s a weird way to teach your people. To communicate with your people. But if I were you, how would I have done it differently. If I don’t like the evil that other people do such as human trafficking, what would I have you do? Strike each person who commits sexual assault, purchases another person or trades them down and kill them? Okay, fine, but where is the cut line for who gets cut down and who doesn’t. If the humanists are so upset about you not doing something about it, why aren’t more of them doing something about it? I just don’t know, Father. I just know that you are God. I am confident of that. I am confident that a man named Jesus lived, died and resurrected (Why else would his followers have died representing that truth? They wouldn’t have died for a lie.). I am confident that my life is better when I love you and follow the teachings of Jesus. I am confident that I need absolution for my sins for my own sake as well as my reconciliation with you. The peace that the absolution brings me is too great to have it be meaningless and unreal. So I will go into this day loving you, loving my wife and family, and loving others. And maybe I can be that person who helps someone like Mr. Hitchens come back to you instead of driving them away.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 28, 2024 in 2 Peter

 

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Matthew 16:22-26

27 Jun

22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

Matthew 16:22-26

Dear God, I am seeing things from my point of view and not from yours (verse 23). That seems like the story of my life sometimes. I try to see them from your perspective, but my own selfish agenda gets in the way. The idea of truly giving up my own way and letting go of my life instead of hanging on is hard. To really understand that striving for worldly gain will likely…there I go again, inserting the word “likely” like it’s a probability and not a certainty like Jesus said. Let me try again. To really understand that striving for worldly gain will cost me my soul. That’s harsh.

Upton Sinclair, in his book  I, Candidate for Governor, and How I Got Licked apparently said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” I was listening to an interview this morning with a sports writer in Austin named Cedric Golden talking about recruiting in college athletics. In it, he said, “I think the new way of doing business is more financial. I’d love to say that it’s all about going into moms’ and dads’ living rooms and saying, ‘We’re going to take care of your kid for the next four years. He’s going to get a degree, and blah, blah, blah.’ That game has changed. When [the University of Texas] had their first official visiting day of the football players a couple of weeks ago, they had six Lamborghinis parked at the facilities, engines revving.” I was so disgusted. Not with UT, but with the state of college athletics overall. So much for telling our children there is more to life than money. There is no measure by which they can tell that by many of our lives.

Father, that includes me. Yes, I’ve passed up more lucrative opportunities to stay in my current position, but I also make a pretty decent living and have a comfortable lifestyle. Am I someone who is willing to have my mind changed when it will materially cost me something? Am I willing to let go of my life? Am I willing to consider my life worth nothing to me (Acts 20:24)? Holy Spirit, nudge me today. Show me when I am being selfish and self-serving. Show me when I am judging someone else and not exhibiting your love. Show me the opportunities you have for me to be your hands and feet and help me to not miss them. Help me to love you with everything I have and to then follow that up with loving my neighbor as much as I love myself.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 27, 2024 in Matthew

 

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Leviticus 19

26 Jun

19 The Lord also said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

3 “Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the Lord your God.

4 “Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.

5 “When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, offer it properly so you[a] will be accepted by God. 6 The sacrifice must be eaten on the same day you offer it or on the next day. Whatever is left over until the third day must be completely burned up. 7 If any of the sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will be contaminated, and I will not accept it. 8 Anyone who eats it on the third day will be punished for defiling what is holy to the Lord and will be cut off from the community.

9 “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.

11 “Do not steal.

“Do not deceive or cheat one another.

12 “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord.

13 “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.

14 “Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.

15 “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.

16 “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.[b]

“Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord.

17 “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.[c] Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.

18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

19 “You must obey all my decrees.

“Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread.

20 “If a man has sex with a slave girl whose freedom has never been purchased but who is committed to become another man’s wife, he must pay full compensation to her master. But since she is not a free woman, neither the man nor the woman will be put to death. 21 The man, however, must bring a ram as a guilt offering and present it to the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle.[d] 22 The priest will then purify him[e] before the Lord with the ram of the guilt offering, and the man’s sin will be forgiven.

23 “When you enter the land and plant fruit trees, leave the fruit unharvested for the first three years and consider it forbidden.[f] Do not eat it. 24 In the fourth year the entire crop must be consecrated to the Lord as a celebration of praise. 25 Finally, in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you follow this pattern, your harvest will increase. I am the Lord your God.

26 “Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood.

“Do not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft.

27 “Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.

28 “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.

29 “Do not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be filled with prostitution and wickedness.

30 “Keep my Sabbath days of rest, and show reverence toward my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

31 “Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.

32 “Stand up in the presence of the elderly, and show respect for the aged. Fear your God. I am the Lord.

33 “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. 34 Treat them like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

35 “Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight, or volume. 36 Your scales and weights must be accurate. Your containers for measuring dry materials or liquids must be accurate.[g] I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

37 “You must be careful to keep all of my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. I am the Lord.”

Leviticus 19

Dear God, our modern church, and even I as an individual, have a difficult time knowing what to do with the Bible. How do we use it? How am I supposed to use it? Am I supposed to use it as a rule book? A user’s manual for my life? A guide? A way of getting to know you?

There’s so much here in Leviticus that I violate on a regular basis. Just in the last 30 minutes I shaved as I got ready for work. Verse 27 above tells me not to trim my beard. The very next verse says I should not get tattoos. While I personally don’t have any tattoos, I know plenty of people who do, and a lot of them earnestly love, serve, and worship you. Some are pastors. Then there’s the whole thing about sex with the slave girl. Frankly, that one confuses me a little bit because I can’t tell if the person who is having sex with her is the one who owns her or if she is owned by someone else and then betrothed to a third person, but the person being talked to is just the one having sex with her. Anyway, you get my point. What do I do with this stuff?!?

The answer I’ve come to is that I look at this book (meaning the Bible and not just Leviticus) read it while inviting your Holy Spirit to join me in that process, listen to scholars and those who can help me interpret it, and then let it slowly (sometimes it seems painstakingly slowly) mold me into who you want me to be for my sake and for your glory. So what is it you need me to be? You need me to be better at worshipping you. You need me to be more loving of my neighbor. You need me to pursue purity in a way that gives your Holy Spirit room in my heart to grow your fruit in my life. Did the Israelites of the past fall away from you because they broke these rules or because they started letting their idols take your place in their hearts? I think it’s the latter. That is the temptation that will lead to my destruction. If I leave you. And if I am here with you then I think your Holy Spirit will use passages, even weird ones like this, to guide me into your purity and your love for me. And if I can get others to embrace you and encourage them to spend time in scripture along with your Holy Spirit, then they too will find you and let you guide them into who you want them to be.

Father, thank you for the reconciliation I have with you through Jesus. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for covering for the mistakes I make as well. I made one last night that I regret, and I am sorry. Thank you that nothing bad came from it. And I ask that you especially care for a precious family member who is gravely ill. Care for her daughters and grandchildren. Use this situation to heal hearts, souls, and relationships. Bring peace to everyone, including this precious, good woman who loves you dearly.

I offer all of this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 26, 2024 in Leviticus

 

The Beatitudes – Jesus

25 Jun

3 “God blesses those who are poor in spirit and realize their need for him,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 God blesses those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
5 God blesses those who are humble,
    for they will inherit the whole earth.
6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be satisfied.
7 God blesses those who are merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
    for they will see God.
9 God blesses those who work for peace,
    for they will be called the children of God.
10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

Matthew 5:3-12

Dear God, I was listening to this week’s Voxology podcast this morning and they were talking about the new Louisiana law that will put the 10 Commandments into every classroom in Louisiana. While not advocating that any Christian religious symbol or language be mandated in a classroom, they suggested that maybe a better alternative would be the Beatitudes as taught by Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. That sounded like an intriguing idea, so I thought I would take a look at those verses from Matthew 5 this morning and think about what it might be like for children to at least passively see them regularly.

Honestly, God, it’s pretty amazing and powerful stuff! For children to see that it’s okay to be poor in spirit. To mourn. to be meek. to hunger and thirst for righteousness. To be merciful. To be pure in heart. To be a peacemaker. To even be persecuted (bullied) because of righteousness. What great character traits for everyone to have and to be reinforced.

There is a room in one of our local schools that casually puts the words love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control in big letters on the walls (note, they don’t have peace for some reason). I recognized them as the fruits of the Spirit as described by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23. I’m sure the children don’t. And there is nothing offensive about them so the words are allowed to stay. I am much more interested in this sort of affirmation of your character and what it means to follow you as opposed to listing 10 Commandments from Exodus that, according the Jesus, all of us have broken each one–even if we only hated and didn’t actually kill.

I read an article the other day that talked about how abortions are actually up overall in the U.S. since the Dobbs ruling the overturned Roe v Wade. I think one of our problems is that when we (the moral majority?) feel like we are losing the influence and persuasion battle, we reach for power to enforce our will. What a foolish thing!

Father, help me to lead today with love and patience. Help me to not be afraid to encourage and persuade. Help me to remember to pray for others about whom I care. Help me to willingly take a back seat and even suffer for them. Help me to dive into service of others. That is how you would have me impact the world. Not through power, but through love. I love you, Lord. Help me pass that love of you to others.

I offer this prayer to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 25, 2024 in Matthew

 

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“That’s the Way I Always Heard it Should Be” by Carly Simon

24 Jun

“That’s The Way I Always Heard It Should Be“
Music by: Carly Simon
Lyrics by: Jacob Brackman

My father sits at night with no lights on
His cigarette glows in the dark
The living room is still
I walk by, no remark
I tiptoe past the master bedroom where
My mother reads her magazines
I hear her call sweet dreams
But I forgot how to dream

But you say it’s time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me
Well, that’s the way I’ve always heard it should be
You want to marry me, we’ll marry

My friends from college they’re all married now
They have their houses and their lawns
They have their silent noons
Tearful nights, angry dawns
Their children hate them for the things they’re not
They hate themselves for what they are
And yet they drink, they laugh
Close the wound, hide the scar

But you say it’s time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me
Well, that’s the way I’ve always heard it should be
You want to marry me, we’ll marry

You say we can keep our love alive
Babe, all I know is what I see
The couples cling and claw
And drown in love’s debris
You say we’ll soar like two birds through the clouds
But soon you’ll cage me on your shelf
I’ll never learn to be just me first
By myself

Well O.K., it’s time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me
Well, that’s the way I’ve always heard it should be,
You want to marry me, we’ll marry
We’ll marry

© 1970 Quackenbush Music Ltd. / Kensho Music, ASCAP

Dear God, it looks like this song was copyrighted the summer I was born. My parents had been married just under 16 months when they had me. It’s interesting to thing about them as a young couple.

Marriage is such an interesting sacrament (in the words of the Catholic Church). And there is a difference between living together and getting married. For some, like the writer of this song, there is a fear there. You see the misery of an older couple and you don’t want that for yourself. “What if that happens to me?”

I remember when my wife and I were dating and wondering if she was the one to marry. I don’t know if it was the right question, but the question I asked myself was, “Can I imagine being 65 years old, waking up on a Saturday morning and enjoying talking with her over breakfast?” Now that I think about it, that’s kind of an odd question to ask. And our lives have taken a lot of twists and turns since then. But I’m grateful that even this morning, as recently as 15 minutes ago, we sat and had breakfast together, sharing our thoughts on a couple of things. I played a Tracy Chapman song (“I’m Ready”) for her and we talked about the Christian overtones. She talked about some writing she is submitting to a journal. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that I still enjoy her company.

What makes marriage hard is kind of what makes life hard. It seems like we are constantly fighting the slide towards selfishness. In marriage. In life. I have a friend who is always asking, “When will it be my turn to [fill in the selfish desire here]?” But the best thing I ever heard about marriage was something I’ve mentioned to you several times, the Sacred Marriage material by Gary Thomas. “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?” I am grateful I heard that presentation and then read the book less than 10 years into marriage. I can look back and see how selfish and needy I was before that. That book alone might have saved my marriage.

Father, first, please help me to be the husband my wife needs me to be. She is your daughter. And while I am your son, I am also you son-in-law. Help me to do my best for your daughter. Second, help me to be an encouragement to those who are in tough marriages and a supportive counselor to those who are in good marriages. I guess, Father, I just want to be your man today. I’m giving someone I’ve never met a tour of our nonprofit. Help me to be what you need me to be for her. I have friends and family who are facing significant health issues. Please heal. Please comfort. Please strengthen their caregivers and family as well as them. I have relatives whom I love very much. Please show me how to love them and how not to love them. And I pray for favor for my wife in the pieces she is submitting to that journal. Guide her in her career, her passions, and her gifts.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 24, 2024 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Psalm 107:10-16

23 Jun

10 Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom,
    imprisoned in iron chains of misery.
11 They rebelled against the words of God,
    scorning the counsel of the Most High.
12 That is why he broke them with hard labor;
    they fell, and no one was there to help them.
13 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
    and he saved them from their distress.
14 He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom;
    he snapped their chains.
15 Let them praise the Lord for his great love
    and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
16 For he broke down their prison gates of bronze;
    he cut apart their bars of iron.

Psalm 107:10-16

Dear God, the passage from Psalms for the Catholic church today is Psalm 107:23-31, but while I was at mass last night reading these verses I wanted to see the rest of the psalm. It was quite something. It basically talked about all of these different types of people who run from you and how they are often brought back into worship through suffering and struggle. There is nothing like coming to the end of ourselves that will reveal the truth to us about who you are.

It reminds me of my answer a couple of weeks ago when I wondered what I would answer a reporter if asked, like Pope Francis was of 60 Minutes, in the midst of everything in the world that is wrong, what gives me hope? My answer: You have built something in all of us that longs for you. That longs to find you. It’s that God-hole I heard about in my Baptist church as a kid. We (and I’m counting myself in this) all try to come up with idols that we think will fill the hole. Possessions. Relationships. Power. Security. Comfort. Leisure. Influence. Even self-gratification.

As I read the rest of psalm 107 yesterday, this was the group of people described by the psalmist who broke my heart. I don’t know if the psalmist is talking about literal prisoners who committed crimes or figurative prisoners of worlds of their own making. I took it to mean the latter. I pictured someone like Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones’s Diary at the beginning of the movie singing “All By Myself,” drinking heavily, and being wholly unhappy. Of course, that movie is Hollywood (even though it’s set in London) so she finds her happiness at the end of the year in a relationship, but we all know that relationship will be troubled. How can it be whole? She has no peace.

Father, first, help me to identify any idols I have in my life today. Show me anything I am doing to try to displace you from my God-hole with something else. You would think I wouldn’t do that anymore, but of course I do. I’m an idiot. Of course I do. And also give me your eyes to see anyone in my sphere who might be in the gloomy figurative prison described in Psalm 107:10-16. Help me to introduce them to you.

I ask all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 23, 2024 in Psalms

 

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Anger vs. Disdain

22 Jun

disdain (noun) : a feeling of contempt for someone or something regarded as unworthy or inferior

anger (noun) : a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism

Dear God, I think I have some repenting to do this morning. My wife and I were talking about our attitudes towards different people, and my confession to you is that there are some instances in which I have taken disdain and justified it by calling it anger. Where I really got convicted is when I realized that there are certainly people in multiple areas of my life who I think are unworthy of my time.

As I sat and thought about it, the common theme that seems to run through most of them is that I perceive them to be bullies. My closest friend said to me a few years ago, “You don’t like bullies.” And I don’t. I really don’t. I don’t care if I perceive it to be a politician, people within a local church, people I know or know of in our community, or even family, if I think they bully others then I will immediately be against them and have no use for them. In fact, as I sit here and think about it, one of the most difficult managerial situations I had was a past employee who bullied others. I ultimately had to fire him, but I probably put up with his bullying for too long. I see bullies as emotionally, if not physically, abusive. I see them as potential tyrants. I see them as harmful. I see them as dangerous. I can sit and list a whole bunch of adjectives, but the problem I am seeing in myself is that I take that and allow it to become disdain instead of simple anger. I elevate myself above (in my own mind) and approach them self-righteously instead of as an equally loved child of you who, while they might be deserving of productive anger, are not beneath me.

Father, I am sorry for this. I’m sorry for not loving others the way you love them. I’m sorry for judging and simply writing some people off instead of looking for productive, loving, Godly ways of expressing my anger with them for their behaviors (which includes forgiveness, by the way). Jesus had to put up with bullies in his time on earth, and he did it with love and, yes, sometimes with anger. But he also kept to the four tools that he also gave us to use: prayer, service, persuasion and suffering. When he saw the bully, he inserted himself into their path to take their blows. Even now, as I sit here I am thinking about a woman in town who has been the victim of being bullied to some extent. She is in a emotional struggle of her own, trying to find her way, and there are many in your church who are rejecting her. Help me to know how to be her friend and how to approach those who are rejecting her. Help me to know how to be exactly who you need me to be for the sake of my own soul and peace, and also so that your presence, will, and kingdom can come into this earth through my life. And if I didn’t say it enough already, I am sorry, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 22, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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“Out of Place” by Fred Smith

21 Jun

Dear God, yesterday, I read this blog post called “Out of Place” by Fred Smith. One of the things Smith mentioned was how frustratingly inconsistent you can be. Why are you so undependable? Why are you so inconsistent?!?

Now, for anyone who hasn’t read Smith’s piece, he is referring to your anger followed by our mercy as your inconsistency. And it’s true. You prove over and over again in the Bible that you are ready to be turned and change your mind. Even Jesus in Matthew 15:21-28 changes course when talking with the Gentile woman about healing her daughter. Yes, this might have been his plan all along–to test her–but it still shows this thing in your nature that you are just ready to love on us when we are ready for it. You are ready to forgive us. You are ready to be in complete relationship with us. You went to great extremes to do that for us, even sending a piece of you to live, suffer, and die. Amazing!

But that’s good for me. Do you have to do it for the people who make me angry? I joke with my staff that they get frustrated when I am soft with other people, but they don’t mind it so much when I’m soft with them. Yes, I too can be inconsistent with others.

Father, I guess one of my prayers this morning is that you will help me to be more inconsistent. Help me to be quicker to love and forgive. Help me to turn from my anger on a dime. You have modeled forgiveness for me. You have modeled it for my own spiritual and emotional health. You know it is part of your perfect nature and it needs to be part of my nature as well. So help me to get that just one step closer to being that man today. Do it all for your glory to come into this world through me and through your church. Help the whole world to see your church as gloriously inconsistent.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 21, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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