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Habakkuk 3:17-19

08 Jun

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. (For the choir director: This prayer is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)
Habakkuk 3:17-19

Dear God, first, a side note, I was listening to an interview yesterday with a man who just wrote a book on prayer. One of the comments that was thrown out mentioned those in Evangelical churches that reject the idea of written prayers because they are not spontaneous and heartfelt. But the paradox is that they Evangelicals will sing prayerful worship songs to you when they are pretty much prayers written by someone else. The only difference is the rhymes and the melody. His point was not that we should abandon spontaneous prayer, but that we should not be so quickly dismissive of pre-written prayers. This prayer set to music by Habakkuk is a good example of a pre-written prayer set to music, but it’s a prayer nonetheless—just like the book of Psalms.

Back to this passage, what strikes me about this entire chapter is that it paints a dangerous, vengeful, destructive picture of you. The entire thing is about the destruction you can bring around you, but the point seems to be in the last verse. Even in the midst of calamity around me, you are my strength, making me as sure footed as a deer treading in difficult places.

Father, please give me your strength as I go through this day. I have several friends right now who are going through calamity. Frankly, it’s so many I’m losing track. For those who have broken joints and bones, who have lost loved ones, who are in hospice, or are simply walking a difficult road, I pray that you would be their strength. I ask that you help them to feel as sure footed as a deer walking on difficult ground. Help me to know how you need me to be there for each one.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 8, 2021 in Habakkuk

 

Ephesians 3:8-19

06 Jun

Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored. When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Ephesians 3:8-19

Dear God, this is another of those passages where the translators and publishers put in section breaks that obscure greater depth in the passage’s meaning. I want to spend some time with these verses this morning and link Paul’s thoughts together as one as opposed to the two sections the publishers of the New Living Translation (NLT) divided them into.

He graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.

So let me start here. What are the endless treasures? How would I describe them? I suppose they would have to start with the cutting of the cord between me and the shame of my sin. That’s what the mercy you offer through Jesus’s life, death and resurrection gives us. Then, when it comes to the fruit of the Spirit, the most precious one to me is peace. Of course, the other fruits are just as important: love, joy, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, self control. Those are treasures beyond compare. Then there’s one thing that is incredibly powerful that I just realized is not considered to be a fruit of the Spirit. I think it’s just a fact of something we have in you: hope. My faith brings me hope. Hope that there is something happening beyond what I can see with my physical eyes. Hope that I can count on an ultimate existence in your presence for eternity. Hope that there is something happening in your plan that is bigger than what might benefit me or play out the way I think it should play out. No, the treasures aren’t earthly treasures of wealth, comfort, or pleasure (notice pleasure is NOT a fruit of the Spirit). It’s so much more than that.

God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Okay, I do not remember seeing this before. Your plan for us as your church is to show the unseen rulers in heavenly places your wisdom? I wanted to see this in some different translations. Here is what The Message said: Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gather in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels! The New American Standard was pretty close to the NLT: …so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. So there is something to this. We are part of your display to all of your creation, both what we can see with our human eyes, and what we cannot see. How is this working for you? Are we, as a church, making you look foolish? When we lose our first love, do you put your figurative head in your hands and think, “What have I done?”

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

Paul was very in tune with the Holy Spirit and his role in our lives. Jesus left us the Holy Spirit to be our counselor and comforter–to be his presence with us–and Paul always remembered this. It always seems to lead me back to the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5. I’m so glad we have that list from him. But the roots are only developed if they are nurtured, the soil is tended and weeded, and we remain in your presence.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love it. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes fromod.

Father, it starts and ends with these amazing treasures made available to me through Jesus. And this ultimate treasure is the ability to get a glimpse of your love for me and draw closer to you through giving your roots the environment they need to grow in my heart. Your love brings me so many wonderful things. And your relationship with us is so interesting because it seems to bring you something as well. You are a wondrous, marvelous God, and I am grateful for the opportunity to get to worship and know you. Help me to remember and be motivated to take the treasures that are of you and give them to others.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 6, 2021 in Ephesians

 

Proverbs 1:10-19

05 Jun

My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them! They may say, “Come and join us. Let’s hide and kill someone! Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent! Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave; let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death. Think of the great things we’ll get! We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take. Come, throw in your lot with us; we’ll all share the loot.” My child, don’t go along with them! Stay far away from their paths. They rush to commit evil deeds. They hurry to commit murder. If a bird sees a trap being set, it knows to stay away. But these people set an ambush for themselves; they are trying to get themselves killed. Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money; it robs them of life.
Proverbs 1:10-19

Dear God, I was reading in Proverbs the other day (I think it was chapter 15, and I did a prayer journal on it), and I started wondering what patterns I might be able to see if I were to take each verse in a chapter, put it into a category and then reorganize the verses into their categories. Would there be any value to seeing all of the “like” verses put together in sequence? Would there be any new understandings revealed to me?

I sat down this morning with chapter 1, and I found it wasn’t like some of the other chapters. It is actually a little more thematic and a little less “fortune cookie-ish.” It talked about pursuing wisdom, heeding parents’ instruction, avoiding bad influences, and shunning the foolishness of being willful and stubborn. It made me think of a sermon I listened to this morning from Andy Stanley. He talked about following you instead of just believing in you. He talked about being with people who draw us deeper into our walk with you–who do not draw us away from following you.

In Proverbs 1:10-19, Solomon gives an extreme example of sinners enticing believers, but I think the same is true even if the enticement isn’t quite as extreme as the murder plot Solomon describes. If I believe that the life I am supposed to live is a life full of humility before my creator and extending that same mercy to others, then how can I survive being influenced by people who believe that they are their own gods and their own will is what life is about? How will that work in friendship? How will that work in a romantic relationship? How will that work in any area of life. While we need to be in the world and have relationships that challenge us and allow us to challenge them, we have to be careful to make our core support those who are like-minded.

Father, I don’t know if I’ll do anything with this Proverbs project or not. I still need to finish my “Mothers of the Bible” and “Fathers of the Bible” projects. And I feel like those are important. But maybe if I spend some time in Proverbs as well, I can be reminded of the third dimension of our lives that is found in the wisdom you admonish us to pursue.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 5, 2021 in Proverbs

 

1 Chronicles 29:11

04 Jun

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord , and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.
1 Chronicles 29:11

Dear God, sometimes I just need to stop and worship you. I forget to worship sometimes, and I’m sorry for that. I get into my thoughts, my pursuit of you, my problems, or just my desire to become the man you have for me to be that I lose track of how amazing you are and how humbling it is to really be in your presence.

I was listening to a podcast this week about aliens and what it would mean for humanity if they were real. For some, you aren’t big enough to account for aliens. They were actually debating whether Jesus’s death here on earth would be enough to cover an alien’s sin and reconcile them to you (I think that’s when I turned it off). They were discussing us being made in your image and how Adam was the highest form of your creation so if there is a species greater than us what does that mean about you?

Frankly, I see all of those topics as rubbish. As far as I’m concerned, you created it all. You are big enough to understand the car reaches of the universe. You know exactly how it is all out together. You know the worlds you created and the other life you created. You know what it takes to reconcile whatever needs to be reconciled to you. So stepping back from that amazing, macro level and drilling down to my little life, you are aware of everything about me as well. The expanses into my psyche. The desires and even sins of my flesh. You know about my situations and my prayer requests. You care about me. You love me. You work all things together for my good.

Father, I stand, sit, prostrate myself in awe of you. You are God. I am not. Lead me today. I have a friend who is dying. I’m going to go and visit him in a bit. Please guide his family and give me your words for him. Give his wife wisdom and strength. For my friends recovering from injuries and in the hospital. Please be the God of their healing. Make this pain count in their lives. Do it all for your glory, oh, Lord.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 4, 2021 in 1 Chronicles

 

Proverbs 15:1

03 Jun

A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.
Proverbs 15:1

Dear God, I wonder if anyone ever built a fortune cookie company out of Proverbs. Each of them are seemingly isolated. I don’t know who broke them into chapters (was it the King James translators?), but they would seem just about impossible to organize. I guess one project that would be interesting would be to write each on down on a spreadsheet, build categories, and then sort them by category to see if I can find any unique patterns in the ones from similar categories. For example, this one would fit into a category I could call conflict. What could I learn by reading other proverbs on conflict by reading them together?

That being said, for this morning’s purposes, I hope I lived up to this wisdom recent with some people with whom I’ve disagreed. At the same time, there were issues that needed to be addressed. Silence wasn’t an option. Ironically, no matter how gentle I tried to be, I still don’t think my words were heard in the spirit in which I meant them. In one case in particular, the listener pretty much only heard things through the filter they brought into the conversation. As long as I had a particular stance, they were not going to hear anything else, regardless of how I said it.

Father, I don’t know what else to do by your figure out how to somehow lovingly press on, even though the road can be lonely. There are simply some things and some relationships that are outside of my ability to maintain on my own. Help me to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 3, 2021 in Proverbs

 

Revelation 21:1-4

01 Jun

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
Revelation 21:1-4

Dear God, why are you telling us this? Why did you describe things in Revelation through John in such ambiguous ways? There are times when—well, I just haven’t had a lot of use for Revelation in my walk with you. I know it’s out there. I know it gives warnings for your people (and me). I know it describes some scary things as well as some hopeful and exciting things. But it can be so metaphorical that it’s hard to know what to take from it so I just kind of ignore it.

I guess one question to ask myself is what difference it would make if Revelation weren’t here and the Bible ended with Jude. what would it be like to not have any vision for hope? What would it be like to not have the warnings? What would it be like of you just told us in plain terms what you were trying to communicate in Revelation. Why the allegory? Well, when I consider my life and what it would be like without these descriptions, it feels like an emptier life. Even a promise of heaven seems smaller without the vague, incomprehensible descriptions John gives us. The warnings for the different churches are important too. They are warnings for me about not losing my first love, pursuing idols, etc.

Father, you have worked all of this together for my good—even in ways I cannot comprehend. I don’t always understand the ramifications of what you’ve done or what you are doing, but I know you are doing it. My faith is in you. Thank you for everything.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 1, 2021 in Revelation

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

31 May

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Dear God, where did Paul get this? Was he always right about some of these things? Did he misunderstand any of this end-of-time stuff? I think it’s safe to say that he thought Jesus would return much sooner than 2,000 years after his ascension. But did he have the rapture wrong? And I’m not trying to question Jesus’s ultimate return. I just wonder if it might be in a paradigm or reality that is beyond our human comprehension.

My own personal theory, which is not to be taken as truth is that death is at the intersection of when we cease to experience our “time” and we start to experience your “timelessness.” I know of too many stories of people experiencing heaven immediately, only to return. But I actually have one that is greater than that. When my mother-in-law died, my niece, who was, I think, 2 at the time, saw my mother-in-law in her home within minutes of her death. It was about 5:00 in the morning, she was with her mom, and she said, “Ama?” (That was her name for her grandmother.) Her mom asked her why she saw, and she said to yer mom, “Ama’s not scared.” It was only a few minutes later that her mom found out that AMA had just died.

I remember my mother talking about my grandmother being on her deathbed in the hospital and she reported seeing dead relatives in her room. I completely believe all of these stories.

There’s even one from Jesus’s own life. He got to hang out with Moses and Elijah. Now Elijah never died so we can see how he might be there, but if Moses was waiting for either Jesus’s death and resurrection or Jesus’s return in the rapture, how did he get there?

Father, at the end of the day, I don’t have to understand any of this as absolute truth. Frankly, I don’t think I’m capable of comprehending the absolute truth. What gives me peace is that I believe the reality you provide is for my good, and I can be at peace in my life, my death, and the lives and deaths of my friends because you have provided Jesus for my and our reconciliation, and your love is bigger than my ability to screw it up.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 31, 2021 in 1 Thessalonians

 

Discernment

29 May

Dear God, I’ve never been great at reading people. I tend to play things pretty straight so I expect others are doing the same. I forget to look beneath the facade someone is showing me and try to see what might be driving their motivations. I mean, I’ve gotten better at it over the last 10 or 15 years. I at least recognize the need to do it. One of the first things I do for new volunteers and employees at our clinic is show them a Chick-fil-a training video called “Every Life Has a Story.” It shows a camera panning through a Chick-fil-a restaurant, zooming in on each person, including the staff, and revealing a fact about their personal life in a caption beneath their smiling or not smiling face. If only we all came with captions.

There are some people around me that I need to really live up to being better about reading what’s going on beneath the surface. My wife. My children. My staff. My friends. I was talking with one recently, and I just knew that the words I was hearing didn’t match the demeanor I was reading. There was an unconvincing disconnect that told me things were not as they were trying to portray. Responding to that disconnect is another thing altogether.

Father, make me the husband, father, and friend you need me to be for those around me. Help me to know when and how to reach out, and when and how to remain silent. Help me to be what you need me to be in each life so that I would consider my own life worth nothing to me, but that I might complete the task and finish the race you have given to me, regardless of what it costs me. For your glory and your plan, oh Lord.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 29, 2021 in Miscellaneous

 

Sirach 44:1,9-13

28 May

Now will I praise those godly men, our ancestors, each in his own time. But of others there is no memory, for when they ceased, they ceased. And they are as though they had not lived, they and their children after them. Yet these also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten. Their wealth remains in their families, their heritage with their descendants. Through God’s covenant with them their family endures, their posterity, for their sake. And for all time their progeny will endure, their glory will never be blotted out.

Sirach 44:1,9-13

Dear God, I don’t normally look at the apocrypha, and I am not familiar with it at all. But I looked at the Old Testament reading for the Catholic church today, and this seems to fit with my current situation. Key words from this passage: ancestors, children, virtues, heritage, descendants, posterity, endure, glory. It’s what we all hope for, I suppose. At least a lot of us do. I certainly feel the weight of passing on things to my children and grandchildren that were passed on to me. I want there to be integrity and honesty. Humility and a strong work ethic. A willingness to sacrifice for what is right. A reputation of honor.

Sometimes it can be hard to know how to live up to these ideals myself, much less pass them on to my children. How do I ask them to be something I am not? And then when it is time to try to mold them through the responsibility you have given to me, how do I do it in mercy and love, while still not sacrificing the lesson you might have for them in the moment? If there is a fork in the road with my children or grandchildren, what lesson do you have for them in that situation, and how do I not get in your way and short circuit what you might be trying to accomplish in their life.

Father, when I am in the middle of the battle–when I am in the fog of war–help me to see you clearly. Help me to be wise enough to know how you need me to respond and when you need me to remain silent. When to act and when to not act. When to accept the things I cannot change, when I need to summon the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 28, 2021 in Sirach

 

Acts 20:24

27 May

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. – Acts 20:24

Dear God, you know I have a long history with this verse that goes back 34 years. It was one of the first verses I chose to memorize without someone like a Sunday school teacher or youth minister asking me to memorize it. But did I understand it then? Do I understand it now?

I came to see it differently a couple of years ago when I was studying Job. I used to think this verse was about being willing to be reckless for you. After all, that’s what Paul was doing. He was intentionally risking his life. Is that what I should do? Then realized after studying Job that that was partially true, but there was more. Job went through unbelievable trials to ultimately get to a point where he realized that nothing in the world or about his life was about being for his personal luxury. It was about whatever path you had fir him so that your will might be done in the world and in the lives of others–even an example for me thousands of years later. After studying Job, I realized that of all of the biblical characters, Paul seems to have gotten to that place of submission easier and faster than others. He sat in jail without complaint. He submitted to a path that, even though it meant his suffering and ultimate execution, lead to Christianity spreading to the West. And all of that spirit and knowledge is captured by what Luke recorded Paul as saying here.

Father, I have a financially comfortable life, and I sometimes feel guilty about that. But there are certainly other things that I don’t like about my life that you are using–at least that I pray you are using–to bring your kingdom and will into the world. So help me to really—ooo, this is a dangerous thing to pray–help me to really live into this concept. Help me to consider my life worth nothing to me. Help me to complete the task and finish the race you have asked me to run.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 27, 2021 in Acts, Uncategorized

 
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