Monthly Archives: January 2013

January 21

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Genesis 22-24

It amazes me how often people traveled during Bible times. God tells Abraham to take his family and possessions and go somewhere and Abraham goes. God says to go somewhere else and Abraham goes somewhere else. And with him go servants, livestock, gold and silver, tents and food. Abraham tells his servant to go to Nahor to find a wife for Isaac and the servant eagerly goes to Nahor. Rebekah is invited to go back to Canaan and she goes.

And no one had four wheel drive and air conditioning.

I am once again convicted. How many times has God laid a neighbor or friend on my heart and I do nothing about it? I can’t go next door or across town to share Jesus with someone and Abraham traveled hundreds of miles in obedience. I can’t pick up the phone but Rebekah could get on a stranger’s camel and travel to a distant land.

What would God have me do today? Where does he want me to go? In which direction is he leading my life? May I be as obedient as Abraham, as eager as Abraham’s servant, and as trusting as Rebekah.

January 20

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Gen 19-21, 25:12-18 and I Chronicles 1:28-31

How perverted were the men of Sodom? Did Lot participate in their sin? We read he feared for the safety of the three travelers. But he offered his young daughters to his evil neighbors, knowing the girls would most likely die a painful and humiliating death.

We see that, while Lot and his daughters were spared when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, his wife disobeyed and was killed. Lot and his daughters were saved but the influence of living in Sodom went with them.

Lot’s daughters were so desensitized to sexual sin they didn’t think twice about sleeping with their own father. They even rationalized their own perversions by saying they did it in order to preserve Lot’s lineage.

We live in a sinful world where the same kind of sexual perversion is considered the new normal. We watch TV and invite violence and sex into our living rooms. Even Christians laugh at things God destroyed Sodom for. Our children have access to the internet in the palms of their hands. We are a people who are no longer easily shocked and saddened by sin. Are we raising a desensitized generation?

God, I am convicted. I know I have allowed sin to have a foot in the door of my heart. I ask that you make me aware of the things that displease you and help me to take a stand, to be set apart and to live a life that attracts others to you. I pray for parents. Give them wisdom. Help them to protect their dear children from the influences that make it seem like following you is lame.

January 19

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Job 16-18

Being visited by God Himself was nothing out of the ordinary for Abraham. So when he saw the three men standing near the trees, Abraham jumped up to greet them. I wonder what that was like. I wonder what talking with Jesus face to face, having dinner with him, seeing him in the flesh was like. Amazing.

Did Abraham change God’s mind? What lesson can we learn from Abraham’s bold pleas on behalf of the believers in Sodom?

The answer to the first question is no. Our prayers don’t change God’s mind. He is not that fickle. What Abraham’s pleas taught me today is that it’s ok to go to God boldly and repeatedly with what’s on our hearts. There is no limit to the number of requests we are allowed.

God answers prayer. But he also knows the end from the beginning.

I have a young friend who underwent open-heart surgery yesterday. I prayed for him, for surgeons and nurses, and for his wife and family. The young man came through surgery well. Was that because I prayed? Would he have died under the knife had I not prayed? Did God intend to take him home until he heard my prayers on his behalf, then decide to spare him?

God knew thousands of years ago that I and others would pray for our friend yesterday. Before my friend was born God knew he would have heart problems, surgery, that people would pray, and he would get through the surgery. Had we not prayed would God have known another outcome? I won’t know this side of heaven.

But I’m not willing to take that chance.

Yes, God knows the outcome of every prayer we pray. And he knows what happens when we don’t pray. Sometimes we get exactly what we request. Other times we don’t. But God wants us to come boldly, to put our desires into words, to lay our requests at his feet. Abraham learned from his encounter with the Lord that day that he need not be afraid to beg God with what’s on his heart.

I want my life story to unfold bathed in prayer. Abraham pleaded with God. Let that be our example today.

January 18

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Job 11:27-15:21

I remember reading about Lot’s rescue before. He and his family were living in Sodom when the city was attacked and they were taken prisoner. But it occurred to me today as though for the first time, that God was revealing Himself to Lot through this event. He provided a way out for Lot and his family.

Lot was living in a sinful city. He was surrounded by perversion… and so were his wife and daughters. When Uncle Abram came to their rescue they could have, and should have, settled somewhere else. Did Lot go to God for direction before taking his kids back to the evilness in the city? I doubt it.

This is another example of God using the events of life to draw us to Himself. In this instance Lot accepted the salvation, fled the city to safety but then went right back. Lot ignored God and the end result, as we’ll see later, is he’ll lose his wife and experience how living among the perverted effected his daughters.

Some people acknowledge Jesus as Savior, then go right back to living the same lifestyle they lived before. Before long the evidence of their conversion is lost. What God is saying to me today is that sometimes, in order to be the godly people God wants us to be, we need to make some drastic changes. If we do the same things, talk the same way, laugh at the same jokes, sooner or later we put ourselves in danger of ignoring the salvation that was ours. Lot did that. And the results were devastating.

I know that our unsaved friends need the Lord. And I know that Paul said he became all things to all men in order to win some. But I guess I want to encourage all of us to tread lightly, to go carefully into situations that might tempt us to sin. And never go without going to God first. Our friends and our neighbors need to see us different… better than we were before. Not the same.

God, let me see you in the events of today. Help me recognize the many ways you try to get my attention. May I not pass up any opportunity to do the right thing and draw closer to you. Give me the ability to recognize things that would compromise my commitment to you… and flee. And may my life be such that my friends and neighbors will see You and want to know you, too.

January 17

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Job 40-42

Job didn’t just hear God. He listened, he understood, and he repented. That’s the purpose behind everything that is written in God’s Word and everything that happens in this life. God wants us to know Him and when we do there is really only one response… to repent in dust and ashes.

I chuckled  a little when I read what happened next. God told Job’s friends to offer sacrifices for their sins and Job would pray for them. Job… who still had no wealth or position in the community, no family and who even still wore the ugly marks of sickness would pray for them.

Job didn’t put himself in a position of authority. God did that. God used Job’s obedience to minister to others.

Maybe our own friends and neighbors don’t need to hear about our accomplishments or  pedigrees. I’m thinking if we put ourselves aside (Job said after seeing himself through God’s eyes he despised himself and he repented in dust and ashes) God will exalt us to a place where He can use us to bless others.

God doesn’t need us to clean ourselves off or pull ourselves up by our own strength before He can use us. Job was still outside the city when God gave Him a job to do. God just needed Job to be humble enough to obey. He needed Job to repent so that he could serve God out of a heart made clean by God Himself.

God, may I do the same today. Create in me a clean heart and may You find me obedient for the work you want me to do.

January 16

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Job 38-39

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.” The thing about reading words is that you can’t hear tone of voice. Was God angry? Was He impatient? Was there kindness and concern in His tone? When I started to read these chapters today I was reading them as though God was angry. After all, he spoke out of the storm. But half way through chapter 38 it occurred to me that maybe God was speaking to Job like a concerned Father who pulls his son up on his lap to explain things to him. So I went back and pictured that scene as I read.

I think God might get our attention with the storm, but I think He knows we do our best listening and learning when the storm is over and we can think. Job my son, God says, I’m going to explain to you who I am. You’ve survived a storm. Now listen carefully, son. You have a lot to learn.

As I was reading and thinking about Job sitting on God’s lap, leaning against God’s chest with God’s arms wrapped around him, and with God speaking lovingly in his ear I found myself a little jealous. Who wouldn’t want that for themselves? What about the answers to my questions? But I am reminded that my answers have been lovingly compiled and preserved in the pages of the Bible. God’s Word became flesh. And until I can physically see Him I can spiritually climb onto His lap through the pages of His book.

Am I being treated unfairly? Read about Joseph, Jesus, Paul. Am I grieving over the loss of a loved one? Read about Job, Jesus, Mary and Martha. Does God care about me personally? Read Paul’s letters, get to know Jesus through the gospels.

The accounts of real people in a real world are preserved in these pages and are there to guide and encourage us. The very thoughts of the Creator were transfered to paper and pencil by godly men who allowed God to speak through them. If I want to know God I need only to read what He inspired them to write about Himself.

So I’ll continue to climb up onto His lap each day as I read His Word. Sometimes I’ll be convicted. Sometimes I’ll be chastised. Sometimes I will feel complete joy. But always those arms will tighten around me as I draw closer to Him, as I learn more and more about Him and about myself, and as I allow Him to be the Father He longs to be to me.

January 15

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Job 35-37

Elihu talks about how nature reveals God, how the thunder, the rain cycle, the expansive sky show us “How great is God – beyond our understanding.”

I remember when my nephew Ryan was a toddler he was so curious about the world around him. An ant crawling over a blade of grass would stop him in his tracks.

My Dad had a deep appreciation for God’s creation. My sisters and I were raised watching thunderstorms instead of hiding under covers, our Sunday afternoons often included a ride to the lake to try to skip stones or discover tadpoles. I remember once my Mom was looking to buy a dress but she wasn’t sure she liked it. “Blue and green don’t go together”, she said. My Dad replied, “Well then I guess God made a mistake”. Look how pretty it is when the green of the trees touch the blue of the sky. Mom got the dress.

Some people want to believe this was all a chance happening. But just look at nature – really look and you will see how great God is – beyond understanding.

Lord, help me see You today in the sunshine, the ocean waves, the rustle of leaves. Stop me in my tracks today to see what Your hands have made. Thank you for nature’s wonders which show us Your greatness. And then help us realize that the One who created this amazing world loves us and wants us to love Him, too.

January 14

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Job 32-34

Once again I am struck by the length to which God goes to redeem a lost soul. Job 33:14 says God does speak “now one way, now another though man may not perceive it.” Elihu goes on to say God might speak in dreams, whisper in our ears, or through hardships and illnesses. He goes on to say if there was a mediator to find a ransom, we would be restored by God to righteousness.

The beautiful thing about this is we know that mediator’s name. Jesus is alive and eager to do His work in our lives. Elihu reminds us that God doesn’t give us just one chance to go to Him. 33:29 says God does all these things to a man… twice, even three times… to turn back his soul from the pit, that the light of life may shine on him.

I imagine most of us can remember times and situations in our lives when we were drawn to the Savior. Something we heard, or read, or experienced brought God to our minds. Times when we recognized a longing for more than this life offers.

The more we ignore that prompting from the Holy Spirit the easier it gets to ignore Him and the harder it becomes to even recognize God’s voice. God wants us to love Him, to receive Him and experience sins forgiven. There will be times today when He tries to get our attention. My prayer is that we will be sensitive to His voice and allow God to restore us to righteousness.

January 13

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Job 30-32

Job is still trying to make sense of what has happened. He examines his life closely and still feels he has lived a righteous life. I didn’t take time to count the “if”‘s in these verses but there are many. Job says, in the condensed version… if I was unfair, stingy, judgmental, if I was unfaithful to my wife or put my trust in gold I would have disobeyed God and could understand my suffering.

But Job stands firm in his belief that he did his best to be a godly man. And he was.

God is telling us through Job’s story that health and wealth are not connected to obedience. There are no guarantees that if you live a good life only good things will happen to you. If that were so people would go to God for the wrong reason… for what’s in it for them instead of going to God because of who He is.

So what is the incentive for godly living if I can’t be assured life will be easy? And what’s to prevent me from enjoying the lusts of the world if it rains on both good and bad people anyway?

I can say first hand that the benefits of godly living include a clear conscience, a blessed assurance, peace, hope, satisfaction, strength, and the knowledge that I am loved and forgiven. You just can’t buy those things no matter how wealthy you are.

God, thank you for blessing us with your Presence, more precious than gold. And thank you that, whether good times or bad, you are right there. Help us to realize everything that happens in this lifetime happens to draw us to you and to show you to a lost world who needs you. May you find us faithful because we love you.

January 12

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Job 27-29

Who was Job anyway? To hear him describe himself you would think he was the most popular, the most respected, the most loved man in town. Job lists his altruistic deeds and they are many. So are the praises from his neighbors.

Job naturally longs for the good old days. Back then he had it all… wealth, power, respect, his children, his health. The present is just too painful. My heart broke for him when I read, “Oh for the days when… my children were with me.” It makes me sad because I long for the days when Geoff was still with us, too.

I think God wants me to realize that if I allow myself to dwell on the past I miss out on the blessings of the present. Most of us at one time or another have probably been guilty of remembering the past a little rosier or a little worse than it actually was.

When I was a little girl there was a hill at the end of our dead end street that was perfect for sledding. We spent many happy hours on that giant hill and I remember not only the joy of flying down, but trudging back up the mountain over and over.

After high school I went off to college and hadn’t even seen the hill for years. One day I decided to take a walk up the street and was shocked to see that the hill had shrunk. It was nowhere close to being mountainous. Over the years I had created a long, steep grade in my mind. The reality was a more gentle slope. (It’s still a good place for kids to sled)

But isn’t that the way with memories? My dad used to long for the good old days when men were men and people were honest, when women didn’t dress like men and children obeyed their parents. Let’s be honest, though. Even the good old days had their share of problems.

Memories themselves can be precious treasures. And it’s good to take them out and polish them off sometimes. But if we choose to live in the past, whether the past was ideal or filled with pain, we can miss out on some pretty amazing things in the present.

God, when  you created us with the ability to remember you gave us a precious gift… and a curse. Thank you for a lifetime full of memories. May I put them in perspective and not allow them to take my eyes off what you have for me today. May my past not hold me back or steal the joy you want to share with me. Lord, I give you today. I thank you for yesterday. And I trust you with tomorrow.