Tag Archives: daily walk

January 28; Not Fair! Not Important!

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Genesis 40-41

Joseph had a right to complain. He was suffering, and really didn’t deserve it. His own brothers had sold him into slavery because he was annoying and their dad liked him best. Was that fair? Hardly.

Was it fair that Potiphar’s wife lied about him, and he ended up in prison? Not fair!

And when he’d done a good deed for the Pharaoh’s cupbearer, the only thing he asked was – “remember me. Help me get out of here.” Did the cupbearer lift a finger to help the unjustly imprisoned Joseph? Not for two years. Not fair!

God nudge me to look at Joseph’s attitude through this unfair, undeserved difficult situation he found himself in. I don’t see him pouting, or turning his back on God. I don’t see him complaining, or scheming how to get even with everybody who hurt him.

I see a young man who didn’t waiver in his integrity, or his devotion to God. He worked. He did what was required of him. And he did it well.

I read the account of a man who trusted God. Period.

I don’t know a person out there who thinks life is fair. Thing happen, and sometimes we end up paying consequences for sins committed by people other than ourselves. Or we end up on the short end of the stick, struggling to keep our heads above water while everyone else seems to be sailing along just nicely. Not fair!

I think God would have us learn from Joseph. The circumstances in which we find ourselves are not the issue. Our attitudes and actions are, however.

The Apostle Paul knew hardship and unfair treatment. In Philippians 4:12-13 he said he had learned the secret to contentment despite circumstances. He knew what it was like to have a bank account, and what it was like to be broke. He knew what it was like to sit down and enjoy a hardy meal, and what it was like to starve.

Then he said that he could do anything, could face any circumstance THROUGH CHRIST who gave him strength.

I don’t know your circumstances but I know God is strong enough to see you through. The thing is, you have to look to Him instead of at your circumstances.

Life isn’t fair. That’s a fact. But whether or not life is fair is not important. What is important is your faith and trust in God who promises to be with you, protect you, and defeat the enemy on your behalf.

Do you trust Him? Then surrender your difficult circumstance to Him. Get busy doing the things He’s asking you to do. Worship and praise Him. Love Him. Quit feeling sorry for yourself, and telling yourself how unfair life is right now.

God can get you through this. That’s a promise. After all, it’s not your circumstance that is important. But God is.

January 27; Blessed To Bless

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Genesis 37-19

Does your relationship with God have an impact on others? It should.

Joseph’s relationship with God blessed Potiphar and Potiphar’s household. The teenage boy was a slave, but listen to what Scripture tells us about that:

From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. (39:5)

Even in prison, Joseph was blessed by God, and a blessing to the warden:

The warden paid no attention to anything under Jospeh’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. (39:23)

So let me ask you again. Does your relationship with God have an impact on others, so that when He pours His blessings out on you they naturally spill over and touch the people close to you? Your family? Neighbors? Friends? Coworkers? Church? Community? Do people acknowledge that God in your life has benefited them, too?

What a privilege we have of being instruments through which God reveals Himself. We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others so that they will be drawn to Him, and find the same relationship we have with Him through the blood of Jesus.

May you be blessed, and a blessing to someone today.

January 25; Broken and Healed

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Genesis 31-32

Jacob reminds me of a new Christian. He wanted to obey God and did on occasion. But there was enough of the old Jacob still in him that sometimes he made rash decisions, and really bad choices.

Like running away from Laban. Hadn’t God told him to go, that He would be with him? Yet Jacob packed up and snuck out like a thief in the night.

God told Jacob He would be with him, yet without consulting God Jacob sent one peace offering to Esau, then another, and another. He divided his entourage and figured Esau would only be able to destroy half of them that way.

Did you forget, Jacob? God said He’d be with you. Esau has no power over God. Dividing your stuff might make you feel in control, or self-sufficient, or that somehow you are giving God a hand. But you are wasting your time.

So here is Jacob, torn between trusting and obeying God, and the need to do things his own way (like he’d always done). It’s hard for most of us to let go of the wheel.

Jacob laid down to get some sleep, but ended up wrestling all night. A man – was it an incarnation of Jesus or an angel? – attacked Jacob and physically wrestled with him for hours. Tossing, lunging, pinning, grasping, knocking each other down, and rolling around in the dirt all night!

The result? Jacob got a name change. He had seen God and didn’t die. Warren Wiersbe says, “Jacob was broken to be healed, and weakened to be strengthened.” (With The Word, p. 38; Oliver-Nelson Books, Nashville, TN, 1991) Jacob got up from that wrestling match bruised, limping, and strengthened to meet his brother.

I said Jacob reminds me of a new Christian. But he reminds me of me sometimes, too, and I’ve been following Jesus for decades. Sometimes I have my own wrestling matches with God late at night, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling when I should be sleeping, thoughts and doubts and struggles lunging at me, pinning me down, grasping at my heart. I feel like I’ve been rolling around in the dirt trying to get the best of my struggle.

And I am reminded it’s at those times God is breaking me in order to heal me. He is revealing my weakness so He can be my strength.

Oh that I would learn to throw in the towel, to quit fighting a losing battle, and let God have His way in every detail of my life. I wouldn’t feel so beaten up in the morning. I might actually get some peaceful sleep.

And I would be ready to face the challenges of the day, knowing God’s a lot stronger than me or my problems.

January 22; Live At Peace

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Have you ever seen someone’s response to something, or read something in the Bible and thought, “Boy, if that had been me I’d have…?” That’s kind of how I felt as I read about Isaac and the wells he dug.

First of all, I am reminded that Isaac wasn’t there by choice. There was a famine, and the king told him to get out of Dodge. “This town ain’t big enough for the both of us.” So Isaac packs up and leaves. Just like that.

It’s got to be hard moving all those people and animals and everything you own. They’d been traveling for a while. They needed water. They dug a well.

But the neighbors declared their rights to the water. So Isaac packed everyone up again and moved to another location, dug another well, and had to face the protesters once again. “We’ve got our rights! This is our water.”

So Isaac moves AGAIN! Come on, Isaac, grow a backbone.

Why didn’t Isaac stand up for his rights? Why did he let the king and the people push him around? He had the Big Guns on his side, didn’t he? God was on his side, for crying out loud.

As I was thinking about this this morning I was reminded of Romans 12:17-19. Listen to what God has to say to us through his servant Paul:

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it  is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written; “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

Absolutely there is a time to stand up for what is right. There are plenty of examples in Scripture of God’s people fighting the enemy. Jesus Himself wasn’t afraid to get in the face of someone who was sinning, to overturn tables when necessary.

The Church may be taking this idea of living at peace with everyone too far. But there is also a danger of turning everything into a battle. If God tells us to live at peace with everyone you can, then do it!

That means living at peace with abortion doctors, homosexuals, adulterers, and liars. Do you think you are likely to win someone to the Lord by hating them, or by fighting them, or by waving your Bible in their faces while shouting John 3:16?

Living at peace means feeding hungry people, giving water to thirsty people. (Romans 12:20) It means offering the Bread of Life and the Living Water to people who are dying in their sin.

I don’t believe Scripture is telling us that to live in peace in this world requires getting pushed around or mistreated, as much as it tells us to love the people who are pushing us around and mistreating us.

Can we stand for the Truth in love? Can we?

January 21; Something Amazing

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Genesis 22-24

I’m going out on a limb here. Scripture doesn’t tell us what Abraham was thinking as he and Isaac made their way up the mountain where God had ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son. Was Abraham sad, resentful, confused, panicked? We don’t know for sure.

Except there is a bit of a hint into Abraham’s heart. At some point, Abraham told his servants to stay put, that he and Isaac were going ahead to make the sacrifice, then “we will come back to you.” (21:5) It sounds like Abraham fully intended to sacrifice his son, then return with his son.

So here’s the limb I’m speaking from today. I wonder, as Abraham and Isaac were heading for the mountain, with all the emotions flooding Abraham’s soul, was there a bit of excitement and anticipation?

Here’s what we know: 1) God promised Abraham that Isaac would be the father of a great many people, 2) At this point Isaac had no children, 3) Abraham believed God.

I’m sure Abraham had no idea how God was going to accomplish this. But I think Abraham might have been excited to see God do His thing. Would God raise a dead Isaac to life right in front of his eyes? Would Isaac be sacrificed and somehow not die? Abraham couldn’t be sure about the details. But Abraham was sure he’d be taking a living Isaac home with him when all was said and done. (my thoughts only. Scripture does not say)

Sometimes God asks us to do the impossible. Some of you are going through very tough, impossible circumstances, and God is asking you to trust Him. God might be nudging some of you to change careers, teach a Sunday School class, report a crime, take a stand, and you think it’s too much. He might as well be asking you to sacrifice your only son.

Here’s what I think God would have us consider today: be excited, knowing you are about to see God do something amazing. You can’t see how. But, doesn’t Scripture tell us ALL things work together for the good of those who love God? (Romans 8:28)

ALL things?

What about the debilitating stroke the husband of my friend had last summer? What about the cancer diagnosis another friend has received the second year in a row? What about an unfaithful spouse, or a wayward child, or the loss of income, or the death of a loved one? How can any of that come out for the good?

I don’t know.

But God said it, and if you are His child you can trust it. ALL things.

If you are going through a difficult situation, I’m not going to tell you how to feel. Well, maybe I am. Go ahead and feel afraid, or angry, or hurt, or whatever you have to feel. That’s between you and God.

But here’s my challenge: in the midst of it all, allow yourself to be excited, too. Because you are in a position to see God do something truly amazing.

Heavenly Father, I want to pray for any who are reading this today who are facing those tough situations. I pray for hurting people, people who are mourning the loss of a loved one, people who are sick, weary, alone, afraid. I pray that they will look to You, look forward to whatever it is You are going to do in their trial, because Your Word tells us You work out everything for the good of those who love You. I pray that, even while carrying their burden, they will look forward with excitement, knowing You are going to do something amazing in their lives.

January 13; Spiritual Inventory

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As Job was taking inventory of his life, I am encouraged to do the same. Can I, like Job, lay it all out there and know in my heart I have done what is right and good? Join me as I look at my heart’s condition before my God.

31:1-4; Job determined not to lust after another woman. This takes an intentional act of will.  So I’m checking my own lust-level. I can hardly watch TV without something popping up to try to get me to think about sex. Sex sells. God is asking me if I intentionally guard my heart even in front of the tube.

31:5-8; Job tells me he didn’t “walk in falsehood,” or hurry “after deceit.” Again, speaking the truth, living the truth is a choice. God is asking me how important it is to me to always speak the truth, even in these days when the truth is something to be laughed at and denied, and when people think there’s such a thing as a “white lie”.

31:9-12; Jealousy. Can I really be genuinely happy for my neighbor over their good fortune without longing for what they have? Job says jealousy is a sin to be judged.

31:13-15; Job reminds me that everyone is born in the exact same way. So, how do I treat people? If I consider myself more important, or better than someone else, I will be called to account.

31:16-23; Job tells me he had compassion, that he gave to needy people. God is prompting me to check my heart’s ability to feel, and my resources to do. I don’t want to be so desensitized that I can ignore someone who is hurting, or in need of something I have the ability to provide.

31:24-28; Job didn’t put his trust in wealth, or the universe. How faithful am I to God? If my bank account becomes more important than my relationship with God, that is a sin to be judged. If I entertain the idea that God plus anything is worth worship, I am unfaithful to God, and that is a sin to be judged.

31:29-34; What is my attitude toward an enemy? If I find myself even a little glad someone who wronged me is facing a trial or a hardship, I cannot please God. And Job reminds me that I don’t even need to express my feelings out loud. Trying to hide any sin is a futile effort. God always knows what’s in my heart and mind.

31:35-40; Job challenges me to look at my stewardship. God has blessed me. Am I using what He has given me to be a blessing to others? I am reminded I am blessed for that purpose. How am I doing?

Aren’t these things that Job spoke about the things that should identify us as God’s? I know that nothing I do – no matter how sacrificial – can make up for even one sin I’ve committed. I don’t believe the lesson here is: do good so God likes you better.

But as a woman who is saved by grace, a child of God through the precious blood of Jesus, I want my life to be above reproach. After all, I wear His Name. I want my testimony to be true, my heart in tune with God’s.

Thank you, Job, for helping me take inventory. Help me, God, to address the things You have laid on my heart. I want to represent you well today. For Jesus’ sake.

 

January 12; Something More

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Job 27-19

Job tells his friends: “Let me tell you what I know about God. I’m going to give it to you straight, even though He’s revealed Himself to you exactly the same way He revealed Himself to me. Maybe it will put an end to this meaningless talk.” (from 27:11-12)

God is still revealing Himself to all of mankind in the same way He showed Himself to Job and his friends. A beautiful sunset is seen by millions. Winter always turns into spring, which always precedes summer, summer leads into fall, and back to winter. Year after year after year. The tiniest insects or the largest animals are all unique by species, yet uniquely similar to others within their species.

Just look around. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies proclaim the work of His hand… (Psalm 19:1-6)

There are a multitude of other truths God reveals about Himself every minute of every day. Job uses mining as an example. Beneath the surface, there is treasure. It doesn’t come easy, But for those who dig for it, it is life-altering.

Yes, God reveals Himself in nature to all of us, so no one has an excuse if they refuse to acknowledge HIm. But there is so much more. And knowing God in an intimate way requires some digging.

Job calls it wisdom, understanding. “…The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” (28:28)

No one, not even Job knows everything there is to know about God. William Cowper, who wrote the hymn “There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood” said, “Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.” Job’s friends may have had a knowledge of God, but Job realized there was something more, something worth digging for.

Friend, are you digging? Are you reading and re-reading God’s Word? Are you praying? Do you take God with you throughout your day? Do you know Him better today than you did yesterday?

I pray so. Because whatever your relationship is with Him now – there is always something more He has in store for you

 

 

January 5; What Is Your Answer?

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Job 1-3

Job was the George Bailey of the ancient world. He was “the richest man in town.” Sure, he had wealth. But he was also rich in family, friends, prestige, reputation. He had it all.

And he lost it all.

The book of Job has many lessons for us concerning suffering. Who hasn’t wished at some time or another, that they’d never been born? Life is hard. Loss is painful. And sometimes things happen that we’re convinced we just don’t deserve. Job will have a lot to say about that in the next few days.

But I don’t think suffering is the main theme in this book. If you look at chapter 1, Satan is suggesting that people only worship God when they are blessed by Him; only when the bills are paid, and they get a good report from the doctor. Satan is still suggesting that.

And sadly, we often equate health and wealth with God’s blessings yet today.

Not that God doesn’t sometimes bless us with those things, but I think the main theme in the book of Job is worship. The issue at hand is, “Is God worthy of worshiping even when times are hard and we feel abandoned by Him? Or, is God only worth worshiping on good days?”

You probably know Job’s reaction to the news that his livestock and slaves were gone, and all his children were dead. He heard of one disaster after another, then another, and another. It was too much. He fell to the ground and said these words:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. (1:21, emphasis mine)

In the first throws of unimaginable grief, Job praised the Lord. And we will find that…

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (1:22)

I think the main theme of Job is the question, “Is God worth it?” And that’s the question I’d encourage you to answer for yourself today. Does God deserve your worship regardless of your situation or your feelings? Does He deserve your worship when you aren’t getting the answers you think you need? Do you use worship as a bargaining tool to get what you want?

Friend, the truth of the matter is, God deserves our worship for the simple fact that HE IS.

Job won’t be happy about his situation. Job will ask some hard question of God. Job probably didn’t “feel” like worshiping God in the midst of his pain. But in all this Job will not sin, he will not turn His back on God or deny God. Job will worship God despite his circumstances.

And so should we. Because God is worth it. Do you believe that?

What is your answer?

January 3; Testing the Water

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Genesis 7-9

I’ve never gotten a text from God. And He has not once left me a voicemail. So when I’m faced with a big decision, how do I know what His will is, and what is coming from my own desires?

In my reading yesterday, I was impressed with Noah’s immediate obedience. Today his careful patience impresses me.

I believe God is telling me both have their places in my obedience. When God told Noah to build the ark, Noah obeyed without question. God’s voice was audible and clear. I believe His voice is that clear still today.

Jesus said, “Go into all the world…” so I don’t need to question whether or not He wants me to introduce my neighbor to the Savior. He’s already told me to do that. The Bible tells us to love each other, as well as love our enemies, do good to those who mistreat us, resist the devil… Some things are black and white. God says, “Do,” and we must obey.

But God doesn’t specifically address whether or not I should move from Ohio to Georgia. Or whether you should change jobs, or marry that person you are seeing. Wouldn’t it be nice if He’d just call once in awhile?

So what do you do, when you want to be obedient to God’s will in every circumstance of life? I think Noah gives us a great example.

The rain had stopped, and the ark came to rest on a mountaintop. Now what? Do we stay here? Or do we step out of this ark in faith? At this point, God isn’t saying anything. So Noah tests the water.

First he opened a window. Then he sent out a raven, followed by a dove. He took the cover off the ark, and saw the earth had dried up. And He waited. Finally, God spoke, and Noah moved.

I know I shared about my move to this island a couple years ago. My prayer was that God would lead, and I would follow. I promised not to force open any door He closed, and to go through the ones He opened. But in order to do that, I had to test the water, look at dozens of homes, make offers on several, until the house I now own became available, and God opened the door He wanted me to go through.

Let’s face it. Not every thought or desire we have comes from God. I think Scripture tells us to be wise. Test the water. And if God closes that door, you can bet He did that to save you from a world of hurt. If God opens that door, you are in for a shower of blessings. 

Are you facing a decision here at the beginning of 2019, and you aren’t sure where God is leading you? Test the water. Trust God to shut you down if He doesn’t want you to move. And trust Him to open doors He wants you to go through. But if you think He is nudging you to go in a certain direction, take a step. Open a window. Send out a dove. He’ll be faithful to give you the answers you need.

You just need to obey.

January 2; No Questions Asked

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Genesis 4-6

“Noah, build an ark.”

“Ok.”

But had Noah ever even seen an ark? Did he even know what a flood looked like? He might not even have known what rain looked like. But God said it. And Noah obeyed.

If you are like me, sometimes I ask too many questions. God might be prompting me to do something as easy as walking across the street to talk to a neighbor about Him, or to befriend that irritating coworker, or up my financial giving at church. And instead of obeying, I start asking questions:

“Why?”

“What’s in it for me?”

“What can I say to them?”

“What will people think?”

“Am I hearing you right?”

And I think it to death, my time is wasted, and my opportunity is past. What if Noah had done that? What if he started asking questions and put off building the ark?

The Bible would be a much shorter book. There’d be no one to read it anyway.

But Noah obeyed and built that ark that saved him and his family, and us. God is not asking me to do anything as unimaginable or difficult as building an ark. Why do I make such a big production out of obeying what He does ask of me?

This year, in 2019, I want to be obedient. Period. I want to trust Him without having to know the details first. As I continue to read His Word and pray, I want His voice to be clear and my obedience immediate.

Like Noah building an ark, I want to take that step of faith and obey God just because He asks me to. No questions asked.