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Devotional Reading, Mar. 2, 2025

2nd Corinthians 5:10

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.  

It is my honor and joy to serve the Lord. My only regret is that I have not been as faithful to his calling as I should have been. I serve not for a reward, except that of seeing others blessed and following Jesus. Others have done far more. I will rejoice as they are honored at the bema seat. Still, I do not want to lose the Lord's approval. Give me, Lord, the heart and strength to carry on until you call me home or return in glory. 

Devotional Reading, Mar. 1, 2025

2nd Corinthians 4:7-11

7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 8 We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed, 10 always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body. 11 For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body. 

I look around the church and wonder if we are accomplishing what God sent us to do or if we are just treading water or worse failing. Or seeking power in our culture by taking control and by that means turn the culture to Christian. I forget that the church in the early days advanced not out of strength but out of weakness. It sounds so counter intuitive that we don't believe it. But it is how God works. 

That is hard to see in the history of the church; since the church joined the political powers in Rome, we have seldom lived out the life of Jesus as an institution. Sometimes it has been the opposite. But there have been people who have. As I look more deeply into our history, the gospel has advanced not by power but by  living  people who have in weakness given themselves unnoticed and in weakness. It is not so much in great organizations or large churches, but individuals whose lives and words together make Jesus visible.  May I be such a follower of Jesus. 

Devotional Reading, Feb. 28, 2025

2nd Corinthians 4:3-4

 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God. 

It is veiled only. The glorious gospel of the Christ is not veiled in the minds and hearts of those who are open to God. The glory lives realigned to the design of God, and the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the hope before us, and most of all the fellowship and friendship with God are wonderfully real to all whose hearts are unveiled. 

We live in a confusing world with many distractions that take us away from God and often deny and distort these truths that in Christ are the foundation of life. Our instincts are to run and hide or to fight with the weapons of the world. I find that true of me as much as I see it around me. I remind myself:

1. Align with the design of God for life.

2. Seek and enjoy the present ministry of the Holy Spirit.

3. Dwell on the hope before me. 

4. Enjoy the friendship with God that is mine through Jesus my Lord.  

                                   Unveil my heart so I can see these things anew. 

Devotional Reading, Feb. 24, 2025

2nd Corinthians 2:14-16

14 But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place. 15 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing— 16 to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?  

Am I the sweet aroma of Christ in  every place I go? Paul is talking about the message he brings, of course, but if life does not affirm the message then the message is flat. Paul's life reflected his message. Does mine?  But then I wonder as well if I am speaking or sharing the message of Christ adequately. Even in my apologetic work, am I really speaking of the wonder of Jesus and the life he brings to our lives? I know that speaking of Jesus to most of the skeptics I interact with is the odor of death. But is speaking of Jesus the fragrance of life to those who are being saved? I pray that it is. 

Devotional Reading, Feb. 23, 2025

2nd Corinthians 1: 5

For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you.  

I have often read this section in 2nd Cor. to speak of all suffering, but it is really specific to suffering for Christ and with Christ. Paul is undergoing suffering as a prisoner. The Corinthians were also suffering opposition for their faith in Christ. In America we do not suffer for Christ as they did. But that may change. Our country is going south and becoming less and less friendly to those who are not onboard with Trumpism, and Christians cannot be really. It is antithetical to everything that the Lord calls us to be and do. The divide will only grow wider if we continue on this course. Then if we stand firm in our resolve to follow Jesus, we will suffer under the heavy hand of tyranny. But what is the consolation?

It is the knowledge that we suffer for the Lord, and we suffer together. If persecution comes to the American church, as I believe it will, take comfort in the fact that we who follow Jesus are firm in our faith together. The suffering will drive us to the Lord, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.   

Devotional Reading, Feb. 17, 2025

Philippians 1:29-30

29 For to you it was granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. 

The same conflict? The powers in  the world do not want to be challenged. The gospel is so contrary to the world's ways that it is a threat to them. They fight back with the means they have, which for Paul and many others was imprisonment. 

The world will fight back against us if we live and preach the gospel. That is so much to be expected that it almost becomes a mark of our following Christ.  Did the powers not fight back against him for the same reasons? 

But at the heart of the word "granted" is the word "grace." It is a gracious gift. It is in God's economy a precious gift to suffer for our stand in Christ for justice , truth, goodness, and  mercy. 

Today in America mercy has been devalued. Power is once again on the throne. I pray that we who belong to Christ Jesus may not fold under the threat of power, but may with much energy in the Spirit be more and more merciful, more and more engaged in securing justice for the oppressed, more and more engaged in goodness toward all, more and more firmly established upon the truth. 

Devotional Reading, Feb. 13, 2025

Psalm 126:5-6

5 Those who shed tears as they plant

will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.

6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag of seed,

will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain. 

A metaphor of the joy experienced when the work of restoration of the city and temple is done. It may be applied generally to us as we weep in joy in anticipation of the Lord's completion of his salvation work and all the redeemed shall gather before him. I weep today. I long for that completion.   And I pray for the harvest of souls that is continuing.

Devotional Reading, Feb. 12, 2025

Psalm 121:1-6

I look up toward the hills.

From where does my help come?

2 

My help comes from the Lord,

the Creator of heaven and earth.

3 

May he not allow your foot to slip.

May your Protector not sleep.

4 

Look! Israel’s Protector

does not sleep or slumber.

5 

The Lord is your protector;

the Lord is the shade at your right hand.

6 

The sun will not harm you by day,

or the moon by night. 

How I wish, how I pray that Israel would come again to this place of confidence in  the Lord for their safety.  How far they have fallen from  faith in the God who called them and protected them for so many centuries. I weep. I pray. I know that God has a future for them. I long for that future. May it come, Lord Jesus. 

Devotional Reading, Feb. 6, 2025

Hosea 11:10-11

“He will roar like a lion,

and they will follow the Lord;

when he roars,

his children will come trembling from the west.

11 

They will return in fear and trembling

like birds from Egypt,

like doves from Assyria,

and I will settle them in their homes,” declares the Lord. 

After all the warnings and the very literal fulfillment of those warnings with the invasion of Assyria, God promises recovery. 2700 years have passed. Israel remains in exile. May it happen in these days, Lord. May your promises to Israel come true. 

Devotional Reading, Jan. 29, 2025

Hosea  5:3-4 

For you have engaged in prostitution, O Ephraim;

Israel has defiled itself.

Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God;

for a spirit of idolatry is in them,

and they do not acknowledge the Lord. 

Whenever I read Hosea, I think of the church in America. For the last 70 years the church has been in decline. Some of that has been the  fault of lack of interest. Churchgoers has just been overwhelmed by the many other things  that attract them.  Some has been the fault of the church itself. It has tried to compete with the world to attract and keep people. Some has simply been spiritual decline. And now it has been because of a false theology and the joining of many to the political star of a false leader. Is there hope?

Yes, but not for the American or European churches. The church worldwide is growing and strong. Why? Because they are faithful to the Lord and simple. Yes. Simple. Their faith is the center of their lives. There are not so many distractions. And temptations that appeal to the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the praide that is common to man. 

Is there hope for America? Only in true and deep repentance.   

Devotional Reading, Jan. 24, 2025

Hosea 1:10-11

10 However, in the future the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea that can be neither measured nor numbered. Although it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are children of the living God!” 11 Then the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one leader, and will flourish in the land. Certainly, the day of Jezreel will be great! 

After declaring to Israel that he had disowned them, God promises a future for them that will be great. It is a reference to the millennial kingdom. It will be their hope trough many centuries of lostness and wandering. How many of these wanderers are there today? Are they like the sand of the sea?  

In their recovery we also hope, for their recovery is our blessing as well, a kingdom ruled by the Lord Jesus from Jerusalem but a kingdom of all those who belong to him by birth and adoption. Even so come Lord Jesus.   

Devotional Reading, Jan 23. 2025

Ecclesiastes 12:13,14

13

Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

because this is the whole duty of man.

14 

For God will evaluate every deed,

including every secret thing, whether good or evil. 

When all is said and done  ---  Solomon's wisdom has gotten him no place.  Life cannot be figured out and eath ends it all. That is the conclusion of existentialism. Others who have walked that path have found the same. But there is light that Solomon did not know of. Jesus. He speaks the wisdom of God.  

Life is not pointless. It has a goal and that is to know God and Jesus the Messiah whom God sent. Toward that goal we can progress, and we can be guides and encouragers to others on the way.   It is my joy to do so. 

Devotional Reading, Jan. 22, 2025

Ecclesiastes 8:17

No one really comprehends what happens on earth.

Despite all human efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp it.

Even if a wise person claimed that he understood,

he would not really comprehend it.

This is a frustration to people like me who like to see how work together and where it all is heading. Even if sometimes I can do it, history always takes new turns. As Solomon here says, it is futile and better to enjoy the life God has given us rather than puzzle too much over what will be next. 

Devotional Reading, Jan. 19, 2025

Ecclesiastes 7:19

This alone have I discovered: God made humankind upright,

but they have sought many evil schemes. 

This is the puzzle. Though we know what is right and good, we do not do it. We follow the passions of the flesh and  the things that please us. And we make a mess of everything. All of the destruction and evil in the world are birthed in these two things. What a wonder and paradise this would be if it were not so.  But God allows us each to turn toward the good of loving him and his design and loving our neighbors as ourselves. May Your design for me become reality in my life.  

Devotional Reading, Jan. 14, 2024

Ecclesiastes 1:2

“Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher.

“Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!” 

Step back and look at life and history and things look bleak for any thinking person. There is no reason or direction for life.  But life is difficult to live when there is no sense. That is the problem Solomon addresses in this book. That is the question we face in life. The answer is God. We may not understand what God is doing, and that was far more the case for Solomon than us, but we can trust him. 

And we have one more thing. We have Jesus. God entered life as we know it and his joining with us gives us the confidence that life makes sense. Life has a direction. 

When I get into an existential funk, I Iook to him, and life looks hopeful.     

Devotional Reading, Jan. 12, 2025

James 4:3

Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God?[  So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. 

What is friendship with the world? Perhaps the first word is the clue: adulterers. Unfaithful. Loving two opposing things. Double-souled. The good news for all of us who are double-souled is that the Spirit of God is jealous for us. He does not abandon us, but pursues us. And he gives grace to forgive and to overcome the division of our hearts. Thank you, Lord.  

“God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” 

Devotional Reading, Jan. https://youtu.be/QeUUmuwZIRs?si=w4-K6bCfDS6WCL_p10, 2025

James 3:17-18

 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical. 18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace. 

I think I have always valued wisdom, Even when I was captured by other things, I knew wisdom was where it was at. The wisdom books of the Bible have always attracted me. But what is wisdom? What is the life that is wisely lived? James makes the difficult plain.  Purity. Peace. Gentleness. Accommodating.  Merciful. Impartial. Genuine. 

We yesterday put the body of President Jimmy Carter to rest. As I remember back, as I visited his hometown of Plains, as I walked through the simple museum in his honor (not the Presidential library), I was struck by who this peanut farmer was and what he did.   I think I was looking at wisdom. I hope that my life reflects some of that wisdom and the faithfulness in which he pursued God's calling.   

Devotional Reading, Jan. 2, 2025

2nd Timothy 4:3-4

3 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. 4 And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths. 

This is the time, if there ever was a time. On every level and in every venue and discipline there has been deception building. It has become very difficult for people in early 2025 America to know what is true and what is not. I think it is unprecedented. And this deception has insinuated itself into religion and the Christian community.  In my lifetime, opposition to the faith founded upon the Bible and affirmed by the Holy Spirit has been under attack from secular scholars in all the media. And Christians are being fed myths, deceptive myths that do not stand scrutiny but which few Christians are prepared to refute. So, it is more urgent that we attend to Paul's warning than ever before. 

As an old man reading the last words of an old man, I resonate with his passion and message. In 2025, read Paul's final message to us in 2nd Timothy.  

Devotional Reading, Dec. 28, 2024

John 20:22,23

 22 And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” 

Often we read these two verses separately. But if we read them together it is the fact that the apostles were living under the control of the Holy Spirit that they could have the wisdom to determine whom to forgive and whom not to forgive. We too often make those decisions on other bases. (Perhaps we unless we are in the place of one needing to decide should not make them at all.) Our decisions are too often human decisions. 

But there is another thought here. It is that there are some who should not be forgiven. A story coming from Irenaeus about John that there was one man, a heretic, whom John did not forgive and would not even stay in his presence. But there is another, a young man who had left following Jesus to take up with robbers. That young man John sought out and forgave and brought back to faith. 

Lord, give me that discernment when it is necessary. 

Devotional Reading, Dec. 27, 2024

John 17:11

Holy Father, keep them safe in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. 

Jesus is praying - reflecting back to the Father - not what the Father wants but what the Father will do and has determined from eternity to do. We can be certain of our safety in the Lord Jesus. He will complete the work of salvation , sanctification,  and glorification that he has begun in us. We can rest in  confidence in that. We can apply ourselves to Him in confidence that he is doing this work in  us. And I do. 

Devotional Reading, Dec. 21, 2024

John 17:6

6 “I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. 

To reveal the name is to reveal the person. And that is what Jesus did. He revealed the Father to those who God had given him. That means not only the twelve, though they received greater revelation than most, but it means to ALL the Father has given him.

I have enjoyed tremendously God whom the Lord has been revealing to me in these last few decades. My only regret is that I spent so much of my earlier Christian life not knowing God as I do now. 

Devotional Reading, Dec. 20, 2024

John 16:13

13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come. 

The Spirit of truth.  How valuable he is. I read every day those who share their opinions about the scriptures. I come away with the sense that they have no truth in them. They are wandering in a foggy darkness and do not know it. But when the Spirit of truth guides me I have the quiet and powerful sense that THIS IS TRUTH. He speaks to my soul and spirit. I do not need to think it through. It is a powerful and moving experience. I only wish that I could remain in that place hearing the Spirit of truth. But the Spirit moves me to act on the truth the Spirit speaks. And when I do, I find the joy of his presence turns to thanksgiving for his doing through me. 

Devotional Reading, Dec. 17, 2024

John 14:7

7 If you have known me, you will know my Father too. 

And from now on you do know him and have seen him.” 

Though this chapter is often read and quoted, it is theologically deep and reflects the theology of the Word becoming flesh in chapter 1. The Word and the Son are so intimately merged that they canot be separated, but so is the Word and the Father. They are so perfectly one that to see Jesus is to see the Father. In fact since God (Father, Word, and Spirit) is spirit, he is invisible to us. Therefore, the only way we may see God is in the Son Jesus. 

I confess this has been a difficult truth to get my head around for many years and is only now becoming something I am becoming to understand. It is not that I did not know the doctrine; it is that I could not get a grip on them. But now I am, and I am delighting in what God is revealing. So, if there is a "to do" in all this it is to stick at it. God will reveal himself deep down when you are ready for it. 

Devotional Reading, Dec. 14, 2024

John 12:48-59

48 The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has a judge; the word I have spoken will judge him at the last day. 49 For I have not spoken from my own authority, but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. Thus the things I say, I say just as the Father has told me.”

John continues to include things that Jesus said that support the Preface in which the Word became flesh. Here what that means is that what Jesus said is what God the Word says. But there is more. Jesus says that the words he says, words that are God's words, result in eternal life for those who receive them. 

I know that when I become overwhelmed by the storm of words and ideas that come to me as they do for all of us from the many sources of news and opinion, the words of Jesus speak peace and refreshment. They connect me with the Eternal One and to truth. Thank you, Lord.

Devotional Reading, Dec. 11, 2024

John 11:14

14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. 

I wonder what Lazarus thought. He knew as well that Jesus could heal him. We are not told, but we know what Martha and Mary thought. They were disappointed and troubled. 

That is what we sometimes feel when bad things happen because we too know that God could have saved us from the trouble. This story reminds us that God has reasons for not saving us FROM the trouble. It is that his solution -- the raising of Lazarus in this case -- would bring much more good than a trouble-free life.  It may well bring faith in  those who see what God does. 

This story  is a dramatic example, but it is not unique. I have had difficulties that God has solved in  really miraculous ways. When I have the chance and tell about God's provision or protection, others may be moved to faith. That is my prayer.  When that happens, I am satisfied to have borne the trouble.  

Devotional Reading, Dec. 4, 2024

John 8:26

36 ...the things I have heard from him I speak to the world.” 

The incarnation is one of the greatest mysteries. How is it that God the Word could so indwell the man Jesus that he and God are one and yet fully man so that Paul in Phil. 2 can say thet Jesus was exalted to the highest place?  My mind cannot get fully around that, but I can believe it - even without full understanding.

In believing it, I find great peace. God knows my weaknesses, for he walked inn my shoes. Yet he loves me and receives me because of Jesus' sacrifice for me. And that is enough. Thank you Lord God.  

Devotional Reading, Nov. 29, 2024

John 6:8,9

 8 One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what  good are these for so many people?” 

Of course, five loaves and two fish were entirely inadequate. That would be the case literally, but as a symbol of the adequacy of human ability they are also inadequate to sustain LIFE -- which is the thesis of this little episode. 

Devotional Reading, Nov. 28, 2024

John 5:28,29

A time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and will come out—the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation.

I am often asked why I would want to live forever. The simple answer is because God provided for it and promised it. But there is also  a  built-in delight in life. I believe that is God's doing.  If he has created me with that delight, will he not satisfy it?  I look forward to that wonderful blessing. 

Devotional Reading, Nov. 26, 2024

John 4:34,35

“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Don’t you say, ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up and see that the fields are already white for harvest!  

Devotional Reading, Nov. 25, 2024

John 3:6

 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

That is the difference. It is the one thing that distinguishes the one who belongs to God and the one who does not. The one born of the flesh is controlled by the flesh and its appetites. He is fleshly and soulish. And he cannot understand spiritual things, nor can he understand God in anything but an intellectual way.

The one born of the Spirit, however, understands God deep down in his spirit. God is not simply an idea to be wrestled with on an intellectual level -- though we can do that -- God is a person with whom we can relate on a spiritual level. And that makes all the difference. I am so thankful for that personal relationship that is the anchor to my soul.       

Devotional Reading, Nov. 20, 2024

John 1:4

4 In him was life and the life was the light of mankind.

This was not a theoretical or philosophical idea. It was very practical and real. There was something striking about Jesus. It an intimation of LIFE I long for. It was the revelation of life, and by that John  means eternal life in the person of Jesus.  It was hard to explain and still is, but it was mesmerizing. He drew men to him because of the life they saw in  him. 

He does me as well. I can't explain  it. But in him is the life that I long for deep down. It is not long life but life that connects with the fundamental truth of God and is the one thing that totally satisfies.   

Devotional Reading, Nov. 19, 2024

Psalm 1:3

[The man who does not walk in the way of the ungodly] is like a tree planted by flowing streams;

it yields its fruit at the proper time

and its leaves never fall off.

He succeeds in everything he attempts. 

The psalm goes on to say that he mediates on the Law both day and night. That is the secret to not walking in the way of the ungodly. That is the secret of a spiritually productive life. I desire that. 

Devotional Reading, Nov. 18, 2024

Psalm 9:7-10

The Lord rules forever;

he reigns in a just manner.

He judges the world fairly;

he makes just legal decisions for the nations.

Consequently the Lord provides safety for the oppressed;

he provides safety in times of trouble.

Your loyal followers trust in you,

for you, Lord, do not abandon those who seek your help.

I sometimes fret over the injustice around me. But then I read this psalm and take heart. God knows what he is doing, and he will end the oppression and repay the injustice. Thank you, Lord.  

Devotional Reading, Nov. 15, 2024

Judges 18:1

In those days Israel had no king. 

This phrase is repeated throughout Judges. It is the lesson God would have Israel learn. When there was no one to guide them, chaos reigned. It is true today as well. If we do not look to the Lord to guide us, chaos reigns. And it is as I have known it. We are as close to self-destruct on the dial as we can get. But there is an answer: Repent and return to the old paths. I pray we will. 

Devotional Reading, Nov. 12, 2024

Judges 15:20

20 Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.

There was never a man to lead Israel like Samson. And there was never a time when such a man was needed. He was a bull of a man, a man driven by his own passions and as ungodly a leader as Israel ever had. Yet he rose to the position of leader because of his passions not despite them. He saved Israel from a slow slide into compromise and assimilation by the Philistines. But he was hardly a role model. 

The scripture says that God empowered him in his conflicts with the Philistines. He saved Israel from the Philistines, yet he did not save Israel from themselves. His leadership only prolonged the agony of their spiritual chaos. 

Samson is an anti-hero not deserving the honor of preserving Israel but stumbling into it and destroying himself in the process. 

If that was the end of the story, Israel would have destroyed themselves. But Samson is not the only name that is associated with the time of the Judges. There are three others: Samuel, Boaz, and Ruth. Boaz and Ruth tell us that in the midst of moral chaos there were some who maintained spiritual and moral integrity. Samuel reminds us that God had a plan for Israel that was not moral and spiritual chaos but the leadership of a man of integrity -- and ultimately the leadership of a man who stands out in the OT as a man after God's own heart

It is not hard to see parallels between Samson and our present leaders in America.  It is not hard to ask, "What in the world is God doing?" But the end of the story mitigates hopelessness. Though the power and leadership of men today, as then, will fail. God has a man in the wings who will appear at the right time to end the chaos and restore righteousness. Even so, come Lord Jesus. 

Devotional Reading, Nov. 11, 2024

Judges 13:24, 25

24 Manoah’s wife gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew and the Lord empowered him. 25 The Lord’s Spirit began to control him in Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. 

The announcement by the angel of Samson's birth sounded so hopeful. The reality of Samson's life seems almost the complete opposite. If there ever was a man who did not fit the picture of godliness or even a keeper of the Law, it was Samson. Yet, God used him. 

Despite his behavior, God used him and empowered and controlled him by his Spirit. Samson should not be a role model for anyone, but he is a reminder of God's grace for everyone. We all fail to one degree or another of measuring up to the full measure of godliness God desires. Some, like Samson, fail miserably. Yet God used him, and at the end of his life Samson seems to recognize that and commits himself to save Israel even in his death. That gives me hope. 

Devotional Reading, Nov. 9, 2024 

Judges 11:30-31

30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites—he will belong to the Lord and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

This is another strange verse. It was written without comment from the writer, but it is clearly an example of the craziness of the time and the ideas about God the people held. The writer apparently thought the reader would notice the craziness. That is the point of the writer: everyone did what was right in their own eyes. 

It is a reminder that people who believe in God can get pretty far off in the practice of their faith when they do what they think is right. We are blessed to have the scriptures in their completeness. We can determine right and wrong. But recent "Christian" activities in America prove that we can also go astray when we listen to ungodly men and do not use the scriptures as our guide. 

Thank you, Lord, for your word. 

Devotional Reading, Nov. 8, 2024

Judges 10:16

16 They threw away the foreign gods they owned and worshiped the Lord. Finally the Lord grew tired of seeing Israel suffer so much.

This is a strange verse to those of us who are convinced theologically of the impassibility of God. (That means God is without passions that humans have and is unchangeable.)   In other words, God could not "grow tired of seeing Israel suffer" because his purpose toward Israel is unchangeable. But Judges was written before theologians came up with that doctrine. Judges was written from a human rather than purely divine point of view and often casts the passions of humans upon God. To the one who wrote Judges, it seemed very reasonable that God would have gotten tired of the Israelites'  suffering. If he cared, wouldn't he have? 

If so, wouldn't he also have gotten tired of their returning continually to their idols? Or of my continually struggling with sin. "Get it right, guy, or I am dumping you. I'm tired of this back and forth." 

But we have the whole of the written revelation, and the writer of Judges had very, very little. With that revelation, we understand that God is unchangeable and without the passions that drive humans as the wind drives fallen leaves. He loves us, and nothing will change that. But he still chastens us. 

It is not that he has changed his attitude toward us, but that chastening is an act of love that corrects us and directs us back to him. When that chastening has done it work and turned us back toward him, he is pleased. It is what he determined all along. 

I thank God for his impassibility. His love never fails.  

Devotional Reading, Nov. 5, 2024 

Psalm 1:3

[The godly one] is like a tree planted by flowing streams;

it yields its fruit at the proper time,

and its leaves never fall off.

He succeeds in everything he attempts.

The simile of the tree speaks to having deep roots that go down to the water of the stream providing life that reveals itself in fruit and leaves. The roots are essential. Grow deep into the Lord. If I do, the fruit is natural and normal. I remind myself of this truth daily. 

Devotional Reading, Nov. 4, 2024

Judges 6:10

10 I said to you, “I am the Lord your God! Do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living.” But you have disobeyed me.’”

We read this warning often in the Bible. But today for many it has little connection with our lives because we don't see ourselves as worshipping other gods or any gods for that matter. We don't connect "worship" with our consuming passion for other things, yet we live as if there is no life without them. They are the de facto gods for Americans. 

And I have been tempted to worship these gods as well. It is easy. Everyone is doing it. Even Christians.

 Getting old reduces some of that. We cannot do what we used to do. But we replace those things with something else. Serving the Lord and making him first in our lives can still be displaced by some new god. 

I continue to search my heart that I not put something in the place of God in my devotion, in my time, in how I spend my money, in what is most important. May you, Lord, be first place with nothing even a close second.