Short and sweet . . .

 

 

This will be short. Rough week. Since I am seldom under the weather, this odd fatigue and lack of appetite was a mystery. A phone call to my doctor helped. After dozens of questions about my weird symptoms, then eliminating what was NOT wrong, she told me all meds were useless. I needed to fill up on Jewish penicillin.

She was right. After two cups of chicken soup, I started feeling better. Today’s reading gave me a lovely thought. It came from this:

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. (John 17:12)

Jesus said this in His prayer before He died and ensured it by giving His life. Not any who put their faith in Him will be lost, no not one.  Age, funerals, obituaries, even getting sick can put thoughts of the end of life into my head, but there is no end of life when it is eternal life from Jesus Christ.

I can see the love and care which our Lord manifested towards his people, even in the hour of his trial. His love is stronger than death. He voluntarily gave His life up to this enemy to ensure that His people be set free as a condition of His surrender. “As a sheep before shearers is dumb, He opens not his mouth” for His own sake; but for the sake of His disciples. His silence was a command of sovereign authority. This is love, constant, free, self-denying, unchanging love. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for his sheep, but the condition is this: those sheep for whom He died must therefore go free.

PRAY: Jesus, many people don’t get it, but I see a likeness between the wonder of redemption and the much less wonder of chicken soup — both are such startling simple solutions.

Peace in this messy world . . .

 

Current events are difficult to understand. While sin never makes sense when I am thinking in a godly way, the extent of it seems beyond rationale, even to a worldly mind. However, God uses today’s devotional to remind me of Judas.

Jesus picked him. Jesus knew this man would betray Him. He picked him anyway. Every choice and action Jesus made was in obedience to the Father. Regardless of the cost. When He was in the garden, He prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done.” He also said:

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. (John 17:12)

Judas was part of God’s salvation plan. To die, Jesus must be arrested. To be arrested, someone would betray Him. Not that Judas was a robot, but God knew and Jesus also knew what this man would do. And God works all things together for His purposes.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

God used this greatest evil, the betrayal and death of His sinless Son, to accomplish the greatest good possible — the redemption of sinners. The God who did that can also use wars, wildfires, slavery, crime even, to accomplish things I cannot see nor can I understand or make sense of.

This does not mean God is moving people around like pawns on a chess board, but it does mean in His sovereign will and plan, nothing will stop Him from accomplishing it. Just like nothing can stop Him from loving us:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35–39)

Sometimes my prayer time is like the song — in the garden when the dew is still on the roses. Sometimes it is in a lineup waiting for something, or in a room full of people singing praises. Sometimes it seems more like being in a war room with Him, planning the battle and engaging the enemy. In these situations of personal prayer, does anyone know what I am doing? Not usually. It is only when the prayers are answered and I shout the story that the world around me realizes this hidden activity. If I, a mere mortal and a forgiven sinner, can do that in secret and something in the world is changed because of it, how much more can Almighty God be at work and we cannot see Him or see what He is doing?

What is going on in the world is like the psalmist said:

When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled. The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen. (Psalm 77:16–19)

And the NT echoes the same faith in this unseen God who is at work . . .

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17–18)

PRAY: Lord Jesus, just as Noah didn’t fully understand why he was building an ark, I often don’t understand what is going on around me or why You ask me to do certain things. The world does not make sense most of the time, yet You are always active, always involved. Sin says otherwise — an excuse for doing what sin does — but knowing and realizing Your presence and love for this world, for sinners and for me, is a strong anchor. You keep me from drifting off away from the peace and joy that is within when my focus says on You.

READ: Isaiah 26:3-4. What are some ways to keep my mind on the unseen Lord and to keep trusting Him?