Keep me single-minded…

Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.” 
Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake.” 
And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.” 
Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.” 
So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place. (1 Samuel 26:17–25)

The NT speaks of a double-minded man who cannot rest in assurance of God’s care. Saul is an example. Once again he is asleep and David comes close enough to kill him, but does not. Instead he scolds Abner for not protecting his king as he should. Thin he has the same conversation as before and Saul responds with the same confession.

Lest I harshly judge Saul, I must remind myself of the many times I’ve repeated a sin and said, “Oh no! I’ve done it again.” Peter did it too. He vowed to never betray Jesus, but he did. It is this powerlessness over sin that brought Jesus to earth to die for us.

Lord, how I need to keep my heart and mind on You. Life is busy and the demands out of mere everyday responsibilities take more energy than I have. Grant me what is needed to obey all that You ask.

 

Thankful for Jesus

A few weeks ago someone said “All the problems of the world would disappear if all people were simply thankful.” When I repeat this, most who listen stop and stare. One person said, “Instead of greedy.”

I see this in my own life. If I am grumpy about something, that quote makes me realize my bad attitude. I didn’t get what I wanted instead of being thankful for what I already have. An even deeper root is that I’m not trusting God as my supply. He knows my needs far better than I do.

Piper writes about integrity and about standing by our word, even if it hurts. This too is related to trusting God to supply all needs. Piper points to an OT story from 2 Chronicles 25:5–9.  It is about a king in Judah threatened by a pagan nation so he formed an army of his own men, then hired fighters from the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God was not happy and used a prophet to tell this leader, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel.… God will bring you down before the enemy”

It is not hard to imagine his reaction. He made a large commitment of cash to Israeli troops. Should he stand by it when he tells them they are not needed? Money down the tube. While being greedy is not the same as being financially wise, this king was likely not too thankful that God stopped him from using hired soldiers.

God’s answer was a challenge to this man’s faith: “The LORD has much more to give to you than this.” As Piper writes, God told the king to trust Him and keep his word. Stand by your commitment knowing that God would take care of him. Integrity is always rewarded.

When I promise something, I’m to follow through and like God, keep my promises, even if it costs me dearly. My prayer should never be, “Oh dear, I’ve blown it and now I will suffer if I don’t back out.” Instead, it should be: “Lord, I goofed. However, I will do whatever I promised and trust You to cover my losses.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. (Psalm 37:5)

This is about living by faith, particularly when getting in hot water because I made decisions that were not made in faith. It happens. I married an unsaved man. That was 54 years ago and we are still married and he is a strong man of faith. My life is filled with more examples of rashly deciding to do something without seeking God's will, and suffered for it, but God used all of it for good.

On the other hand, without faith it becomes easy to break promises. If a rash decision involves loss of money, or reputation, or anything else, that old sinful nature will strive to protect itself instead of trusting God to repair the damages or use them for good.

Thankfulness is a great antidote for all of it. When I think of all God has done, it is much easier to focus on holiness, faithfulness, fulfilling my own commitments, and trusting Him to be there for me, regardless of my goof-ups. Again, He tells me to commit my way to the Him in faith, and He will act to work things for His glory and my good. “He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity” (Proverbs 2:7)

PRAY: Jesus, I speak of You as the solid rock on which I stand. You are that and more for which I am so thankful. You take care of me, even when I forget You. You never let me down, even when I seek my own will instead of Your will. You are amazing and You are not only my Rock, but also my anchor and my eternal Hope. Thank You.


 

Choose God’s priorities, not mine…

A few weeks ago I shared with someone that when my mother and father got married, they agreed not to fight. I told her that I’d never seen them even argue with each other. She responded saying that was not a good thing because one or both of them would resent not being able to defend whatever they wanted if the other person didn’t want it. That leads to a passive-aggressiveness that would block good communication.

I was surprised at that assumption. She assumed it better to be assertive and get their “I wants” verbalized in order to have good communication. She didn’t understand that my parents had a value system about unity. They were not interested in self-defense or having their own way. For them, getting along was at the top of their list, not being the winner in any sort of battle.

Today’s devotion touches on a similar attitude. Piper speaks of those who promise to do something, but it turns into a bad decision. What should that person do? Break their promise or keep their word? Two passages describe God’s will on such a situation: The psalmist asks:

O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? … (those) in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change. (Psalm 15:1, 4, italics mine)

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (Psalm 37:5–6)

In other words, the person who makes a promise must keep it, even if it hurts to follow through. Integrity means not going back on a commitment. A good person’s word is more valuable than money or having his own way. His integrity is more precious than anything else so he stands by his word even if it hurts.

Note: The Lord is not addressing a marriage where one person is abusive and telling the other one to stick to the marriage vow “through thick or thin” rather than take action to protect themselves.

This integrity is like the vow made by mom and dad. Their decision to agree, to not fight, was far more important than getting their own way. And they made that decision before either of them knew Christ. Later, mom was saved, and much later my dad was too, yet it seems to me that God gave them this amazing strength of character before they had the Holy Spirit or knew how to roll their wants and needs unto God. Or did they somehow know anyway?

Obviously, trust in God is a factor. He gives strength to value unity and respect more than personal wants or needs. Somehow they saw the value in this priority before learning to trust God to come through for them in His way and in His time. They set an incredible example.

For me, growing up in that environment resulted in a big shock to see how most of the rest of the world lives. Many couples are in a relationship where their needs must be met — or they leave it. Money might be an issue, or other things like broken promises. Whatever messes with unity, God is not in it. “I want what I want when I want it” is often the priority, and if that does not happen, the results are usually disastrous. Despite my parents example, I’ve been there, done that.

PRAY: Lord, I know that selfishness and insisting on my own way so easily strains or snaps those marriage vows made so long ago. I’ve often needed forgiveness. Yet I’m thankful for the example of my parents. They showed me it is possible to yield and to prosper because of it. My mom’s “we must need it or we wouldn’t be getting it” mantra teaches me contentment and faith in Your ability to be my shield and defender, no matter what. You make my wedding promises more important and more rewarding than anything I might come up with. And I could write a book about the struggles — and about You winning them for me. I love You for a million reasons — one of them being that when I battle You, I always win when I lose!