Be Still and Experience God’s Power

Panic makes us do odd things. The child with us on this vacation tends to chatter more and even laugh more when she is nervous. Others become afraid and retreat into silence or become very busy doing nothing of importance. I tend to hold my breath, which is really foolish when my body desperately needs oxygen.

In today’s devotional reading, the Israelites are piled in a heap against the sea, deep water before them and the Egyptian army at their heels. God promised Moses that He would deliver them, but they were in a panic. He tried to reassure them.

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward . . .” (Exodus 14:13–15)

God often puts His people into situations where there seems no solution. In this one, Moses told them He would save them and all they had to do was be silent, but even Moses had a tough time with that. God asked him why he was crying out to Him instead of leading the people forward as he was supposed to do.

I’m on vacation, not in a tough situation. However, I can remember a few and have to laugh at myself. I’ve done the same thing. God promises to take care of me and it is as if I forget who God is, and forget that this is the One who created the universe by speaking. He can do whatever He wants to do. Nothing is too hard for God. He is called “Almighty” for good reason.

Yet when trouble comes and I panic, I start spinning out all over the place, and am anything but silent. I’m not sure why it takes so long to get the mind renewed so it thinks of God first, instead of letting panic take over in difficult situations. The more I read His Word and the more I experience His care, the less I am to panic. But in all of that, God has not changed. He is still working for me, taking care of me, and giving me no reason at all to doubt Him. Again, this is about walking by faith, not living my life based on what I can see, but living in confident trust that is based on the promises of the invisible yet totally trustworthy and dependable God. I am learning that He is always able to fight for me.

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Lord, I thank You for Your promises and Your great power. Most of all, I am thankful that nothing is too hard for You so that when fearful things happen, You are able to come beside me and take care of me, patiently enduring any flapping about and whining that I might do before I choose to remember that You are my Rock and my Salvation.

A Song in my Heart

We are traveling with family members this week. One of them is eight years old and full of energy. Every now and then she bursts into a portion of the Halleluiah course. After a few times, I found myself doing the same thing.

The best days are those when I wake up with a song in my heart. I’m no musician, but the Lord often does this because it is part of what it means to be filled with His Spirit. When that happens, I have assurance of a good day with Him --- as long as I don’t tip over into sin.

The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly, the right hand of the Lord exalts, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!” (Psalm 118:14–16)

Relying on God means that He is my strength, my total resource. He lives in me and gives me whatever I need to do whatever He wants me to do.

He is also my song. That is, when the joy of the Lord fills me (it is His joy), it often expresses itself in music. Again, I am not musical, but He is, and the songs of praise are from His Spirit.

I’m not sure of the spiritual state of the eight-year-old. She has heard the gospel and is happy all the time. Perhaps this is the Holy Spirit bursting out of her. All that I know for certain is that her singing is contagious. This is a good reason for me to focus on the Lord, rely on His strength, and let Him do the singing.

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Lord, may this day be a day of praise from the heart. Yes, I know I have a choice to make for that to happen, but You are my song. Praise flows most easily when I am filled with Your Spirit and the glad songs of salvation come from simply being delighted with You. 

Delivered from all affliction

Today’s devotional reading is about affliction, a subject remote from my present experience, unless a big change in weather counts. We were at 80 degrees, sunny with no wind on Monday and it dropped to 50 degrees and lower, cloudy with winds on Tuesday. Unpleasant but this is hardly what the Bible calls affliction.

Today’s verse is a promise from God concerning troubles, but it also includes a statement of fact.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19)

Righteous people will suffer many afflictions. This is a given. The Bible dictionary defines this word with the following: adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, plus displeasure, distress, evil, plus exceedingly, even great, grievous harm, heavy, hurtful, ill favored, mischief, misery, naught, noisome, not pleased, sad, sore, sorrow, troubled, vexed, wickedness, wretchedness, wrong. What a miserable selection of unpleasant situations.

Yet the promise balances the prediction. God says He delivers His people out of ALL of them. This word is defined with: to snatch away, defend, deliver, escape without fail, preserve, recover, rescue, rid, save, and take out. As I try to think of all the tribulation I could possibly find myself in, these words cover most of them.

Yet there is a question. Why then do God’s people suffer troubles? Why do these troubles last a long time? If He delivers, why is the deliverance slow in coming? Or why do some suffer all their lives and then die?

It might be easy to write about this today when my biggest trial is deciding what sweater to wear, but as I think about the trials in my life, I also must remember another promised that God makes.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

These verses are what God drew my attention to when He first drew me into His family. He wanted me to know that all that would happen to me had a purpose. He was planning to transform me into the image of His Son. In every good thing and every trial, I would learn how to respond as Jesus responds. More accurately, I would learn to step aside and let the Spirit of God control my life and the way I act in every situation.

Trials have a way of bringing out the selfish side of me. I like comfort. I like 80 degrees. But when the temperature drops, would Jesus grumble and let self-pity govern His attitude and actions? Not at all! I’m to remember that because even in the little trials, I am to be like Him.

Actually, I’ve learned that if I practice responding in a godly way to the little things, then I will have the spiritual muscle to respond in a godly way to the bigger things, those afflictions that are harmful, heavy, miserable, and bring much sorrow. Also, if an affliction lasts my entire life, I also need to remember that the greatest deliverance will be on that day when I step from this life into eternity, where there are no more tears or sorrow.

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Lord God, I thank You for the reminder that even a change in the weather is a small test. I’ve Your promise of deliverance. The weather will warm up, or I will find some way to keep warm. But that is not the issue or the test. Will I complain? In myself, I would, but in You, and filled with Your Spirit, my deliverance will come in the form of love, joy, peace, goodness and all that Jesus is. No matter what happens, Jesus is always my Deliverer.

Love means listening

It’s day three of our vacation. I slept in, did some exercise, ate slowly, took a long soaker bath, then, two hours later opened “Thoughts for the Quiet Hour,” the devotional book selected for 2012. The question at the end of these verses grabbed my conscience.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8–9)

Where am I indeed? On vacation. Isn’t it okay to goof off, to be lazy, and to indulge myself? I know that God never forbids a little R & R, but He sees beyond my need to unwind and relax. He sees into my heart.

The author of this reading seems to see into my heart too. He knows the human condition. He also knows that Christians can make all sorts of excuses for not paying attention. The problem is not that I am goofing off. Actually, God may be just fine with the way I spent the first hours of my morning. The problem is that I did not seek His mind on it. He may have wanted something else, but I was not checking that out with Him. Here is what the reading says, personalized to the way it hit my ears.

Am I hiding myself away from Him who would send me forth to do His own blessed work in His own way? Or is the Holy Spirit telling me this morning, “The Lord hath need of thee?” It may seem to be only a little thing He might have for me to do, but in His economy, even little things are important. He has “need of thee.” Don’t turn my back on Him. Don’t put myself out of the way of being used by Him. Don’t begin this day or any day by laying down a schedule for myself as to what I will do and what I will not do, but cry out from the very depth of my heart, “Here am I! Send me.”

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Lord, when someone ignores me, I consider them rude and even unloving. Yet I am rude to You when I act as if You are not right here, wanting me to talk to You, wanting me to hear what You have to say. Thank You for this rebuke. I am glad that You keep me on a short leash. Whatever You have for me today, now I am listening. I’m sorry for this lapse in loving You.

God’s Rewards

When gifts are given or a door held open or a kindness offered, I’m disturbed when those who receive do not say thank you. A grateful heart is important because the Bible says it is the first thing to go when people reject God.

Aside from that, such a response is a reward for the person who makes the offer. The idea of receiving a reward for doing a good thing seems to be built in. Even small children smile and wiggle when someone expresses thanks for what they do.

Thank you is not the only way to reward people.  A good day’s work is rewarded by wages. An athlete might get a medal or a trophy for their efforts. Even the sense of a job well done is reward for some, and a smile from a recipient can go a long way.

Theologians differ on the rewards that God will give, but He definitely rewards those who obey Him. This is stated and restated in Scripture and associated with the return of Jesus Christ.

Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. (Revelation 22:12)

The idea of being repaid by Jesus gives me a sense of anticipation, but also anxiety. I’m aware of the time that I’ve wasted in things that do not matter, and the choices that I’ve made that were frivolous. I’m also extremely conscious of the speed on the clock. The older I get, the faster it seems to move. Jesus’ words, “I am coming soon” do not help that sense of time running out. I not change the past and have less and less time left to build a better life of obedience.

Yesterday we attended Community ChristianChurch in Tamarac, Florida. The youth pastor presented a challenge by first telling us the multitude of choices we face on a constant basis. For instance, there are about 19,000 different ways to order a cup of coffee. Sonic drive-through kiosks have 168,894 beverage choices. He quickly moved to Scripture and showed how God’s people were side-tracked by poor choices. What they choose to listen to or look at often turned them from faith in God.

I can relate. For most of last year, God kept working on me so that I would choose more often to walk by faith instead of by sight. My history has been to pray with great confidence in the power of God, but when I could not see the answer, I lost my confidence. God says that He hears and answers prayer. My choices are to believe Him no matter what I can see, or to believe what I see. Seems like a no brainer, but walking by faith is always a challenge.

The second part of the message was about getting out of my comfort zone. Many times, choices are based on just that. When options come up, I tend to pick the easiest, or the most familiar or comfortable. However, God may be asking me to move into a new zone and trust Him, to again, walk by faith and not by sight, or by what seems the easier route.

The last part of the message included this sentence: “If I say no (to God), God will wait for a generation that will obey, but I will lose the opportunity to live to my potential.” Joshua offered a similar statement to God’s people when they faced new challenges.

Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:14–15)

Choosing to serve God can be about simple things like opening doors for others or saying thank you to express gratitude. It can also be about tasks that are far more challenging. Those that come to mind for me involve hard work. It would be easier to watch television, do puzzles, play computer games, or a whole host of things that are not particularly wrong, but are easy. However, I know they also have no recompense value.

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Lord, I am thankful that You have built-in the idea of rewards. While serving You is about loving You and trusting that Your way is the best, even the only way to live, rewards also motivate me. When I see Your face, at the very least, I hope that You will be smiling.

Presenting this year to God

My husband is a big picture person. He likes standing at the top and looking down. He prefers an overview to details. I am the opposite. I like details and have trouble seeing the big picture, so he often has to help me with the overview.

The new year begins with a big picture verse. It invites me to stand at the top, not that I might look down on anything or anyone, nor that I might see an overview, but to present myself to the Lord.

Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. (Exodus 34:2)

Christians often speak of “mountain top” experiences with God. He draws us closer to Himself in some way or does something that brings us to a deeper vision and relationship with Him. We appreciate these experiences, and like the saints of old, use them as markers in our spiritual lives.

However, this verse is about my side of this type of experience. Normally a “mountain top” high has nothing to do with what I do, but here God asks me to prepare myself. I am to be ready each morning to come and present myself to Him for a deep relationship experience. In other words, I’m to keep on doing what has been my practice for the past forty years.

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Lord, what will 2012 hold? I have no idea, yet by Your grace, I hope to begin it --- and each day of it --- by presenting myself to You. Then, no matter what happens, I am ready. You are with me in the high places as well as the low. So this bright morning, I present my life and yield the days to come into Your loving and capable hands.