Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Mark 3:1-6  ¹Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. ²Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. ³Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”   ⁴Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.  ⁵He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. ⁶Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

It is difficult to find words to describe everything contained in these few verses. So many big things happen.  Jesus had compassion on a crippled man and does a wonderful miracle.  Jesus not only discerned the stubborn hearts of the Pharisees, he was angry with them.  The Pharisees were unable to see their own stubbornness and unbelief.  In the face of the miraculous, they were blind and deceived.  I think this is one of the most frightening things in the scriptures.  They saw Jesus and wanted to kill Him.

How could anyone see such a wonderful miracle and not be moved and humbled by it?  These religious leaders believed in God, yet the condition of their hearts made them blind to God right in front of them.  They were witnessing a demonstration of the power of God unlike any seen in the history of mankind.  Yet they failed to see Immanuel, (God with us) in their midst.

Surely they too had family or friends who were sick, crippled or in bondage.  Jesus was doing miracles everywhere.  Why didn’t they go and get them and bring them to Jesus?  Instead, the Pharisees become so angry that they wanted to kill Jesus – because He did the miracle on the Sabbath.    How could these men not recognize the wonder they were beholding?  They clung to arguments rather than recognizing the Son of God – right in front of them.

I think of Isaiah 6:9, 10   ⁹ He said, “Go and tell this people:

“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
¹⁰ Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”

We must recognize that the same spiritual deafness and blindness can happen to us.  We can miss God working in our lives and right in front of us through the ‘callousing’ of our hearts.

Matthew 14:28  “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

Have you ever dreamed of what it would be like to be in the boat with the disciples when Jesus walked on the water?  How would we have responded to seeing Him?  Remember it was a very windy night and the disciples were struggling to survive let alone get across the lake.  In the midst of it, they saw a figure walking on the water that was about to pass them by and were terrified.  They thought it was a ghost.  But then Jesus spoke to them saying, “Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.”

Even then they weren’t sure it was Jesus as indicated by Peter’s response, “Lord if it’s you…”  Isn’t it amazing that Jesus chose a stormy night – and not a calm one for this encounter.  (Note: God does the same thing with us.)  Imagine Peter’s excitement when he heard (above the sound of the wind and waves) the Lord say “Come”.

I wonder what went through Peter’s mind.  Did he simply want to be with Jesus?  Or was it more, “I’d sure like to do that!”  Whatever, Peter didn’t allow the risk involved to stop him.  Picture him trying to hang on to a bouncing boat as he got his legs over the side and then began to walk.  Peter experienced an incredible wonder – before he began to sink.  Remember the water wasn’t flat or calm but was wind-swept waves.   Peter did walk on the water and came toward Jesus.

Then his focus shifted from Jesus and the wonder of what he was doing, to the adverse conditions around him.  Although he did succumb to fear and begin to sink, Jesus was right there to rescue him.  Peter experienced the miraculous because he responded to the opportunity that Jesus gave him.  He didn’t allow fear to keep him in the security of the boat.

God uses the same principle in His dealings with us.  In the midst of our often difficult circumstances, He will give us opportunities to respond to Him.  We have to have ‘eyes’ to see the opportunities and the willingness to respond.  In spite of the safety of the ‘boat’ – our lifestyle and circumstances that we are comfortable with – will we overcome our fear and the risk involved to respond to the Lord bidding us to come?  It’s amazing the wonders He has for us to experience if only we will respond to Him.

Note: One of my favorite authors is John Ortberg.  He has a wonderful book on this very subject that I highly recommend titled, If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat.

Isaiah 61:10a  I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.

What do you think of when asked to name something you delight in?  Is the word ‘delight’ even a word in your normal vocabulary?  By definition, the word ‘delight’ means a high degree of gratification; joy; also extreme satisfaction, something that gives great pleasure.  To me, delight has always had a sense of superlative to it.  It’s more than just being pleased with something, or liking something.

I remember so vividly the time when Becca, our oldest granddaughter, was about 19 months old.  She walked up to me, grinned and said, “HI GRANDPA!”  Oh my!  What I experienced in that moment.  If I could have melted I would have been a puddle on the floor.

What do you experience when someone you love calls simply to hear your voice – to see how you’re doing?  Or how about when the Lord puts someone on your heart and when you call them and give them a word of encouragement, you discover it was exactly what they needed to hear?  The Lord used you to bless them.  Think of how special that feels!

This sense of delight and rejoicing are not to be occasional things.  I think of what I experience whenever my Donna looks into my eyes and smiles at me.  Words simply cannot describe what goes on inside of me.  I never dreamed that I would be loved as she loves me.  I am overwhelmed with the reality that I GET TO love her and be loved by her all the days of my life.  I GET TO be with her – every day.  It never gets old!

Now think about our Lord.  He wants our experience with Him to result in this kind of joy and excitement and pleasure and extreme satisfaction.  He really does!  He has this for us but we have to respond to Him and pursue Him to find it.  If Moses hadn’t turned aside to explore the burning bush, he would have missed what God had for him.

If this is missing in your relationship with the Lord, don’t be disheartened.  Recognize the GREAT NEWS that He has this ‘treasure’ there for you – you simply have to pursue it.  He wants you to want it and turn to Him for help to find it.  The amazing thing is that as you pursue this, you find Him in ways that will thrill you beyond words!

Psalm 116:2  Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

My story Part 2: Nothing prepared me for what happened when I raised my hand – acknowledging my doubt about knowing Jesus as Lord.  I thought it was hopeless, that I had too many doubts, but what did I have to lose?  I was startled to see a young man of about 15 push a chair to the middle of the circle of students and say, “This is where you meet Jesus!”

The evangelist came over to me and said that I could confess my sins and know that I was forgiven – that I would be clean inside; that if I wanted to know Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord – beyond a shadow of a doubt – to walk out to that chair and let them pray for me – so I did.

All of the students gathered around me and began praying – and pray they did!  There came a point when the evangelist asked me if I knew Jesus as Lord.  I replied, “No. But I want to!”  At that moment, it happened – I met Him!  From the top of my head, through my body to my toes, His power went through me!  God gave me a thunderous conversion experience beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of!  My Matterhorn of doubt was leveled in an instant.  Inside I was utterly changed, cleansed and filled with His presence.  Jesus was real and I was His!!!!

I was absolutely overwhelmed.  Within me was a tumultuous mass of joy, excitement, freedom, cleanness – there was Jesus, inside of me! And He didn’t go away!  After praying for others, we walked out of that prayer room into the main meeting area.  I so clearly remember looking out the windows at the woods and the lake.  I thought, “I’m 20 and life expectancy is about 70.  How do I keep this alive and vibrant for 50+ years?”  There was nothing in my experience that led me to believe that something this incredibly good could be sustained for any period of time.  The idea of it getting even better never entered my mind!

October 11^th was my 57^th birthday in the Lord.  My love relationship with Jesus is more vibrant and more wonderful than ever.  It has never grown cold.  Words cannot describe the gratitude that I have because God made me His own; the joy of tears streaming down my face because of Jesus.  I will love Him forever because He heard my cry.  Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

Psalm 116:1  I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy.

My story Part 1: Although I was raised going to church, albeit a liberal one, I never developed faith to speak of.  The idea of being born again or meeting Jesus in a personal way was totally foreign to me.  I came from a good home.  I was close to my mom but my father and I argued when we were together and loved each other while apart.

When I went to college, what little faith I might have had was lost due to atheistic instructors and discussions with unbelieving students who seemed intent on obliterating any ideas of faith. I remember one professor, a former pastor, believed that a nursing baby at its mother’s breasts was in the “Garden of Eden”.   Original sin was when the baby bit its mother’s breast and caused her to stop nursing the baby.  So the baby was expelled from the Garden!  And it went downhill from there.

In the fall of ’68, while a junior in college, I agreed to go to a Christian retreat with my parents.  It still amazes me that I went, but nothing was going on that weekend at college and it was important to them – so I went.  The retreat center was at an old time camp back in the woods overlooking a small lake in Michigan.

In the first large meeting, the speaker for the retreat spoke about the love of Jesus in a way that I had never heard before.  In fact he talked as though he knew Him – personally!  I was saddened by it because I thought, “If Jesus were real, that’s what He would be like – but what good did it do me?”  I couldn’t believe – or so I thought.  After the meeting, all of the high school and college age went to a separate meeting room.  A room full of “teeny-boppers” (a term popular way back then).  My impression wasn’t positive.

There were about fifteen of us sitting in a circle and I was easily the oldest.  Then the speaker came in and asked if there was anyone there who didn’t know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.  I was too embarrassed to raise my hand.  He then asked if there was anyone with any doubt about it.  Something raged within me as I sat there and I struggled with whether or not to raise my hand.  In spite of thinking there was no hope for me, I lifted my hand.

I was then startled by one of the young men (age 15) who jumped up from his seat, pushed a chair into the center of the circle of students and enthusiastically said to me, “This is where you meet Jesus!”  To say the best was yet to come is an understatement for the ages!!!

To be continued tomorrow….