Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

John 9:25b “ …One thing I do know.  I was blind but now I see!”

I think we all are thrilled when our grasp of the obvious is working.  For some of us, it’s like a visitor who only shows up once in a while or someone who leaves at a most inopportune time.  Several years ago my grasp of the obvious was long gone and I had one of the most embarrassing moments in my life.  Fortunately, this event took place between me and the Lord.  But now I get the blessing of sharing it with you all. (:>)

I briefly worked with an organization as a traveling representative and was gone every other week.  Nice hotels were provided as we traveled from city to city.  On a Monday I arrived at my hotel somewhere in the south and when I entered my room I discovered the ugliest bathroom I ever saw.  It was big, barren with railings everywhere.  I couldn’t
believe they would have something like this and nearly went down to the front desk to insist on a room change.  (I can’t tell you how embarrassing this is!)

Fortunately I just accepted it.  Two days later as I was driving across the middle of nowhere, my grasp of the obvious suddenly returned.  In a nano-second it struck me.  As you have already likely figured out, the bathroom was designed for handicapped individuals!  If I had been in a wheel chair or on crutches or simply needing assistance, this bathroom would have been exactly what I needed.  What I considered ‘ugly’ would have been beautiful to the one needing it. (As I drove I thought of the Spaniard in Princess Bride and “humiliations galore!”)

The Lord really used this experience in a powerful and serious way with me.  At the time we were going through some very difficult things and there were ways of addressing the difficulties that I thought were ‘ugly’ and had dismissed them.  It was after this experience
that I recognized that what I considered ugly – wasn’t ugly at all.  They were appropriate and a blessing to assist us in our adventure.  We needed them as much as we would need railings in a bathroom if we were in a wheel chair or on crutches.

Needless to say this has been a humbling experience.  It has made me much more careful about drawing conclusions about what I think I see and what I think I perceive.  It is too easy to miss the obvious sometimes.  I thank God that while driving across the middle of nowhere, the Holy Spirit made this blind man to see!

John 9:1-3 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

These verses begin the wonderful story of Jesus healing the man born blind.  It is so fascinating because of all it reveals about the Pharisees and the difficulty they had grasping the obvious.  They were confounded by the miracle, particularly because it was done on
the Sabbath.  But more than that is the reality that Jesus describes in these verses above.

Do we understand that this man was born blind because that was God’s plan?  That God was going to use his blindness so that His work might be displayed in his life?  Think about the difficulties that he and his parents had to deal with all through his life.  They weren’t victims, they were experiencing God’s plan for them.

The Bible is filled with difficult situations and painful experiences that God brought into people’s lives in order for His plan for them to unfold.  Does our understanding of God and His ways recognize that He does all manner of such things today?  Specifically, that God
will do such things in our lives?  Sudden loss of a job, illness, accidents, birth defects, financial ruin, unexpected deaths of loved ones, good situations made difficult – the list is long.

We have a tendency to respond negatively to difficult things that occur in our lives – more likely to view them as a curse rather than as a blessing.  So how are we going to respond?  Will we recognize and embrace the fact that they present opportunities for us to
experience God’s work in our lives?  Regardless how we view them, we still have to deal with these difficult circumstances in our lives.  But when we see God in the midst of them, there with us and for us, it changes us.  Not only is there no problem too big or situation too difficult for us to walk through but He will transform the way we walk through them.

Faith in the Lord produces the heavenly wisdom spoken of by James in 3:17, ^“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”  Think of having the inner well-being described by this verse within us as we navigate the difficult adventures that
God brings or allows in our lives!

Isaiah 6:9-10  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.”

Suppose we are walking down the street and we see a man walking along throwing $100 bills in the air.  What would our response be?  Would we ignore him because we doubted that the bills are real?  How about getting angry with him because he’s littering?  Would we stand back and criticize the people scrambling to pick up the bills as they were scattered on the street?

Now, let’s tweak the situation a bit.  Suppose that we happened to be in the bank in line behind this person when he received 1,000 $100 bills.  We stood there and watched the money being given to him.  We then followed the person out of the bank and saw him begin to walk along throwing these $100 bills, which we knew were real, into the air.  What would our response be now?  Would we be scrambling after the money with everyone else?  Or would we be upset with him for littering?    Sounds absurd, doesn’t it – except it’s not!

Today’s verses are some of the most frightening verses in the Bible for they describe a condition that can happen to us and we won’t likely know it.  The condition they describe would cause us to be angry with the man for littering in the above illustration.  The fact that the $100 bills were real would be irrelevant.  We would be consumed with our perceived impropriety of it all.

Think of Jesus and the miracles that He did – particularly those done on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees and religious leaders had a fit and wanted to kill Him for it.  The fact that the stunning miracles were real was irrelevant to them.  They were blind to the reality of what was going on in front of them!  John’s gospel describes their condition (12:37-41):

 ³⁷Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. ³⁸This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: 
   “Lord, who has believed our message 
      and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

 ³⁹For this reason they could not believe, because, as
Isaiah says elsewhere:  ⁴⁰“He has blinded their eyes 
      and deadened their hearts, 
   so they can neither see with their eyes, 
      nor understand with their hearts, 
      nor turn—and I would heal them.”

⁴¹Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

To be continued…

Isaiah 9:6-7

For many years I tended to stay away from the Prophetic Books of the Old Testament.  My studies would take me to the Prophets, but I wouldn’t sit down and just read them
through.  I was more interested in the history, the Psalms, Proverbs and the New Testament.  That is where I devoted myself.

Meanwhile my wife Donna, just loved the book of Isaiah.  I would hear her talking about
it and she made it sound like such a special place, filled with treasure.  Fortunately her comments eventually made me curious to find out for myself what was so wonderful about this book of the Bible.  So I deliberately did what I had been avoiding – I read through Isaiah.  And then I read through it again – more slowly.  I am so grateful that I did.  Needless to say, I discovered that Donna was right (as she usually is) – the treasure in Isaiah is extraordinary.

Today’s verses are so amazing, for in them Isaiah describes Jesus!  (For those of you who might question the prophesies, remember these were written hundreds of years before His birth to Mary and Joseph)  Two chapters earlier (Isaiah 7:14), he writes of the sign that God will  provide:

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a
sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call
him Immanuel.”

The name Immanuel means ‘God with us’.  Now here in these verses printed below he tells us more of this wondrous child that is to come.

⁶For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, 
       and the government will be on his shoulders. 
       And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  

⁷Of the increase of his government and peace 
       there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne 
       and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it 
       with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. 
       The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

This is our Jesus – Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

1 Peter 5:8  Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring
lion looking for someone to devour.

When we last flew from Denver to Colorado Springs (COS) there was a most interesting experience.  It occurred as we were approaching the runway in our landing in COS.  The flight from Denver was smooth – no turbulence at all.  Typically, this has been a bumpy flight so I thought the smoothness was due to it being early morning when there is little wind and the air is still.

But in our approach I was looking out my window and saw something that indicated that it was really windy in COS.  Just before reaching the runway, our jet passed a reservoir that was covered with white caps.  There were also waves washing up on the shore.

Because the flight and approach were smooth even as the plane changed directions, I assumed there was little wind.  Seeing the whitecaps and waves, surprised me because I recognized they were caused by a strong wind.  Someone else might have looked at the reservoir and never associated what they were seeing with wind.

Because the flight was smooth, I incorrectly assumed no wind.  This realization struck me as an important reminder.  Things aren’t always what they seem!  We at times make casual assumptions on limited information.  This can be true of us in how we view relationships, movies, programs, movements, organizations, TV shows, etc…  It can also be true of our actions and attitudes.  If we’re not observant, we can miss situations that contradict  assumptions we’ve made.  Something that would be a warning signal – a red flag – is missed and we suffer for it simply because we don’t recognize it.

Think of watching a movie that was said to be good and things start becoming explicit.  Do we recognize the signs and stop the movie or change channels?   If we are with a group of people and friendly conversation starts becoming gossip.  Do we recognize it and direct the conversation in a redemptive way?

We might be shading the truth in what we say and the Holy Spirit convicts us to stop.  Do we respond to His convicting presence and speak with integrity?  How do we recognize if the company we’re with is bad – particularly since bad company corrupts good character?  Let us ask the Lord if there are warning signs in our lives that we have missed and enable
us to recognize them whenever they occur.

Proverbs 9:10b  and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding

Why is this happening?  Why did that happen?  How could that happen?  I don’t understand!

How often are these expressions in our minds, on our lips and evidence of a storm raging within us?  They reflect a cry for understanding – and given our culture, we have developed an inordinate requirement to have understanding.  Something has happened or is happening that we don’t understand.  Frequently, it involves significant difficulties or tragedies that occur.

Currently we have a world filled with a growing amount of strife, wars, disasters and the corona pandemic.  Earthquakes, tornadoes and mudslides; the rioting, killing and rebellion that is going on throughout the Middle East, North Africa and our own country; Christians and their churches being targeted for extermination; terrorism striking throughout the world – to name a few.

These are on top of the day to day difficulties of losing jobs, unexpected tragedies and dealing with things that the enemy of our souls is so quick to strike us with the question, “How could a god of love allow that?”  We find ourselves buffeted by the storms raging around us and the inner difficulties that stem from our inability to understand it, let alone explain it.  This is where knowledge of our God is so critical.  The more we know of Him, the more readily we experience the shelter and source of strength that He is to us.  The more we know of Him, the more embedded within us is the response to turn to Him like a compass pointing ‘North’.

The way we increase our knowledge of Him is by walking in His ways.  The more we do, the greater is our desire and opportunity to learn of Him.  Because of His Spirit working within us, our knowledge and understanding of Him go through a marvelous transformation as our eyes see more and more of the Glory of who He is and what we have in Him.  He gives us peace in the midst of the storms.  Jesus referred to this as having our house built upon the Rock!

Mark 4:35  That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”

Have you ever noticed how sometimes it seems that life can be filled with stretching and demanding difficulties and problems that all demand our attention – right now! Everything seems to happen at once?  While such times can be filled with pleasures and wonderful experiences, that isn’t usually the case.

Then when we think our plate is as full as it can get, something more piles on and we feel like we’re about to go under.  In times like these, when the situation seems to go from bad to worse with no let up in sight, my primary reaction is to view myself as having been ‘set up’ by the Lord.  I ‘see’ a great big sign in the sky above me that says, “This is a test!”

The story involved in today’s verse is something similar.  The disciples think they are just going across the lake to get to the other side – just like the chicken crossing the road.  Little did they know what was in store for them.  There was this storm awaiting them.  The good news is that Jesus was with them.  The bad news was that not only was he sleeping through the storm, but here is how this storm is described in scripture: 1) furious squall, 2) waves broke over the boat, 3) the boat was being swamped, 4) there were raging waters, 4) they were in great danger!

Think about these descriptions from the gospels and remember many of these disciples had worked on the water so they could recognize their situation.  It wasn’t just a storm, it
was a furious squall.  They were not just contending with wind and waves but with raging waters and the boat was being swamped.  On top of that, scripture declares that they were in great danger.  This wasn’t just a storm made to sound worse through later retelling,
like a fish story.  They think they’re going to drown and Jesus asks them, “Where is your faith?”

We too might feel like our circumstances are a furious squall – our boat is being swamped and we’re about to go under.  But the Lord is with us!  Our situation didn’t catch Him by
surprise.  Instead of feeling like we are threatened by the storm, we can rejoice in the opportunity to stand in the midst of it, with our faith focused on Him.  Instead of feeling like we are overwhelmed and facing each day with dread, we can be filled with gratitude for the ‘testing opportunity’ He has given us.  He’s watching and enabling us to glorify Him in the midst of it.  What an opportunity!!!

Matthew 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

This is a verse that is so rich in promise and at the same time contains a foreboding
warning that we must not ignore.  As born again followers of Jesus, we can have ‘pollutants’ in our hearts – stuff that just shouldn’t be there.  Unfortunately, we tend to be far more concerned over what is in the food we eat or the water we drink.

I think of the religious leaders in the time of Jesus.  Here they had Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God right in front of them and the ‘pollutants’ in their hearts caused them to focus on everything but the reality God had right in front of them.  What were miracles, signs & wonders and the greatest teaching that mankind has ever heard compared to who Jesus was eating with; who he was talking to; who he was associating with; and whether he did something he ‘shouldn’t’ do on the Sabbath.

The scary thing is that the same thing can happen to us.  We can be so affected by the unclean stuff in our hearts, that we miss God.  We can become spiritually blind and disoriented.  That which should be avoided is embraced; while that which should be embraced is avoided.  It results in us missing the life and blessing that God has for us – the
wonder of Him working in us day by day.

We like to hear about being ‘Blessed’ and ‘seeing God’ but it is the core of being pure in heart that must command our attention.  We must come to understand what that means and commit ourselves to getting there.  Matthew Henry has some helpful thoughts on
this verse:

“Here holiness and happiness are fully
described and put together. The heart must be purified by faith, and kept for
God. Create in me such a clean heart, O God. None but the pure are capable of
seeing God, nor would heaven be happiness to the impure. As God cannot endure
to look upon their iniquity, so they cannot look upon his purity.”

A clean heart is what God desires.  Let us remember Jesus’ words that describe the uncleanness that can come from within – when we do not take following Jesus seriously:

“’For from within, out of men’s hearts, come
evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come
from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” Mark 7:21-22

Matthew 13:54-55  Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked.  “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?

If you saw a miracle happen – blind made to see; crippled made whole; deaf made to hear would you believe it?. Or would you immediately dismiss it because ‘miracles don’t happen’ today!  What if you were the one in need of a miracle?   Would you listen to those around you dismissing it – or would you set aside these opinions and see if a miracle could happen to you?  Some of the people in Nazareth did respond and they experienced what God had for them.

But for the most part, the people of Nazareth and the Jewish leaders represent one of the most difficult to believe ‘phenomenon’ in the Bible for me to understand.  They chose to adhere to opinions they had rather than recognize and believe what their eyes were seeing.  The Scriptures say the people of Nazareth were amazed at what they saw and heard, yet they responded with unbelief.  They chose to hold to what their ‘common sense’ was telling them.

This is a significant principle that God uses and we have to adjust accordingly.  It all boils down to whether we are going to respond appropriately to what He is doing in the circumstances we find ourselves in.  Will we respond with unbelief, listening to common sense or fear?  Or will we respond in faith to what we are encountering?  Will we seek Him and allow Him to guide us?

The Lord gives us opportunities to follow Him and accomplish things that He has purposed us to do.  But in the midst of those things, He allows all manner of problems,
difficulties and obstacles to arise.  They can be fearful or overwhelming.  How are we going to respond?

It might not seem fair, but we have a path to choose.  We can be fearful and succumb to worldly wisdom or fear – or we can seek and trust the Lord, lifting all of the problems
to Him.  I think of Joshua and Caleb and the other 10 spies sent in to explore the Promised Land.  There were giants there, but only the Joshua and Caleb had their focus on the Lord.
They knew He would see them through.  The other 10 focused on the giants – fear and ‘common sense’ dictated how they responded.

The things we sometimes face can lead to similar choices.  We can focus on the ‘giants’ or
we can focus on our God – unbelief versus faith.  Each is an opportunity for the Lord in His greatness to enable us to overcome.  The choice is ours.  How will we respond to
the challenging things He allows in our lives?

John 3:8  “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Think about the differences between a speedboat and a sailboat – one has a motor and the other doesn’t.  One doesn’t need sails while the other does.  One needs gasoline and the other needs wind.  One can move independently of the wind, the other cannot move without the wind.  One is a whole lot easier to get where you’re going, when you want to get there and how fast you want to get there – guess which one!

The speedboat (any boat with a motor) offers independence – it’s at the whim of its ‘captain’.  The sailboat is dependent upon the wind.  No wind – and it isn’t going  anywhere.  A speedboat can be driven by just about anyone, even someone who’s never been on water; just start the motor and off you go.  Whether a child or an adult, if you
can steer anything – from a kiddie car, go-kart, automobile – you can steer the
speedboat.  It’s also easier to stop!

The sailboat is different; there’s a whole lot more to learn and a lot more skill involved.  But the key things are its dependency upon the wind and the ability of its ‘captain’ to read the wind and sail the boat where it’s to go, and the route the sailboat goes to get there.

Think about it: how do you get from here to there with a headwind blowing straight at you?  That means that the wind is blowing from the direction you want to go.  Instead of
being at your back, it’s blowing in your face.  The question then becomes are we sure that’s where we want to (or are supposed to) go?  If it is, the sailboat can do it, but it sure isn’t a direct route.

Kind of sounds like what we experience with the Holy Spirit sometimes doesn’t it?  He leads us to do something and we encounter ‘headwinds’ – difficulties, opposition, obstacles, etc…  As I suggested in yesterday’s devotional, for the Christian (Jesus Follower), a life of obedience to Scriptures, becomes the sails of our boat.  Walking in His ways, becomes the skill to sail the boat – to read the wind and allow it to choose the route whatever it might be.  Loving God develops the life-dependence upon Him.

That dependence is essential if our lives are to be about Jesus (sailboat)!  Without it, our lives are about us (boat with a motor)!  We must beware of the spirit of independence that is so common in our culture and in our lives.  The Holy Spirit is given to us so that we may have relationship with Him and live the lives that experience, enjoy and reflect the glory of our God.