Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Exodus 16:2-3  ² In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

I find this situation, described by today’s verses, to be a serious warning of how our perception of true reality can be negated by fear.  Here are a people that have been slaves in Egypt all their lives.  They had been in misery, crying out to the Lord for deliverance.  Then God responded!  Through Moses incredible miracles were performed – witnessed by them all – that resulted in their freedom.

Capping everything off was the Red Sea experience that occurred just a short time earlier.  When they saw the Egyptian army approaching they had this same negative response.  They complained that it was better to be slaves in Egypt than die in the desert.  The understanding that God was setting them free and dealing with Pharaoh and the Egyptians was lost amidst their fears.

Then they witnessed God’s stunning intervention to secure their freedom.  The angel of the Lord kept the army at bay over night while the Red Sea parted.  They experienced walking through the parted waters and then witnessed the waters consuming the pursuing army upon Moses’ command.  Great was their celebration of this event.

Then three days later, when they ran out of water, they complained and witnessed the miracle of the bitter water becoming sweet.  Unfortunately, this next difficult situation (of today’s verses) brought about an even worse negative response.  All they had witnessed was once again forgotten!  They hadn’t been set free; God wasn’t with them; they were all victims about to die; their situation in Egypt was desirable.  They even found it preferable for God to have killed them in Egypt than for them to starve to death in the desert.

If only they had recognized their true situation and responded with, “The Lord didn’t set us free to kill us in the desert.  Let us call upon the Lord and He will provide.”  The Lord provided them with test after test; giving them repeated opportunities to respond with faith rather than unbelief.

We must recognize that God does the same with us; He allows test after test in our lives affording us the opportunity to respond with faith.  How are we going to respond to the difficult situations we face?  Do we see ourselves as potential victims of circumstances or are our perceptions faith-based and trusting in God?

To be continued…

Genesis 50:15  When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”

Have you ever considered how dependent we are upon our perception of things?  Our perception of something can become our reality – whether it’s accurate or not.  Perceptions influence our emotions, attitudes and actions.  It’s also amazing how rapidly our attitude can change when our perception changes.  A prime example of this is 9/11.

Think of those individuals who were upset because they were delayed and prevented from being on time for work at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  One moment they were distressed and the next moment they were overcome with relief that they were late.  Sometimes it takes awhile for our perceptions to change in spite of what we see and know.

Joseph’s brothers were unable to shake their fear that Joseph was going to pay them back for what they had done to him.  In spite of his earlier assurances and the experiences they were having with him, they could not believe that his comments were genuine.  Then we have Joseph’s wonderful reply to them after they expressed their concerns once again:

¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. ²¹ So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. (Genesis 50:19-21)

I am continually blessed by Joseph’s example.  So many negative things happened to him yet he never allowed them to lead him astray.  He kept God at the center of his life.  Given the power and position he had, he could have done his brothers great harm, but there is no indication that he was even tempted by such thoughts.  Rather than allowing his negative experiences to undermine his faith, his view of everything that had happened was formed by his faith that God had always been in control.

This is our test day by day.  Will our perceptions be governed by our experiences or by our faith?  Do we see ourselves as potential victims of circumstances or are our perceptions faith-based and secure in the keeping power of our God?  By trusting in the Lord, our faith becomes a secure ‘vessel’ able to withstand any assault that might come against it.  This is not something we talk ourselves into – but it’s the inescapable and unshakeable fact of our relationship with God.

Philippians 1:9-11  ⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

In an earlier devotional I wrote about the power of praying scripture particularly in the context of being able express to God His greatness.  We can personalize the words of scripture and they enable us to express what is in our hearts in a way that is Biblically sound.  Today I would like us to look at praying scripture for one another.

How often have we struggled in our desire to pray for people over the words to use or over the issue of “What is God’s will for them?”  How often do we use words that just express a general positive for someone such as, “Lord, I pray that you will bless so & so.”?  Within each of us is a desire for our prayers for others and ourselves to become more faith-filled and effective.

Consider today’s verse which is a prayer by Paul for the Philippians.  Pick someone whom you love, care about or are concerned for and personalize these verses – this prayer – for them.  I am going to pick Joe Daltorio our Pastor at River of Life Community Church and a wonderful friend:

“Lord Jesus, I pray that Joe’s love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that Joe may be able to discern what is best and that he may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.  I pray that Joe will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through You—to the glory and praise of God.”

Not only is that a wonderful and powerful prayer – we also have confidence that it is God’s will for whomever we might pray it for.  Let’s pray these verses for ourselves:

“Lord Jesus, I pray that my love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that I may be able to discern what is best and that I may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.  I pray that I will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through You—to the glory and praise of God.”

The Bible teaches that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective (James 5:16b).  Praying scripture is one tool that we have to help us become such individuals.

Habakkuk 3:17-19  ¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

Yesterday we wrote about the problem of prayer being ‘good ending’ driven rather than being about relationship.  This can result in a view that prayer only works if we get answers pleasing to us. We might reject such a blunt assessment but we need to consider what reality is reflected in our resulting attitudes and behaviors.  If what we perceive to be good things don’t happen, do we find ourselves praying less and fighting disappointment and discouragement?  Worse, do we find ourselves unintentionally rejecting God?  “I prayed – He didn’t answer (the way I wanted or needed Him to) – Prayer doesn’t work – God isn’t faithful.”

Consider today’s verses in a proper framework.  Farmers do what they do in order to harvest.  The good endings are figs, grapes and olives, crops in the fields, sheep and cattle.  They would be praying AND working for these results.  In an agrarian society everyone is dependent upon these ‘good endings’ happening.  When they don’t, it can mean a famine. (Imagine being unable to get food with all the grocery stores closed and empty for months on end!)  It is in this framework that Habakkuk describes all the farming results as being negative.  There are no crops, no animals and no food, but because of who God is, those are just details.

Habakkuk describes relationship triumphing over results!  “…yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”  These aren’t just words – they are reality!  Our faith isn’t predicated on getting the answers we would like.  Through our faith in Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, God will enable our relationship with Him to reflect this reality too!

Colossians 4:2  Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

I have this thing about good endings.  If a movie doesn’t have one, I’m not interested in watching it – and my family knows this about me.  This led to one of the more embarrassing moments in my life.  A few years ago I came home and Donna and our third son Andrew were watching Hamlet with Mel Gibson in the lead role.  I like Mel Gibson movies and they always seem to have good endings so I sat down to watch it with them.

Some of you have already noticed the problem.  I didn’t know what the story line of Hamlet was.  Somehow I managed to avoid Shakespeare all my life.  When we got to the end of the movie I was stunned and cried out incredulously, “He dies!?  He dies!?!!”  To which Donna and Andrew both looked at me like I’m some kind of nut and said, “It’s Hamlet.  Of course he dies.”  With my distress overflowing, I said, “You mean you let me sit here and watch this movie knowing it had a bad ending?”  Unfortunately they were laughing too hard to talk.

You might be laughing as well as you read this.  But let’s ask ourselves, “What is a good ending?”  How do we define what that is?  Good endings are nice and we all like them but a desire for good endings can become a real problem if misapplied to another area of our lives – specifically the area of prayer.  When we pray for things, what is a good ending?  What kind of answer or response from God do we consider to be ‘good’?

The issue for us to examine is what kind of expectations and preconceived notions we have when it comes to prayer.  Is our motivation for prayer, answer driven?  Are we locked into a view that prayer only works if we get an answer pleasing to us?  Do we become disappointed or discouraged if we don’t get the answers we want?  Have we responded to what we deem a ‘bad answer’ like I did with Hamlet?

Our prayer life is not to be answer driven.  Prayer is not about getting answers – it’s about our relationship with God.  It’s about entering further into the joy and vibrant life with Him that He has for us.

To be continued…

2 Corinthians 11:2  I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.

Several years ago we heard a sermon where our pastor referred to a ‘godly jealousy’.  We immediately thought, ‘Wait a minute.  Those two words can’t go together!”  Even though we knew that in the Old Testament God refers to Himself as a jealous God, somehow that didn’t connect to the idea of a Christian having a godly jealousy.

Paul goes on to write in verse 3, “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”  The issue seems to center upon ‘sincere and pure devotion’.  Something that belongs to God is being given to someone or something else.  Paul’s godly jealousy was concerned for their well-being and particularly for their relationship with the Lord.

We tend to forget that actions have consequences.  In Exodus 34:14 God declares, “Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”  In simple terms, think of God’s jealousy as both a thermometer and a thermostat.  The thermometer aspect responds to what the temperature is.  If our ‘sincere and pure devotion’ to the Lord cools – becomes less than it should be or fails to grow – the thermometer reflects this reality.  The thermostat then turns the ‘heater’ on.  By ‘heater’ I refer to those things that God brings about in our lives to help us repent and return to Him – to have our devotion to Him become more sincere and pure.

Haven’t we all declared to the Lord that we give Him free reign to do whatever is needed to promote faithfulness and godliness in our lives?  He can do anything with us – just help us to be totally committed to Him.  If our spiritual ears are becoming deaf, don’t we want Him to show us?  If our devotion to our Lord Jesus becomes side-tracked and going the wrong way, don’t we want Him to ‘throw up road blocks’ to get us to turn around?  Anything – I repeat – anything He does or allows will be for our well-being!

Think of all the warnings that Jesus gave the religious leaders that they were deaf too!  The reality is the same thing can happen to us. We too can be led astray from our devotion to Him.   It’s reflected in how we act, what we read, how we do our jobs, what we talk about, what we watch – all aspects of our lives are to reflect Godliness.  Let us heed Paul’s warning and renew our commitment to be sincerely and purely devoted to our Lord.

1 Kings 19:18 – “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Let’s imagine ourselves as being included in those 7,000 who were faithful to God so long ago.  Everywhere around us, the people have abandoned the truth of God’s word and abandoned Him.  On the one hand, we would have the joy of being His people – chosen by Him.  We treasure the wonders He has done.  On the other, the sorrow and pain of seeing His people sinfully deny Him.

One of the challenges that we would withstand is yielding to the cultural pressure of those around us to become Baal worshippers.  No matter what the cost, we would remain true to Yahweh!  How would we act around those who were participating in such sin – particularly when they were friends and family?  Behavior that they would think is perfectly fine is behavior that is totally unacceptable to Him.

I remember being in a meeting with Stephen Covey where he asked everyone in the audience to point in the direction they thought was north.  The theatre we were in was “in the round” so he was surrounded by audience and hands were pointing in every direction.  He then lit up an overhead projector with a compass on it where the light could shine through.  The lesson?  Which way is north is not subject to opinion.  It is an absolute.

Do we relate to those 7,000 as we see what is going on around us in society today?  The cultural perversions we see in so much of society are so distressing.  Sadly much of it is in the lives of those who consider themselves Christians.  God’s people are called to be salt and light – the very evidence of His presence.  Instead, so many “head south” under the belief they are going “north”.

Isaiah described so accurately what we see going on around us, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (5:20)

Let us live lives that glorify our Lord and Savior.  Let us lives lives that reflect His character and word.  His Word tells us how!  It’s the compass that always points to the true north.  Let us live lives that truly reflect goodness, light and sweetness.  As we celebrate the birth of Christ and begin the new year, let those be the “presents” that we bring to Him as we kneel before Him!

Ruth  2:10-12  ¹⁰ At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

I find such delight in reading about Ruth and the ways she responds to the difficulties and reality of her life.  She has wonderful attitudes; she works hard; she loves Naomi and cares for her; by doing the right things, she is blessed by the Lord.  What an example her story is for us!  In spite of all the difficulty in the situation she and Naomi found themselves in, she was simply concerned with caring for Naomi and making their situation better.

The quality of Ruth’s life was recognized by those around her and by Boaz who she encounters in today’s verse: ¹¹ Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. ¹² May the LORD repay you for what you have done.  May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” 

Proverbs 13:9a says, “The light of righteousness shines brightly,” How true this was of Ruth!  Her reputation preceded her and the quality of her life was apparent to those around her.  Boaz’s comment about her taking refuge under the wings of the LORD, the God of Israel, is a picture of God’s protection.  By doing the ‘right things’, Ruth put herself into a position to encounter God’s best for her.

God led Ruth to Boaz’s field, where she was safe. The timing of Boaz’s arrival on this day was perfect for her.  The Lord caused her to find favor with him and he became God’s ‘hands extended’ to her, to protect her and provide for both Naomi and her.

Isn’t Ruth’s life and Boaz’s response a perfect illustration of Matthew 5:15?  “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  The simple reality of our lives is that God wants others to see Him when they observe us!

The Lord loves right attitudes.  He loves the right and appropriate things that we do.  He loves to provide his blessing and protection to us.  He loves to guide us in the path of righteousness that He has for us.  He loves to see His plan unfold in our lives.  He loves it when we love Him.  No matter what difficulties we find ourselves in, He is for us and with us.  May our lives ever reflect these wondrous realities!

Ruth 1:16  But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”

This is another of my favorite verses in the Bible.  It speaks of such devotion, commitment and love.  Ruth had lost her husband, but her mother-in-law Naomi had lost her own husband and both her sons.  Naomi and her family had moved to Moab from Bethlehem ten years earlier due to the famine in the land.  Both sons had married there in Moab.

Into this situation of grief and difficulty came word that the LORD had come to the aid of His people in Judah and there was food there.  Naomi and the two daughter-in-laws (the other being Orpah) prepared to return to her home in Bethlehem.  Once on the road, Naomi lovingly instructed the two women to return to the homes of their mothers.  She believed this was best for them because her misperception was that the LORD’s hand had been against her.

After weeping and protestations from the young women, Orpah returned.  But Ruth clung to Naomi and spoke the wonderful message of today’s verse.  Why did Ruth do it?  Was her mother’s home not desirable?  Was she motivated by her love for Naomi, and therefore wanting to support her in this time of grief and change?  Whatever it was, her commitment was complete because she declared, “Your people will be my people and your God my God”.

Ruth wasn’t aware that God was guiding her – that He was in the midst of her strong commitment to stay with Naomi.  She was simply responding to the conviction in her heart that she belonged with Naomi and would not leave her no matter what it brought.  In the midst of all of this, her direction was clear and she was committed to it.

Little did Ruth know that her destiny required that she come to Bethlehem– and that she be there as a young woman eligible to be married.  It’s difficult not to conclude that the whole move to Moab by Naomi and her family was ultimately designed by God to get Ruth and bring her back to Bethlehem.

Bethlehem is where the prophet declared that the Christ would be born (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1-6).  Ruth’s commitment to return to Judah with Naomi enabled God’s destiny for her to unfold.  It required her to be there, in Bethlehem, because only there would her life became part of the genealogy of Christ, our Messiah – the son of David, the son of Abraham.

To be continued…

Micah 6:8  He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God? (Amplified)

Donna and I watched an old black & white movie on TCM that truly touched us deeply.  This 1944 film was the second film featuring a young Gregory Peck in the leading role. His role was that of Father Francis Chisholm, an unconventional Scottish Catholic priest who struggles to establish a mission in China.  His moving performance led to his first Oscar nomination.

The name of this movie is The Keys of the Kingdom and is based on the 1941 novel by A. J. Cronin.  The story is so wonderful, I was hoping that it was based on a historical figure.  Although it is not, that did not diminish the power of its message.  I found myself relating to the struggles that he faced.  So many aspects of the Christian life – the joys and the hardships – are presented in this movie.  Many of them are worth noting but the one that I want to focus on is one that repeatedly stuck me throughout the story.  I was repeatedly touched by the refreshing and vibrant humility that the character of Father Chisholm possessed.

Father Chisholm experiences many difficult challenges over the six decade span of this story.  I found myself being convicted of my own pride in watching how Father Chisholm responded with humility and dependence upon God.  Yes it was a movie, but I found myself repenting and being inspired to Godliness by watching the story unfold.  I am embarrassed to say that I had forgotten just how moving and inspiring true humility is.  “…Biblical humility is not the inverted conceit which disguises itself as lowliness.” (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, pg 223)  It is a virtue that God prizes.

I am so grateful for the book and the movie because God has used both of them to provoke me to pursue walking humbly with my God in a renewed way.  Pride can be so subtle and so pervasive in our lives.  Fortunately, God enables us to see our shortcomings and embrace the process whereby His Spirit will enable us to become more like Jesus.