Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Psalm 9:1  I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonder.

Have you ever thought of praying scripture?  Years ago I heard a teaching on this idea and it has been a wonderful blessing.  Simply put, you personalize scripture so that the verses express what you want to say.  But more than that, many are the times that I’m not sure how to pray and they give me the words and the guidance – the path to pray.

Among my favorites are the ones I’ve identified as “The Blue Sections”.  (My Bible is kind of highlighted to the hilt!)  I have used a blue highlighter to mark over 30 different sections of scripture that focus upon God and His greatness and wonder.  They are not about us – they do not include requests for help or assistance.  They are declarative about Him.

I frequently found myself at a loss when it came to expressing to God what was in my heart.  I wanted to tell Him how wonderful and glorious He was.  It occurred to me that
scripture describes Him more accurately and effectively that I can.  So I searched for those scriptures that did exactly that and marked them in blue.  They run the gamut from entire Psalms to a single verse.  But when I pray them, personalizing them, my heart rejoices because it is accomplishing what it desires.

For instance Psalm 19:1-4 begins ”The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”  When I pray this, I personalize it so it becomes “O Lord, the heavens declare your glory, the skies proclaim the work of your hands!”  By using
scripture, my affirmations are rooted in eternal truth.  I know I am expressing reality and my heart is filled with a sense of accomplishing something so important.

It takes me about 25 – 30 minutes to pray through my Blue Section verses out loud.  Frequently, the experience provokes tears of joy and gratitude because it leads to such an intimate experience with God.  They help me to praise the Lord with all my heart and tell Him of His wonders!

Exodus 19:4-6  ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on  eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words
you are to speak to the Israelites.”

About three months after the Children of Israel left Egypt, God gave Moses this message to share with them.  It was a communication of His heart for them.  He was giving them the opportunity to be His treasured possession – out of all the nations, He chose them!  They simply had to respond by doing what He required.  Unfortunately, they responded with words not with their lives.

God has always been after a people that will be truly His.  He wants to shower them with His love.  He simply asks that they respond with love in return.  Fortunately we Christians have been born again and received His Spirit.  Our new natures in Christ free us to respond without the “deck stacked against us’ by our old nature.  It can still be difficult, but we have such an advantage over the Israelites.  It makes me pause to think of Jesus’ comment, to whom much is given, much is required. (Luke 12:48)

While it is priceless to be His – to receive salvation and become one of His children – it is even more so to live the kind of lives that He has always wanted His people to live.   Salvation isn’t the end, it’s the beginning!  It enables us to pursue lives that truly reflect that we are His people.  In 1 Peter 2, Peter is exhorting the believers to rid their lives of sin
– to abstain from sinful desires that war against their souls.  He is calling them to live lives worthy of who we are in Christ.

In 1 Peter 2:9-10, Peter writes, “⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

This stunning reality that we are His is beyond words!  It is a privilege beyond measure that we have.  The more we recognize and grasp that, the more we will live lives that  declare us to truly be His people.  His mercy, His grace, His Spirit and faith in Jesus Christ enable us to do exactly that!

Matthew 5:38-42  ³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.³⁹But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to  him the other also. ⁴⁰And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. ⁴¹If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. ⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

I woke up this morning thinking about going the second mile.  When I looked up the verse I was stuck by its context and by how unlike our typical thinking it is.  This is a whole
different mindset – a different world view.  It is seeing and responding to things so differently.

An old classic movie comes to mind that illustrates how radically different things can be seen and how things sometime aren’t what they seem.  That movie is the Wizard of Oz.  It begins and ends as a black and white movie.  I remember as a boy seeing it and being so stunned when Dorothy wakes up in Oz and everything is in full ‘living’ color.  The richness of the color versus the paucity of the black and white – they don’t change the story line, just what we’re seeing.  Then there is the ogre-like Wizard who is so authoritarian on the screen, but in reality is a little old man behind the curtain.  Here, what is perceived is very
different from its true reality.

I would suggest that the situations described in these verses are like the Wizard up on the screen – their reality is very different than how we tend to perceive them.  We typically respond to them as threats (like the ogre on the screen), rather than as opportunities.  Our viewpoint is one of self and cultural orientation, and we react accordingly.  It’s like living in ‘black and white’.

But Jesus wants us to perceive these as opportunities and not as threats – and we must recognize how critical our perception is to the process.  It’s not about us but it’s all about Him.  It’s not about reacting but responding with faith.  They are opportunities to glorify our God in how we respond – or not.  Our lives are to be salt and light in the world and reflect the ‘living color’ of the life of Christ.  What a contrast!

Jesus wants our perceptions, understanding and responses rooted in His Kingdom – not in the world.  In this world we  tend to react rather than respond.  We look out for ourselves rather than be guided by His ways.  Life is filled with opportunities for us to respond wisely, reflecting His life within us.  We need to remind ourselves just how different a citizen of His Kingdom is from one of this world.  The people around us will be drawn to Him by seeing us live such lives.

Joshua 4:20-24  ²⁰ And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. ²¹ He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers,
‘What do these stones mean?’ ²² tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³  For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up  before us until we had crossed over. ²⁴ He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”

Yesterday we talked about remembering the wonderful things that God has done in our  lives – the extraordinary things that stand out over the years.  I likened those events to quarry stones – massive and strong experiences that form a rock-solid foundation for our faith with Jesus the chief cornerstone.

Today’s verses underscore just how important it is to remember the wondrous things that our God does.  The children of Israel were to stack these 12 stones as a memorial, so they would never forget what the Lord had done.  Through His people, the Lord wanted the
people of the earth to know that the hand of the Lord was powerful.

The thing that is so amazing to me is that after Joshua and that whole generation died, “another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for  Israel.” (Judges 2:10)  Unfortunately, mankind has a problem with forgetfulness.

This really struck me when I was reading in one of my journals from years earlier.  I came upon a time with the Lord that was so significant and so special, that I wrote in my journal, “I will never forget this!”  Unfortunately, I had forgotten it – and wondered how many other things have I forgotten..

We need to share these experiences particularly with our family.  They affirm the greatness of our God and cultivate hearts of gratitude within us.  They also build the understanding in all of us that they are but a foretaste of the many experiences that the Lord has for us.  The best is yet to come.  Not just in eternity, but here and now.  God wants to show  Himself strong amongst His people – so that the world will know!

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Years ago my mother had a powerful experience with the Lord.  It involved the death of a good friend.  He was a younger man with a wife and a young son.  They attended the same
church with Mom and Dad and had been dear friends for years.  His wife had been Mom’s nurse when I was born.  Mom had a strong relationship with the Lord but she just couldn’t understand how this young Christian man could die and this family suffers such loss.

I remember so clearly her describing the experience afterwards.  She was downstairs in the
basement doing laundry.  She was overcome with sorrow over the death of this friend and just couldn’t understand how it could happen.  He and his wife were so young; life was there to be lived with his family; how could this happen?

She was standing in front of the washing machine, tears coming down her face, repeating over and over to God, “I just don’t understand.”  Into that moment, the Lord spoke to her so suddenly and clearly, that she never doubted that it was Him.  He said, ‘Louise – You don’t have to understand.  You have to trust!”

This had an immediate and profound impact on Mom.  While she still didn’t understand, she turned to the Lord, and released it to Him.  In Him, the edge of the pain dissipated.  In
Him, she found peace.  In Him, she found refuge.  She was no longer a tormented ‘prisoner’ of having to understand this death.  She was able to mourn in a healthy place.

Today we remember 9/11.  Fourteen years ago our world changed when we experienced this horrific attack upon our country – and occurrences of radical Islamic terrorism are becoming more frequent and random.  Christians are being martyred throughout the world.  This is all on top of our normal life difficulties.  So often we struggle with trying to understand events that happen.  Today’s verse is a powerful answer – not a cop-out.  Proverbs 3:6 continues, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.  We must look to Him in all things.

Tragedy occurs all around us: flooding, earthquakes, explosions, accidents, terrorism, crimes, unexpected deaths or injuries.  Life is filled with them.  Usually they are things we read or hear about. But, sometimes they are near and we or our loved ones are stricken.  Hopefully we have made it a way of life to trust in Him.  If not, use those times to initiate a changed lifestyle of focusing on and trusting in Him.  He has a way of comforting and bringing life to us when we don’t understand.  He is our source of mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.  (Heb 4:16)