Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Mark 1:40-42  A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  ⁴¹Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” ⁴²Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Continue to imagine that you are this man – whom we have assumed is a farmer, a husband and father.  You had to leave everything because of your leprosy.  The pain of separation, and the pain of life’s hopes and dreams being dashed had become a given in your life – until that day Jesus healed you.

Although he warned you not to tell anyone and to show yourself to the priest, your excitement and joy caused you to tell everyone about this amazing miracle.  On your knees you begged him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  He responded, “I am willing. – Be clean!”  How can you ever forget the compassion in his eyes!  And his touch – the very fact that he touched you, an unclean leper!  No one had touched you in such a long time.

Now you are approaching your home, grateful for the bath you took and the clean clothes you now have on.  Your wife and daughter do not know yet of this miracle – but they are about to find out.  Approaching your home you experience the joy of walking across your fields.  When you are near the door to your home, your young daughter comes out but she doesn’t see you.  You stand there a moment watching her – how she’s grown.  And then you call her name – your voice cracking with emotion.  She turns and you see the stunned look on her face.  That is quickly replaced with a smile and a squeal of joy you will never forget as she runs to you and leaps into your arms.  Never, in your wildest dreams did you think this could ever happen again.

After holding her close, you tell her to go get her mother, your wife, but she’s not to tell her that you are there.  In a moment, she comes out of the door pulling your wife who was busy working inside.  Your wife is fussing with her, wondering why she had to come out.  Then your daughter slowly lifts her arm and points in your direction.  Your wife turns and sees you standing there – smiling.  You have never seen her look so stunned and so speechless.  You can no longer hold back the tears.  As you open your arms, she runs to you and is enfolded in your embrace.

For the longest time you just stand there holding each other and then your daughter comes to join the hug.  Finally, the questions burst forth from their lips.  They want to know what happened.  How can you be healed of your leprosy?  You take them inside, sit down and take a breath.  Looking into their faces you begin, “There is this man named Jesus…”

Note:  Max Lucado has a wonderful story of the leper Jesus touched.  We have had the joy of seeing our son Andrew act out the above story in performances where the audiences wept because the story came so alive.

Note: The movie “Risen” is one of the very best!  It is told from the perspective of the Romans, specifically the Roman Tribune who is assigned the task of finding the body of Jesus.  One of the very last scenes after the resurrection is Jesus in Galilee rescuing, embracing and healing a highly deformed leper –  who we then see become a fully healed man. I don’t recall ever seeing a scene to compare to it, that so reveals the leper’s deformity – and such a loving response by our Savior!

Mark 1:40-42  A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  ⁴¹Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” ⁴²Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Consider for the next few minutes that you are this man.  Assume that you were a farmer with a wife and a daughter – that your home was filled with laughter and love.  One day it becomes clear that something is radically wrong.  You cut yourself and don’t even feel it.  You and your wife realize that it is leprosy and that you must leave, never to be with them or see them again.  Imagine the pain of saying goodbye.  This disease makes you unclean and an outcast, forever separated from family and friends.

Some years pass and you hear about this amazing man from Galilee named Jesus.  You hear the stories of people thronging to him because of the miracles he is doing – and not just a few.  But he’s healing all who come to him!  No one has ever had this kind of power to make the blind see and the cripples to walk.  Imagine the glimmer of hope that would begin to stir within you when you first heard of the miracles.  The thought through your mind that maybe – just maybe – this Jesus could and would heal you!

You finally decide that you are going to find him and see if that which was unthinkable could possibly happen.  People are going to react negatively because you, an unclean and untouchable leper, are going to have to get through the mob surrounding him.  But the glimmer of hope is now a beacon drawing you to this man named Jesus.  You have nothing to lose.

Upon finding him, you experience something that all the stories of miracles and wonders had not prepared you for.  After kneeling before him and begging him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” –  you look into his eyes and see them filled with compassion!  Compassion for you!  He is not telling you to get away, but instead is reaching out to you!  He touches you!!!  And as he does, he says, “I am willing,” and “Be clean!”

And then it happens!  The leprosy is gone and you are whole!   Think of the smile you see on Jesus’ face and the joy in his eyes as he watches your transformation.  Think of experiencing that moment and try to imagine the wonder and glory and power and jubilation of that moment exploding within you! Your entire world has just been radically changed!

To be continued…

A Special Prayer:  The Scriptures are filled with such wonderful men and women of faith.  The Lord helped me write this prayer several years ago for a conference.  It is particularly fitting this time of year with graduations, commencements, weddings and new beginnings – particularly given the pandemic and the lock down that is ending.  I trust that it will stir within you an increased desire to become everything you can be.  Regardless of our age, our focus can be sharpened enabling us to become more of what He wants us to be.  God bless you!

Oh Lord Jesus,

I pray that each of us will become

• like Joseph – that we will stay faithful to You – even when the dreams You give us, seem like they will never come true.
• like Moses – that we will turn aside when You place a burning bush in our path.
• like Joshua and Caleb – that we will be brave and courageous in the face of giants in the land..

I pray that we will be

• like Ruth – that we will live godly lives leading to incredible destinies
• like Isaiah – that in response to hearing Your call, each of us will say, “Here am I.  Send me.”
• like Esther – that we will recognize the times for which we have been created and face them with faith and courage.
• like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – our commitment to You is not based on whether you will save us from a fiery trial or not.

I pray that we will be

• like Peter and Andrew – that we will follow You when you call us to be fishers of men.
• like the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus – that our hearts will burn within – whenever You speak to us.
• and like Paul – that the day will come, when each of us can say, “I have fought the good fight.   I have finished the race.  I have kept the faith!”

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

When we moved to Franklin, TN it was a reintroduction for me to high humidity and the effect it has in combination with high heat.  I’ve lived with it for most of my life but for the previous five summers we lived in Colorado Springs where there was heat but little humidity.  In Franklin the effects of high humidity were most noted when I mowed our lawn with a push mower on hot, steamy days.  Our lawn had a slope to it so I would also get to push the mower up hill.  Needless to say, I would be drenched when done.

After my mowing adventure it was so marvelous and refreshing to step into a cool shower and experience the cleansing and refreshing it would bring.  An important part of the experience was putting on clean clothes afterward.  It would be inconceivable to put the wet mowing clothes back on – they went into the laundry.

We can all relate to the above experiences; both the effects of working in the heat and humidity, and of the cool shower and clean clothes afterward.   They present a practical picture of sin, repentance and forgiveness.  Best of all is the absolutely unfailing promise of our Lord to always – yes always – fulfill this promise in our lives.

Being human, we sin.  The Holy Spirit convicts us.  And as a pastor friend of ours likes to say, “The Holy Spirit is not incompetent at convicting of sins.”  We confess our sins and he forgives us.  This is where the illustration of work, heat, humidity, a shower and clean clothes come in so importantly.  (I find it so helpful to have practical, daily events remind me of His love and care for me.)  Spiritually He cleanses us from the sins like a cool shower would do for us.  There is a cleansing and refreshing that occurs.  The repentance in our lives is discarding the ‘mowing clothes’ and putting on clean garments.  We change our behavior.

His forgiveness never grows old.  It’s like His compassion and His faithfulness; they never fail and are new every morning because of His great love for us.  He delights in forgiving us.  He knows these are things we will need every day of our lives.  Blessed are His sons and daughters who recognize this and pursue Him.  As Lamentations 3:25 says, “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;”

1 John 2:16  For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.

Years ago when our first two sons were little I took a job at a large bakery in Michigan.  The ministry we were involved in was struggling and I needed to have a paying job.  I discovered on my first night at work why there was a high turnover rate for this position.  In fact it was not unusual for men to quit during their very first night.  There were several of us racking bread.  We each stood at the end of a line of rollers where the loaves of bread came.  After going through a slicer and bagger machine, they came to each of us like a never ending line rolling along.  I think they came at a rate of about 50 a minute.

For eight hours we would stand in one spot and slide the bags of bread on to trays that could hold 10 loaves apiece.  Then we would slide the trays filled with bread into big racks on wheels.  If any of us fell behind there was emergency shut off button we could push to stop the bread coming down our line but that meant we got yelled at.  But at least that was better than the loaves going off the end of the rollers onto the floor at our feet.

One night while working I got to thinking about our sons (who were 1 & 2).  I thought of them in elementary school and the teacher asking students what their daddies did for work.  The students one by one answered, “My daddy is a teacher.  Banker.  Doctor. Lawyer.  Engineer….”  Then it was my son’s turn and he said, “My daddy racks bread at Schafer’s Bakery.”  I was mortified.  Here I had a college degree and was racking bread!

Immediately, the Lord took me to task for my prideful attitude.  My mind was filled with questions that did not originate with me and each I knew I had to answer.  Is the work you are doing necessary? – “Yes”.  Is it dishonest or sinful? – “No”.  Is it enabling you to pay your bills and provide for your family? – “Yes”.  Is it honorable labor? – “Yes”.  Are you grateful for this job? – “Yes”.

Instead of focusing on prideful comparison of jobs, the Lord wanted me to recognize the honor in work – and the importance of providing for myself and for my family.  It is a real snare to look down on jobs as being “beneath” us because the attitude will easily translate over onto those who are doing the jobs.  What a blessing it is to be able to work.

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 had ever seen.  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 (printed below)

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 (people) 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.