May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. [Psalm 19:14]
I’m sharing these daily devotions in the hope they will inspire you to read God’s word. I’m praying that they will help you find your way to a closer relationship with God. [Read More ….]
“He’s so young!” my husband said when my brother died at the age of fifty-six. I reminded him that my dad was the same age when he died. “But he was old!” my husband exclaimed. The difference, of course, is that we were in our fifties when my brother died but only in our twenties when my father did. Now, almost thirty years after my brother’s death, our definition of “young” includes anyone under 85!
That the same thing can look so different from two viewpoints makes me think of those tilt or magic motion cards that used to come in Cracker Jack© boxes. Done by something called lenticular printing, one card holds two or more different images. Titled one way, we might see the traditional Mona Lisa but, tilted the other way, she would be winking with a goofy grin on her face. What is perceived on a tilt card depends on the angle at which it is viewed just as whether someone seems young or old depends as much on our age as theirs.
When we look at a magic motion card, we see only what’s right in front of us but, when God looks at one, He sees it from all sides. Likewise, from our viewpoint, we only see what’s happening in our lives right now and how it affects us and those we love; but God sees our yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows! While we see the delay and feel the frustration of waiting, from His viewpoint, God sees us learning patience. We see the task and protest that our work is too demanding, but He sees that we’re learning determination. We see the unknown and hesitate in fear, but He sees us learning to trust Him. We see the betrayal and feel resentment, but He sees us learning to forgive. We see the burden of parenthood and grow tired, but He sees us learning about sacrifice. We see the spouse with Alzheimer’s, but God sees us learning about unconditional love. We see the failure and are disheartened, but He sees us developing resilience. Rather than looking at circumstances from just our viewpoint, we need to tilt the picture a bit and try to see our circumstances through the eyes of God.
One of my favorite Bible verses is Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” Just as we can’t see both pictures at once in a magic motion card, while we’re focused on today, we’re incapable of seeing both the purpose of our challenges and what lies on the other side of them. We will have to settle for knowing that our loving God sees it all and choose to trust that His direction and timing ultimately are for our own good.
I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from his great personal perspective, and all he asks of me is that I trust him. [Oswald Chambers]
Even though pumpkin spice lattes are available, pumpkin kringles can be found at Trader Joes, and Michael’s, Walmart, and Target are displaying their Halloween décor, here in Florida, it’s still summer and rainy season. We’re experiencing temperatures in the 90s and rain nearly every day. Sometimes, it’s a real doozy with thunder, lightning, and a torrential downpour; other times, it’s just a little drizzle. God willing, the weather should improve next month and, by the time we turn our clocks back November 1, the beautiful weather here will remind us why we moved to southwest Florida in the first place.
While we can look forward to the end of summer’s storms, I have some friends who seem caught in the stormy season of their lives. Instead of high humidity, thunder, lightning, and rainfall, they’re enduring a downpour of trouble and challenges with no end in sight. Granted, some of their storms are bigger than others (a cancer diagnosis trumps the allergic reaction to a medication), but whenever a light shower of difficulty ends, a hailstorm of challenges isn’t far behind! Like a flash of lightning, some sort of emotional, physical, or financial trial appears whenever the sky seems to clear. While the calendar tells me that summer rains and hurricane season soon will come to an end, they have no calendar telling them when their stormy season will stop.
Although their troubles rain down on them nearly continuously, their misfortunes seem to run off them like water off a duck’s back. Challenges that would sink many others have little effect on them; persevering, they just keep paddling along. What differentiates them from other people who seem to sink in just a small downpour of trouble?
The difference, of course, is that they are Christ followers and God’s power sustains them and works through them. They receive strength from Him daily. While they pray their season of trouble soon will end, they know that God’s plans for them are good. Even if the storm doesn’t end in this lifetime, they have hope because they’re confident in the shalom that awaits them in the next. Because of their deep and abiding faith in a loving God, Christ’s followers don’t have to wait for the season to change to see a rainbow in the midst of the storm.
There is only one secure foundation: a genuine, deep relationship with Jesus Christ, which will carry you through any and all turmoil. No matter what storms are raging around, you’ll still stand firm if you stand on His love. [Charles Stanley]
During a seminar on cybersecurity, the speaker asked us how we protect ourselves from cyberattacks. One woman proudly told us how Microsoft had recently saved her from a hacking attempt. After a message popped up telling her to call them, she gave them remote access to her computer. She was pleased to report that it only cost her $700 to get her computer working again! Until the speaker told her, she didn’t know that a criminal had her $700 and credit card information and probably installed malware on her computer! While she never would have allowed a complete stranger into her home, she unwittingly opened the door to a criminal and welcomed him into her life.
Following the seminar, I couldn’t help but think about Satan. Scripture describes him as a serpent, lion, liar, thief, and tempter with adjectives like prowling, cunning, and crafty. Those same words describe a cybercriminal as well. Both Satan and the hacker want to take over our lives and they can do it without our even realizing it’s been done.
The cybersecurity specialist spoke of maintaining the security of the devices and networks we use. Since new hacking techniques are developed continually, once secured doesn’t mean forever secure; software needs to be updated to stay current with new threats. Once saved doesn’t mean safe from sin, either. We must keep updating our soul’s software with regular prayer, Bible study, and church.
Where we use our devices as well as what sites we visit and the sort of data we transmit and receive affects their safety; in the same way, where we go and what we put into our minds affects our souls. We claim we’d never venture into high-crime areas or the shady part of town but, sometimes, that’s exactly what we do both with our computers and phones as well as our friends and media choices! When the speaker reminded us about the importance of backing up data, I thought of the value of Christian friends who have our backs and both encourage and support us in times of trouble—times when we’re most vulnerable to Satan’s attack.
Multifactor authentication (MFA) was another security feature discussed. Just as a website can use MFA to make sure it is us, we should use MFA to make sure those great ideas we get have come from God rather than the enemy. Checking to see if those great ideas match up with God’s word and Jesus’ actions can keep us out of trouble!
Good cyber-security habits include malware protection, virtual private networks, cloud storage, secure routers, password protection, MFA, and common sense. None of those, however, will protect us if we fail to use them.
Whether Satan or cybercriminal, the weakest link in both cases is us. While outside consultants regularly try to hack into our bank, their security software always stops them. Unfortunately, in every test, someone (who clearly knows better) was conned into replying, hyperlinking, or opening an attachment. When Satan comes trolling, how often do we err by ignoring God’s guidelines, not examining the source of the message, going somewhere we shouldn’t, or letting curiosity get the best of us? We’ve been given the best protection money can’t buy, but God’s armor won’t defend us from the enemy if we don’t put it on!
Pastor Sandi always closes the service with Numbers 6:24-26. With this blessing, she’s continuing a tradition that is more than 3,000 years old. Intended as a blessing for the people, the Lord gave those words to Moses for Aaron to pass on to his sons and successive Temple priests. In 1979, that ancient blessing was found on two tiny silver scrolls in a burial cave near Jerusalem. Known as the Ketef Hinnom scrolls, they contain verses from Deuteronomy 7 and Numbers 6 and date to around 600 BC (making them the oldest known text of the Bible)!
Granted, as spirit, God has no face as we know it. In His glory, God is too magnificent to be seen by sinful man and, when He visually reveals Himself, He does so in a way we can understand, as He did for us with Jesus. Even so, when referring to God’s presence and favor, Scripture frequently speaks of the face or countenance of God.
When God is pleased with His people, His face shines upon them and He shows them His favor. But, when He’s displeased with His people, Scripture often says He turns His face from them and withholds his favor and blessing. God even warned Moses that if Israel broke their covenant, He would hide His face from them because of their evil. [Deut 31:18] In Psalm 88, the psalmist asks, “Why are you turning your face from me and looking the other way?” and in Psalm 27, David begs God not to turn His face away. [88:14;27:9]
While most Bibles translate Numbers 6:25 as making the Lord’s face either “shine upon you,” or “smile down on you,” the Living Bible’s paraphrase of “May the Lord’s face radiate with joy because of you!” truly paints a vivid picture. I suspect God’s face radiated with joy when Mary gave birth and the armies of heaven sang their praises or when Jesus was baptized and a voice was heard to say, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” [Lk 2:14, Mt 3:17]
Rather than turning His face from us, can you picture God’s face literally glowing with joy because of us? What would make Him beam the way a parent does when their baby takes his first steps or that baby graduates from college with honors? What could we do to cause His face to radiate with joy the way it does when your child comes home unscathed from deployment abroad? How would we make God smile the way a Grandma does when she holds her first grandchild?
Fortunately, God, provided the answer in Scripture and Jesus summarized it beautifully with two commandments: love God with our entire being and love others as we love ourselves. If we want to put a smile on God’s face, we should love Him with the same intensity we did when we first came to know Jesus by loving Him so much that we want to spend time in His presence contemplating His word and listening for His voice. He’ll smile as we grow strong in our faith, give thanks for His gifts, become obedient to His word, and are accepting of His will.
While that sort of devotion may put a smile on God’s face, if we want Him to “radiate with joy,” we must have as much concern for other people’s well-being as we have for our own. We must be as willing to overlook their shortcomings and accept their faults as we are ready to ignore and disregard ours. We should be as attentive and supportive of others as we are self-indulgent and accommodating to ourselves. Our sincere love for Him and our fellow travelers in this world is what will make God’s face beam with joy as He looks down at us!
The smile of God is the goal of your life. [Rick Warren]
According to Bible Gateway, the six verses of the 23rd Psalm are the most popular ones on their site, with verses 4 and 6 usually vying for first place. The seventh most popular verse, however, is today’s verse, Jeremiah 29:11. When people are going through hard times, this is the kind of verse that gets pulled out to reassure them that everything will turn out right.
If Jeremiah had copywritten his words, he’d probably be a millionaire today because his words are found nearly everywhere. A quick search finds them printed on memes, blankets, pillows, plaques, wall art, bookmarks, bracelets, charms, key chains, decals, rocks, and iPhone wallpaper! By itself, the verse is comforting and reassuring, especially when we’re in the midst of trials and difficulties.
Nevertheless, Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most misused and misunderstood verses in Scripture. The word often translated as prosperity, prosper, or success was shalom, the Hebrew word for completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace—not material wealth. God’s promise wasn’t that of success and prosperity; it was of peace and wellbeing and they’re not the same thing!
Jeremiah 29:11 is one sentence in a letter Jeremiah sent to a specific group of people: the exiles in Babylon—a people in exile because God sent them there! This verse promised the nation a future and the hope that Jerusalem would be restored. In the previous verse [29:10] we see that God’s promise even came with a timeline: “When seventy years are completed…I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.” Although God’s specific promise to those exiles was fulfilled nearly 2,700 years ago with their return to Jerusalem, it also may refer to the future regathering of Israel in the end times.
God made another promise in Jeremiah 29, but it’s not on anyone’s list of favorites nor are we likely to find it written on wall plaques or jewelry. For those who did not go into exile, God promised “I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth….” [29:17-18] Fortunately, that promise does not apply to us any more than does Jeremiah 29:11!
While it’s a beautiful verse, Jeremiah 29:11 should not be construed to mean that God has promised us a future of well-being without misfortune. Although He offers us His shalom, He gives us no guarantees of prosperity, security, success, opportunities, health, or that our worldly expectations will be met. Jesus didn’t come to save us from bankruptcy, loss, infertility, illness, bad marriages, poor choices, difficult in-laws, unemployment, demanding bosses, or a host of other life challenges; He came to save us from our sins! Moreover, He calls us to sacrifice and deny rather than want and get.
True Biblical prosperity comes when we are in a relationship with God, when we are walking with Him and getting to know Him better. While we mortals hope and long for what we consider “good” things, God has a hope and a future for us filled with great things. Our finite minds cannot fathom the wondrous things God has in store for us in heaven. If we’re going to “hang our hat” on any of Jeremiah’s words, Lamentations 3 might be a better one.
Although it’s been many years, whenever I read today’s verse about God going both before and after me, I’m reminded of a hiking trip my daughter and I took through the Canadian Rockies. One of our guides led and tied orange ribbons along the trail to mark the way. A second guide (the sweep) followed the last hiker and removed the trail markers. With guides both before us and following us, the group could spread out, find their own pace, and take breaks when needed, while ensuring no one got lost or left behind.
As our group started up the trail to a mountainside teahouse, my daughter and I grew impatient with the lead guide’s moderate pace. Confident we couldn’t miss the trail, we shot ahead of her. Apparently, in our haste, we veered left when we should have stayed right. Although the trail should have been uphill, it gradually went downward but, unwilling to admit we may have erred, we continued until we caught sight of the same lake from which we’d begun! Finally conceding our error, we turned around and hiked back up the trail. By the time we reached the main trail, the orange trail markers had been removed by the sweep. Nevertheless, knowing we needed to go further uphill, we continued our trek and eventually rejoined our group at the teahouse. In our case, the first really were the last and we barely had enough time to eat lunch before continuing the day’s hike.
It’s not wise to charge ahead of mountain guides or God. When we fail to let God set the pace, life can go downhill quickly, often with tragic consequences. Impatient for a child, Sarah rushed ahead of God by giving Hagar to Abraham; the Middle East hasn’t known peace since! Growing impatient with Jehovah when Moses was on Mt. Sinai, the Israelites made a new god out of their jewelry and, later, thinking they knew a better route, they grew impatient when Moses led them around the land of Edom. Neither episode ended well for them and people died because of their foolishness! Saul charged ahead by making a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel and lost his kingdom. In Jesus’ parable, the prodigal son raced ahead by demanding his inheritance before his father’s death. It was only because the lesson was about God’s grace and mercy that his story ended well.
“You go before me and follow me,” David said about God in Psalm 139. Had my daughter and I allowed the lead to set the pace, the same could have been said about our hiking guides. But our impatience and overconfidence caused us to go the wrong way. The same thing happens when we overestimate our ability to do life “our way” and underestimate what God is doing with His deliberate pace, unplanned detours, difficulties, and delays. Just because we don’t see progress doesn’t mean God isn’t doing something; it simply means we can’t see what it is He’s doing! As John Piper wisely pointed out: “God is always doing ten thousand things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” We need to trust God’s guidance and let Him determine our route and pace!
We are blessed to have a God who is both before and behind us. In front of us, He is leading, marking the way, lighting the path ahead, warning us of hazards, and smoothing the trail. Behind us, He is lifting us when we stumble, strengthening us when we weaken, encouraging us when we falter, correcting us when we err, and protecting us when danger lurks. But, like our human hiking guides, God will allow us to barge ahead and make mistakes along the trail. Fortunately, along with allowing us the freedom to turn the wrong way, God lets us make U-turns and return to Him! When my daughter and I left our guides on the trail, they soon lost sight of us. God, however, never loses sight of His children nor will He remove the signs showing us the way to go. He always is there, leading and sweeping, like the extraordinary guide that God is.
The beautiful thing about this adventure called faith is that we can count on Him never to lead us astray. [Chuck Swindoll]
Devotions of the Heart 