“And be sure of this,” He promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28:20 (NLT)]
My mother’s father abandoned his family when my she was five; neither she nor her brother saw him again. When I learned this as a youngster, I couldn’t understand how any father could do that. How could he not care about the children he left behind? Didn’t he want to know the beautiful woman who was my mother?
People come in and go out of our lives. Some people leave abruptly as did my grandfather and others just fade away. Either we move or our friends and neighbors do and we eventually lose touch with one another. While we lose some people to the moving van, others depart in a hearse. In this world, even our closest relationships are only temporary.
As Christians, however, we have one constant person in our lives: Jesus. When prophesying His arrival, Isaiah called Jesus Immanuel, meaning “God with us” or “God is with us.” As fully God and fully human when He walked the earth, Jesus was, indeed, Immanuel. But, because He was confined to the limitations of time and space in a human body, Jesus couldn’t be with everyone at once.
Unable to be with people in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem, Cana, Bethany, Ephraim, Jericho, and Samaria at the same time, Jesus walked more than 3,000 miles during his three-year ministry. It was in Capernaum that He drove an evil spirit out of a man and healed both Simon Peter’s mother and the paralytic who came through the roof. To raise the widow’s son, however, He had to be in Nain and, when He healed the paralytic by the pool of Bethesda, he was near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. He healed those ten lepers somewhere along the border between Samaria and Galilee, had to go clear across the Sea of Galilee to the Gerasenes region to heal the demon-possessed man, and was north of Tyre and Sidon when He was approached by the Syrophoenician woman. Jesus couldn’t be with Martha, Mary, and the dying Lazarus in Bethany while He was with the disciples a day’s journey from Jerusalem. When He lived as a man, Jesus was only Immanuel, “God with Us,” to those who were physically near Him.
When Jesus died on the cross, He didn’t leave us alone the way the spouses of so many of my friends have; He returned three days later. When He ascended into heaven, He didn’t lose touch with us as often happens when people move. He certainly didn’t abandon us the way my grandfather did to his family. Although Jesus died, rose, and ascended into heaven, He never really left us because He gave us His Holy Spirit! His Spirit is with every one of us, all the time, no matter where we are or what we’re doing. No longer confined to a body or limited by time or space, Jesus is, indeed, Immanuel: God with Us.
The best news is that, unlike my grandfather who never came back for his children, Jesus will return!
God took Heaven’s best—the Lord Jesus Christ—to redeem earth’s worst! [Billy Graham]
In Psalm 23, the King James version translates the original Hebrew “gay tsalmaveth” as “valley of the shadow of death.” A more accurate translation, however, would be a dark valley or a valley of death-like darkness. While people often associate this psalm with death, it uses the metaphor of sheep and their shepherd and sheep have no concept of death. But, because of their near-sightedness and poor depth perception, they are reluctant to move into dark places. Nevertheless, whether referring to the unknown, danger, or even death, David’s words are ones of comfort and hope to all who read them—we are not alone as we travel through the dark valleys of life.
Just finishing its 5th season, the Food Network’s “Outrageous Pumpkins” features remarkable pumpkin artistry. This year’s competition matched up 14 of the nation’s best carvers into teams and challenged them to create over-the-top pumpkin creations. The pumpkin artists created horrific nightmares, constructed grisly crime scenes, and fashioned monstrous mechanical battling beasts. Using everything from melon ballers to huge saws, they they sculpted extraordinary and intricate ghouls, witches, wizards, goblins, werewolves, and monsters. As someone who is severely pumpkin-challenged (and eventually purchased a permanent Jack O-Lantern complete with an electric light), I’m amazed by the skill of these artists.
Many years ago, my two boys were playing at their grandparents’ house. While Grandpa worked in the garden, the brothers climbed up into the apple tree and started to throw apples at him. A patient man, their grandfather told them to stop and, when more apples came whizzing at him, he offered a sterner warning. After briefly stopping their barrage, the rascals were unable to resist the temptation and chucked more apples at Grandpa. To their surprise, this gentle and loving man turned around, picked up some apples, and returned fire. Having played ball as a boy, Gramps had a strong throwing arm and excellent aim. He didn’t pull any punches as he pitched those apples back at his grandsons. The boys, unable to maneuver easily in the tree, quickly learned the meaning of “as easy as shooting fish in a rain barrel.” When they called, “Stop, Grandpa, it hurts!” he replied, “Yes, I know it does, but you needed to learn that!” It wasn’t until those hard apples hit their bodies that the youngsters understood how much their disobedience hurt their grandfather (both physically and emotionally).
Making the point that wisdom is better than strength, the sage Agur spoke of the wisdom of ants, locusts, lizards, and sāphān. Often translated as badgers, rock-badgers, hyraxes, conies, or marmots, the animal’s exact identity is unknown but commentators suspect it to be the Syrian rock hyrax. Looking like a cross between a rabbit, guinea pig, and meerkat, these social animals gather in colonies of up to 80 individuals. Sleeping and eating together, they live in the natural crevices of rocks and boulders or take over the abandoned burrows of other animals.
Devotions of the Heart 