Above the Clouds

Today's devotion comes from a devotion book called Loved Beyond Measure

Psalm 103:11
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.

"Are we there yet?"  If you've ever traveled with young children, you've heard this question.  Maybe you still ask it sometimes yourself!

Most of us would ask it more than once if we were to leave Planet Earth to traverse our solar system.  Distances there lie almost beyond our ability to fathom them.  For example, it takes eight minutes for the sun's light to reach our planet.  If the sun were suddenly to stop shining, no one on earth would know it for eight full minutes!

It's not exaggerating to say that our sky stretches quickly up and then out into the enormous expanse of outer space.  When David wrote Psalm 103, he drew on this fact to make a wondrous comparison:

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.  Psalm 103:11

Stop for a moment.  Go to a window.  Look out - and up!  Take in this jaw-dropping truth.  God's steadfast love toward you in Christ is as vast as the cosmos!

In particular, our Lord's immeasurable love belongs to those who "fear him."  This "fear" is not terror; far from it!  Instead, it's the heart attitude of those who cling to God's Word in faith.

Think of this "fear" in terms of "awe."  It's the orientation of those who dread doing anything that would dishonor their heavenly Father..  It's the focus of those who rely on the cross of Christ Jesus for personal and perfect pardon.  It's the obsession of the Father's dearly-loved children to do only and always what makes him smile.

This faith-filled awe is your Savior's gift to you.  He gives it because he wants you to experience the peace of relying on God's rock-solid love.  So go ahead.  Ponder it.  Claim it.  Imagine a love that stretches above the clouds and extends into all eternity.

Lord, teach me to fear and trust you in his way...Amen.

Thurs Devo: Childbirth Concerns

My youngest sister, Mary, is about to give birth to her first child. She’s due on Monday! As exciting as it is, there are still fears and concerns over the many unknowns. When will she go into labor? How bad will the pain be? Will there be complications? Will it be a girl or a boy?
Well, take a look at this delivery situation pictured in Revelation 12: 
Revelation 12:1-6     A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ² She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. ³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. ⁴ Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.⁶ The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
It’s a terrifying picture. There are enough concerns and pains during delivery, without having the added worry that someone is waiting to snatch your baby away. However, God took care of both the baby and the woman! (The baby probably represents Jesus the Messiah and the woman could represent the nation of Israel (inclusive of Mary) or more broadly the people of God). The dragon (definitely Satan, from vs. 9) is no match for God.
This encouraged me to remember that no matter how bleak a situation may seem, God will accomplish His purposes. He sees everything and Satan can’t do anything unless God allows it.
Also, God takes care of His own. Our times in the “wilderness” may be for our protection, and our times of pain may be necessary for the times of blessing to follow. I hear the pains of childbirth are often quickly forgotten when you hold the new precious baby in your arms! (Remember that this coming week, Mary!)

What other encouragement do you and I take from all this?  
Alice

Embracing 'The Hard'

“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.  You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”  Luke 6:35-36

The other day, I was struggling with a situation between colleagues.  We agreed to disagree on a topic, and my frustration grew because this had created friction between us.  Speaking with my wife about it, she told me to say a prayer and God would guide me through it.  My passion was such that I did not want to heed those words, but my mind knew it was the right thing to do.  As I did so, my anger subsided and I began to sort through a better path toward resolving the rift between my colleague and me.  Soon, my heart kicked in, and I began to feel God’s grace for me and in turn mine for my colleague.  This reminded me that spiritual growth always occurs when pushed to do what does not come natural or easy.

God asks us to trust both Him and His teaching above what we would want to do.  The story of Jesus asking us to love our enemies has to be one of the most difficult concepts to embrace.  There can be nothing more difficult than for one to be forgiving of another who had done them wrong.  That’s the beauty of these verses because when faced with such a situation, Jesus asks us to remember our very own circumstances.  We once were the unthankful and wicked rebelling at times against God, and yet, our Heavenly Father was compassionate to us in spite of our being undeserving of it.  Jesus still went on the cross for our sins.  Therefore if we have a true understanding of this compassion, we are able to show love for those who would not ordinarily deserve love.  We able to ‘turn the other cheek’ and ‘do unto others as you would have do unto you.’ (see Luke 6:29-31) 

Our journey of faith was never meant to be easy.  One of my favorite quotes about difficulties comes from the movie ‘A League of Their Own.’  In one of the final scenes, Tom Hanks, who played a washed up baseball player that becomes an inspirational manager, answers one of his players when asked about the difficulty of playing baseball saying:

It’s supposed to be hard.  If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it.  The hard is what makes it great.

Jesus says something very similar to this saying, “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” (Matthew 7:14).  Let us embrace those hard lessons for what we gain in the end is worth our temporary feeling of self-righteousness.  Where can you be more merciful toward those you disagree with?  How can you show God’s love for one you would prefer to be distant from?  My prayer is that when challenged to do something by God, we remember the saying, “The hard is what makes it great.”  Amen.