Advent Waiting

“Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord,

the Creator of the ends of the earth,

neither faints nor is weary,

His understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the weak,

and to those who have no might

He increases strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary,

and the young men shall utterly fall,

but those who wait on the Lord

shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.”

    Isaiah 40:28-31 (NKJV)

Advent is a time of waiting, of preparation, of eager anticipation.  There is hustle and bustle over the next few weeks but we know that our waiting will soon be over, Christmas will arrive and we’ll rejoice in celebrating our Savior’s birth once more.

However, other times of waiting may not seem joyful to us.  Instead, anxiety, impatience and uncertainty often fill our hearts while we wait, especially when we’re seeking God’s guidance/direction for a major decision or when we’re longing for an answer to prayer but God seems silent.  Yet the Bible tells us that when we wait on the Lord, He will renew our strength.  If we trust in the sovereignty of God, if we know that the outcome is in His hands, then we can wait with hope and strength.

This passage also reminds us that God’s understanding is unsearchable. Our finite minds struggle to realize that He uses times of waiting for our good—to build our character, to strengthen our faith, to form us more in His image, to accomplish His purposes. It is hard to wait but God’s timing is not our own and we can trust that His timing is best. Even when we pray and pray and don’t seem to get an answer, we must remember that God does not forget His children as we wait for His will to be made known.

I don’t like flying so the idea of having wings like eagles isn’t particularly appealing to me. But I'm comforted by the imagery of being borne up by God and held close to Him as I wait. And by the strength He gives, we can run and not be weary, we can walk and not faint, we can persevere during our seasons of waiting.  Because He is the everlasting and faithful God, we can eagerly anticipate these blessings while we wait, during Advent or any season.  Amen!

Thursday Devotional - Feeling Helpless

My Dad is home from the hospital! He is on high doses of a diuretic and an arrythmia medication. He has a ways to go to recover and regain strength, but he’s glad to be home!

Last night, though, James had another asthma attack. It seems like it has been one health issue after another all Fall (two almost week-long hospital stays for my Dad and several weeks struggling with asthma for James). We’ve done lots of praying for wisdom and direction. God’s the ultimate healer and the only one we can always turn to for help. He’s always listening and always available. 

Psalm 34:1-5, 19-22           

 I will extol the Lord at all times;
    his praise will always be on my lips.
² I will glory in the Lord;
    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
³ Glorify the Lord with me;
    let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame…
 

¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles,
    but the Lord delivers him from them all;
²⁰ he protects all his bones,
    not one of them will be broken.

²¹ Evil will slay the wicked;
    the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
²² The Lord will rescue his servants;
    no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

As verse 19 says, not even the righteous are promised an easy life, but we are promised God will hear and help us through any trouble. Last night, I prayed several times for help and guidance. At different points, I felt helpless and that there wasn’t anything else to try. After several breathing treatments (medication and steam) over the course of a couple hours and a hot shower to try to help James, God did bring to mind a couple more things to try (Motrin and a humidifier). Finally James was able to fall asleep. Then, I finally started breathing better myself (and was able to sit down to write the devotional for today)! 😊

Where are you feeling helpless? Will you turn to God for help, listen for His answers and then give Him the glory? The book of Psalms is a great place to go for encouragement. Many of the Psalms that David wrote were while he was helplessly hiding from Saul and fleeing for his life (over the course of several years). He praised God in the midst of it all and knew Who to go to for help!  

Alice

  

Righteous Anger

Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” Matthew 21:12-13 NLT

Is it ever right to display anger?  As I am raising my youngest child, I have found that there are typically four levels of dealing with things she has done wrong.  There is the first level where I must talk about where she went wrong, and going forward, provide guidance on the right way.  In these cases, it is not major.  Call this the ‘threw the recyclable paper in the wrong bin’ wrong.  Then there is the situation where the consequences of her mistake have more gravity, and thus, the conversation gets a bit more serious.  There may be a punishment or discipline given based on this level.  This would be the ‘carelessly broke my favorite glass’ wrong.  Next, there is the ‘you know what you should have done, and yet, you chose not to’ wrong.  This tends to be the defiant and rebellious choice that has severe consequences (ex. Coming home at 11 when curfew was 9:30).  Let’s qualify this as the ‘playing indoors and hitting the 55” HD TV’ wrong.  These all can be dealt typically with discussion and dialogue as to things done and better choices that needed to be made.   However, the last level is a dangerous one.  It’s the one with serious consequences and she is lucky to not be in far more serious danger or harm. Call it the ‘She stole a car?!?!‘ wrong.  In these cases, the response will have no two-way dialogue.  The punishment is severe regardless of the outcome, and is usually met with a reaction rarely ever scene.  I think of it as ‘The house is on fire – GET OUT’ reaction.  The intent is for my daughter to understand this is one thing that must never ever happen again.  Whether you’re a parent or been on the receiving end, one can understand another’s anger in this situation. 

This brought me to reflecting on God’s righteous anger, and how it is to help us never fall into those circumstances again.  In reading today’s verses, there are a couple of things that struck me.  The first thing was the wrongness of the people.  The people in the temple selling animals were like those false evangelicals on TV peddling a ‘prayer cloth’ guaranteed to help God hear your prayers for $20.  I know it sounds silly, but there are people who believe in these things.  Through my bible study, someone helped me reflect on another perspective, which was Jesus’ reaction. Reading His knocking things over, you can imagine this near crazed response of anger from Jesus.  When we think of anger, God’s word speaks of it as sinful as Ephesians 4:26-27 (And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.)  However, there are numerous times where God was angry with His people, and thus carried out His wrath when they were sinful (ex. Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 and Lamentations 2:1).  The principle here is to understand that God hates sin in all forms.  He is loving of us, and His righteous discipline will vary from multiple warnings to one swift and decisive response.  Our goal is to always look to walk in a way that shows our love for and submittal to Him living our lives free of sin.  That is not to say we will not sin, but our walk of faith both mirrors an understanding of His authority and focuses on a life He would expect of us.

God’s love is both awe inspiring and overwhelming, and it can bring us to our knees. Like a loving parent, His anger toward us is never intended to hurt us.  It is a reminder how precious we are to Him, and we can live a life filled with His love and blessings.  It is to correct us toward living a life that is for Him, and that He alone is indeed enough for us.  Let us focus on understanding why God’s discipline is just and not questioning His judgment.  When you have sinned, are you repentant to God?  What lessons have you learned from God’s disciplining of you or others?  My prayer is that we learn to understand the love God has for us when He shows His righteous anger.  Amen.

Better Measurement

Hello,
So often in life we face choices that have us scratching our heads wondering which choice is the better choice. Not the choices of good vs bad – but choices where no option feels inherently bad. So, how do we decide what is better? What is the measurement we should use in these cases? Let’s look at a couple examples from Scripture:

• 1 Peter 3:14-17 “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ” (NASB)

• Luke 10:38-42 “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”” (NASB)

In the 1 Peter passage we see that the better choice is clearly aligned with doing what is good and right over that which is evil. And we are not to weigh short term consequences, but rather give preference to a longer perspective in terms of eternity (which by the way, does last forever….)

In the passage in Luke, we see that Martha is not doing anything bad – just trying to be a great host for the honored guest. But, Jesus shows that we are to value our time with Him. By saying that Mary had chosen what was better we can also see that we are to be focused on fixing and preparing our hearts rather than just an outside appearance.

I think these are great measurements of a better choice – and easily applied to our lives.

1. Is one pleasing to God vs. against His word?
2. If both are pleasing to God, which one focuses on fixing and preparing our hearts and shows the value of time with God?

I pray this challenges and encourages you today.

Will Hill

Dating Profile

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

If you had to create a dating profile for your Christian walk, what would it say about you?  Would you have a very generic profile with the best picture that you could possibly find or would it really tell who you are and have an every day picture?  Would it conform to the world and how they look at dating or would it be able to be tested and approved for what God’s will is?

Ten years ago today I went on a first date with a man who almost didn’t get a date with me, because his online dating profile was very generic.  I thought he was no different than the rest of the guys out there, looking for just one thing, which was not going to get him a date with me.  His initial note to me was simple and stated that he was interested in me.  I wrote him back explaining that based off his profile, I saw no reason that I would be interested in him.  This fueled him to then reply with a book about how much we had in common.  How based off my profile, he knew we would be a good match as Christ was the center of both of our lives and that we were not of the world as many people are. 

Fast forward ten years later, I am now married to that amazing man. 

It could have all been very different however if my profile would have been generic and conforming with the world’s way of thinking. 

Thinking again about what our profile would be like if we had to create a dating profile for our Christian walk, how many people would swipe past you vs how many would stop and contact you as they were interested in who you said you were?  Would that relationship stand the test of time because you stated who you really are or would it fade as the person got to really know you?