Our Majestic Lord

“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name

in all the earth, who have set Your glory above

the heavens! 

“Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ordained strength because of Your

enemies, that You may silence the enemy and

the avenger.

“When I consider Your heavens, the work of

Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which

You have ordained, what is man that You

are mindful of him, and the son of man that

You visit him? For You have made him a

little lower than the angels, and You have

crowned him with glory and honor.

“You have made him to have dominion

over the works of You hands; You have put

all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen—

even the beasts of the field, the birds of the

air, and the fish of the sea that pass through

the paths of the seas.

“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name

in all the earth!”

     Psalm 8 (NKJV)

This psalm extols the glory of the Lord in His creation.  When we ponder the vastness and intricacy of creation, we feel so small.  To think that God Almighty who made heaven and earth knows us by name is almost too much to comprehend.  We wonder, as the psalmist does, how can it be that our great God is mindful of us?  The fact that we bear His image, that He wants a personal relationship with each one, gives us even more reason to pause and marvel. Then we remember that His beloved Son came down and lived among us, and we realize that we are so very blessed.  Not only does He visit us but He gave His life for us at the cross so that we may have peace and joy and hope and life, now and forever if we trust in Him.

Take a moment to ponder these blessings with a grateful heart. Purpose every day to give God glory for His marvelous creation as you enjoy the majesty of the breaking dawn or the delicate beauty of a flower garden or the power of a great thunderstorm.  And when all the world seems in chaos and our lives have become topsy-turvy, it is a great comfort to remember that God Almighty is not only our Creator but our Sustainer.  He is still Sovereign and He cares for His children. So with all the hosts in heaven, let us sing His praises for His name is excellent in all the earth!

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Thursday Devotional - Smart, yet Insane?

Have you ever been told it is insane to believe in Jesus as your Savior?

You may have heard someone say that faith is for the weak and unintelligent. It isn’t, but it is certainly for the humble. Prideful and arrogant people don’t want to admit they are nothing without God.

As Paul was speaking to all the educated and powerful people in Jerusalem and Caesarea, they recognized his great learning and intelligence. It confused especially Festus, though. Paul’s humility and selflessness, because of his faith in God, was “abnormal” for someone of his intelligence.

Acts 26:20-25 ²⁰ First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I [Paul] preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. ²¹ That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. ²² But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— ²³ that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴ At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.”

²⁵ “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable.

Do people see your faith as “abnormal” for someone who is intelligent? My sister was once asked how she could be so smart and yet believe in God.

Anyone can be knowledgeable, but a truly wise person is fully surrendered and dependent on God, their Creator and Sustainer! It isn’t insane. As Paul states, it’s “true and reasonable!”

Alice

Turn On The Switch

“And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”  And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?”  Luke 18:3-7 

There was a book that I often refer to called Switch.  It focuses on how to create change when change is hard.  It speaks of the dynamic of three key elements.  There is the rider, the elephant, and the path.  The rider represents our rational side of things.  The elephant represents the emotional side, and the path speaks about the environmental factors.  The goal is to ‘instruct’ the rider, ‘motivate’ the elephant, and ‘shape’ the path.  I will put it into current relevant context.  When we look at what has been happening over the George Floyd incident, all three dynamics are in play.  First, there is the rider.  The rider sees the video, and thinks, “Who in their right mind lays on someone for over 8 minutes to arrest a person?  That is ridiculously wrong!”  Now, there is the elephant, who reacts, “They are killing him!  We have to do something!!!”  Notice the difference between the two?  The path becomes movement toward change.  As we have seen, there were many pathways chosen.  Some were lawless and destructive such as rioting and looting.  Others chose the lengthy processes of pushing for legislation and ideas such as police reform.  Then there were the marches and peaceful protests.  These have proven to be the most impactful because it not only caused less damage but placed great pressure on others to act because of the sheer momentum of people that joined the cause.  That has become the chosen ‘path.’  Having said all this, I began to wonder.  Why is all of this happening now, and where is God in all of this? 

God is a lever for change when the time suits His will.  Police brutality has been happening for decades, but no one acted on it.  Why?  It reminds me of the story of Moses in his talk with God, and God saying, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering.” (Exodus 3:7)  Getting back to the ‘Switch’ model, there was no motivation to change policing in most people’s eyes (an elephant problem), and others had no vision for what changes were needed (a rider problem).  The sadness of this all is that it took something so heinous and obvious that people could neither ignore the vision (all are created equal – a rider solution) nor sit idle and accept it (need to right the wrong – an elephant solution).  This bring us to where God’s plan comes in.  What does God’s path look like?  To be able to understand it, we must first trust in God to guide us for as Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  Next, we are to pray continually for our journey and path to be taken. 1 Thessalonians 5:16:18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Finally, we must act with the love of God.  Today’s verses are about action.  Whether it be through marches, financial support, volunteering, or other way of supporting the cause, we are to be as persistent as the widow.  No man can withstand the will of God if He is with us.  This is how God’s will is done. 

God’s work requires many elements to make change for His Kingdom and our lives.  It requires wisdom to see His vision, the strength to love to move mountains, and submitting to guide us toward His will being done.  Many will disagree that God does not need us to make societal change.  However, if that were true why did He use Moses?  Wouldn’t Goliath have been slain without David?  Would we need Jesus to act on our behalf to free us from the bondage of sin?  Jesus understood the power of action stating: 

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” Matthew 25:37-40 

Let us move boldly and relentlessly to achieve that which God would want for all of us.  Where is your vision to change lacking?  What is your heart prompting you to change?  My prayer is we lean on God as listed earlier in Proverbs, and simply turn on the ‘Switch.’  Amen. 

The Day After

Friday, I took the opportunity to celebrate Juneteenth offered by Thomson Reuters. It's not a holiday celebrated around me, so I took some time to reflect on how it impacts me, and what I learn from it. I blogged on my personal blog, and shared how it breaks my heart, how I see that I need to speak to the problem, and live differently. I had to confess a very incomplete sense of what it is like for others, others of color, others of all sorts of differences, actually, to grow up in and live daily in this country.

I get a wide variety of traffic on my blog, but that day I had nearly no traffic at all. It was oddly surreal, as if the silence belied an unseen peril. I suppose that's the real danger with all that has gone on recently, the silence that follows. We don't know what to do with it, how to live differently, how to address the deep issues effectively. There is this struggle to overcome hopelessness and futility, but it's all part of the illusion. How can we, as disciples of Jesus, the Savior of the world, be without hope?

Something I called out in my blog entry from Friday was the demonic aspect of the racial divisions in this country. There is a heritage of this demonic evil pervasive in people claiming Jesus as their Savior. If you are interested in what I mean by that, you can check out the entry at Wordpress. I want to move passed what said there to an application from Hebrews 13.

In Hebrews 13, the writer switches his style from this meticulous classical argument structure to a staccato list of things to do. It's kind of abrupt, but that's probably why the chapter break was chosen to be where it is. But right out of the chute, he lists the following cohortatives:

Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body. (Hebrews 13:1-3 NASB)

It's pretty simple, right? Love our fellow disciples, show hospitality for strangers, and identify with prisoners. But think about it, isn't this exactly what's been missing? Actually, that's generalizing where specifics demonstrate that these qualities are happening across the globe: People are demonstrating cross-racial love for each other, often in terms of welcoming racially diverse people into their communities, and the identifying with the oppressed has erupted in other countries, as well as here in the US.

These three things, love, hospitality, and remembering, do not solve the problem for an entire nation. But, they do for us, as people, as disciples, as collections of disciples, and communities of disciples. These three things are a great place to start for us. If, like me, you are part of those who didn't grow up as a person of color, then this is a great way to bridge the divide and reach out to others, different, yet so like us. If you are a person of color, this might be a great way to experience healing and acceptance. All three require vulnerability and trust, two things that are so difficult to choose when the pain and shame is deep. 

We miss opportunities to entertain those celestial messengers of our King when we choose to be vulnerable and trust others. We deny our own bodily identity with the oppressed when we refuse to be vulnerable and trust our Father in Heaven. We rebel against our Savior and King when we choose not to love our fellow disciples, regardless of race, or other differences. What excuse is valid to rebel against our Creator? What could possibly excuse our refusal to be vulnerable and our distrust of our King? 

So, let us seek ways to show our love for our fellow disciples. Let us welcome others, regardless of race, creed, or "orientation" into our lives. Let us identify with those oppressed as ones oppressed with them, because, in a sense, when they are, we truly are as well. And not to identify with the oppressed to deny our Savior and His path laid out for us by His life.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation