Thursday Devotional - Faithful God through the Holy Spirit (3/16/23)

Remember how angry Naaman was??? I think the Holy Spirit humbled him and he listened to the advice of his servants.  

II Kings 5:14-16 ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

¹⁵ Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

¹⁶ The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

I think God used the frustrations in Naaman’s life to prepare him to understand who the Living and True God is! Now that Naaman is healed, he does truly acknowledge God and gives God all the glory!!!

How might God be using the Holy Spirit in your life to humble you through a frustrating situation? Like Naaman, let’s allow God to change our anger into humble submission to His will, even when what He asks us to do doesn’t make sense.  

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God is With Us in Our Confusion

Sarah got a positive COVID test result yesterday and James was beside himself. He questioned  why God allowed it and why I wasn’t upset. (I think he’s also scared about getting it himself, since he has asthma).

I told James I didn’t know why God allowed it, but I know He’s in control, has a plan and will be with us through it.

Similarly, Peter was confused and angry about Jesus’s upcoming suffering.

Matthew 16:21-23      From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

As much as it didn’t make sense to Peter in his limited human understanding, God had a much bigger and better plan.

God was with Peter through his confusion and anger. God is available to be with you and me through our confusion. We can take our questions to Him. Then, let’s look beyond our “merely human concerns” and look for God’s plan.

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.

Thurs Devo - Questioning God's Choice (Part II)

Growing up, did you ever call your brother or sister a bad name? If your parents heard it, what did they do?

As we read last week, Miriam and Aaron did far worse than just calling Moses a bad name. They spoke against him as God's chosen leader. Of course, the Lord heard it and rightly burned with anger.

Numbers 12:4-9

⁴ At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out.⁵ Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward,⁶ he said, “Listen to my words:

“When there is a prophet among you,
    I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
    I speak to them in dreams.
⁷ But this is not true of my servant Moses;
    he is faithful in all my house.
⁸ With him I speak face to face,
    clearly and not in riddles;
    he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
    to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹ The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.

Moses had a special relationship with God. Moses was also obedient to follow God's commands and God Himself called Moses faithful! I don't know that God would have called Miriam and Aaron faithful. They certainly didn't lead the people in following God's commands for the 40 days Moses was on Mt. Sinai. Aaron even aided in creating the golden calf (see Exodus 32).

Who of God's chosen leaders have you and I spoken against, whether verbally or just to ourselves?

Have you and I thought we could do their job just as good or better? I know sometimes I have.

From verses 1-2, it appears Miriam and Aaron did not take their concerns to Moses or God. They just pridefully spoke against Moses to others and tried to elevate their own status themselves.

Instead of speaking against our own leaders or pridefully thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, lets take our concerns to God. If we are willing to listen to the answer, He will show us how best to move forward and handle our frustrations in a humble and godly way. God may have us sit down with the other person and respectfully discuss some of our frustrations. Or, He may show us that we need to humbly submit to their authority. Or He may have us offer our assistance.

God's servants are God's servants. So, God knows best how we are to work together to accomplish His purposes.

Alice