Thursday Devotional - Faithful God when Confusion Continues (5/18/23)

Habakkuk was certainly confused by God’s plan to use the Babylonians to punish Judah! He took all his questions directly to God. He first acknowledged God’s eternal, holy, just and Sovereign character.

Habakkuk 1:12-2:1 LORD, are you not from everlasting?

    My God, my Holy One, you will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
¹³ Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
¹⁴ You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
¹⁵ The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
    he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.
¹⁷ Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?

2:1 I will stand at my watch
    and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

I love how Habakkuk first remembered God’s attributes before he relayed his additional questions. Then, he resolved to expectantly wait for God’s second response! I want to do the same with some issues going on in my life.

It’s always comforting to focus on God’s attributes first. It helps me have a better perspective. We have been dealing with several issues (for years) with one of our children. As much as we pray for help and try different approaches, things don’t seem to improve. In fact, it seems some issues have gotten worse and not better! I know it isn’t a surprise to God and He has a plan. I want to be like Habakkuk and station myself above the chaos (“station myself on the ramparts”) to be able to clearly hear God’s answer and direction for next steps.

How about you? What situation is frustrating or confusing to you right now? Will you take time to first praise God for who He is and list out His attributes? Then, take your honest questions to him and position yourself in a place to clearly hear His response.

Alice

Listening As God Would

 

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.  Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.  So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.  John 1:19-21

Isn’t it a great discovery when God shows you how much you have grown in the Spirit?  Over this past week, I have had several challenging discussions.  They were often with people I disagreed with, and a few have hurled some very nasty accusations at me.  In that moment, I tried to realize how damaging it would be to travel down a similar path with them.  In one the midst of one conversation, a person was describing a hardship they were experiencing.  I was preparing to answer with a ‘well, if you would have done this’ speech.  However, I paused, and just listened to understand what they were feeling.  I empathized with and prayed for them.  At the end of the conversation, they thanked me for listening and being of comfort to them.  That is not normally me or at least had not been for most of my life.  But somehow, God reminded me what mattered at that moment.  It was to be there for them and not to lecture on what they should have done.

Listening with the heart of God leads to compassion and loving of others.  In reading today’s verses, there were two parts that I focused on.  The first, focusing on quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry, shows the wisdom of God’s word.  Listening is the easy part.  Or so one would be led to believe.  Being slow to speak and/or get angry are at times very challenging, but if you struggle with either or both issues, they are incredible impediments to listening.  If you want to talk more, you are inherently listening less, and if you are upset, it makes it incredibly difficult to focus on what is being said.  It all makes sense.  This is a prime example of what Paul wrote saying, “ I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” (Romans 7:15)  This is the where spiritual growth comes into play.  In remembering those times where we ‘do what we hate,’ we should ask questions. What drove me to that poor outcome?  Anger?  Need to get words in?  Strong opinion?  A bit of self-reflection goes a long way in knowing what prevented listening from occurring.

The second part of the verses I focused on is humbly accepting the word God plants in our hearts.  This is where spiritual growth occurs.  We are to first be humble.  No one likes to admit they are wrong, but humility in this case is the willingness to accept you are not God. As I mentioned last week, we all want control, but we must be willing to accept He is in control.  His cup is greater than ours.  Should we accept that, only then can our hearts be transformed to His heart.  The book of Ezekiel says it best:

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.  Ezekiel 36:26-27

God’s word is perfect.  It not only gives us structure and order but also shows love and compassion.  To go against it leads to strife and challenges.  But should we learn and grow from it, we can be both better and a shining example to others of what a Christ driven life is like.  Today, let us first listen to God’s word and then, be an ear to others showing the same love and patience He has for us.  How can you be a better listener like God is for you?  What impedes your ability to hear others?  My prayer is that the next time someone asks to talk, we remove our own agendas and listen to others as God would.  Amen.

The Art Of Listening

His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”

He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.  To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.  That is why I use these parables,

For they look, but they don’t really see.
    They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.”  Matthew 13:10-13

 When do you speak?  When do you listen?  These have been questions in my mind for most of my life.  When I was young, I would run into the house library where my mom was on a conference call with her government colleagues.  Before I could say a word, she would raise up her pointer finger.  That meant for me not to talk and wait patiently until she was done.  Sometimes, it would only be for a moment.  Other times, it felt like hours.  Once, I actually fell asleep on the floor waiting for her to be done.  However on other occasions when I was fully alert, I would watch her negotiate and debate issues with her esteemed coworkers.  It was fascinating listening to her.  In the process as I grew older, it also taught me to be a rather good listener.  For example, I learned to pause before speaking whenever it seemed a person and me were both talking at the same time.  It would also make sense that you should let a person talk 75% of the time for greater understanding of what to say.  All of this is probably funny to many who know me because they will tell you I can talk with the best of people.  But it was only because I was always willing to listen first.  The same applies when it comes to God. 

We must always prepare ourselves to listen to what He has in store for us.  In today’s verses, Jesus shared with His disciples the purpose behind His parables.  It forced them to pay attention and hear what He had to say.  It also required greater thinking to thoroughly understand what He wanted them to learn.  It is great to talk with God about our troubles and shower Him with praises.  But every so often, I find myself doing all that and not really listening to what He wants me to do.  Perhaps I read something and might dismiss it or hear His prompting but fail to act.  Listening to God is the only way to acquire wisdom.  Prime example.  Have you ever tried to read a book with someone trying to talk to you?  It is far easier to reflect on what is read in a nice quiet place than amidst calamity about you.  More importantly, how much do you retain when uninterrupted versus interrupted?  The point is if you are busy talking to God or listening to other things, how can you truly hear Him?  And if you cannot hear Him, how can you acquire the wisdom He provides?  How can you pause and reflect to understand what it all means? 

God expects us to listen to Him.  Put another way and as today’s verses point out, we cannot be close to God unless we gain knowledge of who He is.  The importance of this lies in verses from the book of Proverbs, where it says:

Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,
    the one who gains understanding.
For wisdom is more profitable than silver,
    and her wages are better than gold.  Proverbs 3:13-14

Wisdom and understanding are the true currencies in the Kingdom of God.  As such, let us focus our attention spending time on what God is saying to us.  Do you dedicate time to ensure you are listening to Him?  What techniques allow you to best meditate on what God is telling you?  My prayer is that we utilize time and efforts toward hearing God through the art of listening.  Amen.

Thursday Devotional - Chasing after the Wind of Sounding Good

Some of us are naturally bigger talkers than others. Even those of us that don’t talk as much still need to be careful what we say. In fact, when it comes to talking to God, we’re to listen more than we speak.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7        ^]Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

² Do not be quick with your mouth,
    do not be hasty in your heart
    to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
    and you are on earth,
    so let your words be few.
³ A dream comes when there are many cares,
    and many words mark the speech of a fool.

⁴ When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. ⁵ It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. ⁶ Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷ Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.

We’re to be careful when making promises before God. We’re also to stand in awe and listen to God more than speak ourselves. He does want to hear from us in prayer, but He has lots to tell us – through His word and through quiet moments. One of my friend’s favorite verses is:

Psalm 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

Where can you and I go this week to be still before God? How will you and I take time to truly listen rather than spending most of our time telling Him our ideas?

Alice

Listen And Learn

A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.”

But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”

Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.”

But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!”

Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”

She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”

“Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.  Matthew 15:22-28

When I was a teenager, an early mentor of mine told me to always listen because you never when you might learn something.  It was also a necessity because my mother would have conference calls talking with colleagues from home, and I had to literally sit at times for almost an hour before I could actually speak to her.  I guess that’s where I got my sense of patience as well, and as strange as it seems, those two things would be invaluable attributes that help me to connect to people.  Why?  People want two things no matter if it is with a stranger or their spouse of over fifty years.  They want to be heard, and they want to feel valued.  To take time out to listen to someone serves that purpose because there is no more precious commodity than . . . time.  When we speak about solving problems, we cannot start unless we truly understand the issue.  What is wrong?  Why do you feel that way?  How can I help?  These are questions that we as Christians should be asking all of the time.  However when speaking to Millennials, it often feels like . . . well preaching.  When I have a conversation with my twelve year old daughter, I tend to preach first and ask second, and I need to get better at listening.   When we talk about the church being in a crisis with Millennials, we talk from a place of what we know, which is what our parents and our experiences taught us.  That’s not all bad.  However, we can’t solve this crisis preaching the Gospel first.  We can by sharing it, but we can’t share without first listening.

Jesus teaches us to listen and understand before acting.  The story of Gentile woman with great faith showed Jesus’ ability to turn listening into a teachable moment.  Here was a woman pleading with Jesus to heal her possessed daughter.  I read as the disciples urged Him to send her away, and how Jesus said nothing for a while.  Then, He said, “I was sent ONLY to help God’s lost sheep – the people of Israel.”  One might ask, “Why would Jesus exclude her just because she was not a Jew?”  This is part of the teaching because His audience was not just the Gentile woman.  It was His disciples.  When Jesus seemingly ends the discussion saying, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs,” we are almost left speechless.  This feels like our response to those who have chosen not to believe, right?  Why would we take time away from those who share our belief and spend it on you, the non-believer?  Then her response, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table,” is the most amazing and dare I say ‘perfect’ response.  What could Jesus say?  He did not dismiss her saying, “I’m the Son of God, I do not need to hear this.”  She had acknowledged Jesus as Lord, ‘master,’ and her authority figure.  He listened, and acknowledged her faith.    If we acknowledge Jesus as God, He is all knowing, and thus, He knew the response was coming from the woman.  He wants us to see that all can come to Him no matter where they came from!  It was that teachable moment for the disciples that God is God to all who would acknowledge Him as Lord of their lives, but we cannot acknowledge others without first doing as Jesus did and listen.

Spreading the Good News of Jesus requires us to understand where people are first.  Our mission then becomes to share how God can help them where they are and not condemn them for where they are.  If we are to help those who choose not to believe, our response must be to first listen and hear their pain, frustrations, and concerns of where God fits in their life.  Only then can we truly share the Good News.  Do you know someone who has rejected the Gospel?  Have you taken time out to understand why?  My prayer and challenge is that we are willing to do what we Jesus knew all along; listen and learn.  Amen.

Split Decisions

 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.  But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.  Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.  James 1:5-8

As much as I love the Lord and follow Him, there are times that I struggle with the latter.  It is not because I do not want to follow God.  Instead, I feel torn between the love I have for my fellow man and the love I have for God.  It explains why I really struggle with condemnation.  Sure, we all must be accountable for our sins and grow to be better advocates for God.  But there are people who I love dearly, and God has said that they are living in sin.  That’s a tough pill to swallow!  Thus, my world feels like it is unstable.  These are the times I realize my spiritual growth is a continual work in progress.

The word of God is meant to be a spiritual guide.  We all have situations where we are either unsure of what to do or how to respond on a spiritual matter.  The words of James thus seem to be words of condemnation for those in that divided world.  In fact, lots of the Book of James seems like it (ex. Faith is dead without good works – James 2:26b).  However, these are words of guidance and clarity.  If we look at these verses through that lens, one receives God’s wisdom in reading it, and thus is not in the ‘should not expect to receive anything from the Lord’ camp.  The words are welcome to the troubled and torn because they give direction.  We must look at the word of God, and pray that we find guidance in it and have both the courage and conviction to follow it.

Following God is not meant to be easy as Jesus said, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.” (Matthew 7:13)  But do not be discouraged by your past and current struggles for after telling Peter he would deny Him, Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.  There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:1-2)  It is ok to struggle with things God says to us.  The key is to keep walking toward Him.  Never give up.  Never lose faith.  What is your struggle with God today?  How will you continue to rely on God when split between God and the world?  My prayer is that we continually challenge ourselves to rely on God when facing split decisions.  Amen.

Your Servant is Listening

So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”

Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”  1 Samuel 3:8-10

We live in a world that is fast paced and ever changing. We are pushed to do more with less, and situations force us to give them our entire attention. With all that goes about me, I find it difficult at times to not only speak to God but also and more importantly to hear Him. Now I realize that God does not speak to me all of the time, and there may be some of you out there who may have never heard God speak at all. But He does speak, and if you are in tune to Him, He speaks a lot! But how can one hear God when all about them is going on? For me, I have to find a moment where there is utter and complete silence. I have to be careful the voice I hear is not the one in my head. You know that voice. The same voice that tells you to eat a bunch of Doritos even if you know they are not good for you. God’s voice is distinct, and is the voice of love, guidance, and discipline. But how are we to know when God is speaking to us?

We will hear God speak to us only if we are willing to receive Him. This story of Samuel is one of my favorites for we all at times wonder what voice we are hearing is. What Eli, Samuel’s Dad, said should not be lost in understanding these verses. How often have we tried to mute out God’s voice saying to ourselves, “I know what is best for me,” or, “I do not wish to hear you?” If we were to follow what Eli said to his son answering, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening,” God will speak clearly to us. Sometimes, He might say “Don’t worry about the obstacles you see in front of you. Trust in me. I am with you!” Other times, He will say, “This is wrong, and you know it.” Just like preparation is the key to success, we too must prepare our hearts and minds to receive God’s word in both writing and thought. Then, you will hear God’s voice in situations where you have doubt, and then see His awesome power create changes in your life.

We must always be receptive to the voice of God. With the many distractions the world places in our way, we must be vigilant in ensuring we do what is necessary to connect with Him. So if you feel you need to hear from God, take a walk by yourself. Go to a quiet place in your house. And yes, even take a long drive if necessary. What is God calling you to do today? How will ensure you are receptive to God’s voice? My prayer is that when God speaks, we like Samuel are willing to answer, “Speak, your servant is listening.” Amen.