Thursday Devotional - God is With Us in our Search for Understanding

A few weeks ago I was trying to figure out a customer request, but their question wasn’t clear. Fellow co-workers even had different thoughts on what the customer meant. After lots of research and re-reading the customer email a dozen times, I suggested we ask the customer for further clarification.  

Similarly, when the disciples were confused by Jesus’s teaching, they went to Him for understanding (instead of making assumptions based on their limited understanding).

Matthew 13:1-3, 10-15         That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed…¹⁰The disciples came to him [Jesus] and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” ¹¹He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹²Those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance.  As for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³This is why I speak to them in parables: …¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. ¹⁵For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’”       Matthew 13:1-3, 10-15

As the disciples went to Jesus with their questions, He gave them greater understanding! He can do the same for you and me! If we start with a small understanding of God and DO use it, apply it, and seek to understand more, He will give us an abundance of His secrets (knowledge of Him, His purposes, and His wisdom)!!! On the flip side, though, if we don’t ever use it, apply it, or seek to understand more, Jesus says even what we already know and understand will be taken away (verse 12).

In the New Year, how will you and I set aside time to seek greater understanding of God’s secrets? He is ready and waiting to give us that next layer!

Alice

Trust & Understanding

 

That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

Solomon replied to God, “You showed great and faithful love to David, my father, and now you have made me king in his place.  O Lord God, please continue to keep your promise to David my father, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth! ¹⁰ Give me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly, for who could possibly govern this great people of yours?”

God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people—  I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”  2 Chronicles 1:7-12

Life is not always as simple as right and wrong.  We are inundated with opinions that conflict one another.  Trust this person.  Don’t trust that person.  Trust that party.  Don’t trust that party.  Stay away from those people.  I love those people.  It starts to ultimately boil down to a simple argument of ‘us vs. them.’  I’m good with that kind of language only when it comes to the Detroit ‘Bad Boys’ vs. the Michael Jordan ‘Bulls’ because that is a basketball game, and for the record, I will always be a ‘Bad Boy for life’ 😊  But do I hate Michael Jordan?  Do I think he is evil?  Absolutely not.  Why?  Didn’t he beat my favorite team?  Did he not ridicule them and ostracize my favorite player?  He did.  So why?  It is really and fairly simple.  First, he is still a human being like me who wanted to do his best and win.  Even as a rival, that is easy to understand.  Second, I must trust that he meant to do good.  Not harm.  There are two beliefs I have in dealing with people.  One, we all want to do our best, and two while we know there is evil in the world, I trust God will guide me to the right people at the right time.  Furthermore, He gave me wisdom to discern who means well who does not.  Is this philosophy perfect?  No.  I am at times flawed in my judgment.  But wisdom is about learning from God and experience.  Not being perfect.

Having trust in God is how one acquires wisdom to both understand and trust others.  In reading the beginning of Solomon’s reign, he is given a choice from God.  He could have anything he wanted.  Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge.  There are a couple of attributes not said here but very important to note.  First is the humility shown by Solomon.  Instead of asking for personal recognition and fame, he asked to better rule his people to whom God entrusted him with.  This speaks to a major principle of our faith: it’s not about us.  It’s about Him.  We are to be humble in our request recognizing that it is from God that all blessing flow.  This bring us to the second attribute: trust.  There is a mutual trust between God and Solomon.  God entrusted Solomon to be King of Israel because He knew Solomon would do well in that role, and Solomon trusted God as a provider knowing that he could not rule without His provision and care.  Is it any wonder that Solomon would write, “Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5 NIV) You see, trusting in God leads to wisdom.  We are to be humble at heart to allow Him into our spirit, and from there all else flows.  Love.  Patience.  Understanding.  Trust.

God gives us all we need if we just trust in Him.  There is so much that we are inundated with that we at times are overwhelmed.  However, if we put our trust in God entirely then how little would we have to worry about?  Jesus said, “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:31-33) This was the trust Solomon had in God.  Let us build a greater trust in Him as well.  Where are you placing your trust in yourself above God?  Do you pray to God for wisdom and understanding in all you do?  My prayer is that we are humble enough to lean into God to gain wisdom and understanding of others.  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.

Seeing & Seeking Understanding

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.  “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” John 9:1-3

I read a passage from a pastor offering two perspectives.  He noted a comment made by an African American author, James Baldwin, which said, “To be black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.”  He then followed up with scripture saying, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)  I was fascinated by this, and thus, circled back to him to ask what he was trying to say.  I’m sure he thought I was trying to start a fight, which I was not.  With that being said, he might not have understood what James Baldwin meant.  Baldwin spoke during a time of oppression, and today, many African Americans still feel some level of this.  This rage is not in the sense of lashing out or destructive.  It is the form of hurt, pain, and frustration with the struggles of inequality, and is often hidden.  Despite this, the overwhelming majority like me live fully productive lives with the inner peace Paul spoke of.  The two thus coexist.  It’s a perspective that if heard the right way can help one understand and grow further to help other brothers in Christ.

God often places us in circumstances so that we can grow in our faith.  I have read today’s verses multiple times.  I always focused on the miracle.  However, I recently read a different perspective on this.  The beauty of Jesus’s teaching here was twofold.  First, He wanted to show God’s work in the blind man.  This went beyond just giving him sight.  It also spoke to the man’s appreciation for what God did for him.  Second, it was for the disciples themselves to see the suffering of others as opportunities to help and grow in understanding Christ.  Jesus gave them the courage to believe they could truly do things that others would say couldn’t be done.  This would come to fruition after Christ ascended to Heaven.  Peter would later heal a lame man saying, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” (Acts 3:6b)  As Christians, we should always seek understanding of others.  If we come solely from a place of condemnation, we run the risk of misinterpreting what one is saying.  Furthermore if we are too passive, we lose opportunity to share who Jesus Christ is all about.

Being a follower of Christ can be a balancing act.  We are to be strong advocates for Him and His word.  We are also to be compassionate and understanding showing grace as Christ showed us.  I spoke of the struggle we have with sin a week or so ago.  The struggle here is about discerning what is the right amount to apply of both scripture and understanding.  How much understanding must I show versus what word of God I must deliver?  Well, that is what spiritual growth is all about, isn’t it?  Let us be willing to endure the growing pains of learning to be more Christ-like not only to others but also within ourselves.  Whose perspective do you find difficult to understand?  What situations must you better balance God’s word with His heart?  My prayer is that like the blind man we can open our eyes to better see and like the disciples seek understanding.  Amen.

Thursday Devotional - Relying on Our Understanding

Have you ever made a simple decision based on the information you knew, but later found out it wasn’t the right decision? Maybe you made assumptions that weren’t correct because you didn’t have ALL the information. I did that recently…

Earlier this year I had talks with James about getting his schoolwork done at school instead of goofing off and talking. He’s bright and quick and I knew he had plenty of time allotted to complete it. He eventually stopped bringing home 4 full pages of kindergarten homework! However, he continued to bring home 1 full page of math homework, which frustrated me (especially since he complained about having to do it after he got home). Instead of checking with the teacher, I kept blaming him, knowing it had to be his fault. Later, I found out the teacher intentionally sent home 1 full page of homework each day!!!  

Well, Joshua, too, made a decision relying on his own understanding…

Joshua 9:3-8, 14-15            ³ However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, ⁴ they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. ⁵ They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. ⁶ Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”

⁷ The Israelites said to the Hivites, “But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?”

⁸ “We are your servants,” they said to Joshua.

But Joshua asked, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

⁹ They answered: “Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the Lord your God. For we have heard reports of him: all that he did in Egypt… ¹⁴ The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord.¹⁵ Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.

Joshua wasn’t to make a treaty with people who lived nearby. He knew that, but didn’t realize the Gibeonites were deceiving him. He relied on his own understanding. Like Joshua, we can read and know God’s commands but fail to act on them. We can still fall back on relying on our own understanding instead of praying and asking God for wisdom and direction. It may seem like a no brainer and easy decision, but we’re to go to Him for everything both big and small.

How can you and I remember that each and everyday with all of our decisions?

Alice