Sowing in Tears

“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

He who continually goes forth weeping,

bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless

come again with rejoicing, bringing

his sheaves with him.”

    Psalm 126:5-6 (NKJV)

My study Bible indicates that this Psalm rejoices over Israel’s return from exile after the pain of captivity. It describes reaping a joyful return to the land after sowing tears of repentance. 

Israel was an agricultural economy, so often the Bible uses analogies that are agricultural in nature, such as in this psalm. But one commentator I read opined that the tears and joy in this psalm doesn’t really have anything to do with the sowing and reaping.  It’s not that sowing is a sorrowful job in itself or that reaping is always joyful. Rather, sowing and reaping represents the daily work that needs to be done even when we’re sad and grieving or glad and rejoicing. 

For me, this psalm speaks of tears sown in prayerful intercession and the hope that one day the fruit of salvation will be reaped in the lives of those for whom I pray. Even when I don’t actually weep, my heart aches for so many I know and care about who are lost.  And I bear seed for sowing in that I share God’s word with them and I claim God’s promises when I’m on my knees in prayer for them.

I’m grateful to know that He loves them even more than I do and wants them to come to a saving faith in Jesus.  That hope brings me great comfort and helps me to continue to keep on sowing even while I keep my hand to the plow with my daily work.

Thursday Devotional - Perfect Priest

Do you ever get frustrated relying on imperfect humans? Whether it’s for accurate work or accurate medical diagnosis? People make mistakes.  

My Dad and my friend’s husband need to some important medical resolutions this week. It can be worrisome to rely on other opinions and the ability to ask the right questions in order to make the best decision. We do have someone we can rely on perfectly, though, who is in heaven and sees everything!

Hebrews 7:28-8:2 ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of God! As we read last week in Hebrews 7:25, He is interceding for us. We can trust Him for perfect solutions. Let’s go to Him with all our needs and pray for ears to hear His answers.  

Alice

Hands Off the Hot Stove!

It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him.  He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”  Exodus 15:25b-26

We have all had that moment where we heard our mothers tell us, “Don’t touch the hot stove,” right?  We touch a little bit and feel the warmth of it.  Then, we go a bit closer or maybe grab on a little longer, and the exhilaration continues to build as we keep pressing further and further until that one time where either the finger goes too far or the hand gets too close to the burning flame.  “Ouch!” We cry.  If you were like me, you probably got away with just that painful tingling sensation for the rest of the day.  Some of us had moms that would gladly call you out.  “I told you to keep your hand away from that!  I guess you learned that lesson, didn’t you?”  Oh, the utter pain of defeat.  If I had only listened more carefully to her instruction, I would not have had to shake my hand repeatedly trying to get the normal feeling back.

We are always rewarded for our submission to God, and as such, we should not be surprised that we are subject to His discipline as well.  We join our walkthrough of Moses after the soldiers of Egypt drowned in the Red Sea, and Pharaoh’s army were decimated completely.  The Israelites have entered the true beginning of their journey to The Promise Land.  So, as they reach their first stop, they were complaining about a lack of water.  This will be a recurring theme throughout the next devotions (remember the comments when they were captive and brutalized by the restrictions placed on them to build bricks without straw?).  What made this even more perplexing was the fact this occurred after the parting of the Red Sea.  There’s this part of me that wonders if God was looking down on them and simply saying, “Seriously?”  So, after He heard Moses’ prayer and made bad water good with a stick, He instructed Moses to tell the people to follow Him and nothing bad will happen to them.  Furthermore, to ensure His instructions were crystal clear He jogged their memories of all the diseases He placed on the Egyptians to help free them.  Care to touch that hot stove again?  Like a good father, God will provide us with guidance be it through His word, action, or maybe even a message through a friend.  No matter the delivery, the expectation is for us to simply follow or suffer consequences.  It sounds a bit harsh and threatening, but if we understand His intent is to protect and love us, it’s not a bad thing at all.

God is always on our side.  We may not at times understand why He instructs us in a certain way, and other times we simply lose context of all that He has done as we wander off the path.  The goal is for us not to find out the hard way through pain and discipline.  Instead, it is to grow spiritually and stay on the righteous path for as Jesus said, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate.” (Matthew 7:13a) Let us intently listen to God’s instruction to avert potential hardship and pain.  How can God’s past discipline provide guidance to your current walk of faith?  What lessons can you take from Moses’ submittal to God?  My prayer is that we listen to God’s voice and figuratively ‘keep our hands off the hot stove.’  Amen.

To Be The Shepherd

Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 NLT

I am a huge Samuel L. Jackson fan.  I was watching the movie Pulp Fiction the other day, and marveled at the character named ‘Jules Winnfield’ played by him.  At various parts of the movie he quoted the Biblical verse of Ezekiel 25:17. He said:

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.  Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children.  And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers.  And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

Now this sounds all good, but if you know your bible, you know this is not accurate at all (only the last part “And you will know …”).  However, I have learned over the years that if you dismiss something entirely, you might miss something important.  As I watched the final scene of the movie, I gained a level of understanding for the ending.  It is summed up best by Jules talking about an epiphany he had to a man named Ringo, who initially attempted to rob him but now found himself at Jules’ choice of mercy.  In that moment, Jules is trying to understand what the verse meant.  He tells the attempted robber, “The truth is you’re the weak, and I am the tyranny of evil men.  But I’m trying, Ringo.  I’m trying real hard to be the shepherd.”  This hit me because it at times describes a part of our spiritual journey so well.  We are all in this world, and at times, we will find ourselves part of its craziness and insanity trying hard to be the shepherd to others who have lost their way.

We must remember to represent the shepherd to others as Christ represented us.  While the scene focused on Ezekiel 25, I found myself gravitating to the message of Paul to the Corinthians.  Today’s verses, which focus on serving men, was particularly more fitting than the wildly misquoted verse used in the scene because the conversation was between two criminals: a robber (Ringo) and assassin (Jules).  Jules in this case was becoming the converted, and now was extending grace onto Ringo.  Now this even to me seemed like a stretch, but by putting in the context of today’s verses, it made perfect sense.  Paul said of his being, “to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.” (I Corinthians 9:21 NKJV)  Today’s verses are not about changing to be like someone else to win them to Christ.  Instead, they are to help us understand others and see their views and perspectives to better speak to them.  You can speak to an alcoholic about Christ, but only someone who has struggled with alcoholism and been saved can truly relate.  You see?  Sometimes when you cannot relate, you are the messenger, but when you can and truly understand another’s challenges and struggles, it is then, like Jules, you are the message.

God grants us His grace so that we may be of service to others.  Paul clearly understood this as he wrote to the Corinthians.  Jesus did as well when He ordered the Great Commission to the disciples saying, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19) Whether it be by action, deeds, friendship, or other relationship, we owe it to others displaying the love of Christ because Christ so loved us first.  Let us be the personal representatives that He has been for us.  Who can you show Christ’s love and grace to?  How can you be a better representative of Christ to others?  My prayer is that we remember the guidance of Christ, and through tough times, we try real hard to be the shepherd.  Amen.

In His Service

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,

that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,

acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

     Romans 12:1 (NKJV)

This is the verse of Scripture I’m memorizing this week and a few things spoke to my heart as I’ve pondered it. 

As believers, we are made to serve God and in so doing, bring Him honor and glory.  Jesus was the perfect Lamb of God and His sacrifice was sufficient to pay our sin debt once for all.  There is nothing we can do to earn salvation, but once saved, we are to serve Him as living sacrifices.

We usually think of service in terms of action—what we can do to serve. Certainly that is an important aspect of service and the verse above mentions using our bodies.  But we also need to serve God by the right attitude of our hearts.  That comes when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord of our lives, submit to His authority and seek to do His will.  From that flows a humble, loving and compassionate heart to serve others.

This verse seems to exhort us to a lifelong commitment and dedication to our Lord, one that is renewed daily. We can't just rest on our past service or on plans to serve in the future.  We should focus on what we can do today to serve God with our hearts and bodies. Out of gratitude and love for our gracious Savior, let us be sacrificial in devoting ourselves to His service every day.

Thursday Devotional - Pure and Permanent Priest

We’re two months into 2020!!! How are you doing with your 2020 goals? There are a few I’ve done well and a couple I haven’t.

Jesus had a goal for His life on earth and he completed it perfectly. His goal was to provide eternal salvation to all who will receive it. He perfectly and permanently accomplished it! Because of that, the writer of Hebrews calls Jesus our pure and permanent High Priest. The Old Testament High Priests couldn’t save anyone.

Hebrews 7:23-27  ²³ Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴ but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

²⁶ Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

As we begin the season of Lent, there are so many encouraging promises to focus on from this passage about Jesus as our pure and permanent priest.

1.   He already provided complete salvation (to those who accept it)

2.   He is the only way to God

3.   He is alive and interceding for believers daily

4.   He is and has the answer for every need

Which truth will you and I appreciate and focus on today?

Alice

Trapped

“You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit— with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.
Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.”. Psalms‬ ‭51:16-19‬ ‭NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

My wife is really smart.  She understands that I am often not motivated by her pointing out how wrong I am about a certain thing.  She also understands that I love her more than anything, and the best way to get what she wants is not to push for her way.  Instead, she shares how it affects her.  She knows that a psychological wall always comes up when it focuses on her wants, but it comes down when she appears in need or despair.  Now some might view this as being manipulative, but they do not know her.  She would never take advantage of this liberty.  Why?  Because she loves me, and it’s her unconditional love for me that ultimately breaks me.  I thought about this when thinking about God’s will for my life.  By giving my life to Him, I agreed to serve Him.  In serving Him, it means that I at times will be broken out of His love for me.  Sometimes, it is simply breaking for what makes His heart break (see the Devotion ‘Heartbreaker’).  But other times, He just pushes me to where I am trapped with nowhere else to go, and there is nothing left but for me to go to Him.

Committing to God means that we have to accept that He will break us to build us up into the people that will follow Him.  While reading these verses, I realized David was in this place of utter submittal to God.  He recognized where he was wrong, but to admit guilt to God wasn’t enough.  He understood God wanted more than just repentance. He wanted all of David that not only included a repentant heart but also a broken one.  Our heart fights hard to do things its own way only to become trapped in a corner by what God wants with one of two choices.  The first is to fight with all its might to keep its ways, sinful and not, and maintain its comfort.  The other choice is submission, which is what God ultimately wants, and through submitting, a person is shown God’s favor.  We must always be careful in our repentance for our sins.  Repentance is what God wants, but not as an act or as someone once told me a ‘check mark on our check list.’  He wants us to feel the weight and gravity of our guilt and sinful nature.  It is this ‘brokenness’ that brings us closer to the heart of God, and if we understand who David was, this verse underlines why he is called a man after God’s heart.

Brokenness to God is a sign of strength.  Not weakness.  We may focus on always being strong, but brokenness says that our source of strength is God.  He is our Alpha and Omega.  When we acknowledge this and realize that we are neither the beginning nor end of our greatness, only then will we truly be able to achieve all things because we are fitting into God’s image.  Not our own.  What is it that God might be trying to break you from?  What new area of your life are you willing to surrender to Him?  My prayer is that we embrace God’s love for us even when He corners us and we find ourselves trapped.  Amen.

Anchor of the Soul

“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,

both sure and steadfast, and which enters

the Presence behind the veil, where the

forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus,

having become High Priest forever

according to the order of Melchizedek.”

    Hebrews 6:19-20 (NKJV)

“Let us hold fast the confession of our

hope without wavering for He who

promised is faithful.”

    Hebrews 10:23 (NKJV)

The Bible speaks a lot about hope and for good reason.  A child of God has a marvelous, sure hope of God’s gracious provision for us in this life and for eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Too often we put our hope in other things.  We hope for a good test result; we hope our candidate will win the next election; we hope for a promotion at work; we hope for good weather; we hope traffic won’t be bad.  It’s not bad to want these things to come about. but we when use the term “hope” for earthly things, it diminishes the concept of our eternal hope and may cause us to put undue focus on the temporal. 

This world is passing away, as are we, and anything we expect in this life is transitory.  But our eternal hope is based on God’s unwavering faithfulness and the fact that He never changes, His promises are sure. Hope as it's used in the Bible is not wishful thinking or vague longing; God’s hope is the anchor of our soul.  That is where we should put our expectation, that is what we should set our hearts on rather than on the temporal things of this life.

Thursday Devotional - God Notices and Rewards

We talked last week about especially loving and helping fellow believers. Not only can it attract non-believers, but God notices and will reward it.

Matthew 10:42      ⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

Hebrews 6:10-12  ¹⁰ God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹ We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. ¹² We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

God notices and promises to reward those who love and help fellow believers.

I was thinking how much joy I get watching my kids help each other, hug each other, give gifts to each other, especially when it’s their own idea. Last week, they both wanted to give a Valentine to each other. Sarah filled out a card for James while he was at school and James ordered a “candy” card from school for Sarah with his own money!

Similarly, God is pleased when we love, help and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ! We love on Him as we love on each other.

How will you and I show love to God by helping or encouraging a fellow believer this week?

Alice

In Our Corner

Then the Egyptians—all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and charioteers—chased them into the middle of the sea.  But just before dawn the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army from the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw their forces into total confusion. He twisted their chariot wheels, making their chariots difficult to drive. “Let’s get out of here—away from these Israelites!” the Egyptians shouted. “The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!”  Exodus 14:23-25

What is it like to know someone is always there fighting for you?  When I applied for college, my grades were not exactly the best.  I was not this highly regarded 3.0 student.  My aptitude tests were very good, but it was unlikely that I would end up at a major school.  However having gone to one of the better schools in the Detroit area, I was considered for the University of Detroit.  It was still a stretch.  So, as I went to the office for an informal interview with the academic advisor, my spirits were not exactly good that morning.  However, it all changed when I walked in the room.  The advisor was my old principle at the high school, who knew me and my story.  “Kent,” he said as he shook his head with a look of both disbelief and happiness.  The disbelief was he saw my grades were not the greatest, but his happiness was that he knew my capabilities.  Needless to say, I was admitted without further issue.  I wondered what discussions were happening at the admissions board.  While I could not be certain as to what happened, I am certain that ‘Fr. Leo’ was fighting for me.  I could imagine him saying to the admission team, “I know Kent.  He can do this!”  There was never a doubt in his mind even as there was in mine.

God is our champion fighting for us behind the scenes to ensure our victories.  We all know the story of how God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to move to safety from the Egyptian army.  However, we tend to focus on their side and do not see the side of the Egyptians and what they were up against.  They had seen or heard of what God had done to force Pharaoh to free the Israelites and now watched Him perform the miraculous feat of parting the sea, but nonetheless, they chased after the Israelites.  After the fire came down and chariot wheels were bent, only then did some come to a brilliant conclusion. “Let’s get out of here!” they said.  I pondered on their state of mind.  After all that had gone on leading up to this, only then did they figure out this was a bad idea?  They were beyond what I often tell people is their ‘Elsa’ moment.  They needed to ‘Let it go!’  You see, when the Lord is on your side there are battles being fought that we never know about and things changing that we ourselves may not even notice.  People who had initially blocked your pathway are being moved out, and hearts and circumstances are changing today that yesterday were stagnant.  This is perhaps at the center of why Jesus said, “But I say, love your enemies!  Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.” (Matthew 5:44-45)

We must never lose faith in God’s ability to make a way when there is seemingly no way.  In seeing the plight of the Egyptian army, we can see the mountains God moved and that our enemies too understand who our God is.  Perhaps today is the moment for you to pause and reflect.  The dream you feel that is out of reach, goal that seems unrealistic, or task that is an endless road of despair may be your moment of reaching the Red Sea.  Maybe God right now is lighting fires blocking the pathway of your enemies and bending the circumstances like chariots wheels.  Do not lose hope for Jesus Christ isn’t a champion because He’s never been hit.  He’s the champion because He’s undefeated.  Rely on this as you go through your times of trials and tribulation.  How can you move forward with confidence that God is leading the way?  What circumstances should you take to Him today?  My prayer is that no matter the battle, we keep in mind God is always in our corner.  Amen.