Grains of Sand

Pixabay “ In the beginning…. ” Today marks the beginning of a new year. What expectations are there for 2018? What hopes are there for this new year as it dawns? Fresh pages…but from the same old book? Or will a new story be written? If it were not because of the word that comes after “ In the beginning… ” we might despair. We know that resolutions made on this day will likely fade into distant memories within a few short days or weeks. We know ourselves…or prefer not to delve too deeply into that muddy pool of self-knowledge in case we should find something we do not like and do not know how to deal with. But then there is that word: “ In the beginning, God…. ” Just as in that first beginning He, the Master Creator, made everything new, so can He do the same in us as 2018 dawns. With Him, nothing needs to ever be the same as it was last night, last week, last month, last summer, last year. Just a few short verses after Genesis 1:1 comes this: “ So God created man in his own image,...

Pixabay Remember...The Wandering. For many of us, the parable of the sower is well-known. Matthew 13 is one of the passages that describes the seed that was sown. The first fell on hard ground and was snatched away. The last fell on prepared ground and produced a harvest. It is the seeds in the middle that often cause the most debate. Some seed fell on rocky ground. There wasn't much soil and the seed grew for a short while and then was killed by the strength of the sun because it didn't have strong roots buried deeply enough to draw moisture from the ground. Other seed fell among thorns and was eventually choked. In explaining the parable to His disciples, Jesus said that the seed that fell on rocky ground represented the person " ...who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away " (13:20, 21). Then Jesus described th...

Pizabay Remember...His reputation. What's in a name? I have four names. Lynda Lee Schultz Bloedow. The last, my mother's maiden name, never really made much difference until I lived in Colombia and Venezuela where it was vital on official documents. The trouble was that its pronunciation sounds like a popular swear word in Spanish! Not good! Schultz was basically impossible to pronounce at all. Lee was easy and Lynda or Linda is a Spanish word, but not one usually used as a name so I got some odd looks when I introduced myself. Some people thought I was vain since "linda" means "pretty" or "lovely." Names mean something. And no one is more jealous of His Name than God. His reputation hangs on what people think when they hear His Name. And what people think when they think "God" depends on what the people who claim to be His followers are like. They are His representatives, His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). In Ezekiel 36, God...

Pixabay, Public Domain “ The Lord is my shepherd…he restores my soul ” A “cast” sheep is one that has fallen over onto its back and can’t get back up onto its feet. Without intervention it will die. The psalmist describes what a “cast” soul is like in Psalm 42:5, 6: “ Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?…My soul is downcast within me. ” Did you think that depression, despair, sadness, emptiness, hopelessness, loneliness, fear, and worthlessness were modern day phenomena? They aren’t. Sleepless nights, lack of appetite, uncontrolled anger followed by guilt, a sense that God has walked away—if He was ever there at all, and the very real sense that life is over, are nothing new. Watching my mother suffer from chronic depression for many years always reminds me of just how real being “cast” is. Don Baker sums it up much better than I ever could. He writes: “OUR LORD IS THE SOUL DOCTOR. He is the only one trained and experienced in the healing of the soul—the onl...

Google Images The last three chapters of Judges present us with a bizarre, but interesting picture of the cycle that the nation of Israel was living. For us it is also a fascinating example of the redemptive process. In Judges 19 we are introduced to a Levite who ended up in Gibeah among the Benjamites. He had stopped there for the night with his wife and one of his servants, only to discover that the townsfolk were less than friendly. In fact, the story reads like a page out of experience of the angels who had visited Lot in Sodom before that city’s destruction by God (Genesis 19). Except in this case, the woman died and the Levite, upon his return to his home, committed the bizarre act of dismembering his wife’s body and sending parts to the each of the tribes of Israel. All this serves to remind us just how terrible the situation was in Israel during these dark days when the evil of men was at its lowest point. The dismembering of the body, as horrific as it was, served to galva...

Google Images The book of James ends with this interesting reminder: “ My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins ” (James 5:19, 20). We generally do very poorly at this. Somewhere in the back of our minds is the thought that if we ignore things long enough they will either go away or sort themselves out. Or we pull the Calvinist rabbit out of the hat and fold our arms and say: “God will take care of it.” The truth is, dealing with sin and the sinner connected to it, is messy and we simply don’t want to get involved. Perhaps worse yet, we “snitch” on the "sinner" and expect someone else to take care of the problem for us. But the instructions are clear. Matthew 18:15 says: “ If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen t...

" But go, tell his disciples and Peter... " (Mark 16:7). How do you feel, Peter, when you hear those words? Shame . Singled out because you know what you have done, the horror of it, and pain of it. Anxiety. Why are you separated from the rest of the disciples? Does that mean that you have been cut from the roster? Fear . What if the Lord is going to tear a strip off you in front of the men you have lived and worked with for the last three years, the men who looked on you as their lieutenant.  Relief . You hope this means that there is a reprieve at the end of this. You pray that there is forgiveness for your betrayal. A myriad of thoughts go through our minds when we know that we have failed the faithfulness test. To Peter was added the shame of having made a public promise to go to the cross with His Lord if had to. Instead he not only walked away physically but he walked away verbally as well. As public as his promise was, the betrayal was just as public. We know how th...

The synopsis of the life of Hezekiah, king of Judah, given to us in 2 Chronicles 29-32, contains a beautiful progression. Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne. The first order of business was to restore the temple and its worship. The priests and Levites had to be consecrated, purified, so that they could serve. All that was evil needed to be removed from the sanctuary (29:1-6) because: " Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord's dwelling place and turned their backs on him, They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel " (29:6, 7, NIV). The house of God and the worship of God had been neglected and abandoned. In 2 Chronicles 30, after the priests, Levities, and temple were restored, Hezekiah called the people to come to Jerusalem. This wa...

Reading: Galatians 1-6 “It isn’t any of my business.” No one like a busybody. We don’t appreciate people meddling in our affairs, telling us what to do, or what not to do. Because of our aversion to those kinds of people we easily develop a “live and let live” policy. It uncomplicates relationships, makes life a whole lot less messy, and gives us the freedom to do as we want without the expectation of being confronted with our own moral and ethical faux pas. The trouble is that such an attitude is anti-biblical. Oh I don’t mean to say that being a busybody is biblical, but sometimes minding our own business can be. Paul’s letter to the Galatians is mostly a clarification of works versus grace. But when he gets to the end of the letter he targets those who claim grace as a license for sin (5:16-21) telling his readers that those who truly are Spirit-filled, resist the old habits that once characterized them and replace those old habits with the fruit of the Spirit as describ...

In 1951, this article was published in the prestigious Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814700,00.html . The bugs had come to the Middle East. In September, 2000, Australians were watching their own horizons with dismay. The conditions were ideal for an invasions "of biblical proportions" of their own local variety of locusts. But no invasion in recorded history has been as devastating as what occurred in 1875 in the north-central United States: http://www.hearthstonelegacy.com/when-the-skies-turned-to-black-the_locust-plague-of-1875.htm . When I read the book of Joel, and coincidentally, Revelation 9, which happened to be the New Testament portion of my devotional reading for today, locusts were the featured protagonists. Along with the picture you see to the right, in itself enough to give most of us the hebbie jebbies, came an interesting devotional thought about the benefits of locusts which gives an interesting sidebar to what Joel...

 “ Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit with in. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me ” —Psalm 51:10, 12, NIV. Of all the psalms that David wrote, Psalm 51 is one of the best known. The occasion was David’s encounter with Nathan, the prophet. The king had stayed home from battle, and while he was not employed at what kings were supposed to doing, he saw Bathsheba and coveted her. David’s yielding to temptation caused him not only to commit adultery, but to arrange for the murder of Bathsheba’s husband when she told David she was carrying his child. David, confronted by Nathan, confessed his sin. Psalm 51 is his expression of remorse and his plea to God for forgiveness and restoration. The human casualties in this drama took second place to the damage that David’s sins had caused to his relationship with the Lord. David writes: “ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight ” (vs...

Last night a friend emailed me asking for prayer for her mother. Marion has just found out that her cancer is growing. The fear of pain and death, the reluctance to leave her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren behind, has left her anxious. She is only one on my list of people who, for various reasons, are suffering. Suffering takes many forms, but usually we think of it in terms of the physical. So when Paul writes in Romans 8:17: " Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory ", our natural inclination is to think of physical death. But not everyone will suffer a painful death—certainly not death on a cross. Such suffering wouldn't be a prerequisite for sharing in Christ's glory. But Paul clarifies the statement in the verses that follow. He writes: " I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy comparing with the glory that will be...

He ran for his life. Exhausted to the point of collapse, overwhelmed by anxiety, depressed beyond hope, Elijah took off. His only desire was to die. God was waiting for him under a broom tree (1 Kings 19). No sharp rebukes for his lack of faith, no punishment for abandoning his post; God simply supplied sleep, food, and blessed silence, to his weary foot soldier. This morning's verse reminded me of Elijah's situation. Jesus said: " Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest " —Matthew 11:28. Our Lord understands our need for those times to "come apart" before we "fall apart." He waits for us wherever our "broom tree" happens to be and provides not only refreshing, but restoration. It's unfortunate that we often have to fall to such a low point in our lives before we are forced by our own weakness to call on God's strength. The good news? At that lowest point, God waits.