Grains of Sand

Pixabay I once asked my pastor why it seemed as though my prayers hit the ceiling and bounced back at me without ever reaching heaven. He reminded me that unconfessed sin creates a barrier that needs to be removed so that communion is restored between the Creator and His creation. As I read the verse for today, I was reminded of his words. Isaiah writes: “Y our iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear .” (59:2) The expression of the prophet reminded me of a series of messages I prepared recently for a ladies’ retreat and of a revision of that series that I am going to start today. In the first session we talk about seeking first God’s “face” rather than always looking for His “hand.” In other words, desiring God Himself more than we desire His gifts. As I reviewed yesterday I was reminded that when the Scriptures speak of God’s “face” they are referring to His presence, to that intimacy of relationship that we ne...

Google Images What do you want most in life? I’m no mind-reader, but I suspect that Moses got what he most wanted. I suspect that if he hadn’t wanted this more than anything else in life, God would not have responded to him as He did. Exodus 33:11 tells us that, “ The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend .” God, who sees the heart (and reads the mind), knew what Moses wanted. He knew that beyond the want was the commitment on Moses’ part, to be all that God asked, to do all that God required. The result was the most intimate description of a relationship between God and man that we have in Scripture. God’s friend. It doesn’t get any better than that. It isn’t that Moses proclaimed high and low, “I’m God’s friend!” His statement would not have necessarily made it so. What proved the truth of the statement was what happened just a bit later and is recorded for us in Exodus 34:29-35. After Moses had been with the Lord he would return to the camp of t...

Google Images Despite all the tools of modern society, feeling alone still ranks high on the list of ills suffered by many people. Despite Twitter and FACEBOOK, despite an endless variety of groups to belong to, including church, these communities don’t always spell “communion.” Even where relationships are possible, the number of times people who move from one relationship to another, always seeking that elusive something but never finding it, astounds me. Equally disturbing is the number of co-dependent and abusive relationships out there. Some people don’t dare let go—the prospect of being alone is too frightening. The Weather Network calls us “The Angry Planet,” but we’d be better called “The Lonely Planet.” Every relationship, no matter now good, is transitory. That’s what we struggle to understand. People move, people change, people die. People come into our lives and they move out of our lives. Jesus touched on the subject in a statement he made, recorded for us in John 16:3...

Google Images Grassroots . That word has come to mean a movement initiated and sustained by the people, at the lowest level of an organization. Those in the top levels of that organization are often wise to pay attention to what is happening at the grassroots. I was surprised to note that a grassroots movement can be faked. It’s called “astroturfing” and is defined this way: Faking a grassroots movement is known as astroturfing, which, as the name suggests, is named after AstroTurf, the iconic brand of artificial grass. Astroturfing means pretending to be a grassroots movement, when in reality the agenda and strategy are controlled by a hidden, non-grassroots organization. In this manner, a faux show is presented, consisting of robotic individuals pretending to be voicing their own opinions . What John the Baptist and Jesus began was a grassroots movement. It was one of the reasons those in authority were not happy with either of them. John the Baptist is an interesting character. ...

Google Images I often wonder how Jesus would feel about the activities that go on in His house today. John 2:13-17 records an event that Matthew, Mark and Luke put much later in Jesus’ ministry. There is no reason to assume that Jesus only cleared the temple once so the fact that John recalls the events early in Christ’s ministry doesn’t pose a problem. We KNOW how slow we are to get the message sometimes, so there is no reason to believe that the Jews of Jesus’ day were any faster—or any more obedient! In any case, John tells us that shortly after the wedding in Cana, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the Passover. When He got to the temple he found it busy—but not with worshippers. It was busy with businessmen hawking their wares. To facilitate the sacrifices, these merchants had set up shop to sell the sheep, cattle, and birds required by the priests. Since there were foreigners among the Jewish converts, the money changers were there as well. It was their version of “seeker-sensit...

Simon Dewey — Google Images One of the most amazing verses in the Bible is found in Matthew 4:1. “ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ” To fully identify with the people He had come to save, Jesus had to know, by personal experience, what it was like to be tempted. God the Father sent His Son into the wilderness and said to Satan, “Give it your best shot.” To add to the challenge for Jesus, He went forty days and forty nights alone and without food. He was physically at His weakest—the perfect moment for Satan to catch Him in some fault. That the devil even thought he had a chance to bring the Son of God down only reminds us how deluded our enemy actually is. Hebrews 4:15 tells us “ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ” God the Father knew that His Son would not fail. Jesus knew He would not fail. So why go th...

Google Images Most of us would choose to cross the street and walk on the other side of the road just to avoid him. They called him “John” which was common enough. But when people mentioned that this John was “the baptizer” the curious drew near and the cautious moved away. “ In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ” (Matthew 3:1). He was a weird bird, dressed in camel’s hair and eating locusts and honey (3:4) and preaching, not from behind a pulpit, but from alongside the Jordan River. His message was probably no more popular in that period than it is today: “ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near ” (Matthew 3:2). In a world where the religious establishment was more concerned with peripheral and superficial, John cut right to the heart of the matter—sin. The curious drew near, the convicted stayed to listen, the callous of heart walked away. John was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, kinfolk of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1), a mi...

Google Image " When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord " (Exodus 34:29, NIV). I'm pea-green with envy. I don't think there has ever been a time in my life when people couldn't look at my face because the presence of God was reflected on it. I wish. I want. I desire. I covet. Moses had spoken with God. My speaking with God leaves a lot to be desired. I get sidetracked, distracted. I don't approach Him as He deserves to be approached—the worship isn't always there. Sometimes the submission is lacking, the confession scant, the shopping list preeminent. Maybe I don't listen enough to hear His voice. Perhaps I don't stop long enough with Him to let His beauty settle on my face. So it's not just wishing, wanting, desiring, coveting. Being green doesn't cut it. It's " Be still, and know that I am G...