Category Devotionals

The Sovereign Over Nations

Todd R 2 Comments

Fellow travelers,

Jesus said in Luke 14:11 – “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  Centuries earlier, the prophet Isaiah used striking word pictures to show that God does this with entire nations, not just with individual people.

First, Isaiah describes the ancient nation of Babylon as a woman, who exalted herself but will be humbled, in Isaiah 47:1-3:

“Come down and sit in the dust,
            O virgin daughter of Babylon;
sit on the ground without a throne,
            O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no more be called
            tender and delicate.
Take the millstones and grind flour,
            put off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
            pass through the rivers.
Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
            and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
            and I will spare no one.”

Ancient Babylon exalted themselves above all nations, claiming to be the greatest power ever in the world.  Here Isaiah says Babylon will be publicly disgraced, called down from the throne, and made to do menial labor.  While God had used Babylon to judge His people and bring them into exile, Babylon would not escape being humbled before God.

Then Isaiah gives a contrasting picture about the future of God’s people in a humble woman who will be exalted in Isaiah 52:1-2:

“Awake, awake,
            put on your strength, O Zion;
put on your beautiful garments,
            O Jerusalem, the holy city;
for there shall no more come into you
            the uncircumcised and the unclean.
Shake yourself from the dust and arise;
            be seated, O Jerusalem;
loose the bonds from your neck,
            O captive daughter of Zion.”

Here the “daughter of Zion,” God’s family, will be freed from bondage and put on beautiful garments.  Spiritually, this means His people will be freed from slavery to sin, which will not exist in the new heaven and earth to come.  What a glorious future we have!

Therefore, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” – James 4:10

Of Love and Forgiveness

Todd R 1 Comment

Fellow travelers,

Have you known Christians who love well?  Not ones who know the Bible well, or who know all the right doctrines, or who are involved in many church activities.  Not even a person who writes (or reads) a great blog.  These are not bad things, and they may help someone become more loving, but they aren’t the same thing as being a person who loves as Christ loved.  Who loves well.

Not everyone like this gets there the same way, but Jesus mentioned at least one specific way: the more we know how great God’s forgiveness for us is, the greater is our love.

This comes from Luke chapter 7, in the story about “a woman of the city, who was a sinner.”  This woman broke an expensive flask of ointment over Jesus’s feet, then wiped the ointment on His feet with her hair and tears.  What a bold statement of devotion to Jesus she made!

However, Jesus was criticized by a Pharisee for not refusing this act of worship: “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”[1]  To the Pharisee, an upright, respectable religious person should have nothing to do with this sinful woman.

In response, Jesus tells a parable about a man who was forgiven a very large debt, and therefore loved the one who forgave him more than another man did who was forgiven a smaller debt.  Jesus contrasts the actions of the Pharisee – who didn’t treat Jesus with nearly as much honor as the “sinner” – with the woman, and says: “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

We don’t know much for sure about this woman’s sins, but we know the Pharisee was aware of them and hated her for it.  He thought her sins were worse than others and should exclude her from any social interactions.  We also know that she was aware of how great her sin was, but she also knew that Jesus loved and forgave her anyway, even though her sin was great.  Jesus tells us her devotion is proof of that.

In this story, those with “checkered” pasts, full of sin, pain, and suffering, can become the most passionate believers, as they know what the gospel is capable of overcoming first-hand, in themselves and in others.  Jesus and his early followers went to these outcast people, and the faith of that first generation of Christians changed the world forever!

So, who is willing and able to reach out to sinners in the same way God reached out to them in Christ?  Those who have a very real sense of how great are the sins God that has forgiven them. Often the greatest “sinners” are the ones who learn how to love well.

[1] Luke 7:37-39

Things God Counts

Todd R Leave a comment

Fellow travelers,

Are you ever so fearful or anxious about something that you lose sleep about it? Are there things out of your control that you toss and turn over? Maybe it’s so bad that you even cry. If you’re like this, you’re definitely not alone, and in fact, King David struggled with this kind of anxiety.

In Psalm 56, David laments that his enemies are constantly out to get him, and then in verse 8, David wrote about God:

“You have kept count of my tossings;
            put my tears in your bottle.
            Are they not in your book?”

What David means is that God sees all of our anxiety and every detail about how it affects us.  He counts every time we toss and turn at night.  He counts every tear you cry, and keeps track of them all, because he cares.

This realization causes David to write in verses 10 and 11:

“In God, whose word I praise,
            in the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
            What can man do to me?”

Prayer or any religious practice won’t always cure anxiety, but as long as we suffer, God knows and cares about it.  We can trust Him to provide for us, sometime between now and eternity.

As Paul wrote about the glory of our salvation:

“If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”[1]

Amen

[1] Romans 8:31b-32

My 3 Rules of Writing

Todd R 1 Comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Around the time I launched this blog, I decided on 3 criteria for what I write here to keep myself disciplined not just to regular writing, but to the type of content I wanted to post.  It’s my blog, after all.

My objective is that every post should be these 3 things: Compelling, Clear, and Charitable, meaning:

Is it about something that matters eternally, and is written in a way that connects emotionally and is worth reading? (Compelling)
Is it logical and makes sense, or is it likely to be misunderstood? (Clear)
Is it written in love, to build up whoever reads it? (Charitable)

In a way, these criteria are just a modified version of Ephesians 4:15-16, which says:
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” – Ephesians 4:15-16

The compelling and clear parts are the “speaking the truth,” and the charitable part is the “in love” part.  However, the three criteria are not equal.  If I am compelling and clear, I might come across as clever, smart or a good writer, but without charity, “I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).  Without love, I’ve done it wrong.  Therefore, being compelling and clear should be tools used in service of being charitable.

Although I’ve been posting very regularly recently, including re-using old posts, I know a blog doesn’t have to fill endless airtime like a 24/7 news cycle, where passion and (often faulty) logic dominate in an attempt to draw as many viewers as possible, but I like the daily rhythm when I can do it.  However, love is more important than keeping a daily schedule, so posting daily isn’t one of my rules.  Quality over quantity, I guess.

I’m not perfect and don’t always live up to my own 3 rules, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try!

Do you have rules for your blog, or other social media presence?

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” – Hebrews 10:24

A Prayer of Complaint: Psalm 64

Todd R 1 Comment

Do you ever just feel like complaining about the bad things and people in this world?  While we might hold back complaining to God, thinking He prefers ACTS prayers – focused on Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication – He is infinitely and steadfastly loving and patient, and will listen to whatever we have to say.  David shared Psalm 64 with us as an example.

Read how David begins the Psalm:

“Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
            preserve my life from dread of the enemy.”

Basically, David begins this Psalm by letting God know what’s coming: a series of complaints.  In the next verses, David complains about evil plots against him happening in secret, and those who can’t wait to ambush him.  David complains about how good evildoers are at what they do.  He writes:

“Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
            from the throng of evildoers,
who whet their tongues like swords,
            who aim bitter words like arrows,
shooting from ambush at the blameless,
            shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
They hold fast to their evil purpose;
            they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, ‘Who can see them?’
They search out injustice,
saying, ‘We have accomplished a diligent search.’
            For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.”

By “diligent search” they have found every method available and used every skill they have to attack David, and the evildoers are impressed with their ability to be unjust and to attack “the blameless”, “shooting at him suddenly and without fear.”  A lot of time and effort has been put into these secret plots.

The blog’s mascot: Ebenezer, the “But God” squirrel.

How will David stand against such attacks?  He won’t, but God[1] will, as David continues in verses 7 through 9:

“But God shoots his arrow at them;
            they are wounded suddenly.
They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;
            all who see them will wag their heads.
Then all mankind fears;
            they tell what God has brought about
            and ponder what he has done.”

The wicked, after much “diligent search,” gathered their “swords” and “arrows,” the words they would use to attack David and God’s people.  But because we have God, when we complain in prayer we don’t stop once our complaints have been aired – we continue with the “but God” part of the prayer, which comes with these three main implications:

  • First, that we need not respond in kind, because God needs only one arrow to bring them “suddenly” to ruin.  We are saved by His strength.
  • Second, we need not respond in degree – If our enemies are extraordinarily diligent or skilled in their plots, we do not need to match their effort, because it is God who takes care of us.  All the time and effort put in by the wicked in brought to nothing in a moment, and in that moment, “all mankind fears.”  We need not be intimidated.
  • And finally, any success of God’s enemies is temporary.  Someday He will resolve every complaint of injustice and silence every accusation against His people.

Therefore, as the Psalm ends:

“Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD
            and take refuge in him!
Let all the upright in heart exult!”

Amen

[1] See the earlier posts Two Words That Might Save Your Soul and Meet Ebenezer, the Blog’s New Mascot, on the significance of Ebenezer the squirrel and the words “But God”