“Stand on Your Two Feet” Ezekiel 1-3

 

And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” Ezekiel 2:1.

This verse God spoke to me when I was at the absolute lowest point of my life.  Not exactly the spot I would go to.  Precisely what God did.  I stood and His Power entered into me and set me on my feet.  Ezek 2:2.  I stood cause I purposed in my heart to go with God in the midst of harrowing circumstances.  It is never about how strong we are.  It is always about how strong HE IS in each of us.  

So, don't be afraid.  Tell that to yourself.  Mean it.  "Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are rebellious..."  Ezek 2:7.  Speak my words to them anyway.  They will not be willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to God.  Ezek 2:7.

Oh Father, may Your Hand be strong upon each of us.  Ezekiel 2:14. 

Make us a watchman for our family and our minist

“Restore Us To Yourself” Lamentations 5

 

Restore us to Yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored.  Lam 5:21. 
I sit in a funk, despondent in my present circumstances.  And since I am the only one talking to myself tonight, it's hard to know if I have fully repented or keep taking it back?  You see, this is about how others are responding to me---and it shouldn't be.  May we all find a deeper trust, an abandoned surrender.

 "Is any afflicted? Let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God. The people of God do so here; they complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt." Matthew Henry.  And that touches something in me.  May I look at what is happening and then gaze at God's Pardoning Mercy, God's Sanctifying Grace, and God's Kind Hand of Providence.  We owe everything in our lives today to His Mercy.  Under the Mercy.  And we are attached to the Giver of Grace.  Under the Grace.  Identified with the Giver of All.   Restore us this day, O God.

COME BOLDLY:  Timeless Prayers
Dear Father, the Giver of Grace.  We need Your touch this day.  May we come to You with our woes and not to any man.  Restore unto me the joy of my salvation in this despondent day.  

PHOTO:  Rock Springs.  The no-filter view from my balcony as I stand in a rough patch and cry out to the Giver of Grace.

319 - “Walled In” Lamentations 3-5

                             

How lonely sits the city that was once full of people!
A city like a widow.  Now like a forced laborer.
All her lovers have dealt treacherously with her. 
No one comes to the feasts anymore.

Jeremiah shares in the afflictions of Israel.
"I am the man who has seen affliction
because of the rod of His Wrath.
He has driven me and made me walk in darkness & not in light."
Walled In.  Shut Out.
Lam 3:1-2

"I well remember my afflictions and my soul is downcast within me.
But T.h.i.s. I call to my mind, therefore I have Hope. 
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed.
His Compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, 'The Lord is My Portion;
therefore, I will wait for Him.
The Lord is good to those whose Hope is in Him,
to the one who seeks Him;
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young."
Lam 3:20-27

All I can say is Amen.  Here is a guy who has hit rock bottom.
Yet, look what he calls to his mind. 
Oh God, right where I sit this very day,
May I, May we all call to mind Your Great Love and Compassion. 

And wherever I sit this day in hopeless thoughts, help me call to mind Lam 3:20-27 --- your Great Love and Compassion.  Brand new for me this day.  Thank you so much, O God.

PHOTO: The Quarries Lake. A pastoral stretch of land dripping with Quarry rocks. A good place I have waited quietly many a day over 15 years on the campus. 

318 - “The Worst is Never the Worst” Lamentations 1-2

 

Lamentations 1:1 - How empty the city, once teeming with people...1:8 - Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world is an outcast.  1:9 - She played fast and lose with life; she never considered tomorrow.  1:16 She weeps buckets of tears and not one person cares for her soul.  What are her tears for?  What are my tears for this evening as I sit at a Starbucks contemplating my future?  Are they for myself?  If so, I will think no one cares for my soul.  It's just not true because of Lamentations 3. 2:19 - Get up each watch night and pour out your heart face-to-face with the Master.  Lift up your hands.  Lift up your head.

God poured on the trouble and hard times.  He locked me up in deep darkness.   He's got me cornered.  BUT, there's one other thing I am remembering that gives me a grip on hope:  God's loyal love couldn't have run out, His merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning.  How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).  He's all I've got left. God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times. When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst.  Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return. God's got my back.     

PHOTO:  I couldn't sleep the last few weeks of my pregnancy with Britt. Probably out of fright. Whatever. It was the worst---but never the last worst. God was merciful and gave me this baby to hold all my days. I couldn't love him more. He meant the world to me. It was a token of God's love waiting 7 years for this most precious moment to arrive. I never got over it. I never got over Britt. I never got over God.

317 - “What’s Happened and Why” Jeremiah 48-50

 

Jeremiah 48:7 "You trusted in thick walls and big money, but it won't help you now."   "Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you will be taken captive."

Jeremiah 48:14 "How can you say , 'We are warriors, men valiant in battle?' "  You're fighting the wrong battle.  Defiantly Arrogant.

Jeremiah 48:18 "The destroyer of Moab will wreck your safe, secure houses."  Stand on the roadside and ask:  "What's happened.  And why?"

What things do we really trust in?  What keeps you awake at 2am?  Do I think I am being valiant?  Am I in the right battle?  Am I asking the right questions?  Am I in the right place?  I may be right, but it may be coming from the wrong place.  Wreck us for good, dear God.  Expose where our trust is in our good deeds, our deep pocketsIf you trust in your deeds & riches,

You'll be taken captive with your priests and princes.
Jeremiah 48:7.
God never intended for us to find life
in our Past Achievements or flaunting
our Past Deeds of Prowess. 
Moab relied on what they had accomplished.

316 - "Full End" Jeremiah 46-47

Full End.

"Line up the Shield and Buckler,
Draw Near for Battle."
Every single day.

God will make a full end of this world and its people.
God will not make a full end of His Followers.  Jer 46:28

John Eldridge speaks of the ascending metaphors as we journey in our relationship with God.
Clay.
Sheep.
Servants.
Children,
Friends.
Lovers.

Jeremiah knew his God as the lover of his soul. 
He faced such ridicule and rejection, suffering and separation.
Yet, he pushed through the world to live apart, set apart.
He was not only in God's House, he was His Friend, His Lover.
He lived with a heart of obedience and mission.
May we follow the footsteps of those who have gone before us and have paid a price to be His.

315 - "Do Not Seek Great Things For Yourself" Jeremiah 43-45

 

God will make my mountains come down low and my valleys raise up in order that I may know Him better.  Isaiah 40:4  May HE glorify Himself.  

He is not lowering my mountains to make life better for me.  It could get a whole lot worse than it is.  In Jeremiah 45:5, God's Message to Baruch:  
"Things are going to get worse before they get better."  Do not seek great things for yourself.  God is the One adding sorrow to my pain.  Don't sit around planning how you can make a huge impact.  Baruch says that God is piling on the pain.  His Plan will not be thwarted.

Meanwhile back to Jeremiah 43, the army officers call Jeremiah a "liar."  And Jeremiah responds in Jer 44:7  "This is the Message of God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: 'So why are you ruining your lives by amputating yourselves from life, leaving yourselves isolated, unconnected?  

Is God speaking to our lives today?  How are we isolating ourselves from others in the name of religion?  How are we disconnected from our husbands, our children, our friends?

PHOTO:

PHOTO:  Live the life God has given you in the Supernova.  A glorious world to live in. It's not about seeking great things. It's all about living in the here and now. Great Things.  Photo Cred:  Flickr Commons

314 - "Are We Obeying the Message of God" JeremIah 40-42

 

Jeremiah 42: 1 The army officers asked Jeremiah to pray that his God would tell them the way that they should go and what they should do...and they said that God counted on them to do it!  In Jeremiah 42:15, Jeremiah warns them not to determine in their hearts to go where it is safe and peaceful and make that their home---Egypt---the very thing you fear will catch up with them and track them down in Egypt.  But they wouldn't listen!  Let's go back to Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 31:1 - "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots, and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek help from the LORD."  The people didn't obey a single word of God's Message through Jeremiah.  Fast forward to today.  Are we obeying the Message of God from our modern-day prophets and preachers?  Are we looking to the Holy One?  Whom did you go to today for help?  I walked beyond the uber expanse of skies this day with a moon and sun tucked behind a veil, and I asked for help from the Holy One in the midst of my current challenges.  Expose my foolish heart of determining what is the safest place for me to pursue while wild lions, so to speak, hunt me down.  My God is My Shelter.  My God is My Refuge.  My God is My Strength.  My God is My Help.  

And it is the Word of God that is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edges sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.  It is the Word that judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart not people. Hebrews 4:12

PHOTO:  Ezekiel. May you love the sound of His Voice and obey His Message all your days. We absolutely love the sound of your voice.

313 "Trust Through The Injustice That Has Been Done" Jeremiah 37-39

Matthew Henry calls Jeremiah a lion with regard to God's cause; a lamb with regard to his own cause.  

God's providential Cause:  King Zedekiah will be handed over to Babylon.  So, where are your prophets now who said that you would not.

Jeremiah's emotional Cause:  Please do not send me back to the prison hole lest I die.  The King listened.  And that prison opportunity became a pasture for freedom and bread and life.  We may not get the answers we want today.  Will we trust through the injustice of what has been done to us.  Let God take care of it.

There is suffering in the room.
In my room.
In your room.
Therefore.
Fix your eyes on
The Master of the House.
The Glorious One Who
has built all things.
  The Apostle.
Who worked miracles then.
Who works miracles now.
Consider Him in your suffering and stead.

312 "Make Me Stand" Jeremiah 35-36; Titus 2-3

Start with me.

Here is Jeremiah, unjustly thrown into jail, again. So hard to believe. Yet, so surrendered to his God. It's okay. What stirs within this giant of the faith? What secret thoughts drive him to depend?
And what beautiful God intervenes when it's too much in the house of Jonathan. God knows our name. God knows our frame. God knows our flame.

Jeremiah 35:19 - the house of the Rechabites shall never lack a man to stand before God. Oh, it is what I long for my house more than anything. God says to the Rechabites: "Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you, therefore...you shall never lack a man to stand."

God is emptying me of myself...enjoying ministry success more than my relationship with God.  May it never be.  When ministry is taken away, what does it do to my desires?  Do I have to have ministry success to be happy in life?  Is that what will bring me joy?  Absolutely not.  And no one can take away my relationship with my LORD.  This prophet, Jeremiah, enjoyed his relationship with God way more than any ministry success.  No clanging cymbal here.  Willing to be a voice.  Willing to be jailed.  Willing to be emptied.  Willing to speak the truth in love.  

Jeremiah 36:10  Baruch took the scroll to the Temple and read out publicly the words of Jeremiah. The response of the government officials:  You and Jeremiah need to go into hiding.  Jer 36:23 With startling arrogance, the King read a portion of the scroll and would cut it off with his pocketknife and toss it into the fire, followed by reading a little more than tossing the scroll again into the flames until it was extinguished.   Jer 36:24 The King and his officials never showed "the slightest twinge of conscience."  What a scary face.  What a scary place.  

You know, you've never seen your face before.  Listen to those He has placed directly in your path.  Let them read your face and listen to the truth.  What is chaff is blown away.  Does my face show the slightest twinge of conscience?

PHOTO:  So taken by this beautiful sunset.  So longing for those I love to find a deeper trust.  So wanting it to start with me.  All I can deal with is my own stuff.

311 - "God Has Set Things Right For Us" Jeremiah 32-34; Titus 1

 "I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from Me." This promise! God will never stop doing good to me. It' just not my definition of "good." He changes my heart, my definition, to His. And that's good. We were never born to be in charge of our lives. Born to worship the One Who created us.  Jeremiah 32:40

God answers Jeremiah's prayer. What was in that prayer that was not from a good place in Jeremiah's heart? God says: Yes, "I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" The city was a provocation from the day it was built---they followed idols not a Living God. Turned their backs on God. Again and again. God is going to give the city into the hands of the king of Babylon. Yet, God will bring them back to the land, too. "I will give them one heart that they may fear me always, for their own good and for the good of their children...I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them with all My heart and with all My soul. Jeremiah 32:41. He brings disaster; then, He brings good. A Promise. 

Beside myself reading this passage.  Jeremiah buys a piece of property from jail!  This piece of ground signifies hope.  There is a new day coming!  Houses.  Fields.  Vineyards.  Gardens.  They are coming back!  And Matthew Henry wisely writes:  "It is good to manage even our worldly affairs in faith; to do common business with reference to the Providence and Promise of God." I had a scary accident recently, hydroplaning my SUV across three lanes of busy interstate traffic at noon on a rainy day. I missed all the cars. Every time I tell the story, I feel that I need to reference my existence to God. 

Jeremiah sighs in praise to the God he worships and adores:  "Ah LORD, Thous has made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee."  Jeremiah 32:17.  And there it is right there.  A man in prison, unjustly.  And I complained incessantly this year because Worker's Comp never allowed me to visit a doctor for the minor trauma I suffered on my face.  Great in counsel; mighty in work; Thine Eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men.  Jer 32:19.  What more do I really need to lay life on His lap?

And God's beautiful response to this beautiful Jeremiah! "Call unto Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you know not!"  Even in jail!  Jer 33:3.

WHERE SHALL THE WORD BE FOUND, WHERE WILL THE WORD RESOUND?  NOT HERE, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH SILENCE - T. S. Eliot 

Still locked up in jail, Jeremiah is given a second Word from God in Jer 33:3.  In the silence of a prison cell, Jeremiah listens and God speaks: "Call to Me and I will answer you.  I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.  I want to give thorough renovations, working a true healing inside and out, so that your motto is 'God has set things right for us.' "  My prayer for you:  Be silent, o my soul, that I may hear God's Message to me this day.  Wonder what God is saying to you?  Can you still your heart to silence?

PHOTO:  I stood next to this solo tree hovering over the Pacific Ocean wondering about God's Power.  What mystery.  May we believe deep down where it counts that your outstretched arm is headed our way, on our behalf.

310 - "I Have A Hole In My Heart" Jeremiah 28-31; Titus 1

 Two people have told me in my lifetime that I have a hole in my heart.

I still to this day wonder what they saw in me, in my words. Was it deep sadness and grief? Both were counselors.  When I read Jeremiah 30:12, I wonder:  "Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing.  There is no one to plead your cause...your allies have forgotten about you."  They forgot about Joseph both in his demise and then again in his glory.  Why cry for a pain with no cure?  God promises in Jer 30:21: "I will bring you near and you will come close to Me.  You will be my people and I will be your God.  In a world with so many religions, so many directions, that's it---He became my God.  See, the storm of the Lord, a driving wind swirling down on heads of those who oppose me.  A fierce God will not stop until He fully accomplishes the purposes of His Heart.  In days to come, you will understand this.  Jeremiah 30:23-24. You found favor in the wilderness.  "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.  I will build you up again.  Again!  And I will remember no more and never forget you, as long as this sun above gives light and the moon and stars are fixed by night and the seas are stirred up to roar----that's how long. Forever.

Am I more serious about finding God and wanting Him more than anything else?  In Jeremiah 28, Jeremiah told prophet Hananiah that God never sent him.  "You've talked the country into believing a pack of lies!"   You claim to be sent...I'll send you right off the face of the earth.  God did.   Jeremiah 29: 9 - 11 talks about a bunch of liars preaching lies and claiming God sent them.  "I never sent them."  God's Decree!  This is God's word on the subject.  "As soon as Babylon's 70 years are up, I'll show up and take care of you and bring you back home.  I know what I'm doing.  I have it all planned out---plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.  When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me, I'll listen.  When you come looking for Me, you'll find Me.  Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."  God's Decreee:  "I'll turn things around for you."  His definition of good is different than mine.  Consciousness of sin can draw me closer to God.  The nearness of God is my good not things on this earth making it a good life.  

"I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from Me." This promise! God will never stop doing good to me. It' just not my definition of "good." He changes my heart, my definition, to His. And that's good. We were never born to be in charge of our lives. Born to worship the One Who created us.    Jeremiah 32:40

PHOTO:  A Grandmother's love for her first grandchild ever. God knows the plans He has for you, Ezekiel. To turn things around for you. For His Glory. You have to find Him and want Him and I pray always that you want Him more than anything else in life. I love you so much. You will never know how much.

 "I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from Me." This promise! God will never stop doing good to me. It' just not my definition of "good." He changes my heart, my definition, to His. And that's good. We were never born to be in charge of our lives. Born to worship the One Who created us.  Jeremiah 32:40

God answers Jeremiah's prayer. What was in that prayer that was not from a good place in Jeremiah's heart? God says: Yes, "I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" The city was a provocation from the day it was built---they followed idols not a Living God. Turned their backs on God. Again and again. God is going to give the city into the hands of the king of Babylon. Yet, God will bring them back to the land, too. "I will give them one heart that they may fear me always, for their own good and for the good of their children...I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them with all My heart and with all My soul. Jeremiah 32:41. He brings disaster; then, He brings good. A Promise. 

Beside myself reading this passage.  Jeremiah buys a piece of property from jail!  This piece of ground signifies hope.  There is a new day coming!  Houses.  Fields.  Vineyards.  Gardens.  They are coming back!  And Matthew Henry wisely writes:  "It is good to manage even our worldly affairs in faith; to do common business with reference to the Providence and Promise of God." I had a scary accident recently, hydroplaning my SUV across three lanes of busy interstate traffic at noon on a rainy day. I missed all the cars. Every time I tell the story, I feel that I need to reference my existence to God. 

Jeremiah sighs in praise to the God he worships and adores:  "Ah LORD, Thous has made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee."  Jeremiah 32:17.  And there it is right there.  A man in prison, unjustly.  And I complained incessantly this year because Worker's Comp never allowed me to visit a doctor for the minor trauma I suffered on my face.  Great in counsel; mighty in work; Thine Eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men.  Jer 32:19.  What more do I really need to lay life on His lap?

And God's beautiful response to this beautiful Jeremiah! "Call unto Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you know not!"  Even in jail!  Jer 33:3.

WHERE SHALL THE WORD BE FOUND, WHERE WILL THE WORD RESOUND?  NOT HERE, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH SILENCE - T. S. Eliot 

Still locked up in jail, Jeremiah is given a second Word from God in Jer 33:3.  In the silence of a prison cell, Jeremiah listens and God speaks: "Call to Me and I will answer you.  I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.  I want to give thorough renovations, working a true healing inside and out, so that your motto is 'God has set things right for us.' "  My prayer for you:  Be silent, o my soul, that I may hear God's Message to me this day.  Wonder what God is saying to you?  Can you still your heart to silence?

PHOTO:  I stood next to this solo tree hovering over the Pacific Ocean wondering about God's Power.  What mystery.  May we believe deep down where it counts that your outstretched arm is headed our way, on our behalf.

309 - "The Gospel Doesn't Come From Keyboards" Jeremiah 25-27; 2 Timothy 4

I

And, he didn't mince his mission.  

Jeremiah set his face like a flint.

Belted out every word of prophesy.

And the officials of Judah respond:

“This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”  Jeremiah 26:9.

Jeremiah knew.

Sent by the Lord God Himself.

So, mend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of God.

And it is the same for us this day.

I hear a Gospel of what God can do for us coming from keyboards of words and songs.

We must announce what God requires of us.  Repentance.  Surrender.  Dependence.  Trust.

And He will be to you the God of boundless love wrapping Himself around your story.

But on the terms of the Potter, not the clay.

Jeremiah received a sentence of death and still proclaimed:

"But as for me, behold, I am in your hands." Jer 26:14.

Because He knew that underneath were the arms of a Strong Loving Present God,

Who was accomplishing His Purposes through the rending of hearts not garments. 

PHOTO:  It's the ceiling of a place I visit in Austin that boasts the most visitors. The Capitol building. The acoustics are phenom.  And I can't imagine the trumpets and trinkets and singers and sound that raised the roof in Glory!  And that's what we will have for the rest of our lives~

308 - "The Eyes of Omniscience For My Good" Jeremiah 21-24; 2 Timothy 3

               

Hear the Word of the Lord to you!

Do what is just and right.

Rescue those who have been robbed.

Do no wrong to the fatherless, the widow.

Carry out God's commands.

Jeremiah 22:2-4

My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. Jer 24:6. No other words!

We don't know what this day will bring.  The eyes of Omniscience does.  He sees already before the dawn of the day.  His Good Intentions are always for our good.  It is the suffering of this day that will turn our eyes, our hands, our hearts, convicted by our sins and surrendered to a Good God.  Humbled by His Hand.  Protected by His Eyes.  This day will teach us to pray.

Wean me from this world and what people think of me.  May we all return to You this moment.  Bless us Lord.  Take care of us today.  Deliver us from this little trouble we face.  Like Daniel in the furnace.  We now sit in our very own furnace of affliction.  May our eyes meet the Eyes of Providence today.  Always.  

"The Lord will own those who are His, in all conditions."  M. Henry

PHOTO:  Standing on a college campus looking up to the sky, trying to feel Your safety net below me as I have just jumped off a cliff.  His eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. Jer 24:6. No other words!

307 - "God Is A Burning Fire Shut Up in my Bones" Jeremiah 17-20; 2 Timothy 2

        

Can the Potter remake this clay into another vessel.

What if it pleases God to leave me where I am?

Jeremiah 18:2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,  “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, Jeremiah 20:7-10

Why do I think things have to be a certain way?
I mean, God brought together Hosea and a wife of ill repute.
I mean, God gave calamities to Joseph and Job, one right after another.
Why do I think I will escape the uncomfortable in this life?
Can God not do with me as He wills.  On the shelf.  On the pedestal.
It's not for me to decide.

And the humble honest Jeremiah proceeds:O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived;
You have overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
Everyone mocks me.
For each time I speak, I cry aloud; 

I proclaim violence and destruction,

Because for me the word of the Lord has resulted
In reproach and derision all day long.
But if I say, “I will not remember Him
Or speak anymore in His name,”
Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am weary of holding it in,
And I cannot endure it.

Jeremiah 20:7-9

Something is going on in his heart in the midst of mess.
Jeremiah has opened his cause to God.  Jer 20:12.
His problems are committed to God!

...But the Lord is with me like a dread champion.

Jeremiah's friends hoped for his fall---what kind of friends are they?
But.  God has this.

PHOTO:  A burning fire in Palm Springs.  Oh, this verse so speaks to me.  Where is that burning fire in my heart I have once known?  I open my cause to You, O God!

306 - "I Ate God's Words" Jeremiah 15-16; 2 Timothy 1

                                    

"O Lord, you know;
    remember me and visit me,
    and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
    know that for your sake I bear reproach.
Your words were found, and I ate them,
    and your words became to me a joy
    and the delight of my heart,"
Jeremiah 15: 16-17

Two small words contain an ocean of joy! The best thing we can do for ourselves is get into the Word of God. 

Father, you know! Nothing escapes your eyes and ears. Help us this day to find You in the Word. 

PHOTO: Heritage Ranch. Couldn't wait to stand on the course and say: You know!

305 - "Is My Confidence in God or in Man?" Jeremiah 13-14; 1 Timothy 5

                                                     

This is a very sad time in our lives.  "It's precisely our consciousness of sin that can lead us nearer to God."  Closer, Our God, bring us closer as we deal with our own stuff.  So aware of the presence of a Good God in the midst of some confusion over here.  We don't understand but we trust.  We are in the dark night of the soul and pray we hold tight and remain faithful.   

 

Why are we acting like tourists?

Jeremiah 14:7 Drought...We know we're guilty. We've lived bad lives—but do something, God. We've betrayed God, Hope of Israel.  Our only Hope...14:9 - God, you are, in fact, here, here with us! You know who we are—you named us! Don't leave us in the lurch. 
Does God always listen when we pray?Jeremiah 14:11 God said to me, "Don't pray that everything will turn out all right for this people. When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won't listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I'll not accept them....their preachers are liars telling them that everything is going to be okay.  Oh my!  God's eyes pour out tears for the people while the preachers go about business as usual as though nothing happened. Don't break faith with us, God.

  Jer 14:8
8 You who are the hope of our days
    Savior in times of distress,
why are you like a stranger in my midst
    like a traveler who stays only a night?

9 Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
    like a warrior powerless to save?

You are among us, Lord,
    and we bear your name;
    do not forsake us. Oh God!

PHOTO: Duomo de Milano, Italy

304 - "If You Race With Men on Foot, How Will You Race with Horses?" Jeremiah 9-11; 1 Timothy 5

This is not just another set of rules.
Obedience gives us access to the God of the Angel Armies.  "Obey what I tell you. Do exactly what I command you. Your obedience will close the deal. You'll be mine and I'll be yours.”  Jer 11:4

This is not just when we have a crisis.
God wants our attention all the time. And as for you, Jeremiah, I don't want you praying for this people. Nothing! Not a word of petition. Indeed, I'm not going to listen to a single syllable of their crisis-prayers."  Jer 11:14

This is not just religion and going to church.
God examines the heart. What business do the ones I love have figuring out how to get off the hook? And right in the house of worship! Do you think making promises and devising pious programs will save you from doom? Do you think you can get out of this by becoming more religious?  Jer 11:15

His disposition is about to grew even worse. What he is up against is not dissipating. He is forced to answer himself. And what does he hear? The very voice of Jehovah in his innermost parts. You won't make that horse foot race if you are wearied by the trials at hand. It's easy to be safe and sound and secure in a land of peace. But what about when the danger is pressing in on all sides? The pride of Jordan? When the overflowing peaceful banks meet with hungry lions? In the midst of all of our pride.

“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,

how will you compete with horses?

And if in a safe land you are so trusting,

what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

Jeremiah 12:5

PHOTO:  The thickets of the hill country.  Whether it be lush or little, may we fully trust and press in.  

303 - "Their Sins Trail Behind Them" Jeremiah 8-11; 1 Timothy 5

There are people who have no idea how they come across or what they are really doing to you.  They are so lost in themselves.  Their sins trail behind them--- I Timothy 5:24.  For all those people in your life leaving a trail of sadness, stand up for them at their crossroads and ask for them the right paths of life.  Jeremiah 6:16.  There is a balm in Gilead.  Jeremiah 8:22.  There is a balm in your city to redress your grievances.  We have to submit to the care offered by God.  We have to submit to the cure offered by God. Redress me in my own trail of "misses" as sin is missing the mark.  The blood of Christ is the balm in Gilead.  We will remain in need not for want of the balm but for admittance of our need and submission to His cure.  Throws me back to my cancer days.  I had to submit to the cure to eradicate the cancer---it wasn't what I wanted but what was needed to move forward.  I didn't think Christ was what I wanted because I thought it was a religion to follow----and I already was.  But when we admit and submit and ask for the balm, it is more than anyone in the universe knows.  He offers an intimate relationship with Himself.  God gives us Himself and that's the dearest grandest offer of anything.  

PHOTO:  A trail. Our sins trail behind us. 

302 - "They Don't Know How To Blush" Jeremiah 5-6; 1 Timothy 1-2

This brand-new prophet, this child king---
they have inherited a people "greedy for unjust gain."
They embrace a mess of a kingdom. From the least to the greatest.
These righteous leaders couldn't make a dent in the evil bent of their people.  

This kingdom:
"They heal wounds lightly saying, "Peace, Peace." Jeremiah 6:14.

Do we do the same today glossing and minimizing pain saying, "It's all good." And it may not be so. And, yes, I do know that God is always doing good. But slapping a trite phrase on grief and pain and loss---well, that's not good.

This kingdom:
They have no shame over their sins,
they don't even know how to blush. Jer 6:15.

And it is the Lord, Who says:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls. Jer 6:16.

"Oh that men would be wise for their souls! Ask for the old paths; the way of godliness and righteousness has always been the way God has owned and blessed. Ask for the old paths set forth by the written word of God." Matthew Henry

Oh Father, give us Wisdom this day and the Grace to see the paths You have put in front of us by this written Word we hold. Solomon just prayed for it: Wisdom from Above. We humbly stop and surrender and ask for those old paths worn and creased and wrinkled and crafted by Your Beautiful Word. Counsel us this day, Oh God! We need You so!

PHOTO:  Jerusalem.  We walked this path.  Many followers have.  But it's the Written Word, the Living Word, Who they encountered on all these paths that we make supplication, that we seek, that we step into.  

301 - "I Know You" Jeremiah 1-4; 2 Thessalonians 3

A youthful prince & a novice prophet join Kingdom forces and things grow worse.
Josiah was 21 and trying to turn around his followers from the high places.
While God was calling a young Jeremiah to speak, prophesy and reform.
Both young men met the Voice of God in unison, in fear and trembling.
And Jeremiah hears God say to him:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:3
Not just a prophet to his people, but to the nations!

And Jeremiah tenderly trembles:
“Ah, Lord God!

I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 

But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Jeremiah 1:6-7.

Whatever it is God is saying to you this day.
Go in weakness. 
Speak in dependence.

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
And I am watching over my word to perform it.” Jeremiah 1:16.
God fits each of us to His Calling and watches over all.

But you, dress yourself for work.  Jeremiah 1:17

Dear Father, there are days when I believe I could have done better.  I could have taken more initiative.  I could have...the list goes on.  The truth is You are always working to bring about good.  I must lay down the high places in my mind of where I think I should be.  Direct me this day to speak Your Word.  Watch over Your Word to perform it today. 

We anticipate the Great Day. I am one year closer, this day, in Ancipation of that Great Day.
I Timothy 3:15-16 Practice and Persist in these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.  Keep a close watch on yourself and on the Truth.

PHOTO:  Standing at this ocean wondering about my future.  Dressing myself for work today. 

300 - "Sin, Like The Win, Takes Me Away" Isaiah 65-66

My mountains quaked this weekend.

Isaiah 65:17 says that there will be a new heaven and a new earth and all these things, these former things will not come to mind.  But for now, I wrestle with how I got to this place where I am in life.  There are parts of me that hold so much hope for whatever lies ahead.  Yet, I wrestle with what I see of who I am and who I hope to be.  "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence."  Isaiah 64:1.  I need Him so.  And I bow in deep gratitude that no ear has heard nor has the eye seen a God besides You Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him. Isaiah 64:4.  Our sin, like the wind, takes us away.  Isaiah 64:7.  "But Now, O LORD, You are our Father.  We are the clay, You our Potter; and all of us are the Work of Your Hand."  Isaiah 64:8.  Help me to accept what no one is offering; the apologies that do not exist; the distance that creeps in day by day surreptitiously; the lack of validation; the feeling of being left in the middle of the road to die.  Thank you God for forgiving me for wrong attachments to living for this world.  Position each of us where new attachment is possible.  Impassion us all to desire first things first.  Empower me this lonely day to abandon myself to One Holy Passion. 

PRAYER FROM PSALMS
Psalm 32:1 - Blessed, O God, are all of us because You have covered our sins.  All our sins are forgiven, past present future.  All covered.  All Powerful Benevolent God.  We thank Thee!

299 - "Let Go of All Your Devices" Isaiah 64; 1 Thessalonians 4

Isaiah 64:4 "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
Who acts for those who wait for Him."
We wait for no man.
We wait for our God.
The Potter Who has worked us well to this place.
You will not stop with This Work of Your Hands, our Father. Isa 64:8
Your hands are spread out to us.
May we let go of all our devices.  Isa 65:2

These people so wanted God to manifest Himself like He did in the days of Moses and David and Elijah.  They beg him to do what He used to do. 
As I look back on my life and I am a little older,
I find myself begging for Grace undeserved.
Matthew Henry wrote:
"They need not fear being disappointed of it---for it is sure,
or disappointed in it, for it is sufficient. 
The very Sure Presence of our God.
The very Sufficient Grace from our God.
Our hope is in Him.
Our joy is in Him.
Wrapped up in what our God will do in us and for us and through us.
Such Mystery that we cannot even comprehend though we grasp the Grace.

And my phone just rang.
And it was an answer to something we have waited on God not man.
No eye has seen.  No ear has heard.
He is an ever Present Help in trouble.
He is our God.
And our eyes look to God for help. 
And I weep with gratitude.
Henry also said:
God speaks his freeness and forwardness in doing us good.
Oh, my soul!
"See what communion there is between a gracious God and a gracious soul." M.Henry
PHOTO: Watching the waves crash the rocks of the Pacific Ocean and pondering the Mystery of this life we empty and this God we embrace.

298 - "Crying in Heartache and Living in Hope" Isaiah 57-59; 1 Thessalonians 3

Look at how many times the prophet says that this is what God says.  A message from the Holy One. God, the Son, is saying:  "I am coming soon."  

Until He comes, His Grace is with us in the midst of every sigh, every sorrow, every secret, every suffering.  We may be crying in HEARTACHE, but we can be living in HOPE.
  
A Message from the One Whose Name is Holy:  "I live in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed, And what I do is put new spirit in them, get them up and on their feet again. For I'm not going to haul people into court endlessly,"  Isaiah 57:15.

Isaiah 58:2 - 9    BUSY BUSY BUSY V. BEING AVAILABLE TO YOUR FAMILIES
Face my family with their sins! They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people—law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side. But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' "Well, here's why:

 

"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.  "This is the kind of fast day I'm after:  to break the chains of injustice, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is:  sharing your food with the hungry, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. ...  So, I toed the line on Saturday in the Kansas City Marathon for World Vision. 800 kids today will lose their life because of polluted water sources. Fundraising to help World Vision build one well at a time---$50 builds one well for one child for a lifetime of clean water.

You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'  Isaiah 58:9 - I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places...You'll be like a well-watered garden...If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there— Then you'll be free to enjoy God! 

"Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word." 2 Thes 2:16-17

I do not cure your unholiness by overlooking or understanding it.  To overlook it would be to miss the spot on the x-ray that will destroy you.  To understand it in light of what you've suffered would be to excuse it.  I do not heal your selfishness by affirming your value.  I solve your deepest problem with My self-sacrificing, reconciling embrace that forgives all that is unholy within you."  What hope is given by the prophet Isaiah!  Faith to believe God is good in any circumstance. Love that pays any price to bless another both spring from hope.  66 LL 

Isaiah 59:1-2  WRONGHEADED LIVES CAUSED THE SPLIT
God's arm is not too short.  God's ears are not stopped up.  There's nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you.  Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God....59:12 - Our wrongdoings pile up before you, God, our sins stand up and accuse us...Good is MIA, missing in action.  

But You issue a decree in v. 20:  I'll arrive as Redeemer to those who leave their sins.   

PHOTO:  Walking every day and thinking about those without. Godspeed. 

297 - "His Word Doesn't Return Void" Isaiah 54-56; 1 Thessalonians 2

Though this mountain is shaking and the hill is removed, 

yet My Unfailing Love for you! will not be shaken; 

nor my covenant of peace be removed, 

said the Lord Who has compassion on you." 

Isa 54:10

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:10-11.

Come. Come with all your longings. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. The efficacy of nature depicts the rain and the snow coming down from heaven yielding seed and bread. Same for God's Word. It will not return to God empty. Do I have that fixed in my mind today?

Seek the Lord while He may be found.  He is near.

His Word is in our mouths.  

He will accomplish all that concerns us.

Our Counselor, His Word, will succeed.

We will find Peace that this world cannot give.

Are we looking in the right places?

PHOTO: Mount Rainier. It doesn't shake every day. 

296 - "Don't Light My Own Fire" Isaiah 49-53; 1 Thessalonians 1

Isaiah 49:16

"I have engraved you on the palm of my hands."  

Not a tattoo, not a likeness, not just your name.

I am carried in the heart of God. Isaiah 49:16.

From the foundations of the world,

To the cross of Christ.

Every day is marked.

Our good ones.  Our bad ones.

For those days when we walk in the dark,

where there is no light for our path,

may we trust in the Name of the Lord,

our God.  Isaiah 50:10

May we lay down our strategies, our crutch,

and not try to illuminate our path

through analysis and maneuvers and spotlights.

If we walk by the light of our own fires,

God reveals in Isa 50:11 that it won't turn out well for us.

Torment is the word He uses.

Father, make us aware way down deep where it counts as to the strategies we use to make our paths bright so we can walk safely, securely, with no stumblings.  Open our ears, our hearts, to see what we are doing in the midst of our darkness.  May we struggle well.  May we learn a little bit more this day what it means to depend on You in trust where there is no light.  

PHOTO:  A very dark day on Santa Rosa Island.  It came so suddenly.  Just like trials.  A phone call, an accident, a betrayal.  The blink of an eye and it's our present reality. Don't light my own fire. 

295 - "Move In To Love Those People In Your Life" Isaiah 46-48, Colossians 4

If we are really honest, we know that there are those moments when we feel that God has forgotten about the mess we are in.  Forgotten about me.  Deep down we have to know that it is not truth.  Isaiah 49:15-16 God says that He will not forget Zion. He has inscribed our name on the palm of His Hands.  I cannot interpret the silence of God as forgetfulness.  God knows every part of our story.  The real question is whether I can trust Him with what He allows.

Who am I really listening to?

What is playing over and over in my mind?

Am I listening to God?

Am I listening to what it means to "move in" to love those difficult people in my life?

You claim to be citizens of the Holy City; 

you act as though you lean on the God of Israel, 

named God-of-the-Angel-Armies. 

You've never been good listeners to me. 

You have a history of ignoring me.

I've refined you, but not without fire. 

I've tested you like silver in the furnace of affliction.  

Come close, listen carefully:   I've always been present with you."

Isaiah 48

He said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”

But I said, “I have labored in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
    and my reward is with my God.”

                                                                                Isa 49:3-4

Hope for a new chapter.  Hope for a better me.  Hope for new strength.  

294 - "God Wired Me This Way" Isaiah 43-45; Colossians 3

                           

The Lord says:  I created you.  I formed you.  I redeemed you.  I summoned you by name.  You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. And the fire will not burn you. Isaiah 43:1-2

When God acts, who can reverse it? Isaiah 43:13.

God formed me from the womb. No one on earth knows me like that. He wired me together this way. He will help me even when I am fed up with me. Isaiah 44:2

He'll pour water on thirsty real estate. He'll pour His Spirit on our children.  

Fear not.

This God Who has formed us is here to redeem us. And that changes everything.  

This God Who formed us is here to deliver us from idols we do not even know we have. With one hand we use a simple piece of wood to fuel a fire, to bake some bread. On the other hand, we craft that piece of wood into an idol to worship. "Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Isaiah 44:20. 

And this Beautiful God confirms the Word to us, 
fulfills the Counsel of His messengers. Isaiah 44:26.

May we hear the Counsel of messengers. Confirm Your Word to each of us through the spoken Word, the written Word, the Word made flesh in those You bring across our paths. Open our eyes, our hearts to see idols we have crafted that worship time and people and achievement and success and safety and comfort.Am I stirred by my calling or by my pain?

 "I've singled you out, called you by name, and given you this privileged work."  Am I more stirred this day by my high calling or by the pain in my life?  Isa 45:11: "Do you question who or what I'm making? Are you telling me what I can or cannot do?"  Radical Repentance needed to respond to the truth of the Gospel to advance His Kingdom.

God will never stop doing you good.  Isaiah 45:3-6.  God says: I've been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, And I'll keep on carrying you when you're old. I've done it and will keep on doing it.  So why do I act like the center of the universe is me, sometimes.

In 66 LL, the author writes about a friend of his who thinks God's Love is all about the spiritual highs he sometimes expreriences when he sobs over how empty he feels.  But those "Divine Encounters" with Your Love don't seem to be freeing him to better love his difficult wife.  He backs away from her so he can experience Your Love without interruption.  As I stood on the beach as daybreak, and watched the Morning Star open its corridor, there was the sprinkle of rain and the surreal experience of singing the Doxology alone on a pristine island beach. Just happened to be the next song on my phone.  In the midst of my pain, I could have burst open, I was so "taken" with the God of the Universe Who walked with me on the succulent sultry sparkling saturated sand!  What is most alive in me this day?  Am I more alive with other people who are "safe" and backing away from those closest to me?  Heaven forbid.  What does love look like today toward those in my life who are difficult to read and dismissive in actions toward me?  "Only those who know they are unholy, who hate their unholiness more than their pain and emptiness, experience the transforming power of My Love!"  66 LL.  That's what God is saying to me this day. 

The LORD, our God, is a Sun and a Shield. Psalm 80:2 - Stir up Your power. And come to save us! O God, restore us. And cause Your face to shine upon us,and we will be saved. God, You made us objects of contention with our neighbors. It happened to me this very day. You've made us drink tears in large measure. Fed us with the bread of tears. Psalm 80:5 Everyone wants to be more like You. Yet, day in/day out, I hear Your children begging for reversal of their problems. And I am the first voice I hear: Don't let this cancer happen again! Don't let my kids go off the deep end. Don't let one more thing happen. And the list goes on. When we will ever be a people who will listen to God. Not a stubborn people who walk in their own devices. A people who will deal with our own waywardness. A people who will care more about our souls than our cancer. A people who will care more about our souls than our food. A people who will care more about our souls than our money. A people who will praise in the deepest fog. God, You are a Sun and Shield. You do give Grace and Glory. Help me to believe in places where I have not that You will not withhold any good thing from me.