23 - "Listen for the Sounds of God" Job 36-37; Matthew 15:1-20

                                                          It was the Sound of God that I heard 8 years ago 1/13/2006. Never have I ever been more persuaded and convinced by a very Good God Who allowed some suffering in my life that has turned into way more good than I could have ever imagined. Look at where I am today. That Great Divide was the best thing that ever happened to me. At the time, I literally thought it to be the worst. And I spiraled down into a depression that I never knew even existed. And my God showed up in my life like never before. 

When I told Beth Moore at a conference what had happened, she replied to me: Ezekiel 8:3. God has yanked you by the head of your hair and lifted you up. Go. 

And everywhere I turned, people would share with me Jonah 2:8. I'd turn the radio on and they would be talking about it. I'd go to church and it would be in the sermon: do not miss the Grace of God passing you by. 

Listen to the Sounds of God. 

Keep listening for the Thunder of His Voice, Job. Job 37:3. 

Job is listening but he doesn't hear---and he needs to ask himself why he is not hearing the Sound of God. We all need to ask ourselves today: do we hear the Sound of God in our lives? Elihu is about to hear That Thunder too. 

"It is no surprise that the Bible uses hearing, not seeing, as the predominant image for the way human beings know God. They can't walk around God and take God in like a cathedral or an artichoke. They can only listen to time for the Sound of God---to the good times and bad times of their own lives for the words God is addressing to, of all people, them." (Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words.) 

Matthew 15:18 - "But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."   Incurvatus in se----Latin for "curved inward on oneself."

PHOTO: A whirlwind.

22 - "If God Is Silent" Job 34-35; Matthew 14:22-36

The ears test words like the tongue tastes food. Job 34:3-4. Let us discern together what is right and learn what is good. May we all listen to words that matter for our lives. Job 34:29 "if God is silent" ... then what? What stirs in you as we read chapter after chapter after chapter about a man who lost his 10 children? Job is trying to make sense of his suffering. Suffering with no explanation. Elihu explodes cause evidently the older generation should make sense of it all. What's his pull? What stirs in you? I keep thinking about how Job and his wife lost their 10 children and I wonder what God is saying to Job in his silence? I keep thinking of a very old quote: "The first step to sanctity is self-knowledge." Job is wrestling with what is really going on inside of him. "If we stay within the darkness, stick close to the Cross, through death we will come to know the God Who reveals Himself in the process of dying and renewal." Something beautiful is happening to Job on the inside. We know that because we know the rest of the story. Am I staying within my own darkness, sticking close to His Cross, and dying to my pride and fears so that He may reveal and renew my spirit. Have mercy on us, O God! God is speaking through His Word. What matters more than listening and living. It seems strange as we read this story that Job's friends could not see what was going on inside of their hearts. God spoke directly to their hearts in those days. They had no Word of God; held no pages to turn. How far was Ur from the Garden of Eden? How many stories had been passed along since Creation? All we know at this point is the Creation Story, Adam & Eve, Cain and Abel, the Tower of Babel. And then, a righteous man, in a far off city of Ur. A man accused of saying "my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression." Job 34:6. Where on earth was the compassion of these men? I mean, he lost 10 children. We are not punished for our sins. And there is truth in Job 32:8 that it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes man understand. O God, help us to understand, to know wisdom, for the place where we sit this day. May we fall to our knees in prayer: Jesus climbed the mountain so he could be by himself and prayer alone into the night. Matthew 14:23.

God is at work among us 
This Very Present Hour
and we may have no idea what He is up to.
Isn't He looking for our faith?
Bring me those who are sick
And I will heal them...
they need only touch the Hem of my Garment
Matt 14:36
I cannot touch a hem without Faith
that God is going to be Present and

work a work of faith with Power.

 

PHOTO:  Taken at a sultry sunset over Santa Rosa Island as I contemplated what trumps all this suffering.

21 - "Better to Fall Into the Hands of God than Man" Job 32-33; Matthew 14:1-21

Oh, the Grandeur of what God has done on this earth and in our hearts.

Oh, the Arrogance at what we have thought we could have done better.

Job 33:13 ~ Why is Job complaining about what God is doing?

There are parts of this story about Job and his fair-weather friends that are simply so sad.  Here's a man who has lost his 10 children. Lost his good health.  Lost his community.  Job does not even have one child to console him about the death of the others.  There are no words in the English language to communicate the extent of this devastating loss.  No Words.  Instead!  An Accusation of his sin:  ~ Job 34:36 ~ It appears that Job needs to be tested to the utmost for answering and questioning God but that is not the rendering of these words. God shows "the Satan" which is a position not a person, that here is a man who loves God. Job loves God for Who He is. He has every earthly reason to give up. He has all of God to hang on to. Look at what is not being said: Job is not cursing God; Job is not asking for blessings. This story is all about restoration not about sin. And the words of David fall into play:  It is better to fall into the Hands of God rather than into the hands of men (Heb 10:34). Job knew that. He was imperfectly fully committed to God and God knew it. God treated Job with utmost respect and "personal sentiment"---Job is  "my servant." 

Why can't we fall forward into Loving Arms and speak our heart?  God will make us aright.  He will set us back on our feet again.  He will make all things new. Our God, this very moment, is knocking on the door of our hearts---a progressive move, Rev. 3:20.  Why won't we listen?  God is Powerful, Omniscient, and Good in our darkest days.  Trust.  How can we not?  To Whom else shall we go?  To What else this day?

And there is truth in Job 32:8 that it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes man understand. O God, help us to understand, to know wisdom, for the place where we sit this day. 

PHOTO:  The Grandeur. Washington State. Where my husband grew up and found God. 

19 - "God Is An Earthquake" Job 28-29; Matthew 13:1-30

#19  Our experiences are not the means to find God---they are the context in which we find God. 

Job 28:23 "God Alone knows the Way to Wisdom." Job 28:28 "Here it is! Fear-of-the-LORD----that's wisdom , and Insight means shunning evil." Am I shunning evil or am I slapping its wrist like it was a naughty thing to do? 

I first read the quote from Abraham Heschel when we were going through a hard time back in F.W. "God is not nice. God is not an uncle. God is an earthquake." 66 LL says the world of Christendom does not want to believe that. "Am I willing to die to my blessings as my source of life?" Dead to self. Alive to God. 

LORD make us all come alive to You as our Only---One and Only---Source of Life. My desires for righteousness, 2 Thes 1:11-12, are good and right but how to get there in this life must be reckoned with. I am not on the path for God to relieve all my suffering. 

I hadn't seen Larry in a while and saw him in North Carolina. The first words out of his mouth to me:---"We aren't here to talk about your cancer, Bev. You may meet Him before I do (Larry had cancer too and he is actually with Him tonight). We're here to talk about the Beautiful God in you that is using that struggle to uncover a rest in you. We're here to talk about God and what He's up to in you." Our experiences are not the means to find  God---they are the context in which we find God. 

It's the stories that nudge us to a welcome awakening. Matthew 13:13. 

It's my story that has provided the context of knowing God.

PHOTO: Rockport, Texas. Walking on the shore, thinkingbout God and how we can even come close to understanding an all-present, all-knowing God. a

18 - “Hold Fast, My Righteousness” Job 25-27; Matthew 12:24-50

                                                 

Job isn't recognized anymore by his friends or his community.  Job's reply:  Job 27:2 “As God lives, Who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit."  

No hierarchy in God's Kingdom.  No big people and little people in Job’s day.  We are all his brothers and sisters and mothers. Jesus says in Matthew 12:49 that obedience is thicker than blood. Who are my mother and brothers? Not the hierarchy in the world in which I live! ... where I am not recognized nor sought after—-I feel forgoten and invisible most days ... but in God's Kingdom His Pursuit of me is relentless, inexpressible, incessant. Live to love not to be loved. Live to serve not to be served. 

Job 27:6 "Hold fast, my Righteousness." Hold fast, my Friend. As long as breath is in us. What is our hope when God cuts us off?  This we know, the Almighty is always doing us good, even in suffering.  Hold fast! Those two words mean a great deal to me. My counselor, Bruce, for 3 years frequently ended with “hold fast.” It’s what I remember. It’s a beautiful theme to live by. Hold Fast. I think of my bff Nancy who lost 18-year-old Drew in a tragic auto accident. That’s what she has done—-held fast to Him all the rest of her days. 

PHOTO:  It's one of my favorite spots on earth.  We are headed there on Friday. Clear Lake overlooking Mount Rainier.  And my heart h.e.r.e. overflows today as I bid my spot farewell and Turn Around to face some problems that I cannot articulate.  Overflowing with gratitude for I am more persuaded, more convinced, more oh-so-sure, that my God is fighting for me in Untold Unseen Ways

17 - "Cannot Figure God Out" Job 22-24; Matthew 12:1-23

         

"I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive Him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. But God knows the way that I take." Job 23:8 Such beauty from the heart of Job. Followed by a haughty confidence that Job will come out as gold. And it is that statement right here that Job will repent of uttering---that all his uprightness being tried by God will produce good gold. Oh, may we see what stirs within us. May we see what remains in our lives as permitted by a very Good God to drive me to Him as my Center, my Source, my All. God was silent to Job. The dark night of the soul. And Job continued to fall forward and sit before God in mystery. And Job is learning just like you and me to rest before God in trust of whatever He does.  Job knew way down deep that his suffering was not punishment for his sin that he could stop by living better. In our darkest nights, there is hope that awaits and invites us to love in ways we never knew. "When we cannot figure God out, we will give up the illusion of predictability and control and discover the joy and freedom of hope." Father, You never allow more suffering than necessary for our very best life. That's what the sages say. That's what I wrestle with. It's just hard to fathom how much as in the story of Job. Help this next generation to see things from your perspective. Help us all to live like this servant of yours who kept coming back to you day after day, wrestling with the deep things. 

Am I disrupted by the story of John the Baptist and how he learned the unforced rhythms of Grace?  "I should be!  God prefers a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual (Matt 12:7)."  "This is war, and there is no neutral ground (Matt 12:30).  If you're not on my side, you're the enemy...Consider this---"There's nothing done or said that can't be forgiven (Matt 12:32)."  Take heart!  "It's your heart that gives meaning to your words (Matt 12:34)."

 PHOTO: The place I went to wrestle back when I lived in Austin for these past 18 years. So many tears dropped into this Quarries Lake. 

16 - "Are You The One?" Job 21-22; Matthew 11

Does our Redeemer hold this sun in place? Does our Redeemer hold all things in our life? Job knew it. He knew God was everywhere. He knew prosperity did not depend on right living. 

"What would we gain if we entreat Him?" remarked Job to his accusers. Job 21:16 

Elphaz, a lousy friend, replies: "Is not your wickedness great, and your iniquities without end?" 

While John in the Book of Matthew in 11:3 is still asking - "Are you the One we've been expecting or are we still waiting?"  John asks the question from a dark damp dungeon---a prison cell for preaching truth.  But it's Jesus' reply knowing the rest of the story that grips me this day.  "Go to the prison and tell John:  The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side."  We know the rest of the story in Matt 14: 11-12...John's head would be carried on a platter at Herod's birthday party at the request of Herodian and her daughter.  John wasn't healed or saved from a horrendous death.  John knew something I don't know as he wrestled through Jesus leaving him from prison cell to prison cell.  Yet John was free.  When I lost one of my babies to miscarriage, Elisabeth Elliot wrote me the words of this passage. 

Are you burned out with what God is asking of you?  Are you worn out with your life, your family, your friends, your ministry?  Matt 11:28-30 - "Come to Me.  Get away with Me and you'll recover your life.  How do you get away with Jesus?  He will show you how to take a real rest.   "Walk with Me and work with Me---watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of Grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with Me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."  

15 - "I Know My Redeemer Lives" Job 17-19; Matthew 10:21-42

Where Then Is My Hope?
Job still just wanted to die---where is that graveyard.

I mean, he lost 10 children!

He is a "byword" not the beautiful people of the world.  No more.
And his friends want to know how long will he hunt for words.

Hang on, Job.

And Job replies: 

"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me."—Job 19:25-27.

"Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!" Oh Job! Did you realize we would be reading t.h.e.s.e. words thousands of years later. You made it in the book of all books, the One breathed by God. Job 19:25-27 For I know that my Redeemer lives and that He will stand upon the earth One Day. I shall see God for myself. My eyes shall behold Him, the Day we all live for. Yes, Job, your words are memorialized forever using iron pens.

Engraved words. Engraved on the Palms of His Hands for you and for me. Telling words.  Most scholars agree that it was not a messianic prophecy---I just went and read 3 different commentaries by Longman and Baker and Watson.  . Your redemption draws nigh, Job. All of our redemption does.  Lift up your eyes to the Light, the Comforter of the world. He will deliver you, Job. He will deliver me. And He will stand on our behalf before the world. World upon end. Until then. Hold fast, Job. Hold fast, my soul. These weighty words are forever words. My Redeemer Lives!

In regards to the Book of Job not being a messianic prophecy, I loved what Tremper Longman said in his commentary about Job: Longman believed that Job strongly desired and expected to meet God before Job died.  The words suggest that they will not be "strangers" when they meet.  Job wanted a face-to-face meeting with God.  The thought of it makes Job faint.

PHOTO:  Taken from a bridge across the Arkansas River as I reflected upon what it means to accept those things here on earth that should never be.  Yes, we do know, Our Redeemer Lives!

14 - "Pain Assuaged" Job 14-16; Matthew 10:1-20

Job's friends say that Job's tears poured out to God are windy knowledge. Job 15:2. A friend of all of us, says that "when pain is born, a little courage helps more than much knowledge from your friends and the least tincture of the Love of God is more than all of that. #suffering

                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                 God numbers my steps: doesn't He watch over my every sin? It is sealed up in a bag. Fastened tight. Job 14:16

"Persecution so persistent would wear out the strongest," says Matthew Henry. He goes on to say: Does God destroy the hope of man in his own overwhelming personal pain? 

For now! You know, Job knew and believed in a God who would help and deliver him. But this disaster upon disaster was like it was too much for him to still believe that God was doing something in this. All his sins sealed up like endictments of how much he had done wrong. We look back on Job's day. We know truth in ways he did not. Job's depravity prevails here. He sees his God as going too far against him and his family. 

  
"The Lord must prevail against all who contend with him. God may send disease and pain, we may lose all comfort in those near and dear to us, every hope of earthly happiness may be destroyed, but God will receive the believer into realms of eternal happiness." Matthew Henry
Do not seal up my transgressions in a bag, nor note my iniquities in thy register." He doesn't!

Job's friends called his tears poured out to God "windy knowledge," Job 15:2, "unprofitable talk."  They went so far as to say that Job is doing away with the fear of God. Job 15:4.  Oh!  This father sits in an enormous enigma.  His pain is so overwhelming that he cannot see straight to God.  And, yet, his "miserable comforters" inquire if God's comforts are too small for Job?  May we hold our wisdom for we walk not in those moccasins. 

PHOTO:  The view of the base of Mount Rainier in Eatonville.  A few tears had just spilled out.  Jesus had nowhere to lay his head.  He understands aloneness.  Job was so alone in this.  From the top of the world to safe in His Savior's Arms, still and alone.  

13 "Though You Slay Me I Will Trust You" Job 11-13; Matthew 9:18-38

It was in the beginning of time that Job lived.

Not the wealth of stories that we have about God, Who walked the earth.

Job had worked hard to raise 10 kids and lead them well; He worked hard on the land.

Job's friend has no mercy on him.  Zophar tells a man who just lost his 10 children that he did not get what he deserved.  Job is not in shock, not disconnecting, ... No, the man is wrestling with his sin.  Job is asking God in Job 13:23:  How many are my sins?  Make me know my sins!  His deep heart-wrenching thoughts are coming from a good place in his heart yet some thoughts like Job 13:3 cannot possibly be from a good place:  "I want to speak to the Almighty and I desire to argue my case with God." Can we really argue with God?  So what's the point here?  There are both good and bad residing in our hearts at the same time. The woman in Matthew 9:20-22 thought from a good place in her heart. "If I can just touch the hem of His garment, I will get well." Just touch the Hem of His Garment!!!

How beautiful that Job is leaning, falling forward, on the Almighty.  He knows his limits.  "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him, yet I will argue my ways to His Face."  Job 13:15.  There it is again.  Such Good!  Such Bad! 

And what touches me is that God calls us in this passage to withhold our judgment on man.  Let the Almighty judge Job, not Zophar, not me.  We are to move in love into people's lives, not trying to straighten them out.  Zophar believed in a prosperity-type gospel.  But the question arises even today.  If bad things happen to you continually, like Job, you must be doing something wrong.  What beauty pours out from Job's lips in the midst of his confusion and chaos when he says:  "I will trust Him," ...  No matter what God does---and here is a man who has suffered immense loss.  Job knows something of the Greatness of God that most do not.  Let us strive not to be "worthless physicians" (Job 13:4)  helping others with our platitudes of words and actions that really don't mean that much.  Let us say with Job:  I will trust you God in this present circumstance that I am in, this very day.

12 - "A House of Cards" Job 8 - 10; Matthew 9:1-17

    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Job 8:22 - "their house of cards collapsed."  C.S. Lewis wrote in A Grief Observed that if my house collapsed at one blow, it was a house of cards. My house of cards collapsed May 1,ll 2009 with one blow only for God to take that house built on sand and rebuild it on the rocks.  Lewis talked about if his house was a house of cards, the sooner it was knocked down the better---and only suffering could do that.  "God always knew that my temple was a house of cards."  C.S. Lewis.

Job 9:13 How can mere mortals get right with God?  Job 9:20 God wins, hands down.  So what's the point?

 Job 10:2 "How does this fit into what you once called 'good'? Giving me a hard time---how is that good, God?  Job, like the rest of us, believes "God should relieve his struggles and replace it with rest. But God uses struggle to uncover a rest beneath the struggle that no anguish can destroy." 66 LL. Job's foolish understanding of the road to find real life is not right.  My understanding is what I have to deal with this day, this set of circumstances.  Foolish Understanding!  So throw the anchor over in the midst of my storm and it will hold true.  There is an Anchor in my raging storm.  I just want the storm to go away instead of a sure and steady Anchor in my mess.  Remember Crabb's quote in the First Love Letter---"You must now live between Anguish and Hope." 

What beautiful faith in Job pushing through his suffering.  Even his friend alludes that Job has small beginnings (whoever called thousands of sheep and donkeys and ten children SMALL?) and his latter days would be great.  Prophetic.  Meaningless to Job at the moment.  Job has not forgotten about God.  His flesh just doesn't want to face all that suffering.  I can't wrap my brain around losing all ten of my children on the same day.  Job says in 9:28 that he has become afraid of his suffering.  Wouldn't he be tempted with---what next?  It is a "land of darkness and deep shadows" for Job.  Even though he knows so much about God, Job recognizes that God passes him by and Job sees him not (Job 9:11).  And the same for me.  May we not miss you, Our Good God, passing us by this day in our suffering be it great or small.

Matthew 19:16 "Good Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" G. K. Chesterson once said "We are all seasick together."  Just tell me what I have to do to obey you, God, and I'll work out a way to go do it.  I'll crawl on glass for you. I'll walk a tightrope.  

Jesus' answer to the young ruler jolts me.  He didn't rebuke him! The Gospel of Mark says that Jesus looked and loved the Young Fella.  Oh for eyes to look and love not rebuke our young people.  Jesus looked past his measured dutiful obedience and asked the Young Fella to "let go" of his wealth.  Let go of your worldliness.  You see, the problem was not owning wealth but the ruler's demanding love of the wealth.  What is it that we cannot "let go" of? 

PHOTO:  California. Who knocked down my house of cards?  God did.  And it was good.  Very good. 

11 - "Three Terrifying Truths About Our Existence" Job 5-7; Matthew 8:18-34

                                                        

My. Life. Has. No. Hope. Job 7:1-6. Are not our days like the days of a hired hand? How did Job get to that place? If his calamities were laid in the balances, his distress loomed heavier than his sin, like all of the sands. How do we measure what happens to us? Ten children buried beneath this hard life. Grieving. Now carrying sickness unto death. And a wife saying, just curse God. My. Life. Has. No. Hope. Who will say to God: "What are you doing?" Is there not anyone who can adjudicate? No Mediator? No Arbitrator? No Judge? Then, There is no New Testament. But wait, We know the Light. We know the Mediator. Hold fast. Hold us fast. There. Is. So. Much. Hope. "If I were going to begin practicing the presence of God for the first time today, it would help to begin by admitting the three most terrible truths of our existence: that we are 1. so ruined, and 2. so loved, and 3. in charge of so little.” Anne Lamott, Three Essential Prayers. Father, we are all so ruined by sin. And there is so much hope for that ruin for our Mediator ever lives. Father, we are so loved. And there is so much to live for even with ten buried children and I wince and weasel as I write for I know not that kind of ginormous pain. Father, we are in charge of so little. The fact that You do anything for us is amazing. Job could not remember his past---one of the greatest and holiest men on the entire earth. Seems like everyone forgot his past. Help us today to live remembering what You have done for us and how we got to the place where we are today. 

Job 6:25 How forceful are upright words! 
But what does reproof from you reprove? 

Matthew 8:34 When they heard the 
words of Jesus, they asked him 
"please leave our region."

The words spoken by Job's friends
fell on "despairing wind" searching for God,
there was no Life in the words.

The words spoken by Jesus
fell on empty hearts
not seeking anything but
their own.

God, change our hearts
that Upright Words flow
and land on lives You love.

PHOTO: The Quarries Lake in north Austin, Texas. I put Romans 8:38 on a slip of paper in this message bottle and laid it on the shore. "Not this p.r.e.s.e.n.t. thing can s.e.p.a.r.a.t.e. me from the Love of God. Was struggling with the loss of material things---didn't Job? August 2010 we packed up everything we owned and put it in a 10X20 Public Storage unit. Did not open the storage unit for 17 years.

10 - "If God Wills" Genesis 3-4; Matthew 8:1-17

#10 SUFFERING Job is not struggling with if he will follow God; Job is struggling with how much he has to suffer. The stakes are high in the Christian life But, God's Love for Job will always be irreversible.

The Gospels say: If God wills, He will heal. God didn't heal Job in these chapters. Job says in Job 3:13 that if he was dead, then he would be at rest. Is there no rest in suffering? Is there no way for Job to find rest in the midst of harrowing circumstances? I believe there is a Rest I know not. In Job 3, Job curses not God, he curses the day he was born--- something he could do nothing about. On and on and on. One of the wisest men alive, loses his way in suffering. We have to live in the Mystery of it all. Why God heals some and not others. Why God allows so much suffering.

God's love does not stand outside of God's justice and vice versa. God's Love for Job is irreversible.  Job isn't struggling with "if " he will follow God. He is struggling with how much he has to suffer. C.S. Lewis knew the stakes were high in life. "You are playing not for counters or for sixpences but for every penny you have in the world. Nothing less will shake a man–or at any rate a man like me…Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself.”

PHOTO: On my way to Kansas City. This never gets old or boring or hard. It's my great joy to fly to you KC and all you hold. This quote by Lewis is so touching---I struggle deeply with how much I have to suffer.

9 - "The Lord Gives and the Lord Takes Away" Job 1-2; Matthew 7

                                                  

Here is a man who was unloaded of every conceivable thing he had worked so hard to attain.  Yet, Job humbled himself under the hand of God.  "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the Name of the Lord."  Job 1:21.   

Job was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion.  The most influential man in all the East! It was God Who said to Satan, "Have you noticed my friend Job? There's no one quite like him—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil."Again, Satan strikes---do you think Job does all of that out of sheer goodness?  Job 1:11 "But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away everything that is his? He'd curse you right to your face, that's what."  God replied, "do what you want with all that is his."  So many people have trouble saying God causes evil but God invited evil to do a work in Job. 

God knows something I know not. 

"When you stand before Me in mystery, you will eventually rest within Me in trust.  When you can't figure me out, you will give up the illusion of predictability and control and discover the joy and freedom of hope."  Larry Crabb. Am I really broken over my own demand for satisfaction in my life, my ideas of control, managing what God is saying to me, life on my terms?  If I live broken over my demandingness, I will live in gratitude and rest.  

God interrupts my life a whole lot. He has been oh so faithful to me. I am reading Matthew 7 and God interrupts in verse 7. You have been judging others: you have been bent on changing your husband, your adult kids, your friends. God interrupts and says: Ask. Seek. Knock Matthew 7:7. Intense words. 

PHOTO:  Unloaded of every person, every animal, every piece of wood, every appearance of health. 

8 - "We Are All Seasick Together" Genesis 20-22; Matthew 6:19-34

SOVEREIGNTY “But I thought” —- we all have to wrestle in our hearts with the Truth. Genesis 20:11.  If it truly were a matter of the mind, we could change our minds. Are we taking matters into our own hands? What competes with the rule of sovereignty? Do I love God more than my children? More than my ministry? More than my desire not to suffer? More than what is happening to me?

Because I thought in my heart that there is no fear of God in this place.  Genesis 20:11.  Therefore, I took matters into my own hands again and said: "She's my sister" so they wouldn't kill me.  Here is Abraham, the faithful patriarch, back to where he was before, deceiving people, throwing people into the path of sin, offering excuses, disregarding his own wife, and not living in that "counted as righteousness" life.  In the Hebrew the verse is translated:  "But I thought" . . .  If it were a matter of the mind, we could change ours.  It's deeper than knowledge, it's our heart that must wrestle with God.  Just like Abraham and Sarah. 

And what does God do?  Forgives.  Gives life after, wait, how many years of no children for Abraham?  36,500 suns will rise on this gentleman's life before the promise lives.  Waited a century.  100 years.  Isaac.  Oh, to wait on God.  Oh, to go to God.  Like the unpretentious unassuming Abimelech, who rose early for directions.  Oh God!

God, You promise us that You will act on behalf of those who wait for You, not for a baby, not for a solution, not even for protection.  For You and You Alone, may we wait.  Isaiah 64:4

G. K. Chesterson once said "We are all seasick together."  Just tell me what I have to do to obey you, God, and I'll work out a way to go do it.  I'll crawl on glass for you. I'll walk a tightrope.  Oh my.  We so want the Bible to be a road map to get us there. We silently scream: Give me the plan and we will do it.

PHOTO: On top of a hill on the Rocky Mountains thinking about waiting for God to change me and how I'm always called to move to love.  Move this mountain in my life, God.

       You and I have need of the strongest spell 
       that can be found to wake us from
       the evil enchantment of worldliness which
       has been laid upon us for nearly a hundred years.               
                               C. S. Lewis The Weight of Glory

Abraham loved God more than his father---he left his father's land and all behind.

He went through so many trials and testings.  Doesn't exempt us from further ones.
It's what people give me the hardest saying about:  they really don't want to hear
that one more thing has happened in my life or their own life.  

Don't even tell me---
is what the mantra seems to be. 

Where does my default thinking end up?  Do I love God more?  Do I love God more than my children?  Do I love God more than people and what they say to me? I didn't think I would end my life struggling with acceptance but I am. Does anyone even want to read anything I write?    Probably not. But one child asked me to write. So, here it is with all honesty. 

So, back to Abraham---does Abraham love God more than his precious son, Isaac.
He is about to find out.
Abraham.  God calls his name.
"Here I am." What are are you saying to your servant tonight, my Lord?
No one could be prepared for what was about to happen.
Kill your son, Isaac.
God tells Abraham he must have his son, his only son, the son Sarah wept to bear.  
The son of your laughter.  That one.
Yes, the one who is as your own very soul.
Do it in the land of Moriah, a 3-day journey for you to consider your every step.
With no known reason like other trials where the reasoning was seen. 

Hey, do we demand to know the reason for the things that happen to us when in unknown territory? Sometimes, I think God is punishing me for my mishandling of life. I used to say that to you all---maybe God is disciplining you in this?  You all never liked that.  Ever.  Wish I hadn't said that phrase.  We aren't being punished for our sins---our sins are forgiven and forgotten.  Mea culpa to my children.  

Abraham loved God more than his father and, now, more than his son. 
No delay in any way or form on Abraham's part.
He even distanced himself from his own servants not to intercede or intercept.
A holy willfulness with the heaviest heart carried by any known man on earth.
Abraham bound the hands that had reached out to grab him as his daddy.
The hands that folded in prayer with his dad.  Abraham bound those hands.
The Sun of Righteousness broke through.
Lay not your own hand upon that son.
The answer:  Abraham loved God more than he loved Isaac.
What competes in our heart for the rule of the sovereignty of God?

And a thought and a prayer:  "If You will" - God, please change our hearts.  You see the struggles.  You hear our cries. May we see your Sovereign Hand. On Yahweh's mountain, it will be provided. Get 22:14.

Therefore, don't hoard treasures down here; stockpile treasure in heaven. Steep your life in God-reality.

Matthew 6:19; 6:32.

Photo: 

7 - "God Rises on Swollen Souls" Genesis 18-19; Matthew 6:1-18

SWOLLEN SOULS. God opens swollen eyes---there is a well of water in grace. God rises on swollen souls. Genesis 18:14. Is anything too difficult for the Lord? 

God visited Sarah in mercy.  Here it is.  His Word.  Every Word accomplishes His Purpose.

Never was I as sure God had visited me than my 3rd and 4th children, Blair and Britt.
I could have died in childbirth with Blair ... or never wanted another baby again.
Took me one month to even get my strength back after Blair.  
And, I never imagined that Britt would make it through the turbulent pregnancy.
We just didn't know that God's timing would be 7 years later.  God sets the time not parents. 

Abraham and Sarah both stand up in their old age to listen and honor and obey
the God they had laughed at, the God they had lied to. 

These are imperfect people whom God loves immensely. 

When God rises on our souls and we embrace Him, the dawning is inconceivable. 
And it just may be in a wilderness, again, like Hagaar.  Sent there by Abraham.
God opens her swollen screaming eyes.  There is a well of water in grace. What are you doing here, asks the Lord of her life. That Same God that opened Hagaar's blinded eyes will open mine and yours to see God's grace in our loss and love.

Three men came to announce that Sarah will bear a son. They found Abram sitting at the entrance of his folded tent in duty and disbelief. The Lord said: "Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time, I will return to you..." Genesis 18:14.

So,

Mattthew 6:1 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you when you give to the needy in secret (6:3), when you pray in secret (6:5), when you fast in secret (6:18).  

      Though I may feel empty even this day, I am filled with His Spirit.  
      I will Give in secret from Trusted Fullness rather than
      Grasping for visible Demanded Fullness.
      No matter how I feel or what goes wrong today,
      I can Live to Give in secret and Not to Grasp.
      I can bring a taste of Heaven to Earth.
      Paraphrased from 66 LL

PHOTO: Dawn at the spot where God has risen on my swollen soul innumerable times. The Quarries at a high school in Austin.

6 - "You Are A God of Seeing" Genesis 16-17; Matthew 5:27-48

GOD OF SEEING Telling questions here: Where have you come from? Where are you going? Genesis 16:13 A God Who wants me just as I am with all the workings of my heart. Never assured of full exemption from life. Always assured of full redemption by a Providential Hand.

                                                         

It's a doomed star.  

No hope beside that place where you sit.

Here are those simple telling questions again: Where have you come from and where are you going? Genesis 16:8. 

A servant slave who accepted an advance from her owner.  Abram and Sarah didn't call on God for help. They set out to control their worlds.  They concocted a plan to have a son.  And Hagar, Sarah's servant obliges. And Sarah's jealousy rages when she learns that Hagar has conceived.  What???  Her full-throttle anger sends Hagar to the desert.  

And it is t.h.e.r.e. that Hagar calls the name of the Lord who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing, for she said, 'Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me." Genesis 16:13.  Hagar was the first of the trio involved in sin to call on the name of the Lord---the lowest one, the weakest one.  She knew that God saw all:  her betrayal to her mistress Sarah, her flight into a wilderness, her thirst at a fountain, her hunger to be fully known, her desire to be fully loved, her hopes for a child.  

A God of seeing.  And He wanted her just as she was with all the workings of her heart.  Beautiful repentance. You are a God of Seeing---my own betrayal, my flight, my thirst, my hunger to be known, my desire to be loved, my hope for a child.

Oh! to know the God of seeing a little more clearly this day!  The God Who sees everything with Eyes of Providence for He sees everything that is happening in all of our world. And there is so much happening in my world today that looms impossible, insignificant, incredible, ignominious.  May we trust You, God with what we cannot see.

What outward/inward evils do we face? We know we made it through a global health crisis.                    There's a shield ready and round about.                                                                                                         Never assured of full exemption.  Always assured of full redemption.                                                      Assured of a providential hand turning the watercourses of our day. If we trust, it's enough on Earth and everything in Heaven.

PHOTO:  Credit belongs to NASA on Flickr.  A "Doomed Star" - copyright free. 

5 - "We Are All Headed to Another Country" Genesis 13-15; Matthew 5:1-26

ETERNITY You are headed to a heavenly country. What's the next stop along the way? Genesis 13:1 Keep the peace that it be not broken. Matthew 5. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

                                                  

My kids, they all live where I am not.  Except for one. Not for long, though.  I have to let them go. You spend 18 years together and the chapter ends. How can I live in the present moment without them. I love them so. Know this. We are all called to another country. Move on. Job done. Go on with God. Hold them close forever. 

The Creator of this wide world told Abram to go from his country, from his people, from his father's household to a land God would show. Gen 13:1 And so Abraham left Egypt. He and his wife and everything he owned. 

The Unknown. Don't we sit there in some ways this very day. I don't know how much longer we can live here in Austin. After a decade, I can say I have a host of supporters and followers. I feel deeply appreciated. And I feel deeply alone. I've made "no friends" here that will give me their presence. People are so caught up in their own lives. Then, throw a year's worth of a pandemic on the pile back in 2020. The Creator God just might be telling us to move, to go, to love, to stop. Why did Abram leave it all. Divine Guidance. His sole decision based on a premise---he was headed to a heavenly country and it was the next stop along the way. So, what's my next stop along the way?

Go with God.  And Matthew 5:9.  Be a peacemaker for all that is broken.                                   I pray:                                                                                                                               

That we may keep the peace that it be not broken.                                                              That we may recover the peace when it is no more.  

Photo: Brooke circa 1988 So, she left. 2012

4 - "Don't Live To Make a Name for Yourself" Genesis 10-12; Matthew 4

BIG NAME Don't live in contempt of court. It's not right to live to make a name for yourself." Genesis 11:4 

                                                                 

                                                               We live in such a celebrity society.

But, castles crumble. Unspoken pressure exists unaware to make a name for yourself.

"Let us build for ourselves a city so that we may make a name for ourselves." Genesis 11:4

10,000 fathoms high in the sky, One Kingdom.

It's the Wrong Kingdom to make a name, perpetuate who we are.

May we live transparent and see how we misdirect to make life center around our name.

We are all born with a given name. 

May you live up to your names---the ones inscribed on His Hands. 

And my prayer for each of us is that we would call on His Name Alone. 

And I want to pass on what I think is deeply touching as I reflect over my life in a new year.
An ordinary life with a handful of followers.  People won't read me because they aren't interested in the unknown folks or the older folks, anymore. In previous generations, we had clout.  Not so in this culture.  

But what I have seen and heard and felt, I want to record for my children's children whom I will not know as adults but only as children.  And I'll never know their children either.  Wish I could hold them.  So, I am writing to those future adults whom I love fiercely.  Think about these things. You can only hold one thought or so in your mind at a time---they say we have up to 60,000 thoughts per day. These are God's thoughts for us. And, the thought from today's reading is this---let us not defy or defeat the Counsel of Heaven. Don't live in contempt of court---contempt of the Divine Will, contempt of this counsel of Noah.  

Maybe, I'm wrong in some ways.  Maybe, I'm right in some ways about spiritual things.  Bob said tonight at our favorite Mexican restaurant, "Christianity is very disruptive."  It is.  So many things I don't know.  I just know I deeply understand and believe and trust and follow my Creator. Nothing can snatch me out of His Hands.  It would have already happened... .

Matthew 4:1  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. In the lonely scorching desolate wild wilderness.  Alone.  Led by the Spirit of God.  Yes, I want to be led by the Spirit of God. Yet, I don't want to be led into the wilderness to be tempted. Who does? If my LORD was, what does that say to my life? Deut. 8:2 says that God tests you so that you can know what is in your heart.

      We are painfully conscious and ashamed of our lack of desire; 
      Yet He calls to each of us:
      "Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One, and Come Away with Me"
      A.W. Tozer

PHOTO:  Santa Rosa Island where we've gone for the past several decades every tender June. A children's castle caught my eye. An oasis of sand. A Wilderness of sorts. No one there.  Know what is in your heart and your castles will crumble.

3 - "Live to Cover Not To Expose" Genesis 7-9; Matthew 3

SHUTTERED The Lord shut Noah in an ark for one year. Has the Lord "shut us in" to make us holy? Genesis 7:16. And when shut in my circumstances, do I live "to cover not to expose."  Genesis 9:26. 

                                                                                      State of Florida Library

Flooding from the worst engineering disaster in US history decimated 80% of my hometown of New Orleans and displaced every known living relative of my parents.  I never heard again from the handful of relatives.  Catalytic.  Catastrophic.

Noah never heard again from any of the thousands of people who died in the flood of his day---those who held evil intentions continually. Serious business here. 8 Survivors.  Noah lived because he found favor and walked with God---and he took his family with him.   

What would it be like to see your world fall apart in front of your ark window while you rocked safely on the untested waters for six months, crammed next to your questioning family and not-so-quiet thousands of animals---some commentaries say 16,000 in all.  An unbelievable story of faith in the midst of screaming deadly circumstances.  What things loom and look impossible to me this year?  Even this week!  "The Lord shut them in" ~ Genesis 7:16.  Has the Lord "shut us in" to make us holy?  

May we know this day, we are a remembered tribe.  And that changes everything.  I hope I remember how much I want new eyes, new ears, a new voice.  And to be like the two brothers in Genesis 9:26 covering their father's shame.  Moving in to truly love. Wonder what that looks like in this life of ours?  I know it's not a safe dismissiveness.  No.  No cool distances.  Move to love. Live to cover not to expose. A blanket of grace. 

And in the NT, the question of living right, good morals, is center stage. If I drop a piece of info into the right slot, would it be morally right?  Do I live by morals alone? "Here is the rub: one must be more zealous to please God than to avoid sin. One's obedience to God must be forward-oriented and zealous and free, and to be a mere moralist or pietist would make such a life impossible." Eric Metaxas. Matthew 3:3 Prepare the way. It's not about "doing" but about "being," and You, Holy Spirit, to help us in this life of ours prepare the way for our Lord.  

PHOTO:  State of Florida library. Copyright free. 

2 - "The Morning Stars Still Sing" Genesis 4-6; Matthew 2

PRESENT Ask yourself why you are angry, what's really going on with your responses? Why is your face sad? Genesis 4:6-7. What's going on 

                                                               

I taught my preschool kids Genesis 4:6-7 because the verse before it says: "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?" I wanted them to learn to deal with their own hearts and not everybody else's, especially siblings. But, it's for me on so many mornings. I'm waiting out a call from my oncologist plus waiting out a very long recovery from a freak fall.  Still having awful spasms in my back from the spill.  But more than what is happening physically, I need to look at my own heart, deal with my own stuff. And as I do ...  Things aren't as they appear. And a tear falls. What's really going on within me? I'm just not where I thought I would be in life or in soul or story or in friends. So, I'll keep walking in that darkness, trusting, no light. And I'll keep asking the same question the 3 Wise Men asked in Matthew 2---where is He? The North Star brought them to the Savior in a Manger. The North Star sang. The Morning Stars still sing. Job 38:7---from that First Day of Creation to this very day. I need deliverance from what grabs my soul that is not right and good and just. I've been more concerned about my body healing than my soul healing. 

Herod showed his anger in Matthew 2:16  ^"Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem."  But Herod wanted to worship the baby.  How quickly his resolve to worship melted to evil.  Real Evil.  Either we are headed toward redemption or destruction in every act. How way-too-quickly in my own life does my good intentions melt into dark actions?  Solzhenitsyn said that it's not just the communists that are evil, it runs right through all of us. Lord, have mercy on us!

PHOTO:  Stars singing. Stock photo. Free Images. Copyright free. 

#counseling #counselyourself---whatisreallygoingonwithin #counselyourself---whatrunsrightthroughyoutoday #changedlives

1 - "One Grand Providence" Genesis 1-3; Matthew 1

SOUNDS OF GOD Spoken by a Word, not for your curiosity, but for your soul to know this---There Is A Creator brooding over the burgeoning darkness and giving energy to a nascent world. What will you do with that thought this moment you are in? Genesis 1 #60000thoughtseveryday #1thoughtfortoday #talkingtomyself 

God is Brooding over our very lives this very day. Genesis 1:2.                                                                Darkness was on the face of the deep.                                                                                                                                  

It's a soundless moment. Then, a Word Spoken and a Creation painted for us, not for our curiosity, but for our very souls to know this---There is a Creator. Genesis 1:3. And He knows you.                              

And once upon that blackness, that Creator moved over the burgeoning darkness and gave energy to a nascent world.  He brooded like a mama bird over its young, says the Hebrew commentaries.  And it was George MacDonald who alluded that we were then born in His Thoughts in that darkness. Beams of dazzling light began to unwrap, unravel, undo the chaotic mass. Creation. Man. And the sounds of God.

The Creative Spirit of God is the principle of all life.  This is the only Center we have and know.  And He is still hovering over you and your life this new day, this brand new year.  I pray you may know deeply His moves, His hovering. Especially over your darkest spots. The dark nights have always been the hardest of times for me.  Still are. This I know:  A Good God is brooding over all my nights and days. George MacDonald called it: "One Grand Providence--- if we just believe.

There are names listed in the genealogy I do not know.  There are some names, we know too well for their impropriety, their immortality, their idolatry.  This is who God sent His son to save.  He sent His Son to save me from myself. A Holy God broods over all my darkness.  

PHOTO:  30,000 feet above the Earth. A blanket of clouds covering Kansas City where God is brooding.

#Godbroods #darknightofthesoul #counselyourself---whereareyou? #liveinthepresentmoment #wonder #soundsofGod

365 THOUGHTS in 2026

Reading the Bible cover to cover: Daily selections from the Old Testament and New Testament

#1 SOUNDS OF GOD Spoken by a Word, not for your curiosity, but for your soul to know this---There Is A Creator brooding over the burgeoning darkness and giving energy to a nascent world. Hear the sounds of God coming for you. Genesis 1:2 #60000thoughtseveryday #1thoughtfortoday #talkingtomyself 

#2 PRESENT Ask yourself why you are angry, what's really going on with your responses? Why is your face sad? Genesis 4:6-7. What's really going on within? Who gets your anger?

#3 SHUTTERED The Lord shut Noah in an ark for one year. Has the Lord "shut us in" to make us holy? Genesis 7:16. And when you come out of the ark - Live to "cover" not to "expose." Genesis 9:26.

#4 BIG NAME Don't live in contempt of court. It's not right to live to make a name for yourself." Genesis 11:4

#5 We are all headed to a heavenly country. What's the next stop along the way? Genesis 13:1. What is going on inside of you? 

#6 - You are a God of Seeing---my betrayal, my flight, my thirst, my hunger to be known, my desire to be loved, my hope for a child. Genesis 16:8   

#7 God opens swollen eyes---there is a well of water in grace. God rises on swollen souls. Genesis 18   #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself   

#8 “But I thought” —- we all have to wrestle in our hearts with the Truth. If it truly were a matter of the mind, we could change our minds. Genesis 20:11 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#9 What competes in our hearts for sovereignty? Open our ears to hear Your words. Open our eyes to see—-even in our wilderness. Open our hearts to embrace what You are doing in our lives. Genesis 22:1   #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself  

#10 Live loosely with the attachments to this life. Our chief concern always should be: With Whom shall we rise. Genesis 24:1  #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#11 Go to “The Well of the One Who Sees Me” and live in dependence on the right things. Genesis 25:11 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#12 Live with your longings, don’t bargain for a birthright like Jacob did. Genesis 26. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself                 

#13 Very well could be that God is in this place, and I know it not. Genesis 28:16 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

 #14 God never intended for us to be attached to anyone else but Him. Genesis 29:34. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#15 Lift your eyes as if to signal through future scores of generations: I am changed. I am both forgiven and forgiving. Genesis 33:5 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#16 Go back to the place where God answered you. Genesis 35:1. Find what is most alive in you. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself             

#17 - The worst thing is never the last thing. So, hold in your heart what God has already promised.  Genesis 37:5 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself       

#18 - The infamous Judah is chosen—-just like us—-by God’s grace, not by merit. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself         

#19 Even so, the Lord was with Joseph in prison. God is with us in our afflictions. Genesis 39:21 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself  

#20 We must not think it strange in this world if slights are returned for our kindness. Live content to prove yourself innocent—-don’t upbraid others with their guilt.  Genesis 40:23. 

#21 All things that are working against me will actually work for my good and the good of others. Genesis 42:36. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#22 Live in the humble beginnings where God has placed you. May we see that all what happens in our lives as from God—-it was not you who sent me here, but God. Genesis 45:8 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself       

#23 Am I in the place of God? Genesis 50:19. Dare I usurp the prerogative of God. (Poole). The concourse of Providence directs my story. 

#24 God remembers to listen to our every moment. He sees and understands everything we face. Genesis 2:24 

#25 Can you answer him by heart when he calls your name: “Here I am.” Exodus 3:4 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#26 God trumped Moses with His Power—-Who made your mouth, Moses? Go. And God Himself will be with your words, Exodus 4:11-12

#27 Do we love success more than God? What about better circumstances? Moses’ thoughts in Exodus 5:23: “From the moment I spoke in Your Name, things have gotten worse.” How many times in a day do we think: if I do the right thing, then life is going to get better? #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself.        

#28 To live for this life bows our head to the temporal not the eternal. Exodus 9:3. You cannot live every day for one gold medal. Submit not knowing the outcome. The finger of God writes your story. Exodus 8:19.  But the Pharaoh still didn’t feel the wrongs in his “person.”

#29  No difference between princes and paupers. So, bow low to your Maker. God is doing something new here after 430 years. Exodus 12:1. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#30 Do we live on God’s terms or our own terms? When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them through the shortest way lest they might change their minds. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#31 God is never more present than in the depths of our problems. So, what is stealing my joy? Exodus 15:2, 5.

#32 Do we know God’s Presence only when things go right? God rains down hidden manna every single day of our lives. Exodus 17:7  #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#33 God wrote the Ten Commandments not to make us feel guilty but to lift us up to Himself. God wants to write his law on our hearts. We want to write it on our to-do lists. Exodus 20:20. Don’t be afraid. God has come to instill a deep and reverent awe within you. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#34 God’s words interpret us 2,000 years later for we are bound by an amazing debt to respond. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#35 Look through the clear lens of the Word of God and listen to the 66 books. Face yourself honestly —- it will do you more good than anything else.

#36 Make much of the tabernacle—-keep your lamps burning bright. Eternal flames. Do not be fixed on this world. The Gospel is a Person not a Place. Exodus 27:21 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#37 There I will meet with you and speak with you. Exodus 29:42. A new covenant. Here on This Day, I will meet with you and speak with you. To this very day, Christ lives to make intercession for His Church. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#38 Turn back to the finger of God written in His Word and hang on tight. Ask and Seek the favor of God in your perplexing difficulties This Day. Exodus 32:11 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself                    

#39 Tuck this thought under your pillow Tonight: “I will give you Rest.” Exodus 33:14. Sleep in peace. Rest in Him not in solving perplexities, not in connecting with a person or place. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself                          

#40 God is merciful when people tell us what’s wrong with us; when our friends swindle us; and when we are the self-swindlers. He is making sure that we know that. Exodus 34:6. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#41 God put in their hearts to work and it stirred them up in a wilderness. Exodus 35:34. What an exact work ethic! Do we approach our tasks this way? A debt of love not a debt of labor. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#42 The Divine light and fire then and now will overpower the strongest heads and hearts. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#43 Lives “curved in” (Augustine) on ourselves will focus on the smaller story of our lives from our birth to death—-and we will misunderstand everything that matters. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#44 Our daily offerings—-is it fulfilling to just check off the box? Our validation in life is that we answer God’s invitation. Leviticus 1:17. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#45 Leviticus reveals what is most wrong in our lives that blocks our joy.  Holiness.  We want God to solve our problems but we have a worst problem—-distance from God. Don’t keep your distance. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#46 Think about redeeming grace for the secret sins and the sins against humanity. Nothing can snatch us out of his redeeming grace. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#47 Look before you at your very steps. May we be found waiting and watching. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#48 Fire came out from the presence of the Lord. Aaron remained silent. Aaron held his peace. Lost boy of his boys in that fire.  #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#49 The Israelites were looking forward. We no longer look backwards. We have Him here. Partakers of the Divine Nature. God is engineering all things. Don’t be nurtured in accomplishments, achievements, and possessions. Give Thanks. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#50 All Done! All the regulations done. Done out of love for God. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself         

#51 Spiritual leprosy causes us to distance ourselves from our enemies and those who disagree but we must treat them as friends. How? #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#52 Am I more concerned about my relationship with God than I am with these rough circumstances trapping me in? #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#53 When did it become okay to work harder to be holy?” Leviticus 19:1 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#54 In the midst of the OT offerings, there is a “call to holiness,” that is lifted central in the lives of every Israelite and their community. Same for us: a call to holiness individually and collectively in America. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#55 We put God on trial every time we evaluate if He is good. God is not on trial; we are. God is the Judge. Humble your soul. Come to Him first all day long. Leviticus 23:27. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#56 So what’s the point of Leviticus. The laws were written for our instruction. So what did I learn that applies to my society? “Rest.” May we find true rest in God, not in the tangibles of life.  #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself    

#57 Moses was a prince in a grant. Marshalled in rank and file. Moveable. Pitch your tent and pressd on. Pressing on for the prize of Christ Himself and that future state of ours. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#58 Step into your calling even if the world might recognize you as returnable. Numbers 3:34. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#59 Every man carried out his work as assigned but never looked into his own heart. Numbers 4:49. They did what was right in their own eyes. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#60 God’s will is for me to become holy not to solve all my problems. Moses led 2 million on a trip of joy that should have taken 11 days not 40 years. Concerned more with comfort than holiness. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#61 Put God's Name on every face you meet. Numbers 6:24-26. The Lord bless you and keep you. Covers all your work here on earth. No conditions. May God lift His Face on you: a gracious movement of God toward you. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#62 The Lord matched their magnanimous offerings with his very own Audible Voice. Buechner says: If I see you, I experience you as an object in space. If I hear you, you bring me into the innermost secrets of who you are. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#63 God’s movement in our lives belongs to Him and His will for us. It may be quick like Jonah or years like Joseph. It is not for us to say. It is there for us to follow. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#64 Never try to live on old manna or replace it for better. Nor seek help in Egypt. “All must come from Jesus or you are undone.” Spurgeon #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#65 Caleb means “all heart.” A spirit of holy heat, noble daring. May God stir the heart of the un-Caleb people we live with. (Spurgeon). #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#66 The whole 2 million people in the community forgot what they just read. Numbers 16. Forgot the feeling of the ocean floor they just crossed. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#67 Does my happiness depend on others treating me well and things going my way? Numbers 17 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#68 Moses and Aaron against one million people. How do you know in your heart God brought you to this place and one million people do not know? #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#69 Moses and Aaron just did the same thing the one million Israelites had been doing. Do we think we have to protect God's reputation? Speak as you walk through life. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#70 It’s A Beautiful Thing when the Angel draws the line and God stands in our way and we look within and God opens our eyes. Numbers 22:31 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself        

#71 God let every male over 20 years old wander for 40 years and die. 603,548. Gone. They never looked deep enough inside to see what was terribly wrong in their own hearts. Caleb and Joshua walked away from a wildersness—-what did they see that half a million people did not see. Divine Power. Hope. Move forward and occupy. Numbers 26:65. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#72 If God answered all your prayers today, would it change the world or change you? Moses could no longer enter the Promised Land so he prayed, not for himself, but for the appointment of a worthy successor. Numbers 27:12-17. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#102 Last Words! Love the Lord your God and walk in His Ways and cling to Him with all your heart and soul. God Himself puts to flight a thousand for you. Joshua 22:5-6 #60000thoughts

#103 The stone will be a witness against you. It has heard all the words spoken. Joshua 24:27104 Am I more afraid of losing the blessings or losing my relationship with God?Am I more afraid of losing the blessings or losing my relationship with God? #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

#104  Something Worse than a difficult life. Something Worse than all this pain & suffering. Something Worse than all the bad things that happen to us. Am I more afraid of losing the blessings or losing my relationship with God? #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself                                

#105 The book of Judges is not about returning to God, finding God for the good life. This book is how our relationship with God is our greatest good. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

#106 Gideon was more than weak, beside himself in a predicament. The Presence of God, the Eternal Word of God comes to Gideon and is with you, too, this very moment. God is with you, O Mighty Warrior. Believe God. Judges 6:12. 

142 - The Messianic Presence is always "with" us. God's Eyes are watching us day and night. God hears every word, every tear, every cry, every plea.  #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

MATTHEW

Are you the One we've been expecting or are we still waiting in a prison cell? Matthew 11:3 #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself