290 - "Curved In On Myself" Matthew 15; Mark 7:1 - 8:10

                                                       

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."  Romans 7: 18-19 - "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."  

       Augustine coined the phrase "curved in on itself."  
       Martin Luther expounded on the phrase by writing:  
       "Our nature, by the corruption of the first sin, 
       being so deeply curved in on itself 
       not only bends the best gifts of God towards itself & enjoys them 
       (as is plain in the works-righteous and hypocrites), 
       but rather even uses God Himself in order to attain these gifts, 
       and also fails to realize that it so wickedly, curvedly, and viciously 
       seeks all things, even God, for its own sake."

Thank you God, Col. 1:29, there is Greater Energy at work in all of us, powerfully at work!  What Energy is greater in me this moment?

PHOTO: A bridge over troubled waters. Troubles happen to all of us. But it is our arrogance in our hearts that wreak the most havoc. All because we are curved in on ourselves. Lose your life.

289 - "Focus on Power, Not on Problem" Matthew 10, 14; Mark 6:7-56; Luke 9:1-17; John 6

Sometimes, against all odds, we feel like “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. Matthew 14:17

Andrew asks the question of Jesus.  "What are they of so many"?  His focus was on the problem not the Power of a multiplying God.  What am I thinking about deeply?  Am I leaning in, trusting, that the God of all Hope will fill us with peace and joy as we trust Him, according to His Power.

I think what I have here in my hand is 4 loaves and 2 fish.  And it's not even reliable.  Nothing is off course.  Mighty Power is at work in me and you.

Help me to know what I deal with in my thoughts that stop the Sufficiency of Your Hand.  You can multiply to meet the needs of a football field of people.  Please take the 4 loaves and 2 fish in my hand and multiply---You have so done that for me through my depression.  You are Sufficient for what I face.

PHOTO:  What I see looks beautiful on the outside.  What I face inside looks dried and shriveled.  Impossible for anything to come of it.  Not with You!

288 - "Keep On Believing" Matthew 8:18-34; 9:18-38; Mark 4:35 - 5:43; Luke 8:22-56; 9:57-62

The. Time. Has. Come.

The last words of the prophet Malachi still ring 400 years later. Malachi alluded that "the day is coming that shall set them ablaze;" the Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. Here He is saying:

Don't let the world rule your life. "The worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Mark 4:19. Instead, "hear the Word and accept it." Mark 4:20.

"Keep On Believing" no matter what you see. Mark 5:36. No matter if your world jumps in front of you when you're standing in line to talk to Jesus. No matter if your dreams die before you when Jesus is promising to move on your behalf. No matter if people give up on you and Jesus does not deal with them. No matter what, keep on believing.

The Sun of Righteousness has come to dispel the darkness, scatter the gloom, wipe off the oppression, take care of the injustice. He. Has. Come. and that changes everything. And we need to change our mind about everything. The Light of the World is here.

287 - "Tiniest Mustard Seed Will One Day Be Biggest Shade Tree" Matthew 13:1-53; Mark 4:1-34; Luke 8:1-18

                                       

Jesus told stories to invite them to come closer. Stories about how the tiniest Mustard Seed will one day be the biggest shade tree ever.  We can be a Psalm1 offering stability and shade to our friends. And how One Beautiful Day - Matthew 13:43  "The righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father."  That so stirs something within me!  There are longings in all of us for One Thing:  

       We are men & women in misery who want only One Thing
       Not relief from our misery (althought that would be nice)
       But HOPE ---
       Hope of Intimacy and Meaning and Joy Forever, 
       in Relationship with Our God
       Who is redeeming our story.                                       66 LL

PHOTO:  The sun peeking over the horizon. May its strength and beauty remind us of the Power within us. The sun rose this morning---there is your reminder.

286 - "Deal With the Inside of Your Own Heart" Luke 8:19-21; 11:14-54

Prayer quiets our hearts before God.  For we must deal with what is stirring in the inside of our hearts. Houses that are swept from sins are still not spanking clean.  Luke 11:25. The house is not washed through.  Only the loose dirt sweeps away.  There's still sin untouched.  And we may think we are doing good but we could even be doing harm to ourselves and others.  Covering over our sins with paint and shellac and veneer and highlights merely garnishes and glosses over the situation.  Luke 11:39 - Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and platter---they sweep the floor---but their inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.  Can we own up to the sins of our own hearts?  Can we pray without ceasing that we make sense of the Word of God that reveals our turnings.  Can we pray for open understanding of the the Light being shed within us.  And, where there is darkness, and we are wrong, may we be found out, and loved and delivered.  For there we find Grace. 

May we allow You to do deep cleaning of the ravening within.  And all those desires we have for good, 2 Thes 1:11, You go right ahead and do it for us, Lord Jesus!  Our souls boast Your name.

PHOTO:  Spent quiet moments at this dock today feeding the ducks.  White hot sun.  Praying for my family and friends.  Quiet my own heart.  Level my own soul.  Oh God, don't let me sweep things away but clean me from the inside out.

285 - Matthew 12:22-30; Mark 3:22-36

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)."

So what did John the Baptist know that I don't know in the midst of trials?

284 - “Unforced Rhythms of Grace” Matthew 8:5-13; 11:1-30; Luke 7

 

Matt 11:3 - "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.  

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."  

Am I disrupted by the story of John the Baptist and how he learned the unforced rhythms of Grace? 

283 - “Shut The Door” Matthew 5-7; Luke 6:20-49; 11:1-13

                                                        

Matthew 5. Go with God. Be a peacemaker for all that is broken.                                                                                                                                    

That we may keep the peace that it be not broken.                                                              

That we may recover the peace when it is no more.  

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: These worn hands folded in prayer every day of his 98 years on Earth.

282 - “Keep On Believing in the Face of Loss” Matthew 8:1-4; 9:1-17; 12:1-21

                                                                 

What do I think deep within? How will I reason the matters in my mind today? What will I conclude? What will I firmly believed about my issues? Will I be strongly impressed and influenced by the Spirit of God? 

"She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Matthew 9:21. 

Reach in and up. And keep on believing in the face of loss!

PHOTO: Hurrican Milton rushes to cover this coast tonight in about one hour. It will decimate so much of the beaches. Loss. 

281 - "Level This Soul of Mine" John 3-5

We take down the "high thoughts" and we make room for the Gospel in our hearts. 

Matthew Henry calls John 3: "levelling the soul and removing all that hinders us in the way of Christ and grace." 

Give up your sins for the Savior.  And a teenager whispers in my ear:  I just want to have fun in this world so I cannot follow Him.  What are the limits to your fun?  Remove all that hinders us from bringing our thoughts into obedience or we will not be redeemed.

The fruits must meet with repentance.  We can say we love, we live, we learn by Christ.  But what does my life look like today?  We don't accept Christ's offer of salvation without true repentance, once and for all that we do.  The evidence and the effects mark us for life. 

280 - “Consider Him. Castles Crumble” Matthew 4:23-25; 8:14-17; Mark 1:21-39; Luke 4:31-44

                                                           

Consider the Love of Christ. Can we even fathom the depth and breadth? Where do we find such language to consider today? And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), no, He is speaking to me and to you, to consider the Lord your God, his Greatness, his Mighty Hand and His Outstretched Arm. And I have to ask the same question we find in our New Testament reading: What do you have to do with us, LORD? Luke 4:34 What do you have to do with us? Everything.

PHOTO:  Building our lives. Can we fathom the Lord of the Universe involved in our steps? Consider. Consider everything. Castles crumble. 

279 - “Don’t Waste Your Work” Luke 5:1-11; John 1:35-2:12; MATTHEW 13:54-58

                                                    

Professional fishermen---yes they were.

They knew how to fish.

Even their confidence 

Grace ~ It fell from Him. Still falls on our hearts. Luke 4:22

So, put your nets out into deep water, says the Carpenter. Luke 5:4.  It's a miracle.  These seasoned fishermen know how to fish.  Only God could have pulled this one off.  And grace falls in one of those daily moments where they spend hundreds of hours earning their way.  We never know when a Divine Visit, Words of Grace, will fall on us at work. 

So what's the insight here?  Christ tells Peter to apply himself to this secular calling of his.  Don't waste your work.  Time spent there is never a hindrance, it's holy.  When we have been with God, true joy will result in our work.  "We must not abruptly quit our callings because we have not the success in them we desire." Own ourselves as sinful men, redeemed.  Don't view your work as a vehicle to prepare for ministry.  Work is your ministry.

PHOTO: Haiti…they kn ow how to fish; they need a Dviine Visit.

278 - “What’s Next In Your Story—-A Rescue or a Relationship” Matthew 4:1-22; Mark 1:12-20; Luke 4:1-30

Wrestling with things like depression induced by cancer meds to relationship failures induced by those who have distanced themselves from my life --- oh, and my jealousy and loss . . . yet I sit here convinced of God's Love & Hope even in the midst of salty sultry tears---gratitude beyond measure for truth that lingers--- as I read the opening pages of Matthew that a Great Light has dawned on me, is dawning, will dawn.

Matthew 4:12 "Now, when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum."  Jesus does not come to rescue John.  There's something in John that knows that the people of his day were "blinded by their self-centered understanding of what should come next in the story.  They thought I should send the Messiah to bless them.  John knew the Messiah would come to change them."  66LL

Everyone who sits in darkness sees a Great Light.  Light Dawns.  Hold tightly to Him and let go of yourself.  He walked this land of dirt and darkness for me.  The Word of God shines in our dark places. And here is born The Living Word.  The Day Star. Light that never goes out. Come Lord Jesus in our story not to bless but to stay with us and make us more like You.

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?  If I was led to the Mount of Temptation, I would struggle immensely with:  Hunger after 40 days/40 nights of no food.  Fear after 40 days/40 nights of terrifying treacherous existence in a wilderness. Powerlessness after 40 days/40 nights with no followers, no feedback, no nothing.  And these were the 3 areas where Satan tempted Jesus.  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:  Sunrise in the country. As sure as the sun will come up, the Great Light will dawn in our lives.

277 - "More Zealous to Please God Than to Avoid Sin" Matthew 3; Luke 3; Mark 1:1-11; John 1:15-34

                                                                  

I often think of a situation where my oldest could have exposed a big story for his own gain but he left it lay on the table.  It was and still is a monumental moment for me.  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. Oh! God, please give us strength to prepare the way to truly live free and let You move in.  Matthew 3:3 Prepare the way. It's not about doing but about being and we need You, Holy Spirit, to help us this life of ours prepare the way for our Lord.  

Luke 3:5 – My valleys will be filled; my mountains made low to know HIM. We can bank on that one---if we want to know Him, He will bend low to make us know HIM. He will make our crooked life straight. But, it’s not the way I think it will happen. And it’s not about religion or being spiritual. The Jesus I meet in the Gospels sometimes I don’t understand---but He is a beautiful Christ full of love and passion. I have such a stereotype in my thinking. For so many years, I thought I had to be really really nice all the time. But, I did it for me, not for Him. He so exposes the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, if we let Him, if we listen, if we linger.

PHOTO:  I hold close the memories of this Buena Vista photo. I know what I was thinking as I took the photo. It has not come true. My life is to be lived to please God not for my gain.

276 - "The Morning Stars Still Sing" Matthew 2; Luke 2:39-52

                                                         

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 evolved to evil.  Real Evil.  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.

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.  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.      

As Jesus grew, he found favor with man, until  . . .  He questioned, probed, moved into hearts.  We may not always find favor with man but may we give our lives to finding favor with God.  Luke 2:52.  The Eternal Word.  Whatever it is that I do not understand, whatever darkness I walk in, may I trust in the dark with no light.  And may I spend my life relentlessly never giving up to find The Way, The Truth, The Life.  Jesus grew to his full stature in each stage

PHOTO: Shurterstock. Free stock photo. The North Star over the Northern Gate. 

275 - “God Stoops and Steps into History To Save Me From Myself” Matthew 1; Luke 1-2:38

                                                           

God broods over Matthew 1. The non-pristine genealogy of The Messiah.

This is not just a genealogy of famous men. There are some names, we know too well for their impropriety, their immortality, their idolatry.  The descendant of Abraham, of David, well---He saved the whole human race. Every single one of us has been living in darkness. Matthew 1 is a place where God the Son stooped and stepped into history to save us from ourselves.  

Mary treasured up all that had happened and weighed it in her heart. Luke 2:19 How do I weigh my present circumstances?  For the Glory of God?  It was Angels who were the heralds of her newborn Son, a newborn Saviour.  Found smack dab in the midst of their honest calling, industrious shepherds, who were where they were supposed to be keeping watch over their flock.  "We are not out of the way of Divine visits, when we are employed in an honest calling, and abide with God in it." So, lead that honest, humble life and let God have the honor of your life and its work.  Here comes Peace in this lower world of ours.  Peace is Here.  Fully ponder.  

PHOTO:  The sun on my perspicacious face and the moon on my unknown back.  You never know when God will show up and make our paths straighter. 

274 - “God Makes Me My True Self” John 1:4-14

There was once a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way. The way to go, where to look, who to believe in. Every person who enters this life, God brings into Light. In the deepest sense, the Messianic Presence is in our thoughts, in our lives every single day. 

John presents a Glory that "though dimly visible now" will one day fill the earth.  Everything was created through Him!  "The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness (John 1:5)."   And John pointed the way for those who will believe. God will make you your true selves begotten of God.  John 1:13. 

These words melt my hart. Life has been uphill all the way. Some of the best advice came from my counselor I supernaturally found when I faced a great divide in my life. He told me that in this world, communion with God is not defined by experiences or blessings.  To really live is to release the life of Jesus through our lives in any circumstance no matter what. Reading the New Testament paints the picture of relating as Jesus did. Giving when no one gives back. Loving in the face of unreturned love. Forgiving when it is not deserved. Suffering in the place of those who should suffer. 

Let’s look to Jesus together. He is able.

PHOTO:  The skies Zi fly once per month. Brand new mercies. It’s a new journey today. 300 years of silence have been broken. There is voice crying in the wilderness. He is coming to make me my true self.

273 - “Seeds of Tears” Nehemiah 11-13; Psalm 126; Psalm 106

                                                                   

"Remember me, O my God, for good." Nehemiah 13:31
It's just too good to be true.  A surprising deliverance of God's people out of such terrible distress.  Most likely the author of Psalm 126 is Ezra himself according to commentaries.  They have just experienced what is penned as the "most remarkable captivity" in history to date.  

Psalm 126
The Song of Ascents---repeated twice cause it is doubly good.
A Calling to be thankful and it can be applied to our own lives.  Psalm 126:3.
The harps hanging from the willow trees are pulled down.
"Providence pipes to them, and they dance."  M. Henry
A turning again.  And the people "thought ourselves like men that dream."
Mouths filled with laughter.
Tongues slipping out singing.
Hearts full vent to joy.
Glory to God.
And some rejoicing is with trembling,
for they bear on the sleeve of their hearts the "grievances that were yet to be redressed."
We are changed in a twinkling of an eye.
Yet, we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
For no change is overnight news.
May all of us who have been left behind in the wake of Providence,
may we turn again to God to perfect our salvation. 

"The beginnings of mercy are encouragements to us to pray for the completing of it."
Come Lord Jesus.
The tears themselves are the seeds we must sow.
Sow in tears; reap in joy.
"Those who sow in the tears of godly sorrow shall reap in the joy of a sealed pardon and a settled peace."  M. Henry

Wherever we find ourselves as we close these New Testament words today, O God, have mercy on our  souls.  And may Your mercy be the beginning of great encouragement today that You are present and completing our salvation for each of us.  Do Your Perfect Work.  May we sow the tears we've launched.  May we reap the joy we know not. 

PHOTO: The full harvest moon outside our window tonight. The setting sun closed the pages on the Old Testament. 300 years pass by. It’s a new moon. 

272 - “Tender to The Word of God” Nehemiah 9-10

 Revive us, O God, in your ways, the psalmist once said. “We will not neglect the house of our God.” Neh 10:39.  No hidden agendas in this crowd. All about advancing the Kingdom of God. Not about advancing own agendas. What stirs in me most deeply? Is it advancing God's Kingdom or my own? Is it about putting closure on these financial problems I have or revealing the character of God in the midst of them? Is it about getting people to recognize you, understand you, accept you into the "in" crowd or is it about revealing the Beautiful God for whom we live. 2,000 years pass and it's the same questons: Will you neglect the house of God? Will you neglect the temple of the Holy Spirit living in you? 

They were so tender to the Word of God ... they cried when it was read.
I just love that! And I so want that!
That I would cry more over the Word than over my circumstance.
And God said, don't grieve.
The joy of the Lord is your strength.
It is the strength that comes from knowing Him and His Word.
Make it your chief study again cause I need the Strength
that only He can give.  I just hit another low! 

271 - “Read The Word of God Aloud Til It Shines Good Sense” Nehemiah 8

                                                                        

All the people gathered as though they were one in the square to read the Book. Nehemiah 8:1 Like friendly sardines in a can. Squished to gel as one. They implored Ezra to read on a soapbox. From Early Morning sunrise ... To the white hot Midday sun. Matthew Henry said it was an ordinance of God to read the Word aloud. Give sense to it. Understanding and good sense. "All that we hear must, however, be brought to the test of Scripture. They heard readily and minded every word. The Word of God demands our attention. If through carelessness we let much slip in hearing, there is danger that through forgetfulness we shall let all slip after hearing." Matthew Henry 

 Oh Father, I want to read the Word of God every day aloud and alive. Would you shine in us all good sense to understand. Help make sense of these lives of ours. 

 PHOTO: Early Morning. The break of dawn. The soap box. Ezra stands and speaks and makes sense of this life of ours til the sun settles directly over the square. Nothing. NOTHING. nothing. NOTHING. Nothing matters more to me than the Word of God. Allender told me I was violent with the word of God---so be it. Another one told me I wouldn't amount to anything much. Another one told me our lives didn't matter much for the Kingdom---too focused on sports. The only thing that matters is the Truth of the Word of God. And that's the soap box I am standing on.

270 - “I Am Doing A Great Work” Nehemiah 5-7

 

There is a relationship that I am wrestling through where I want someone to change for their good.  I'm so adamant that they are wrong and I believe I am right.  But that's not the issue anymore.  What stirs me from this book is that I must reveal to them the character of our Good God and not try to move them to change by my words, my prayers, my actions.  Of course, I should hope and pray for their good, their transformation, with all my heart. But I'm so stuck on them changing that I've become unbecomingly arrogant and quietly demanding. Back in the close of the Book of Ezra, Crabb wrote:  "There's always a way back from sin.  Tears of hope will flow every time you experience My Loving Mercy when you fail...Ezra's burden for holiness led to tears of repentance."  What deeply disturbs me?  What are these tears that flow?  Tears of Hope?  Tears of Repentance?  I think they might be tears of pain. 

Nehemiah 7:5 - God put this in Nehemiah's heart to assemble the people.  So, Nehemiah rebuilt the wall and set the doors in place, then he assembled priests, and gatekeepers, and musicians.  He took this ministry to the utmost place.  A common wall around an unimpressive city around a tiny town population around blue collar people.  Surrounded by mocking laughs and words to which Nehemiah replied:  "I am doing a great work."  Neh 6:3.

269 - “Brick By Brick for the Broken Little People” Nehemiah 1-4

                                                              

It may be small, brick by brick, but it's a great work. Nehemiah 1:6 - Oh God! Let your ears be attentive and your eyes be open to the prayers we offer you this day. Nehemiah heard about a broken down wall and prayed. What is broken in our lives? What does God keep hearing us say over and over and over, do not stop, O God! I love it that Nehemiah moved forward and built a wall.nAnd Nehemiah thought he was doing a "great work" for God. Whatever we do out of sincere hearts to know You and make You known---it is a great work, a great privilege. May we be more concerned with the little great works we are doing than what we are receiving. May we be more concerned with loving others than what they are doing to us. May we be more concerned with advancing God's Kingdom than managing our lives well. Psalm 25:15-16 ~ O God, Our eyes are ever on You. You can release my feet from the snare that I am in.  Trapped. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me, from myself and from my sin, from what I want. O God, hear these out-loud words of mine.

Cup-bearer to the King of Persia.  Nehemiah lived in luxury.  Wanting for nothing.  The good life.  A place of honor, sitting next to the King.  

Yet.
He never forgot the suffering of his people.  He heard of it.  He went for it.  He responded to it.
What can I do this day to show kindness to you?  We all have problems---we live with ourselves, we know it.  When a noble reaches down to a commoner, he makes the heart of God glad.  No respecter of persons here.  No big people and little people for Nehemiah.  Just a very big heart for his God.

So.
He inquires about how they are really doing.  Makes me want to go inquire.
And as soon as he hears, he presents his first application to God not man:  Nehemiah 1:4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

PHOTO:  The Great Divide in my life.  I will remember this story of Nehemiah 1 forever.  It's a pivotal point for me.  Another great divide of longing to pray.  Present your 1st application to God not man.

268 - “Make Confession” Ezra 7-10

 

Meanwhile.
This Ezra...
Skilled in the Law of Moses.
The Hand of the Lord his God was on Him.
Ezra 7:6

Yes, the Good Hand of his God was on him.
Ezra 7:9
For Ezra set his heart
to study the Law of the Lord,
and to do it & to teach God's Word in Israel.
Ezra 7:10

So.
Ezra made confessions. Begged forgiveness.
Ezra 10:1
Therein lies the beauty of his obedient life.

Father, here is a telling story of Your mercy and kindness and love toward the life of this Ezra.  May we apply ourselves to study the Word, to do the Word, to teach the Word.  Help us this day dig deep within to make confession to you for missing the mark.  Oh God, we long for Your Hand on our lives.  Acceptance with peace for what You have gifted our way.  I'm so shaken tonight by my own mess.  Help us find a beautiful hope to press in, press on.

PHOTO: The Word:  Study. Do. Teach. Live. Love.

267 - “The Sun of Righteousness Rises With Healing” Malachi 1-4, Psalm 50

                                                             

Honor me by bringing your best to Me (Malachi 1:11).  What is the best I can give my God this day?   Listen to Me.  Obediently listen (2:1).  Don't whine if you don't get what you want from God (2:2).  Don't break the faith-bond with your vowed companion (2:2).   God was there when you made your vow and inhabits the smallest details of marriage (2:15).  Guard the Spirit of Marriage within you.  Watch yourselves.  Don't let your guard down (2:16).   Return to Me so I can return to you (3:7).  Return by being honest (3:8).  Test me in your tithe and see if I don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams (3:16).  God sees what you are doing and is listening in.  HE is taking minutes even this day as you talk things over.  Your names are written down for you honor Him so (4:2).  That's happening in the Unseen World this very day.  The Sun of Righteousness will dawn with Healing in His Wings.  Remember and Keep the Revelation (4:4).  Look ahead, I'm sending Elijah. 

What God wants me to hear in this book:  I have loved you!  "I have loved you in a way that people who live for no higher purpose than to enjoy this life do not realize...I have chosen you to be part of My plan to restore this earth to its full beauty and My people to their full beauty."  66 LL.  Yet, you weary Me with your idea that people enjoying the pleasant life of prosperity and peace are the real winners while saints like Paul and Mother Teresa are the losers---arrogance."  66 LL. 

"Return to Me, not for the blessings of life that bring pleasure but for the blessing of My Presence that sustains hope." Prisoners of Hope.  66 LL.  And God became silent for 450 years.

'

As we close the pages of the Old Testament, what is one verse that God brings to your mind this day from all that you have read this year?   Disturbing questions here.  
Do we ask the same questions today?

How have you loved us, God, cause we don't see it.
How have we polluted you, God, cause we don't know.
How have we wearied you with our words, God.
How do we really return to you.
How have we robbed you.
How have we spoken against you.

If we really understand the sin in our hearts, we wouldn't be asking these questions. We are guilty. And it is covered. And God pursues us even in the midst of our sins. So return and repent. For there is a First Coming of Baby Jesus that we know---and a Second Coming of Christ, burning like an oven, where all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. Malachi 4:1

But you. Fear His Name.
The Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. Mal. 4:2
And you will be like Jerusalem dancing once again.
Leaping like calves from the stall.
The Great Day is just Around the Corner.

That's what Malachi said.

And the Lord goes silent for a few hundred years.

Now, we have no prophets.

We have the sacred scriptures, the Living Word.

PHOTO:  The Sun of Righteousness.  Photo of the Sun taken at my favorite spot in the wide world.

266 - “Divine Providence” Esther 6-10

                                                                   

Oh, the grandeur of King Ahasuerus.  The epitome of treasures on earth.
And none of these riches will go with us.  Esther 8:2.  Not one thing.
Esther knew when she said "If I perish, I perish..."
She knew that she would take with her something far more precious than this life.  Her tears were for her people not for herself.  Esther knew.  Is there Something I am missing in this life that I clutch too tightly?

Divine Providence rules through the Book of Esther.
Nothing escapes God's notice.
He was preparing Mordecai to rise up even when the king couldn't sleep.
The king could order 127 provinces.
The king could not order one hour of his own sleep.
God forces us every night to rest, whether we want it or not. 
It is not our choice.  We are held in His Divine Care.
"That which will break proud Haman's heart willl not break humble Morechai's sleep." M. Henry.
Divine Care is written all through the script.
What do I not know this day of Divine Providence over my life that I must consider?

OVERVIEW: Esther 6-10

265 - “Is Your Plan Going Well…Plan A or Plan B” Esther 3-5

 

Huge Wealth. Stunning Splendor. Isn't that today's world. People want to be somebody on this earth. "Every man is master of his own house; whatever he says, goes." That's what the king ordered. Wonder why Persia didn't take the opportunity to return "home" to Judah. They "preferred the comforts a well-established secular lifestyle could provide." Sounds way-too-familiar! So they put pressure on the beautiful women to show up. That's not right. What about those of us with redemptive dignity who aren't glamour-filled---would we have made it in Persia? "Are they---or even am I---even interested in real holiness, in what You call holiness? Or are we mistaking tolerance and niceness and spiritual experiences for the deep change in the human soul that You desire? Most of us seem to think Christianity is a moral and social policy to make life better for people rather than a redemptive plan for making people better in this life." I am so grateful to God for His moving into my life in the midst of some suffering a few years ago to help me to really deal with deep change and let HIM change me way down deep as only He can. Ask my husband, my son who was still living at home, some of my friends, and they will tell you that I'm not who I was---and I'm on my face in gratitude. And I still have a long way to go but I have hope! So, like all of us, we sometimes ask Crabb's question; Is Your plan going well or not? What about about Plan B. Is it going well in my life, in your life?  His Plan A? Or am I wrestling with all those Plan B's that surprise me and crop up? Radical Repentance.`The Providence of God has raised you up to your story this day. Plan A. "For such a time as this." 

264 - “God Has Left You Where You Are” Esther 1-3

 We may never live in a palace. We may never be called a queen. Does this kind of beauty hold happiness we know not? They were just as much at unrest as the lowly. Ahasuerus thought way too much of himself, his kingdom. There is such a compelling story in this book of Esther. To what end has God called us? Consider why He has left you where you are.

263 - “This Help is For The Weakest Ones” Zechariah 8-14

Zechariah 12: 7-8
God gives us this promise fast-forward to this very day. It's for the weakest. And my spirit perked up because of the faltering moments I encounter. Matthew Henry puts it this way: "God will protect and strengthen the meanest and weakest that belong to his church, and work salvation for them. And as a preparative for all this mercy, and a promise of it, He will pour upon them a spirit of prayer and repentance." These promises were a life-line to the Jews who cared so much about following God under the rule of the evil Antiochus. And these promises are for this very day, for our churches. May God direct our prayers and deepen our hope in the gospel.

Send the rain, O God.

Zechariah 8:1 - He is jealous for you. Let your hands be strong. Hold on tight.

Zechariah 9:1 - The burden of the Word. Let your eyes find their Resting Place. All eyes toward the Lord.

Zechariah 10:1 - Ask rain from the Lord. The Lord Who makes the storm clouds. And it is at this point in this daily reading that I weep. How long must we endure these hovering dark storm clouds that have lasted for years? God has compassion on each one of us. He will answer us. 10:6. And the beautiful last verse says: "And I will strengthen them in the LORD, and in His Name, they will walk." Thank you for making me walk again. On solid ground. 

Zechariah 11:1 - Open your doors that a fire may feed. 
Behold!~ A Day is Coming . . . Yes it is!

PHOTO:  

Standing here.  Thinking about being so weak, so needy, and so cared for.

262 - “Don’t Despise Small Beginnings” Zechariah 1-7

                                                          

Only in darkness could Mother Teresa learn to say 'my agony of desolation is so great and at the same time the longing for the Absent One so deep, that the only prayer which I can still say is---Jesus, I trust in Thee. I will satiate Thy thirst for souls.' "  66LL

"If you could see right now what is happening in the Unseen World, you would be filled with hope.  You must trust Me for whatever tastes of Glory I choose to provide in this life as you continue to build the Temple. You have become a prisoner of hope."  66 LL

Yet we all live in days gone by:  You wonder how you failed (3:1), contributing to your children's failures.  You worry that your faith was too small.  "Satan encourages an obsessive and superstitious look at your failure."  I see all your failure---I bathe you until you become a Sweet Fragrance.  66 LL

"The legalist in you will want to mourn what was painful in the past and what is still painful today (7:2-3).  You will want to focus more on healing past wounds and filling present emptiness than living in hope.  Do not obsess over yesterday's troubles or today's problems."  66 LL  Live in hope!

Find the present hope...
1:2 - Come back to me and I'll come back to you. Don't be like your parents. 

Enter into the present hope...
1:5  Put up your measuring tape.  Don't try to figure things out.  "I'll be right there with you—God's Decree—a wall of fire around unwalled Jerusalem---your own city with no walls--- and a radiant presence within."  Nothing will happen to you or any of My Followers that has the power to destroy My Plan A.  66 LL  God is on the move!

Dress in the present hope...
3:3 - Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes.  What am I dressed in this day?  

Live as a prisoner of the present hope...
or you will be a slave to the past...
4:9  "Don't despise This Day of Small Beginnings."  A Day of Small Things.  Right on Time.  Right Direction.  Fully Alive. 

PHOTO: My darkness matters to me, to Him. But it is not the Greater Story being told. There is Light that permeates the darkest of times.  The smallest of beginnings. 

261 - “Consider Your Own Ways, Not Others” Haggai 1-2

 

 Haggai 1:4-6“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.  Haggai 1:7

Did they return to God out of duty or devotion? What about my intentions to do what is right. Finding God isn't doing all the right things.  It is being surrendered to our Redeemer. And the intentions of our hearts come out. 

Many good intentions can lie dormant. Consider your own ways---not the ways of others who bother you and trip you up. 

Consider this day!

May we not miss this day!  Your Grace. You are on our side, God. We ask for your help as we consider our ways. 

PHOTO: 31,500 feet in the air. What mystery what brilliance to look down on sheets of powder puff clouds hundreds of miles wide. Who made all this. Who sustains this splendor. How can I not consider my own turning away from This. 

260 - “Don’t Offer Systems of Insights and Principles; Offer a Redeemer” Ezra 4-6

                                                

Ezra 4:4-5 The Samaritans reared up their ugly heads at the building of the temple.  Satan shows up to discourage and undermine and bribe those who want to do good.  These returned revived revelers were beautiful exiles and so full of joy.  But, they were so targeted by the enemy of their souls.  Let us remember that that the god of this world seeks to devour our attempts to walk and worship.  He is out looking for good intentions.  And out fatal flaw is not looking into our own souls when opposition bombards our temples.  

We are all looking for a Redeemer.  But the nails and mortar and curtains and boards trap us into finding our worship on paths that are going straight to destruction---like the offer of these Samaritans.  

"We must not offer people a system of redemption,

a set of insights and principles.

We offer people a Redeemer."

Paul David Tripp

One version of the Bible says:  They were plunged into a sea of joy.  This is where I sit today.  Plunged.  Joy.  Because God has changed the attitude of those directly over my life. But is that the best reason for joy? Circumstances? Joy is the presence of God not the absence of troubles. 

For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel. Ezra 6:22

PHOTO:  The graffiti of our soul.  What words will we write today in this story we live.

259 - “Don’t Look for.Coaches Before You Follow Elders to Lead You Into His Presence” Ezra 1-3

 

1:1 "In the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, God prodded Cyrus King of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom." God stirred up Cyrus to permit any willing Israelite to return HOME after 70 years of Babylonian captivity.  I just wept as I read names of clans of over 50,000 people who had been held captive.  There's something in me that is moved when I hear of captives like my friend Cyd who may have been murdered in Afghanistan or she's still captive there.  These 50,000 plus stable people of substance (remember how they didn't take the very poor captive but allowed them to work the land) are on their way home.  Oh my!  Restored physically.  But there already has been a spiritual restoration or they wouldn't come home to praise God like they have!  Ezra 3:11 "God is good; He will never quit loving us."

As we close the book of 2 Chronicles, we find a restored people in the book of Ezra longing for holiness, His Presence.  Something happened to them in captivity---"suffering is necessary until evil is finally banished...suffering opens the holy space in your soul that will be filled only when you're dancing with Me..."  66 LL.  And I'm reminded of Crabb's quote that ended the chapter:  "Don't look for experts to coach you in how to make your life work before you follow elders who will lead you into My Presence."  What are we really looking for in life?  "I want My people to know this:  if even in small ways you live to 'fix your life,' to arrange for your own pleasure in ways that violate holiness, your love for a better life now will eventually corrupt your love for Me."  66 LL.  The question Jesus will ask in about 400 years comes to mind:  John 1:38 - "What do you seek?"  What do I seek this day?

Ezra 3:11 - And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”

And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But the old men wept loud. Duplicity of voices coming out of captivity. What it must have felt like.

And Jeremiah's prophecy lives. And the prophets reign while the crowns fall off the head of kings. And these dry bones live again, love again. 

What about my own dry bones.

 Have we inquired of God today to come alive, stay alive. 

What stirs in my heart tonight?   Ezra 3:13

So much joy in my heart---it is God, if you only knew my circumstances.
It's the end of another year and a time of reflection.
I am so overwhelmed with what God has done in my life this year.
Col. 1:29 - What stirs in us?  The Power of the Energy of Christ,
if we just let it be. 
God stirred Ezra to rebuild the temple.
When they saw the foundation laid,
the people wept.  Loud!  Wonder why?
They loved Someone more than the blessings.
The priests and Levites, people who so desired to be holy,
they wept so hard, it was indistinguishable.
What beautiful passion if it was for God and not for themselves.
Who knows?
But I come back to the question . . .
What stirs in me today?
It's been one of the best years of my life.
And we've been stripped of quite a few things.
Stripped and filled by God. 
Oh, to live like Ezra did:
"Ezra was deeply distressed by My people's compromise
more than by their troubles.  His burden for holiness led to tears
of repentance and to his refusal to eat or drink as he grieved
My people's evil."  66LL
Oh, to live like that.

PHOTO:  A tiny country church. Wish it were my husband’s church.

258 - "Go Your Way Til The End of Days" Daniel 11-12

     

White and Tried. 

This life.

Daniel 12:13 - But go your way till the end of all days. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”

"Amid the crash of matter and the wreck of worlds,
the Lord Jehovah will preserve His own." C. Spurgeon
We need not fear.  Let us go on our way.
Find rest for our souls.  This world knows so little.
When have we truly been at rest in our souls?

White and Tried.
This life.

This we know.
This world will end.
May we live fully alive.

Go.
Rest.
Stand.
This is your lot.
This is your life.
No fiery furnace.  No den of lions.
Can keep us from walking with God.
May we become a parade of pleaders who won't let go, who will keep on.
To the end of our days.

Father, we pray the words Charles Spurgeon wrote over 100 years ago for this day:
May we live - "calm resolute in duty, brave in conflict, patient in suffering,
let us go, keeping to our road, and neither swerving from it nor loitering in it." (Spurgeon)

PHOTO:  Thinking about the end of times, the mountains laid low, the earth burned up.  And like that fiery furnace---there will be no smell of smoke on those who trusted to the end.  

257 - "Stop Demanding God Come Down to My Level to Help Me Understand" Daniel 9-10

                                                             While I was pouring out my heart, baring my sins and the sins of my people, Gabriel stood before me and said:   'Daniel, I have come to make things plain to you. You had no sooner started your prayer when the answer was given. And now I'm here to deliver the answer to you. You are much loved! Daniel 9:17-20

 “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. 

For your sake, Lord, look with favor ... 

Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see ... 

We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy... 

Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay...

It happened while Daniel was still in prayer. 

Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:

Give ear.  Forgive me. Hear and act.  For Your Sake.  Do not delay.  

Let me know this day that You have heard my heart.

I don't think an angel will appear to us this day with such an answer.  

We must live in the Confusion and Mystery 

OR 

Am I demanding that God come down to my level to help me understand what in the world is going on in my life?   

"Daniel spent hours trying to make sense of God's words (8:15) and his efforts to understand left him exhausted (8:27).  Do I want sound-byte theology?  Wisdom without struggle?  Formulas without Mystery?"  66 LL. 

PHOTO:  The stars far, far, far away.  There are things we will never understand.

256 -"Set 100 Bell Tower Alarms as Reminders To Pray" Daniel 7-8

Oh may we be caught praying! "While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice." Daniel 9:21. We may never ever see an angel deliver our prayer, but we hold fast to the very Word of God for His Precious Promises are all "yes." And we wait in prayer.  Confessing our own sin.  Daniel pointed the finger at himself first.  He is dealing with what stirs inside of him---though pale in comparison to the depths of sin surrounding him. 

And the angel clarified: "At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved." Daniel 9:23.  And how the Promises and the Passion of being greatly loved just melts our hearts. 

This prayer life intrigues and invites.  Make me want to set a hundred Bell Tower alarms as reminders to pray.  

Oh Father, teach us to pray.  Every day, I say the "Our Father," hallowed be Thy Name.  Give us today our daily bread and forgive us like you do for the Daniels of the world who are so in touch with the darkness that lurks within---right smack dab in the middle of all the Goodness. Send your Mercy. Make us Good.  You Alone are Good!  We long for You, Our Father.  

PHOTO:  Watching the Texas sun rise in the sky. Thinking here about being "greatly loved" and what that really means for me today.

255 - “Monument of the Power of Divine Grace” Daniel 4-6

                                                   

Leave the stump, bound with a band of iron and bronze. Daniel 4:15 Metaphorically speaking, the band of iron represented afflictions. There was hope that the stump might shoot forth back into life. That was my story a decade ago. Someone shared this verse with me. A verse about King Nebuchadnezzar who was a "monument of the power of Divine grace, and of the riches of Divine mercy." M.Henry He recovered from his madness. Recovered from his pride of forgetting God. "Whatever affliction God is pleased to lay upon us, may we have cause to bear it patiently, and to be thankful that he continues the use of our reason, and the peace of our consciences." M.Henry

I felt like I was about gone in 2006 January. The irons of affliction had done me in.

That summer, I started to sprout. 

Little by Little.

I came alive.

And that tree grew back again.

And I can now give shade to others once more. 

PHOTO:  Outside my window in Des Moines. Strong like steel. The Mighty One.

254 - “Turn or Burn” Daniel 1-3

                                                    

Ashpenaz went looking for skilled youth with a spotless record in Israel. You never know when you are living life when a knock may come on your door. Am I being faithful in the things I know, I do, I have. And Daniel makes history, not a show-stopper but a surrendered soul. May we be found faithful where we are.  

And here's a quote for all times, all moments: Dear King, we have no need to answer you in this matter of worshipping your gods with a little "g." Throw us in the lion's den. "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand." Determined---they will not serve or worship the king's gods with a little "g." Daniel 3:18.  

"And the hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them." Daniel 3:27. Blessed by the God of these 3 men.  And what this God did for these 3 servants made an indelible mark on all who watched, on all who hear 2,000 years later.  Isaiah 43:2 is true:  When you pass through the waters, God will be with you.  When you go through the fire, you will not be burned.  A metaphor of grace.  You will be taken care of.

Oh Father, When we read these beautiful stories of surrender and calm in the midst of horror, help us to walk in Your Ways, not the show-stopping celebrity world in which we live.  Whatever men may do to us, may we know You are with us.

PHOTO:  The sunset tonight.  Pondering what it means to really be alive.  To not miss the Grace of God in the midst of suffering.  To find His Presence there, here.

253 - “See The Glory of God and the More Low We Lie in our Eyes” Ezekiel 44-48

 

Oh! Ezekiel! We will meet you one day. We'll worship together with You this God you so adore. "I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And I fell on my face. And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws." Ezekiel 44:4

And here we go again. Overcome with awe! "The humblest posture of adoration and the expression of a holy awe." (M.Henry). Facedown. "The more we see of the glory of God the more low we shall lie in our own eyes." (M.Henry). And that thought explains to me how in the midst of my living life and being gravely offended, even this day, that I may make my ambition to find the glory of God and desire to live low in my own eyes. It's been a harrowing of a day and I really cannot share it with anyone, so I'll give it over to my God Who deeply cares. My roots have been twisted and turned.

And God charges Ezekiel to take extra care to observe with his eyes. A very careful observant learner. Ezek 45:5. Matthew Henry states a beautiful "In acquainting ourselves with divine things, we must not aim so much at an abstract speculation of the things themselves as at finding the plain appointed way of communion with those things, that we may go in and out and find pasture." Oh that we find pasture. Great peace have those who love the law.

Oh Father, help us find a deeper peace than we know.  May we find the appointed way this day that we may seek peace in all our comings and goings.  

PHOTO:  Pasture in the Hill Country.  Father, help us find a gripping peace that won't let go of us.

252 - "What Causes Me To Fall On My Face" Ezekiel 41-43

                                                   

"And I fell on my face." Ezekiel 43:3.  What causes me to fall on my face?  I can think of times:  cancer, betrayal, loss, grave disappointment, depression.  Seems like it is when something happens to me rather than what stirs within me.  Ezekiel saw a vision concerning what God would do to the people of the city---destroy them.  And the immense glimpse of suffering and shame overwhelmed Ezekiel with sorrow.  And he fell.  Facedown.

God, cause us to be a people who deeply care about the depravity and destruction we see in our own time and towns.  The quote from Buechner comes to mind:  may our calling meet the world's great needs.  Give us bigger hearts that beat to be givers not takers in this world of woe.

Ezekiel 43:4  - "The Spirit put me on my feet and led me to...the Bright Glory of God."  Do I think I have to pull myself together and stand up in hard times?  God will put me on my feet again. 

Ezekiel 43:9 HE will move in forever. 

Ezekiel 43:27 "I'll accept you with pleasure, with delight.  Decree of your God, your Master!"  Unbelievable that God accepts me with pleasure and delight.  So many memories this day of people who have not delighted in me.  But!  Overriding Presence of the One for Whom I know takes pleasure in me.  It's a liminal place where you sense the Presence of our God.  It's the place of what is seen and Who is  Unseen.  On my feet in midst of overwhelming pain sensing the Presence of God that no man can create!

Awestruck!  With my hand over my mouth!
PHOTO:  Beautiful sunrise here in Galveston.  May we all fall on our faces before the One Who holds the oceans at bay and the sunrise so grand.  

251 - “God Has Brought You To This Place” Ezekiel 39-40

 

Ezekiel 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me to the city." There is no mistake of the exact moment when he knew that God brought Him to that place. And our God has brought us to the place we sit this day. Dare we trust Him for more as we lift up open broken hands to His.  

This vision goes until the end of the book.  It's so hard to understand but we trust when we get to those rough patches, don't we?  Matthew Henry put it this way:  "Humbly search concerning it, get as far as we can into it and as much as we can out of it, and, when we despair of satisfaction in every difficulty we meet with, bless God that our salvation does not depend upon it, but that things necessary are plain enough, and wait till God shall reveal even this unto us." 

PHOTO:  Walking Galveston beach. Pondering how God's Hand is on our lives. Such mystery. 

250 - “Jealous For His Name” Ezekiel 37-38

                                     

And the Word of God came again to Ezekiel. I don't know that I've ever noticed how many prophecies came to this holy man who maintained justice and rightness before God.

And the Hound of Heaven pursues once again and forever.  Them and us.

Ezekiel 39:25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name."

613 commands they had to obey.  How could they even remember them all.  No one could live them out every day.  Impossible.  The Jewish system and all its rules.  From 10 Commandments to over 600.  And God is moving to redeem.  Christ came.

Christ's invitation:  Come to Me.  Doesn't matter if it's just one rule.  Always breaking one.  Oh, that we live attached to the One Who can do something about all this weariness and woe.

Father, we are touched deeply by Ezekiel and his holy living and preaching and loving and prophesying.  You truly are the Hound of Heaven.  And You will never ever let us go.  Help us to know this day Your Holy Fire and Desire for each one of us.  You are jealous for me---as the song says.  May we sing it today!

PHOTO:  The Hound of Heaven comes.  From the days of Jerusalem to the days of hill country, He 

249 - “Weep & Tremble For Those Who Will Not Weep & Tremble—-Struggle in Confusion/Wait in Hope” Ezekiel 33-36

                                                            

Ezekiel was made a watchman over the country.  Ezekiel 33:7  .  Whether the response was positive or negative, Ezekiel went to serve.  For whom do I carry the burdens of this life?  These prophecies are to be chanted.  So that they may know that He is God.  This is Ezekiel's calling.  To warn sinners about imminent danger. 

"It becomes us to weep and tremble for those who will not weep and tremble for themselves."  Matthew Henry. mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain." Ezek 33:30.

Men care more about the temporary than the eternal when they overlook settling their sins with God. 

One commentary talked about how they set watchmen to guard their houses but not their hearts.  When their happiness or misery is at stake, Matthew Henry says:  "they are offended if ministers obey God and give faithful warnings; they would rather perish listening to smooth things." 

"Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice 

and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice."
Ezekiel 33:30-33

All that happens any normal week of our lives---the cutting, the distractions, the heart piercing words flung your way. Cast them His way---the gracious providence of God. I Peter 5:5. Our Sovereign Savior. And He will order all events to convince you of his tender care for you and what happened. Because He cares for you so. Because good will come from it. Reassign every event to His Gracious determination, the Divine counsel.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

The God of all grace who has called you to His eternal glory will restore you and make you strong. If any still feel the stress of bittersweet Thanksgiving gone awry, stand firm in the true grace. I Peter 5:12. It is yours.  

248 - "Who Are You Like In Your Greatness?" Ezekiel 29-32

You will know that I am the Lord! 
How many times did God make that statement?
God is always seeking, always beckoning, always calling. 
And how long do we go without acknowledging this day that He is Lord!

God speaks to Ezekiel, once again.  Prophesy!
And how many times has God initiated a Word with Ezekiel?
I wonder if Ezekiel ever wavered, ever wondered? He is just like us. Always returning.

And God says to Ezekiel.
Ask this of Pharaoh:
"Who are you like in your greatness?" Ezekiel 31:2
What a telling question.
There is One Who asks the questions we must answer.
It is He.  The Lord. 
Be prepared to answer the good questions, the right ones.
To Whom else shall we go?  John 6:66

Would others say we remind them of Jesus?  Or are we so full of our own selves and our own plans that we cannot see out.  Fill us with Yourself.  Draw us in.  Draw us up. I Peter 4:1-2 says to "think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way." I lost a $600 opportunity 11/12/23 at 8am because I did not speak up fast enough.  I have been beating myself up---why? I wanted to have it my way and walk off with the $600.  God is weaning me.  

PHOTO:  A fisheye of Washington state.  Wondering about this greatness thing.  God has put in our hearts a measure of success.  May we never live for greatness but only for Him.  To God be the glory, the greatness.