309 - "A Toast to the Years The Most High Stretched Out His Right Arm to Me" Jeremiah 39, 52, 40; Hebrews 10:19-39

Again. They take Jeremiah and cast him into a cistern. No water. Just mud. Jer 38:6. And God plans a rescue of Jeremiah by the eunuch, Ebed-melech. It's a rescue of rags and worn-out clothing in Chapter 38. Matt Chandler spoke of how God intervenes and gives us opportunities to change. But this fellow, Jeremiah, followed God fully. And God delivered because of Jer 39:18 - Jeremiah put his trust in the Lord.  

God doesn't want our strength. He wants our weakness. Our surrender. Our dependence. Just like Jeremiah. Whether it's from a prison cell or the prison of our hearts. "When we are confident in God, we set our minds to worship. Then we attack with passion the brokenness in our world." We somehow have it upside down. Turn us right side up, Lord. We want to attack the brokenness more than we want to worship. Calloused hands need calloused knees.  

May we be self-aware of what we are truly doing.  Passion for God over passion for ministry. God doesn't always solve secondary problems.  The big issues in life are worship and intimacy with God---not wealth, health or personal comfort.  

"None of us know how long this will be."
We may be stuck here for a very long time.
Psalm 74:9

So, I cried out to God for help.
At night, "I stretched out untiring hands."
Too troubled to speak.
I thought about the former days,
years of long ago.
And asked . . .
"Will God never show His Favor again?"
Has God forgotten to be merciful?

And, here's the point of the passage:
"To this I will appeal:
Not the present trials I touch.
No, something grander.
All those years when I found God
and His Mighty Power.
To the years when the Most High
stretched out His Right Hand."
For Your Path led through the sea.
And, you know, we can't see
God's Footprints in the sea.
Sometimes He is ahead of us.

A Toast to the Years when the Most High
Stretched out His Right Hand to me.

PHOTO: The Immutable Invincible Incarnate Word offered to each of us by the Rescuing Grace of God. The Pacific Ocean. 

308 - "Hold Unswervingly...it's Providence" Jeremiah 34, 37-38; Hebrews 10:1-18

"Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Heb 10:22-23.

By the sacrifice of Christ and His Blood, I am admitted.
Invited and accepted into the forgiveness and freedom.
Hold this unswervingly.
Profess this to the max.
My God is with me and He is faithful.
To the uttermost.
Immanuel.
Do not live a double life.
No counterfeits.
You are admitted into the holy of holies.
What does that mean for me this day.

The king threw Jeremiah in prison.  Jeremiah's God set up a place for him to live and his meal plan for the rest of his life.  All because Jeremiah took care of the Word of God.  And he did so with boldness as a man on a mission from God.  But when he asked for a safe haven to live, he did so with humility and submission. 

"King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.  Jer 37:21. 

He delivered the Word of God boldly; He requested the prison guard slowly.  No demands here.  Matthew Henry wrote:  "A lion in God's cause must be a lamb in his own."

May I be bold for you and surrendered for me.  This present situation where I sit.  With all respect, dignity, and submission, I lay it before You for You to find the bakers in my life to feed me for the rest of my days.

The Word of the LORD kept coming to Jeremiah.
Over and over again, he heard from God.
And in all the weighty words,
he landed in a cistern, doomed to die.
What did Jeremiah ponder in that cistern?

Whether we are in a cistern or a chapel,
in the midst of recognition or dismissal,
in the midst of safety or danger,
our God knows and is at work.
Will we trust him in the confusion?
Will we trust him in our delusion?
Jer 37:13 ~ 

PHOTO:  Pedestrian bridge I often cross. No swerving here. The truths I hold in my heart, I wrestle with them on this journey. Hold these truths unswervingly. I am. I do. I will. I want to.

307 - "Call to Me for Renovations" Jeremiah 33, Jeremiah 21, Hebrews 9

                                                                

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

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

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

A promise as big as the whole world. A Reference Forward! You shall be re-built, restored, renewed. Long in suffering. Filled with joy. #sanctifyinggrace #pardoningmercy Jer 33.3. Call to Me and I will answer and show you things you do not know.

Hebrews 9:14 ~ Christ offered Himself ... to purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

I wonder how many of our works are dead works and we have no idea?  Wonder why we are so deceived that we do not recognize that our works are not alive.

PHOTO: I cannot imagine the trumpets and trinkets and sounds and stories that raised this roof, the Capitol in Austin. Our roofs will be raised to the heavens. 

306 - "I Will Never Stop Doing Good To Them" Jeremiah 31-32; Hebrews 8

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

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

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

WHERE SHALL THE WORD BE FOUND, WHERE WILL THE WORD RESOUND?  NOT HERE, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH SILENCE - T. S. Eliot Hebrews 8:10 ~ This is the new covenant 

Dear God, Would you do Your Will in us.
Put Your Laws into our minds,

And Write Your Laws on our hearts, in this new covenant.

Be our God, this day

We are yours!

PHOTO:  A tree in California where God was doing good to me in the midst of something very hard.

305 - "God Has Set Everything Right For Us" Jeremiah 51, Jeremiah 30; Hebrews 7

 In Jeremiah 51: 1, God says more: "Watch this:    I'm whipping up A death-dealing hurricane against Babylon—'Hurricane Persia'— against all who live in that perverse land.  But if we surrender and ask God to walk with us…then… 51:10 - God has set everything right for us.  We have a story that God has always been about setting everything right for us, even in the midst of conflict.  

Babylon was “stale smoke.”  “When the smoke clears, they are g-o-n-e.  But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing.  Our God puts the whole universe together.  Blow the shofar (51:27) and deal with our unholiness at whatever cost to me is required.  Our God is stepping in and saying:  'I'm on your side, taking up your cause. I'm your Avenger.  Let go of ambition. Jeremiah 51:58 – “The harder you work at this empty life, the less you are. Nothing comes of ambition like Babylon but ashes.” 

Beyond Dispute---the Superior blesses the inferior. Heb 7:7

"Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." Heb 7:25

To the uttermost doesn't mean forever and ever. 
To the utter most of what I need for salvation.
This High Priest.
His Mighty Power.
"He can aid us as long as we need anything done for our salvation; he can save all who will entrust their salvation to his hands."  Matthew Henry

If I ever needed a word, here it is.  To the uttermost, this thing that I deal with, my God will intervene in this overwhelming need.  I see no way out on Monday.  God sees all my days.  He will get me through this.  May we all desire holiness more than happiness.  Our God is interceding in our behalf.

Heb 7:25 - "and He is able to save you to the uttermost --- save those who draw near to Him.

And don't ever forget this---He ever lives to make intercession for you.

PHOTO: Everything is set right for us.

304 - ""There Is An Anchor For My Soul" Jeremiah 50; Hebrews 6

                                                     

Things are not really as they seem.

There are Things God is doing that we know not of.

There are Things we are doing that will not be what they are today.

There is Someone greater than every person on the face of this earth.
There is an Anchor for our soul, safe and secure. Heb 6:19.

"We are in this world as a ship at sea, tossed up and down, and in danger of being csast away.  We need an anchor to keep us sure and steady."  Matthew Henry

Gospel Hope.

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.  Heb 6:11.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Heb 6:12.

There is a sure look for Good Things promised in His Favor.  Love.  Desires.  Values.  Comfort.  God's purposes for our eternity.  Set your affections above not banely below.  Go forward in the "doctrine" of Christ.  Fall Forward in the Truth.  Taste the Truth.  Drink it in!  Urge your conscience full throttle froward to live by the truth.

Help us to live this day like it was our last and love this day like it is our first.  May we see things from Your Perspective. We who have fled for refuge to Jesus, have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into^(AF) the inner place where He went as a forerunner on our behalf. Hebrews 6:13.

What am I holding fast to this day?  Who am I holding on to?  What is grasped between my fingers?  What do I need to let go of?'

PHOTO: Haiti. Where things are not as they seem. 

303 - "Am I More Serious About Finding God or Finding Life Here on Earth? Jeremiah 27-29; Hebrews 5

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

Hebrews 5:2 ~ We can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since each one of us is beset with weakness.

Hebrews 5:8 ~ And just like Jesus, we learn obedience through what we suffer. 

These words of God are holy and hallowed through the ages.  No Formulas.  A Throne of Grace for the humble.  We do not profane the Word of God by taking it out of context nor by wielding one verse as the answer.  These Words from God are not strategy but salvation; not tragedy but triumph; not answers but The Way.  May we all learn this very day, a little more about obedience through what we suffer. 

PHOTO:  Duomo di Milano, Italy

302 - "What Has Straw in Common With Wheat?" Jeremiah 23-24; Hebrews 4

The priests and the prophets sway their hearers that their sin is really not that bad.  Don't worry about that.  What a travesty that it's the ministers leading the people away from God.

"Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord.  The prophet promises peace but it's a straw-and-wheat comparison to what God would promise.  Do we promise peace without a price tag?  Do we offer peace without any struggle?  Do we covet peace without surrender?

Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" Jeremiah 23:28-29.  If the fire doesn't melt the story, the hammer will shred it into bits.  Lay bare our stories before the God with an all-seeing eye.

Do I distance people from me?  Jeremiah 23:1 - 4 "Doom to the shepherd-leaders who butcher and scatter my sheep!" God's Decree. "So here is what I say to the shepherd-leaders who misled my people: 'You've scattered my sheep. You've driven them off. You haven't kept your eye on them. Well, let me tell you, I'm keeping my eye on you, keeping track of your criminal behavior.  I'll set shepherd-leaders over them who will take good care of them. They won't live in fear or panic anymore. All the lost sheep rounded up by The God-Who-Puts-Everything-Right.' 

Do I take in what God has to say?  Listen, then live it.  Priests preach their 'Everything Will Turn Out Fine' sermon to congregations with no taste for God, Their 'Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen to You' sermon to people who are set in their own ways.  "Have any of these prophets bothered to meet with me, the true God? bothered to take in what I have to say? Have they listened to and then lived out my Word? Look out!

We have received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn't do them a bit of good because they didn't receive the promises with faith. If we believe, though, we'll experience that state of resting.   Hebrews 4:2.  God keeps setting the date back to "Today" ...  And so this is still a live promise. It wasn't canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn't keep renewing the appointment for "today." The promise of "arrival" and "rest" is still there for God's people.  Hebrews 4:7-10.

God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God's Word...We have a high priest with ready access to God.  Hebrews 4:12 -15

PHOTO:  It's a rock that sits alone in the Pacific Ocean.  A heavy hammer could gnaw away, chip by chip, to break this rock to pieces one day.  So with the stories of our lives.

301 - "The Word Came Again And Again" Jeremiah 49; Jeremiah 13; Jeremiah 22; Hebrews 3

                                  

It's a very intentional thing. The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. And it came. And it came. And he shared it, even with his friends, like the King of Babylon---the one who had befriended him. And it wasn't the popular message of the day. It was the Truth that could set them free Jeremiah 49:14, 34. And the comfort of a God of Hope moved them to a good place in the midst of their suffering.

"Might often prevails against right among men, yet that might shall be controlled by the Almighty, who judges aright; and those will find themselves mistaken, who, like the Ammonites, think every thing they  own on which they can lay their hands is theirs. The Lord will call men to account for every instance of dishonesty, especially to the destitute."  Matthew Henry

And the Word of the Lord comes to us this day.  What will we do with it?

Father, it's one thing to share Truth with those who are ready to receive it.  But, to share boldly like Jeremiah did to those whose hearts were hardened is quite overwhelming.  Father, make us bold on the inside.  The iron clad grip of the Holy Spirit controlling our moments.  

Hear the Word of the Lord to you!

Do what is just and right.

Rescue those who have been robbed.

Do no wrong to the fatherless, the widow.

Carry out God's commands.

Jeremiah 22:2-4

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

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

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

PHOTO:  The clouds roll. The sun beats.  The prey roams.  The Lord moves.  Help me hear.  Help me see.  Help me live differently.

300 - “Pay Close Attention” Jeremiah 47-48; Hebrews 2

"                                                   

We must pay most close attention.

Of what we have heard lest we drift away from it."  Hebrews 2:1
Prize this highly with greatest importance;
Watch diligently in all your opportunities;
Read daily and meditate closely on the Word;
Mix faith with all of this;
Retain in your memories;
Live a life of love according to the Highest of all revelations.

How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? 

PHOTO: Looking up into the sky? Asking myself. Do I really pay close attention? There are so many things that happen to me that don't happen to other people. Am I really paying attention to mix faith with all of this. 

299 - “Today, If You Hear My Voice” Jeremiah 25, 45; Hebrews 1

                                                                  

Hebrews 1:2 - God holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!  Hebrews 1:2

WATCHING GOD WORK...DON'T REFUSE HIS PLAN "A"
"So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He's the centerpiece of everything we believe...now, if we can only keep a firm grip on this bold confidence...Today, please listen; don't turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising, that time of wilderness testing! Even though they watched me at work for forty years, your ancestors refused to let me do it my way." Hebrews 3:1-10.  A Christmas hope...watching God work His Plan A and finding my rest in God Alone.

Am I Listening to God's Word every Morning to late every Night 

Jeremiah 25  I'll keep my eye on them so that their lives are good, and I'll bring them back to this land. I'll build them up, not tear them down; I'll plant them , not uproot them. And I'll give them a heart to know me, God. They'll be my people and I'll be their God, for they'll have returned to me with all their hearts. 

 Jeremiah 25:3  God's Word has come to me, and from early each morning to late every night I've passed it on to you. And you haven't listened to a word of it!  Not only that but God also sent a steady stream of prophets to you who were just as persistent as me, and you never listened.  God roars like a lion from heaven.

298 - “A Burning Fire” Jeremiah 20; 35-36; Colossians 4

 Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,  “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, Jeremiah 20:7-10

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

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

I proclaim violence and destruction,

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

Jeremiah 20:7-9

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

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

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

297 “ What If It Please God To Leave Us Here” Jeremiah 17-18; Colossians 3

  

Can the Potter remake this clay into another vessel.

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

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

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

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

But.  God has this.

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

296 - “You Know” Jeremiah 15-17; Colossians 1

                        

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

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

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

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

295 - “Acting Like Tourists” Jeremiah 10-11, 14; Colossians 1

 

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

 

Why are we acting like tourists?

Jeremiah 14:7 Drought...We know we're guilty. We've lived bad lives—but do something, God. We've betrayed God, Hope of Israel’s.  Our only Hope...14:9 - God, you are, in fact, here, here with us! You know who we are—you named us! Don't leave us in the lurch. 

Does God always listen when we pray?Jeremiah 14:11 God said to me, "Don't pray that everything will turn out all right for this people. When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won't listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I'll not accept them....their preachers are liars telling them that everything is going to be okay.  Oh my!  God's eyes pour out tears for the people while the preachers go about business as usual as though nothing happened. Don't break faith with us, God.

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

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

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

PHOTO: Duomo de Milano, Italy

294 - “There Is A Balm” Jeremiah 7-8, Acts 27

 

There is a balm in Gilead.  Jeremiah 8:22.  There is a balm in your city to redress your grievances.  We have to submit to the care offered by God.  We have to submit to the cure offered by God. Redress me in my own trail of "misses" as sin is missing the mark.  The blood of Christ is the balm in Gilead.  We will remain in need not for want of the balm but for admittance of our need and submission to His cure.  Throws me back to my cancer days.  I had to submit to the cure to eradicate the cancer---it wasn't what I wanted but what was needed to move forward.  I didn't think Christ was what I wanted because I thought it was a religion to follow----and I already was.  But when we admit and submit and ask for the balm, it is more than anyone in the universe knows.  He offers an intimate relationship with Himself.  God gives us Himself and that's the dearest grandest offer of anything.  

PHOTO:  A trail. Our sins trail behind us. A balm in Gilead.

293 - “If you have run with foot men…” Jeremiah 11-12, Acts 27:15-44

 

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

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

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

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

“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
Jeremiah 12:5

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

292 - “Our Sins Trail Behind Us” Jeremiah 4-6; Acts 27:1/15

 

There are people who have no idea how they come across or what they are really doing to you.  They are so lost in themselves.  Their sins trail behind them--- I Timothy 5:24.  For all those people in your life leaving a trail of sadness, stand up for them at their crossroads and ask for them the right paths of life.  Jeremiah 6:16.  

Shipwrecked----got any of your own shipwrecks?
Stripped----feel like you've lost a few things?
Favored----finding favor with the captain of the prison, unheard of!

Paul was given undisturbed freedom to preach the Gospel on this island to a barbarous people.  This was no small thing for God to do.  This island welcomed the shipwrecked.  May we find favor where we are shipwrecked today. We all have equal standing at the foot of the Cross. Beat above this world, oh heart of mine.  

These people could see a land they had never seen before.  Acts 27:39.

For two deadly weeks, the ship weathered the Northeaster, a tempestuous terrible wind.

Yet.

All make it safely to shore.

But.

First, they shipwreck in the harbor.

Some commentaries speak of the story as a metaphor of our own journey.  

"The ship that had weathered the storm in the open sea, where it had room, is dashed to pieces when it sticks fast. Thus, if the heart fixes in the world in affection, and cleaving to it, it is lost. Satan's temptations beat against it, and it is gone; but as long as it keeps above the world, though tossed with cares and tumults, there is hope for it." Matthew Henry.

PHOTO:  A trail. Our sins trail behind us. 

291 - “Dress Yourself for Work” Jeremiah 1-2; Acts 26

 

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

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

And Jeremiah tenderly trembles:
“Ah, Lord God!

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

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

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

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

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

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

We anticipate the Great Day. I am one year closer, this day, in Ancipation of that Great Day.

PHOTO:  Standing at an ocean in France wondering about my future.  Dressing myself for work today. 

290 - “Forward Faces Coming Against Us” 2 Chronicles 35; Habakkuk 1-3; Acts 25

 

In the midst of all we have going on...

In the midst of all we need to trust you blindly...
In the midst of all we don't even know...
Revive us.
Show Your Work.

Here's an honest prophet
who doesn't mince his words.
"The unexamined life is simply not worth living." Socrates.
Are we self-aware?  Do we really know what stirs within?

We prayed tonight together for things to fall where God wills.
We prayed for Grace and Favor and Mercy.
"Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord."
Habakkuk 3:17-19

Oh God!  Help us see through what stirs within, the good stirrings, that Your Power is the Energy that will help us make it through this crazy maze.  Col 1:29.  

PHOTO:  Standing on this Brazos river bank thinking about the unexamined life in me and those I love. Have mercy O God. 

289 - “He Is Here” Zephaniah 1-3, Acts 24

 

The Lord is Mighty to save.  He will save us!
He will be God to us!  He will be our All!
The Mighty One!  For the least of all.  For the worst of all.
The Lord is in our midst, Zephaniah 3:17
the Mighty One to save.
He will rejoice over us.
No matter what has happened to us---what shame, contempt, dishonor---
the LORD will honor us.  He will take care of His own.
In this life there will be tribulation.
Many are the troubles of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him from all.
We can always rejoice in the love of our God.
No matter what befalls.

PHOTO:  The ocean.  Thinking about whatever befalls, we can always rejoice in God's Love.  That can never be taken away from us.  

288 - “God Was Touched” 2 Chronicles 33-34

 For as he prayed, God was touched!  2 Chronicles 33:16.  And it is only by the grace of God that He has surrounded Him on all sides and protected him.  My son knows what is in the Book.  In chapter 34, it says they weren't obeying a thing written in the book they found.  As my son enters a new chapter in his life, may this Book of the law depart from him and give him success in God's eyes. Joshua 1.  My prayer for my boy this day and always is 2 Tim 4:7 that he fight the good fight of faith, finish the race, and keep the faith!  There's so much to distract a young man this day from following his God.  But there's a Mighty God listening to you, listening for you every day.  May the prayers go up for you and by you.  And may God be touched! 

287 - “Summon All Your Strength” Nahum 1-3; Acts 23:1-15

 

The Lord is Good. Nahum 1:7

A Stronghold in the day of trouble.
He knows those who take refuge in Him.
Nahum 1:7.
That's it.  All I have to do is climb into His arms.
So, how do you do that.
Especially this day, when people have been so rude,
so high and mighty on themselves, so disrespectful,
and the hardest one of all---so dismissive of me.
When anyone scatters my thoughts, my character. . .
"Man the fortress.
Watch the road.
Strengthen your back.
Summon all your strength."
For the Lord will restore you and yours.

286 “We Cannot Pay for Our Sins” Micah 6-7; Acts 22

 

What
We cannot search for the good through penance.
We so want, at times, to pay for our sins.

No
"Deep conviction of guilt & wrath
will put men upon careful inquiries
after Peace and Pardon,"
And there begins to be some ground for hope.

But 

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Oh
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

So

I want to do justice.

I want to love kindness.

I want to walk humbly w/God.

And

there is no way I can muster up that kind of power.

there is no way I can control my actions by my power.

there is no way I can stop the evil that comes out unexpectedly.

Not
By Might or by Power but by His Spirit.

Upside down from what this celebrity society thinks.

285 - “ Remaking You into a People Invincible” Micah 4-5; Acts 21:18-27

 

 God Promises us Light.

He reveals the motivations of our hearts,

fallenness or redemption.

In our every move.

On your feet, O daughter of Zion!

[And sons, too.]

Be threshed of chaff, be refined of dross.

I'm remaking you into a people invincible.

God's juggernaut.

Micah 5:13

It was this very day that a friend said:  "Church is the highlight of my week.  

It is how I make it through.  I just cannot wait to worship each week."  

For many "their hope lies in religious excitement and activity.

"Exactly what Micah 6:6 says

Hear now what the Lord is saying,

With what shall I come to the Lord

And bow myself before the God on high?

Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,

With yearling calves?

Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams,

In ten thousand rivers of oil?

He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

PHOTO:  Precious five God-given grandchildren plus one. I have never gotten over the fact they are here. 

Never will.  

284 - "The Issue Is Not What They Do To Me But What Jesus Does Through My Obedience" Micah 1-3; Adts 21:1-17

                                              

Let the will of the LORD be done.

Somehow, we talk about seeing our children graduate from college and get married and have babies. LORD, let me be there---the will of the Lord. We pin our happiness on things turning out right. Paul pens his happiness on the will of the LORD. 

Prophets cry "Peace" when they have something to eat. Micah 3:5
But do those same prophets cry "Peace" when they are treated poorly and good withheld.
No, those prophets "Declare War" against him who puts nothing in their mouths.

May we all pray like crazy not to be delivered out of our circumstances
but to be delivered from our selfish souls.

LORD, 
Thy Will be done
Our wills be undone.

Acts 21: 12 -13  We begged Paul not to be stubborn and persist in going to Jerusalem. But Paul wouldn't budge: "Why all this hysteria? Why do you insist on making a scene and making it even harder for me? You're looking at this backward. The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience. Can't you see that?  It's in God's hands now," we said. "Master, you handle it."

I am sitting in Jerusalem tonight as I write.  These words mean much to me, down deep.  The issue is not what they do to Paul or to me or to you but the issue is what our Master does through our obedience.  And Paul tells the rest of his story.  

PHOTO:  Nothing matters more than the will of God on Earth.

283 - "Rain Righteousness" Hosea 12-14; Romans 16

Father, Hosea 12:6 sums my soul:
By Your Help,
I will return today
I will hold fast to love and justice.
I will wait continually for You.
And I will expect You to do much.
You are God!

Oh Father, You are the One Who teaches us how to walk.  You've taken us up in Your Arms and we don't even know that we are healed.  You lead us with cords of kindness, with bands of love.  You ease the yoke on these clamped tight jaws of ours.  You bend down and You feed us.  So humbling. So beautiful.  That You, Omnipotent God would take such a posture for me.  With warm and tender Compassion.  You truly are in our midst and we cannot thank you enough.  Hosea 11:3-5

PHOTO:  God turns our world upside down when we return to Him.  He's always been there.  Leading with Kindness. Bending down with Compassion.  Directing our every step til we learn to walk. 

282 - "Bend Down to Us, O God" Hosea 9-11; Romans 15:14-33

God yearns your way.
From the days of old, your very first days, He was there.
"Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them in My arms;
But they did not know that I healed them...

And I bent down and fed them.  Hosea 11:4
But they were bent on turning from Me.  Hosea 11:7. Am I bent on my own will.

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; Romans 15:30

Join the greatest strength you have with me in prayer. 
That my service may be accepted of the saints.
Such an intriguing thought to pray.

God admonishes us to not lose heart and pray for all things.
Sometimes, I feel that it has to be spiritual for
God's ear, God's hand to bend toward me.

PHOTO: In all the desolate times, God's Ear is still bent toward us and He loves to hear our prayers together. 

281 "God's Daily Arrival Breaks With Each Dawn" Hosea 4-8; Romans 15:1-13

Come, O God, Like the Rains.

Unannounced.

Unnoticed.

So Needed.

She followed her lovers and forgot God, even when she was married---still an adulteress.  Consulting wooden idols.  Asking diviner's wands to inform them.  "Playing the harlot, departing from God."

God says:  He will go away until you acknowledge your guilt and seek His Face.  He does not say when you learn to be grateful or once you are doing well or when you do the right things.  No, it's when we acknowledge our guilt and seek His Face not seek changed lives/changed behavior.  He will come back when we repent not when we just recall good things, count our blessings.  

Hosea 6:1 - “Come, let us return to the Lord.

For He has torn us, but He will heal us...

Let us press on to know the Lord.

And He will come to us like the rain,

Like the spring rain watering the earth."

Hosea 6:3

"Come on, let's go back to God. He hurt us, but he'll heal us. ...We're ready to study God, eager for God-knowledge. As sure as dawn breaks, so sure is his daily arrival. He comes as rain comes, as spring rain refreshing the ground."  Hosea 6:7 - I'm after love that lasts, not more religion. I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings."  

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak.
Please our neighbor for the good of his soul!   Romans 15:1-2.
May all our actions be for the Glory of God.
Paul sought the things of Christ

More than his own will."Strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." Romans 15:30.  Join the greatest strength you have with me in prayer.  Don't lose heart---pray for all things.  We need each other's great strength to bow humbly.  Sometimes, like now, I'm beside myself.  Yet, right next to me is a Right Hand.

280 - "God Pursues Us When We Are Unlovely" Hosea 1-4; Romans 14

It's a Beautiful God Who pursues us when we are unlovely. "I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness,and speak tenderly to her." And I weep. There. I will give her a door of hope. Hosea 2:14-15.And I will have mercy on No Mercy. And I will say to Not My People, You are my People." Hosea 2:23. So stirring. May Hosea be ever so real in each of us. For none of us lives to himself.  Romans 14:7.

Now to Him Who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ...and by the Scriptures is made known for obedience of faith."  Romans 14:25.

It is our God Who establishes us.  I have no better words to use for the weighty Shawl of Light we must find in our every days.

PHOTO: Outside my classroom door for 15 years. Common Grace is always here. Redeeming Grace is forever mine. 350 

279 - "Former Things Won't Come To Mind" Isaiah 65-66; Romans 13

My mountains quaked this weekend.

Isaiah 65:17 says that there will be a new heaven and a new earth and all these things, these former things will not come to mind.  But for now, I wrestle with how I got to this place where I am in life.  There are parts of me that hold so much hope for whatever lies ahead.  Yet, I wrestle with what I see of who I am and who I hope to be.  "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence."  Isaiah 64:1.  I need Him so.  

Help me to accept what no one is offering; the apologies that do not exist; the distance that creeps in day by day surreptitiously; the lack of validation; the feeling of being left in the middle of the road to die; the thoughts of being a loser.  Thank you God for forgiving me for wrong attachments to living for this world.  Position each of us where new attachment is possible.  Impassion us all to desire first things first.  Empower me this lonely day to abandon myself to One Holy Passion. 

Owe no one anything, except to love one another.  Romans 13:8.  Our time is always drawing near.  We are one day closer to the day when we see Jesus face-to-face.  "It is already time for you to awaken out of sleep." Romans 13:11.  If we are spiritually dead, what good comes from our lives?  Why do we neglect the commandments of God and not give deep pensive thought to what stirs within?  

Paul teaches us everyday life-giving truths we must face every single day. 
* Wake up
* Consider your busy times
* Mind your own ways
* Mend your own pace
* Make yourselves ready
* Dress your own souls and put on the armor of light

The time is now.  This moment.  This day in our history.  What will we do with this Christ?   Far too many slumber in spiritual deadness, neglecting the tugging of their souls for God.  When it's really dark in our houses and hearts, what do we entertain?  We are either moving toward Light or stumbling in the dark.  

PHOTO: We were just at the base of this Mount Rainier last week. Our mountains did quake as we met with lifelong friends. As we paid 3 hospital visits in mere days. As we longed for things to change. 

278 - "No Eye Has Seen A God Like This" Isaiah 62-64; Romans 12

                                                       

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

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

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

Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
So present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God.
This is a powerful appeal.
Every single day of our lives,
we receive from God the fruits of His Mercy.
Take heed, if we make our plans for happiness
from the things in this world.
The work of the Spirit of God
begins in understanding there is more to this life.
May our whole lives be carried on every single day
til there is a change of who I am into who He is!
The likeness of God in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Romans 12

PHOTO: Watching the waves crash the rocks of the Pacific Ocean and pondering the Mystery of this life we empty and this God we embrace.

277 - "The Sovereign Lord is Upon Me" Isaiah 59-61; Romans 11:19-36

We all have the Holy Spirit and His Power at the whisper of a word. He is here.  Our hands may be knee deep in our work.  Our hearts must not be entangled with this world.  May we all proclaim the good news by the way we live.  

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair."

Isaiah 61:1-3

God never tires of our incessant absent distant furtive cries. His Arm long enough. His Ears stark open. Always a whisper Away. 

A partial hardening has come upon this land.
The Deliverer will come and take away their sins! Romans 11:25-27
The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  Romans 11:29

Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments, and His Ways past tracing out!  For Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His Counselor"?  Romans 11:33-34.

Inconceivable Riches.
Inexhaustible Resources.
Incomprehensible 

No one can trace His Ways.
"Past Tracing Out."
A metaphor taken from animals that pursue their prey by "tracing their footsteps."
We can't even trace the Perfect Pattern and Giver of All.

We find the author of this book, Paul, closing Romans with astonishing praise.  We should expect to find an author's voice but we find a man overflowing in Unsearchable Words of Life.  Benson says that Paul had sailed in "narrow seas" but now he is in an immense ocean of God's wisdom and knowledge.  And so are we.  Will we trust Him with what stirs within my soul this season?

PHOTO:  The railway in Pittsburgh. An unsafe little ride up a mountain on a track. Your Arm. Never shorted.