Psalms 36: Immeasurable and limitless

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. -Ps. 36:5-6 NIV

We know so much more about space than the ancients did.  We have made progress towards exploring it's regions, yet our view of God and his faithfulness is still limited.  We have plumbed the depths of the seas, yet we have little understanding of God's love, his justice, his willingness to redeem his creation.  How different our lives and circumstances would be if we contemplated that love, his majesty, his righteousness, his faithfulness, his justice, rather than our limited view. 

Our limited earthly view sees love as something self-serving.  We see faithfulness as a promise that can be broken.  We see righteousness as something impossible and justice as a concept that often does not work as we think it should.

For today, throw your arms open wide and accept that God's love has no limits.  His faithfulness is all encompassing.  His righteousness and justice are greater than anything the holiest saint or greatest minds can conceive.  His worth is immeasurable and limitless.

John 15: Remain in Me

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 
If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. - John 15:5-7 NIV

Therein lies the root of all of my struggles.  I cease to remain in Him, the vine, and all matter of calamities suddenly make themselves manifest in my life.  I start my days with foolish things, foolish activities, foolish pleasures rather than with my source and then I wonder why my life is out of control.  It's out of control because I am no longer connected. Dietrich Bonheoffer stated it well.  "The wasted time we are ashamed of, the temptations we succumb to, the weakness and discouragement in our work, the disorder and lack of discipline in our thinking and in our dealings with other people․all these very frequently have their cause in our neglect of morning prayer." - 40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Copyright © 2007 Augsburg Books, imprint of Augsburg Fortress.

Prayer, and I would add devotion, is more than asking what we want.  Prayer is remaining in the vine.

John 14: He is the Way

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. - John 14:1-6 KJV

Oh, how I cry out like Thomas. " Lord, I don't know where you're going, how can I know the way?"
I've reached the end of my rope.  I don't know where my next step should be.  To me, it feels as if my next step is going to hurl me into space, into the abyss.  I'm stepping into the unknown.  But, Jesus says we know the way.  He says we know where he is going and that we know the way.  In truth, even when things look bleakest, we still know the way.  We can be sure of that if we are disciples of Christ.  If we are disciples, then we follow him.  We see him and we see thee way.  I am the way, he says.  I am not just the way, but I am truth.  The only truth you need.  Not the world's truth, but the truth for all who believe.  Not only is he the way and the truth, but He is the life.  He is the all encompassing, life sustaining, force that provides for us both now and forever.  Our future is secure, it is already prepared.  He has gone before us and prepared a place. He knows our beginning and our end.  As the Psalmist said,  The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. (Ps. 121:8 KJV)

Forever more, he has prepared that place for us where we will dwell forever more. What do we have to fear, He is the way.

Psalm 27: Seek His Face

Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
    be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
    Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me,
    do not turn your servant away in anger;
    you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
    God my Savior.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
    the Lord will receive me.
 Teach me your way, Lord;
    lead me in a straight path
    because of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
    for false witnesses rise up against me,
    spouting malicious accusations.

 I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart  and wait for the Lord. - PS 27:7-14 NIV

 

Seek His face!  In times of trouble our options often seem limited.  There is nowhere we can turn.  We long to see light and yet we are surrounded by darkness.  We may feel like there is no one who will understand.  Our friends and even our father and mother have forsaken us.  We are entirely alone, cast out, burdened with no one to help bear the burden.  What do we do?

 

As the Psalmist says, we have only one recourse...to seek his face.  To seek his face means to let go of our preconceived notions of what we need.  It means to let go of our wishes, our heart's desire.  It means to look for nothing more than the comfort of seeing him.  Even in the darkness, his countenance gives us confidence, gives us hope, gives us the promise that we will see God's goodness even here on earth.  In his presence, as the song says, heaven and earth become one..
 

John 12: Judge Not

“As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 
There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. - John 12:47-48 NIV

Our society has become so judgmental.  If you don't think so, listen to the names we call each other, the accusations we lob against each other using any form of communication.  What is that but being judgmental?  Jesus didn't judge, that was not the purpose for his coming to earth.  He could have called the politicians of his day evil, unjust, greedy, unrighteous, any of a multitude of adjectives that could have been used to describe the leaders of that day, but he did not.  Judge not, he said instead, lest you be judged.  Forgive those who trespass against you.  Love your enemies.  His message never changed.  Someday, the whole world would be judged.  Not on their actions, but on whether or not they accepted Jesus and his teachings.  That means we have to accept his teaching that we cannot judge.  If we accept his teachings, we cannot be the judge.  We must leave that to him.  We must leave off the name calling and righteous indignation of the Pharisees.  If we must take a moral inventory, it should be of only ourselves.  Instead of judging, we should do as Jesus did;  we should set about bringing the lost to him.  Imagine how effective the church would be if we spent our time spreading the good news instead of wrath.

Psalm 25-26: Nothing But the Blood

Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.-Psalms 25:7 NIV

Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. -Psalm 26:1 NIV

Most of us, like David,  are conflicted in our opinions about ourselves.  One minute we think we are blameless, the next we are bowed down by the weight of our sins.  One minute we are on top of the world, our heads in the clouds, the next minute we see the world as a threatening place.

Where is God in all of this?  He is where he has always been, seated on His throne, far above, far, far above our puny considerations of our own self worth.  When it is all said and done, we are neither the grossest sinners or the most blameless saints.  We are nothing short of redeemed. 

In truth, both of our conflicts are not without merit.  We were rebellious in our sins and we are blameless.  Our sins have been blotted out, we are spotless in His sight.  Not because of our own doing.  There is no great work that we can perform to cover the depravity of our past.  Nothing short of the blood of Jesus can cover our sins.  Nothing but the blood.

John 11: For His Glory

 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.-John 11:5 NIV

Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he did not immediately answer the call to heal him.  Did that make Mary or Martha think that Jesus no longer loved them?  Is that sometimes what we think when we don't get an immediate answer to our prayers?  Do we think that God no longer loves us.  If he loved us he would answer us in the way we want our answers?  Jesus' response is the same today as it was in Lazarus' time.

Then Jesus said,  "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?"  So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me." - John 11:40-42 NIV

With our limited view, we are inclined to believe that it is all about us, that our needs are paramount.  But, God says it is more important that people believe, that people believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and that he was sent by the Father.  God's responses to our requests are always centered on his overall plan that his creation would be reconciled to Him.  Whenever God delays or fails to answer, you can rest assured that it is all for His glory. 

John 6: Real Food and Drink

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.” -John 6:53-58 NIV

We see with such earthly eyes, with such limited vision.  Even the disciples that surrounded Jesus had limited insight into the true power of God and his son, Jesus Christ.  They witnessed the miracles and as a result, followed him, but they didn't follow him because of who he was.  Instead, the crowds followed for the food and drink, missing out on the truth.

 'My flesh is real food', Jesus said.  How can this be unless we are missing an aspect of reality, of life as it truly is.  In the other realm, the realm where God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit reside there is a different reality.  In that sphere, the one who feeds on Jesus will never die.  We will never thirst, we will never be hungry.  Anything else we might cling to has a limited shelf life.  It will rust, it will rot.  Any other food will decay, any other means of healing will lose its potency, will expire.  But the one who gives life will never die, will never reach the end of his limits.  He who is, is.  Jesus lives in the living Father, and we live in him.  That is the real food and drink.

Psalms 23: The Valley of the Shadow of Death

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. - Psalms 23:4

There are so many ways to walk through the "Valley of the shadow of death" .  Sometimes it happens when we're going through a prolonged and possibly fatal illness.  It may be as we sit by the bedside of a loved one who is taking their last breath.  It may even be when events recall past hurts and we experience the sorrow anew as if it were for the first time.  At all of these times, we have God with us and his rod and staff to comfort us. 

Shepherds use the staff for guiding the animals or for drawing the sheep to the shepherd with the crook of the staff.. The rod which is made out of a heavier, sturdier piece of wood is useful for training the animal and for defending the animals from any predators. 

Even in our darkest valleys, we have God's guidance.  We have his rod drawing us to him and his staff correcting us and defending us.  If we can learn to truly trust God as David did and look to him when we walk through any dark period, we will fear no evil. 

Psalms 10: Where is the Hope?

In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
    who are caught in the schemes he devises.
He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
    he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
    in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
His ways are always prosperous;
    your laws are rejected by him;
    he sneers at all his enemies.
He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”    He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.” - Psalms 10: 2-6 NIV

As Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun."  Politics have not changed since there was first a gathering of people that in someone's mind needed governing.  Politics has always attracted those who are more concerned about their own well-being, their own reputation, than what happens to those who are less so well endowed or funded.  Politics attracts a bunch of idiots as well, who think they know everything when in truth they know nothing.  Even those who enter the political realm hoping to help their fellow man become stuck in the morass of the political system and end up being deceived themselves.  Where is the hope?

The only hope comes from on high.
 

The Lord is King for ever and ever
   the nations will perish from his land
You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted
   you encourage them, and you listen to their cry
 defending the fatherless and the oppressed
   so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror. - Psalms 10:  16-18 NIV

Psalm 9: He Sees All

The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.
He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. - Psalms 9:7-9 NIV

The airwaves and the Ethernet are filled with the same questions:  Is anyone really in charge?  Does anyone know what is going on? 

The answer is yes, but it is not a bunch of politicians.  It is not a bunch of world leaders.  It is not the media, and the answer is certainly not to be found in any tweets, e-mails, or Facebook posts. 

Someone is in charge, someone with more power than the head of the Federal Reserve or the world bank.  Someone with more power than Congress, the Supreme Court, the President and the UN combined.  Someone with unlimited power.  Someone who can always be trusted to work for the good of those that love him. as stated in Roman 8:28:  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Even now, in these turbulent times, there is nothing that escapes his notice.  He still notes when a sparrow falls,   He sees the sick.  He sees the tired.  He sees the dying.  He sees those who are in fear that they may not be able to afford insurance supplied by the Affordable Care Act.  He sees arrogance and stupidity and injustice.  He looks around and sees all we see and more.  He sees the solution to all of the worlds problems.  He sees the end of time in itself.  He sees all.

John 4: God is a Spirit

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” -John 4:23 NIV

What does it mean to worship in truth?    Webster defines truth as the following:

1 a archaic :  fidelity, constancy

   b :  sincerity in action, character, and utterance

2 a (1) :  the state of being the case :  fact 

      (2) :  the body of real things, events, and facts :  actuality

      (3) often capitalized :  a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality

   b :  a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true <truths of thermodynamics>

 

So there you have it.  The archaic meaning is fidelity or constancy.  That is no longer considered relevant even though it is what God wants from us, even what he demands.  It is his desire that we remain true to him; that we remain constant.  That is how he wants us to worship him, with hearts that continually put him foremost.

 

He's not concerned with the meter or the notes.  He's not concerned with the fidelity of the instruments or voices.  He's looking for the fidelity of our hearts.  He's looking for, as Webster puts it, sincerity in action, character and utterance.  I need to remember this, when I'm concentrating on the right note or the right harmony rather than the truthfulness of the words I am singing.

Job 42: The Desire of God's Heart

Then Job replied to the LORD:
“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Epilogue
After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. - Job 42:1-7 NIV

What was the difference between Job and his three friends?  (Notice that God does not name Elihu in the group with which he was angry)  Job is disappointed with God and his friends do not appear to be so.  What is the difference?

Unlike his friends, Job had a relationship with God and, rightly or wrongly, felt that God owed him an answer.  Job's friends had a head knowledge of God, but no heart knowledge.  They could describe God in a fearful way: 
Dominion and fear are with him (Job 25:2 KJV).  They knew that God punished evil:  the triumphing of the wicked is short (Job 20:5 KJV).   They could describe Job's shortcomings:
Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? (Job 22:5 KJV).  In all of their discourse with Job, there is no indication that they really knew God.  They knew about him, but that was a deep as the relationship went.  Job didn't just want to hear God, he wanted to see him as well.  That was the cry of his heart.  For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another (Job 19:25-27 KJV)
I fear sometimes, that many of the Christians today are more like Job's friends than Job.  They can spout all the right religious phrases. They call sin a sin and single out the sinners for their contempt when they should be searching for God and his truth instead. Don't get me wrong. Sin is sin, but God so loved the sinner that he provided a means for their sins to be blotted out. God has always been looking for friends, for companions, for those he can have a relationship with, for those who truly want to know and see him.  That is the reason why we were created.  That is the desire of God's heart.  

John 3: No condemnation

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. - John 3:16-19 KJV

Sometimes I think that we are ineffective at drawing people to Christ because of our condemning attitude.  We spend our time attacking those that we perceive to have sinned when that is God's job.  It is not, and has never been, our duty to judge.  'Judge not', Jesus said, 'lest  you be judged.' Yet we persist.  We take  inordinate pleasure in pointing out the sins of others.  With the anonymity of the internet, we call complete strangers vile, hateful, names on behalf of the Lord.  But, if we think we are being 'Godlike" we are sorely mistaken.  If God did not send Jesus to condemn the world, what right do we have to judge?  Our heaping coals of fire on the sinner does not change their lot one bit.  It only points out the condition of hatred in our own hearts; hearts that bear the darkness that Jesus said we would love more than we love the light.  John 3:16 is an effective way of spreading the gospel only if we have no condemnation in our hearts.

Job 36: Trivial Pursuits

“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. - Job 36:16 NIV

Is this our vision of God?  Do we see him with eyes of love for us, as one lovesick for our company, for our attention, for our affection?   Can we see him begging us to draw near so he can lift us up out of the pit of despair?  Do we see him as Hosea prophesied:

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. 
There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 
“In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master. ’ 
I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. 
In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. 
I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. - Hosea 2:14-19 NIV

Can we see how much he loves us, how he wants to be wed to us forever?  Can we see the banquet table he has set before us? Can we see that in the midst of all this earthly chaos, there is something marvelous awaiting God's chosen?  If so, what should our response be?  We are so loved, loved by the creator of the universe, and yet we spend most of our time chasing after earthly rewards.  Our pursuits are all trivial when compared to what God has for us.   

John 1: The True Light

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— John 1:4-10 NIV

Anyone who professes to be a Christian should memorize these words for they are the entirety of the gospel, from creation to the present time.  Jesus is God.  He was with God at the beginning of time. Man had such difficulty believing and keeping true to God, that he came in person to show himself to his creation.  Even when God appeared in the flesh, creation did not accept him and does not to this day. 

Some of us, though, have received him, some of us have become the children of God.  Imagine that, we are the children of God.  Even if the world does not receive the gospel, even if the world does not receive us, it does not change the truth.  There was a beginning and one day there will be an end.  Those who have accepted this message are now witnesses to the light, the true light, the provision of light for everyone who has ever been born.

Luke 24: Why Look for the Living Among the Dead?

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!  Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”Then they remembered his words.
 - Luke 24:5 NIV

I think we're all as guilty as the women at the empty tomb.  We're crushed because we don't see God at work.  It wouldn't be so bad if we went in search of where God is alive and working when we encounter those dead spots, but usually, instead of looking for the living water, we wander off in search of life in the worlds terms; a place where we are not likely to find any life at all.  At first glance, it may look like there is life.  There is certainly activity, but is that activity life giving.  Does it produce anything that makes us truly feel alive?

Jesus promised to give us life and life more abundantly.  He promised to give us peace.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  - John 14:27 NIV

Jesus put himself in the line of fire, in the hands of sinful men, so that we would not have to put ourselves in the same position.  We only need trust him.  He is the one with the answers.  He is the life giving force. 

Job 18-28: I Know

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;
 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! - Job 19:25-27 NIV

What do we do when our prayers are unanswered?  What do we do when misfortune assails us doe to no fault of our own?  That is the dilemma that Job was facing.  He wanted answers.  He wanted to know why God was doing this to him.  Why was he being punished?  Unlike most of us, Job knew that he had lived a blameless life.  While his friends asserted that he must have done something wrong Job maintained his innocence.  'Why', he keeps asking, 'is God doing this to me?'

In spite of all his questions, Job knows one thing.  That God is sovereign and that one day, he will be able to see Him, the creator of the universe, the great I am.  He will stand before Him and he will know the answers.  So for the time being, Job will continue being faithful even though he lives in misery.  He doesn't know the answers to his questions, but he knows the one who has the answers.

And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’” - Job 28:28 NIV

Luke 23: What Will Happen When It Is Dry?

 For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” - Luke 23:31 NIV

Jesus asked this question as he was being led to his crucifixion.  The people had witnessed his miracles, healings, casting out demons and even raising the dead.  They were part of the birth of his ministry, but what was once new had become old and familiar.  Even Herod, who had heard of Jesus' work and at one time wanted to meet him, was no longer impressed.  Here was a man who would not even answer his questions.  How important could he be in the overall scheme of things.  Jesus is shuffled back to Pilate, who decides to give the people what they want.  'Give us Barabbas', they cry, 'that old rabble rouser.  Give us someone who will create a little excitement around here, not that tired worn out itinerant preacher who doesn't even have the words to defend himself.' 

These words of Jesus were in response to the wailing of a few women who followed him to the cross.
Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.  For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 
Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”  - Luke 23:28-31 NIV

Contrary to what the majority of the population felt, Jesus was still very much alive.  His ministry of three years was only the beginning, this was just the birth of the gospel.  There were centuries ahead where the message would go forth until it was proclaimed to the entire world.  Perhaps Jesus was referring to this time when he asked the question.  Is this the dry time in God's history?  Should we be surprised at what we see happening around us?  What will happen when it is dry?