What do you find in every one of the four chapters of Jonah?
Not a great fish – but prayers.
And, chapter 2 is just about all a prayer from the prophet Jonah to his great big God – while he waits, inside the belly of a fish sent by God.
What might you pray if you ever were to find yourself in such a predicament, or an equally stuck and potentially stinky one? What predicaments have you found yourself in that shared some characteristics, even though there were several differences, too? What did you pray for in those instances? I am guessing my prayer would include a whole lot of “Get me outta here, God!” If there is one type of prayer that most of us seem to have mastered, perhaps it is the prayer for deliverance. Lord, deliver us from sickness, from unemployment, from stress and anxiety, from dysfunctional families, from bad grades, from disgrace, and yes, from evil, and the list goes on. Turns out there are a lot of places we do not want to be – including inside the belly of a great fish.
But I find the prophet who was trying to run away from God in chapter 1 has a lot to teach me about prayer in Jonah chapter 2.
I am guessing that given 3 whole days and nights Jonah had the perfect opportunity to say a lot of things to God. He might have very well included some prayers for deliverance. But, that is not what is recorded in the 8 verse prayer of Jonah 2. Jonah sees and recognizes and gives God thanks for taking care of him, thus far. He sees the belly of the great fish not as a trap but as one more step of God’s merciful path toward salvation. And he thanks God. It could have been so much worse. He would have been at the bottom of the ocean, lifeless. But God has sent salvation. (Maybe that was the name of the fish?) He delivered from the deep. He provided a spiritual time-out for Jonah. He helped Jonah put his life and his death into perspective to see again God’s greatness and the privilege we have to follow Him, to fulfill our vows to Him, even into the scary land of the Ninevites (but more on that tomorrow.)
-Marcia Railton
Reflection Questions
What conversations could you have with God for three days and three nights if you removed all distractions around you except those that could be found inside the deep dark belly of a great fish? How could you create and take advantage of a spiritual time-out to meet with God for an extended time?
In the midst of your big fish, or when you felt you were sinking, what have you/can you thank God for?
When did you need a reminder that “Salvation is from the Lord.” How did Jonah know that to be true? How do you?
(You will notice we are not done with 2 Kings yet, but we are taking a pause to add in the book of Jonah at this point. Through the rest of 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles we will be inserting the 17 books of prophecy and the rest of the books of history – Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther – in a chronological fashion. However, when we start a book of prophecy we will read the whole book even though the events might span a good chunk of history throughout Kings/Chronicles. Thank you to Robert Jones of Atlanta Bible College for his help in ordering these books amongst the Kings and Chronicles.)
The story of Jonah is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. However, the book of Jonah is one of the least read books in the Bible! Let this devotion serve as a challenge to read this book with fresh eyes this week.
Jonah is perhaps the most unique prophet in the Bible. Isaiah, Daniel, Elijah, and so many others serve as intensely righteous men who carry about the Lord’s message with great zeal. Habakkuk shows shocking honesty and transparency in his prayer life. Amos shows us that the most humble people– yes, even the shepherds– are called into ministry of some kind. But what about Jonah?
Jonah shows that rebellious streak that runs within all of us at some time or another. God has called him to preach to the city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and Jonah does not listen. It’s understandable; Nineveh is nearly 700 miles away from Jerusalem. That would take well over a month to travel there in his time! But wait– Jonah doesn’t just say no to God. He actually runs away in the opposite direction!
So Jonah runs away and God lets him know that there’s no running from God. In fact, throughout Jonah’s refusal to minister to the Assyrians, it still brings glory to God. The sailors he’s traveling with tremble with fear when they discover who Jonah’s God is. Notice that, in 1:11, the sailors want to please Jonah’s God, and instead of saying, “Let’s turn this ship around and head to Nineveh,” he says, “Just throw me overboard.”
But God wasn’t done with Jonah. Jonah’s saved. But more importantly, Jonah experiences a spiritual reckoning: (Sneak peak into tomorrow’s reading of Chapter 2…) Jonah has a moment of complete clarity and offers up a remorseful, prayerful praise to God. He recognizes that God is the one in control (2:3). And he recognizes that salvation comes only from the LORD.
So here are a few questions for us to consider in all this:
Do we listen for God’s voice like Jonah does?
Do we reject God’s call like Jonah did? Probably more than we realize.
Do we expect God to call us to the “Nineveh” of our lives?
Do we learn from our mistakes like Jonah did, and pray about it?
Will Jonah learn from these events, and change his ways? We’ll have to find out this week.
-Levi Salyers
(originally posted for SeekGrowLove December 15, 2021)
Have you ever had the opportunity to go see, and possibly meet, a celebrity (actor, musician, athlete) in person? Ten years ago, the New York Giants and the New England Patriots were in Arizona to play in Super Bowl XLII. You may be thinking that I tried to get to see either Eli Manning (the Giants quarterback) or Tom Brady (the Patriots quarterback). But my interest wasn’t in either of them. No, I knew that Eli’s brother, Peyton, would be in town to attend some parties before the game. I had a friend of a friend of a friend who had tickets to one of those parties and I daydreamed hard about getting to meet the future NFL Hall of Famer.
A few years before that I was in Monaco and my tour guide had heard that George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damen were supposed to be filming a scene in the movie Ocean’s 12 at the famous Monte Carlo Casino. The group of students that I was traveling with and I stood with a crowd of people for almost an hour hoping to get a glimpse of the three actors. Well that never happened. But we did get to witness two extras walk down the steps of the casino and that scene is in the movie, so it wasn’t a complete waste of our time. Kinda.
When I read Mark chapter 5 I imagine that the crowds that followed Jesus around were a bit like the superfans of a celebrity. Wherever He went, masses of people would go and seek Him out. Not because He was rich and famous, but because they had heard He could perform some pretty crazy healing miracles. In this chapter we read about three people who were not just highly interested in meeting Jesus, they were desperate to meet Jesus. And so they did what they had to do, to get near Him. The demon-possessed man saw Jesus at a distance and ran and fell on his knees at Jesus’ feet (verse 6). The father of a dying young girl worked his way through the crowd and fell at Jesus’ feet (verse 22). The sick woman reached through the swarm of people to touch his cloak and then fell at His feet (verses 28, 33).
Desperation brings you to a place of complete abandonment of pride and social decorum and a complete surrender to experience an ounce of relief. Imagine being so in need of healing that you fight your way through a crowd of strangers to fall onto your knees at the feet of Jesus. The wonderful thing is that Jesus had compassion on each and every one of those people and He will have compassion on you too.
But Jesus doesn’t want you to humble yourself just when you’re desperate for healing. He wants you to be desperate to spend time with Him every day, even when things are going well for you. His desire is for us to sit at His feet and enjoy His presence no matter what is going on in our lives. Remember Mary, Martha’s sister, who sat at her Lord’s feet and she was praised for doing what was right (Luke 10:38-42)? Mary had the right idea. It’s during these times that we learn how to follow Him and to love Him. It’s during these times that we understand what it means to love others and become a fisher of men.
Psalm 16:11 says, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” When we find ourselves at the feet of Jesus, life, in all of its complexities, will begin to make a little bit of sense because we no longer view things at face value, but we get glimpses of how our life experiences fit into God’s eternal plan. Yes, we will still know sorrow and grief, but we will also have an eternal hope, a peace that surpasses understanding, and overflowing joy.
So let’s take a few minutes to fall on our knees at the feet of our Savior and Lord.
-Bethany Ligon
(originally posted for SeekGrowLove Sept 15, 2017)
Reflection Questions
What is the benefit of coming to the feet of Jesus when you are worried and upset and in need? What is the benefit of coming to Jesus when you just want to be closer to him and learn from him?
What have you received at the feet of Jesus?
What worries and distractions have you allowed to keep you from the One Thing you need? What is that One Thing?
As Marcia mentioned in yesterday’s devotion, many of us were at Midwest Family Camp last week, where the theme was “Stand Firm”. In a nutshell, if we don’t have a relationship with the Lord, it is critical that we repent and come into a relationship with Him. If we already have a relationship with the Lord, we need to strengthen that relationship, and stand firm in the faith – no matter what.
In today’s reading in Proverbs 28, there are a few verses that jumped out at me which reinforced that message. The first is found in Proverbs 28: 9, “If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.” This proverb tells us that if we’re not doing everything to live the life God called us to live, if we’re not following His rules, then He won’t listen to our prayers. Since many of our prayers are about asking for God’s help with various things, if we selfishly want Him to answer our prayers, then we need to obey His rules, and live for Him. As we grow in relationship with Him, we come to long for an even deeper relationship with the Lord. Then we learn that prayer is powerful, and we don’t waste it just asking for superfluous things.
Proverbs 28:13 goes on to say, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” This is saying if we pretend to be Christians, we won’t prosper (you can’t fool God). But if we confess and renounce our sins, and turn completely to God, we will receive God’s mercy. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather have His mercy than to have Him holding me back from prospering.
As we continue to read through this chapter, we get to verse 20, which says, “A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.” I’ll take a detour here and comment on the health and wealth teachings we often hear from people who don’t know better. The theory goes sort of like this… “if someone follows God, God will bless every aspect of their life. They will be rich, healthy, and blessed.” Many people who call themselves Christians subscribe to this false belief. Jesus told us in John 16:33, “…In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” We have to remember this life isn’t our reward. This life is the test to see what reward we will receive when Jesus returns. If we are faithful to the Lord now, we will enjoy peace with God now, and eternal life when Jesus returns. If we are just trying to get rich, we are actually worshiping money, not God — our reward is in this life, and we will forfeit eternal life.
1 Tim 6:9-11 says, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and have pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.”
Instead of trying to get rich, we need to follow the advice given in Proverbs 28:27, “He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.” Again, I think the idea is that if I’m greedy, wanting to keep all my money for myself, I’m not trying to please God, I’m just greedy for money, and God will curse me for not following Him. But if I’m generous with the things God has given me by giving them to the poor — this mimics God’s generosity to me. When I am imitating God, God loves that. In fact we’re commanded in Ephesians 5:1, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.”
So the bottom line is this. We need to do everything we can to reconcile ourselves to God. We need to confess and renounce our sins, obey His laws, be faithful, and be generous. All these things are required to live in close relationship with God. And if we live in a close relationship with God, we will have peace with God in this life, and an amazing reward in the life to come. In Rev 21:4, we’re told, “He [God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…” Rev 21:7 goes on to say, “He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”
How well are you imitating Dad?
Stand Firm.
–Steve Mattison
(Originally posted June 28, 2021 – but we did just return from another week of Family Camp, where the theme was “Pray Continually”. You can watch Steve’s Thursday Night sermon and story on Yield to God’s Will here.)
Reflection Questions
What are the prayer lessons to be remembered from Proverbs 28?
How well are you following God’s instruction?
When was the last time you confessed your sins to Him?
What relationship do you have with money? Is it stronger than it ought to be? How would you rate your generosity? Why do you think God values our generosity?
The Proverbs are, in many cases, fairly self explanatory. Don’t be lazy, don’t be a wicked ruler, don’t be foolish but be wise, be a righteous ruler, be diligent in your work. Each Proverb has it’s own meaning but they go along those lines. But some are not so self explanatory. They are counterintuitive.
A short example is found in 28:27. If you want to be prosperous and blessed, to never be in want, then we give our money to the poor. The world, our own sinful heads, and many economists believe that the way to grow our wealth and not be in want is to hoard our money. But that’s not the way God works. It is only in generosity and giving that we will be blessed. This comes from the fact that God will bless and many times he blesses us through the care of others in our time of struggle and hardship.
Also, 27:5-6 doesn’t seem to be true in the moment. I don’t like to be rebuked. I don’t like it when a friend calls me out on the garbage way I am acting. But the Proverb teaches us that we should delight when a friend rebukes us because their correction comes from a place of love and they want our life to be one of wisdom and righteousness. This is especially true for our brothers and sisters in our local church. Many times, we may feel judged by the people of our church, but more often than not, they are wanting the BEST for us. The “wounds” they give are better than any kisses of those who tell us we have nothing wrong with us. There could be people who act like a friend and hurt you in terrible ways, but here we mean TRUE friendship, TRUE companionship, TRUE love from a brother or sister in Christ. That true love is shown in forgiveness and compassion, especially in our moments of weakness and humility. Many times, when we are sinning and are fearing the rebuke of those people, we hide our sin away, like 28:13 says. But counterintuitively, by hiding our sins, we only hurt ourselves more when they are brought to light in some other way. We need to confess our sins and turn away from them. When we do, compassion and forgiveness are waiting for us from the people of God and from God himself.
Jake Ballard
(originally posted for SeekGrowLove June 17, 2020)
Reflection Questions
What other proverbs have you run across that seem counterintuitive and the opposite of how the world thinks or operates? How is God’s wisdom better than the world’s?
Can you think of a time a true friend gave you correction or a rebuke? Can you think of a time you, as a true friend, gave correction or rebuke? What is the value of correcting a friend? What problems can develop if we don’t correct in love, or if we don’t accept the correction given in true love?
Our God is a God of restoration. There will ultimately be a full restoration, but full restoration can only happen when the world is once again the beautiful, perfect place God created it to be, when His Kingdom is established on earth. Partial restoration, however, has been happening ever since the beginning of time. We read about restoration countless times in the Bible, and if you look, you can see it in our lives today, too. God constantly restores what has been lost to His people, whether it be a physical ability, such as sight, or movement, or a spiritual restoration, such as that of faith, or even the restoration of life.
Today, we read in 2 Kings chapter 8 about a Shunammite woman who lost everything she had during a 7 year famine, but because of her faith in God and willingness to obey, it was restored to her. Now this woman was not new to witnessing God’s ability to restore what was lost. In chapter 4 of 2 Kings, we read about how Elisha rewarded the Shunammite woman’s kindness with fertility, and she bore a son. Sadly, the son later died, but she had faith in God’s power, so she sought out Elisha. Elisha came, and the son was brought back to life; he was restored.
It is clear that this woman had remarkable faith. Perhaps this is why Elisha warned her about the famine that would come on the land for 7 long years, and advised her to leave. So without question, she and her household left their home and stayed in the land of the Philistines for 7 years, until the famine was over. When they returned, she had to appeal to the king to get back her home and all her land. The crazy thing is, right as she was coming to appeal to the king, Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, (who in chapter 5 was cursed with leprosy, and left Elisha… so perhaps these chapters are not necessarily in chronological order) was telling him the unbelievable story of the miracle Elisha performed in the resurrection of the son of the Shunammite woman. The woman, who just happened to show up during this particular story time, also gave an account of what happened, and the King was so impressed that he instantly granted her the land and all that she left 7 years ago.
This story speaks volumes of God’s perfect timing, and adds to the common theme we see throughout the Bible of God’s willingness to restore what has been lost to those who are faithful. Look closely at the different ways in which God restores things in your life, and let it remind you to live everyday for the ultimate restoration that’s coming.
-Isabella Osborn
(originally posted for SeekGrowLove on June 8, 2021)
Reflection Questions
In 2 Kings 8 what does God do for restoration to take place? What did the Shunammite woman do? What did others do?
Where have you seen restoration? Did faith play a part in the restoration you witnessed? What did God do? What did the recipient of the restoration do? What did others do?
How can you be a part of God’s great restoration project? What restoration can you be praying for? What restoration can you be working towards, with faith in God, that He will act in amazing, restorative ways?
Reading today’s passage in Luke 8, I was surprised at how many incredible stories of Jesus are packed into just one chapter. It really shows the power that Jesus holds. He preaches messages to large crowds, he calms the storm, and heals a sick woman just from being touched. There are even multiple accounts of people being cured of evil spirits. Additionally, we even get to hear the miraculous resurrection of Jairus’ daughter. Jesus’ power is stronger than the ties of death. A common theme among these stories is the presence of faith or the lack thereof. Jesus asks his disciples, “Where is your faith” when they were scared and stuck in a storm. Some would point to Jesus’ ability to give commands to the winds and the waves and his power over death as evidence that Jesus is greater than who he says he is. But when we look at other accounts in the Bible of God using men to do his work and will, we can easily see that God is powerful enough to work through humans. Our reading today in 2 Kings 5 tells the story of Elisha performing a miracle through the power of God and healing a man of leprosy. There are many other examples of great miracles that could only be through the hand of God, such as in 1 Kings 17 when Elijah raised the widow’s son.
God is omnipotent and His power is not diminished when He works through humans. This same idea also extends to the fact that Jesus’ death on the cross covers the atonement for the sins of the entire world. How can this be since Jesus is a man? Through the power of God. This was part of God’s plan of salvation. Since sin and death came through a man (Adam), life and righteousness also come from a man (Jesus). Jesus could not have done it on his own accord- but through the power of God his sacrifice was sufficient. Therefore, it has nothing to do with Jesus’ qualifications and everything to do with the qualifications of God. This is great news for us because it means that God can use us in unimaginable ways because our God is greater and more powerful than we would be able to accomplish on our own and is waiting to use us when we offer ourselves to him.
Throughout the Gospels we can see the faithfulness Jesus shows to God. This is an important step to being used by God. Luke chapter 8 shows the importance of having faith. Jairus’ daughter was raised WHEN Jairus had the faith that Jesus could do it, the woman who was sick was healed WHEN she had the faith that touching Jesus would be enough. We can even see that the demons had faith in Jesus that he could command them to leave the man. The demons even acknowledge who Jesus is and recognizes that Jesus gets his power from the Most High.
Not only do we need to have our faith in God but we also need to be close to him and have a relationship with God. The parable of the sower likewise teaches us how a firm foundation in God keeps us rooted in God and His ways. We can believe in God for a time but if we are not continually seeking Him then we will not be listening for God when He tries to use us to accomplish His work.
-Makayla Railton
Questions:
Have you been building your firm foundation on God so that you can withstand life’s temptations and troubles and still be rooted in God?
Do you feel like you are waiting for God to qualify you before He can use you? Whose power are you relying on?
You are a powerful man in ancient Israel. You hear about a miracle worker and rabbi. This guy, in just the last couple days reportedly saved a slave of some centurion without even being near him. More than that, he brought the dead back to life! Could such a thing be? Nothing like it has happened in your lifetime. This man reminds you of Moses, Elijah, and the prophets that you have grown up hearing about and spent your life studying. You know that such a man must be holy, must be from God. You invite this man to eat with you, so you can see for yourself how this holy, miraculous man interacts with people.
So you see him. And he’s shorter than you expected. Actually, he’s quite unremarkable in appearance. He is not wealthy, he does not come from money or make much when out teaching. He is lean from walking and fasting. He has an entourage of men with thick accents, no training, and a certain lack of decorum. They look and act like fishermen. To your surprise, you learn they ARE fishermen. One is even a tax collector. It’s only natural to begin to doubt. But when he opens his mouth to teach, it intrigues you. The passion with which he speaks. The intensity in his eyes. The compassion in his touch, to all people, draws you in, and you invite him over for dinner. Doubts gnaw at your mind, but surely in a personal setting those will fall away.
However, at dinner, things get really out of hand. As per usual, you have your home open to use by the people of the city, because God has blessed you for your devote life and upright character. Everyone, all thirteen (and more) of this teacher’s usual crew start to relax, kick back their feet, and eat. But, in the middle of dinner, she comes in. The years of hard life, of acting in such impolite, anti-social, uncouth, wicked and sinful ways, of trying and failing to do better, showed in every movement in the presence of this teacher. But instead of running like she should have, she bends down, weeping, and cries on his feet, wipes his feet clean with her tears. She takes his barely washed feet and anoints them with the sweetest perfume, the smell wafting over you all. She is making a scene, at YOUR dinner. And you know what kind of person she is. She doesn’t deserve this attention, she only wants to ruin your hospitality, because that’s the kind of person she is.
No, no this man must be a phony. How could a man who raises the dead not know what this woman does every day? How could such a “holy man” allow so much uncleanness to caress his feet? Why let someone like her defile someone like him?
Then he says your name and breaks you out of your reverie. He calls your name. He tells you about two debtors, both forgiven – one much and one little. He asks “Who will love the forgiver more?”
“The one who was forgiven much,” you answer wisely.
He turns to the woman and takes her worried, nervous, anxious trembling hands in his own. He turns his soft but piercing eyes to her own, red from weeping. He says to you, “Do you see this woman?” He lets the words hang in silence for a moment. She rubs her nose. For the first time you notice that some of her hair is starting to turn gray. You notice that she is not old, but the lines come from stress. You notice that she must have washed to come, as she looks cleaner than you have seen her in a long time… You see yourself seeing this woman, who you see everyday, in a new way. She is a whole person. She is more than the sum of her mistakes. She is loving this teacher. She is showing him honors “She has done for me what you have not,” he says. “She has much to be forgiven for, and so she loves, knowing now that she is forgiven. In your own eyes, your sins are so much smaller, and so your love is so much less.”
The rest of the table murmurs about the teacher forgiving sins, but as they talk he says to the woman “Your faith has saved you, go in peace.” She smiles at him with gratitude and joy…
Do you see this woman?
Or do you see the sins? The immorality? The wickedness? The hardness of life? The addictions? The abuse?
Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, and more importantly, causes the spiritually blind to see the world. May this imaging open your eyes. This man who raised up the dead, more importantly, raised up the living to new life. May this story cause you to raise the living to new life.
And may this question reverberate in your head all day :
Do you see this woman?
(Optional note for those confused about the devotion : spiritual imagining, putting ourselves in the story, is an ancient spiritual tradition. One great example that is often used is in Luke 15, the parable of the “Lost/Prodigal Son”, or better “The Lost Sons” or best “The Searching/Prodigal Father”. You may see yourself as the son who runs off, the servants rejoicing, the son who is angry for forgiveness, or the father looking for his boys. It says much about ourselves and our relationship with God and others to see who we identify with, and to put ourselves in strange places in the story. Today we looked through Simon’s eyes in Luke 7, not because it is the best, but because of course he would doubt Jesus. Of course he would question him. Of course he would be offended at the woman. And of course, all of that is undue, because Jesus overcomes our doubts through miracles, our questions through answers and better questions, and our offense by unending grace. May this story take a new meaning to you as you ask yourself: Do you see this woman?)
-Jacob Ballard
(originally posted for SeekGrowLove March 16, 2021)
Reflection Questions
Would you more often see yourself as the sinful woman or as Simon the Pharisee?
What do each of these 2 characters need?
Jesus initiates the discussion with Simon after Simon had just “said to himself”. What recent thoughts of yours might Jesus question if he were in your house today? What do you think he would ask/say/explain to counter your thoughts?
In Luke 7:1-10 we find the story of the centurion’s servant. The centurion was a conqueror and a foreigner, but despite this we find that he is a God fearing man who supports the Jews by building a synagogue for them. He has a servant who is dying so he sends messengers to Jesus to have Jesus heal the servant. He shows great humility and faith in Jesus through his actions and the servant is healed because of his great faith. Faith unequalled in all of Israel according to Jesus.
I think there are a couple of important lessons in this.
First, maybe you are like the centurion, maybe you didn’t grow up in the church and are a new believer, and maybe you are looking at Christianity from the outside and wondering if you can even be a part of this community. Of course you can! Salvation and God’s work in the world is based on faith, not upbringing or culture or works. So don’t worry about your past, because God can work powerfully in your life no matter what is in your past!
Second, maybe you are like the Israelites in this story, you grew up in church or have been a Christian for a while and are maturing in your walk with God. I think for you this story has an encouragement and a warning. I encourage you to be like the Jewish people that the centurion sent to Jesus that were able to see past the fact that the centurion was a foreigner and conqueror and see the faith he had and to then recommend that Jesus help him. We should always be ready to welcome new believers based on their faith, and not judging them the way the world might judge them.
I also warn you to not be complacent or lukewarm like much of the Jewish community was when Jesus was with them. Jesus said that this centurion had more faith than any other in Israel. Many in Israel missed out on being healed and having their sins forgiven in Israel because they were out of tune with God and were not able to see when he was moving. I encourage you to be disciplined in your prayer life and in reading the scriptures so that your relationship with God will not grow stale.
-Chris Mattison
(originally posted Dec 10, 2017)
Reflection Questions
What healings (physical and/or spiritual) have you witnessed?
What do you think Jesus found most amazing about the faith of the centurion?
Would Jesus find anything amazing about your faith? How can you work at growing your faith?
As I was reading through today’s chapter in Proverbs I felt pulled in several directions. There’s so much really good stuff in this one chapter and I had a hard time choosing which of the many wonderfully wise sayings I wanted to talk about.
Verse one was tempting: “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.” We could think about the wisdom in having connection to a community of wise and trusted others to help us navigate challenges and get their feedback on important decisions.
Verse eight was also tempting: “The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.” We could spend some time with that thinking about the effects of gossip and slanderous speech and how much time people invest in reading or sharing gossip about others. In fact, this chapter has a lot of little Proverbs that have to do with our speech. Those who want to live a flourishing life should pay careful attention to what comes out of their mouths.
I finally settled on verse twenty-two: ”He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” I cannot resist taking the opportunity to think with you about how important this is. Dr. Dustin Smith recently published an excellent book Wisdom Christology in the Gospel of John. In his book he spends time looking at the book of Proverbs and how it lauds “lady wisdom” as being a very important part of God’s creation. He shows how the book of Proverbs refers to this lady wisdom throughout and builds to a climax in the final chapter with a description of an exemplary wife as the embodiment of wisdom. (You should check the book out, It is available on Amazon in both print and Kindle).
Throughout Proverbs there is a close connection between wisdom and a “good wife”. King Solomon who wrote or assembled much of the material in Proverbs certainly had a somewhat complicated life in relation to women or wives. His own mother, Bathsheba, became his father David’s wife in a very ungodly way. His father committed adultery with her and then had her husband killed in battle to try to cover it up. Talk about family skeletons. Solomon himself took the trapping of being a king way too far and had a whole harem of wives and concubines. As wise as he eventually was, it was a challenge to live out the truth. Perhaps Solomon came to the wise insight of this problem as he reflected on the challenges and costs of having multiple wives and a stable of sexual partners. This might appear to be the perfect life (think Hugh Heffner, the founder of Playboy magazine, constantly surrounded by beautiful young women- isn’t that the fulfillment of every young man’s fantasies?
Yet, at some point in his life, Solomon finally comes to the wise realization that having a large number of sexual partners is in fact, not very satisfying, not very wise and in fact is not the path to a flourishing life. Solomon comes to realize that true joy, true flourishing comes in finding “a wife”, one, singular woman with whom to enter into a lifetime covenant. This was God’s design from the beginning of creation. God created Adam from the earth, but recognized that Adam would not flourish in isolation. He needed a companion, someone alongside him to share his life. So God created Eve and told them to work together to bring flourishing to the earth. This was God design for flourishing.
Solomon came to wisely recognize the truth that having a wife, not 700 wives and 300 girlfriends, is the truly good thing and is a true gift from God and a sign of God’s gracious favor. It is too bad that Solomon did not learn this lesson earlier, as the Bible says his multiple wives turned his heart away from God. But at least in his honest and reflective moment he could come to terms with his own mistakes and sins and see where the truth really is in God’s design. And that is true for all of us. Wisdom is not poured into our brains, it comes by experience and we make many mistakes on the way to wisdom.
As I write this devotion I am getting ready to go on a special trip with my wife. This year we are celebrating 40 years of marriage so we are going to a beautiful place far away to celebrate our life together. During that 40 years we have been blessed with eleven children and fifteen, soon to be sixteen grandchildren. Our marriage has not been perfect. I did plenty of really stupid stuff when I was younger. (And, to be honest, I still do stupid stuff sometimes.) My Karen has been by my side throughout. She loves me, she bore, nursed, fed and clothed and cared for my eleven children. She accompanied me to each place I did ministry, packing up everything and organizing massive relocation projects. She has helped me navigate challenges in my ministry, my spiritual growth, my ongoing education and my ongoing health challenges. I can honestly say that she has made me a better person. Apart from my decision to accept Jesus Christ as my savior and follow him, my decision to marry Karen is the wisest thing I have ever done. She is a daily reminder to me that Solomon’s wise words are 100% true, ”He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
When I was young, I didn’t understand the wisdom of these words. Even when I was newly married I failed to appreciate just how true these words are. I am speaking this from the perspective of a man married to a woman. A woman’s view of her husband may be different in some respects, but I would say that there is much you can apply in your life as well. The importance is taking the time to truly appreciate the value that your spouse brings to your life and if you are unmarried, consider how truly important the decision on who you will marry is, and when married, the importance of gratitude for the one God has provided for you. They are not perfect just as you are not perfect, but they are a gift from God and a part of a flourishing life so appreciate them, value them, cherish them.
~ Jeff Fletcher
QUESTIONS:
In modern culture, we often use the term life partner when talking about spouses. Why is it so important to ‘partner’ with someone who has the same values as you?
A spouse always influences you. What are traits of a spouse that would influence you to live a godly life?
If you are already married, how can you show love and appreciation for your spouse? How can you influence each other to live a godly life?
Seek Grow Love 