Tag: mercy

Surviving a Deadly Plague of Snakes

Numbers 21:9 NIV for SGL

Old Testament: Numbers 21 & 22

Poetry: Job 17

New Testament: Mark 3

In today’s reading, the Israelites needed a spiritual “blood transfusion.” Their sinful and rebellious attitude had shown itself in impatience, complaints about hardships, ingratitude for manna, and a lack of faith in God’s leader, Moses. This faithlessness resulted in a deadly plague of snakes that were killing the people.

The Israelites repented and asked Moses to intercede for them. God’s response required them to show their repentance by a simple act of faith. Moses made a bronze serpent and lifted it up on a pole. To be healed, people had to look at the serpent. If they didn’t believe God’s words, they wouldn’t look up and would therefore die. Only through faith could they be saved.

Homeopathic medicine is the practice of curing likes with likes. The patient receives diluted doses of substances that, at full strength, cause the same symptoms the patient already has. This type of medicine is used in many parts of the world, though it remains controversial among medical experts. In this instance, God prescribed a similar remedy for Israel, treating snake bites with a replica of a snake. Going a step further, God undid the effects of the plague through an image of the curse itself.

Today’s story begins with the people grumbling … again. It was the same old story: we’re dying, we’re starving, we don’t like the miraculous food, and we’re sorry we ever left Egypt. But this incident is unique; this time, the people repented.

In past events, Moses had asked God for mercy on behalf of the Israelites, but on this occasion, his prayers were prompted by a recognition of their sin that Israel hadn’t shown before. They realized on their own why the snakes were sent, and they confessed their sin. In that way, this was a spiritual breakthrough for Israel!

If God had followed the formula we’ve seen so far, we might expect Him to demand a sacrifice of some kind, like a lamb without defect. But the Lord told Moses to put a bronze snake, a picture of judgment, on a pole for all to see. He directed the people’s eyes, not to an image of purity, but to a symbol of wrath.

For healing to take place, the people had to close the loop of repentance. They sinned, confessed, and asked for mercy. The last step was to accept God’s remedy by faith and follow His instructions.

We often picture Christ as the perfect sacrifice, and that he is. But He also took upon Himself the shame of sin and the full penalty of wrath. In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus compared His upcoming crucifixion to the lifting up of the serpent in the desert. Let’s confess our sins, seek His mercy and turn our eyes to him, who not only gave his life but also received our punishment. Thank Him in word and in deed today.

Andy Cisneros

(Originally posted on March 3, 2020 for SeekGrowLove)

Reflection Questions

  1. What have you most recently complained about? Do you often complain? Is there a problem with complaining and grumbling? How do you think others view your complaining? How do you think God views it?
  2. What role does confession and repentance play in your relationship with God and others? How has God shown His mercy to you when you have repented? Is there anything you need to confess and repent of?
  3. After the Israelites confessed and repented what did they have to do next? What does God expect from us after confession and repentance?
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She Falls

Old Testament: Ezekiel 29 & 30

Poetry: Psalm 103

New Testament: Revelation 18

     Revelation 18 pictures the shock of those who supported and gained from the success of Babylon the great, and then see it destroyed. As others have said, true wealth is found only in Christ, so those who tried to gain from corrupting themselves with Babylon did so at the cost of their lives (Matthew 16:26). When the voice from heaven warns to come out of Babylon it isn’t just about leaving before the city falls if you happen to be there, but to avoid contamination with its practices lest we fall as well (compare 2 Corinthians 6:17).

     It is again difficult to decide whether some details in the chapter were meant literally. Does Babylon engage in sorcery, or does that express its evil influence on those caught up with it? Which of the trade goods listed are we to think Babylon truly receives – the list wasn’t going to include modern luxury items, but is it just trying to give the feel of wealth based on first century items? Is it in the slave trade, or does it wreck people’s characters? Some will ask if Babylon is a port city at all, or a system with a global reach. Is Babylon destroyed and burned in a single hour, or does it just suffer a rapid fall? (In Revelation 17:12 we were told that the ten kings shared their power with the Beast for one hour, so we may have a reason to see this time reference as metaphorical. Contrast for example the effort taken in the text to show that three and a half years / 42 months / 1260 days is a precise figure.) That last point would be simple to explain in our modern society, however, as a collapse after a single hour which leaves fire behind could refer to a nuclear attack.

     You might hear part of this chapter and think you were in the Old Testament (for example you could compare Ezekiel 27). There is that feel to it. You could imagine Jonah saying these things about Nineveh. It’s all from the same God. Sometimes God gets to show mercy, but when judgment is called for God does not hold back. In fact, after recounting the despair of the kings and merchants and sailors who sinned with Babylon, the chapter calls on God’s servants to rejoice in what has come about. In Revelation 18:21 a strong angel announces Babylon’s permanent fall and punctuates the point by throwing “a stone like a great millstone” into the sea. Jeremiah never went to Babylon, but he sent a scroll there with Seraiah describing the fate of the city and told him to read it aloud, and then tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates (Jeremiah 51:63). The judgment of God was being left to sink to the bottom, like the city would sink. As I said, we are reading words in a familiar style.

     I’ve long been struck by cases where God set up instructions that don’t seem to have end conditions. How long was the Garden of Eden guarded by an angel with a flaming sword (Genesis 3:24)? Perhaps it was until the flood of Noah’s day destroyed it, or it could have all withered away first. And while the millennium brings grace across the world, will the former site of Babylon the great sit as a blighted patch reminding people of old evils? That may be its fate. As the angel said, no more will the sounds of music, work or happiness be found in her. But then “in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.” It seems like Babylon the great is worthy of the treatment it receives. We would do well to learn its lesson in advance and turn our backs on all its ways and put our hearts fully toward that other city (the one with foundations; Hebrews 11:10).

     Lord, thank you for sanctifying us by the Spirit and faith in the truth. Thank you for teaching us to take pleasure in righteousness. Thank you for disciplining us for our good, so that we may share in your holiness. Thank you for giving us sound words through your servants. Please help us to listen, and to reflect on what you have said. Help us to grow in your will. And in everything we do, in word or deed, may we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Through him we give thanks to you, dear God. Amen.

-Daniel Smead

Reflection Questions

1.  When you envision God, do you see God as preferring to show mercy or to give judgment?

2.  What do you find yourself most valuing about your life as a Christian?

3.  What do you most look forward to in your future as a Christian?

4.  What do you most appreciate being able to share with others as a Christian?

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A Carrot and A Stick – REPENT!

Old Testament: Ezekiel 13 & 14

Poetry: Psalm 95

New Testament: Revelation 10

In Ezekiel 14, we’re told that some of the elders of Israel came to Ezekiel.  God told Ezekiel in 14:3-6, “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?  Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the Lord will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry.  I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.’

“Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!’”

I see two attributes of God at work here:  justice and mercy.  For those claiming to follow God, but not really following Him, there will be justice (i.e. punishment).  They will be made an example so others will see and turn to God.  This is a scary concept, and should cause us to repent and turn completely back to God so this doesn’t happen to us.

We see God’s mercy as he says to those not following him, “Repent!” and “Renounce all your detestable practices!”.  This too should cause us to repent and turn completely to God.

It doesn’t matter whether we respond better to a carrot or to a stick, since we’re given both.  The simple fact remains that we need to repent, renounce all our detestable practices, and turn completely to God.

And once that happens, we’re told in 14:11, “Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins.  They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

May this be said of us too.  But it is conditional upon repenting and turning completely to God.  The choice is yours.

Steve Mattison

Reflection Questions

  1. What idols and abominations (many of which the world says are okay – or even championed) are in front of you? What will it look like to turn away from them and turn completely to God?
  2. What is God waiting for you to repent of? How long do you think He will wait? What is dangerous about waiting to repent?
  3. What do we learn about God in the Bible passages today? What do you think of his justice and mercy?
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Broken Pottery

*Old Testament: Job 1 & 2

*Poetry: Psalm 31

New Testament: John 11

Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.

Among all my enemies I am a disgrace, and among my neighbors even more. I am dreaded by my friends—they flee when they see me on the street. 

I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. 

If I told you that the above passage was from the book of Job, you’d probably believe me. But King David wrote those words in Psalm 31. He is in distress, weak with sorrow and grief, groaning and weak in his affliction. He is shamed and disgraced by those around him, broken. The description of his anguish is amazingly similar to Job’s experience.

Interestingly, while David describes himself as ‘broken pottery,’ Job uses broken pottery to scrape his oozing boils.

loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.   Job 2:7-8

I say…Ew. But Job said,

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.  Job 1:21

Would you be surprised to see that David echoes the wisdom of Job?

Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city. I had said in my alarm, “I am cut off from your sight.” But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.    Psalm 31:21-22

Blessed be the name of the LORD.

I think that praise from the depths is maybe the most beautiful praise. It is certainly the most trusting. David, in his Psalm, invites us to join him in his trust, and I invite you to carry these words with you today:

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!   Psalm 31:24

-Susan Landry

Reflection Questions

  1. What does it look like to wait for/on the Lord?
  2. What steps can we take to help our heart take courage when we are in the depths?
  3. What can we learn from the examples of David and Job?
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NO Pit TOO Deep

Look UP!

Psalm 130

Friday, July 15, 2022 

                The comedic author Erma Bombeck once wrote a book entitled: “If life is a bowl of cherries, what am I doing in the pits.”  It’s a funny play on words using “the pits” as the antithesis of the good life.  The “pits” she’s talking about are not really cherry pits, those things you spit out after you have eaten the deliciously sweet cherry, but the pits of despair.  Webster’s Dictionary defines  “the pits”: “something that is very bad or unpleasant. You caught the flu on your birthday? That’s the pits! This rainy weather is the absolute pits.”

                You’re in the pits when things are going horribly wrong, or when you are feeling low.  You feel low when you are depressed, like there is something heavy weighing down on you.

                Psalm 130 is known as a penitential psalm (Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143).  It starts out very low, “Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD”.  This person is in deep despair because they are weighed down by feelings of guilt.  They have done something terribly wrong and they are weighed down with the heaviness of regret.

                In the Bible there are stories of people who are down in the pits of despair who cry out to God.  When Joseph was taken by his brothers and thrown into a dry cistern down in the earth, he was in the pit.  When Jonah was swallowed by the whale (or great fish), he was in the pit.  When Daniel was thrown into the den of lions he was in the pit.  But each of these people when they were in the pit cried out to God.  And that’s what this Psalm writer does from the depths, they cry to God.  They cry for mercy.

                They acknowledge that it is only by God’s mercy that they are able to get out of that pit.  If God kept a perpetual record of our sins that we had to carry around with us all of our lives none of us could stand under the weight.  Imagine trying to swim holding a 100 lb barbell in your hands… you would sink to the bottom in an instant. 

                Psalm 130 is also one of the songs of ascents.  This selection of Psalm from Psalm 120-134 were sung by worshippers journeying to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God by offering sacrifices.  They would sing the songs of ascents as they climbed up Mt. Zion.  They would sing them as they walked up the steps to the temple bringing with them their sin offering, their guilt offering and other reminders of their need for God’s mercy and forgiveness.

                Notice as the Psalm begins they are “in the depths crying for mercy” lamenting that no one can stand in God’s presence as long as God remembers their sins.  But feel them rising up as they get closer to the top of the mountain, closer to Jerusalem, closer to the temple, closer to God.  There is the hope of forgiveness.  There is this longing for God, they are waiting with their whole being for God, they are putting their hope in God.  As they look up and draw closer to God they are literally coming up from out of the pits, out of the depths of misery and despair into God’s mercy and forgiveness into the arms of God’s unfailing love and full redemption.  They are being bought from slavery to sin and given freedom in God.

                So many people today, like this Psalmist, are in the pits.  The rates of depression are incredibly high.  A study in 2020 showed that 37 million Americans take anti-depressant medication (the numbers undoubtedly have gone up in the 2 years since then due to Covid lockdowns).  Over 100,000 people died in 2021 from opioid/fentanyl overdoses.  People take these pain killers not for physical pain but to try to relieve existential pain and despair.  Suicide rates are rising because people find themselves in the pits and can’t find a way out. 

                Psalm 130 says to them and to us…. Look up, there is a way out.  God is the way out of that pit of despair.  God rescued Joseph from the pit and  he became the most powerful man in all of Egypt and saved his whole family from starvation.  God rescued Jonah from the pit of the whale and Jonah preached salvation to the entire city of Nineveh and they were restored to God.  God closed the mouths of the lions and Daniel was rescued by God from the pit of lions.  Even Jesus was in the pit of despair on the cross from which he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as he took the total weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders.  God rolled back the stone and rescued Jesus from the pit of the tomb and brought him out to everlasting life.

                There is no pit too deep for God to bring you out of if you will cry out to him, look up and move toward him.  Ascend from the depths of despair to God’s mercy and forgiveness and true life through faith in Jesus Christ.

-Jeff Fletcher

Reflection Questions:

1.        When was a time that you were in the pits?  How did God help you out of that pit?

2.       If you’ve experienced God’s saving hand in the pit, who can you share that hope with to help them out of the pit?

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Forgiven Much, Loves Much

John 9

April 6

Jesus heals a man born blind with a spit-filled mudpie. Creative. Unexpected. A tiny bit gross.

Totally worth it though, I imagine, to the man who can now see.

What we’re going to focus on, however, is the reaction to this healing by the elite, the ultra-religious, the Pharisees. Because this man’s miraculous healing happened on the Sabbath, they’re a little put out. A lot, actually.

As they drill him for information about the person who healed him, he does pretty good holding his own:

“Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will.Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

What they’re really saying is, “Who do you think you are?”

Matthew Poole’s commentary captures the attitude of their statement in this interpretation of their words:

Thou that art such a marked villain from thy mother’s womb, or that art such an ignorant idiot, dost thou think thyself fit to instruct us about true and false prophets, who are of God, and who are not? Surely we are to be thy teachers, and not thou ours.

It’s an indignant attitude, definitely an attitude of pride, wouldn’t you say? But we’ve all been there. We refuse the information because we don’t like the source. Maybe it’s because we feel superior (like the Pharisees). Or perhaps we simply don’t like them.

This passage reminds me of another time we can see the Pharisees’ pride shine a spotlight on their shame.

Luke describes a time that Jesus was dining at a Pharisee’s home and a sinful woman anointed him. In chapter 7 it says that she was “at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.”

The passage goes on to describe how Jesus puts the shocked and indignant religious crowd in their place. He tells them that “her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.””

In both of these cases, we see beautiful examples of how Christ’s mercies are most valued by those who have felt the want of them. (Matthew Henry’s commentary on John 9:34)

There’s a song by Ten Shekel Shirt that captures this, I think. And it’s a good place to pause and reflect after this chapter.

I come to Your feet and weep
Remembering how You changed me
I kneel at Your feet humbly
I pour out my love and my thanks

I am the one who’s been forgiven much
I am the one who loves much

I sit at Your feet in peace
Sensing a smile over me
I’m here at Your feet gladly
Giving my love and my thanks

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VrfvALiE8s

-Susan Landry

Questions for Reflection and Discussion:

  1. Have you ever struggled to accept something as truth just because of the source? Why do you think that is? How can we be better at preventing this attitude?
  2. Do you feel like you are someone who ‘loves much’ or ‘loves little’? If you’re unsure, pay attention to your actions, thoughts, and words for the next week and ask God to show you.
  3. Re-read John 9:40-41. Restate Jesus’ words in a different way. What is he saying? What can we learn from his statement?
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Get Right with God

Micah 5-7

Many people point to Micah 6:8 as a simple, straightforward verse telling us how to get right with God:   Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  

Let’s look at this in context.

Micah 6 starts out as a courtroom scene.  “Plead your case”… “For the Lord has a case against his people”.  God then reminded His people of the things He had done for them including leading them out of Egypt, protecting them from Balaam’s cursing them, and leading them into the promised land.

We might pause here to remind ourselves how the Israelites reacted to each of God’s protections that He pointed out to them here.  

  1. He led them out of Egypt to be His people, but they grumbled repeatedly, wanting to go back to Egypt; worshiped a golden calf; and didn’t trust that God could bring them into the promised land – so they had to wander in the desert for 40 years.
  2. He caused Balaam to bless Israel instead of cursing them.  This was a spiritual battle God was fighting on their behalf, without them even knowing about it.  Their response was to sin sexually with Moab’s women and worship Moab’s gods – so God sent a plague and killed many of the Israelites.
  3. He caused the Jordan River (at flood stage) to dry up, letting the Israelites cross on dry ground.  This was reminiscent of what He had done for the Israelites when they had left Egypt 40 years earlier.  God had done for Israel what they could not have done for themselves – but the people didn’t remember all the righteous acts God had done for them, and turned away again and again.

In Micah 6:6-7, we see that things we do can’t reconcile us to God, including bowing down to Him (presumably in hollow worship), performing sacrifices (remember that to obey is better than sacrifice), even sacrificing things most precious to us – including our children.  None of these things can reconcile us to God.

Then, we find the beautiful verse of what God really wants.  Not religious ceremonies, but moral and ethical conduct – “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

None of us can do these things until we first submit to God as broken sinners and allow Him to transform our lives.  We can only act justly once we have been justified.  We can only love mercy (and extend it to others) once we have experienced and recognized God’s mercy.  We can only walk humbly with our God after we bow humbly before Him, confess our sins, and claim his promise of forgiveness (I John 1:9).

Titus 3:5 reminds us, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”  So people are misguided if they think they can follow this formula from Micah 6:8 to be saved.  It’s only because of our saving relationship with God that we can do what He requires in Micah 6:8.

As we continue reading Micah, we see that Israel hasn’t lived up to God’s requirements, so in 6:13, He says, “Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins.”  If God treated Israel this way, and if God doesn’t change, I’ll let you consider for yourself the implications for you and the implications for our nation.

Micah 7:13 is pointing to a time still in the future to us, when “the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds.”

But the last 3 verses of Micah remind us of who God is and what He has done in the past. 

Micah 7:18-20: “18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?  You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

19  You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

20 You will be faithful to Jacob, and show love to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago.”

To quote Warren Wiersbe from his Bible commentary, “the better we know the character of God, the more we can trust Him for the future.  The better we know the promises and covenants of God, the more peace we will have in our hearts when things fall apart.”

In closing, 

  1. We need to recognize we can never measure up to God’s requirements on our own.  
  2. We need to humbly come to God as broken sinners, confessing our sins, and asking for His forgiveness.  
  3. We need to remember who He is, what He has done in the past, and what promises He has made for the future.  
  4. We then need to develop a deep personal relationship with God.  

Only then can we “be imitators of God as dearly loved children” (Ephesians 5:1).  And only then can we live a life acceptable to God – “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

-Steve Mattison

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at Bible Gateway.com here – Micah 5-7 and Revelation 10

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God’s Business

Jonah 3-4

Yesterday, we saw Jonah’s reluctance to God’s call for his life. Actually, “active rebellion” against God’s call is more accurate! However, we saw Jonah pray to God during his time in the belly of the great fish. We were left asking the question, “Will Jonah finally answer the call to proclaim God’s message?”

He does. In 3:1, the word of the LORD comes a second time to Jonah. In 3:3, “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.” As the story goes, which so many of us learned in our childhood Sunday school, Jonah preaches that Nineveh will be destroyed, and so the Ninevites repented. And our happy ending occurs in 3:10: “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” 

But wait. There’s more.

Why was Jonah SO reluctant to preach to Nineveh? Why did he run in the opposite direction to avoid God’s call on his life? Why did it take a great storm, being thrown overboard, and three days in the belly of a fish to learn his lesson? And why did Jonah scoff at the mercy of God in 4:1? 

The truth is, we will never be able to see Nineveh or Assyria in the same way Jonah did. We didn’t grow up witnessing the brutality and evil that Assyria committed with every passing year, and we will never experience the same wars and terrible things that it did to Israel. But Jonah was very close to the evil that Nineveh did. In fact, Jonah had some really good reasons to really, really dislike Nineveh. Jonah didn’t want to see God’s mercy extended to his enemies. He actually wants to see the destruction of a city with 120 thousand people because he dislikes them so much! In fact, he camps out at the edge of the city hoping that their repentance doesn’t last.

And so God decides to teach Jonah a lesson. He grows a plant that gives shade and comfort to Jonah, and then kills it. Jonah reacts with anger once again. And finally God teaches Jonah the lesson he needed all along: Nineveh is like the plant in this story. God grew it and has concern for it (see 4:11). But on the other hand, he scolds Jonah for caring about a plant he never grew in the first place. In other words, just like the plant, Jonah has no right to be angry about a people that are actually God’s business all along.

So what do we learn here? There are a lot of lessons that come out of Jonah: God’s ways are far higher than our ways. His sense of justice and mercy will sometimes be at odds with our understanding of justice and mercy. We are challenged to lay down our prejudice and serve others in the name of God. And when God calls you to Nineveh, don’t run away– just go!

-Levi Salyers

Read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway.com here – Jonah 3-4 and Revelation 7

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Tough Love

1 Corinthians 13

The simplest truth about human relationships is that if we just loved one another a bit more, we would have fewer problems.  I know, it is a bit cliche, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Our focus would be consistently outward.  We would be ready to listen and meet the needs of others. God has made it pretty clear that the most hardened heart can soften by showing the quality that embodies who He is, yet it is a weapon we often leave unwelded.  We often list our harshness or judgements under the guise of “tough love”, and this may or may not be true on a case-by-case basis. However, we must stick closely to the prescribed path in 1 Corinthians 13.  It actually might be simpler to love “toughly”, but if you simply write people off, or find a way to punish them, or speak your mind without backing it up with the many other qualities listed here, you are a hollow box and a lot of noise.  What’s tough love, really tough love, is to love someone who isn’t concerned in the slightest with being like God at the moment, or even ever. Love never fails. So you must love. You absolutely must.  And your love must be like God’s love.  Below I reworded one of the most famous passages of scriptures (v.4-7) that coincides with our reading and, most likely, one of the last handful of weddings you attended.  My goal isn’t to add to the list, only to reword it to give it novelty in hopes to make it challenging or convicting instead of a rehearsal of familiar words.  If it helps tune your mind to God’s love, wonderful.  If it is a confusing mess, don’t read it.  My concern is that you know loving is tough, especially those whose actions betray your love.  That shouldn’t stop you.  But THAT is tough love.  And THAT is what God shows to each one of us on the daily.

For God to come in and change the “unlovable” (mind you, this can be and has been you), you must sit and listen. Listen to their problems and hear them say what they think, even if you don’t agree. You have to include them, share with them, and treat them with dignity, even if they are not concerned in the slightest about having any.  To love, you have to let others be great and cheer them on.  Sometimes this means the spotlight will come off of you, or you are treated as less important.  If you are loving, you’re not concerned with that, because in love, others come first.  Love holds back the insults, name-calling, and doesn’t attack a person made in the image of God.  True love can be shown without expecting anything in return and can be left unreciprocated.  On rare occasions, you can have angry love.  You can be mad at someone because they are doing some serious sin damage to others or even him/herself.  But you don’t start there.  You don’t live there.  You are truthful with someone, because lying is not loving.  But you retreat quickly from the fight, and fill the space with mercy, more patience, and more kindness.  That means love is forgiveness, and not holding grudges.  We can love those who have wronged us.  We can love those who have besmirched our reputation, injured our family through carelessness, or hate us because of our beliefs. We may know their wrong to us as a historical account, but not as an emotional one, and we thank God we have an opportunity to show love to them in such a way.  In fact, loving like God means that you would actually stand-up for this person who has done you the greatest harm.  Loving someone means that you are trusting without “but.” And that can be so hard. But trusting in God first and foremost allows you to do that.  Believe in people.  Never give up on people.  Much easier said than done. It’s tough. So tough. But don’t let it stop you from trying. Your efforts are to help others see God, and they will know His love because it has been extended to and shown through you.

-Aaron Winner

Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – Esther 1-2 and 1 Corinthians 13

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Detestable Prayers

Proverbs 28

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

Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – 1 Chronicles 23-24 and Proverbs 28

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