Mother Teresa spoke of ‘the dark night of the soul.’ You would think that someone who served in such a ministry would be a titan of faith, impervious to doubt. But still, she wrestled with God.
And, who could blame her? I’m sure that the stresses of her ministry continually bashed against the rock of her faith.
All of our circumstances have a way of doing that. They are the waves of doubt, of shame, of sin, and of fear. They hit us throughout life in the jeers of our friends in middle school to the first heartbreak that comes with young love to the frustration of parenthood to the inevitable pain that comes with the final breaths our loved ones take.
James says that someone who doubts is like a wave blown and tossed by the wind. The antidote to that doubt is faith. But, what can be said of us then? For who can say that they haven’t wrestled with God?
As we turn through the pages of scripture, we find that we are in good company. Abraham, Moses, and of course, Jacob wrestled with God in their own way. And, we see David struggling through the pain of his circumstances in the Psalms we read today.
David cries out to God. He begs him to turn and listen. For someone who had slept on the floors of caves and pretended to be a madman in an enemy’s court, these words are more than just cliché.
David always goes back to the same statement, ‘In God alone I trust. I will wait patiently for the Lord.’
How powerful that statement is. And, oh how hard it is.
In the seasons of my life, I have prayed. When I woke up, when I lay my head down, and all the footsteps in between were filled with the same cry. And yet, my prayers were unanswered. What could I do?
In those times – even now – I could make a choice to turn my face from God. But, the question “Oh Lord, who could I turn to? Where could I go from your presence? Who have I but you?” rings out.
David understood this truth. God is our strong refuge in both the good times and bad. In health and sickness. Riches and poverty. Joy and sorrow. We turn to him in every season, and we wait patiently for him to act.
And when we do, we understand the truth of Psalm 40:4-8:
“4 Blessed is the man who makes
the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!
5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.
6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
Do you ever secretly celebrate inside when someone you Do not like very much gets in trouble, or hurt, or worse? Be honest. Maybe It is when the class bully gets taken down. You have that secret satisfaction of seeing the bad guy finally get his. I confess that whenever I watch the movie A Christmas Story each yet I get a certain bit of satisfaction when Ralphie loses it and goes to town on Scut Farkas and nearly pulverizes his long-time nemesis. People often do it instinctively. The cheer when the opposing quarterback gets sacked for the third time or when the opposing teams best player fouls out of the basketball game you sing, “Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye.” (Do they still do that at basketball games?” I am sure more than a few haters of former President Donald Trump took great delight in seeing him on trial and hearing the lurid details drug out before Melania and the rest of the world to see.
Did you know that there’s actually a word for that? It is a German word called Schadenfreude and it is an emotional experience of finding joy in another’s misfortune or struggle. The Very Well Mind website says: “Schadenfreude is a German term that translates to “damage” (schaden) “joy” (freude).It is the ripple of delight you get from watching fail compilation videos, or the twinge of excitement you feel when a rival coworker doesn’t get the promotion they expected.”
The day back when President Trump announced that he had Covid Webster’s Dictionary says that Schadenfreude was the most looked up word that day. Lots of people took great delight in seeing Trump get Covid. Or when notorious child molester Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell a lot of people were celebrating. And if you were around and conscious when they finally found and killed Osama Ben Laden you know there was a lot of celebrating going on that day.
If Schadenfreude is so common, we all do it, it must be okay, right? Well….. let’s go back to yesterday when we talked about God’s desire for us to flourish. We said that the book of Proverbs provides wisdom to help us pursue a flourishing life. Does taking delight in the pain, suffering trauma of people that we Do not like lead to a flourishing life? Today’s Proverb, Proverb 17… By the way, did you notice that this week the Proverbs match the day of the month. Today’s the 17th and we’re looking at Proverbs 17. By the way, you can start on the first day of the month reading 1 Proverb a day and essentially read the entire book of Proverbs through every month (when there are 31 days in the month it matches up perfectly.) Among the many excellent little nuggets in today’s Proverb we read: “Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.”
Oops! You know all those things we just said about schadenfreude? This Proverb is saying that It is not very wise to engage in in finding joy in someone else’s suffering. The path to a flourishing life does not include celebrating when our frenemy gets in trouble, gets hurt, fails a test, loses their job, breaks up with their boyfriend/girlfriend or any of the other things you can think of celebrating.
Those of you who are particularly clever might say “now wait just a darn minute there, doesn’t God sometimes celebrate when his enemies get theirs?” You make a good point. Psalm 2:1-6 says:
Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.”
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
Here we have God laughing derisively at His enemies failed attempts to destroy his anointed King (that would be Jesus, by the way). If God can do it, why can’t we?
I Do not have a lot of time and space to unpack the theological complexity of that question, so I will simply say “He can, because He is God and he knows everything including what’s in a person’s heart. We are not God, and we aren’t the judge and can’t know what’s truly in the heart of another.
What I can say is what Jesus, who came to teach us how to have an abundant, flourishing life said. Jesus said that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (see Matthew 5:43-48).
What about that first bit in today’s Proverb where we are told that when we mock poor people we are actually insulting God? What does that mean? It is so easy to judge others harshly without having all of the facts. In ancient society in many cultures it was believed that the reason people suffer is because they did something wrong to tick off God or in other cultures “the gods”. Even among God’s people the Israelites it was a commonly held misconception that people who suffer physically or financially or relationally are just getting what they deserve for the bad stuff they must have done. The Book of Job goes to great lengths to debunk that false belief. Job was a very righteous man who suffered terribly for no good reason. Bad things really do happen sometimes to good people and It is not our place to judge others or mock them for their suffering because we think that they deserve it.
And while the Bible does talk about God laughing at those who oppose his anointed King there in Psalm two, we need to look at the greater story of God in all of the Bible. This is well captures in Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
God gets not joy from seeing even wicked people suffer or die. God was not celebrating when Jeffrey Epstein killed himself (or was murdered) in his jail cell. There were no parties in heaven the day Osama Ben Laden was killed. God doesn’t take joy in seeing the wicked suffer, and neither should we. God’s heart is for even the most broken, evil or lost people to change direction and turn to Him for forgiveness and healing. That should be our attitude as well. We need to practice love and grace not mocking judgment and schadenfreude… even when our worst frenemy gets dumped right before senior prom. That’s the way of wisdom, the way to true flourishing.
~ Jeff Fletcher
QUESTIONS:
Have you ever felt Schadenfreude (or joy at someone else’s misfortune) before?
How does it change our hearts to ‘love our enemies and pray for those that persecute us’? Does that kind of attitude lead to a hardened or softened heart?
How can you practically practice loving your enemies? What are some ways you can put this teaching into practice this week?
Yesterday, we learned about the exile of the nation of Israel because of the idolatry that they practiced. 2 Kings 17:34 describes the Israelites who lived in Samaria: “To this day they do according to the former manner [fearing God but also serving the gods of the surrounding nations]. They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law of the commandments the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.” The nation of Israel had spiraled down the dark, deep hole of sin that ended in exile.
There is a glimmer of hope in 2 Kings 18, as we read about Hezekiah the good king of the neighboring nation, Judah. “He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses” (v.5-6).
A little over halfway through his reign, Hezekiah is faced with a terrible situation. The king of Assyria attacks Judah and forces Judah to pay him tribute. Things even got so bad that Hezekiah stripped the gold off the temple doors and gives it to the Assyrian king. The Assyrians mock God and swear that God has forsaken Judah. This is where chapter 19 picks up.
When faced with a terrible situation, what does Hezekiah do? Hezekiah humbles himself, goes to God, and listens. Hezekiah sent people to Isaiah to pray in the nation’s behalf (v. 4). This proves to be exactly the right course of action.
We can learn so much from the reign of Hezekiah, but I think it’s so important to look at how he handled these difficult situations. You can follow the example of Hezekiah in doing the following:
Humble yourself. Hezekiah tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth. He didn’t try to appear to have his life together. He recognized the severity of the situation and knew he could not save himself without God.
Go to God. Hezekiah went to the house of the Lord immediately. He knew where to turn with the situation got tough.
Seek counsel and comfort from godly people. Hezekiah gathered up a few trusted servants and priests to go to Isaiah, the prophet for help.
Recognize that you have a mediator who knows your needs. Hezekiah turned to Isaiah to be a mediator between God and him. He asks Isaiah to pray for him. We don’t have to turn to men to pray for us. Instead, we can go to God ourselves because we have a mediator in Jesus.
At the end of this chapter, Isaiah gives some reassuring news. The Assyrian king would not destroy Judah. In fact, he would fall by his own sword. Verse 35-37 goes on to say, “That night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when the people arose early in the morning, behold these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword.” God’s promises are true. Praise God that we can go to him in all of our sufferings.
~ Cayce Fletcher
Reflection Questions:
What difficult situation are you facing today? What strikes fear in your heart? Makes you despair? Bring this situation to God.
Who are some people you can turn to in difficult situations that can help to point you to Christ?
How is prayer different from the Old Testament to the New Testament because of Christ?
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, as we just read, 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: 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 tomorrow.
-Levi Salyers
Read or listen to today’s Bible reading plan passages at BibleGateway.com here – Jonah 1-2 and Revelation 6
After Adonijah’s revolt, Solomon ascended to power, and in 1 Kings 3, Solomon began making decisions of what he should do as a king. 1 Kings 3:3 describes him when it says, “Solomon loved the LORD by walking in the statues of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.” Deuteronomy 12:1-6 specifically gave directions to destroy all the high places, but Solomon and the rest of the people went to worship there. In 1 Kings 3:1, one of Solomon’s first decisions is to make a treaty with Pharaoh’s daughter, going against Deuteronomy 17:16-17. Solomon seemed like he wanted to make good, godly decisions, but he didn’t know and apply God’s word enough to keep him from committing these oversights, these sins.
Even so, in verse 5, after a large display of burnt offerings, God comes to Solomon and asks, “What should I give you?” This was a moment where he could have received so much from God – whether in power, wealth, status. But, instead, Solomon chooses to receive wisdom and discernment so that he could govern his people well. He recognized that he was a “youth with no experience in leadership” (v. 7) Solomon knew that he may have blundered in the past as he began to rule his kingdom. And so, he asked for the one thing that could truly help him to do better – discernment and wisdom from God.
In our lives, we may feel that we are in situations that we have been thrown into. We may be overwhelmed. We may be trying to make the best decisions that we can. The thing that makes the difference in those situations is not how hard we work at them or the people that we impact or make happy. What we should pursue in those situations is the wisdom of God. That is the only thing that will help us to know what is right to do. It is the only thing that will help us to know how to keep ourselves on the righteous path and away from sin.
What are you asking for from God? May we be a people who prays for the wisdom and discernment only God can give.
Have you ever read scripture and thought to yourself, “That is definitely me”? I know I have, and every time I read Mark 14 I get that same feeling all over again. In Mark 14:32-42 we find the scene were Jesus takes his disciples to Gethsemane to pray before his arrest. Jesus sets a few of his disciples on watch while he goes away to pray. When Jesus returns, he finds them sleeping and says these piercing words in verse 37, “’Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?’” Ouch! How bad would you have felt if you were Peter right then? Well, I’ve felt almost exactly like this once.
One night, while I was in high school, one of my best friends was doing a late night shift in a 24 hour prayer campaign. He had the duty of praying for an hour in the middle of the night. I can’t remember for certain, but it was something like 3am – 4 am. He asked me and one of our other best friends if we would be willing to stay up with him to help him pray and be alert during this shift. We both happily agreed! After all, how often does your best friend ask you to stay up and help him pray? This is something we could not turn down. So we are all hanging out, sitting on the couches in my living room, waiting for his shift to begin. The next thing I remember are my two friends walking inside after his prayer shift was over. In that moment, I felt a lot like Peter. I couldn’t even stay awake for one night to help my friend pray. To be honest, I was a little bit embarrassed and disappointed in myself. I can’t believe I had let my best friend down.
When I started my teaching career 24 years ago, I had no idea that I would spend two and half decades in the same district. I only agreed to the original interview because I thought that it would be good practice for interviews with school districts that were better funded and closer to where I wanted to live. But through the years, I have had amazing students, super supportive principals and supervisors, and colleagues who have become my closest friends.
There have been times where I sought other jobs outside my district. The crazy thing is that I have never had an invitation to interview for those other positions. Now either I have a highly inflated self-perspective of my skills, or I don’t know how to complete and submit an application, or just maybe, God wants me to stay where I am.
So I can relate a little bit to Paul in Acts 16 when he realizes that he’s not supposed to go into Asia but rather head up to Macedonia.
Can you imagine setting out on a road trip and not really knowing for sure where you’ll end up?
It makes sense to pray and seek wisdom and discernment before making major life decisions. But this is how God wants us to live our day-to-day lives too. Yes, dreaming up plans, setting goals, and creating task lists are good things to do, but it’s also important to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Asking God to help determine the best use of your time each week, each day, is a good way to practice your listening skills and hone your sensitivity to God’s direction.
As we go about this week, pause and think about what you already have on your calendar of things to do and places to be at and people to meet up with. Does any of that need to be revised? Does something need to be removed or added? Do you have enough margin in your day-to-day that you can spontaneously respond to God’s leading?
If nothing specific comes to mind or your days and week go pretty closely as you expected, that’s okay too. What really matters is that you sought God. You took time to listen and you were willing to act on his call. That’s the kind of heart God desires.
-Bethany Ligon
Today’s Bible reading passage can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – Acts 15-16
There were so many good topics from today’s reading, it was hard for me to pick just one for today’s devotion. But I finally settled on discussing what Jesus did immediately before calling the 12 apostles.
Jesus had many disciples following him. A disciple is a follower, an apprentice, someone who is learning. From among these followers, Jesus was going to choose his apostles – his chosen messengers with a special commission. We’re told in Luke 6:12, that before choosing his 12 apostles, Jesus spent the whole night in prayer. Did you catch that? Jesus spent the whole night praying.
Why would Jesus need to spend the whole night praying? First, opposition to him was growing – immediately before this story, we’re told the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus. He knew this would eventually end in his crucifixion. I’m guessing he was praying for strength for the task that lay before him. Second, this was a turning point in his ministry. Until how, he had just been a one man show – a traveling preacher and healer. Now he was picking the men who would be the foundation of the church after he was gone. I’m guessing he was praying for discernment. Finally, according to John 6:64, Jesus knew from the beginning who was going to betray him, and He was going to pick him as one of His apostles. I’m guessing Jesus was struggling with emotions at that prospect; it was through prayer that He made this difficult choice.
We find many instances of Jesus devoting lots of time to prayer. Whether it was getting up before dawn to pray, or sending the apostles away in a boat so he could pray, or … You get the idea. But wait, Jesus was the Son of GOD! In John 3:34, we’re told that Jesus was given the Holy Spirit without measure. And He still spent a tremendous amount of time in prayer!
What should this mean for me?
For starters, I suspect I need God’s help far more than Jesus did. For one thing, I’m a wretched sinner, and Jesus was perfectly sinless. Also, Jesus had the Holy Spirit without measure, me – not so much.
From Jesus’ example, I see that I need to spend far more time in prayer, whether asking for strength, or for discernment, or struggling with emotions, or… for dealing with everything life throws at me. And that’s just the requests for my needs. Then, there are prayers for confessing and asking forgiveness. Then, all the prayer requests for people I care about. Then, there is honoring, praising, and magnifying God in prayer. And the list goes on. Bottom line – I need to spend more time in prayer.
What about you? Will you join me in committing to spending more time in prayer?
This will not only benefit me and you, it may benefit the whole nation. I’m reminded of one of my many favorite Bible verses, 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
So much work had already been done – the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt – now they just needed to finish the gates. Surely this project was God-ordained and he picked the right leader for the job – Nehemiah. He was able to get everyone motivated and working together, and despite the opposition they were able to finish their job on the 25th of Elul (which appears to correspond to somewhere between Sept 15 and October 2). So, this week is a super time to celebrate the work that is accomplished when working for God.
So much good had been done already – but the work did not end and neither did the opposition!
Nehemiah was under attack. Satan (along with Tobia, Sanballat, Geshem and the rest of those fighting against God) were using every weapon at their disposal to bring this righteous leader down: lies, fear, wolves in sheep’s clothing, attempting to distract him from his work with other business, spreading gossip and accusations of sedition to either silence him or get him in serious trouble with the authorities, even hiring a false “prophet” to scare him into sinning.
But Nehemiah stood strong. We continue to see him turn to God in prayer. Asking for strong hands and asking for God to take care of those getting in the way of the Lord’s work. He obviously had a strong knowledge of God’s law to not be tricked into sinning. This gave him wise discernment in knowing who to listen to and what to do, and not do. And, he knew to fear God not men.
We can learn a lot from Nehemiah today because Satan keeps using the same ploys. Adolf Hitler wrote, “Mental confusion, contradiction of feeling, indecisiveness, panic; these are our weapons.” Evil men seeking to destroy God’s work have come and gone and yet remain today. It is indeed a vivid reminder that, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV). They love nothing more than trying to interrupt God’s work and if they can bring down a godly leader at the same time they probably get bonus points.
We see so much of this evil and oppression today. But like Nehemiah, we must not give up! We must turn to God again and again when faced with the lies and fears and Satan’s strong man tactics that would love to have us throw in the towel and take the easy way instead. Pray, fast, seek His word and His way, don’t fear man, resist sin, use discernment in knowing who to trust, what to say and do. Pray, too, for our leaders that they will have the wisdom and strong hands of Nehemiah
Satan has been running rampant and the result is a broken world. Keep at God’s rebuilding work – one brick at a time.
Marcia Railton
Speaking of our opposition, mental confusion, lies, panic, and pleasing man not God, reminds me of the life and death fight for the most innocent of God’s creations. Tonight would be a great time to watch See Life 2020 and #LoveEveryHeartbeat. And pray for strong hands – and hearts – to do the work God wants you to do.
Today’s Bible passage can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – Nehemiah 6-7
Tomorrow we will read Nehemiah 8-10 as we continue seeking God on our
Imagine that you are on vacation. You are searching for a special restaurant that you wanted to visit while in the area. However, you get lost and come to a crossroads. You don’t know which way to go. There are two clear options that you have. You can either look for guidance from your GPS or you could ask a local. The other option is relying on yourself to figure out the way even though you are at a loss.
There are many lessons that are taken out of Jeremiah 4-6, but perhaps the one that stands out the most is found in chapter 6. In verse 16 it talks of standing at the crossroads. It says that we should seek the ancient paths when at the crossroads of life. We need to seek the guidance offered to us.
There are many crossroads in life such as the one in the vacation example. However, the crossroads are sometimes not as material as the one in the example. The crossroads we face are not necessarily physical. Many times, they are mental and spiritual ones. Sometimes we feel lost and we do not know where to go next. We don’t know what decision to make, where we should go, or even if we should take that job, or go to that college. Life is full of decisions.
In these times of uncertainty, though, we do not have to find the right way on our own. God is there and if we seek him, he will lead us. He will direct our steps. If we go it on our own, more than likely we will take a wrong turn. We will end up feeling more lost and confused than we did in the beginning. If we rely on ourselves and our sense of direction in an area that is foreign to us, we could get in trouble. We could follow a road that would take us into the bad part of town or to a place where the bridge is out.
However, if we ask for guidance; if we seek the ancient ways, as Jeremiah calls it, we will be set in the right direction. The locals and the GPS have wisdom and perspective that we do not.
How do we seek these ancient ways? Reading the Bible, digging into that Word, and prayer is a great way to seek this guidance. I have come across many so-called crossroads. Some of them more confusing than others. These crossroads included times when I didn’t know where I should work, if I should serve in a certain mission field or not, what I should study in college, and figuring out how I should react in certain situations. I would always feel confused in these situations, but when I remembered to pray, it seemed to come into perspective. That guidance and comparing the aspects of the situation to the stories in the Bible helps me to make these decisions. By seeking the counsel of the LORD, I was able to know which way to go when brought to the crossroads. Prayer is a powerful tool that we have graciously been given access. So let us use what has been made available to us.
Seek Grow Love 