I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
This devotional today really spoke to me, especially since I am feeling every one of my seventy plus years these days. I never thought about the fact that Caleb was in his mid-eighties when he asked Joshua to give him land that belonged to giants. He was still willing to take on great enemies and claim what God had promised, even in his advanced years. (Perhaps at that time, mid-80’s was closer to middle age or a little more, but to me, it seems very old.) God strengthened Caleb, showed him favor and he was able to conquer that land.
How many times have I faced giants in my life these days and just told God that I am too old and too tired to fight anymore? I can tell you honestly, I have not been a Caleb! God is speaking to my heart that He will let me know when it is time for me to rest and not attack the giants that come against me. But that time is not now. So, I want to be more like Caleb and less like me, knowing my weaknesses but also confident that whatever I face, I face with God on my side. I want to be faith-full and wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord who has saved me and who will save me.
There needs to be more stories in the news like the one in this devotional about the selfless acts that one person does for another person in need. How much more pleasant it would be to watch a news show with some positive news on it? We may never make the news but we are called upon to be selfless and Jesus modeled that for us when He went to the cross. God’s gift is completely free for us, but it cost Him dearly. When we accept His gift of grace, mercy and ultimately salvation, we are part of His army of volunteers that He sends into the world to represent Him. We may not be able to do big things, but we can do something every day to show someone the love of Jesus in our lives, opening a door for them to get to know Jesus for themselves. I confess that I have been prompted by the Holy Spirit to do something for a stranger and have walked away instead, sometimes due to shyness and the thought that I might be embarrassed. I am trying to do better and to follow the His leading, to help others selflessly regardless of how I personally feel about stepping outside of my comfort zone. Sometimes God prods us to do something that costs money (He knows we have it or He wouldn’t ask us to give), sometimes He encourages us to give time or a tangible gift of some sort. Whatever it is that He tells us to give, we need to be ready and willing to reach out to others. God reached down from heaven to each of us when He sent His only Son to die for us. It seems to me that it’s a small thing for us to obey His call to reach out to others. His undeserved favor is supposed to be passed on, not hoarded.
I am broken, and if you are honest, so are you. In what ways are we broken? We are not perfect yet, not what God wants us to be. As one writer said, “We are all still under construction.” Sometimes, I feat that there is so much broken inside of me that it just cannot be fixed. And then God reminds me of where I started and where I am now, and in looking back with thanksgiving, I see that He is still working out His plan for me. God can use that brokenness that I am so frustrated over sometimes to show others that I am not complete in God but that I am trying. It is in my failures that others can see me as God sees me, a work in progress. I think it encourages others to want to know how they, too, can be a project for God to work on and one day bring to completion. The Christians who present themselves as “holier than thou” and “be like me” are not doing God or themselves any favors, nor are they drawing people to a loving God who is patiently working on each of us to make us more like His Son. We have to let others see us as we are, not quite fixed yet but better than we were. I think God can use that to draw others to Him because they will see in us the possibility of change and hope.
As I read today’s devotional, I was reminded of the summer that my husband took our two sons to Germany and Italy. In Italy, they all wanted to visit the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. There was one small problem. One of our sons had only packed shorts and the requirement is for the male visitors to wear trousers. The boys were disappointed until my husband came up with the plan to allow the younger son (who had not brought any long pants) to wear his (my husband’s) pants and my husband would forego the adventure, giving preference to our sons. (What a good dad, right?) The funny thing is that Harry was about four sizes larger in the waist than Steven and about four inches shorter, so Steven buckled the belt in the last hole, wore his pants as low as he dared to keep them on and off the two boys went on their quest to see Michelangelo’s masterpiece.
The devotional made me also think that we don’t have to worry about what we need to wear to get into heaven. We will be clothed in righteousness, provided freely by our Savior Jesus. God always provides a way for those He loves to be with Him, and I am thankful during this Easter season to be reminded of fun times that the boys had with their dad and the sacrificial love that Harry showed as an example to them of the great love that Jesus has for each of us. Harry saw the Sistine Chapel through the eyes of our sons who described it in minute detail for him. And God sees each of us through the eyes of His Son who has made us holy by the shedding of His own blood.
God is good, all the time. Circumstances are not always great, but God is always good.
When my husband and I were dating, it was the 70’s, the era of free love, hippies and doing what felt good. Nevertheless, we did not show each other a lot of public displays of love. We were quickly enamored with each other, but we shared kisses and cuddles privately, out of the view of a majority of others. Both of us were raised to believe that our love was between us, not to be gawked at by those who may or may not be commenting on our affectionate shows of love. Nowadays, some fifty years later, we kiss in restaurants or on sidewalks or wherever we feel like, and we sometimes hear others say, “Aww. How sweet!” We don’t kiss to get a reaction. We do so because our love for each other bubbles over and out.
About 2000 years ago, Jesus gave us a model of selfless love when He went to the cross willingly and died for us there. He hung on that cross in front of a multitude of believers and scoffers. He was not afraid to show His love for us in a very public and humiliating way. Now, every day, we have the opportunity to demonstrate our love for Him by telling others about His great sacrifice and how it has changed our lives. We cannot just hide His love in our hearts, but we need to take it to others. His model showed us that it was meant t be public, meant to be shared. And if others ridicule us because of our sharing our faith, then we are compelled to share anyway. Our words may mean the difference between their suffering or rejoicing for eternity. It’s a public display of Jesus’s love for us and for all mankind.
I read two devotionals this morning that had a recurring theme, that of talking to God before carrying out my plans. As Tina Wilson said in her book “Step into Scripture” for today’s devotional, “We blaze ahead with our plans, not thinking of what God wants or seeking him first. Then, when things fall apart, we wonder why God let it happen.” The important words are OUR plans and not seeking God first. I confess that this is a great fault of mine, to make plans and forge ahead. Then, in the middle of a mess and chaos that I never expected, I ask God what happened and why He wasn’t there. You know why, don’t you? I didn’t pause to talk to Him first, ask Him what plan He would like me to follow and then listen to Him. Joshua made this mistake in attacking Ai, and there was a consequence to pay for it. We don’t get out of the messes that we make unscathed. God wants us to learn the important lesson of calling on him FIRST, then executing the plan that He has put into our hearts. Good to remember that God loves us enough to keep us straight about just Who is in control!
God has given us the gift of His Son and as a result, His grace shines in our lives. Should we not also show mercy and grace to others? We are quick to judge, to angrily lash out when someone doesn’t meet our expectations. Instead, we need to take a step back, ask for God’s wisdom to handle difficult situations and extend grace to the person who has offended us in some way, big or small. We can all show the world what grace means by how we act towards them.
The lesson we learn from Achan, Ananias and Sapphira is twofold (or perhaps even more). First, we learn that greed in any form has severe consequences. Achan was stoned to death whereas Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead after they lied, all of them trying to hide their own greed. The second lesson is that you cannot hide your sin from God. He sees all, knows all and deals with sin according to His justice system. When we look around at our leaders today, how many of them display greed? I would dare say all of them in some form or another. How many fear God and the consequences of their sin? I don’t want to even guess if any of them do, but I would say that number is small. I am not pronouncing judgment on anyone because that is not my responsibility, but I will say that it would be wise for our leaders to confess, repent and come before the Lord with an honest heart than to face His judgment. God is always the same and He hates sin. How much account will our leaders have to give to God for leading an entire nation of people astray, to worship the false gods of fame, greed and self-aggrandizement. One of God’s key attributes that He seeks is humility. May we remember that and come before Him in true repentance for ourselves and in prayer for our nation and its leaders.
I was impressed deeply when I read Jehoshaphat’s prayer this morning in my devotional. He is pressed by a great horde of enemies since several nations have joined forces against Judah. So, he prays to the Lord and this is part of His prayer.
Sometimes, I feel as though “a great horde” is attacking my soul. Battle follows battle, whether it is for my health, a death in the family, a beloved one’s struggles with their health, or the spiritual battle that I face daily inside my heart as my husband spouts off the latest bad news from our unspiritual and ungodly leaders. All of these together combine to make a great horde in my life. You probably have a number of attackers as well. It is the life we live…God gives us peace in the battles but He does not promise that we won’t have to face conflicts.
What is the solution? Jehoshaphat offers that as the verse continues. We need to admit that we don’t know what to do. Confess to God that we have done all that we know how in our finite minds and yet still we are beset by the enemy and feeling that defeat may be coming. Then, we just have to be still and keep our eyes on God. Jehoshaphat did not say, “Okay, let’s gather a large army against them and all of our best weapons. “ No, he waited and kept his eyes on God. If you open II Chronicles 20 and read it for yourself, it says:
”You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”“ 2 Chronicles 20:17 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/2ch.20.17.ESV
These are the words from the Lord to the people as they stood waiting for Him after hearing Jehoshaphat’s prayer. So, how did the victory come?
”And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.“ 2 Chronicles 20:22 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/2ch.20.22.ESV
The LORD set an ambush against the enemies. He stepped into the middle of the fray and He defeated them.
What can we learn from Jehoshaphat’s prayer? First of all, our enemies are many and powerful. As a conservative Christian, I look around at all that is happening, shake my head and cannot believe that I am still living in America. But if we admit that we are powerless, that God has all of the sovereignty and it is ultimately His battle, then we can rest in His promise to bring the victory. We don’t know how or when it will come, but it is on its way as long as we are waiting on the Lord and admitting that we don’t know what to do or have the power to do it. Then, as we wait, we keep our eyes firmly on the Lord. As the news gets worse, we can believe with our whole hearts that God will not be mocked. Even as the ungodly proclaim their dominion over our nation (like saying Roe v. Wade will be the “law of the land”), God is working behind the scenes to come into the battle and ambush the enemy in an unexpected way. I don’t know how or when this will happen. And I hate that some of our own leaders are enemies of God, but I do know that He wins in the end, so I am keeping my eyes on Him.
www.bible.com/reading-plans/13696/day/34
www.bible.com/reading-plans/3797/day/5
www.bible.com/reading-plans/13696/day/32
www.bible.com/reading-plans/3797/day/3
www.bible.com/reading-plans/3797/day/2
www.bible.com/reading-plans/13696/day/29
www.bible.com/reading-plans/3797/day/1
www.bible.com/reading-plans/13696/day/28
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 