Resisting the temptation of pat answers

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 35-37; Psalm 144

TO CHEW ON: "Then He tells them their work and their transgression—
That they have acted defiantly.
He also opens their ear to instruction,
And commands that they turn from iniquity." Job 36:9,10


In the beginning  of his fourth speech, Elihu lectures Job about a purpose of suffering that Job's other friends have left out: that it is instructive.

God despises no one, Elihu insists (Job 36:5). He doesn't preserve the life of the wicked (Job 36:6) despite what Job thinks (Job 21:7). Rather, God speaks to the righteous person through his or her suffering (Job 36:9) in that way alerting them to sin so they can repent (Job 36:10). If they do, prosperity will result (Job 36:11). If they don't, they are doomed (Job 36:12).

Though what Elihu says may contain general truth, his cut-and-dried explanation that this is why Job is suffering is inadequate. We see how wrong he is when he applies this to Job (Job 36:16-18). For as the heavenly prologue to all these speeches has told us, Job's suffering is neither punishment nor instruction but a demonstration and proof to Satan of Job's integrity (Job 2:1-6).

If Elihu is teaching us anything it is that we need to temper our defense of God, always leaving room for what we don't know. To us earth-bound humans there remains mystery in His actions or lack of them. Though the Bible is clear in its description of God and what He is like (love, omnipotent, omnipresent, righteous, just, holy etc.) we will not understand the outworking of these attributes in our lives and the lives of those we love, until we see Him face to face and "…know even as we are known" - 1 Corinthians 13:12.


PRAYER: Dear God, when I or my loved ones suffer, I long for explanations. Help me to avoid the temptation of giving myself and others pat answers because, frankly, I don't see what's happening behind the scenes and what You are accomplishing through these hard times. Amen.


PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 144 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When God feels absent

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 20-23; Psalm 140

TO CHEW ON: "Look, I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
But He knows the way that I take,
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." - Job 23:8-10





We left Job sitting in the ash heap, scraping his itchy, painful boils, mourning the loss of his children and possessions, and confused about why all this has happened. After sitting with him in silence for seven days, his three friends try to answer his question.

His friend Eliphaz thinks Job is suffering because he has sinned.

Bildad thinks he is a hypocrite.

Zophar condemns him for being verbose and presumptuous in his attempts to answer their accusations. *

Our reading today is one of Job's responses to his accusing friends. He, in effect, ignores all their finger-pointing and pleads his integrity. If only he could find God, God would "take note of" him. But God feels absent.

Still Job doesn't give up. Instead he puts into words his unswerving faith: "But He knows the way I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold" - Job 23:10.

Job does a number of things that we would do well to copy when we're going through trials:

1. He restates his belief that God is fair and is for him, even though it doesn't feel that way (Job 23:1-6).

2. He expresses the belief that God has a purpose for what is going on in his life even though He feels absent (Job 23:8-10).

3. He honours God with his statements of respect, trust and awe (Job 23:13-17).

The attitude he displays reminds me of the advice Jerry Bridges gives in his book Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts:

"Again, let me emphasize that trusting God does not mean we do not experience pain. It means we believe that God is at work through the occasion of our pain for our ultimate good. It means we work back through the Scriptures regarding His sovereignty, wisdom, and goodness, and ask Him to use those Scriptures to bring peace and comfort to our hearts. It means above all, that we do not sin against God by allowing distrustful and hard thoughts about Him to hold sway in our minds. It will often mean that we may have to say, 'God I don't understand, but I trust You'" - Jerry Bridges,  Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts, Kindle edition p. 214 (emphasis added)

I sure have far to go in this department! What about you?

PRAYER: Dear God, I can't tell how I would react in a tough situation like Job's—neither do I want to have to find out.  Please engrave Job's faith and confidence in You into my spirit so that I will be as solid as he was when troubles come to me, as I know they will. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 140


* Job summarized with help from "Introduction to Job," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, pp. 644, 645.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The climax of judgment

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TODAY'S SPECIAL: Amos 6-9; Psalm 127

TO CHEW ON: "Shall the land not tremble for this .... I will make the sun go down at noon .... I will turn your feasts into mourning .... I will send a famine on the land ... of hearing the word of the Lord." Amos 8:8,9,10,11

Amos's prophecy starts with a vision—a basket of summer fruit. As if the image of fruit (an understandable metaphor for consequences) isn't enough, apparently the Hebrew word for fruit (qayits) and end (qets) sound almost identical. And so we have a word-play pun underlining this vision's message of judgment.

The judgment was for Israel's secularism and greed. The prophet reports their talk: "'When will the New Moon be past, / That we may sell grain? / And the Sabbath / That we may trade wheat?'" - Amos 8:5.

The judgment was also for their deception and unfairness. He reminds of what they do: "Making the ephah small and the shekel large, / Falsifying the scales by deceit" - Amos 8:5. (The ephah was a measure of grain. Making it small was lowering the amount of it. The shekel was money. Making it large was increasing the price of whatever commodity was being sold.)

The "fruit" of this is interesting to see. I read the consequences as being delivered in increments.
- There are natural disasters - earthquakes and unnatural daytime darkness (coming from volcanic eruptions, perhaps or wildfires) - Amos 8:8,9.
- Life's milestones and even religious celebrations that are usually occasions of joy become times of lament. They are characterized by mourning, premature aging and disease, ("...baldness on every head ...") and tragedy ("... like mourning for an only son") - Amos 8:10.
- But the climax of judgment is God's silence that results in a desperate but futile search for Him - Amos 8:11,12:

“I’ll send a famine through the whole country.
    It won’t be food or water that’s lacking, but my Word.
People will drift from one end of the country to the other,
    roam to the north, wander to the east.
They’ll go anywhere, listen to anyone,    hoping to hear God’s Word—but they won’t hear it - Amos 8:11,12 MSG (emphasis added).

My questions: 

• Do we understand what a grave place we put ourselves into when we stop listening to God, ignore His invitation to eternal life and live in selfishness and disobedience—as a nation, as churches, as individuals?

• Do we understand God's ensuing silence as the climax of judgment and ultimate consequence that it is?

PRAYER: Dear Father, please help me to keep the channel of communication with You open.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 127

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Stay the waiting course

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 61-64; Psalm 120

TO CHEW ON: "For since the beginning of the world

Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,

Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,

Who acts for the one who waits for Him." Isaiah 64:5

Do you like to be kept waiting? I don't! But God, whose wisdom trumps our likes and dislikes, may often keep us waiting.

[Wait means 1) To stay or remain in expectation as of an anticipated action or event. 2) To be or remain in readiness. 3) To remain temporarily neglected or undone.]

Isn't that third definition apt? For when we are kept waiting, neglected is just how we feel.

The Bible is full of people who God kept waiting.

• Abraham and Sarah waited for an heir. When they got impatient and tried to achieve this their own way (through Abraham having Ishmael by Sarah's maid Hagar) they brought trouble into their lives.

• Samuel told King Saul to wait for him to offer a sacrifice before he (Saul) went to war. When members of his army started slipping away, Saul grew impatient and offered the sacrifice himself. Samuel arrived at the end of the ceremony and told Saul that because of his disobedience, the kingship would be taken from his family (1 Samuel 13:1-15).

• The disciples, on the other hand, waited in Jerusalem as Jesus had told them to, until the Holy Spirit descended. Then, indwelt with God's power, they "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).

Are you waiting for something today? Take heart from today's verse and words like David's in Psalm 37 as you stay the waiting course:

"Commit your way to the Lord

Trust also in Him

And He shall bring it to pass...

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him

Do not fret..." (Psalm 37:5-7).

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to commit my way to You and wait for You to "bring it to pass" and "act" for me. Amen


PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 120

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Piling on

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TODAY’S SPECIAL: Matthew 22:15-33

TO CHEW ON: “Then the pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher…’
“That same day the Sadducees came to Him and ask Him saying, “Teacher…’  Matthew 22:15,16,23.


Jesus was a huge challenge to the Jewish religious leaders. In our reading we see two groups of them trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him. Farther along in the same chapter, a lawyer posed another question - Matthew 22:35-36. Their persistence reminds me of “piling on” the quarterback in football (not that Jesus was ever down, though).

In fact, Jesus seemed to relish these interchanges. In an earlier one, He provoked the back-and-forth by the way He answered a lawyer. That man, after he interpreted Jesus’ words as condemning of him and his buddies said, in effect, ‘Surely you’re not speaking of us lawyers here’ (Luke 11:45). Jesus answered with an inflammatory speech of woes (Luke 11:46-52) that stirred up the scribes and Pharisees to fever pitch (Luke 11:53,54).

Our incident in Matthew 22 came near the end of Jesus’ life. And though He consistently bested His questioners in argument, so they were eventually silenced (Matthew 22:46), we know that He was still arrested, tried, convicted (on false testimony) and put to death.

Some observations we can make about Jesus’ handling of verbal testing:

• He didn’t avoid it even though it got Him into trouble - Luke 11:37-54.

• He was nimble in His responses. He seemed to have no formula.

- Sometimes He answered with Scripture - Mark 10:2-9.
- Sometimes He told stories - Luke 10:25-37.
- Sometimes He used objects - Mark 12:15-17.

• He knew when to speak and when to be silent. Several times He simply kept His mouth shut - Luke 20:1-8; John 8:6.

Jesus’ wisdom in dealing with His questioners, no matter how they piled on, never ceases to amaze me. The beautiful thing is, we can have it too, through the Holy Spirit. Jesus has promised it:

“'Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say’” - Luke 12:11,12 (emphasis added).

May we have the faith to hear and speak!

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to live so in tune with and empowered by Your Spirit that Your wisdom of words and deeds will be evident in my life. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God's conundrums

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TODAY’S SPECIAL: Matthew 11:2-15

TO CHEW ON: “And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ 
‘... blessed is he who is not offended because of Me’” Matthew 11:2,3,6


Why do you suppose John sent disciples to Jesus asking if He were the “Coming One” in the context of all the “works” he was hearing about? Do you suppose it was a subtle way of reminding Jesus—Hey, I’m here in prison. I could use one of those works right about now?

Jesus didn’t come through with a prison escape, though. Instead He made this curious statement: “'Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.'"

Why would John be offended (skandalizo from which we get scandalized: "to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey")?

Perhaps because what happened here (or didn’t happen) didn’t make sense to him?  The ways of God often don’t make sense to us either. The couple on the mission field have to return when their children are diagnosed with autism. At the peak of his career, a gifted musician gets cancer and dies. A young wife and mother suffers a stroke, becomes brain damaged, and needs 24-hour care in an institution.I’m sure you could name more. It’s quite possible you’ve experienced one of these God conundrums.

I love how Oswald Chambers riffs on this theme:

“We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God’s purpose, we are taken up into God’s purpose without any consciousness at all” - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, August 3 reading).

“As long as you think there is something in you He cannot choose you because you have ends of your own to serve; but if you have let Him bring you to the end of your self-sufficiency, then He can choose you to go with Him to Jerusalem, and that will mean the fulfillment of purposes which He does not discuss with you” - Chambers, Op. Cit, August 4 reading.

“His call is to be in comradeship with Himself for His own purposes… If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the leisureliness which ought to characterize the children of God” - Chambers, Op. Cit, August 5 reading (emphases added).

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to avoid becoming offended when Your ways don’t make sense to me. Teach me to trust You in every circumstance. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A real vs. religious relationship with God

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 1:1-2:4

TO CHEW ON: "O Lord how long shall I cry,
And you will not hear?
Even cry out to You, 'Violence!'
And You will not save." Habakkuk 1:1

The times felt God-forsaken to Habakkuk. Judah had backslidden from Josiah's reforms. Violence towards citizens and oppression of the poor were rampant. Babylonia was gaining strength and threatened to invade from the north while Egypt and Assyria eyed other borders. It was in this setting that the prophet Habakkuk—a Levite—cried out to God.

His part of the conversation in Habakkuk 1 is refreshingly honest.
- He pours out his frustrations with God who seems deaf and disinterested -  Habakkuk 1:1.

- He confronts God with what appear to be contradictions—if God is holy why doesn't He deal with evil - Habakkuk 1:13?

- He appeals to the order of creation, showing God how man, in his anarchy, is no better than the creatures - Habakkuk 1:14-17.

God's reply (Habakkuk 1:5-11) is delivered with the same feistiness as Habakkuk's questions:

"Look among the nations and watch—
Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days
Which you would not believe though it were told you" (Habakkuk 1:5).

Habakkuk is a good example of a man who has a genuine relationship with God. In her Truth-In-Action Through Habakkuk commentary, Leslyn Musch says:

"Habakkuk's transparent interchange with God models for us a real relationship rather than a religious one."

Musch makes these points about how to make ours similar:

• Ask God the honest questions of your heart.

• Understand that He can handle them.

• Draw close to Him through prayer.

• Ask to gain God's perspective on injustice.

• Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the deep things of God - 1 Corinthians 2:10-11.

Of God's reply she says:

• Expect the Lord to answer you.

• Approach God with an open heart.

• Lay down any preconceived ideas of how He will respond.

• Be ready to hear anything He desires to tell you.

- Leslyn Musch, Truth-In-Action-Through Habakkuk, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1229.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being big enough for any question. Help me to trust You when I don't understand and Your silence and inaction look like a contradiction of who You are. I want to be open to Your answers, however You send them. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When Wisdom is silent

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TODAY'S SPECIAL: Proverbs 1:20-33

TO CHEW ON: "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord."  Proverbs 1:28,29

Wisdom is speaking here. She addresses those who have turned their backs on their parent's instruction (Proverbs 1:8-9), got involved in crime (Proverbs 1:10-19), and persistently resisted her plea to go another way (Proverbs 1:20-25).

She warns, there will come a time when ignoring her—that is, refusing to choose the fear of God—will have consequences. One of them is wisdom's silence.

If we equate wisdom and the fear of God to God, we could say that indifference to God, ignoring His will as revealed in the Bible, is one of the reasons our prayers go unanswered.

James describes a similar frustration and God-silence:

"You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" - James 4:2-3.

If we are in a time when God seems silent, when it feels like He's ignoring us, maybe one of the things we should examine our lives for is who or what we've really been fearing (showing respect to, in awe of, conforming our lives to get the approval and praise of, running after). Is it God? Or something / someone else?


PRAYER: Dear God, please show me the deceitfulness of my own heart—so resourceful at sneaking in its own idols and pleasures. Help me to understand what the fear of You looks like in each situation. Amen

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Shades of remembering

Noah Leaving the Ark - from Religion in the Home (Part 1)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 8:1-22

TO CHEW ON: "Then God remembered Noah and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark." Genesis 8:1

Though Bible passages like Psalm 139 assure us that God doesn't ever forget us (Psalm 139:1-4,7), it sometimes feels like He does. Perhaps that's how Noah felt during those long uncertain months in the ark.

The Dictionary of Bible Themes (access through Biblegateway.com) reminds us that God always remembers:

• His covenant - Psalm 105:8
• His promises - Psalm 105:42.
• His people - Isaiah 49:15-16.

But He doesn't remember:

• Our sins  and lawless deeds - Hebrews 8:12.
• The old creation after He has created the new - Isaiah 65:17.

Perhaps a more important question for us to ask ourselves is, do we remember Him? We are to remember:

• God's person - Psalm 42:5-6.
• God's acts from the past - Isaiah 46:9.
• His wrath - Deuteronomy 8:18 (and 2 Peter 3:1-10 where Peter refers to the flood).
• God's commands - Psalm 103:17,18.
• Our responsibilities toward each other and especially towards the poor - Acts 20:35; Galatians 2:10; Hebrews 13:2-3.
• The death of Jesus - 1 Corinthians 11:24-28.

These remembrances are important because they lead to:

• Joy and singing - Psalm 13:5,6.
• Sorrow for sin and repentance - Matthew 5:23,24
• Understanding - Luke 24:6-8; John 15:20; 16:1-4; Acts 11:15-18.
• Hope for the future - Lamentations 3:21-24.

When it feels like God has forgotten us, let's remind ourselves, He hasn't. He is just as aware of us as He was of Noah during all those months in the ark. In the meantime, let's not forget Him.

PRAYER: Dear God help me to trust You are aware of me and my circumstances all the time—even when You are silent and feel absent. Amen.

MORE: The Silence of God - Andrew Peterson.

In this beautiful song, Andrew Peterson reminds us that even Jesus experienced the silence of God:

"And the Man of all sorrows, He never forgot
What sorrow is carried in the hearts that He bought.
So when questions may remain, the breaking does not ...
In the holy lonesome echo of the silence of God" - from "The Silence of God" by Andrew Peterson. 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Peter's prattle

The Transfiguration 
- Alexandre Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Mark 9:2-13

TO CHEW ON: "Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, 'Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"—because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid." Mark 9:5,6

Tradition says that the Gospel of Mark is actually Peter's version of the life of Jesus. ("The earliest witness to Marcan authorship stems from Papias bishop of the church at Hierapolis [about A.D. 135-140] .... Papias describes Mark as 'interpreter of Peter'" - J. Lyle Story, "Introduction to Mark," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1346).

That is borne out by the little aside we are focusing on today. It's as if Peter was recalling to Mark, his scribe, 'I remember saying this (about the tabernacles...) but I was just prattling, not knowing what I said or why I said it, because I was so frightened.'

The Bible talks about many kinds of speech. Peter's here might fall into the category of "vain words" of the sort spoken of in Job 16:3: "Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?"

What these words of Peter's illustrate is that sometimes it's better to say nothing than to fill the uncomfortable silence with proof of our ignorance. After the vision ended and the disciples were descending the mountain, Jesus said as much: "He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen till the Son of Man had risen from the dead" - Mark 9:9.

I think there are things that we would also be wise to hold our counsel about till we see them in their larger context. As the writer of Proverbs said: "Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue" - Proverbs 17:28

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to consider the necessity and appropriateness of my words before I say them. Help me to be comfortable with uncertainty, questions, silence. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Living with questions

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 37:1-24

TO CHEW ON: "God thunders marvelously with His voice;
He does great things which we cannot comprehend." Job 37:5

After Job's three elderly friends are done speaking, a younger man, Elihu, joins the conversation (Job 32-37). Our reading today is the end of Elihu's final speech. His argument (quoting from my Bible's Introduction to Job) is:

"... God is greater than any human being; therefore a person has no right or authority to require an explanation of Him. He argues that some things that God does are humanly incomprehensible. At the same time, Elihu suggests that God will speak if we will listen. His emphasis is on the attitude of the sufferer, that is, an attitude of humility allows God to intervene .... Elihu's appeal to Job is: 1] to have faith in God Himself rather than demand an explanation; 2] to change his attitude to one of humility" Charles E. Blair, Introduction to Job, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 645.

In our reading, Elihu refers to the mysteries of nature—the grandeur of thunder and lightning, the cycling of rain and snow, the capriciousness of clouds, the instinctive wisdom of animals in response to seasonal changes.

What strikes me about several of these speeches is how closely Job and his friends observe nature and the seasons. They attribute its enigmas and splendours to the mind and intention of God. In today's chapter Elihu describes them in glowing terms: "thunders marvelously .... great things .... wondrous works of God .... awesome majesty .... He is excellent in power."

So much of what they say still expresses our awe of these things.

But what about when nature does more than put on a show for us while we're watching from the safety of our homes? Because when hurricanes and tornadoes bring devastation and floods, when lightning sparks wildfires burning homes along with vast tracts of forest or grass, when earthquakes destroy communities forever we, along with Elihu, are also puzzled:

"He does great things which we cannot comprehend...

"He causes it to come
Whether for correction
Or for His land
Or for mercy" - Job 37:5,13.

Are there any answers to the theological and existential questions Job and his friends have been grappling with? Our consecutive readings in Job end here, but the Bible account continues with God's reply to Job (and his four friends) in Job 38:1-41:34. It's an answer well worth reading for our own lives.

PRAYER: Dear God, I find it uncomfortable to live with questions. Help me to wait for Your answers and to recognize them when they come. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Patience to wait for God's time

Moses and the burning bush - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Acts 7:17-38

TO CHEW ON: "'For he (Moses) supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. …"And now come, I will send you to Egypt."'" Acts 7:25, 34

 It's fascinating to get a glimpse into how Bible characters interpret Bible events. Here we see Stephen's version of the story of Moses.

He delves into Moses' mind a bit, adding a layer to the Exodus account of the same events (Exodus 2:11-15): "For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand…"

We can imagine young Moses, a Hebrew, raised by Pharaoh's daughter, mulling over why his life took the direction it did. There must be a reason. It must be to save his people. And so he decided to act on that conviction and the result was a murder committed and a 40-year detour herding sheep in the land of Midian.

But he was right in one thing. It was his destiny to free his countrymen. Only it would happen in God's time when, after forty years, God came to him with "'And now come, I will send you to Egypt.'"

In the first instance he sent himself and it was a disaster. But when God sent him, it was a success.

Do you you have a sense of mission or task that your life is to fulfill, but up till now nothing has fallen into place to bring it about? Let Moses' story be a caution sign to you and me not to force the issue by taking matters into our own hands. Rather, let's wait for God's "And now come, I will send you…"

PRAYER: Dear God I am often impatient wanting my life to fall into place in my own timing. Please help me to wait for Your initiative. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The silent treatment

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Amos 8:1-14

TO CHEW ON: "'Behold the days are coming,' says the Lord God, 'that I will send a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.'" Amos 8:11-12

Getting the silent treatment can be devastating. When a person who is a family member or friend refuses to talk to you, it doesn't take a lot of insight to know something is wrong. Such silences  over long periods of time almost ensure a broken relationship, or at least one that needs work.

In Amos 8, God warns that unless Israel changes her ways, she will soon get the silent treatment from Him. Though there were times when Bible characters felt God was silent for no reason they understood (like Job  and David) most of the time God's silences came as a result of sin.

God was silent, for example, when King Saul (who had been rejected as king because of his disobedience and rebellion) sought Him, after the death of Samuel. Saul became so desperate to hear from God, he went to a medium to raise Samuel's spirit so he would inquire of God for him (1 Samuel 28).

The Bible gives reasons why God is silent. He is silent when:
- we accommodate sin in our lives -- we are "cosy with evil" - Message (Psalm 66:18).
- we spurn wisdom and the fear of God (Proverbs 1:25-28).
- we ignore the needs of the poor (Proverbs 21:13)
- we serve other gods (idols) (Isaiah 57:13;  Ezekiel 14:3).
- we refuse to believe (James 1:6-7)
- we ask with selfish motives (James 4:3)

In Amos, God gave the people fair warning. He told them the reasons He would stop responding to them. They did business on the Sabbath, their trade was dishonest, and they continued to oppress the poor.

God's silence is not an end in itself, though. It is one way God uses to get us to come back to Him. Notice how desperate the people are when God is silent: they "run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord." I don't think it's a coincidence that it is a famine that eventually drives the prodigal son back home (Luke 15:14-19).

If God seems uncommunicative, let's search our hearts to see if they hold reasons for God's apparent silence. May that silence drive us back to Him.

PRAYER: Dear God, when You are silent, help me to search my heart. Point out things that offend You. Please speak to me again. Amen.

MORE: "Psalm 13 (How Long O Lord)" by Brian Doerksen

This song reminds us that even Jesus got God's silent treatment (when He became sin for us).

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

The silence of Jesus

"Christ Before Caiaphas" -  Matthias Stom

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 23:1-25

TO CHEW ON: "Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing." Luke 23:9

I always marvel at Jesus's silence. His silences really, for quite a few times He remained silent when I know I would have babbled on and on.

Isaiah predicted this silence:

"He was oppressed and He was afflicted.
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth" - Isaiah 53:7 (see also Isaiah 42:4).

Jesus sometimes ministered without words.

• When a herd of Jewish men brought to Him a woman caught in adultery, "… Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He didn't hear" - John 8:6.

• In the closing days of His life, He announced to His disciples: "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me" - John 14:30.

The story of His arrest and trials are taut with the tension of His silence:

• He was silent before the High Priest (Caiaphas) - Matthew 26:62-63.

• He answered Pilate's question: "Are you the King of the Jews?" with "It is as you say." But when the chief priests continued to level accusations at Him, He remained silent so that Pilate was amazed (Mark 15:2-5).

• He was silent in front of Herod - Luke 23:9.

Does the explanation of His silence to the disciples carry a clue about His wisdom in this, especially at the end of his life? Here is John 14:30 again, this time from the Amplified Bible:

 "I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me" (emphasis added).

Amos 5:13 speaks similar wisdom: "Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, for it is an evil time."

Perhaps we should consider silence more often. After we have explained ourselves, defended our position, made clear where we stand, instead of arguing and getting into verbal fisticuffs—silence? It is a form of passive resistance that is hard to counteract and may shield us from giving the devil that foothold that comes with self-justifying, angry and sometimes abusive words.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I need the wisdom to know when to speak and when to be silent. Please give me insights into this. Amen.

MORE: Maundy Thursday
Today the church celebrates Maundy Thursday, also called Holy Thursday or the Thursday before Easter. It is a day of special emphasis on the Last Supper. It may have got its name from the English king's practice of distributing "maundsor baskets" or "maundy purses" to the poor before attending the evening service.

["the term 'Maundy' comes in fact from the Latin mendicare, Old French mendier, and English maund, which as a verb means to beg and as a noun refers to a small basket held out by maunders as they maunded" - Wikipedia on Maundy Thursday]


Here is the collect that begins the Maundy Thursday liturgy

"Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

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Amplified Bible (Amp) - Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation  - Used with permission.

The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.