Brought back

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 126:1-6

TO CHEW ON: "When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion
We were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing." Psalm 126:1-2

It's doubtful whether most of us will experience the joy of a return from physical exile like the Psalm-writer describes here. But we do know other kinds of captivity—the prison of sickness, the pain of alienation from family members and friends, the feeling of being estranged from God…

When we come down to it, our times of exile are meant to drive us to God in the first place or back to Him if we have wandered away. In a little study of  what it means to be "brought back" spiritually I discovered four things:

1. Exile from God is called backsliding. Sin and neglecting to follow God's rules frequently led to actual exile in the OT. When writing about backsliding, the Bible writers often refer to it as an illness that needs healing - Isaiah 54:15, 18; Jeremiah 3:22; Hosea 14:4.

2. God is the One who instigates and does the restoring (Psalm 23:3). One of the things He does is deal with our sin (Micah 7:19) so that His anger toward us is placated (Psalm 84:5).

3. He also uses people in the restoration process. Paul, with the language of childbirth, describes his work of restoration among the Galatians (Galatians 4:19). He also enlists lay people to help restore those who have fallen into sin (Galatians 6:10).

4. Restoration is a party! Look at the story of the Prodigal Son - Luke 15:22-24;32. David prays for restored joy after confessing his sin with Bathsheba - Psalm 51:12. The people in our psalm are in a pinch-me-is-this-really-happening? state of ecstasy, their mouths filled with laughter, their tongues with singing.

Do we find ourselves in exile? If we are, let's respond to God who wants us back. He will restore us spiritually and has the power to restore to us other things as well (like health and relationships - Joel 2:12-14; 25).

PRAYER: Dear God, the joy of restoration in these verses is palpable.  I pray that You will bring back those who read here from whatever exile they are in and restore that joy. Amen.

MORE: Vagabonds by Stuart Townend

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent.

The liturgy today begins with this collect prayer:

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. 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.

Pinch me - is this really happening?

He is risen! He is risen indeed! (An Easter coloring page) - Image: pixabay.com

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Luke 24:1-12

TO CHEW ON: “And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” Luke 24:11

Joanna  woke before it was light. Her first moments in the sweet forgetfulness of just-waking were pleasant. But then the heavy sense of something wrong returned. Oh yes. Jesus, her rabbi, friend and hero, was dead (Luke 8:1-3). 

Ugly scenes replayed in her memory: Word that Jesus had been arrested. The terrifying bloodthirsty shouts of the mob. Jesus bruised, bloody and half-naked, dragging His cross through the city. Soldiers nailing Him to the wood and hoisting the structure upright on Golgotha. Hours hanging there. The uncanny darkness. His last agony-filled cries. His last labored breath. Dead.

Now she disentangled herself from her coverings. It was early but their errand demanded the cover of pre-dawn darkness. Dressed, she picked up the bundle of embalming spices and hurried out to meet the others at the appointed place.

Their discussion of their oversight in forgetting to bring someone to roll away the heavy stone from the tomb entrance stopped as the site came into view. The mouth of the grave was black – open. What? Who?

They went in. No body. Instead, two men in shining clothes. Their words – “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but is risen!” – it took a while for them to sink in. It couldn’t be, could it?

Incredulous and filled with questions they returned to the others with the news of what they had seen and heard. Some recalled His predictions of just this happening. Others were suspicious of the Jews and the Romans. It took hours, days and numerous post-death appearances by Jesus before they were all convinced He really had risen.

The disciples’ reluctance to accept this incredible good news shouldn’t surprise us. For Jesus’ death and resurrection had changed everything – and it takes a while to recast paradigms and rebuild frames of reference. Now His teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven took on a new significance. His explanations of who He was and what He had come to accomplish began to make sense. He was a triumphant king, but in an altogether different way than they had expected Him to be. He had paid the price for sin. He had conquered death.

Joanna probably awoke the next morning – and the next and the next – with the sense you and I feel on the morning after our favorite team has won the Stanley Cup, or the World Series, or the Brier or the Scotties, or our favorite athlete has won a gold medal at the Olympics, or we had just successfully birthed (after months of anticipation, and hours of painful labor) a baby!

PRAYER: Thank You, Jesus, for all that Your death and resurrection accomplished for the world – and for me. Please give me a greater appreciation for their meaning and significance. Amen.


MORE: “See What a Morning (Resurrection Hymn)” Stuart Townend



Today the church celebrates Easter. Ponder and enjoy the liturgy for Easter.

Collect that begins the service:

"O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. 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.

Of shepherds and sheep

TODAY’S SPECIAL: John 10:1-18

TO CHEW ON: “ 'I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep…. I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep and am known by my own.'” John 10:11,14

I find few passages in the Bible more comforting than the shepherd and sheep ones. Of those, John 10 where Jesus describes Himself as the good shepherd ranks right up there with Psalm 23. Let’s look at this first half of John 10 to see what we can discover about our divine shepherd.

1. Jesus, our shepherd, has a legitimate claim to us (John 10:1-3). The flock’s real shepherd doesn’t need to sneak into the sheepfold to get access to the sheep or convince them to follow him. They are his possession. He can come through the door and relate openly to then. As our spiritual shepherd, Jesus bought the rights to us when He died and paid our ransom. He is our rightful owner. Of course it’s up to us to decide if we want Him to shepherd us, or not.

2. A good shepherd knows his sheep intimately, inside and out, and by name (John 10:3-5). The sheep recognize his voice and trust him enough to follow. This is how well Jesus knows us. He is trustworthy and we can follow Him with confidence.

3. Jesus calls himself the door of the sheep (John 10:7-9).  I remember years ago a Sunday School teacher telling how a shepherd would station himself at the door of the sheepfold, place his staff across the entry, and watch/count as each sheep bounded over his staff, into the fold. Describing himself as the door is Jesus’ picturesque way of telling us, we come to God through Him; there is no other way (John 14:6).

4. Jesus has good intentions toward His sheep (John 10:10. He said: “ 'I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly' ” [abundantly: perissos = superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus over and above, more than enough profuse, over the ordinary, more than sufficient].

5. Jesus is a good shepherd (John 10:11-15) He says that several times, and we get the message: there are bad shepherds. Just before Jesus launched into this teaching, he was talking to the Pharisees. He called them blind leaders (John 9:39-41). Here He describes bad shepherds as hirelings. They lead because it’s their paid job. But when things get tough, they scatter and leave the sheep defenseless. The intention of some false shepherds is to actually steal, kill and destroy the sheep. Jesus is not like that. He has gone to the extent of giving His life for His sheep.

6. The shepherd and sheep share a deep and lasting relationship (John 10:14-15).

“As the Father knew the Son and loved him, so Christ knows his sheep, and has a watchful tender eye upon them. As the Son knew the Father, loved and obeyed Him, so believers know Christ.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary – Zondervan, 1961, p. 1564.

Is Jesus your shepherd? Do you recognize His voice? Do you obey – knowing that His intentions toward you are only good. Spend some time today thinking of Jesus as your shepherd and what kind of a sheep you are.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to follow you as a sheep follows the shepherd he loves and trusts. Help me to be a good shepherd to the people who look to me for leadership. Amen.

MORE: “The Lord’s My Shepherd” (Stuart Townend version)

Prayer—it could change your whole day

"Jesus in prayer" by Alexandre Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Mark 1:29-45

TO CHEW ON: "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Mark 1:35

We can learn so much about prayer from what we see Jesus do in this one verse.

• "Now in the morning..."

Jesus started the day with prayer. Whether one is a lark or an owl, we all start our day after a time of sleep. For most people this is the morning. Prayer was Jesus' first activity on getting out of bed.

• "... having risen a long while before daylight ..."

He got up extra early to pray. Was something troubling Him that He couldn't sleep? Whether that was the cause for His early waking or He knew that that would be the only time He would be free to pray, on this particular day (and others) prayer was more important to Jesus than sleep (see Luke 6:12).

• "... He went out and departed to a solitary place;"

For Jesus that meant physically removing Himself from the presence of others to a place that was deserted, remote, and where He was alone with God. We can't all do that literally. And so we must be creative in finding our solitary place. Jesus talked about praying behind a shut door to "Your Father who is in the secret place" - Matthew 6:6. For young moms with little ones, for example, the shut door might be a few moments spent alone in the bathroom or, as it was for Susanna Wesley, behind an apron.

• "....and there He prayed."

[Pray: To address prayers to a deity; To make earnest request or entreaty; to address by means of prayers; to ask, earnestly entreat.]

• His prayers made a difference to the day's activity - Mark 1:36-38.

We don't know exactly what Jesus prayed. But His decisiveness later when He insisted they go to the next towns instead of returning to Capernaum may have been a result of His time in prayer. When Simon found Him and told Him, "Everyone is looking for You," Jesus knew  what was to be next, and it wasn't going to be dictated by what the crowds wanted. His agenda had, no doubt, been influenced by the time He had spent with God in prayer.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to realize the importance of prayer to each day's activities. Help me to view prayer not only as asking, but as a time of needed togetherness with You, when I can receive Your perspective on the day ahead. Amen.

MORE: "Christ be in My Waking" - Stuart Townend



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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.

Looking for mercy

TODAY' SPECIAL: Psalm 122:1-123:4

TO CHEW ON: "Behold as the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters,

As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,

So our eyes look to the Lord our God,

Until He has mercy on us." Psalm 123:2

I've always liked this picturesque little verse, reading it as servants keeping an eye on the master for the next command. But on a close look today, I see that that's not what the servant is waiting for at all. Rather, he or she is waiting, looking up, hoping for mercy

[Mercy (chanan) means to be gracious, show pity, favour.

In English mercy is defined as kind or compassionate treatment of an offender, adversary, prisoner etc. in one's power; compassion where severity is expected or deserved.]

This request for mercy from the lips of man to God—from our own lips—reminds us of who God is and who we are. Eugene Peterson comments on this psalm and the stance of the person praying:

"The person of faith looks up to God, not at him or down on him. The servant assumes a certain posture, a stance. If he or she fails to take that posture, attentive responsiveness to the master's commands will be hard" - Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, p. 61.

The definition of mercy reminds us of why it is only realistic to take that low, looking-up posture: because we are people who deserve and, except for Jesus and His substitutionary death for us, expect severity.

It's easy to get in the 'ordering God around' mode in our prayers. This little psalm reminds us of who we are and what our realistic posture before God is. And yet, because He is good, this grovelling for mercy is not fear-filled but optimistic. Peterson again:

"In obedience we pray 'Mercy!' instead of 'Give us what we want. We prayer 'Mercy!' and not 'Reward us for our goodness so our neighbors will acknowledge our superiority." We pray "Mercy!" and not "Punish us for our badness so we will feel better.' We pray 'Mercy!' and not 'Be nice to us because we have been such good people.'


We live under the mercy. God does not treat us as alien others, lining us up so that he can evaluate our competence or our usefulness or our worth. He rules, guides, commands, loves us as children whose destinies he carries in his heart" - Peterson, Ibid., p. 64.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this reminder of my realistic position before You. Thank You for Your mercy that looks on me with soft, compassionate eyes, instead of with the condemnation I deserve. Help me to extend Your mercy to others. Amen.

MORE: Kyrie Eleison (As We Come Before You) by Stuart Townend & Keith Getty


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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.

This can't be happening!

Banner from The Children's Friend - Part 5

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Luke 24:1-12

TO CHEW ON: “And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” Luke 24:11

Joanna  woke before it was light. Her first moments in the sweet forgetfulness of just-waking were pleasant. But then the heavy sense of something wrong returned. Oh yes. Jesus, her rabbi, friend and hero, was dead.

Ugly scenes replayed in her memory: Word that Jesus had been arrested. The terrifying bloodthirsty shouts of the mob. Jesus bruised, bloody and half-naked, dragging His cross through the city. Soldiers nailing Him to the wood and hoisting the structure upright on Golgotha. Hours hanging there. The uncanny darkness. His last agony-filled cries. His last labored breath. Dead.

Now she untangled herself from her coverings. It was early but their errand demanded the cover of pre-dawn darkness. She dressed then picked up the bundle of embalming spices and hurried out to meet the others at the appointed place.

Their discussion of their oversight to bring someone to roll away the heavy stone from the tomb entrance stopped as the site came into view. The mouth of the grave was black–open. What? Who?

They went in. No body. Instead, two men in shining clothes. Their words–“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but is risen!”– t took a while for them to sink in. It couldn’t be, could it?

Incredulous and filled with questions they returned to the others with the news of what they had seen and heard. Some recalled His predictions of just this happening. Others were suspicious of the Jews and the Romans. It took hours, days and numerous post-death appearances by Jesus before they were all convinced He really had risen.

The disciples’ reluctance to accept this incredible good news shouldn’t surprise us. For Jesus’ death and resurrection had changed everything – and it takes a while to recast paradigms and rebuild frames of reference. Now His teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven took on a new significance. His explanations of who He was and what He had come to accomplish began to make sense. He was a triumphant king, but in an altogether different way than they had expected Him to be. He had paid the price for sin. He had conquered death.

Joanna probably awoke the next morning – and the next and the next – with the sense you and I would feel on the morning after our favorite team had won the Stanley Cup, or the World Series, or the Brier or the Scotties, or we had just successfully birthed (after months of anticipation, and hours of painful labor) a baby!

PRAYER: Thank You, Jesus, for all that Your death and resurrection accomplished for the world – and for me. Please give me a greater appreciation for their meaning and significance. Amen.

MORE:  “See What a Morning (Resurrection Hymn)” Stuart Townend

Today the church celebrates Easter. Ponder and enjoy the liturgy for Easter.

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

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

New things

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 43:1-21

TO CHEW ON: "Do not remember the former things
Nor consider the things of old
Behold I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:18-19


"A road in the wilderness … rivers in the desert"? Highly unusual. Even impossible?

That's what God is saying here: I can and will do the unusual, the impossible in the process of buying you back—redeeming you.

Israel has lots of impossible already in her history. Isaiah alludes to some of those things.

• "When you pass through the waters … through the rivers…" the people might recall their miraculous passages through the Red Sea and the Jordan River (Exodus 14:10-30; Joshua 3&4).

• "I gave Egypt for your ransom…" would remind them of the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt (Exodus 12:13,23-28).

• "Who brings forth the chariot and horse … they are quenched … extinguished" would bring back the story of the Egyptians coming to reclaim their once-slaves and how they drowned in the Red Sea (Exodus 14:23-30).

Some of the things Isaiah speaks were certainly prophetic to the people of his time.

• "When you walk through the fire, you shall not burn" reminds us of Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, something that hadn't yet happened when Isaiah wrote these words (Daniel 3:1-25).

• "Bring My sons from afar, My daughters from the ends of the earth" reminds us of the Jews and their various returns from exile, as lately as Israel now resettling her land after millennia of disbursement.

All that to say, God's program of redemption is not stymied by anything.

I take this as encouragement to keep praying for straying loved ones, the spread of the gospel in my community and country, the fulfillment of God's agenda globally.

And in many ways we see 'impossible' things happening before our eyes. Who would have dreamed, fifteen to twenty years ago, of a system whereby people all over the planet could communicate almost simultaneously (the internet)? Talk about a means of fulfilling Jesus' words in Matthew 24:14 - "And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

I wonder what other new things God still has up His sleeve!

PRAYER: Dear God, You made the world and its systems, so of course nothing is impossible to You. Help me to live in the truth of that. Amen.


MORE: Who Paints the Skies - Stuart Townend

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