Prepare to be surprised

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 19-20; Psalm 90

TO CHEW ON: " ' But many who are first will be last, and the last first.' " Matthew 19:30


Again and again Jesus reminds His disciples that the kingdom of heaven is characterized by reversal. That's the word the Thompson Chain Bible uses to head a section that traces the kinds of reversals taught and illustrated in the Bible.

[Reverse: Adjective: having a contrary or opposite direction or character, order etc., turned backward. Noun: that which is directly opposite or contrary; a change to an opposite position, direction, state. Verb: to turn upside down, inside out, to turn in an opposite direction - Funk & Wagnall's Dictionary.]

- God reverses fortunes - Psalm 75:7; 107:41; "…Nothing shall remain the same…" Ezekiel 21:26.

- God hates pride. The proud person is a target for reversal - Psalm 147:6.

- God can remove the life props we make for ourselves - Isaiah 22:25. He can destroy the things we have accomplished and in which we trust: "The lofty city; He lays it low…" - Isaiah 26:5.

- God can bring down rulers - Isaiah 40:23; Luke 1:52. Nebuchadnezzar is an example of this, when he goes from being a proud king to a mentally deranged "beast" - Daniel 4:28-33.

- God sees the poor, neglected by the rich and reverses their state - Luke 6:25; 16:25.

- On the other hand, He also rewards good stewardship with more, that is, gives more to the person who already has while taking away from the one who has little - Matthew 25:29.

- Our expectations will be challenged. Over and over we hear Jesus say: " 'The last shall be first, the first last' " - Matthew 19:30; 20:16; Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30.


Some thoughts we can take from this into our day:

1. God hates pride. When we give ourselves credit for what we have and get puffed over what we've done, we set ourselves up for reversal.

2. The material things in which we put our confidence aren't as trustworthy as we think.

3. The world's rulers, those we love or hate, follow or resist, admire or fear, are targets for God's reversal. Let's remember that as we pray for our nation and the world.
 
4. We are responsible to be good stewards of what we have, whether it's much or little.

5. Knowing all the above, we'll probably still be surprised when, someday, we stand before God and see things as they really are.



PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to live in the upside down, back-to-front paradigm of the kingdom of heaven while I'm here on earth. Amen.


PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 90

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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 counterintuitive Be-Attitudes

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 5-6; Psalm 83

TO CHEW ON: "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

The seven verses at the beginning of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-10) are called the "Beatitudes." The word comes the Latin word beatitudo. So much for my fancy that beatitudes was a modern word grafted together from be and attitudes, i.e. attitudes worth assimilating into one's state of being. [Beatitudo means blessedness from beatus - happy.]

On looking over the beatitudes, it strikes me that at least four are states which we would not readily seek out.

• It's not trendy to be "'poor in spirit'" (Matthew 5:3)— "… those who recognize their spiritual poverty and, casting aside all self-sufficiency, seek God's grace" - Lyle Story, commentary on Matthew, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1296.

• Who wants to "'mourn'" (Matthew 5:4)?  Though our commenter assures us this doesn't refer to being bereaved but to  "… those who experience the sorrow of repentance" - Ibid.

• We readily equate "meek" with "weak (Matthew 5:5) though again our commenter disabuses us of that notion, defining "'meek'" as "…controlled strength. The word carries the idea of humility and self-discipline" - Ibid.

• Finally, do any of us relish the thought of persecution (Matthew 5:10)?

Our reading today reminds me again of how humanly unintuitive the Kingdom of Heaven is. Accustomed to operating in the natural we would hardly equate blessedness or a state of happiness with a majority of the beatitude qualities.

Two things come to mind:

1. We can't trust our instincts to pilot us to a place of God's blessing. Jesus said, "'My kingdom is not of this world.'" He said this as He stood meek before a puzzled Pilate. He went on to elaborate on his counterintuitive behaviour: "'If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here'" - John 18:36.  

2. It's only as we familiarize ourselves with the Bible that we will know what Kingdom of Heaven principles are, and as we submit to them will experience the happy blessedness and that the beatitudes promise.

PRAYER: Dear God please help me to accept my own poverty of spirit. Please infuse me with a hunger and thirst for righteousness as I seek, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to incorporate these be-attitudes into my life. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY Psalm 83

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Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotes are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Practical piety

Shopping carts of the homeless - Photo V. N.

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Zechariah 5-8; Psalm 61

TO CHEW ON: "Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts." Zechariah 7:12


The people's representatives Sherezer, Regem-Melech, and his men came to the temple priests with a question: "Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?"

It is likely that they were inquiring about commemorating the destruction of the temple in 587 B.C. (according to the writer of my Bible's study notes, D.W. Shibley - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1255).

God's message back to them through Zechariah may have come as a surprise. It contained no congratulations for their past piety. Instead, it pointed out things they had left undone: practicing true justice, showing mercy and compassion, treating widows and orphans well, and acting with integrity toward their neighbors (Zechariah 7:9,10).

These lacks, God said, were proof of the actual condition of their hearts—stubborn, refusing to hear, and hard ("hearts like flint") toward what really mattered to God (Zechariah 7:11,12).

I think there is a warning in this vignette for us too. We also easily reassure ourselves with spiritual activities and practices even while we may be glossing over the hard but practical aspects of obedience and what it means to love God—that is, to love our human brothers and sisters. Often our lack of love comes out in how we treat the poorest.

For me right now, I think of the homeless that trek the streets of my town. For the last few years I've seen them outside, summer through winter. The places they call home remind me of the tent city ghettos I've seen in the photos of faraway cities. I must admit these scenes stir up mixed feelings in me... not all of them positive.

I often ask myself—how do I show justice, mercy, and compassion to these, whose problems are complex (mental illness, addiction, poverty)? Is our household doing enough by supporting the local Salvation Army and the home missions arm of our church? May God never have to say to us (to me) "they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders and stopped their ears… yes, they made their hearts like flint."

PRAYER: Dear Father, I bring to You the homeless and poor in my neighborhood. Please give me creative ideas of how to show mercy and compassion to them. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 61

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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.

Ancient food bank

"Gleaning" by Arthur Hughes

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Leviticus 21-23; Psalm 37

TO CHEW ON: "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor: I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 23:22


God makes no secret of the fact He is for the poor, pities the poor, and wants those that identify with Him to defend and help the poor. In today's reading we have one way people could do that: by harvesting carelessly, making sure there was something left for gleaners. Then, one year in every seven, they were to let fields lie fallow, leaving the entire volunteer crop for the poor (Exodus 23:11).

Here are a few other pro-poor policies and attitudes found in the Bible:

• A relative should be allowed to redeem a poor person's possession (Leviticus 25:25).

• The rich were not to turn away as in ignore or grow calloused toward the poor person's plight (Deuteronomy 15:7).

• The person holding the poor person's pledge (or down-payment) was not to keep it overnight (Deuteronomy 24:12). (Perhaps because the pledge would be something the person needed for their very health or well-being, like their cloak for warmth).

The results and rewards of helping the poor also show God's sympathetic heart. toward them. The person helping the poor:

1. is called "blessed" (Psalm 41:1) and "happy" (Proverbs 14:21).
2. is loaning to the Lord (Proverbs 19:17).
3. will get the wealth of those who take advantage of the poor (Proverbs 28:7).
4. won't lack (Proverbs 28:27).
5. will find their generosity helps them to follow Jesus in discipleship that readily abandons all to Him (Matthew 19:21).

God's attitude toward the poor prompts us to take a long hard look at our own attitudes. Do we avoid going to places where the poor will approach us? Do we "hide our eyes" from the panhandler, the raggy man seated outside Safeway beside his coin pot, the dusty woman pushing her grocery cart of blankets and bottles (Proverbs 28:27)?

It might be a good idea to settle on a strategy of sharing with the poor. Some ways that come to mind:

• Give regularly to organizations that help the poor and homeless.

• I read of someone who, when approached by a beggar, empties his pockets, giving him/her all the cash he is carrying at the time.

• I heard of someone else who designates a monthly sum of money to give away to the poor. He gives it as the needs/requests come.

How do you help the poor?

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your tender heart toward the poor. Help me to have Your attitude. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 37


MORE: The flip side.

The flip side of being a helper of the poor is being a helpee, that is, the poor person needing help. Most of the poor are not lazy deadbeats at all, but people who for one reason or another are needy.

Todd Burpo, author of Heaven is for Real found himself in that position when his four-year-old son became deathly ill. Here are his words describing what it felt like to need help:

"... pastors and their families are usually most comfortable in the role of 'helper,' not 'helpee.' Sonja and I had always been the ones who visited the sick, brought the meals, cared for others' kids in times of need. We were adamantly self-reliant—maybe in retrospect, to the point of being prideful. But that gruelling stint in the hospital snapped our pride like a dry twig and taught us how to be humble enough to accept help from other people, physically, emotionally, and financially" - Todd Burpo, Heaven is for Real, p. 153.

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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.

No answer!

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Micah 3:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "Then they will cry to the Lord
But He will not hear them;
He will even hide His face from them at that time,
Because they have been evil in their deeds....
So the seers shall be ashamed
And the diviners abashed
Indeed they shall all cover their lips
for there is no answer from God." Micah 3:4,7


What a desperate feeling—to pray and not be heard, to expect and wait for an answer and none comes. Micah's denouncement on his contemporary prophets reminds me of Israel's first king. Saul found himself in this very predicament. After the prophet Samuel died and he faced the Philistine army, he cried out to God in desperation himself but "...the Lord did not answer him..."  2 Samuel 28:6. He felt driven to seek an answer from a witch and discovered his sealed fate (read the whole story in 2 Samuel 28:1-25).

The Bible gives some clues as to why we might pray and not get an answer:

• We have been disobedient - Deuteronomy 1:42-45.

• We are holding onto sin - Psalm 66:18.

• We have ignored God's rebuke and been indifferent to Him - Proverbs 1:23-28.

• Have have been callous toward the poor - Proverbs 21:13.

• We have despised God's laws - Proverbs 28:9.

• We have blood on our hands - Isaiah 1:15.

• We are living in sin - Isaiah 59:2 and Micah 3:4.

• We have stubbornly refused to listen to God's words in the past - Zechariah 7:11-13.

• We waver and are double-minded, asking with a doubting attitude - James 1:6-8.

• We ask with self-indulgent motives - James 4:3.

If we have been praying but the heavens seem like brass, perhaps we should examine our hearts in the light of the above to see if any of them describe us.

PRAYER: Dear God, please shine the light of Your word on my heart. Show me where my attitudes and actions have blocked the answer to my prayers. Amen.

MORE: Unanswered prayer quotes

"When He grants our prayers,
it is because He loves us.
When He does not, it is also
because He loves us." - O. Hallesby

"If the request is wrong, God says, 'No.'
If the timing is wrong, God says, 'Slow.'
If you are wrong, God says, 'Grow.'
But if the request is right, the timing is right
and you are right, God says, 'Go!'" - Anonymous

"God has not always answered my prayers.
If He had, I would have married the wrong man—several times!" - Ruth Bell Graham

All quotes from Prayer Points, compiled by Randall D. Roth, pp. 196, 197.

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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 heart for the poor

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Micah 2:1-13

TO CHEW ON: "You who are named the house of Jacob,
Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted?
Are these His doings?
Do not my words do good
To him who walks uprightly?" - Micah 2:7

From Micah's scoldings we begin to understand the extent of Judah's sin. Not only were the people guilty of idolatry but also injustice.

Micah paints the picture of someone lying awake at night, conniving how he can add to his property and in the morning enacting that plan (Micah 2:1,2). Instead of protecting society's most vulnerable, the powerful act like returning warriors as they ruthlessly strip their trusting neighbours of life's essentials and evict women (probably widows) and their children from their homes (Micah 2:8,9).

If there's one thing God hates, it's injustice to the poor, the alien, and the helpless. His passion for the vulnerable comes out again and again in the Bible, no less here in Micah's condemning words: "Arise and depart for this is not your rest." In plain English: "Those who had removed others from a restful life would be removed themselves because they had defiled God's land with their sinfulness" - Willard S. Elijahson's commentary on Micah, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1206.

At this time of year, when we tend to focus on ourselves and the upcoming Advent season and Christmas celebration, let's not neglect to remember the poor. How might we do that?

• Put money in the Salvation Army kettles when they make their appearance in December. Or volunteer to man a kettle for a few hours (it's probably not too soon to contact them now and arrange to be a volunteer in December).

• Take part in church and community initiatives that help the poor (collecting toys and food for special Christmas hampers, contributing to Christmas funds like our local Christmas Bureau).

• Donate to the local foodbank (grocery items or money).

• Welcome the poor when they come to church and perhaps invite them for a meal to get to know them.

• Pray for wisdom when panhandlers and beggars approach on the street asking for money. Consider buying them a meal instead of giving cash.

• Volunteer to help out with Christmas dinner events served to the poor and homeless (locally Union Gospel Mission serves an annual Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners).

• Give money in your loved one's name to World Vision or other organizations that offer proxy gifts to impoverished peoples in the world, instead of lavishing on each other gifts we really don't need.  (Browse the World Vision Gift Catalogue)

PRAYER: Dear God, please give me Your heart for the poor and unfortunate. Help me to be obedient when I sense You stirring me to love in practical ways. 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.

Fasting that pleases God

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 58:1-14

TO CHEW ON: "If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then…" - Isaiah 58:10.

What activities give you a sense of relief that you've done your "duty" to God? Regular church attendance? Going to the weekly prayer meeting? Reading your Bible every morning?

In our reading today Isaiah points out two religious activities the Israelites practice: fasting and Sabbath-keeping. But God is unimpressed. For while the people are doing these things, they are simultaneously violating what matters most to God.

In the area of fasting, it's not abstaining from food that pleases God when the people are living for themselves in other areas. Isaiah highlights their mistreatment of the poor living among them. They've oppressed some and ignored others. What "fast" would please God?

"Is not this the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness …
To share your bread with the hungry
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out…
When you see the naked, that you cover him… If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul…" - Isaiah 58:6,7,10 (emphases added).

This passage shows me up. We have the homeless living right among us setting up tents in the city parks and sleeping in doorways. We give to charities that support them by offering meals and beds for the night. But am I willing to bring to my house the poor who are cast out and extend my soul to the hungry? This sounds like a personal physical and emotional involvement.

The rewards of honouring God in both these areas are attractive (Isaiah 58:8-12, 14). In fact, I've taken Isaiah 58:11 as a verse to memorize and claim for my life. You may have done the same.

"The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail" - Isaiah 58:11.

But it has a context. I ask, do I, do we have any right to claim the blessings of the verdant fruitfulness of Isaiah 58:11 over our lives if we've ignored the conditions of Isaiah 58:6,7,10?

PRAYER: Dear Father, please help me to see practical ways I can express Your heart of love toward everyone, especially the homeless that live on my streets. 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.