TODAY'S SPECIAL:Galatians 3-4; Psalm 6 TO CHEW ON: "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." Galatians 4:4,5
Kidnapping is a crime that strikes fear into a parent's heart. Though the demands for ransom that sometimes accompany kidnappings give a glimmer of hope, the stories of abduction victims never redeemed but found dead even after ransom was paid, are chilling (10 Unsolved Ransom Kidnappings).
God is a parent whose human children were, in a sense, abducted—kidnapped by Satan. As such they (we) were in bondage, not tied up in the trunk of a car or hidden in an out-building, but prisoners to Satan and his workings in circumstances and through our enemies, captive to our default setting of sin, to our inability to keep God's law, to the curse of sin on creation, and to death.
But, praise the Lord, our kidnapping has a happy ending. The ransom paid—Jesus' death on the cross—was effective. Because of it we are or can be redeemed from:
circumstances - Psalm 34:19-22.
enemies - Psalm 69:18.
the bondage and guilt of sin - Psalm 130:7,8.
the need to keep the law - Galatians 4:5.
And we look forward to a time when this ransom will effect the release of nature from the curse of sin (Romans 8:19-23), including death (Psalm 103:2-4).
Do we appreciate God's ransom—His Son Jesus become human for us, dying for us? Have we applied it personally to our own lives? Do we live by faith, as freed sons and daughters of the Father who has redeemed us?
PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus who laid down His life as a ransom for me. I no longer belong to Satan but to You. When I forget this, please remind me by Your Spirit that I am Your daughter—that You are my "Abba" - Daddy. Amen.
TO CHEW ON: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5
Isaiah 53:5 has to be one of the most moving verses in the Bible. In it we see God's Servant mutilated, stripped of any attractiveness, despised, rejected, and treated with utter revulsion as He bears sin. Not just someone else's sin, but "our sin."
Isaiah uses two words to describe sin: transgressions and iniquities.
["Transgressions - pesha means rebellion, transgression, trespass. Pesha comes from pasha which means to revolt, rebel, and trespass. … a trespass has to do with revolting against law, God or government and was a transgressing, that is, going b beyond established limits" - Dick Mills, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1072.]
[Iniquities - avon means evil, fault, sin, blame, moral crookedness and perversion.] It's the word that describes the inborn tendency to sin in which we are born: "Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" - Psalm 51:5.
Here we see My Servant—whom we believe was Jesus—taking the punishment for our rebellion, revolt, trespass, evil, and moral crookedness. He is chastised, beaten, and crucified to buy our peace. He bears our sins and intercedes for us, the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12).
With this act, not only is our penalty paid but we are healed. I believe this healing includes all aspects. Jesus' death purchased our healing from rebellious crookedness along with healing from physical diseases.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for taking the punishment for my sin, and making it possible for me to be healed. Help me to cooperate with Your Spirit to make possible healing from my rebellious tendencies. Amen. PSALM TO PRAY:Psalm 119:97-128
Which the mouth of the Lord will name." Isaiah 62:2
Whenever I read about a new name in the Bible, I think of Donna Smallenberg's painting by that title. In it a beautiful queen looks intently at a glowing white stone with an inscription on it. Smallenberg's inspiration for that painting came from Revelation 2 (Revelation 2:17) and Isaiah 62. She says of her depiction:
"This woman representing the overcoming church in Revelations 2 is given a white stone with a new name written on it. The white stone is symbolic of priestly revelation, the new name reveals her true calling and destiny. Isaiah 62 speaks of her shining like the dawn, of being a crown of beauty in the Lord's hand..."
What was her old name? "Forsaken." "Desolate" - Isaiah 62:4.
Her new name is "Hephzibah"—"My delight is in her," and "Beulah"—"married," and a "Holy People," "The Redeemed of the Lord," "Sought Out," and "A City Not forsaken" - Isaiah 62:4,12.
This new name promise is repeated in Revelation 3:12:
"He who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem... And I will write on him My new name."
Neil Anderson, in an appendix to the book The Bondage Breaker lists statements that summarize our identity in Christ—our new names. Below are a few from a much longer list. Let's ponder them today and thank God again for the wonderful thing He did when He sent Jesus to earth to adopt us and make us His own.
I am a new creation - 2 Corinthians 5:17.
I am a child of God - John 1:12.
I am a son/daughter of light not of darkness - 1 Thessalonians 5:5.
I am Christ's friend, chosen and appointed to bear His fruit - John 15:15,16.
I am part of the true vine, a channel of Christ's life - John 15:1,5.
I am God's workmanship—His handiwork - Ephesians 2:10.
I am one of God's living stones - 1 Peter 2:5.
I am a joint heir with Christ - Romans 8:17.
I am a citizen of heaven - Philippians 3:20, Ephesians 2:6.
PRAYER:Dear God, thank You that I am Yours and have a new identity in You. Help me to live true to the names You call me. Amen.
MORE: Our thanks back to God
In the last few days I've been listening to Robin Mark's 2009 Year of Grace CD while cooking dinner. One song I can't hear enough times is his rendition of "Greater the One." As we ponder Jesus' coming to earth as a baby and all His life means for us now (our new names and all the benefits of new life in Him), this song is the perfect response. Sing along with Robin Mark these words of appreciation and thankfulness to our beautiful Saviour.
TO CHEW ON: “A highway shall be there and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for other… But the redeemed shall walk there.” Isaiah 35:8,9
Glorious Chapter 35 of Isaiah falls at the end of Part One of Isaiah—a section titled in my Bible “Prophecy of Denunciation and Invitation.” It is definitely an invitation—a chapter of “Joy and Blessing to God’s People” - New Spirit Filled Life Bible - Introduction to Isaiah.
In it, nature has a party. The desert and the wilderness bloom. They take on the characteristics of the area’s beauty spots of Lebanon, Carmel and Sharon (Isaiah 35:1,2). It’s a time doctors are no longer needed, for the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the mute talk (Isaiah 35:5,6). Everything that is desolate comes alive (Isaiah 35:7). And there is a broad way back to God (Isaiah 35:8-10).
What stands out for me is a snippet from verse 9. After listing who will not walk on that highway (nothing unclean, no hungry wild beasts) is a statement of who will “But the redeemed shall walk there.” I like how the NIV shades it: “But only the redeemed walk there.”
[Redeemed - gawal: Ransom, redeem, repurchase, to set free by avenging or repaying. Refers to the custom of buying back something a person has lost through helplessness, poverty or violence… The biblical view of redemption is extremely wide for God has pledged to redeem the whole creation, which currently groans in bondage” - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 935.]
That’s what I see here—a redeemed creation (humans included) bought back and reset to the default of God’s original creation perfection.
This passage is for me an expression of longing and faith, the “already / not yet” that we live in, knowing Christ has already redeemed all by His death, but not yet seeing the completion of that redemption in real time. May it be soon!
PRAYER: Dear Father, I long for the day when these things come to pass. May it be soon. Until then, help me to be Your faithful servant in this fallen world, helping others find their way to You. Amen. MORE: Feast of St. Luke
Today the church celebrates the Feast of St. Luke the physician and gospel writer. The day’s liturgy begins with this Collect prayer:
Almighty God, who inspired your servant Luke the physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of your Son: Graciously continue in your Church this love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
"Fruit of the Spirit" wall hanging - Photo: V. Nesdoly
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Exodus 13:1-22 TO CHEW ON: “It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt.” Exodus 13:9
To help us remember the special days in our lives we use oral and written story-telling, paper and electronic calendars, eating and gift-giving. In today’s reading we see it’s altogether biblical to use concrete things as reminders of our history with God. God instructed the Israelites on this.
The ban on leaven each year at Passover was a reminder of the morning of their hurried exit from Egypt (Exodus 13:4-7).
They were to pass their story on to their children (Exodus 13:8).
And they were to solidify the fact that they were God’s people with an act that was even more radical. They were to redeem the firstborn males of their own families and animals (Exodus 13:1,11-15)—another reminder of the tenth plague, when the death angel killed the Egyptians’ firstborn sons and animals. (The redemption of the Israelites’ firstborn sons is described in Numbers 3:40-51.)
These memorials were to be as visible and obvious as wearing a reminder on a hand or forehead (Exodus 13:9).
Did God expect the people to literally wear such reminders? The Israelites took no chances. My Bible’s study notes on Exodus explain:
“The later Jewish practice of wearing phylacteries while praying is based on these verses. Phylacteries are two small leather boxes attached by leather straps, one to the left hand and one to the forehead of an Israelite. They contain passages of the law” J.C.Tollett, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 93.
We customarily remember birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and holidays—some religious, some secular (the stores don’t let us forget even if we’d want to!). Perhaps we could also put more emphasis on remembering episodes and milestones of our personal walk with God—spiritual birthdays, the date of our baptism, dates of significant answers to prayer, and foundational passages of our faith and practice.
Do you memorialize such things? How?
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for the stories in the Bible that have given me a record of Your dealings with humankind over thousands of years. Help me to carry it on as I remind myself of what’s important to You and recall and tell the stories of your activity in my life to my children and grandchildren. Amen.
TO CHEW ON: "And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, 'Now I will praise the Lord.' Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing." Genesis 29:35
Trickery ran in the family it seems. Just as Rebekah had set up Jacob to trick Isaac about his identity, so Laban, Rebekah's older brother, set up Leah to trick Jacob about her identity on his wedding night. I'm sure the irony wasn't lost on the groom.
Leah, who was probably a willing participant, ended up being the third wheel in this marriage—at least affection-wise. But not otherwise. For in the area of having babies, which mattered a lot in that culture, she conceived and birthed son after beautiful son for Jacob.
Her reaction to each is interesting:
- "Now my husband will love me," she said after Reuben, son #1.
- "Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also," she said after Simeon, son #2.
- "Now this time my husband will become attached to me," she said after Levi, #3.
- But after son #4, her focus shifted from her husband to God. "Now I will praise the Lord," she said and named the babyJudah which means 'praised.' Jacob later blessed Judah with the highest blessing of all his sons (Genesis 49:8-12). And indeed, King David and Jesus are descendants of Judah.
Some lessons from life we can take from Leah's story:
1. Our choices have consequences. They can last a lifetime.
2. We can praise God in spite of our circumstances—in our circumstances, as Leah did. After Judah's birth her focus was no longer on what, in the situation, she wanted to change, but on God.
3. God can bring good things out of bad. Unloved Leah was the mother of both Levi—the ancestor of Moses, Aaron and all Israel's priests, and Judah, the ancestor of David and Jesus. My Bible's study notes: "God's love for Leah is displayed in her becoming mother to the priestly and kingly tribes, Levi and Judah" - R. Russell Bixler, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 44.
One aspect of bringing good out of bad is conveyed by the word redemption. One of my favorite redemption passages underlines God's abilities here:
"So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And my people shall never be put to shame." - Joel 2:25,26
PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to consider my choices carefully, mindful of the consequences they hold. Help me to praise You in the middle of right now, whatever my right now holds. Thank You that You can redeem any situation. Amen.
Unless we've been kidnapped and held for ransom, being redeemed probably isn't something with which we have a lot of experience. A pawnshop is probably the closest modern redemption scenario we're familiar with.
People short of money bring their valuables to these businesses. They enter into a contract with the owner whereby in exchange for property (jewelry, say, or a pricey camera) the pawnshop owner lends them money. If they want their property back, they must return within the required amount of time and redeem or buy back that ring or camera by paying the money they borrowed plus interest (called a ransom). If they don't redeem on time, the pawnshop owner can sell their stuff and keep the proceeds for himself.
The theme of redemption goes through the Bible.
In Leviticus 25:23-55 God lays out for Israel the rules for physically redeeming property and slaves.
In the book of Ruth, Boaz was the relative who redeemed Naomi's land and in this way also secured Ruth his wife. In the spiritual sense redemption refers to people being delivered from enslavement to sin.
God's redemption of Jerusalem in our passage today has both natural and spiritual overtones. During Isaiah's time the Jewish people were constantly being harassed by neighbouring countries. Eventually Jerusalem fell to Babylon and its inhabitants were captured and taken away as exiles. They would be a people needing redemption.
But even before that, Jerusalem was a city that had fallen into serious spiritual and moral decline. The time of Isaiah is described in my Bible:
"Secret places of pagan worship were tolerated; the wealthy oppressed the poor; the women neglected their families in the quest of carnal pleasure, many of the priests and prophets became drunken men-pleasers...It was clear to Isaiah that ...judgment and captivity were inevitable for Judah, even as it was for Israel"- Nathaniel M. Van Cleave in the introduction to Isaiah, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 871.
And so Isaiah prophesies a time when God will redeem the city and again own it. It will be a time of joy, rejuvenation and comfort.
What significance does redemption have for you and me today?
1. Jesus is our ransom - Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18.
Jesus' death on our behalf pays the price for sin that our just God requires. This ransom is paid to God, not Satan.
"God's mercy ransoms men from God's justice" - Shedd (quoted by H. Thiessen in Lectures in Systematic Theology, p. 328.
2. Our sins are forgiven - Colossians 1:14.
3. We're adopted into God's family and are His children - Galatians 4:4-5.
4. We are free to live a new lifestyle where we:
glorify God in our bodies and spirits - 1 Corinthians 6:20.
are "...peculiarly His own, people who are eager and enthusiastic about [living a life that is good and filled with] beneficial deeds" - Titus 2:14 AMP.
need to be watchful that we don't again return to being slaves - 1 Corinthians 7:23
5. We have an eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15). We will receive it along with people of all generations from all parts of Earth - Revelation 5:9.
What an incredible gift of release! No wonder it is accompanied, in Isaiah, with joyful singing.
I ask myself, am I living like someone who has been redeemed, as God's possession, His child? Or am I practically still in the pawnshop of sinful habits, other peoples' opinions of me, my idea that I belong to myself and as a result continue to serve my own plans and agendas? Jesus has paid dearly to ransom me, you, all of us from these things. Let's live life as God's property, His redeemed, set-free kids.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for paying the price my sin required — death on the cross. Help me to life the free life You have for me as Your adopted chid.
I will pour out My Spirit in those days." Joel 2:28-29
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting," writes Luke in Acts 2."Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire and one sat upon each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" Acts 2:2-4.
Confusion, amazement, perplexity, marvelling, cynicism. These were some of the reactions of the onlooking crowd when they saw that first general outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Peter, though, knew exactly what was happening. He explained: "This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel." And then he quoted the prophecy in our focus verse today (Acts 2:17-21).
Joel's prophecy takes an abrupt positive turn in Joel 2:18. After repentance "THEN..." God pities, returns the land to productivity, changes the nation's reputation, "restores the years that the locust has eaten" and promises to "afterward" pour out His spirit in a lavish way.
In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came on only certain individuals to enable them to do the job God had for them to do. But Joel speaks of a new time when God says, "I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh..."
My Bible's footnotes on Joel point us to some of the significances of this event:
"Pour out" signifies great abundance, like deluges of rain on a parched land.
"All flesh" means every human category: gender, age, class. "Whatever Spirit-anointed ministry is available to sons is equally available to daughters" - Jerry Cook, notes on Joel, New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1166. "Menservants and maidservants" are slaves. "This was absolutely unprecedented. In the Old Testament there is not even one instance of a slave functioning as a prophet" New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1166.
This lavish Holy Spirit outpouring wasn't a one-time Pentecost event. Peter tells his listeners, "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call" Acts 2:39.
"I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten," prophesies Joel. "I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh...whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved..." What welcome words to the beleaguered Hebrews in Joel's time.
And they still have relevance to us today. Whether our locust years are a time of actual physical desolation or prodigal wandering, God can restore those stolen years and then make every day fresh and abundant with the Holy Spirit's presence.
PRAYER:Dear God, please help me to live in the extravagance of Your Spirit's fullness. Amen.
Charlie Hall has put the words of Joel 2 to music in the powerful song "Holy Visitation." Sung here by Rita Springer, it invokes the Spirit's coming... "Pour it out, pour it out, pour it out / Over Your sons and Your daughters..."
Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.
TO CHEW ON: "And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David." Ruth 4:17.
The story of Boaz and Ruth ends happily. The other relative and first-in-line with a right to redeem Naomi's land (and inherit Ruth as his wife) declines. And so Boaz gets the land and the wife, and soon there is a baby on the way.
Naomi becomes a grandma whose happy lot is lauded by the "chorus"—the women of Bethlehem. They sing the praises of Ruth while Naomi cuddles little Obed (Ruth 4:14-17).
And then the author does something interesting—recites a genealogy. By doing this, I believe he is telling us this story of Naomi and Ruth, Boaz and Obed fits into a much larger one.
Some of the characters of this larger story: Perez
Perez was the son of Judah (son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Israel's patriarch Abraham) and Tamar. Tamar was that woman first married to Judah's firstborn son, who, when he died, Judah gave her to his second son. When he died too, Judah promised her to the third son. Tamar, not trusting Judah to keep his word, dressed as a prostitute and got pregnant by Judah himself. Yikes! (Read the story in Genesis 38. Perez appears in Genesis 38:29). Nahshon
Nahshon was the head of the tribe of Judah during their time of wandering in the wilderness under Moses - Numbers 1:7; 2:3.
David
He was the second king of Israel and the prophets predicted Messiah would come from His house and line - Jeremiah 23:5; Isaiah 9:7; 11:1; Acts 13:34.
Flipping over to the New Testament book of Matthew, we see a continuation of the genealogy begun in Ruth and how it eventually leads to—Jesus! (Matthew 1:1-16).
All our stories are also part of a larger story. Just like Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz had no idea they were living out an episode in the narrative of God's big story of redemption, neither do we know the plot line or significance of the story of our lives.
God does, though:
"And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them" - Psalm 139:16
and
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" - Ephesians 2:10 (emphases added).
I'm looking forward to heaven—when I'll be able to read and understand the whole book, including my little chapter of it! You too? PRAYER: Dear Father, how exciting to zoom in on these little episodes of Your story and see You working in the details of the lives of ordinary people. May I be a sympathetic character in Your story on earth. Amen.
MORE: I came across a short video about the book of Ruth by Dr. Daniel I Block (professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College). He has recently written the commentary on Ruth in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament series. This under 5-minute video puts a perfect cherry on top of our short study! Watch it. It's so worthwhile!
TODAY'S SPECIAL:Ruth 3:1-18 TO CHEW ON: "And she said to her, 'All that you say to me I will do.'" Ruth 3:5
The plot grows more intriguing as Naomi sets Ruth up to push for what the older woman has probably had in mind since she heard Boaz was in the picture—a marriage between Boaz and Ruth.
Some lovely bits that jump out at me from today's chapter:
Ruth's absolute trust of Naomi.
This trust comes out in her reply to Naomi's plan for the night visit to Boaz at the threshing floor: "All that you say to me, I will do." Doesn't that remind you of the reply of young Mary who was to be part of another risky chain of events (Luke 1:38)?
Ruth's words to Boaz: "'Take your maidservant under your wing…'"
We read similar words yesterday coming from Boaz: "'The Lord repay your work and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge" - Ruth 2:12. I wonder if, when Boaz said them, he had any idea that he would soon be the very embodiment of those wings for Ruth?.
Boaz was a "close relative."
That sounds innocent enough to us, but in the Hebrew the meaning of "close relative" is way more load involving duties and responsibilities.
[Close relative - gaal means to redeem, to act as kinsmen redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman. To redeem from slavery. To redeem by payment.]
The story of Boaz and Ruth is a beautiful human love story. But it is also a type of the spiritual love story between God and us.
We people are Ruth.
We come to Him in Ruth-like abandonment, as Paul did on the Damascus Road: "'Lord, what do you want me to do?'" - Acts 9:6.
Jesus is our Redeemer.
" Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” - Galatians 3:13.
"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" - Galatians 4:4,5. "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" - Ephesians 1:7.
"…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" 1 Peter 1:18,19.
He longs to take His lost ones under His wings.
"'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!'" - Matthew 23:37.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for paying with Your life to redeem me by buying my freedom from sin and the demands of the law. Amen.
TO CHEW ON:“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits.” Psalm 103:1-2
Do you sometimes awaken in the morning besieged by first thoughts of uneasiness, foreboding, dread? I must admit that even in smooth stretches of my life, this is my experience way too often. One of the best ways to dispel this anxious fog is to do just what our verses today say: “Bless the Lord and think on His benefits.”
David lists many of them in this passage:
He forgives our sin. Can you imagine how heavy life would feel if you had to live it under the guilt of the wrong things you had done?
He heals our physical diseases. Not only has He designed our bodies to rejuvenate themselves but over the years people have made all kinds of discoveries about the body and healing so that nowadays there is a pill for practically everything. And He is also the God who can heal miraculously.
He redeems our lives from destruction. “Redeems” = buys back with His sacrifice so that we are spared eternal destruction. He can also redeem from the foolishness of earlier decisions.
He satisfies our mouths with good thing so that we have the strength to carry on. I think this means more than just good physical food. I take it to mean a supply of good things mentally and spiritually, so that we have renewed energy for life and work.
He knows our human vulnerabilities, deals with us like a sympathetic father.
Now add to that list of benefits your own personal list. Here are some items that come to mind:
A wonderful husband and family.
Citizenship in Canada – a nation of freedom and peace.
A beautiful, comfortable home.
A church where I am challenged and where I have a place to serve.
… I could go on and on, but I’m sure you get the idea.
Whatever your life situation today, spend some time remembering “all His benefits.” It will lift you up in ways that nothing else can.
PRAYER:Dear God, thank You for who You are and all Your benefits to me. Help me to live within an atmosphere of remembrance and thankfulness today.
MORE: Memory aids
God instituted many physical and dramatic aids to help us remember Him and what He has done for us.
- The Israelites were to celebrate the Passover as a remembrance of their delivery from Egypt.
TO CHEW ON: "So when the centurion who stood opposite Him saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, 'Truly this Man was the Son of God.' " Mark 15:39
As we read the detailed account of the hours leading up to the cross and the hours Jesus spent on the cross, we get the sense of several things:
How typically human this whole drama was.
The religious leaders had manipulated things their way—finally. The crowd was as wishy-washy as crowds typically are. The soldiers gloried in their power and got themselves a few laughs even as they meted out Roman punishment.
How inevitable this whole drama was.
We got glimmerings of that inevitability yesterday as we heard the resignation in Jesus' voice when He prayed through (Mark 14:36). In today's reading He was silent in His own defense (Mark 15:2-5). As the scene played out, He fulfilled prophecy (as Mark points out: Mark 15:28).
How pivotal this event was.
Jesus' words from the cross, His quick death without the aid of numbing myrrh or wine, and the temple veil torn in two from top to bottom (no human hand could do that!) were all sources of incredulity. Even that hardened Roman soldier looking on recognized that this was no ordinary man being crucified (Mark 15:39).
These many years later we are still seeking to get our minds around how that moment changed everything. Bible writers have probed it too, both prophetically and in hindsight. Here are some of the accomplishments of Jesus' death—and resurrection three days later:
Jesus bore our sin, became sin for us - Isaiah 53:12; Romans 5:6; Hebrews 2:9.
He laid down His life for our lives as He said He would - John 10:11.
In dying He made possible the crop of Christ-followers that has sprung up over successive generations, and around the world - John 12:24.
His death and resurrection conquers life and death - Romans 14:9.
He fulfilled Scriptures showing that this chain of events was no fluke but in God's plan from the beginning - Genesis 3:15; 1 Corinthians 15:3.
His death gives those He died for the motivation to live for Him - 2 Corinthians 5:15.
His death makes it possible for us to stand before God "blameless and above reproach" - Colossians 1:22.
His death results in His glory as the world's Redeemer - John 12:23; Revelation 5:9.
No wonder we call this "good" Friday!
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for going through with this! I know how only eternity will reveal the true weight of what You accomplished that day on Calvary. For all that I understand of it now, I thank you, thank you, thank you!
MORE: Good Friday
Today the church celebrates Good Friday. The Good Friday liturgy begins with this Collect:
Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 77:1-20 TO CHEW ON:"And I said, 'This is my anguish; But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High'" Psalm 77:10
Asaph, the writer of this psalm, is in distress. He can't sleep. Words fail him. He feels forgotten and neglected. The tap of God's favor has been turned off.
Then Asaph turns himself around. "This is my anguish," he declares. "But…" How does he do it? His method has to do with two thought patterns and two actions.
"I will remember…" (Psalm 77:10,11). He will recall the times of God's favor, His word, His works, His wonders, the evidences of His presence, no doubt in nature and life.
"I will also meditate on all Your work" (Psalm 77:12). To meditate is to continuously direct the mind along a certain course. He will direct his thoughts towards God's actions and accomplishments. "And talk of Your deeds" (Psalm 77:12). He will express those remembrances and meditations, further cementing their reality, their importance, their superiority over the bad things he has been dwelling on.
"Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary" (Psalm 77:13). He will seek God's company and the company of other believers by going back to God's house where the focus is on "the God who does wonders…" (Psalm 77:14-20).
Could we do the same things when life's pressures pummel us and the clouds of circumstances block out His presence?
Remember the good times, God's goodness, His works in nature, His wonders in history and in our lives.
Meditate on all His work. We can think about God's work in our lives, in creation, in history, and in redemption. The verses we have memorized will come in handy here. Recalling and repeating them will wear wholesome paths in our brains—paths to purity (Psalm 119:11); truth (Psalm 119:29); what is of value (Psalm 119:36-37); song (Psalm 119:54); wisdom (Psalm 119:66); the right course to take (Psalm 119:105); light (Psalm 119:149) etc. (Read all of Psalm 119 to find more benefits of meditating on the Word).
Talk of God's ways. Commit to them in speech.
Go to the sanctuary.Seek out the company of other believers where we will find moral and spiritual agreement and support.
PRAYER:Dear God, it's easy to let circumstances swamp me. When it feels like that's happening, help me to recall and do these things. Amen.
MORE: Mental inventory
"You should take inventory on a regular basis and ask yourself, 'What have I been thinking about?' Spend some time examining your thought life.
Thinking about what you're thinking about is very valuable because Satan usually deceives people into thinking that the source of their misery or trouble is something other than what it really is. He wants them to think they are unhappy due to what is going on around them (their circumstances), but the misery is actually due to what is going on inside them (their thoughts)" - Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind, p. 61.
TODAY'S SPECIAL:Job 19:13-29 TO CHEW ON: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know That in my flesh I shall see God Whom I shall see for myself And my eyes shall behold and not another How my heart yearns within me!" Job 19:25-27
The words of Job here are all the more poignant because he uttered them when he was sick.
Sickness is part of the evil that entered the world when Adam and Even sinned. Job is grappling with how to make sense of this illness while keeping his faith in God intact. He says (my paraphrase): 'No matter what happens to me, even if this illness kills me, I will keep trusting my Redeemer who lives beyond this world and whom I will one day see.'
A sidebar article in my Bible shines light on God as Redeemer in this passage: "The essence of 'redemption' centers on two truths: the recovery of that which is lost and the liberation of that which is bound." Focusing on the aspect of recovery of something lost, the writer goes on: "…To say that God is our Redeemer is to say that what has been lost (missed opportunity, lost time, a broken relationship) can be recovered in such a way that through His grace our ultimate destiny in Him is not jeopardized … He (Job) knew that ultimately God would restore in His way that which had been lost" Steven Fry, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 662 (emphasis in the original).
I am right now reading a book by a pastor who has an active healing, signs and wonders ministry. Though I understand his desire to see the miracles of Jesus and the New Testament church reenacted in our time and can say 'Amen' to much of what he has experienced and teaches, one idea he brings up often, troubles me. It is the thought that God is not glorified in our sicknesses (and therefore we are always justified to insist on healing).
What is God receiving if not glory from the mouth of very ill Job in our reading? Job's example helps us soldier through times when prayers for physical wellness aren't answered. He's saying, in effect, 'This life is not all there is. God will redeem / restore ("in His way") in eternity if not on earth, all that I have lost by being sick. Meanwhile on earth my sickness may be one way God is preparing me (building character, perseverance, faith…) for my destiny in eternity (Matthew 19:28; Luke 19:17; 1 Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 3:21; Revelation 5:10).
What do you think?
PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being a Redeemer who not only ransoms me but has the power to restore all that evil, in its various guises, steals from me. Help me to have Job's unshakeable trust in Your existence and goodness. Amen.
MORE: Handel's Messiah Alert
Handel used words from Job 19:25-26 in his Messiah: "I know that my Redeemer lives" - Chorus 45.
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.
, p. 1166.
