I Amaze Jesus!

Scripture: And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. Mark 6:5-6

Observation: Jesus could do no miracles because of the rejection and unbelief he found there. Obviously Jesus can do anything, but it seems he will not do miracles where there are hard-hearts and rejection.

Application: Yesterday I got great news about a friend of mine I have been praying for to come out of a horrible medical situation. I was so excited that the first words out of my mouth were, “I don’t believe it.” I felt God say, “And that’s your problem.” I wonder—are there miracles Jesus hasn’t done in my life because I do not believe? Could it be that Jesus marvels at my unbelief even more, because I am already a believer and should know better. Maybe I amaze Jesus too with my unbelief.

Prayer: God, I do believe. Help my unbelief. I don’t want to amaze you in the wrong way. I want to believe in your power to heal and change hearts. Let me have faith to expect today.

For I Know

Scripture: “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. Job 19:23-25

Observation: Job longs to know that if he is to die, his words would not die with him. That he would be able to leave a legacy, either on paper or on rock. That somewhere, his words would remain, to guide and instruct others. Specifically, what he wants his words to do is to stand as a witness to future peoples. A witness that even amidst pain and suffering, and the face of death, Job stands on the conviction that his redeemer lives and will stand upon the earth.

Application: Yesterday I talked with a friend who was in a great deal of pain. The pain is so great that his temptation is to focus only on himself and his pain. Yet in the midst of it, another friend encouraged him to lift his eyes and believe that God is good and has a plan for his life, even through this. In essence, he was calling him to faith that his redeemer lives and in the end, God will win out. These are hard words and I am not sure how they were received. Yet Job, who is going through the greatest loss, is somehow able to say, “I just want people to remember I did not give up on God—He is my Redeemer and I know he will stand on the Earth in the end.”

Prayer: Pray for my friend today that he would not give up and close his eyes, but open them and see the light that is breaking through into his life. The light of God. God is not done yet and will be his redeemer if he can only trust and not give up.

Obstacle or Opportunity?

Scripture: He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Acts 28:30-31

Observation: Luke ends the book of Acts with Paul in prison for at least 2 years. Yet while in prison, the bible says he continued to proclaim Christ with boldness and without hindrance.

Application: I certainly would call being in prison a “hindrance” to proclaiming the kingdom of God. I would try to help God see that if released, I could do a much better job of proclaiming the kingdom. But not Paul. No matter his circumstances, he continued to proclaim with boldness. Paul did not see obstacles, only opportunities. How different this is from me. I tend to see the smallest of obstacles as excuses not to share.

Prayer: God, you are using Acts to challenge my notions of witnessing and boldness and obstacles. May you show me today obstacles that are really opportunities to share. I want to volunteer to be used by you this day.

Why God Conceals Truth

Scripture: For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. Acts 16:28

Observation: A group of believers met to pray and talk about what to do with non-Jewish converts to Christianity. They come to a decision, one that the Holy Spirit communicated to them as a group.

Application: Over the last ten years God has been teaching me how He wants to speak to me through groups. From sermon collaboration to leadership communities and now lately to me through doing devotions with others. This is a contrast from the “get alone and hear from God” approach. While there is a place for that, there is also the truth that God might deliberately conceal truths for me so that I am forced to depend on others to find them out. (This last truth came from a conversation with my friend Randy yesterday—another example of what I am talking about.) Proverbs 25:2: “It is the glory of God to conceal things but the glory of kings is to search things out.” In other words, there might be things the Holy Spirit will say to me only as I listen to Him through others.

Prayer: God, continue moving me down the path of collaborative hearing. Of learning to listen to you through others. You long to speak to your people. Let it be my glory to search it out. Amen

For Those Who Have their Act All Together

Scripture: In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip. Job 12:5

Observation: Job’s 3 friends have been trying to help him by giving him pat answers to his suffering. They say that Job is suffering because of his own sin. Job’s response is to say that sometimes, pain is not anyone’s fault, but just the way life is under God’s sovereignty. Here in verse 5, Job says that the reason his friends can be so theologically flippant sis because their life is at ease.

People whose life is free from pain often look down on and blame people who suffer.

Application: Why is this? I think we like steps and sequences in our worldview. If we do “X” then we expect “Y.” But if we get “Z,” then the blame must be on us for not doing “X” well enough. So it is easy to see someone in suffering—poverty, divorce, misfortune—and say, “You are suffering because you did not do X.” This gives us a sense of security. We think we can avoid pain if we just do X. But the reality of Job is that even people who do X, and do it well, can find their world ripped apart. Living right is no guarantee of smooth sailing.

Prayer: God, help me give grace to people. I am passionate about giving biblical steps to help people. But let me also recognize that You do not always follow my steps. You are wild, untamed by my attempts to domesticate You. I need to find my security not in my consistency, but Your character. Let me not be like Job’s friends and rely on pat answers to the deep things of God. Amen.

Wishing You Had Never Been Born

Scripture: Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me Job 10:18

Observation: Job has resigned himself to the fact that God is in control. But if all God’s ways are just and good, and Job feels he has gotten a raw deal, what can he do about it? His answer is: nothing. Job feels royally messed over, and with nowhere to turn, he wishes he was dead. He wishes he had died in the womb rather than live a life of suffering.

Application: Many people feel this way. Few verbalize it as desperately and honestly as Job. God is using this verse to remind me that while I may have never wished I died in the womb—many people do. There is a lot of suffering and pain out there that is real and sore. In these moments of pain, God desires to speak.

Prayer: God, help me be sensitive to pain in others. I cannot always “fix” it or explain it (see the failure of Job’s friends). I may not even be able to assuage it one bit. But I can seek You for them and for Your purposes in their pain.

Truth hurts. Withholding Truth Hurts More.

Scripture: He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. Job 6:14

Observation: Job is alluding to the bad advice he got from his “friend” Eliphaz. Instead of speaking God’s truth to Job in his time of hurt, Eliphaz spoke his own words. By family to speak the truth in love, he withheld the kindness of God. By withholding the kindness of God, he revealed he lack of fear of God.

Application: Often we try to comfort friends in need by agreeing with them, or telling them things will be okay. What we fail to do is speak God’s truth in love to them. Why? I think we fear them more than God. We fear their disapproval. We just want them to “feel better,” not to get back on track with God. And sometimes the words of God don’t feel very kind, especially when they correct us. Truth hurts. Withholding truth hurts more. I have often told people what I think they want to hear, rather than the words of God I know the need. When I do this, I am withholding God’s kindness to them, and forsaking the fear of the Almighty.

Prayer: God, this is hard for me. I like conversations to be happy and stress free. Help me to listen to your spirit, and speak truth when you call me to. Don’t let me withhold your kindness just because sometimes Your kindness hurts. Let me fear you more than the conversation. Amen

Remind Yourself!

Scripture: They refused to listen and did not remember your wonderous deeds which you performed among them so they became stubborn. Nehemiah 9:17

Observation: Nehemiah 9 is a long song recounting the ongoing cycle of God's people who forget God's deliverances and blessings, only to suffer his discipline. But time after time God deals faithfully even with the unfaithful.

Application: How do I break this cycle in my life? I forget God and beleive my own press clippings until I need his rescue. I think the key word is forget. When we forget God's wonderous deeds we become stubbon and self-reliant and refuse to listen. The secret, then, is to remember God *before* the discipline is needed.
A friend of mine told me he called spankings "reminders.". When his kids said they did not want a "reminder," he said, "Then remind yourself!" I remind myself by reading God's Word and by rereading God's words to
me in my journal. I need to reread my old journals this week and the upcoming weeks to remind myself.

Prayer: God, help me remind myself so I do not forget you and become stubborn.

Today and That Day

Scripture: But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:34-36

Opportunity: Jesus has used several analogies to call people to prepare for the kingdom to come. At the end of this chapter, he reminds us to not let the world’s diversions lull us to sleep, but to mentally stay awake and alert, praying for escape from the things to come.

Application: I think the single hardest reality to grasp in Christianity is the return of Christ. I think we all understand it, but it does not motivate and drive us on a daily basis. Probably because this world’s primary goal is to divert us from the truth. However, the teachings of Christ, this was a major theme—prepare for My return. Martin Luther once wrote: "There are only two days on my calendar: Today and That Day."

Prayer: Jesus, I am easily diverted. Thanks for reminding me that your return will be swift and sudden. I volunteer today, Holy Spirit, to be used by you to help point people towards your return.

We Don’t Want the Man To Reign Over Us

Scripture: “We do not want this man to reign over us.” Luke 19:14

Observation: Jesus is telling a parable as he nears Jerusalem about a nobleman who goes away and leaves servants in charge. The citizens of the kingdom rebel against his choice of authority. They plead with the nobleman—“we don’t want that man to reign over us.” This parallels the attitude of the Jews who rejected the Messiah. It also parallels our attitudes today—we really don’t want this man Jesus to reign over us.

Application: Jesus is fine as long as he is a role model or spiritual guide. He is fine as long as his words line up with what we want. But the moment that he begins to make demands on our lives, we rebel. I see this in how this world interacts with Jesus, and I see it in my life. I still have areas of my life that I feel are mine, outside of Jesus. Not necessarily bad things, but my things. Will I submit to the authority of Christ? He is more than a good buddy or spiritual guide. He is the man appointed to reign over me.

Prayer: Jesus, I cling to you as savior but recoil from you as Lord. Forgive me for resisting the man who reigns over me. I am asking the Spirit all week to use me throughout the day. Please let me connect this to your authority. To see that these are not suggestions from a guide, but calls from a commander.

One Day, They Will Look and Believe

Scripture: And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. Zechariah 12:10

Observation: Zechariah is predicting a future day when the nation of Israel will be given a gift—the gift of the Holy Spirit who enables faith so that when they look to Christ in faith, they will be moved to mourning and repentance (pleas for mercy).

Application: We are going through Acts as a church and seeing the growing rejection of the second offer of Jesus Christ by Israel. The first offer, in the gospels, ended in the rejection of Christ to the point of death. The second offer, in Acts, is moving towards the end of national rejection of Christ as the Messiah, and the death of many followers. My heart breaks as I read Acts and see the grace and patience of God who re-offers the kingdom and still finds rejection. This passage in Zechariah reminds me that rejection will not last forever. That one day, Israel will see what they have been blind to for so long—Christ crucified, and when they see him, the Spirit will move them to faith, finally.
Sometimes I look at people and think they are beyond God. They have rejected Christ over and over, and I am quick to dust off my feet and get moving. But if God can change the heart of a nation, he can change the heart of a man.

Prayer: God, thank you for keeping your promises to your people, even when they do not keep their promises to you. Thank you for your love for Israel, and how you keep reaching out. Give me guidance today in knowing when to keep offering the kingdom, and when to move on. Thank you for reminding me that no matter how attractive the offer, the Spirit has to be involved for people to see Christ and be moved to repentance.