2 Chronicles 9; Jude 1; Zephaniah 1; Luke 23

Anger.Gratitude. Awe. Wrath.Jealousy. Justice……Hope.

Such a melange of emotions in today’s passages. Luke 23 stirs such anger in me. Ever since I was a child, I could not understand why Jesus had to die in this scene. He was declared innocent. He wasn’t supposed to die. But the mob mentality brought him to a violent death. Never has it been so clear to me – the ugliness of my sin – than in this passage. My sin is represented by that angry mob.

¹⁸ But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” ¹⁹ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰ Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. ²¹ But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

²² For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”

²³ But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. ²⁴ So Pilate decided to grant their demand. Luke 23: 18-24 NIV

He didn’t have to die…but He did it for me.

Lord, I am grateful beyond words for what you did for me. For all.

The Queen of Sheba comes to visit King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 9. She finds him to be beyond her expectations. When she speaks of his wisdom and the splendor of his possessions, it says, “It all took her breath away.” (The Message)

³ When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built, ⁴ the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at^[a] the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed. NIV

Every day I have the opportunity to be overwhelmed with the goodness and mercy of God, along with the beauty of His creation.  For me, a glimpse of a magnificent sunrise or the beauty in a single flower is enough to take my breath away. To stand in awe.

⁶ But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes.

2Chronicles 9:6 NIV

Lord, help me to truly see You everyday.

“When I destroy all mankind
on the face of the earth,”
declares the Lord,
⁴ “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all who live in Jerusalem.
I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place,
the very names of the idolatrous priests—
⁵ those who bow down on the roofs
to worship the starry host,
those who bow down and swear by the Lord
and who also swear by Molek,^[b]
6 those who turn back from following the Lord
and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him.” Zephania 1: 3-6 NIV

Jealousy. Holy Anger. This passage is hard to stomach, knowing that God is a loving and merciful God. But God has made it clear that his people are to worship Him and Him alone. God’s sense of justice will not tolerate anything else. How should I react to this? Two things come to mind. 1. Gratitude that my relationship with Jesus covers me, and 2. A heart that breaks for those who worship the idols of today’s world and try to live life without God.

Jude 1 show me how to act accordingly.

²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Jude 1:22-23

Lord, fill me with compassion for those who do not know you.

A doxology for us.

²⁴ To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Amen.

Ann (naturelady)

 

Advertisement

2 Kings 24; Hebrews 6; Joel 3; Psalm 143

Have you ever been thirsty? Really thirsty? Last summer my family and I want on a hike at Mt.Rainier. It was spectacular. But the sun was hot and the air was dry. We thought we had brought enough water to last for the hike but the arid conditions caught us by surprise. Luckily we realized we were getting low and were able to ration our water. I experienced a thirst beyond a normal thirst. It was all I could think about. I longed for a cool drink of water.

In Psalm 143, David is experiencing a different kind of thirst:

Lord, hear my prayer,
    listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
    come to my relief.
² Do not bring your servant into judgment,
    for no one living is righteous before you.
³ The enemy pursues me,
    he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in the darkness
    like those long dead.
⁴ So my spirit grows faint within me;
    my heart within me is dismayed.
⁵ I remember the days of long ago;
    I meditate on all your works
    and consider what your hands have done.
⁶ I spread out my hands to you;
    I thirst for you like a parched land.

When we are thirsty we need water. When we thirst for God, He fills us with Living Water. I think it isn’t a coincidence that God created our human bodies to work in such a way that it reminds us daily of our need for relationship with Him. Every time we take a sip of water it can remind of us of God’s satisfying goodness. When we go too long without it, we become parched.

Lord, help me to make spending time with You and time in your word as natural as it is to fill my body with water. Help me to have a healthy thirst for you. Thank you for the flow of Living Water that is always available and never runs out. Help me not to look for other things to quench my thirst because they will never satisfy.

Ann (naturelady)

 

 

I Kings 17; Colossians 4; Ezekiel 47; Psalm 103

A thread runs through the scriptures that is hard to miss – God’s provision. I have seen it im my own life, as well. God has provided in countless ways that I could never have imagined. While it may not have always been what I expected, He has always given me what I needed at the time. Like there was the time our family was struggling financially – 3 young children at home, Christmas was just around the corner. As a mom, I was heartbroken about not having gifts under the tree. One day a packaged arrived filled with wrapped gifts for my children. To this day I don’t know who sent it.

God provided.

Sometimes it is less tangible, but just as needed. I was in the midst of a particularly challenging job that was required to earn my master’s degree. I didn’t think I could make it through another day. I awoke one morning to find that my daughter had posted a verse on my mirror:

“ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil4:6-7

I was praying to leave the situation.

God provided a way through it.

In I Kings 17, God provided food and water for Elijah, a widow, and her son during a time of drought and difficulty.

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lordsends rain on the land.’” NIV

God provides

In Ezekiel 47, we learn of a tree that bears nourishing fruit and heals.

 ¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” NIV

God provides a beautiful picture of things to come. God provides a Savior.

Paul encourages us in Colossians 4 to “make the most of every opportunity.” as we speak with outsiders. May we be ready and willing to share of His provision in our lives and His provision for all lives.

Let’s sing praises as David did:

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103: 1-5 NIV

Ann (naturelady)

2 Samuel 12; 2 Corinthians 5; Ezekiel 19; Psalm 64, 65

Longing for something we don’t have – it seems to be part of the human condition. Sayings like, ” The grass is always greener….” and ” Keeping up with the Jones.” are evidence that we are often not  satisfied with what we have. I sometimes wonder if  life would be easier if we could have blinders on that keep us from seeing what others have.

David found himself it quite a disatrous predicament when his longings for Bathsheba led to a deadly web of deception. God was not pleased at all.

⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 2 Sam. 12: 7-10 NIV

It is quite sobering to read that although David repented of his sin and God continued to bless his life, he did not escape the consequences of his sin.

The tension of longing for our heavenly home and living on Earth in our broken bodies is always here. You can’t escape the news. Our world is full of hurt and brokenness. In our own lives we have pain and heartache. Paul puts it like this:

Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less. 2 Cor5:2-5 The Message

That last line is really the key – that longing, that wanting more. It really is our hearts wanting what only God can provide. We can stop looking! Stop trying to fill our lives with other things. Even in our earthly bodies we have a fresh start.

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

I want to start living that way everyday.

Lord, thank you for our life in Christ. May we live in such a way that we look forward to our life in heaven while at the very same time, live a life of freedom and fulfillment in You. May we never settle for less.

 

Romans 9; Jerimiah 48; Psalm 25; I Samuel 11

That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,have not attained their goal. ³² Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

Romans 9:30 NIV

Sometimes it is easier to do things that are totally new to you, rather than making a change to things you have been doing all along. You know the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” For hundreds of years Israel was governed by The Law but now things are different and they are struggling to make a change – Struggling to live in this new freedom.

Do you have areas of your spiritual life where you are resistant to change? Do you only listen to one type of worship music? Do you cringe when you see someone in church who doesn’t fit your picture of what a “church goer” should look like? Do you struggle to “be still” because you want to get things done?

As my children are getting older and making their faith their own, it has helped me to see some areas in my own life that need reexamining. As they are asking questions, I have had to bring some of my actions and beliefs under deeper consideration. Are my actions and beliefs indicative of  Truth or do they just refelct the way it has always been done?

Lord, help me to live by faith and to always be looking to You. Help me not to rely on tradition but to rely on Truth.

While looking at this same passage in The Message, it compared the Gentiles and the Israelites in a way that hit too close to home:

All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:

Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
    a stone you can’t get around.
But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me,
    you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.

Romans 9:30-33 The Message

I don’t want to be so involved in my “God projects” that I miss what God is doing right in front of me. I cringe to think of the time that I spend doing church activities but not really engaging in or acknowledging what God is doing around me. How many opportunities to obey God have I missed because I was absorbed in my own agenda?

Lord, forgive me for not stopping and seeing your hand in my life as often as I should. Forgive me for being so busy that I forget to stop and see all the ways that you have orchestrated things in my life. Help me to always be looking for You. I want my relationship with you to not be an item on a “to do” list, but rather a longing to know you and see your presence in my life. Help me to live by faith.

 ⁴Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
⁵ Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 25 4-5 NIV

Ann (naturelady)