Jigsaw Puzzles

 

“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.”

—1 Corinthians 12:12

I like to think of you and me as jigsaw puzzles. We’re made up of many parts that God has placed here. He takes the many parts of us and puts those parts together with the parts of other people to create an even greater, more magnificent puzzle. That greater puzzle becomes the breath-taking reality of His Kingdom, along with the Body of Christ, the Church.

We become small, yet integral, pieces in other people’s puzzles, too. Have you ever considered how God’s magnificent wisdom allows each of us to perfectly fit into the final, truly wonderful picture He is making in this world?

Yes, we can easily see how our parent’s love and care formed a good deal of the puzzle that we have become. Yet, their choice of place to live, the particular year in which we were born, and the friends, colleagues, mentors, teachers, and ministers we have met have helped form us—put together our pieces—in ways we could never have put those pieces together by ourselves.

Trace just one thread of your life back to its origin and see all the people who handled the puzzle pieces for you. How did you get that position? How did you end up in the city, the marriage, the church in which you have found yourself? Who taught you to read? Who introduced you to your chosen profession? Who helped you develop your passion for whatever brings you the most joy?

Psalm 115:1 gives glory to God.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

God’s love saw the final completed puzzle from the very beginning. In fact, God designed it. He saw the finished picture of you, complete and totally unique as a part of His great plan.

Praise Him for the way in which He has placed you in the big-picture puzzle next to others with whom you can share a spot. Thank Him for His wonderful wisdom, far above us all, and for His completed work of art that depends upon and totally involves you and me!

 

 

Not Seen As Yet

 

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of righteousness which is by faith.”

—Hebrews 11:7 KJV

Noah found favor with God. And, according to Scripture found in Genesis 6 and 7:

God found him (Noah) righteous, blameless, among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

Noah was chosen by God for a very unique and historical appointment. In great detail, God laid out for Noah plans and promises for building an ark because God intended to send a great flood of judgment on the world.

Scripture tells us in Genesis 6-8 just how Noah dedicated his time, effort, and faith in doing exactly what God had said. This act of extraordinary faith landed Noah in the “Faith Hall of Fame” found in Hebrews 11:7.

Noah no doubt suffered cruel mocking by the godless people who lived around him. Yet, he followed every element of God’s plan. Noah may not have understood these life-changing commands of God, but Noah was rewarded with the saving of himself, his family, and all the living creatures when the world was indeed destroyed by a great deluge and flood.

Consider the extraordinary matter of this story. The key to the strength of Noah’s faith is contained in that phrase: “…of things not seen as yet.” Despite what Noah could not see, he believed God and obeyed.

Puritan Thomas Manton comments on Noah’s faith:¹

Though Noah only had the naked word of God, he believed. Also, the means of an ark was an improbable and incredible way of safety. The ark was made like a coffin where Noah was buried with all kinds of living creatures for many days. Certainly so great a work was done at great expense and labor… He had a thousand discouragements, yet being moved with fear, he prepared the ark. These things being so remote from sense, and only certain in God’s word, show the great force and virtue of his faith… It is the property of faith to be moved by such things that are not open to sense.

Could this account of Noah speak to us in 21st century America? Does God see things in our lives that we “have not seen as yet”? In His good season, does God intend to ask us to step out in faith? Are there new relationships He wants us to form? Does God have a new ministry that He wants us to create or join? Does God intend to give us new talents that He wants us to develop for His use?

While God may not ask us to build an ark to save those we love from the judgment He intends to bring against our generation, certainly He calls us—and all Christians in this day—to step out in faith for the saving of His people and for the performance of the work of His church.

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1 Manton, Thomas (author). Richard Rushing (editor). Voices From the Past. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2016. Vol. 2, p. 255.

 

 

Shimmering Aspens

 

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

—John 3:8

As a follow-up to the devotional I wrote in the last blog post about “Roots and Fruits,” I would like to share with you another tree image worth comparing to the Christian life. This tree, widely distributed throughout North America, nevertheless, has the thickest concentration in Colorado.

These beautiful trees, not extremely tall, can live for 150 years or more and often survive best and recover best from wildfires. Their root system can live and reproduce by cloning for thousands of years.¹

When God places in us His powerful Holy Spirit, He puts within us the capacity to withstand the storms of life. He knows such storms will strengthen us and ultimately prepare us for use to His glory. Even when we think the fiery experiences of life might destroy us, we can come through those experiences by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The leaves of the aspen shimmer in the wind and “quake.” They show a lacey daintiness that belies their strength. They move in the slightest breeze. Here’s how Joni Eareckson Tada compared them to a Spirit-led life:

I want to be that sensitive to the Spirit’s touch, don’t you? A soul that is sensitive to sin, that resonates at the slightest movement of the Spirit. A soul that quivers when the breath of God all but touches it. How do we become this sensitive? Simple: be ready, stretch out your branches, unfurl your heart to God, for you never know when his wind will rise your way. After, all, like the wind, the spirit is uncontrollable and unpredictable. ²

Each season of the year, God has something to teach us. As we view His world of creation and ponder the lessons it provides, let’s pray He will help us grow deep and strong, able to withstand the storms, and yet free and sensitive to the leading of His Holy Spirit, as we live day to day in order to declare His glory.

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1 Information about “Aspens” from Wikipedia and from an article by R. Scott Rappold in “Out There Colorado,” September 19, 1918, published in the Gazette.

2 Tada, Joni Eareckson. More Precious Than Silver. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998. Entry for September 11th.

 

 

Roots and Fruits

 

“He shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.”

—Psalm 1:3

Trees fascinate me. I love the variety, the shapes, the different leaves, and how the trees and leaves look in different seasons. Trees have often seemed like major décor in God’s world—decorating and defining space, shading, and quietly fluttering in the breeze.

I am impressed that, often, the Scriptural writers use trees to teach us, to describe a characteristic, and to liken the trees to some quality in our lives. In the verse at the beginning of this blog post, we see the offspring of a healthy tree: leaves and fruit. Often these elements supply life-sustaining food for humankind and animals. They also give evidence to us of health, strength, usefulness, and beauty.

Yet, we don’t often see the most important part of the tree because that part lies deep underground. In a healthy specimen, more than half of a tree remains beneath the surface of the ground. There, it reaches out for nourishment from the soil and for deep springs of life-giving water.

Trees that have stunted roots, those that grow quickly and sprout early, often do not have the stabilizing power of those that have grown over many years. Jesus uses this principle in His well-known “Parable of the Sower” found in Matthew 13:5, when He teaches about the farmer’s seed:

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

Our growth in grace follows a similar timeline. God plants His Spirit in us. But, God wants to grow us deeply into the “soil” of His written Word wherein we will grow in our knowledge of, and relationship with, Him and His church.

We must not look for our Christian lives, or our churches, or our ministries to “spring up overnight.” Rather, we must allow time, difficulties, and the seasons of life to develop God’s process of deeply rooted spiritual growth.

Seeds of vegetation scattered on a soil with rocky places will spring up quickly and die off quickly because they haven’t grown deep roots into the nourishing soil. Likewise, our personal spiritual formation that develops too rapidly with unnatural enthusiasm and without putting deep “roots” into God’s written Word, without cultivating faithfulness to a local church, and without spending time with mature fellow Christians will ultimately run the risk of burning out and of failing to produce useful spiritual fruit.

Instead, let’s find a beautiful large tree. And, let’s think of the seasons of its life and how deeply the roots must have reached. Then, let’s allow God to mature us spiritually in the same way. We must remain patient and look forward to the sweet fruit and beautiful leaves which will surely appear.

 

 

Digging Ditches

 

Digging Ditches

While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha and he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’ For this is what the Lord says: ‘You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink.’ This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; he will also hand Moab over to you. You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.”

—2 Kings 3:15-18 NIV

Are you ready for a blessing? King Joram of the Northern Kingdom and King Jehoshaphat of the Southern Kingdom had been marching with their armies for seven days. But, they had no water for themselves, or for their animals. They knew that they could never fight their enemy, Moab, in this condition.

They asked Elisha, the prophet of the Lord, what they should do in their helpless, desperate state. I like the fact that before Elisha gave an answer, he asked for a harpist to come and play music. During the music, God spoke to Elisha so he could share the words captured in the Scripture verses above.

Even though they asked Elisha to petition God in their behalf, these kings were not prepared to receive the blessing for which they were asking God. As Charles Spurgeon suggests,¹ they needed to make a…

…believing preparation for the divine blessing; they were to dig the trenches in which the precious liquid would be held.

How often do we pray, asking for God’s blessing, while we remain unprepared to receive the answer?

In a story recorded in Acts 12, when the disciples gathered for prayer for Peter’s release from prison, they were astonished when he stood at their door. Like them, we often pray without really believing in God’s miraculous ability to answer our sincere prayers.

If God has led us to pray for a blessing of deliverance, or enlargement, or wisdom, or protection, or peace, or anything else we desperately need, we must also show our faith in Him by preparing to receive that blessing. Although God may not use our expected methodology in answering our prayers, if we make a believing preparation to receive that answer, we will clearly see His answer come to pass.

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1 Spurgeon, Charles H. Morning and Evening. McLean, VA: Macdonald Publishing Company, Public Domain. p. 275.

—Posted: Monday, September 2, 2019

 

 

Sibling Rivalry

 

“If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.”

—Galatians 6:3-4

Where does sibling rivalry come from? Largely, I’d say, it comes from jealousy, selfishness, or both. Even the Bible has stories of such family arguments. These stories caution us about the common, but contentious, occasions between brothers and sisters, both at home and within our churches.

One such story occurs in Luke 10:38-42. You know how this story goes. Martha is cooking, while pots and pans pile up in the kitchen. But, Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening to Him teach. Martha complains to Jesus and He sides with Mary because she chose to do “the most important thing.” Mature Martha loves Jesus. So, she undoubtedly responds in humility and love for her sister, as well.

Jesus tells another well-known story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. In this story, the younger brother rebelliously takes his inheritance money, recklessly spends it on foolishness, but later returns home to ask forgiveness from his father. The older brother, who has remained faithful and continued to work for his father at home, doesn’t appreciate the celebration and the banquet given to this ne’er-do-well sibling. The rift may have separated these brothers permanently. But, we aren’t told.

My last illustration from Scripture can be found in Mark 10:35-45. This story shows what can happen within a faith community infected with rivalry. Brothers James and John come to Jesus and ask if they can sit in the two most prominent seats in heaven—one on Jesus’ right and the other on His left. The remaining ten disciples became so indignant that Jesus has to sit them all down and tell them:

…whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

These stories illustrate the way that small rifts between brothers and sisters can cause disunity in our homes, workplaces, and in our churches. Each such rift provides an entrance for the work of the evil one. This kind of disharmony harms the witness of the body of Christ and affects the power of the Holy Spirit to work freely in that body. Scripture admonishes us often to work at keeping peace with our brothers and sisters, particularly within the church.

As Paul tells Christ’s followers in Ephesians 4:3:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

We may expect, even tolerate, sibling rivalry between little children. But, among mature believers, we must ask God to protect us from the sins of jealousy and selfishness that create an atmosphere ripe for disunity. In our homes, in our places of work, and particularly in our churches, may God’s peace grow and abound to Christ’s glory!

 

 

Move Ahead

 

The Lord said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance.”

—Deuteronomy 1:6

I am “risk averse.” As a pianist and organist, I always look at printed music, even though I have a particular piece completely memorized. I try to stay out of crowds, afraid of the danger that may lurk there. I avoid certain sections of highway during snowstorms, lest I become involved in an accident. I like to plan ahead. And many times, I have opted to stay put rather than move ahead.

The Israelites showed this same kind of aversion to risk. Or, let’s be honest, they displayed a decided lack of faith during the time they wandered in the wilderness. They had certainly seen God perform amazing miracles for them in their escape from Egypt. He had supplied their needs and protected them. Still, they persisted, with heavy cement-laden feet, to resist forward movement in their lives, individually and as a nation.

When God calls us to take a risk, our arguments usually begin with a long list of “what ifs.”

• What if we come up against things we’ve never seen before—men that look like giants, violent land owners, walled cities we may have to conquer?
  
  
• What if we die of plague, starvation, wild beasts, or warring enemies?
  
  
• What if we run out of food or water?
  
  
• What if we take a wrong turn and lose our way?
  
  
• What if…

In the first two chapters of Deuteronomy, God reminded the Israelites of His faithfulness. And, He reminded them of their lack of faith. He had prepared really big things for them in the days ahead and He needed them to get moving.

Twice we read that God said, “You have stayed here long enough.” He reminded them that He had watched over them and provided for them for forty years. Later, He egged them on to move and take possession of the land He had promised them since the days of Abraham.

I like the second verse of the hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.”¹

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
with blessing on your head.

When God prompts us to move on, to venture out and trust Him, we must move forward in faith, fully relying on His provision and protection. If we turn a deaf ear to God’s call to move onward and insist on standing still, mired in the fast-drying cement of our current situation, we stand the greater risk of getting stuck where nothing will move us.

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1 Cowper, William. God Moves in a Mysterious Way. Verse Two. Public Domain.