Open Wide!

 

“Open wide your mouth and I will fill it… You will be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

—Psalm 81:10, 16

We’ve all watched as a mother tries to feed her child something the child thinks is undesirable: the mouth shut tight and the head squirming away from the spoon. The beets or peas—or worse yet, the medicine—remain despised, even though what’s on the spoon may be meant to nourish or heal.

How often have we closed our mouths, our hearts, or our minds to our Heavenly Father’s intention to feed us with something new that we perceive as totally undesirable. The struggle goes on until a smidgen of the substance gets into our system, leaving a messy face and a determination on our part to never take any more of the dreadful stuff.

However, our Heavenly Father loves us too much to allow us to persist in our stubborn ways. Sooner or later, He initiates the feeding again, and eventually teaches us that He has our best interest—and that of His Kingdom—at heart.

Do you remember the lengths to which Jonah went to keep His mouth and will closed up against God’s plan? God had requested Jonah to go “proclaim” the words God had given him to the people of Ninevah. After the unfortunate ship ride, the detour inside the giant fish, and the expectoration upon the beach, Jonah reluctantly obeyed so that God’s miracle work could happen for the Ninevites. Jonah opened his mouth and God filled it with His message.

Perhaps you don’t know what God wants to put in your mouth. You hesitate because you want to be sure you will like what He has for you. Or, you hesitate because you want to be certain that you are capable of “keeping it down.”

Yet sometimes, God only wants us to trust His wise and loving intentions. Even though the spoonful may not appeal to us at first, we must believe He has something tasty and nourishing for us.

Let us learn the valuable lesson to “open wide,” allowing Him to give us all He has for us!

 

 

Keep Us

 

“The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

—Psalm 121:7-8

Often children are given responsibility for a plant, or a young pet, so that they learn the reliability it takes to keep something safe and alive. They learn the necessity for dependability and the sacred duty of a “keeper.”

Have you ever had the responsibility for taking care of another human being? A child, an elderly parent, or a sick spouse? The heavy task of such care gives comfort to the one under your watch. We want that one to feel at peace, to know that even in danger, he or she can relax, unafraid.

The older I get, the more I realize that I am incapable of taking care of myself. Yes, I do my best to live spiritually for God. But, more and more I recognize that I have nothing in me that will please Him. If left to ourselves, we produce only spiritual deadwood. We have no “life” in us but what Christ has given us. Even with the best of intentions, we utterly fail at pleasing God, of showing forth His glory, of doing His will in His way.

God has taken the responsibility of our care upon Himself. Not only does He watch over our physical and emotional needs, He has taken upon Himself the accountability for our sin, and cares for us spiritually. We would utterly fail, and die, were it not for His keeping power.

I love the prayer that Charles Haddon Spurgeon penned:

Hast Thou not said, “I, the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day”? Lord, keep us everywhere. Keep us when in the valley, that we murmur not against Thy humbling hand; keep us when on the mountain, that we wax not giddy through being lifted up; keep us in youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming conceited of our wisdom, we may therefore prove greater fools than the young and giddy; keep us when we come to die, lest, at the very last, we should deny Thee! Keep us living, keep us dying, keep us labouring, keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need Thee, O our God!¹

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1Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Morning and Evening. McLean, VA: MacDonald Publishing Co., Public Domain. p. 363.

 

 

Let Me Off!

 

I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.”

—Psalm 55:6-8

I remember seeing the musical, Stop the World, I Want to Get Off! when I was a high school student.

The show focuses on Littlechap, from the moment of his birth to his death. Each time something unsatisfactory happens, he calls out 'Stop the world!' and addresses the audience…He allows his growing dissatisfaction with his existence to lead him into the arms of various women in his business travels as he searches for something better than he has. He becomes rich and successful, and is elected to public office. Only in his old age does he realize that what he always had—the love of his wife— was more than enough to sustain him.¹

Littlechap’s life could be summed up in the phrase, “The grass is always greener…” He could never be satisfied, nor could he completely rid his life of troubles. Neither can we!

For example, King David came under frequent attack from Saul and his armies. He called out to God over the anguish, fear, insults and abuse he suffered from the hands of his enemies.

All of us have times in our lives when we feel we can no longer cope, when the troubles have piled up to such a degree that our strength is sapped and our faith weakened. We cry with King David, “Oh, that I had wings that could carry me away!” Yet, in Psalm 55, David demonstrates to us the proper response to this kind of agonizing trouble.

King David calls out to God, listing the complaints he has. He reaffirms his knowledge of God’s ability to see his suffering. He rehearses God’s character, His love, His care. And, then, David recommits himself to God’s care. To us, in Psalm 55:22, he says:

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

When we feel we can no longer “hang on,” when we have nothing in ourselves to help, and when we just want to “Stop the world,” we can have the assurance that God’s strength, His hope, His love, His mercy, His grace will never fail us. Our extremity is His opportunity!

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1 Stop the World! I Want to Get Off! cited in Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Last modified March 19, 2016.

 

 

You Deserve It

 

[Job] replied,…“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

—Job 2:10

You’ve seen the commercials. “You’re worth it!” “You deserve a break.” Our culture not only urges us to desire things that feed our pleasure centers, but also persuades us that we are somehow entitled to them. We begin to believe that God owes us everything we think we have coming.

This kind of thinking also has a flip side. That we don’t deserve trouble. That we shouldn’t have to suffer, or feel need, or want for anything. Our society has us convinced that God is good, but only when He grants our wishes like some grand Santa Clause.

I have read the story on a couple of occasions of Arthur Ashe, the famous tennis star in which he was confronted about his own suffering. Ashe, who was the first black man to win the U.S. Open, Australian Open, and Wimbledon, contracted AIDS during heart surgery in 1983. He had become infected by the blood with which he was transfused.

He received a letter from a fan which asked: “Why does God have to select you for such a bad disease?”

To this, Arthur Ashe replied:

The world over—50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5,000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals. When I was holding a cup I never asked God “Why me?”

And today in pain, I should not be asking God “Why me?”

Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Sorrow keeps you Human,
Failure keeps you humble,
and Success keeps you glowing.
But, only Faith & Attitude keeps you going.¹

When you see the blessing and favor of God on your life, why not ask: “God, why me?” And, when things don’t go the way you would like, why not say:“Thank you, God. In spite of my disappointment, I can still declare, ‘You are a good God.’”

______________________

1 Pathak, Harit. The Why Me? Story. Found on the website: EssentiallySports.com. May 24, 2015.

 

 

Grace for the “No”

 

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it [the thorn in my flesh] away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

—2 Corinthians 12:8-9

As a young child, I remember how hard I cried whenever my parents said, “No!” to me. I held out hope that perhaps they would change their minds if I just showed them how miserable they were making me by not allowing my friend to stay overnight, or to get the sweater I really wanted, or to accept the invitation to go swimming.

Much of my adult life, I spent sulking or feeling sorry for myself when God didn’t answer “Yes” to my reasonable requests for a coveted award, or a Christmas trip home, or even for a baby of my own.

Just lately, in the “golden” years of my life, I have learned that when God says “No,” He has a much better plan— even though it might not seem that way at the time. Most times, that “No” signifies that he will fit me with extraordinary grace through means I would never have imagined.

In the Bible story recorded in in John 11, sisters Mary and Martha learned this difficult lesson from Jesus Himself. They had sent for Jesus because their brother Lazarus was dying. Yet, Jesus waited two more days before going to them. In the meantime, Lazarus died. Jesus promised them they would see the Lord’s glory through this, but they still grieved and criticized Him for not coming sooner to heal Lazarus.

The story ended even better than they would have ever imagined. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead for the display of His power and sovereign will. Their brother was alive and their Lord had shown Himself to the crowd that had gathered. He was indeed glorified through this act of love and grace.

I would encourage you to do what I am learning to do—to be content with God’s will and to watch and wait for the ways He reveals Himself in His “No” answer to our prayers. May we see His amazing grace demonstrated in our lives, as we trust Him and learn to accept His answers!

 

 

Janus

 

“The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

—Psalm 121:8

The name for the month of January comes from the name of Janus, the Roman god of doorways. This god had two faces: one looking forward and one looking backwards. As we step over the threshold into this new year, we certainly have a better view of the year behind us than we do of the one ahead.

We constantly read in the Psalms that we are to consider the Lord’s works and see all that He has done. This good advice is illustrated many times in Scripture.

Samuel, in a story recorded in 1 Samuel 7, met with the Israelites at Mizpah to confess their sins and cry out to God for deliverance from the Philistines. Here Samuel took a stone and set it up, naming it “Ebenezer,” saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.”

At this threshold of a new year, we should look back long enough to see how the Lord has helped us through the year just past. I like to make a list of the high points. Then, I take note of how impossible it would have been to meet the challenges and enjoy the blessings without the direct intervention of our Lord.

Looking forward into the new year presents a bit of a harder task. And, lest you get into too much daydreaming, as I often do, let me warn you of the dangers here. We cannot possible know what lies ahead of us in the new year. As much as we would like to plan it out, we don’t have that luxury. We need to remember that God controls the future. We do not.

Nevertheless, we do need to consciously and volitionally trust God with what lies ahead. We often will not know what the next day will bring. Yet, we should not live in fear, or presume life will always work out according to our plans. If we belong to a Sovereign God, we know that we can rely on His wisdom to guide us and His love to watch over us.

I pray that we will know more about how to live in the way of trust, to live in peace with our future, even while we do not know what it will bring. We can depend on the One who knows every day before we get to it and the one who will bring light to the pathways of our lives. As the Psalmist has committed himself, recorded in Psalm 119:105-106, let us also say:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.

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1 Note: The photo at the top of this devotional of The Cathedral of St. Paul, Erie, Pennsylvania, was taken by photographer, Pat Bywater, December 26, 2017.

Disrupted!

 

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

—Proverbs 19:21

Mary and Joseph were planning a wedding. The initial approval of parents and the pledge that would forever bind them together had taken place. Now Mary could prepare for that important date they had ahead of them.

But, the angel Gabriel, coming to her with an unheard of announcement, completely disrupted the wedding plans. She would have a Baby by the Holy Spirit. Not only that, they would have to travel to Bethlehem, some 90 miles away, just about the time the Baby would be due. Plans disrupted!

Mary and Joseph were planning a trip home to Nazareth from Bethlehem. They must have been excited about introducing their families to the Newborn, and getting into a “settled” life as newlyweds.

But, an angel came and told Joseph that, in order to protect his family, they would have to go to Egypt for awhile! Plans disrupted!

In all of these events, Mary and Joseph responded to God’s plans by obeying and adapting their schedules and dreams. From the very beginning, they seemed to submit willingly to God’s mysterious will. Mary even responded to the angel, as recorded in Luke 1:38:

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”

I must admit that I have much more trouble adapting to disrupted plans than Mary and Joseph seemed to have. If the weather gets bad, and friends are unable to make it for dinner, or cousin Jake gets sick at the last minute and the family can’t get together for pizza and games, I’m disappointed. If I felt assured that I had the new job for which I had applied, and then I heard that someone else got it instead, it would take me several days to move on from my disappointment. Maybe you respond to disruptions in the same way.

When we stop to remember that we, like Mary and Joseph, no longer should live for ourselves, but rather for the God who has called us, we can begin to live in the place of His blessings, protection and usefulness to the Kingdom. I think of the verses in 1 Corinthians  6:19-20:

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Lord, help us to realize, like Mary and Joseph did, that since You called us, our lives will never be our own again. Help us to understand that we have a new loyalty, a new responsibility, to do Your will above our own, and a gladness and eagerness to obey, in order that You will be glorified. May Your will be done on Earth, in us, as it is in Heaven. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.