Surprised by Jesus
Jesus continues to surprise us today, even and especially those of us who follow him. Just when we think we have Jesus all figured out, he surprises us with unexpected wisdom, vision, compassion, power, and grace. Are you open to being surprised by Jesus today?
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When in Doubt, Follow Jesus
No matter the context, no matter the challenge, no matter the confusion engulfing us, it’s always good to turn our attention back to Jesus. I don’t know what will be expected of me in the future. I don’t know the challenges I’ll face or the opportunities that will be presented to me. But I do know this: When in doubt, follow Jesus!
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The Way Forward is Toward Redemption
Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” (Luke 5:22-23). The thing that the Pharisees thought was most important was in fact not the most important thing to Jesus. For Jesus, the ultimate gift was redemption.
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Finding a Way When Your Plans Don’t Work
Woven into the fabric of who we are as humans is an ability to find another way. We can think outside the box, we can come up with new ideas, we can suggest alternatives. Even when it’s hard, we can cope with change, adapt, and thrive in the midst of it. Our capacity to do this is one of my favorite parts of how God made us. I love that our hope and imagination can catalyze perseverance and resilience. As it turns out, much of the time, there is another way.
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Prayers for Workers: Lord, Lead Me in Right Paths
The “right paths” or “paths of righteousness” are not limited to what we might call the “religious” or the “personal” spheres of life. Rather, they are all-inclusive. The promise of Psalm 23 is that God will lead us in “the right direction” in every part of life (following the wording of The Message). Thus, the “right paths” of this psalm have everything to do with our daily work: the actions we take, the decisions we make, the words we speak.
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God the Worker . . . Yes, It’s Personal
I need to remember that the same God who spoke the Milky Way into existence is the God who is my shepherd, who cares about me personally and who actually works for my benefit. This glorious God is also your shepherd, the one who is with you in the darkest valley, who protects you and provides for you.
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Bless the Lord at All Times
In these uncertain times, we need the Lord most of all. But we also need each other. Yes, our ability to be physically together may be limited because of the coronavirus. But we mustn’t let this stand in the way of our relational interaction. Maybe we can figure out how to be in the same space with appropriate social distancing. Maybe we can use digital technology to bridge the relationship gap. Maybe we can rely on old standbys, like telephones and even letters. However we do it, let’s take advantage of the freedom we have to share with each other our struggles and victories, our sorrows and joys. As we do, may we bless the Lord in all of the times of life.
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Your Times Are in God’s Hand
Oh, I can sometimes pretend as if I’m the boss of my time. But then something comes along to jar my consciousness—something like a pandemic, for example. All of a sudden what I had been expecting to do with my time is turned upside down. And, in spite of how much I read about the coronavirus and its implications, I really don’t know what’s coming next . . . and neither do you.
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Trust in God at All Times
What does it mean to trust God? The Hebrew verb translated here as “trust” (batach) means “trust, feel safe, be confident, rely upon.” I’m reminded of how I felt as a young boy when my dad would carry on his shoulders.
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I Do Not Feel Courageous
Jesus is not offering a word of condemnation but an invitation in the waters. He invites Peter into a conversation: Why did you hesitate? What made you waver? Why are you uncertain? Jesus invites Peter to get to know himself better during this time. Not for the sake of condemnation, but transformation.
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I Am Afraid
I find myself afraid, too. Afraid of not knowing. Afraid of not seeing. Afraid of the losses. Afraid of the hard leadership decisions. Afraid that Jesus is nowhere to be seen at certain times of the day, like before dawn. Afraid of not knowing when the waves will stop battering our global family. Afraid that this curve won’t flatten and fall. Fear comes in waves.
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Prayers for Workers:
Learning to Lament
If we believe that God wants to teach us to pray through the Psalms, then it’s clear God wants us to learn to lament. Though the biblical psalms reflect a wide variety of themes and genres, you can’t read these inspired prayers without encountering lament after lament after lament. The psalm writers felt freedom before God to be honest about all they thought and felt. At times they would rejoice with an abandon that few of us experience. Yet, at other times, the psalmists would pour out their sadness before the Lord, sharing freely their grief, their impatience, and even their anger.
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God’s Stability, God’s Faithfulness
So it is today in the midst of a pandemic. In these uncertain times, we find stability in God, the God whose faithfulness is great. Like the author of Lamentations, we freely cry out to God in our pain and confusion. Yet, remembering God’s steadfast love and daily mercies, we also confess God’s faithfulness, and therefore we have hope.
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The Stability of Your Times
When our times feel certain, when things are going as we had planned, it’s easy to trust in our circumstances or our own ability to control them. But in uncertain times, we recognize our own limitations. We realize just how much we need God to be “the stability of our times.” Only in him will we find a solid, trustworthy foundation on which to build our lives.
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Unchanging Reality in an Always Changing World
Christian faith doesn’t provide all the certainty we might prefer. We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen today, or tomorrow, or the next day. Our faith doesn’t insulate us from all the change swirling around us. But Christian faith does provide a solid, trustworthy, unchanging reality upon which to base our lives.
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