An Unwanted Blessing?
In Monday’s Life for Leaders devotion, we celebrated the fact that, in Christ, we have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing.” As you considered your many blessings, I’d be surprised if you included God’s discipline. According to Psalm 94:12, the one whom the Lord disciplines is “blessed.” We’re blessed when God disciplines us? That isn’t intuitive to me.
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Bearing Fruit in the “Third Third” of Life
Those who walk in God’s ways live more meaningful and effective lives. But Psalm 92:13 adds another reason for the long-lived fruitfulness of the righteous: they “are planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God”. In other words, they have been planted so that their roots grow deeply into God’s soil. They draw nutrition from a divine source that is never exhausted.
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Wishful Thinking or Genuine Hope?
Living in exile is an opportunity for the demonstration of faithfulness. In uncongenial, even hostile, circumstances, we are called to do our work faithfully. Much of what we do may seem insignificant. There may be less recognition that our work is of value, since what is valued has itself changed in the world around us. Still, we can—as an act of faith and faithfulness—sing the LORD’s song in a strange land.
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God is Your Hiding Place
When I was a boy, I loved playing hide-and-seek. Little made me happier than when I found the perfect hiding place, a secure enclave where no “seeker” would ever find me… In a way, Psalm 91 envisions such a hiding place. Our translation reads, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
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Thanksgiving!
When we stop to consider God’s love for us and how that love has been expressed in the wonderful things he has done for us, we will naturally offer thanks and praise to God. So, may I encourage you to make time for remembering and thanking. Think of God’s love for you and his goodness in your life… and give thanks!
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Where is God’s Great Love?
Like the writer of Psalm 89, we often find ourselves thanking God for his goodness and wondering where his goodness went… Psalm 89 gives us freedom to tell the Lord exactly what we’re thinking and feeling. It reminds us that we don’t have to pretend as if everything in our lives is perfect. We can be fully honest with God.
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Don’t Give Up on God! But Do Be Honest!
What should we do with Psalm 88? We don’t know exactly what Heman the Ezrahite, who wrote this psalm, was facing, but we know it was overwhelming to him… Heman sees the hand of God in his suffering. “You have put me in the lowest pit,” he accuses the Lord (88:6). Yet Heman keeps on praying.
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The Inclusiveness of God
The church can and should be a place where the nations gather in worship, friendship, and mission. And when we scatter into the world, we have the opportunity to extend the welcome of God to others. For many of us, our workplaces are, in fact, our best opportunity to show the inclusive love of God to people from other countries and cultures.
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Yearning for an Undivided Heart
Psalm 86:11 assumes that we need God not only to teach us, but also to bring our inner selves into wholeness. Then we will be able to live according to God’s truth each day, glorifying him in all we do. As a child of God, I pray for the Lord to do these very things in my life.
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Do You Need to Be Revived Again?
God has been gracious to me again and again, delivering me from the messes I make, giving me hope when I feel hopeless, and working away at helping me to become more like Christ. For God’s amazing, tenacious grace, I am most grateful. Yet I am eager for more of God’s grace in my life. I yearn for revival.
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There’s No Place Like Home… But Where is Home?
Jesus invites us into the house and household of God, the family of God. We can accept this invitation now, even as we await a greater fullness of family life in the future. You and I have the opportunity to be brothers and sisters in the family of God, beloved children of our heavenly Father. In this sense, we can be at home with the Lord today.
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O God, Do Not Remain Silent!
Psalm 83 begins with a bold request: “O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God.” This is one of scores of places in the Psalms where the psalmist does not hold back from demanding something of the Almighty. This is not neat, tidy prayer, but gut-wrenching, heart-yearning, no-holds-barred communication with God.
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Living in God’s Country
Would you like to live in God’s country? I imagine you would. I would too. But where exactly is God’s country? Plenty of people think they can answer that question, because they claim to live in God’s country… The truth, according to Psalm 82, is that every country on earth is, in some sense, God’s country. Verse 8 reads, “Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.”
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Do You Really Want What’s Best for Your Life?
Do you believe that you usually know what’s best for your life? Do you make choices based on dubious but bold confidence in yourself and your own judgments? Or, do you seek God’s truth and walk in God’s ways? Do you choose to follow the Lord, even when his guidance contradicts your own hunches? When it comes right down to it, do you really believe that you know what’s best for your life?
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A Bowlful of Tears
Scripture regularly associates God with joy, exuberant joy… But joy is not the only emotion connected to our relationship with the living God. Sadness also shows up in Scripture. In Psalm 80:5, for example, the psalmist laments: “You have fed [your people] with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.”
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