The Right Time

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

“You saw the misery of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cries from beside the Red Sea.  You displayed miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh, his officials, and all his people, for you knew how arrogantly they were treating our ancestors.  You have a glorious reputation that has never been forgotten.  You divided the sea for your people so they could walk through on dry land!  And then you hurled their enemies into the depths of the sea. They sank like stones beneath the mighty waters.  You led our ancestors by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night so that they could find their way.  “You came down at Mount Sinai and spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and instructions that were just, and decrees and commands that were good.  You instructed them concerning your holy Sabbath. And you commanded them, through Moses your servant, to obey all your commands, decrees, and instructions.  “You gave them bread from heaven when they were hungry and water from the rock when they were thirsty.  You commanded them to go and take possession of the land you had sworn to give them.  Nehemiah 9:9-15

After being released from yet another long period of bondage, Israel rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls.  But the long, hard process to rebuild a nation had just begun.  As the covenant with their God is renewed, the man who oversaw the whole project, Nehemiah, leads the worship time, remembering parts of their journey: release from Egyptian bondage, travels through the wilderness, and God’s continual providence meeting their every need.  He challenges the people to renew the covenant in their hearts…to renew their grip on the plow handle of God’s Kingdom, and serve without fear or reservation.

Looking back is a good thing when it is used to take strength in moving forward, not just longing for the good ‘ol days.  There have been more than a few times in my life that process served God’s purpose well.  At the beginning of our ministry together, I told Elizabeth I was convinced God was leading me to give up the job that had fed, clothed, and housed us for 10 years, so I could go to school and work out just how God wanted to use us in ministry.  The timing of my announcement was odd; Elizabeth and our newborn third child, Carrie, were in bed trying to get through scarlet fever.  My bride smiled, and said “OK…as long as we do it together.”  Over the next 40-plus years there were so many difficult times, and so many right times when God’s providential care opened a window, when all the doors had been locked shut. 

Today, these early days of “retirement” have been walked gingerly, awaiting God’s move once again.  We have often talked of what to do now, and there is no handbook to give definitive answers, other than the Book we’ve used to proclaim the Kingdom of God.  And from that Book, the wisdom of Solomon still speaks through tough times and easier times, through gladness and sadness, with all the certainty and mystery life holds.  Scripture still tells me one thing:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.  

Proverbs 3:5-6

For You Today 

I have (perhaps like you too) been broken, confused, wondering where the strength for another single step will come.  The answer is always the same:

God will supply…at the right time!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Image(s) courtesy of Pixabay.com

Images without citation are in public domain.  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

What if...?

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

What if the Lord had not been on our side?  Let all Israel repeat:  What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us?  They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger.  The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us.  Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives.  Praise the Lord, who did not let their teeth tear us apart!  We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap.  The trap is broken, and we are free!  Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  Psalm 124:1-8

I think Advent is my kind of season.  As an introspective sort, I naturally turn towards the inner self, thinking, evaluating, wondering, and (too-often) overthinking!  But, it is what it is; we are hardwired one way or another.

As much trouble as I can get into by keeping my mouth closed, and mind working, and, therefore open to criticism of being moody, or uncaring, I do sense I stay out of trouble more that way than the other.  Two sayings come to mind:

1.    Open mouth, insert foot…and

2.    Better to keep mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove all doubt.

Advent was built with the thinker in mind.  To relfect is to consider deeply about what you’re doing, or what happened, or, perhaps most importantly, what’s coming.  In the Christian life, there is no larger consideration upon which to reflect than that last one…what’s coming is Jesus!

The “thinker” of Psalm 124 does all three:

He looks back:  What if the Lord had not been on our side?  The result of life in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria would’ve been a catastrophe.  The blood would have run neck-deep to a horse for miles. 

He looks at what he does now in light of what happened:  The trap is broken, and we are free!  Freedom carries responsibility; the Psalmist doesn’t want to waste this gift of opportunity to reflect positively on God’s great kindness.

He looks very deeply at what’s coming:  Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  To consider every last nook and cranny of creation takes a long time.  Somehow, the sober moment of escaping the tragedy of an enemy attack, has driven this thoughtful one to remember not only where he (and all Israel) would be without God’s divine favor and grace, but resolve to trust in no other strength, save the lovingkindness of JHWH, Jehovah-Jirah, the God who is I Am.

For You Today  

There is enough emotion at this time of year.  Hallmark sees to that detail.  For believers, it is a time to think, carefully, deeply, and with the very-pointed purpose of engaging where we’ve been, what we’re doing, and what’s coming. 

Advent is the stuff of life time.  What hangs in the balance for you and me is to either being engulfed by this world’s system, or released like a bird from a cage.  Prison of sin, or release to the Kingdom.  That’s Advent; that’s today!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       Rescue   and   Committing Advent

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

 

Eternity from an Earthly Point of View

 

Monday, November 22, 2021

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you.  My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.  I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.  Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!  I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.  You satisfy me more than the richest feast.  I will praise you with songs of joy.  I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.  Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.  I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.  Psalm 63:1-8

I don’t know how this plays out in your mind, but, for me, thoughts of eternity are the ultimate “WOW” moment.  My little earthly brain cannot conceive of the eternal.  Even now, after writing that little sentence I can feel the throbbing building up behind my eyebrows. 

There are several reasons for this; chief among the factors is my tendency to dwell on the here and now, rather than eternal.  Now, that’s not aw-shucks humility; it’s simply human nature.  We humans trust much more in what we can see, than that which requires faith.  Just entertaining even the idea of God is too immense and overpowering to hold in perspective.  David wrote that he would lie awake entire nights dwelling on thoughts of God, while his soul reminded him how parched he was longing for the presence of the Sovereign Lord.

The other driving fact (for me) that eternity is above my pay grade is that Scripture tells me God has created me with eternity in mind.  That which rolls around my insides like an indwelling combination of thoughts, platelets, sinew, bone, and fleshly organs, is an eternal soul, created by the Almighty, with the purpose of eternal fellowship and joy…with He who is eternal and sovereign.  Beloved, if that does not start a holy revival fire of praise and thanksgiving in your soul, your worship-wood is wet!

Saving the best for last, David writes that God’s ultimate strength[1] is reserved for holding us close to Him.

What a delight!

For You Today

Many philosophers, pundits, and seekers contemplate eternity as if there is an unknowable pathway to successfully navigating some unknowable purpose.  But David, the poet, king, and man after God’s own heart put it right in the middle of this Psalm:

Your unfailing love is better than life itself;

Want a leg-up on figuring out why God put you on this planet?  Learn to sing from under the shadow of His wings…it’s the place of unfailing, unending love!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this text see Protected - November 9, 2020

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[1] In ancient times the right (sword) hand was considered the strongest, most important of a warrior’s tools

I AM; You ARE

[1] 

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

“I, yes I, am the one who comforts you.  So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear?  Yet you have forgotten the Lord, your Creator, the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth.  Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors?  Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies?  Where is their fury and anger now?  It is gone!  Soon all you captives will be released!  Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!  For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar.  My name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  And I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you safely in my hand.  I stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth.  I am the one who says to Israel, ‘You are my people!’”  Isaiah 51:12-16

When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush[2] it was in answer to Moses’ question as to the Lord’s name; God answered, I AM.  A name presupposes and proclaims existential character.  If I say I am carpenter, you already know I build things, and probably have leathery hands from doing battle with wood.  You know my eye will run to the plumb and level of things and I’ll take the time to measure twice and cut once.  In the same way, when you hear I AM, the existential nature of God revealing God sets up a battle of faith.  God’s name declares eternality.  He was before anything (in any sense of linear thought).  He is above all in any sense of moral or ethical consideration.  His sovereignty over the universe and all it holds is not bought, grabbed, or coronated by grant or permission; He simply IS!  And with that simple declaration, the struggle for faith is on; you either believe…or you don’t!

Enter Isaiah, a prophet to a disobedient Jewish nation.  They were a people who declared faith in that I AM God as their God, yet, they kept wandering away from Jehovah.  Their faith was (as Vance Havner used to say) fickle at first and fizzling at the finish.

And yet, God wasn’t done with them.  As the nation languished in the shame and pain of a national thrashing at the hands of enemies who would brutally massacre many thousands and enslave the rest in cruel bondage, God speaks through the prophet words of comfort; The I AM says to them, You ARE.  To a disobedient, sinful people God speaks existential reality of unbroken relationship.  They may have been facing an extinction event politically, but their God would hold true to His promises, that they would never be exterminated; punished, yes…but always held fast in the grip of I AM’s love.

For You Today

Sometimes you might feel like Israel, abandoned to the predators of life.  And, truth be told, you sometimes might BE Israel, having had a crisis of faith, punctuated by wandering in the far country.  But you always ARE; you are His creation and the object of His unfailing love.  The I AM says so!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

[2] Exodus 3