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^©   

Mustard Faith

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God?  What story should I use to illustrate it?  It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.”  Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand.  In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.  Mark 4:30-34

As a tourist or resident, walking the busy streets of New York isn’t a complete experience unless you get a hot dog from a street vendor.  And, of course, you must have mustard!  (If you eat it plain the STREET-EATS POLICE will get ya’).  

As a former New Yorker who has eaten many of those “tube-steaks” I can attest to the oft-mused answer to the question about what gives those doggies their special flavor.  The answer is threefold simple…ambiance of the great city, a fair amount of soot, and taxicab tailpipe exhaust in the air[1]. 

Now, It's something of a leap from street-vendors selling New York hot dogs, to Jesus talking about mustard in Jerusalem; but there is a connection.  You do know there isn’t a person in the entirety of humanity who hasn’t tasted a hot dog.  In the same way everyone in the crowd to which Jesus spoke in that agrarian community knew mustard seeds as a “must” for the garden.  The image of the tiny seed, growing into a huge, tree-like bush, and how mustard’s pungent taste can enhance many foods, is common in any culture you care to name.  When you bite into anything coated with mustard, you know it’s there.  And that may be a hint of why Jesus used such a common image to help people understand God’s Kingdom. 

The rapid growth of a tiny seed, coupled with its unmistakeable presence when matured, is an appropriate characterization of what God is able to do with us.  Consider the magnificent presence of Mother Teresa…as tiny a human being (physically) as you could ever meet, and quiet enough, personally, that you’d never expect a mustard kind of effect out of that little package.  But she drew the attention of the entire world to change the way children are treated. 

Much as a mustard plant can double as a shade tree for a hot, weary bird or two, any tiny human being, whether isolated in the mountains of Cambodia, or living on the busy streets of Mubai, India, another face in the crowd of 21-million other people, God can grow some evidence of His Kingdom-presence to feed a leper, or put clothes on a street kid.  Small, common seeds…big, holy results!

For You Today 

From the antiquities of the first century church we have what Paul told the belivers at Colossae:

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Colossians 3:23

You may not be called to work with children like Mother Teresa, or labor at a microscope to cure cancer, or gear-up with the astronauts to travel to distant stars.  But whatever God places in your hand, your heart, or your head, He has placed it, and you, there to make a difference.  Start as a mustard seed; grow to be a shade tree for some weary, wandering bird who needs to know what it’s like to come face to face with the Kingdom of God.

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 Devotions library.  

 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] With humble apologies to my New York friends and relatives…tongue in cheek; it’s really da mustard

Of Colliding and Cooperating

Friday, January 20, 2023

Then fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas; and Titus came along, too.  I went there because God revealed to me that I should go.  While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles.  I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing.  And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile.  Even that question came up only because of some so-called believers there—false ones, really—who were secretly brought in.  They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.  They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish regulations.  But we refused to give in to them for a single moment.  We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you.  

Galatians 2:1-5

It is said that opposites attract.  My bride and I would tend to validate that thought.  Invariably we have different tastes, opinions, and ways of completing tasks.  That was certainly true of Peter and Paul.  Peter was driven by his heart, and working with his hands, rough-cut, decisive, and bold.  Paul was (excuse the irreverance) an egghead, the Harvard scholar-type, more prone to be the president of the chess club, more a quarterback than lineman.  Both apostles were more suited to what God had called and gifted them to be and do.  One trait they held in common was their hardliner devotion to Christ’s Kingdom.  Neither of them would back-off an inch on the issue of Jesus being Lord.  Of that, there could be zero-capitulation…end of story.

Among the few similarities of these Christ-servants was their willingness to accept God’s way of doing new things.  Peter, the Jewish believer understood God’s way would include the Gentiles, but it took an extraordinary vision to convince the fisherman.  Paul was also Jewish, and had to be knocked to his knees and blinded – then healed, to be convinced of God’s seriousness about God’s mercy being extended to every human being on earth.[1]  Both Peter and Paul tended towards inflexibility, but once that wall crumbled, they were not likely to rebuild it.  The egghead and the warrior had both been released from their sins and prejudicial ways, and they would not rest until that message was the theme of their lives.

John Wesley was a hybrid Peter and Paul.  He was more than educated, and a superb thinking-leader, committed to the faith, and leading the interested to become faithful.  But Wesley could also see the middle-way, not compromise, but meeting of minds.  He knew there could not be any progress, on any front, when a collision-course is chosen.  But, when hearts are willing to be open there can be cooperation.  Peter, Paul, and John…they all knew Jesus was Lord…they all became excellent models of what it means to serve Christ, and they all had their flaws.  And God used them in magnificent ways they never dreamed to bring about God’s purposes in their days, and God’s ways.

For You Today  

You and I are not Peter, Paul, nor John.  But this is our time, our days, and the Lord God is the same God of the Jews, Gentiles, and whomever else, to the uttermost ends of the universe.  Despite all our differences, God is looking for the high, low, and middle-ways kinds of people, with whom He will bless and proclaim his Good News.  Some ways will be the old ways; some new.  To be God’s servant means learning to cooperate with what He’s doing, not colliding with each other.

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

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: 

The God of ALL Favorites  and  Hand-Wringing Methodists

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^©  

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[1] Read Acts 9-11 for both accounts

Old Minds & New Wine

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?”  Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom?  Of course not.  But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth?  For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.  “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.  For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins.  New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”  Matthew 9:14-17

The older one gets, the more one looks back on the chapters that were, instead of looking ahead to the chapters yet to be written.  Perhaps too much!  It’s difficult to look ahead when your mind is full of the past.  Yet, there is something to be said for meditating on what has happened, if the future is going to make any sense.  For instance, a pastor’s unquestioned task is always to preach God’s Word, in God’s timing, so that the true wisdom of God can bless and direct God’s people.  So a pastor must face what’s ahead while keeping the past in mind.  To let the future have sovereign reign is to fall prey to some of yesterday’s mistakes, spilling the new wine of tomorrow before it has time to mature.  To let the past reign (especially in an old mind) is to turn your back on the promise of all things new. 

We make choices, many without thinking; we are conditioned so, and life demands choices and changes.  And, in the wisdom that unfolds with time, we know everything of the past was not entirely evil or entirely good, as well as we know everything new will one day be in the past.  We live, we choose, we learn.

If our minds are the wineskins of which Jesus taught, then the possibilities of the wine of yesterday or tomorrow are what goes in.  Jesus said you can’t put the new wine (of tomorrow’s experience) into old skins (an old man’s mind, perhaps).  The common reasoning is that the fermenting of the new wine creates growth action that will expand (and burst) the old, stretched-to-the-limit skins.

As it is with old minds and new wines, so it is with the church and her ebb and flow of serving Christ’s Kingdom.  The more churches dwell on the past, lamenting the loss of those good ol’ days, the less fit we become for the new wine of Christ’s promise…behold, I make all things new.[1]  And when God is moving in the hearts of young people to stretch and accept his growth to expand the Kingdom, we do well to make room for that which is coming, or risk the judgment of Pharasee-like hardened skins, ready for bursting.

I know of only one remedy for that, and Apostle Paul made it simple:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  Romans 12:1-2

Renewed minds…new wineskins for what’s coming, made possible by the kind of faith that presents body, mind, and soul to Christ…the surrendered life.

For You Today  

Old wine is best in taste, but it is strong, and is meant to be savored and sipped.  New wine is best in promise, meant to be expanding and changing.  There is room for both…no, there is necessity of both in the Kingdom of God. 

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

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: 

The Tear in the Fabric  and  Drinking the Pastor's New Wine

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^©  

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[1] Revelation 21:5

Alive

Friday, January 13, 2023

In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit.  During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive.  And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.  Acts 1:1-3

In a world full of superstition and baser people who were strong enough, and always willing to take advantage of the naïve, Jesus took care to assure the disciples that he was actually alive.  They were not very accustomed to formerly-dead persons walking, talking, and “being” with them.  In this context, with their fears and amazement sidelined, Jesus then talked to them about the coming Kingdom of God.  Their understanding of the Kingdom had been clouded by the typical, traditional thought pattern, which pointed to an earthly, political kingdom.  Frankly, Roman oppression had fueled a desire to see the blood of Ceasar’s soldiers gushing throught the streets of Jerusalem.  But Jesus pointed to a higher Kingdom, a Temple not made with hands, but overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, descending from the heavens, an eternal gift from the Father of Lights, where God, Himself would dwell with His people, and wipe away every tear.[1]

Sometimes it takes a moment for new thoughts to emerge from the shadows of dusty, dark places, where your mind has been wasting-away.  For the slower among us (like me) it may take weeks, months, or decades for light to dawn.

After serving in the military, I entered the business world at the ripe old age of 21.  In sales, and subsequently management, the visions of sugarplum-success danced in my head.  I totally bought-into the idea of hard work and nose-to-the-grindstone attention to building a little kingdom…for Russell and family.  About twelve years into this plan, it was going well for the net-worth bottom line, but relationships were suffering, along with internal growing awareness that I was chasing a rainbow that might destroy everything in me that God intended for my good, both now, and for eternity.   Then, like the apostle Paul, I met Jesus.  

Unlike Paul, I didn’t go blind, nor was it a blinding light, or an audible voice…it was more a growing understanding of how much of a god I had made of my wealth-quest, and how little value there was in building a soft financial nest in which to land.  The realization dawned on me that everything (without exception) shrivels and fades if it’s entirely constructed of human means and desires.  Only God, and what He ordains lasts.  And God ordained that our souls would last…for eternity. 

I was chasing the wrong “brass ring” of wealth, while God was trying to show me the beauty of His presence, and the gifts he was just eagerly waiting to bestow on my inner being.  He wanted to bless me with the knowledge of what its like to be REALLY ALIVE!

For You Today  

While a preacher can talk to you about these things (and we do love to do that…you give me a chance to have that discussion and you’ll make my day!); but no human being can lead you into that reality.  Like choosing favorite colors, flavors, or anything else that will be the endearing pattern and trademark of your life, it must be YOUR choosing.  So, the last words for all of this:  Choose ALIVE!

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

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: 

The Kingdom of God  and  The Interview

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^©  

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[1] Read Revelation 21 – read slowly and savor each image of God’s loving presence Also See James 1:17

A Refreshing Spring Rain

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son.  Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.  May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful.  Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.  May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky.  Yes, forever!  May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass, like the showers that water the earth.  May all the godly flourish during his reign.  May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more.  Psalm 72:1-7

In this Psalm there is a very thin and necessary line any leader must walk, if that leader will measure-up to what David prayed for his son, Solomon, who was about to take over for the dying king.  It’s the precarious line of tension between the heart and head.  On the one hand rulers must govern with rulership, applying with wisdom (of the mind) all the laws of the land equally to all the citizens.  On balance, compassion (of the heart) must make certain the law’s rigid nature tramples no citizen.  To achieve that balance is like a refreshing spring rain on a parched soil.  David’s prayer for his son contains superlatives…enemies eternally fearing Solomon, oppressors broken and crushed, fairness in the courts…always!  And let us not forget prosperity until the moon is no more.  We are talking about King Arthur’s Camelot, an everlasting paradise of blessing showered on everyone.  Can’t you just hear the pledge of allegiance?  One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all!

If you apply those standards to ANY ruler of current day, or of any time in history, that flesh-and-blood human will fall short.  Even the one who prayed it in the 72^nd Psalm for his young ruler-to-be couldn’t live up to that standard.  Indeed, it is an impossible target.  A rule of forever is not consistent with the term-limits of human life spans.  Exact justice is not found anywhere on the planet, except in the minds of the naïve or evil.  So how could David, a wise and (relatively) good king, pray for something no human can hope to attain?  Was he just setting-up his son, Solomon for failure?  Or is there something else in that prayer we’re not seeing?  Perhaps both. 

The spring rain on a field of grass is prosperity for a season; dry spells will return, as assuredly they did in Israel, not long after Solomon’s reign ended.  There were plenty of evil rulers to follow.  David knew this, but still prayed for the son’s wisdom, power, and success.  But, behind the king’s wishes for his earthly son of the next generation, David was pointing to the Son of Advent, of his lineage, nearly a thousand years later, born in a manger. 

If you use Psalm 72 as a template, placing it over the completeness of Scripture’s prophecies concerning the rule of Christ, you will see no inconsistency.  The line between justice and mercy is held high.  Judgment is righteous and fair.  Rule is with godliness.  And the godly flourish.  David’s prayer, written under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, was hopefulness for Solomon’s reign as king for a season, but it was prophetic for the certainty of Christ’s reign truly forever.

For You Today  

There’s a reason we place our faith in God and not in earthly rulers, or institutions.  Earthly kings and presidents are subject to the transitory and imperfect results of being human, with all the character cracks of our nature; God, in Christ, is eternal and without failure.  That’s a permanent refreshing rain!

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

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: 

       One Nation UNDER God   and   Praying for a President

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^©   

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!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

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^©