Life's Wider Picture

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.  I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths.  When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble.  Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.  Guard them, for they are the key to life.  Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers.  Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.  Turn away and keep moving.  For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.  They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.  They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence!  The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.  But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.  They have no idea what they are stumbling over.  My child, pay attention to what I say.  Listen carefully to my words.  Don’t lose sight of them.  Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.  Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.  Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech.  Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.  Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.  Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.  Proverbs 4:10-27

A question which I have always viewed with a little watchful skepticism is: 

Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, or 25 years?

Watchfulness over my answer is a matter of following the instruction my coach in high school gave me about hitting; he said:  keep your eye on the ball!  So my skeptical eye doesn’t have contempt for looking ahead to make plans, but rather objecting to such a short view.  As a life-navigator, I would rather see the end goal…it’s easier to chart a straight course that way.  And to do that for a life-plan you need to step back, get higher in the balcony, and see the bigger picture.

That snapshot of planning a life from the mere wisp of time we are granted on this planet, 50, 60, or 110 years, is way too short a focus.  Planning where and how you want your life to make an impact demands looking down the road for generations to come, even into eternity.  I’d rather start from the longest point from now, and work backwards to the present.

Now, many people would say:  That’s impossible; you don’t know the future.  And I would certainly have to agree that I don’t know the future, but I certainly can plan-for, and step-towards a goal I set for the future.

That is where Solomon’s wise advice comes in.  Wisdom for setting a life’s course begins with developing a worldview based on the light of truth, leaving evil and darkness in the dust behind you.  All else is meaningless (vanity if King James is a “must” for you). 

Only truth will guard your heart from sinking-into, and following evil.  When truth governs your heart, it will keep your mouth from perverse-speak; strength, healing and kindness will be your legacy, and it will last through eternity.

For You Today 

If you will let Solomon’s godly light of truth guard your heart today, and always, then 5, 20, or two-million years from now, your words and life’s impact on all who cross your path, will stand true, while evil is long forgotten. 

Prophet Isaiah has our last word today:

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”  Isaiah 40:8

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Ears Open - Heart Straight - Eyes on the Road - Sure Foot  and  Small Package - Big Message  and  When the Killing is Done                                        

 

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

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

Of Mules and Murphy's Law

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. Genesis 6:5

If you’re familiar with the adage known as Murphy’s Law and the epigram about leopards not changing their spots, you also will have little trouble understanding how God felt about humans back in Noah’s day.

Murphy’s Law simply states:  Anything that can go wrong…will go wrong.  Add the leopard epigrammatic twist, and it becomes:

Anything that can go wrong…will go wrong, again, and again, and again!

I have seen it firsthand!  About 30 years ago our church in Jacksonville, Florida, did an outdoor Christmas extravaganza, complete with stations around the buildings, representing Jerusalem and Bethlehem.  The pathway from the gates of the city (North Main Street in Jacksonville as Main Street Jerusalem), with tax collectors, Roman soldiers, Pharisees, women at the well, etc…eventually brought each visitor around to the back parking lot and the manger.  We had all the cast, Mary, Joseph, a two-month-old baby Jesus, plenty of sheep, a milk cow, and one very strong-willed mule.  The mule’s owner had a six-year-old son, in charge of keeping the animal off to one side of the manger while the preacher greeted the visiting public, and shared the story of Jesus’ birth.  That was the plan!  However, plans have a rather obnoxious habit of colliding with Murphy’s Law.  And, in this case, we became the story worthy of Clark Griswold’s Christmas Vacation.

The first couple of groups that came to the manger were textbook successes.  Then the mule started getting bored or anxious, wanting to take over my presentation of the Gospel.  It was hard for the crowd to hear the preacher for the braying.  (A member with a questionable sense of humor later told me it was hard to tell the difference between my preaching and the mule’s anyway).  The next time a group came through I cautioned the young boy holding the harness lead to keep the beast quiet.  About half-way through my presentation, the mule decided he’d had enough.  He strolled right between me and the crowd, dragging a six-year-old, holding onto the harness reigns, yelling at the top of his lungs:  stop it, stop it, you fool mule.  It was loud enough to be heard in South Georgia.  The worst part was the mule looking back and staring at me, face-to-face like Balaam’s donkey[1], with that look that said:  You were never in charge anyway, preacher. 

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result, Murphy’s correlation of that would be:  If you think you’re in control, you will spend major portions of your life in therapy.

The people of Noah’s day thought they were in control…but that was before the barometer dropped, and the thunder clouds gathered. 

For You Today  

Not every plan you make will result in as much disaster as that one night in North Florida’s manger scene.  But even when it does, it may be appropriate.  There may have been some people there who just needed a good laugh, and a lighter load during a tough time.  It’s hard to figure-out why God put mules on the earth, until the moment they steal the show.

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: 

Fear Factor - Part 1  and  When It Hurts So Much

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] Balaam and his Donkey Numbers 22

Living In-Between

 

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.  So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.  But beware!  For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues.  You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers.  But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me.  When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say.  God will give you the right words at the right time.  For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  Matthew 10:16-20

I said “goodbye” this past Sunday to the congregation I’ve served with for ten years; I have not yet said “hello” to the new congregation I’m supposed to serve this year.  I’m in-between.  If you’re between a rock and a hard place, you’re in-between.  If you’re supposed to be as harmless as a dove, but shrewd as a snake, you’re in-between.  If you’re arrested for being good, and you want to scream FOUL, but the one who taught you to wait, instead of trying to force the issue, says to wait for His words…you’re in-between.  There are times when I hate being in-between.  Check that…I hate being in-between ALL the time!

But here I am, and the chaos of life in the in-between times is upon me.  I am neither where I was, nor where I’m headed.  I prefer to have things a lot more planned, clearly-defined, and scheduled.  The good news is that it is just that, planned, clearly-directed and on-schedule; the bad news, for my obsessive-compulsive-disorderly self, is the One who holds the Day-Planner is in Heaven.

I have to remind myself often, that God’s plans, like His ways and thoughts, are on a much grander level than I can even imagine.  And He’s got stuff well in control.  It’s not that I ever doubt that…my perfectionist, impatient, wanna-control gene compels me to try to control what’s going on, and the God who knows exactly what, where, when, who, and (most importantly) why things are going to play-out the way they will…is my LORD.  And it’s something I need to remember…as in front burner…It is He who instructs, commissions, sends, leads, and in every way protects and uses me….not the other way around.

For You Today

One other thing I have to keep tattooed on the inside of my eylids (so I’ll see it often) is that the Christian life is a journey, and I’m always in that in-between place.  I’m not where I was, but I’m being led to where I need to be. 

May the God of grace and peace give you that joyful expectation of this holy journey of life in His plan, His way, and His glory, instead of letting you try to own the cesspool of control, organized materialism, and owning exactly nothing!

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

For other posts on this topic:  Shrewd & Harmless and When Faith Leads to Trouble

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

God's Plans

 

Friday, August 28, 2020

All this happened so they would follow his decrees and obey his instructions.  Psalm 105:45

Doctrine (what you believe about what you value) can be tricky, and it runs a wide path through culture; as wide as the different opinions in a church meeting on what color the new carpet in the foyer ought to be.

From this one text in Psalms it is easy to see why some people imagine the doctrine of predestination to mean God moves people around in despotic manner – they have little or no choice about the outcome of their lives; God’s plan is final, and that’s it!  While that is a supra-fatalistic view of God’s intervention in human existence, the polar-opposite doctrine has God in a hands-off mode.  That was a doctrine quite popular a few generations ago.  The picture is of God, the Creator, once having made the universe and all it holds, somewhat like a master clock-maker assembles a grandfather clock, the final move being to gently push the pendulum to get things started, now takes His hands off the masterpiece and lets it run as it will, for good, bad, or indifferent.

This is essentially the debate which has been carried on since Job sat in ashes and grief over the misery in his life, while his three friends tried to force their theology on the sufferer.  The question hasn’t been settled throughout the formation of Jewish understanding, nor the last two thousand years of Christian discipleship.  It’s a wide space between the fringes of God totally ignoring us as opposed to God holding us so tight that we have no say in the matter.  Is it free will, or frozen-stiff in God’s will?  Here is the Apostle Paul’s signature verse on the topic:

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And having chosen them, he called them to come to him.  And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself.  And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.  Romans 8:28-30

My theological understanding, after puzzling the jumble of thoughts on this issue the last 50+ years, is somewhere near the middle of the fringes.  It would be hard to keep a straight face and say there’s no such thing as free will; there are too many if’s, but’s, and perhaps passages in Holy Scripture to deny human will is autonomous, a free-agent, so-to-speak.  It would be equally naïve (or a downright assault on truth) to declare that our human autonomous will is not influenced, and ultimately accountable-to God’s will.  He is, after all, the Sovereign God, Who created us! 

So, do we have free will?  Or are our lives predestined?  Well, in a word, YES!

Now, before you start planning my execution for taking the 5^th, and bailing on this little question, I really do mean “yes” – both are real.  We do have free will, and God, in His sovereign will, has some wonderful plans for our lives He will bring about. 

And that works the way I heard Dr. Herschel Hobbs describe it as he led us in a small group Bible study in 1979.  He said[1]:

Predestination works like an election.  God and the devil are having a dispute over your soul.  The devil casts his vote to destroy every part of who you are.  The Lord casts His vote to redeem you and give you eternal life with Him in glory.  It’s one-fer, one-ag’n; the election’s a tie.  And the only way to settle it is YOU get to cast the tie-breaking vote!

Not bad theology for a country boy with a PhD!

For You Today

The Psalmist said God arranges and does stuff so we will follow God’s commands and will.  It’s a smart thing to listen to God’s plans (read and study Scripture); in the long run it will head off a long list of mistakes and heartaches.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

VIDEO

Title image Pixabay.com  ∞ Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another posts on Psalm 145 see: Telling the Story

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[1] Dr. Hobbs (1907-1995) was a Baptist scholar, and speaker on the Baptist Hour radio program.  The quote is as close to verbatim as my memory allows, but the gist and understanding are still clear as a fire bell ringing

 

Making Plans

[1]

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year.  We will do business there and make a profit.”  How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?  Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.  What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”  Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.  James 4:13-16^(NLT)

A long-time and good friend of mine, Dr. Don McCutcheon recently posted a picture of he and his fiancée, Debbie.  It was an announcement of their engagement.  Naturally I asked him:  When’s the big day?  His reply was nothing short of what I’ve come to love and respect about my Godly friend; he began his response with:  Lord willing….   

And then, today, the Apostle James showed-up in my inbox. 

I love that about God’s timing.  Sometimes I read a Bible passage and later that day or the next, a challenge shows up to reinforce the message of what I’ve learned.  Sometimes a challenge shows up and then later I read Scripture which reminds me God wrote it through the hand of a prophet ages ago, and now twenty or thirty centuries later God places it on my reading plan as a reminder that He is sovereign and can handle my battles.  Either way – before or after – I am blessed with the comfort that God has always had my back!

And that (as always) begs the questions…do I have His…and am I listening and submitting to His leading?  Are my plans made Lord willing?

James, the apostle and half-brother of Jesus, understood he was not in charge of the universe; he didn’t even claim to be in charge of his life as a whole, or the next ten minutes.  His plans were made with the proviso that everything was subject to the will of God; he was ready for change at a moment’s notice…or with no notice.  When you start your day or any project with Lord willing, it means you’ve accepted having God make the major decisions.     

There is a marked difference between having confidence and living-in confidence.  Having confidence in self (the product of your will), means you know you’re up to the task and your strength will accomplish that which you’ve planned...the polar opposite is living-in confidence.  The latter is a matter of settled choice that, having begun in prayer and study of God’s Word, you placed your will second to His will; you have become confidently-assured in the knowledge that God will guide you to His perfect outcome for you and His Kingdom. 

That is living Lord willing!

For You Today

I have always had the free will to choose my will, making plans my way; that is God’s gift to us all.  In my case (and perhaps in yours as well), every time I chose my will over God’s ways I have made a mess of things.

The best choice I can make with my will is to surrender it to His!

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

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy:  Pixabay.com

King David's Prayer

[i]

Friday, December 16, 2016

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?  And now, Sovereign Lord, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty!  Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign Lord?  “What more can I say to you?  You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign Lord.  Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant.  “How great you are, O Sovereign Lord!  There is no one like you.  2 Samuel 7:18-22a^(NLT)

King David had received so much – a throne over all Israel, wealth beyond measure, and acclaim by people throughout the known world.  Life was really good for the former shepherd boy who took down Goliath with nothing but a slingshot and faith in JHWH.

And the king, humble as his sheepherder’s roots, looks at it all and thinks, am I greater than God?  Who am I to have all this stuff, while the Lord God of heaven still  only has that tent for a home?  So David, ever the servant of his God, checked with Samuel the prophet about building JHWH’s temple.  Eventually, through Samuel, God said it wasn’t David, but his son Solomon who would build the temple, as God was planning to bless David’s lineage in an even greater way.  Our scripture this morning is King David’s prayer after learning all this. 

The part of David’s prayer that grips me most is his honest and humble transparancy:  You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign Lord.

David is alone with God, and the immensity of David’s fame, fortune, and power in human society and history means nothing; it’s all about his God, JHWH.  At that moment David, standing in respect, bowing in humility is still that shepherd boy – not the powerful king of sovereign Israel.  He is a child with his Abba, Father, and he utters the words an overwhelmed, blessed, and highly-favored child must:

O Lord – You know me, and yet you still love me and want to bless me!

And here we are today…you and I, at that meeting time with God at morning or whatever time, and I know you can identify with David.  Well, you may not be a king, but you understand what David said:  How can a God who knows our inmost being still love us and want to bless us? 

Can we talk? 

You know you; I know me.  Frankly, there is a part of me that says if anyone else really knew me, everything of my life, thoughts and weaknesses, they’d hit the road and never look back in my direction.  But JHWH knows all that stuff; he knows me and all my crumbling faith, insincerity and fear even better than I know me, and still He loves me like an heir to the throne! 

It is no wonder at all that David exclaimed to his God: 

“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord!  There is no one like you.

In writing the New Testament book of Acts, Luke recounts Israel’s history and shares with us that God called David a man after my own heart.[ii]  And this whole prayer is why that is so.  David looked at how JHWH had blessed him and wanted to respond by blessing God.  JHWH had other plans, but in revealing those plans, blessed David even more.  David sensed his insignificance compared to the great Sovereign God of heaven’s creation and eternity – yet was incredibly overwhelmed with how much he was loved.

It’s true…no one but JHWH loves like that!

For You Today

David’s words are a wonderful prayer for us to hold today.  But holding the words alone, absent of walking the way those words direct, will leave the words empty and meaningless.  Let the words drop from your mouth to your heart…and then to your feet.  Let King David’s prayer of blessing the Lord be your life’s mission!

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

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title image: Pieter de Grebber (circa 1600–1652/1653) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Acts 13:22

Change of Plans

[i]

Friday, August 19, 2016

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  Jeremiah 29:11^(NLT)

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In 1791 a young man was born whose driving ambition was to be a great artist.  Despite early opposition from his father, he later ended up studying for his goals in London and Paris.  After his return to America from London, he became the founding president of the National Academy of Design.  His most famous painting would, in 1982, sell for $3.25 million.  But events did not seem so bright to him in 1834.  The painting that would one day sell for millions now sold for only $1,200.  The opportunity to paint one of the four giant panels for the new U.S. Capitol building eluded him.  In disillusionment and frustration the young painter laid aside his artwork and began to experiment with a new area that, until then had been only a hobby with him.  Thus it was that Samuel F.B. Morse gave the world the telegraph.[ii]

What seems at times an agonizing detour in our lives is often God’s hand gently directing us to a greater part of His plan.  Considering the role communications plays in contemporary culture, science and world relationships, Mr. Morse was a rather considerable cog in the wheel of progress who helped make it all possible.

However, had you quoted Jeremiah 29:11 to Samuel the day he had to lay down his brushes and paints he might have laid them on top of your head like a hammer.  It’s hard to see a rainbow ahead when you’re being drenched by a downpour in the present.

But, it’s true that, sometimes detours are only a different way to the plans of blessing God has in store.  Samuel Morse was a gifted man God used to bring about wonderful changes in communication.  But he was also an artist at heart and he was able to put on canvas this loving portrait of his wife and two children.

Mr. Morse was not the next Michelangelo, or Picasso, but this family heirloom hangs in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga. 

At times the plans God may have for us might seem as if they’re filled with root canals and bill collectors.  But it is also a stark reality that God’s ways are much higher (and better) than any we might make for ourselves ^{(Isaiah 55:8)}. 

Despair over the way things turn out can only lead to self-pity and anger.  Think about what the world would have missed without Mr. Morse’s willingness to take up a new pathway in his life’s detour.

For You Today

A couple of good questions:

      1.     What detour has you bogged down? 

      2.     What new plan of God can you discover while you’re down there in that bog?

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

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title Image:  By State of Virginia ([1]) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons and via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Richard Sassaman, What Hath Morse Wrought? in American History Illustrated, XXIII (April 1988), 46-47