Lead Me, Lord

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Teach me your decrees, O Lord; I will keep them to the end.  Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart.  Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found.  Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money!  Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.  Reassure me of your promise, made to those who fear you.  Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good.  I long to obey your commandments!  Renew my life with your goodness.  Psalm 119:33-40

There are moments that capture a parent’s heart, more than anything the world has to offer.  Fame, wealth, and anything else in life, fades to background emptiness when your child reaches-out pudgy little hands to be loved.  Two of our three children are in their 50’s now (and the last one is knocking on that door), yet I still cannot look at them without remembering such times.  They will always be the precious bundle delivered to our home by a trusting Heavenly Father.

The Psalmist’s prayer is like that of a child, holding out a hand to the parent.  The prayer begins with:  teach me your decrees (commandments, what I should do), and ends with:  renew my life with your goodness.  These are like bookends, the details of what, how, when, and where are in the middle.  It all suggests rather strongly that leaning your life’s energy on a commitment to God’s ways, in the end leads to a life blessed with God’s best.  The prelude is my commitment to God’s way; the postlude, a life showered with the blessing of God’s favor.  It’s a step of faith to place all your eggs in one basket, trusting a God you can’t see.  That is the point.  Just as my children couldn’t possibly know all the love I had in my heart for them, they still reached up their hands to be led, taught, and loved.

It's an easy thing to point to these words of the Psalmist and proclaim – THIS…this is what you need to do with your life.  It’s a lot more difficult to explain that to a person raised in this modern world of cautiousness, suspicion, and doubting.  Our children are taught to not talk with strangers, disbelieve every word that proceeds out of the mouths of politicians, and to read the fine print to discover how they’re being lied-to.  Many people are off-the-deep-end with conspiracy theories.  Truth be told, there are enough valid reasons to be cautious:  Ponzi schemes, serial-killers, clergy sex-traffickers, dirty cops, and presidents on trial.  Overall there is a preponderance of reasons not to trust.  And then someone comes along to say…trust God…he won’t let you down.  And the poor kid whose head is spinning from the behavior he sees in adults says, sure…no thanks!

It is no wonder that in the realm of human beings searching for something or someone trustworthy, so many humans grow up looking for more reasons to debunk God, than trust Him.  Many people consider themselves spiritual, but give a quick thumbs-down on the church.  They’d rather trust in their own idea of human existence, and the impersonality of scientific explanations, than some antiquated religion.  Now, that’s the bad news.  (Really, Russell?  I’m glad that wasn’t the good stuff!)  That makes two of us. 

The Good News is still what that antiquated religion proclaims…God is truth, God is love, God loved all of us in Jesus Christ, and waits in the wings to forgive every mistake, sin, or horrible thing you’ve ever done.  Period!  I cannot give you 100 scientific proofs of it all, and even if I could, there’s always a guy with an angle to cast doubt on it all (just ask Eve).  But I can offer you the personal experience of one who decided to take the leap of faith, trust the Heavenly Father I’ve never seen, and find He’s trustworthy – above all!

For You Today 

Somewhere there’s a kid longing for “real” – don’t disappoint him.  Show him Jesus!

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

The Trouble With Buffet Faith

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Wednsday, October 11, 2017

“The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build.  The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce.  You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant.  When you have eaten your fill in this land, be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.  You must fear the Lord your God and serve him.  When you take an oath, you must use only his name.  “You must not worship any of the gods of neighboring nations, for the Lord your God, who lives among you, is a jealous God.  His anger will flare up against you, and he will wipe you from the face of the earth.  You must not test the Lord your God as you did when you complained at Massah.  You must diligently obey the commands of the Lord your God—all the laws and decrees he has given you.  Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so all will go well with you.  Then you will enter and occupy the good land that the Lord swore to give your ancestors.  You will drive out all the enemies living in the land, just as the Lord said you would.  “In the future your children will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of these laws, decrees, and regulations that the Lord our God has commanded us to obey?’  “Then you must tell them, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand.  The Lord did miraculous signs and wonders before our eyes, dealing terrifying blows against Egypt and Pharaoh and all his people.  He brought us out of Egypt so he could give us this land he had sworn to give our ancestors.  And the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear him so he can continue to bless us and preserve our lives, as he has done to this day.  For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the commands the Lord our God has given us.’  

Deuteronomy 6:10-25^(NLT)

It seems buffet faith is quite popular these days.  People claim to be spiritual, but not religious.  In a sense that’s good, not falling back into ritual for the sake of getting religious duties out of the way, so you can get on with what you really want to do.  However, a buffet approach to faith isn’t much better, where you take a little bit of this or that into your belief…whatever scratches the itch, so to speak…mix & match different appealing combinations of faith until you have a plateful.  That may work as a handy source of party chatter, but it will fail you in the middle of the night when life begins to fall apart.

Now, don’t misread this – I am quite comfortable with the idea of “tolerance” – meaning I will not presume to push my faith down anyone else’s throat; but tolerating can never be confused with validating or agreement with another’s belief system. 

In our Scripture today you would notice God took great pains to make sure Israel understood they were to keep their faith razor sharp, not letting other gods creep into their worship.  That wasn’t intolerance; that was making certain their faith didn’t fall apart and leave them as spiritual orphans, having a name of being Godly, and no real connection with the God who had saved them from bondage down in Egypt. 

Buffet-style religion or faith systems don’t come near a vibrant relationship with God, made possible by Jesus’ death on the cross.  Scripture declares that we cannot purchase that relationship – it is offered without any fees, shipping or handling.  But, it IS conditional; we come with the understanding that it is God, Creator, sustainer and sovereign of the universe we serve, and Him only.   

Over and again Scripture tells us to keep every worldly and false influence at bay so you worship God alone.  As one example, after years of leading Israel to conquer the Promised Land, Joshua was about to turn in his retirement papers; he stood and addressed all the people one more time about being clear in their worship of Almighty God:

But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve.  Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates?  Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live?  But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”  

Joshua 24:15^(NLT)

For You Today

If you’ve been worshipping at the faith buffet, it’s time to go on a diet!

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

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com