Destroyed

 

Friday, May 15, 2020

Genesis 7:1-5, 17-24

When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous.  Take with you seven pairs—male and female—of each animal I have approved for eating and for sacrifice, and take one pair of each of the others.  Also take seven pairs of every kind of bird. There must be a male and a female in each pair to ensure that all life will survive on the earth after the flood.  Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”  So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him.

For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth.  As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface.  Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth, rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks.  All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people.  Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died.  God wiped out every living thing on the earth—people, livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and the birds of the sky.  All were destroyed. The only people who survived were Noah and those with him in the boat.  And the floodwaters covered the earth for 150 days.

There are plenty of disasters from which to choose an image:

·       Wildfires in California destroying subdivisions and memories

·       Tsunamis in Indonesia decimating coastline life

·       Terrorist attacks and the incredible stench of death’s aftermath

·       People standing dazed in the rubble after a tornado

Noah is the poster child for disaster.  Yet, the magnitude of the destruction of that global flood is largely contained in just two paragraphs; essentially it boils down to:  God said he’d wipe the earth clean, and it was so. 

Just like the account of creation, God said – and there was!

This morning, when I went to the computer to post today’s devotion, I found the tech version of Noah’s world; everything was gone.  The physical computer machine was there, looking all innocent and 21^st century put-together, like the Earth after the flood.  But, when I booted up the criminal, all my files were under the deepest blue sea.  Here last night; gone this morning.  What now?  I felt the electronic equivalent of being cut-off from the past 40 years of ministry records, sermons, correspondence, bills, and (oh, my) FACEBOOK. 

I spent the next hour muddled in confusion about what to do next and recriminations over not being more diligent with backing up my files; I also prayed fervently…Oh, LORD, if you’ll just give me back my files I’ll be good….

I’m still not entirely sure what happened, but one word popped into my technologically-challenged brain – RESTART.  So, I did, and voilà, my files were back, and now I’m writing the next devotion. 

Noah wasn’t so lucky.  Or, was he?

There are two hinges to consider here:

·       Hinge #1.  God said He was going to do a new thing

·       Hinge #2.  God did it.

God told Noah to get in the boat, and then God closed the door on the previous chapter.  Then God opened a new chapter for the righteous man and his family.  This begs the question that is frequently my cling-to thought whenever it seems my world might fall apart (or be flooded over to 22 feet above the mountaintops):

What could be better than being in the center of God’s will?

Even when He decides it’s time for a restart?

For You Today

Our new normal after the virus flood is (at this moment) just a foreboding.  I’m not sure I’ve seen any pairs of animals gathering by twos…but, stay tuned, you never know what God is up to; our only certainty is the cross and an empty tomb.  Everything else is like what Noah left behind.

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

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

For other posts on “Flood Recovery in Genesis see “After the Storm” Part 1 and  Part 2

Saturday Morning Massacre

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Thursday, August 23, 2018

I am weary, O God; I am weary and worn out, O God.
I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense.

Proverbs 30:1-2^(NLT)

Since we dealt with snakes in the church grass yesterday, I might as well deal with my other mania and get it out of the way; we’re talking arachnids today, the eight-legged scourge of the earth.

In our family I was always the designated hitter when it came to anything crawling, flying or slithering.  My girls were especially terrified of crawling things.  Spiders were the worst!  I have seen my wife and daughters run from spiders, shriek and squeal when threatened by spiders (usually because our son, Jason was wielding one like a weapon); I have seen them walk three blocks out of the way to avoid the last place they saw a spider.  My girls do not like spiders.  To tell you the truth, I’m not overly fond of them myself!

When we moved into the church parsonage in 1990 the carpeting was well past its prime.  The church folks graciously allowed us to pick out new floor coverings for the entire home.  My wife likes white...all white, so she picked white carpeting for 2400 square feet!  We lived in a snow palace!

Early one morning, shortly after moving into this winter wonderland I heard a piercing cry coming from the general direction of the back bedrooms.  Our daughter, Carrie, age 9, was pinned to the wall, cowering near her door; the expression on her face was as if Attila and the Huns were on the doorstep.  I looked left and right for the bad guys and saw nothing.  Then, looking back to Carrie, I saw her pointing to the hallway floor near where I was standing.  There, highlighted against the snow-white carpet, center-hallway was one of the biggest, blackest, hairiest spiders I'd ever seen.  I felt like David the shepherd boy facing Goliath the spider.  The creature was glaring at me with a menacing look that said:  I'm the new big cheese on the block; come on, big fella, let's see what'cha got. 

For an instant I couldn't decide whether to run or scream for Carrie to protect me!  Then I remembered, I was the protector!  I would have to deal with this dragon.  My "father-protects-his-kid-no-matter-the-cost" image was on the line.  No Goliath arachnid was going to steal my little girl's trust in me.  So I called for Elizabeth.  She brought a broom! 

I have never understood how (to women) brooms are better than an axe or baseball bat in times of crisis...but a broom was now my weapon!  I calculated the distance, allowed for the counter-attack this devilishly sneaky enemy was obviously planning, and swung a mighty swing, whacking the spider a mighty blow.

It turned out that Goliath, the mighty terrorist spider, was Goli-ette, the mommy-to-be spider-ess!  And it seems (I found out) that when you apply the mighty whack of a broom to a very pregnant spider, hundreds (perhaps billions) of tiny little baby spiders get launched everywhere! 

Our white carpet now had a hairy brown-black spot of spider innards, and two square yards of moving black dots.  It seemed like they were storming the walls; they were all over my broom weapon.  Carrie was now jumping up and down, certain that at least two or three hundred of the little monsters were crawling up her legs.

It took a long time to clean up both the hairy brown-black mush...and collect all the offspring, not to mention calming-down my offspring!  Eventually, with four cans of insect spray, cleaners and much resolve, we restored order and some semblance of dignity to the Baptist parsonage. 

Spider Lessons

In retrospect, I learned three valuable lessons about “spider encounters”.  One lesson was personal; the second was political and the third spiritual. 

·      The personal lesson is that my girls were never going to get along with spiders and snakes.  So, the next time I face one of these Godzillas I will ditch the broom in favor of a clear drinking glass to capture, and release...into the toilet! 

·      The political lesson was that the spider is a picture of terrorists.  Just when you think you've smashed the big problem, many little problems spring into action. 

·      And the third spiritual application of this little picture of loose spiders everywhere is the case of evil.  It may be a habit, one impure thought, or a lie or bit of juicy gossip – but so much trouble can spring from it! 

For You Today

A bit of advice from a spider war veteran:  we all need to recognize the real spiders that want to consume our faith and discipleship, and make certain we don’t become one! 

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

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image: Photo Courtesy of Julie Stickler

When It Hurts So Much

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Monday, December 7, 2015

Go to VIDEO here

But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.   Isaiah 53:5^(NLT)

A bone-chilling reality hit me last week as I was watching coverage of the San Bernardino tragedy; the newsperson gave the statistic:

In the U.S. we have more than one mass shooting every day!

I tended to think about these high-powered killings as isolated incidents we encounter occasionally.  But, last Wednesday, day #336^th of 2015, San Bernardino became the 354^th mass shooting of the year.[2]  And while that was unfolding there was another mass shooting taking place in Savannah, Georgia.  At this rate we will have 385 this year.

The pain inflicted by this kind of madness chills me to the bone.  It also reminds us of the capability of the human heart to birth and nurture murderous intentions. 

We live in the days of Noah!

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. ⁶ So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.  Genesis 6:5-6^(NLT)

Notwithstanding man’s cruelty and depraved callousness concerning the value of human life, there is another thought that plays bigger in my mind these days; the cross of Jesus Christ has never been more winsome to my hurting heart!

John Stott wrote: 

I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the Cross.  In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?[3]

Speaking of the ministry of Jesus in not only forgiving our sins, but taking them upon himself, the writer of Hebrews put it this way:

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.  

Hebrews 4:15^(NLT)

If you carry that thought to San Bernardino, and all the other atrocities of these days, Jesus didn’t just die for our sins; He took them from us and made them his.  He identified with my murderous nature; He took everything bad about Russell and carried it all to the cross.

People want to make sense of the horror of mass shooting events and other human depravity.  Well…none of it makes any sense, except in light of the cross, the Gospel’s Good News, that even though we are covered in sin and moving ourselves farther and farther away from God, Jesus was not willing to sit comfortably in heaven and not do something.

What He did was show up, and He understood us, and He willingly gave Himself for us; and He knows our pain and evil. 

But more than that – more than just knowing, feeling, wishing us help, Jesus did something about it!  And because of the cross the blessed Holy Spirit of God comes to us in our grief and despair…even as the shell casings continue to hit the ground.

There is, and will be, more pain…likely there will be increasing shootings, earthquakes, mass cruelty and more…and in all of it, the cross is our beacon of hope and comfort.

For You Today

When it “hurts so much” that you can’t imagine God is there, remember the cross; His pain is proof He cares.

Think about that out on the Rocky Road today…and have a great day!

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[1] Title image:  By Jolanta Dyr (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

[2] As reported by http://www.shootingtracker.com/ a mass shooting is where four or more people are murdered in one event

[3] Quoted by Timothy Keller in The Reason for God, (N.Y., Riverhead Books, 2008), p.203

Fear Factor

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Devotion VIDEO here

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.  2 Timothy 1:7^(NLT)

The reality TV show called “Fear Factor” displays people facing up to their fears.  Some things they have to do are really disgusting.  They eat worms, bugs, and parts of formerly living creatures!  I do not qualify [ever] as a contestant!

What is your greatest fear?  Is it sickness, the unexpected big bill, an accident, growing old?  Is it death, losing your good looks, spiders…really big spiders? 

What exactly IS fear?  There are many synonyms used to identify fear, like worry, nightmare, terror, and phobia.  New words are being coined all the time to name the different kinds of fear.  There is fear of closed-in places, claustrophobia.  There are people who are afraid to leave the familiar confines of their homes, agoraphobia.  I used to love to climb trees as a kid; now I can’t stand heights; there must be a word for it – perhaps oak-a-phobia…it’s a phobia, a fear!

We have all experienced what it feels like to fear.  Fear can rob you of your life.  That happens when you begin, because of fear, to play it safe.  Playing it safe is the ultimate result of intimidation which is the prime medium for fear. 

For the balance of this week we are going to focus on the pattern that emerges from the life and ministry of Nehemiah – how he handled fear in himself, and others. 

I want to do this because we are living in a fearful time of terrorists, like al Qaeda, ISIS and a host of other evils. 

Nehemiah faced the fear of terrorists in his day.  He had enemies who plotted to cause confusion and discouragement among those who were working with him to rebuild the Temple.

Had Nehemiah played it safe, he would have thrown-in with his enemies and the walls of Jerusalem would have remained in rubble.  He would have gotten an “A” for political-correctness, but God in heaven would have been shaking His head in disgust!

The thought came to mind recently that our culture today reeks of the same kind of mindset people had in Noah’s day:

 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.  So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth.  It broke his heart.  And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth.  Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky.  I am sorry I ever made them.”  Genesis 6:5-7^(NLT)

Well, if playing it safe is so wrong, what’s the game plan, coach? 

In a word – faith! 

Faith was a good game plan for Nehemiah, and it will work even with the worst terrorists on the loose! 

The question we will deal with this week is:  How do we follow God in the face of our most overwhelming fears? 

For You Today

You’ve got homework, so get busy.  Read Exodus 33 and Nehemiah 4; the background will help make our time together more fruitful.

We’re working on hiding His precious word in our hearts; you need that today more than ever!

Think about that out on the Rocky Road today…and have a great day!

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[1] Title image:  By Spc. Megan Leuck, via Wikimedia Commons

Can a Terrorist Be Forgiven

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Devotion VIDEO here

Seek the Lord while you can find him.
    Call on him now while he is near.
Let the wicked change their ways
    and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
    Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so my ways are higher than your ways
    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:6-9^(NLT)

This passage speaks very clearly that the forgiveness of God, while admittedly beyond human understanding, is available to even the worst criminal; even more astounding, His forgiveness is available to me.  When we are willing to turn from our wickedness, in both thought and deed, turning instead to God…He forgives; no qualifiers!

But does that extend to the terrorists of Paris?

Somehow the thought of the thugs who wrecked such unthinkable atrocities in Paris just ten days ago finding forgiveness – well it just goes against decency.  It rubs this cat in all the wrong directions.

But that’s just the point – God’s ways are much higher, so different, and far beyond the imagination of this cat.  I have so little idea what God can do.

I have been asked many times WHY God does that; why does He forgive such awful people? 

The reminder that I usually supply is that God forgives anyone who truly repents – repentance meaning a heartfelt turn from what I have done, admitting it is wrong, and a willingness (with God’s help) to forsake that kind of thought and deed in the future.

But absent of repentance, there is no forgiveness. 

And, absent of forgiveness, there IS punishment for sin:

 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23^(NLT)

There are those who suppose that, in the end, God will just give everyone a “do-over” – that somehow “love wins” means the grace will cover every sin and even the unrepentant suicide bomber will receive a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card.  Well, that’s a much longer discussion, but simply put:  if that’s so, we are wasting our time proclaiming the Gospel…let’s go have a drink, do some heroin, and go shoot up the town, because sin and terrorism don’t matter.

But it does matter; and what matters more, is that even if a person’s life has been filled with monstrous deeds, like Hitler or Osama bin Laden, repentance – unqualified true turning from the heart to the mercy of God– means the grace of forgiveness changes everything.

How can God do that for terrorists?  

A greater question might be:  if He has forgiven any sin at all, how could He not forgive the confessed sin of all?

For You Today

Here’s a verse to dwell on today:

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.  1 John 1:9^(NLT)

Think about that out on the Rocky Road today…and have a great day!

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[1] Title image:  By English: Hamid Mir, via Wikimedia Commons

Clear Choices

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Friday, April 17, 2015

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us.  He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.  But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”   Daniel 3:16-18(NLT)

Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, had captured Jerusalem.  Daniel, a bright young, intelligent and handsome Jewish boy was taken into captivity with others like him.  Many of them eventually rose to levels of leadership within the king’s empire. 

Among them were, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  These are the three Hebrew boys who were thrown into the burning fiery furnace for refusing to bow before the idol the king had set up at the Plain of Dura (a place near Tikrit in modern Iraq – the birthplace of Sadaam Hussein).

The fiery furnace is often the central focus in this story, but the fire is never the hottest in the furnace; it’s always hottest when you are pressed into a clear choice between right and wrong. 

It’s not always easy to clearly see the consequences and right or wrong of choices; sometimes it’s difficult to know what to do.  The consequences (like an uber-hot furnace) usually cloud the picture, blurring the line between choosing right and wrong.

But in this case, the three boys facing the “fire-ing squad” understood the choices and consequences; they didn’t flinch.  They were hauled before the most powerful man in the world and were presented with an ultimatum; bow to the idol or get ready to burn.

Their choice and answer came without stuttering – Our fate is in your hands…but we won’t ever bow to your idol; we will never serve your gods!

The king was enraged by this (as those who are endued with absolute power often are if they detect the slightest resistance).  The hopping mad king ordered the three Hebrew boys thrown into the furnace after the fire was stoked seven times hotter than usual. 

However the victims in this story turned out to be the victors.  Everyone, including King Nebuchadnezzar, saw a fourth man in that fire; an epiphany – the pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus, who protected the young men, to the extent that, when they came out of the fire unharmed there wasn’t even the smell of smoke on their clothes.

It was a game-changer in Babylon; King Nebuchadnezzar went to the altar!

Now it’s easy to read this story in isolation and have a warm and fuzzy feeling about how good God is, and isn’t it neat how not even a hair on their heads was singed.  It’s a veritable “underdog wins” kind of fairy tale.

But not for the Hebrew boys; had you been there and taken their pulse when the furious and over-the-top king screamed for the guards to sling them into the fire, you might have taken the same road Peter did outside Pilate’s house:  me? I don’t know those boys at all….sorry gotta leave now.

Faith is not a private thing; it is always shaking about looking for a context, a fence to push against. 

Faith that isn’t tested isn’t faith; it’s only hope.

One reason for the ongoing ministries of churches (beyond evangelism, stained glass windows, building hospitals, feeding and clothing and housing the poor) is to build the hope of the saints into rock-solid faith – the kind of faith that won’t bow to idols, won’t bend to King’s threats, and will always choose to serve what is right, even if it means burning in a seven-fold blazing hellhole.

There are some things for which it is worth dying!

For You Today

In worship, private prayer times and thoughtful moments, have you made your choice to serve God, by committing to truth and righteousness, no matter the consequences?

Today could be the day you meet your Nebuchadnezzar.

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[1] Title Image: By No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Midgley (Sgt), via Wikimedia Commons