Lord? Savior? King? Just Who Are You?

Thursday, February 9, 2023

On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!  Anyone who believes in me may come and drink!  For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”  (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him.  But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)  When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.”  Others said, “He is the Messiah.”  Still others said, “But he can’t be!  Will the Messiah come from Galilee?  For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.”  So the crowd was divided about him.  Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.  John 7:37-43

Jesus’ teaching in the temple was not clouded.  The people who heard him could not have mistaken what he meant when he offered “living water” – it was Messiah-talk.  But they got divided over Jesus’ pedigree…and thus it goes, day after day, century upon century.

It’s hard for someone like me to look critically on those who had questions in their hearts about just who (or what) Jesus was going to be in their lives.  After all, I’m a logic-driven male child; I live to divide my own thoughts.  I like to think things through until the box is all well-defined; then I want to seal it and preserve what I’ve discovered forever!  (Why do you think I write a blog?)

There are those who live on the other side of the brain; they intuitively feel and sense their way through stuff in a manner totally-alien to my brain.  The difference between us is much like the difference between a foot-soldier with a rifle who thinks:  ready-aim-fire, versus a technician getting ready to shoot a guided missile who is trained to ready-fire-aim.  That tech guy launches the missile, then steers it all the way to the target.

Whether you’re a cautious-stepper or a freestyle-leaper, Jesus has always caused division.  Life’s journey and the Kingdom of God have always had (and needed) both. 

For You Today  

My word today is to the cautious.  Like me, you tend to want to know it all before you do anything.  If you question Jesus like a prosecuting attorney, with the purpose of removing every last doubt before taking the leap of faith with him, you’ll find it’s still a leap of faith at the end.

Point from one who has been there – take the leap – he’s ready to catch you.

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: 

What Do You Think?  and  Rivers of Living Water 

This is an updated version of “Division in the Crowd published on Rocky Road Devotions May 8, 2013

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^©   

Light On My Path

Monday, February 6, 2023

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.  I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again: I will obey your righteous regulations.  Psalm 119:105-106

Habits, either good or bad ones, are formed in memory.  This morning’s text is one of the first I learned as a child.  In those days memory verses were part of Sunday School; we memorized and discussed a different verse each month.  Now, many years later, that verse still calls to me.  That calling is not because of what I must do in parish work as a pastor, (prepare sermons, counsel, help form the life, ministry, and worship of a congregation), but rather God’s Word calls me to Him in the ordering and worship of my own life, one breath at a time.

This devotional blog was born out of a dissatisfaction with my response to the calling.  A decade ago I felt a lack of discipline, a void of orderliness in reading and reflecting on God’s Word.  I felt unrest, blindness, and dissatisfaction.  So, I did what Scripture offered – (re)committed my mornings to the light that guides my pathway.  This was a two-fold commitment:

Private Commitment – I wanted solitary time.  I’m an introvert by nature, and, with all those thoughts bumping around in my brain, its difficult enough to concentrate; I need solitude.  So the choice was to get up an hour (or three) earlier than anyone else.  As I put these words on paper this morning (or the computer screen), the only sounds are an occasional wind whipping by my window, and the gentle snoring of my dog on the floor mat, next to my desk chair.

Public Commitment – knowing my track record of beginnings, and fizzled attempts at routines, I needed some accountability.  Early-on I started publishing these early morning thoughts/reflections on God’s Word for the congregations I served.  In this way I (somewhat ruthlessly) tapped-into my introvert-born dread of public humiliation.  A private promise to self can be rationalized-away; a public promise to others before God, is much more problematic…especially if a preacher wants to keep his job.

Well…that’s enough therapeutic confession for today.  What’s the point?

The point is Psalm 119…God’s Word as a guide…a light that opens up the truth of what’s on the path ahead.  And who wouldn’t rather have insight when the darkness of uncertainty is all around us?

For You Today  

Dark times of economic uncertainty, pandemics, changing morality, and questioning our existence, planetary extinction possibilities, war, aging, and what is in all those classified documents we all thought were so well guarded – isn’t it joy to your soul that God’s Word is unchanging, unparalleled truth you can depend upon, and the best love letter ever written to you, and me, and everyone?

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: 

Finding a Straight Path  and  John Wesley - Homo Unius Libri  and   The Secret to King David’s Greatness – Part 4

This is an updated version of “So Much Anger” published on Rocky Road Devotions January 16, 2014

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 Translatio 

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^©   

Uncertain Times

 

The Annunciation – Friday, March 25, 2022

When Ahaz, son of Jotham and grandson of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, set out to attack Jerusalem.  However, they were unable to carry out their plan.  The news had come to the royal court of Judah: “Syria is allied with Israel against us!” So the hearts of the king and his people trembled with fear, like trees shaking in a storm.  Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Take your son Shear-jashub and go out to meet King Ahaz.  You will find him at the end of the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.  Tell him to stop worrying.  Tell him he doesn’t need to fear the fierce anger of those two burned-out embers, King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah.  Yes, the kings of Syria and Israel are plotting against him, saying,  ‘We will attack Judah and capture it for ourselves. Then we will install the son of Tabeel as Judah’s king.’  But this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “This invasion will never happen; it will never take place; for Syria is no stronger than its capital, Damascus, and Damascus is no stronger than its king, Rezin.  As for Israel, within sixty-five years it will be crushed and completely destroyed.  Israel is no stronger than its capital, Samaria, and Samaria is no stronger than its king, Pekah son of Remaliah.  Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.”  Later, the Lord sent this message to King Ahaz:  “Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz.  Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.”  But the king refused.  “No,” he said, “I will not test the Lord like that.”  Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David!  Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience?  Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well?  All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign.  Look!  The virgin will conceive a child!  She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).  Isaiah 7:1-14

The Annunciation to Mary, to the shepherds, and even in foreshadow of the Old Testament context, generally connects with our softer side, the announcement of a gift to come, God’s forgiveness for our mess-up.  We don’t usually associate the annunciation with confusion and uncertainty.  But that’s because we know the rest of the story…we’re 2,000 years on the other side of Mary’s pregnancy and all the confusion from which it was sprung.

We have a hard time in confusing times, times of darkness, where babies are killed in the womb, huge nations invade smaller, vulnerable neighbors, values are trampled in the dust, wrong is paraded as right, and Godliness is mocked…and then connecting the dots to God’s will and perfect plan being birthed.  These days certainly qualify as confusing.

But ask Isaiah.  King Ahaz was offered a sign, and was either too frightened, or just too politically-invested to participate.  The prophet said:  OK…you’re too fragile for this faith stuff…God will speak it clearly…a virgin’s womb will bring the answer to every problem you think you have.

For You Today

Sometimes, especially when the entire world and all you call holy has gone upside down, it’s hard to imagine God is bringing forth something wonderful from the mess.

In confusing times, when we can’t understand what God is up to, just keep your attention on Scripture, prayer, worship, fellowship, and serving Him.  If He can bring His salvation to a virgin in a manger, what’s going on today doesn’t give the LORD any perspiration on His brow…and it shouldn’t destroy peace in God’s family either.  We who trust in God should believe what the LORD said to Ahaz:  God won’t MAKE you stand firm against these uncertain and ungodly times, but when you stand firm in your faith, He will keep you standing firm.

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

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