A Difficult Thing

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal.  And Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel.”  But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!”  So they went down together to Bethel.  The group of prophets from Bethel came to Elisha and asked him, “Did you know that the Lord is going to take your master away from you today?”  “Of course I know,” Elisha answered. “But be quiet about it.”  Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Jericho.”  But Elisha replied again, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you.”  So they went on together to Jericho.  Then the group of prophets from Jericho came to Elisha and asked him, “Did you know that the Lord is going to take your master away from you today?”  “Of course I know,” Elisha answered.  “But be quiet about it.”  Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to the Jordan River.”  But again Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you.”  So they went on together.  Fifty men from the group of prophets also went and watched from a distance as Elijah and Elisha stopped beside the Jordan River.  Then Elijah folded his cloak together and struck the water with it. The river divided, and the two of them went across on dry ground!  When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.”  And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.”  “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied.  “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request.  But if not, then you won’t.”  As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire.  It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven.  Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!”  And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress.  Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up.  Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River.  He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”  Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.  When the group of prophets from Jericho saw from a distance what happened, they exclaimed, “Elijah’s spirit rests upon Elisha!”  And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.  2 Kings 2:1-15

Elisha would not be separated from his mentor, Elijah.  That is so like Ruth clinging to Naomi, a fierce determination to faithfully serve what God has given you.  Three times Elijah told his protégé to wait behind; three times Elisha answers with his lifelong commitment to serve God by staying close to the shadow of Elijah.  In the end it was only a chariot on fire with Heaven’s glory that could separate them.

What do we make of this event, and its place in God’s Word to us?  If you’re dissecting the event to make sense of the miracles, or wondering what part the prophets of Bethel and Jericho play, or what kind of material it would take to produce Elijah’s miracle-generating robe…we’re likely placing more weight on the miracles than on the Giver of miracles.  The main sense I see in this whole account of Elijah’s last days is the shift of God’s work that falls on the shoulders of Elisha.  He asked for a double-share of the spirit of his teacher.  Elijah called it a difficult thing.  There are two ways to take that; either it was a tricky thing for Elijah to produce it for Elisha, or a double prophet’s portion would bring a very difficult life to Elisha.  Elijah left it all in God’s hands; if that was God’s will, Elisha would see it.

For You Today 

If you’ve sat at the feet of some Godly teacher(s), you have sensed something of what God wants to do with your life.  Dare you ask for a difficult thing?

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 via Wikimedia.org

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

There's No Place Like Home

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood.  So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore.  For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.  Hebrews 13:12-14

Most of us are familiar with Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.  She found herself in a strange land, and desired nothing more than to go back home.  Glenda, the “good witch” outfits Dorothy with magic red slippers and tells her to close her eyes, click her heels three times, and say the phrase over and over, there’s no place like home; there’s no place like home.

For some people a church is much like the ancient temple, or even the tabernacle in the wilderness…a building…hardly a home.  The writer to the Hebrews makes the point that fellowship with an eternal God is not a static issue.  Human beings are mobile, growing or dying, a soul never entombed  Buildings stay where they’re constructed.  We can be lost, in the sense of losing our way, or living in disobedience, in the far country, away from God’s fellowship.  

We can be unready for dwelling in our permanent home, a house not made by human hands. That unreadiness is born of an unwillingness to “bear the disgrace” of the One who saves us.  It may not be beligerance, but rather holding-back from totally giving oneself to Christ as a witness.  It can be described as coming to a worship service as a spectator, rather than a participating member of the team. 

Spectators have little invested in church, other than an hour of time in any given week; by contrast, worshippers are there to offer God praise, and all they have.  They come with open, empty hands, willing (even eager) to have God fill those hands with whatever task, blessing, challenge, or mountain to climb, God may pick-out for us.  It is this willingness, to leave the building and enter the harvest field, which describes worship…not merely singing a few songs and listening to the preacher’s words; that describes enduring ritual – hardly worship.

Before I turned two years old Mom and Dad left the bustle of New York City for the serenity of a little hamlet (a “hamlet” is not breakfast food, or one of Shakespeare’s characters, but rather a community, a bit smaller than a village or town).  

We had dirt roads, an old two-story house for a school district, and a town that had managed to stay very small since its founding in the 17^th century. The place was named Hauppauge, which is a Native American word translated “sweet water”.  

My parents weren’t interested in becoming land barons; they were concerned with raising two boys to be men..  The tiny 4-room house on Long Island was surrounded by tall oaks, elms and whatever scrub brush could eak-out a living in the sand.  Dad cleared most of our yard with a hand axe, and a lot of sweat.  Whether you’re raised in a big city, or a rural backwater, commitment to what life God gives you is what teaches you there’s no place like home.

For You Today 

The only thing left to say is:  When you join a church, make sure you make a commitment to the home part…otherwise the building is just a house!

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Restless  and  Which One?                                          

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

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

Where Will They Take YOUR Bones?

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt.  He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.   Hebrews 11:22

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers when he was very young.[1]  However, even as a slave in Egypt, this ancestor of Jesus kept his integrity and commitment to God on the faithful-front-burner.  He knew God was watching over him.  Throughout his time in Egypt Joseph never lost sight of God’s promises given to his ancestor, Abraham, that the land of Canaan would be their inheritance.  At the end of his days (on Earth) Joseph instructed his family to carry his bones back to that promised land when they left Egypt years later.  I’m not an historical mind-reader,  but it seems clear that Joseph’s intent was to stay true to God’s call and promises, even after he left this earthly realm.  Being buried (re-buried) in that place of promise was a significant gesture of his faithfulness – home at last!

Joseph’s clan did what he asked of them, burying him at Shechem, the first place his great-grandfather, Abraham had worshipped.  It was at that place God gave the promise of Canaan Land to the descendants of Abraham. 

Joseph’s intent all throughout his difficult early days, and glory later days, were aimed at going back to the altar where God first called.

For You Today  

You may have a lengthy line of Christians in your ancestry, or you may be the first of your family to profess Christ.  Either (or anywhere in-between) is a perfect place to adopt the kind of life-long holy determination that defined Joseph’s life.  If you had a rough start in life, like Joseph, or a relatively secure and happy start, like Opie in Mayberry, you will someday also have an end. 

For the time being, God is calling you to the kind of faithfulness Joseph lived…ready to serve and honor the One who gives the promise…Father, God, Lord of Heaven’s hosts.  By your thoughts, words, and deeds, leave no doubt in your clan’s minds where they should carry your bones when your time comes.

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: 

Never Give Up   Big Faith

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 the account of this rough start in life here:  Genesis 38

Think Carefully

Monday, November 7, 2022

On December 18 of the second year of King Darius’s reign, the Lord sent this message to the prophet Haggai:  “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says.  Ask the priests this question about the law:  ‘If one of you is carrying some meat from a holy sacrifice in his robes and his robe happens to brush against some bread or stew, wine or olive oil, or any other kind of food, will it also become holy?’”  The priests replied, “No.”  Then Haggai asked, “If someone becomes ceremonially unclean by touching a dead person and then touches any of these foods, will the food be defiled?”  And the priests answered, “Yes.”  Then Haggai responded, “That is how it is with this people and this nation, says the Lord.  Everything they do and everything they offer is defiled by their sin.  Look at what was happening to you before you began to lay the foundation of the Lord’s Temple.  When you hoped for a twenty-bushel crop, you harvested only ten.  When you expected to draw fifty gallons from the winepress, you found only twenty.  I sent blight and mildew and hail to destroy everything you worked so hard to produce.  Even so, you refused to return to me, says the Lord.  “Think about this eighteenth day of December, the day when the foundation of the Lord’s Temple was laid.  Think carefully.  I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn.  You have not yet harvested your grain, and your grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced their crops.  But from this day onward I will bless you.”  Haggai 2:10-19

When God told the prophet to tell the priests and the people to Think carefully, it was the kind of tone that carried a considerably-eternal kind of weight.  I recall a conversation with my Dad when I was just a teen.  Dad wanted a no-frills, no-embellishment, truthful answer from his son.  When he asked me to speak, his tone told me I’d better take him seriously, otherwise there could be dire consequences.  (I’ll let you fill in the blank about what Pastor Russell, the younger, had done).  At this point in my life, I’ve long forgotten what the substance of the conversation was about, but I still recall the important and serious tone of Dad’s voice.  He meant what he said.

The point God was making through prophet Haggai was that “worship” from a soul that has not carefully-considered his or her heart condition, is not really worship at all.  Anything, offering, song of praise, even attending Sunday School, or preaching a sermon, when tainted by sin, is discarded before it reaches the throne room in Heaven. 

Worship should be joyful, because of God’s requirement that our life match the worship we’re offering, honest, transparent, humble, and committed to be His disciple.  And you might say:  How do all those requirements equal JOY?

Well, I’m glad you asked.  It’s because God is all that back at you, honest, transparent, honoring, and committed to keep every promise He’s made. 

To Israel, God kept back the strength of a great harvest because He’d told them to be obedient, and they weren’t; when they were careful to obey, the harvest was plentiful.  God keeps his promises; what’s not joyful about entering his presence with that sure hope?

For You Today ,

Let me encourage you to not skip the small things.  Small things, even uninteresting details, are the place from which a life of grander obedeience springs.  If you want to serve God (and experience His presence) start small, consider carefully all you do (or don’t do), and watch him grow your walk into a grand blessing!

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 libraryI.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       So...Do Not Be Afraid   and   Lenten Walk - Part 25

[1] Images: Title image courtesy of The Denton Orator, Used with permission by Bingham family   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

The Surrendered Life Song

 

As a child my parents helped birth me into the Christian life.  They took me to church (even before I was born).  I gave my life to Christ as a pre-teen, and Mom and Dad gave me my first direction in Scripture after I was saved, words Paul also gave to Timothy…study this Book! 

Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.  2 Timothy 2:15

As an adult, I began to understand Christ’s claim on my life, and the second of my Scriptural balance beams formed deep within; God’s Word would be my guide for how I would think and live.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable.  This is truly the way to worship him.  Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.  Romans 12:1-2

Paul’s revelation in chapter 12 is the hinge of a great propositional truth.  For followers of Jesus, our theology (who God is, and what our relationship to Him should be) must drive our everyday life and actions.  Who He is defines who we must be.  There comes a time when believing must become behaving.

In the first eleven chapters of Romans Paul lays-out the theology (picture) of God and His redemptive work.  Paul states exactly that; then you turn the page and chapter twelve begins with and so.  He is saying, since God is like that – we must therefore live like this.  Chapter twelve begins unfolding the wonderful ways in which redemption rearranges our lives, and makes us truly Christian – or Christ’s.  Belief defines our behavior, not Calvin Klein, Nike, or anything else the world comes up with!

Chapter 12 is where God’s expectations of how we will live this life freely given begins to take shape.  Chapters 1-11 have God’s unconditional love reaching down and blowing away the death-grip sin had on us like so much chaff in the wind.  Then, with a simple and-so chapters 12-16 point us to the truth that we have been given a clean slate, and we must use it wisely.  “You’ve been set free, slave…now live like a free person; live this way!”

Paul said not to take on the behavior and customs of this world; don’t be conformed…be a non-conformist.  To what customs and behavior is the apostle referring?  The list is endless, but here’s a sample:  Vindictive, Vengeful, Lying, Immodest, Hot-tempered, Unforgiving, Spiteful, Etcetera!  These are all adjectival modifiers of that which is selfish behavior.  It is the fruit of what we have been building into each generation for the last six or seven decades, me-ism.  We call it self-esteem but its real name is me-first!  Paul says, don’t buy-into that! 

Don’t think you are better than you really are.  Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

Whenever we measure ourselves against God as the standard, what do we find?  I know what I find – a sinner for whom Christ died, who needs all the other sinners for which He died!  Paul also found that about himself; he even called himself the chief of sinners^[1].  That’s why he could also tell us to resist this world’s customs and behavior, even though that is exactly who we are naturally:  deceitful, materialistic, backbiting, immodest, and so on.  Our sin nature wants to survive and control us. 

But Paul said someone who truly belongs to Christ does what is reasonable (rational) for a believer – resists his sin nature and responds to the new nature of Christ within, because we are forgiven.  You know, and I do too, our resistance to this world’s customs and behaviors can only hold-out just so far.  The temptations of our culture are relentless:  television and media, peer pressure, and greed are powerful.  These understand just how to appeal to our carnal nature’s appetites.  But the power to resist was never intended to be just what you can muster-up; there is power to live flowing from Jesus Christ to the believer who trusts Him enough to give up being lord over his own life and let God have His way.

In the church we call it transformation.  Paul said that God can transform you into a new person.  That person is the image of Christ; we are being conformed or changed – better, transformed into Christ’s image when we allow God free control over our lives.

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.  Romans 8:28 – 29

That is what Paul meant by encouraging us to live a life of sacrifice – to freely and constantly submit to whatever God wants to make of us.  That’s the metaphor of the cup we celebrate together in the Lord’s Supper – Christ’s life was poured-out in the name of the Father in heaven for us; we follow his example and pour ours out in His name for others.  This transformation begins and continues in the heart and mind (the renewal of your mind). 

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.  2 Corinthians 3:18

Our hearts – that’s a place where others cannot see.  Only God knows what’s happening in your heart and mine.  But the results of that transformation (or the lack of it) will be seen! 

Metamorphosis is a transformation; it is what happens in a cocoon.  Cradled in a nest the nature of a caterpillar begins to change.  Finally it breaks out, looking little like it did before.  What was once an ugly little squirming worm is transformed into the very essence of delightful beauty!  It was once conformed to the slinking image of a dust-eater; now it soars with color and majesty – some are even called Monarch!

In a human being follower of Jesus Christ our cocoon is grace.  Surrendering control of our lives to God’s grace allows God’s transforming power to change us.  We emerge with wings to escape temptation and live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to God.  We can live a life of purpose and dignity, leaving the dust-eating worm-life behind, resisting this World’s Culture, resting our whole being in Christ.  Just like a caterpillar must crawl up on the branch of some tree to attach itself, a Christian believer must attach himself to the branch of Jesus’ cross.  It is one act of surrender; it’s a lifetime of service. 

This altar right in front of me is made of wood…that looks like a fine place to attach a cocoon of grace!  Many a transformation has begun here; there’s room for more!

Our Christian commitment isn’t about just being different…it’s about being different to MAKE a difference.  We are interested in changing this world for Christ.

Our task is to build a generation legacy – to pass the faith along to the next generation while we’re building God’s Kingdom.  Evil is all around us and it is so easy to get overwhelmed or discouraged by what we see in the newspapers and on the nightly news.  It’s so easy to drop out and just look after your own.  But that is not Christ’s call on our life, is it?  Christ bids us to die to self and live for Him - to reject the standards and behaviors of this world’s culture in favor of following Jesus, making disciples, and transforming the world.

What to do about all this

Are you tired of doing things to please the systems you’ve inherited?  Have you ever questioned why you do what you do? 

          Do you have a job because that’s what people do – they go off to work? 

          Do you belong to a church because that’s what the “good people” do? 

          Do you behave yourself in public because that’s what “decent citizens do?

Wouldn’t you rather have a vision; wouldn’t you rather be on a mission?  Wouldn’t you rather have a purpose for your life that is overwhelming and drives you to the very depth of the well of joy and meaning in life? 

If that is your desire – surrender your life to the will of God.  Break out of this world’s mold of greed, materialism, and selfishness.  Be ye transformed!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!  

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Title and Other images courtesy of Pixabay.com

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[1] 1 Timothy 1:15