Author: Bryan Richardson

Re: Verse reading–Luke 22:31-34, 54-62 (day three)

“When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”  What if there were a day in the future when you think more clearly than you think now, when you are less timid than you are right now, more confident, and less dependent on circumstances?  Have you given up on that day?  The Lord looks at your life in terms of the good you’re capable of, not in terms of the bad you’re capable of.  It’s the Lord who says, “Go out and preach the gospel and heal.”  It’s the Lord who says, “You give them something to eat.”  It’s the Lord who says, “Do not worry about what you will say, for you will say the right words at the right time.”  Jesus has not given up on that day.  Stick with his vision for your life, not yours.

Re:Verse reading–Matthew 26:36-46 (day three) 

“He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him.”  Who do you take into your darkest, weakest, most horrifying moments?  Our Lord knew it was unwise to keep others from seeing him shaken to the core.  How much of your life are you editing before others can view it?

Re:Verse reading–Luke 12:22-34 (day three)

“Consider the lilies.”  Considering, mulling something over, or––more to the point––meditating, just seems a little…weird.  But so what?  So is the entire Christ life when compared with the world’s way of living.  Meditation means holding something before the mind in such a way that it overwhelms all other thoughts for a time.  In this way, we will come to know and believe the things that Jesus teaches.  Meditation will seem difficult to most of us.  But let’s understand something.  We already practice the harmful mirror image of mediation.  It’s called worry.  Worrying, too, is holding something before the mind so that it overwhelms all other thoughts.  Jesus tells us to use these skills to meditate instead of to worry.  When we do, when we consider the lilies, then we will know that we are in his care.

Re: Verse reading—Jonah 1:1–3; 3:1–5, 10; 4:1–11 (day three) 

“O Lord, is this not what I said?”  Does it matter who God involves in the running of this world?  Apparently Jonah didn’t think so: The Lord was going to do what the Lord was going to do, Jonah reasoned, with or without him, and the results would be the same no matter what.  But that assumes individuals and outcomes are interchangeable.  Are they?  Years later, Peter learned that Jesus was going get certain things done with John and certain other things done with Peter’s own life.  Peter heard that he himself––not John, not those other men––must follow the Lord.  No one else will do what you have the power to do when God calls you to act.  God in his wisdom has determined that this moment needs you.

Re:Verse reading–Daniel 3:1-2, 8-18, 25-29 (day three)  

“But if not…”  It was no game changer for the three Hebrews that God might not save them from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.  They had no idea what God would do at that moment, and frankly, they didn’t care.  Babylon hadn’t fooled them into believing it was eternal, so they knew it wasn’t really a threat.  What they did believe was that there was an everlasting kingdom coming that would make Babylon look like an also-ran.  And that‘s where they wanted to live.  The apostle Paul said that this world in its present form is passing away.  Why are you afraid of something that won’t even last?

Re: Verse reading– Jeremiah 1 (day three)

“Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth.”  Fear doesn’t indicate that you’re unfit for God’s use.  To the contrary, fear is often evidence of his fervent call in your life.  That was certainly true for Jeremiah, whose fear of speaking was his response to God’s call to lift his own shaky voice.  When he used that fear as a starting point for a conversation with God, God drew nearer and placed his fingerprints at the very point of Jeremiah’s anxiety.  He never forgot how close God came to him, no matter how hard life got.  Are you afraid?  Chances are your fear is a telltale sign that God is calling you to take the very action that terrifies you.  When you speak your fear to God, he’ll respond with a nearness you’ll never get over.

Re: Verse reading–Esther 4:4-17; 7:1-6 (day three)

“Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.”  Power as firewall against fear.  It seems like a good plan.  But power is not a place to hide from the things that scare you, it’s a resource for helping the weak.  Power is a useful tool, but it’s a poor insulator.  When you will not face fear, you will not learn its limits, and so it becomes, in your estimation, more terrible–even invincible.  Fear will then defeat you.  If, on the other hand, you employ power to help those who have no voice and no standing, fear fades away.  This is power rightly stewarded.  It’s why God has given it to you, however much of it you possess.  How will you use it today?

Re: Verse reading–1 Kings 19:1-18 (day three)

“Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

Taking Elijah’s words at face value (instead of as a melodramatic attempt to gain God’s sympathy), one can hear a mind that has concluded that effectiveness has run its course.  Elijah perhaps envisioned a national revival, a shift in loyalties––even at the very top––from idolatry to revelation.  He had staked so much on the outcome of this showdown with the prophets of Baal that its failure to break a generations-long pattern of spiritual decay left him aimless and empty.  He could not conceive of any further work; his prophetic imagination was spent.  When what is longed for doesn’t come to pass, does that nullify your future in this life?  Are you now an also-ran?  Has God decided to make second-fiddle music with your life?

Re: Verse reading–Numbers 13:26-33; 14:1-9 (day three)

“Our wives and children will be taken as plunder.”  You trust fear.  You know fear.  Fear’s been around your whole life, working to keep you safe, affirming what you’ve suspected all along.  It keeps you away from risk, away from putting your mind to the hard task of solving problems, away from people calling for your help with troubling questions, away from the misery of those who need a word of hope or encouragement or warning.  Courage, well, that’s a different story.  Courage is a newcomer, spouting off new ways of thinking about the future.  By thinking in those new ways, consider all you have to lose, fear tells you.  Why do you think fear never tells you what you have to gain by staying afraid?

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 3:7-15, 4:1-17 (day three) 

“Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses.”  God’s anger is never an end in itself.  Rather, his anger always moves creation towards what he desires.  It burns away impurity, it renews, it opens up a new possibility of life in the face of the present circumstances for those who will come to their senses.  God’s anger toward Moses opened up the possibility for Aaron to join this enterprise, and as a result, Moses did not run away.  He accepted his assignment from God.  And the rest is holy history.  Face it: God gets angry with you.  He does.  Maybe he’s angry now.  But that’s not the end.  It’s just the beginning of his moving you to a new life of confident action if you won’t run away.