Bryan Richardson

Talk

Re: Verse reading–1 Samuel 15:1-35 (day three)
“‘Enough!’ Samuel said to Saul.” The Bible says that the Lord let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. He used words to shed light on the world as it actually is. Saul, on the other hand, used words to attempt to conceal the world as it actually is. How about you?

Origin

Re: Verse reading– Proverbs 17:17; 1 John 4:7–21 (Day Three)
“Love comes from God.” Life in God’s presence begins with love from him. There is no other starting place. Confidence does not lead to love, it comes from love. Peace does not lead to love, it comes from love. Joy does not lead to love, it comes from it. There are no paths to any longing of the human heart that do not lead through love. If we will know anything at all, we must first learn love from God.

Together

Re: Verse reading–Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:3-13 (Day Three)
“Honor one another above yourselves.” Part of what it means to be human is to live with others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew well the necessity of fellowship, and he warned, “Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.” The most dreaded punishment devised by the human mind is solitary confinement, for it is in isolation that we find no one to help us carry the burdens of the weight of our fallenness. It is never easy to live with others, but that’s not because fellowship is an optional component of our existence. Rather, it is because we are sinful. But it is when we live with others—working out conflict, revealing our motives, forgiving one another, learning from one another, confessing sin to each other—that we grow as Christ directs us to grow. There is no substitute.

Voice

Re: Verse reading–2 Chronicles 20:1-4, 13-15; Matthew 6:16-18; Acts 13:1-3 (day three)
“Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.” The indulging of bodily appetites become habits—but these habits are at their core spiritual habits, born as they are out of a longing for certainty, safety, love, joy, intimacy, dominion, community. These habits are attempts to fulfill these longings, and they will prevent us from placing our bodies before the Lord and listening to him. We cannot, by direct effort alone, hear God; our habitual practice has not trained to hear him but to hear our bodies instead. When we deny our bodies in a fast, the demands of our bodies grow louder at first, then weaken to the level at which we can isolate the Lord’s voice and listen to him.

Invisible

Re: Verse reading–Proverbs 3:5-6; Galatians 2:15-21; Ephesians 2:8-10 (Day Three)
“In all your ways acknowledge him.” Before there was a material realm, there was a spiritual realm. Without the spiritual realm, no material realm would exist. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Therefore, the material realm is dependent upon the spiritual realm for its origin and continued existence. Because this is true, every question that comes before you has a spiritual side to it. If we decide matters by only taking into account the finite, visible side, we will produce things that will not last. If, on the other hand, we take into account the infinite, invisible side, then we begin to acknowledge God in all our ways. Perhaps a helpful prayer is this: Lord, what am I not seeing?

Dustbin

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 51; 1 John 1:9 (Day Three)
“My sin is always before me.” There comes a point where “Forgive me for all my sins” won’t say what needs saying. Sin doesn’t get swept into the dustbin by broad pronouncements in which you say, basically, “Mistakes were made,” and then get on with it. Sometimes, sitting with the Lord and looking at your sin—talking about how much you desire it, telling what you have done in order to make room for it—these are the not-so-quiet times that clean your heart.

Prone

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 119:9-16; Acts 17:10-12; 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (Day Three)
“Do not let me stray from your commands.” Songs don’t get much darker than this old hymn’s take on the fallen human condition: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.” That song gets it, and the psalmist knew it to be true long before that: The spirit might be willing, but the flesh is weaker than we thought. Sometimes, we’d rather sin than breathe. Our weakened selves need the words of scripture to brace us, to allow us to stand and take faltering steps Christward. Read, read.

Among

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 10:18-19; 11:22-23; 40:1-2; 43:1-9 (Day Three)
“Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will live among them forever.” The words of the prophet Ezekiel join the writing of John in Revelation as brimming with the most hope in all of scripture. John writes: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.’” To live among us—this is what God intends. It is the future of the human race—those of that race who count on Christ. How will you live today—what will you think about, where will you go, what will you give your time to—knowing that God will make his home among us?

Over

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 37:1-14 (day three)
“I have done it, declares the Lord.” We assume the finality of things. We think we have no choice. We believe that the best days are behind us. We tell ourselves a story of defeat based on our own limited understanding. But it’s not over until the Lord says it’s over. Even when you yourself have brought about your painful circumstances, you can find your way to the future. You’ll have to take your cues from the Lord’s wisdom, but you can do it. The road ahead will be hard, and the losses painful, but your life is not over, nor are the days to come destined to condemn you to the “second best”. The Lord is not called our Redeemer for nothing.

Judgment

Re: Verse reading–Ezekiel 20:1-32 (day three)
“Will you judge them, son of man?” Judgment is a moral obligation; condemnation is a power trip. Our attempts to condemn are attempts to set ourselves in God’s place. But how the world needs wise discerners of good and evil. Nonetheless, those who judge rightly will be received no more warmly than those who attempt to condemn. “Men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” Loving people, though, means telling the truth to them.