The Everyday Prayer

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 37-39 (day three)
“When he told [the dream] to his brothers, they hated him all the more.”  It’s easy to expect too much of Joseph.  He is, after all, in the Bible.  But here, he is a seventeen-year-old kid.  To be foolish and seventeen is not the same as to be foolish and thirty.  Life’s hostilities can set the stage for the transformation of the heart.  It doesn’t always happen that way, but in Joseph’s story, we see that not all is lost when dreams fade.  If God shows a little bit of what the future could hold, he also stands ready to help the heart do the hard work of growing to make that dream a reality.  As Joseph discovered, paying attention to the life that is will help get a long-neglected dream ready for the real world.

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 37:2-14, 18-28, Genesis 39:1-12 (day two)
“Then they took him and threw him into the pit” (Genesis 37:24). The pit. The darkness was blinding. The jagged walls tore at his flesh. The dust choked his breathing and caked inside his mouth. The isolation gave birth to a loneliness he had never known. The futility of escape let in the first creeping shadow of hopelessness. Escaping the pit and going home was his first priority. But God had another first priority. The pit was the safe haven preserving his life from the murderous intentions of his brothers. The pit was the purifying fire out of which would emerge the pure gold of moral integrity. The pit was the pathway to humility and clarity of insight that would lead a nation. The pit was the servant of God who would rescue His people from starvation and keep the promise to Abraham. Accomplishing salvation for the world was God’s first priority, and He would do it through the pit. God’s priority hasn’t changed, so what is He accomplishing in your pit?

Re: Verse reading–Genesis 37:2-14, 18-28, Genesis 39:1-12 (day one)
“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” (Declaration of Independence)  I don’t want to be politically incorrect but Thomas Jefferson was wrong.  We are NOT equal in gifts and opportunities.  In worth and dignity, yes, but not in privilege and calling.   The Scriptures declare a different “self-evident” truth–that God is sovereign and rules over people who have vastly different assignments.  Some have much, others less.  Some are destined for leadership (cf Joseph’s dream) and others for lives more hidden.  Some will have their Father’s favor.  Others will experience their brother’s hatred. (Some will know both).  From a Christian perspective, it is a waste of breath to protest, “Life is not fair”.  We agree.  This week as we study the life of Joseph we will mark his progress toward a different discovery.  Life is not fair, but God is good!  At the point of His grace we ARE all equal.

Re: Verse reading–Judges 16:4-30 (day seven)
“The Lords of the Philistines came to her and said, ‘Coax him, and find out what makes his strength so great.’ ” (v 5)  I do not blame the Philistines for wanting to know.  I’m not surprised they were clueless about spiritual power.  I do blame Samson for not remembering.  In Philippians 4:13, Paul says that he can do all things “through HIM who gives me STRENGTH”.  The word used is a form of our word dynamite.  And how do ordinary people find great power for living?  Moses knew.  “If YOUR PRESENCE does not go with us, do not send us up from here.  How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless YOU GO WITH US? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”  (Exodus 33:15-16)  Question–what makes his (our) strength so great?  Answer–The presence of God in our lives!

Re: Verse reading–Judges 16 (day six)
“So those he (Samson) killed at his death were more than he killed during his life.” (v 30)  Think about it.  It is possible that the last chapter of life can be the greatest chapter of all.  Even for those who have drifted away from God, wasting years in foolish friendship with the world.  It is possible to return to God and to great spiritual usefulness.  Think Samson.  Publically shamed and physically maimed, it would have been easy for him to collapse into depression and defeat.  He didn’t.  Somehow in the darkness, he “saw” that God’s calling and gifts are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).  So, he believed/hoped/prayed that God would forgive and restore him to useful service.  May the Lord give us equal insight.  Prodigal is not the most important word.  Son is.  None of us have gone so far that the Lord will not hear our prayer of repentance.  It is still possible to end well.

Re: Verse reading–Judges 16:4-30 (day four)
From his birth, Samson had been different.  He was set aside as a Nazarite for the work of the Lord.  A razor had never touched his head and his physical strength was unequaled.  God, in His sovereignty, had plans for Samson.  Unfortunately, Samson did not consecrate his life to God.  He accepted the gift of physical strength, but his spiritual strength was lacking.  Even before Samson had his eyes gouged out in V. 21, he was blinded.  Blinded by his own selfish pride.  He had been used of God to judge Judah for 20 years, but Samson had moved so far from God that when God departed from him (V. 20), he didn’t even know it.  But God honors faith!  Samson responds to his defeat by the Philistines by asking God for one last burst of strength.  His response of faith qualified him for the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11.  God wants His people to depend wholly upon Him in faith!

Re: Verse reading–Judges 16:4-30 (day three)
“She prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.”  At some point, Samson began to cherish his own desire above all else.  He knew what was right.  He understood the parameters of human interaction.  He comprehended that God had called him to champion Israel.  But none of that shaped his character.  Something else received his allegiance: desire.  Samson’s life gives us a picture of a life shaped by desire: He wanted food, and he flouted ritual dietary law to obtain it; he wanted sex, and no parental authority or moral code stood in his way; he was “sick to death” of conflict, and no trust proved too sacred to violate.  Woody Allen once observed: “The heart wants what it wants.”  When that becomes the extent of the heart’s moral reasoning, it never, ever, ever finds what it wants.

Re: Verse reading–Judges 16:4-30 (day two)
None of us get into our deepest problems all at once. We take baby steps towards destruction and tell ourselves that it’s not that big of a deal. Samson was no excuse. His dad had told him to stay away from the idol-worshipping girls, but Samson chose his wants over wisdom (Judges 14:3). Just like Eve and all the rest of us who willingly replace the wisdom of our Father for the wishes of the moment, Samson walked one step at a time down a path of destruction. Will you live by His wisdom or your wants? It’s a choice we make over and over again every day. Listen for the Father’s voice saying, “My son, pay attention to my words; listen closely to my sayings. Don’t lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to one’s body. Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life” (Proverbs 4:20-13).

Re: Verse reading–Judges 16:4-30 (day one)
“So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes.”  (v 21)  “A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyong remedy.”  (Proverbs 29:1)  It is easy to say.  “It will never happen to me.”  Easy to deceive ourselves into thinking that God’s mercy will cover continued sin without consequence.  The scripture denys this naive confidence.  Playing with fire and getting burned are synonymous.  Ask Sampson! How many of God’s commandments did he disregard?  Sexual sin.  Falling in love with a person who did not love God.  Missing the connection between purity and power.  It was a painful lesson.  One, sadly, that many of us are close to repeating.  Deep Mercy?  Yes.  Unbending justice? Yes.  Both are parts of the character of God.  The Ninevites repented and were saved. (Jonah 3:10) Sampson did not repent and lost his life and ministry.  How foolish to miss God’s mercy by saying, “It will never happen to me.”

Re: Verse reading–Daniel 1 (day seven)
“But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine.”  (v 8)  In 1 Corinthians 9:27, the Apostle Paul speaks about being “disqualified”.  He doesn’t elaborate, but he does register the possibility that “after having preached to others” he, himself, might stumble into sin, becoming unusable in Kingdom service.  It is a serious consideration for every believer and probably what motivated Daniel’s decision to be clean.  What are actions and attitudes that grieve/quench the Holy Spirit in our lives?  Please read the following  words and ask for insight.  “In a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, some to honor and some to dishonor.  Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”  (2 Timothy 2:20-21)  We must serve God on His terms.  Holy lives.