Tag: Lord

Childcare

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 127:3-5; Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (day three)

“Children are a heritage from the Lord.”  Pop culture tries very hard to make childhood disappear.  Movies often portray children as people who have the most wisdom of all the characters in the story.  Child celebrities often get celebrated and congratulated when they finally leave behind all the “kid stuff” and present themselves as sexually savvy.  We want people to be smart, cool, sexual rocket scientists who rule the world.  Who has time for children who actually act like children: innocent, vulnerable, and trusting, but also selfish, grumpy, and undisciplined?  If the world has no room for children, the world will eventually have no room for you, because caring for children is what makes people able to care for each other.  How are you caring for children?

Poster Children

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 127:3-5; Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (day two)

“Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframe of your houses and on your gates. Deut.” 6:8-9

Do you remember what you had hanging on your walls in your room as a kid? I had a huge poster of Amy Grant (judge not, lest ye be judged). I can picture most of the house where I grew up with excruciating detail. Perhaps that is why this passage from Deuteronomy makes sense to me. Rote learning is the method of teaching that uses repetition. Think of teaching your child the ABC’s, how many times did you sing it to them? My guess is they still remember them, so good job! Once we develop higher brain functions we no longer rely on rote learning, but it is still effective. The images, words, and places that a child is exposed to create long-term memories that will shape their world-view. How often do you speak of the Lord with your children or grandchildren, or any one you have some influence on? These constant reminders of how great our God is will not soon be forgotten. Like my poster.

Next Gen

Re: Verse reading–Psalm 127:3-5; Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (day one)  
“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”–Deuteronomy 6:6-7.  “The primary responsibility for discipling a child toward faith and obedience to Christ belongs with parents.  No church can fully or adequately substitute for the influence of a parent’s instruction and encouragement.  The church works in partnership with parents.  We offer training and encouragement as we work together to lead children to Christ and to a life of obedience.”–FBCSA Next Gen Report, 2012.  For 3500 years it has been clear.  Parents are, first, to have God’s commandments on OUR OWN hearts.  From this intense, vital, personal relationship with the Lord, we are to TEACH OUR CHILDREN a similar love. What a privilege!  Lord, help us!

The mystery of marriage

Re: Verse reading–Ephesians 5:21-33 (day one) 

“This is a profound mystery–but I am talking about Christ and the church.”–v 32.

No.  The mystery of marriage is not how to get your husband to talk when he comes home from work.  It is not what to get your wife for anniversary.  The mystery of marriage is a secret truth ( something that none of us could have seen without the revelation of God) that marriage is shaped after an eternal reality–the love that Christ has for His church.  When God created marriage–one man, one woman together for life in mutual submission to each other–His purpose and plan was to hint at an eternal love story.  Only with this upward reference can marriage be what God intended.  Only as we understand HOLY matrimony is the Lord pleased to bless and protect.  Marriage was never about my happiness, never something that we were free to redefine for our own purpose.  Marriage points to Christ.

The ugly duckling

Re: Verse reading–1 Samuel 16:1-7; Psalm 139 (day seven)

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”–1 Samuel 16:7.

News flash!  Man looks at the outward appearance.  If you are tall, thin, strong, good teeth, good hair you have an immediate advantage.  Spirit gram!  God does not do it that way.  “Heart” in the Scripture refers to the inner man.  The center of the soul.  Mind, will and emotions.  What God looks for in a person is not how she looks, but rather what he thinks and desires and feels.  Sometimes even believers forget this truth.  We covet beautiful and talented people only to miss the powerful friendship of the Eternal One as He touches/teaches/chooses/uses people who are beautiful on the inside.  Remember the Hans Christian Andersen story?  One duckling is considered “ugly” because He was actually a swan.  Misjudged at first, admired eventually, what we are (and are becoming) in Christ is all that matters.

Inventory

Re: Verse reading–1 Samuel 16:1-7; Psalm 139 (day three)

“Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord?” The hardest type of leadership is self-leadership, experts conclude.  You don’t say.  “If only you, God, would slay the wicked!”  That comes easy enough.  Then, a sobering turn: If God is everywhere, he is surely privy to one’s innermost thoughts.  What if those innermost thoughts harbor malice, greed, dishonesty?  Has the psalmist just condemned himself?  He realizes the high probability that his own heart shares the same traits as the hearts of the people he has asked the Lord to annihilate.  Self-leadership demands a fierce moral inventory: God, search me, test me, see me, lead me.  We will never preach God’s forgiveness without the poison of arrogance until we have humbled ourselves enough to become the forgiven.

Bound to Freedom

Re: Verse reading–1 Samuel 16:1-7; Psalm 139 (day two)

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” Psalm 139:7

Have you ever heard someone speak about a relationship being smothering? Someone might lament that the relationship can be suffocating, and that they need space. So why is the text from Psalm 139 so comforting? Post-modern thought would not support the idea of a relationship that is so comprehensive, and yet the Christian finds great peace in knowing the Lord is already where they have ever thought about going. Consider the third verse to the beloved hymn Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing:

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!                                                     Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:                                           Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;                                                 Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.

The second half of the verse answers why such strong language is needed in the first half. Knowing that God is all around us helps us find freedom in yoking ourselves to his perfect will. Left alone we wander, bound to him we are sealed.

(Shameless Dad moment ahead)

A God that knows us, forms us, and knits us together is certainly worthy of our allegiance.

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Voluntary vulnerability

Re: Verse reading–1 Samuel 16:1-7; Psalm 139 (day one, week two of a new summer series)

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”–1 Samuel 16:7.

It is a statement of fact.  Not a threat or a promise.  God looks at the heart.  He IS looking, this very moment.  “I am the Lord who searches the heart, who tests the inner depths to give to each person according to what he deserves.”—Jeremiah 17:10.  “Able to discern the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.”—Hebrews 4:13.  Does it give you the willies to think of it?  I hope not.  The infinitely holy One is also the infinitely merciful One.  David came to a place where He welcomed the searching eye of the trustworthy One.  He prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.”—Psalm 139:23.  He became voluntarily vulnerable.  If God already knows my deepest secrets, why shouldn’t I be open and honest with Him? Only good will come from it.

Not until the cloud moves

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 39:32, 42-43; 40:1-2, 16-17,32-38 (day seven–last day in our study of Exodus) 

“If the cloud did not lift, they did not set out.”–40:36. 

Years ago, I learned the spiritual principle.  Stay where God puts you until He puts you somewhere else.  It has been a great safeguard.  Against restlessness, against dissatisfaction, against “looking for another job” when the one I had was hard or disappointing.  The Spirit has a different message.  Stay where you are!  Learn the lesson of this place!  Don’t run!  Don’t blame!  Change!  Endure!  Serve!  Never be LURED away from your present assignment by promises that life will be better or more fair or more fun.  Move only when you are LED by the Lord.  “Is life so wretched?  Isn’t it rather your hands are too small, your vision which is muddled?  You are the one who must grow up.”–Dag Hammarskjold.  When the cloud moves, we are free to do so.  Until then, we are to stay and serve and grow.

Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 39:32, 42-43; 40:1-2, 16-17, 32-38 (day two)

And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. (‭Exodus‬ ‭40‬:‭36-38‬ KJV)

When the Lord was calling me to full-time ministry this part of the Exodds story spoke the most to me. Whatever the season of life, career, family you may be in when the Lord moves, it’s time to go. What gave me the most peace about this is that the Israelites may come to a wonderful oasis on their journey where they felt they could stay indefinitely, but when the cloud moved they knew it was time. It is rarely about our comfort or convenience, but always about his plan. I didn’t have a cloud to see, but I relied on the Holy Spirit to guide me, the Word to instruct me, and the assurance that God heard my prayers for guidance. Wherever he leads, I’ll go.