So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Genesis 19:29 (NIV)

God remembered Abraham and protected Lot from catastrophe! Did you catch that? God was about to destroy all of Sodom and Gomorrah, but then He remembered Abraham and he protected – saved – Abraham’s nephew Lot (and his family). I read this verse last week it has not stopped reverberating in my brain. The implications are staggering! And encouraging!

Lot was living in a city that the Lord was about to destroy because the outcry against it was “so great and [its] sin so grievous.” (Genesis 18:20) Lot was living in a city in which ten righteous people could not be found. It’s the place he chose to live. Some purport that he was a leader in the city because when the angels arrived, he was sitting at the city gate, a place where leaders often sat. For whatever reason, Lot liked living there. We’re not going to go there. But he liked it so much that when the angels sent to destroy the city urged Lot to flee, Scripture says he “still hesitated” and the angels had to physically grab him by the hands and rush him out of the city (Genesis 19:16). (More about Lot’s reluctance to leave in tomorrow’s blog!)

Put yourself into the scene. Imagine yourself in God’s place. (I know, we’re a poor and paltry substitute, and thinking we could become like God is at the center of this whole sin issue, but for just a moment, consider the story from God’s perspective.) The stench of Sodom and Gomorrah had reached the Lord and He sent angels to destroy it. On the way He and the angels visit Abraham. Abraham negotiates with God – God agreed not to destroy the city if He could find ten righteous people living in it. Obviously He could not, so the process that would lead to the destruction of the two cities began. What seems to be holding up the whole thing is this man Lot’s reluctance to leave. It’s a good thing I’m not God because I’m afraid I would have said something like “OK, then. Stay here. I’ll just destroy the city with you in it.” (Or at least I would have thought it. My sanctification is clearly not complete!)

But God didn’t do that. Scripture says that God remembered Abraham and kept Lot safe. What was it about Abraham that God remembered?

Perhaps God remembered the covenant He had made with Abraham. Undoubtedly, God had a special relationship with Abraham. God also has a special relationship with me. I may not be the father of many nations, I may not be the one to whom God said:

² “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

³ I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
Gen 12:2-3

But I am the one about whom God said …..

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
1 John 3:1a (NIV)

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:32 (NIV)

These verses, and others like them, convince me that my relationship with God is as special to Him as His relationship with Abraham. I have every confidence that when God remembers me, He does so with as much pleasure as when He remembered Abraham.

Could it be, then, that God might remember me and protect my family members who are near danger?

Perhaps God remembered Abraham’s faith. Twelve of the forty verses in Hebrews 11, that great “Fathers of the Faith/Great Cloud of Witnesses” chapter, are dedicated to Abraham and his faith. Yet we know the stories of Abraham’s failures – times when he failed to live by the faith for which he was commended in Hebrews. These stories demonstrate that Abraham was as human as you and I, and his faith could be as weak as mine sometimes is.

Scripture says that “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3). If you have accepted Christ, if you believe that He is the son of God who came to earth and died on a cross for the forgiveness of your sins, God puts the righteousness of Christ upon you. What Scripture says about Abraham can be said about you – “[Your Name Here] believed God and it was credited to him/her as righteousness.”

Could it be, then, that God might remember you and protect your family members who are near danger?

Perhaps God remembered Abraham’s prayer. While unorthodox, Abraham’s negotiation with God can be seen as a prayer. He was asking God to spare the city. Some translations render Genesis 19:29 as “God had listened to Abraham’s request” (NLT) or “heeded Abraham’s plea” (TLB). I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but I don’t see anything in the text that should be translated God remembered “Abraham’s request,” although I suppose it can be extrapolated from the context.

James writes “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16b, NRSV)

We’ve already established that God credits Jesus’ righteousness to believers. Our prayers, then are powerful and effective. If it was Abraham’s prayer that God remembered, I have every confidence that He will remember mine as well.

Could it be, then, if I pray diligently for family and friends who are at risk, that God might remember me and protect them from danger?

Perhaps, just perhaps, God will show mercy and will extend His protection to my loved ones because of the relationship He has with me, because of my faith, and/or because of my prayers.

Such a thought makes me view my life differently. It’s not just about me. My relationship with the Lord (and the condition of that relationship) affects those I love. My relationship with the Lord somehow extends a degree of grace to them. Wow!

Of course I’m not saying that my relationship with the Lord extends salvation to my loved ones. Everyone must choose that for themselves. Everyone must decide for themselves to yield to the One who stepped out of heaven, leaving all He had there, to live on this earth and then die on a cross. It’s that yielding of our will to His will that brings (or gives) eternal life.

Still…God remembered Abraham and saved Lot. What a gracious God we serve!

Thank You, Lord, for extending the umbrella of grace over my life to offer protection to my loved ones.

Be encouraged, friends! God may just remember you and save your loved ones from catastrophe! Hallelujah!

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings. James 1:1

I am always struck by how the writers of the epistles begin their letters. In twenty-first century America, we typically begin our letters by addressing the person to whom it is written. In the early days of Christiandom, the culture was to first identify the writer of the letter, then to identify the receiver. Hence, we have greetings similar to that of James 1:1, as quoted above.

The greetings are not fly-over country, folks. They tells us something about both the author and the audience. Both are significant pieces of information if we are to properly understand the message the writer intends the readers to take away from his letter.

What always strikes me is the humility of the greeting. In this case, James identifies himself as “a servent of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Although there are three James’ identified in the New Testament, scholars are fairly certainly that the book was written by James, the half-brother of Jesus. So James could have written “James, brother of our Lord Jesus .” Instead he wrote “A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

It challenges me to consider how I would begin such letters – how would I describe myself? I’m not sure taking the humble approach would be my first thought. I’d be more tempted to mention my credentials to establish my authority – to let you know why you should listen to me. But the truth is, James’ greeting provides those credentials – you should listen to him because he is a servant of the Lord and because that is the credential he considers most important to use in his greeting. That is the identity he embraces above all others.

How about you? Is your identity that of “servant of God?” Lord, keeps us in the mindset that we are Your servants. You are the master, you are the King. We are the servants.

Resting at the River’s Edge in August — Some Reading for a Hot Summer Day

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
Ephesians 1:3-4

Ephesians is one of the great books we’ll read in August. It’s truly one of my favorites. I quoted the above two verses, but trust me, I had to restrain myself from quoting the whole first chapter.

We’ll read another book that is many people’s favorites: James. It’s a book chock full of practical advice and favorite verses…or at least verses you know well. How about these?

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,… (1:2)

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (4:6b)

Come near to God and he will come near to you. (4:8)

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (5:16b)

We’ll also continue reading in the Old Testament, finishing the last two chapters in 1 Chronicles and then moving on to 2 Chronicles. Ezra and Nehemiah are next — you’ll read not only about the re-building of the Temple, but also about how the hearts of the Israelites were turned again toward God.

Throw about twenty Psalms into the mix and one minor prophet (Obadiah) and that’s our August reading.

Some of you may find yourself beginning to fall behind. Let me encourage you to continue reading. It’s OK to be behind. Maybe you’ll finish reading through the entire Bible in fifteen months instead of twelve — and won’t it have been wonderful to have accomplished such a thing?

Or who knows — perhaps God will provide you with a window of time in September or October or November and you’ll find yourself catching up just in time to read the Christmas story in December!

Take a summer break and read some Scripture! The beach would be a nice location! Enjoy!

To download a PDF of August’s reading schedule, click here.

In my last blog in the “Heart of a Worshipper” series (HWS). I wrote that we must have a willing heart, allowing God to use us in whatever way He wants. The very exciting thing about serving God is that when we are willing to let Him lead, the paths He takes us lead us into ever increasing freedom. Read on as I look at three ways that the heart of a worshipper is a free heart.

A Free Heart

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
          2 Corinthians 3:17

Regularly worshipping God means regularly entering into His presence – allowing our spirit to encounter the Spirit of God in a stronger and more intimate way. That experience changes us forever. As we learn more about God and who He is, we learn more about the insignificance of this world. And that’s freedom! It unencumbers your heart and mind. It releases you from the bondage of this world. It sets us free.

In what ways has the Lord set us free? Let’s look at just three of them.

Freedom from Condemnation
You probably know Romans 8 verse 1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” But did you realize that verse 1 ends in a comma? The statement is incomplete. Let’s look at the full sentence (verses 1 and 2):

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
          Romans 8:1-2

There is no condemnation because Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death. When we recognize Him as Savior and receive Him as Lord, we are freed from eternal judgment and given the Spirit of Life. I am not condemned. Period. And if God can forgive whatever I’ve done and all that I’ve done, it seems a bit prideful to me not to forgive myself. When I don’t forgive myself, I am setting myself up as judge above God – I am overriding (or overturning) His “not guilty” decision. I really try not to trump God. I’ve found that it doesn’t work in the long run! God has declared me “not guilty.” I choose to agree with Him (regardless of how I feel on any given day). Again, I choose to agree with Him.

Freedom from Fear
A little further in Romans 8 we find the following verses:

because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
          Romans 8:14-15

These verses tell us that we have been released from a spirit of fear and have been given the opportunity for an intimate relationship with God (“Abba” can be translated “Daddy”) – the Spirit of sonship.

2 Timothy 1:7 is a verse that many people memorize:

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity [or fear], but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline [or a sound mind].
          2 Timothy 1:7

Fear does not come from God. Faith comes from God. Assurance comes from God. Love comes from God. I don’t know what your greatest fear is, but I do know that spending time in God’s presence can give you His perspective on things. His perspective includes, among other things, the following facts:

• That God is good and desires good things for me (Jeremiah 29:11).
• That He knows me and understands me better than I know and understand myself (Psalm 139:1-3, 13)
• That He is the One who controls all that happens to me today (Proverbs 16:9, 24).
• That He will provide all that I need (Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 9:8)
• And that He is the One who has said “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).

Meditating on these statements and verses pushes fear away. And while you’re meditating, here’s something else to think about: If you look up the verses I referenced in the short list above, you’ll find that you are familiar with nearly all of them. If I can come up with a list like this from the most commonly known Scriptures, imagine how much longer the list could be if you or I were to dig further. If you struggle with fear, let me encourage you to focus on the character of God. As you read your Bible today and tomorrow and the next day, ask God to show you His goodness, compassion and love and His awesome ability to hold you near to His heart. Ask Him to allow you to see yourself, those around you and the world through His eyes.

Freedom to Obey and Serve
There is tremendous freedom in knowing God and being willing to obey Him – to do what He calls you to do. Many years and several states ago, I had a good friend who was afraid to give herself fully to God because she was afraid that God would require too much of her. He’d ask her to become a missionary to Zimbabwe or he’d allow her to become paralyzed so she could have a ministry like Joni Erickson Tada. (Perhaps she’s never heard Joni’s full testimony. I’ve heard Joni say that she’d rather spend the rest of her life in her wheelchair with God at her side than to have spent one minute of her life without Him.) Knowing that you are willing, are doing and have done what God wants you to do is tremendously freeing. Withholding from God, or being outright disobedient to God carries a whole lot of emotional baggage. It’s like a constant nagging in your heart and soul. My friend was never free from the knowledge that she wasn’t living God’s best for her because she wasn’t willing to give herself entirely over to Him. It pulled on her spirit and dragged her down. And perhaps appropriately so – she was grieving God’s heart. But doing His will brings a lightness, a freedom to our hearts. Even the difficult tasks bring with them the peace that comes from knowing that God will enable and supply. And that allows us to be free from worrying about the results.

Let me give you just a couple of verses to meditate on:

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.
           James 1:25

This verse describes God’s law as “the perfect law that gives freedom.” This seemed strange to me when it first registered with me because I had never thought of God’s law as bringing freedom, but I now understand that obedience brings freedom. When you’re driving on the freeway within the speed limit, you have no fear of who’s around the corner. When your foot is heavy on the gas pedal, there’s a bit of wariness that leads to stress.

I will always obey your law, for ever and ever. I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
          Psalm 119:44-45

The Psalmist is saying that because He has studied what God wants and has decided to obey, he will walk in freedom. Obedience brings a freedom of spirit that is life-giving. It is a freedom that brings light-heartedness in difficulty.

Freedom Here We Come!
We value freedom very highly in this country. Christ has come to bring a degree of freedom to our lives that is beyond any freedom we can experience at the hands of men. That freedom comes about by getting to know God better. The heart of a worshipper is a heart that is free! Spend some time today in worship!

• Casual reading. This is my term and I recognize that some may be offended by it. Let me implore you not to be. I am not in any way implying that we regard Scripture with anything but the respect that God’s Word deserves. I am simply recognizing that sometimes, perhaps most of the time, we pick up God’s Word and simply read it on a very surface level. We read it in a way similar to how we would read any material. This is how I do most of my reading as I read through the Bible each year.
  • The value of casual reading: Casual reading usually involves reading larger portions of Scripture and allows the reader to get a sense of the “big picture.” It is how we learn the stories of the Bible and the timeline of the Bible. 
          That is not to say that God can’t speak to us through casual reading. At times He will speak to us through the message of the whole story. For example, there is an awesome message to be learned from the whole of Jewish history – that God’s faithfulness has been proven over and over and over again. We don’t learn that from just one story, we learn it from reading through major portions of the Old Testament.
          At other times, God may speak to us as we read Scripture casually by causing a verse to jump off the page and explode in our minds. That verse speaks to us by itself in the midst of many others. This is how most of my blogs originate. I am reading and along comes a verse that says “look at me!” Perhaps I do more study on that verse, perhaps not. It depends on the message of the verse and what God is speaking to me. But it comes out of my casual reading of a passage.
  • The drawbacks of casual reading: In casual reading, the reader typically will not catch the exciting nuances of Scriptures, the relationships between words or passages, and perhaps even the underlying theme of a passage. Without knowing the background of the book, its author and intended audience, we can sometimes take verses out of context and misuse them. Without taking time to learn what the words meant in their original language we lose the richness of the meanings. Without diligent study we lose the joy of discovery.
• Meditative reading: While there are many different approaches to reading Scripture meditatively (we’ll look at some of them in future blogs), the approach generally means to linger over the text in a meditative manner. It involves centering ones’ self and quietly entering into God’s presence while reading His Word.
  • The value of meditative reading: Reading God’s Word meditatively puts us in a position to be more “present” with God. It allows God to touch us in a different way than casual reading or in-depth study. It brings a stillness, a peace, a quiet assurance, into our world as we meditate on God’s Word in God’s presence.
  • The drawbacks of meditative reading: Meditative reading is wonderful, but it is not a substitute for casual reading and in-depth study. One cannot read large passages of Scripture meditatively in one sitting – the two concepts are antithetical. Similarly, reading meditatively does not usually uncover the gems that can be mined from in-depth study.
• In-depth study: In-depth study enables the reader to find treasures hidden in God’s Word that might otherwise go unnoticed. As with meditative reading, there are many different ways to study Scripture in depth, but all include asking questions of the text – who, what, when, where, why and how. It involves looking up the original meaning or derivation of key words using Bible dictionaries. It takes the reader on a journey to similar passages using a concordance to find those passages those that carry the same theme or include the same key words. It often includes reading what others have written about the passage using Bible commentaries.
  • The value of in-depth study: In-depth study uncovers gems that you’ll never discover from casual or meditative reading. It is the kind of reading of Scripture that ensures orthodoxy, that is “correct thinking” or “correct belief.” In other words, it keeps us from error. It is sometimes like taking a journey into the mind of Christ. Additionally, I find that the lessons I’ve learned from studying passages in-depth stay with me the longest. Those discoveries are “my discoveries” and they have become more deeply planted in my spirit than the lessons I’ve learned through the other two approaches to reading Scripture.
  • The drawbacks of in-depth study: In-depth study, by its nature is slow and plodding. The reader makes slow progress through the Bible as he or she studies single verses or paragraphs. The “big picture” is outside our field of vision as we search the depths of a single verse. I also find that I have a more limited capacity for in-depth study than for the other two methods. It’s not an issue of discipline, it’s an issue of giftings and callings. I truly enjoy in-depth study, but at least at this time in my life, in-depth study isn’t something that is a part of my every day life. In-depth study is often my Saturday morning time with God – a day during the week when I can devote more time to finding God’s hidden morsels.

As I write this blog, I am spending a couple of days at a friend’s retreat cabin. What a blessing to be in such a serene place, nestled in the middle of a forest of trees! As I look out, I see the beauty of the forest of green leaves and brown tree trunks. They sway and rustle in the light breeze. There are various shades of green and brown against a blue sky that’s scattered with white puffy pillow-clouds. It’s beautiful and quiet and peaceful. I can sit here and breathe deeply and listen to God’s voice. I can also stand at the edge of the porch, though, and see that some of the leaves have jaggy edges and some have smooth edges with sharp points. Some are large and broad; other are small and slim. Some have obvious veins in them, others are more subtle. Some of the tree trunks aren’t really brown but a shade of gray. And I wonder at the creativity of the God who created it all. Such is the nature of the casual observation, the meditative observation. Were I to do an in-depth study, I would learn about how nutrients are carried from the roots of the plants to the very tips of the leaves and how various species have different characteristics and I imagine that God would teach me more about His nature and character through such a study. So it is with our reading of Scripture. Each method is valid and valuable and we benefit from incorporating them into our time with God.

No how matter how we read Scripture, it’s important to ask the all important question “Lord, how does this apply to my life? What would you have me to do or become?” Reading Scripture without making personal application is like the person who looks in the mirror, sees that their hair needs to be combed, then walks away without doing so. The blessing is in the obedience to God’s Word (James 1:22-25).

May you come to know the Living God who inspired every word that appears on the pages of your Bible as you read it casually, meditatively, and studiously.

Paul Harvey died recently, but one of the most popular segment on his broadcasts was the one in which he always concluded “And now you know…the rest of the story.” He took a familiar bit of information and expanded on it by giving the back story or the previously unknown conclusion. His added information made the bit of known information come alive to listeners because they now knew…the rest of the story.The Old Testament very much provides “the rest of the story” for Christians. Yes, we can know all that we need to know for salvation, even all that we need to know to live a Godly life; but without knowing the rest of the story, we lack a depth of understanding of God’s character and ways and can develop a very lopsided and inaccurate view of God.

Develop an Appreciation for God’s Love of His People
The Christian who ignores the Old Testament is likely to have a lesser appreciation of God’s love for His people. The passages in Matthew (12:23) and Luke (13:34) where Jesus weeps over Jerusalem (“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”) has little context without the rich history of God calling Abraham 2,000 years earlier and consistently being faithful to the promise He had made with Abraham. The Old Testament reader follows God’s love from His creation of man in His own image through His initiation of a covenant with Abraham (and effectively all mankind), through His giving of the “perfect law that gives freedom” (James 1:25), through His protection of the wandering Israelites, through His preservation and leading of a (rebellious) people in all kinds of circumstances – always leading them toward an intimate relationship with Himself. Knowing these things gives God’s love a history, and love with a history is somehow more powerful than love discovered yesterday. I’m not sure I can adequately explain that except to say that one of the things that strengthens the love I have for my husband is knowing that he has loved me for a very long time. It doesn’t grow dim, it grows deep. God’s love has had a very long time to deepen. As a 21^st century Christian, I am the blessed recipient of that deep, deep love.Develop an Understanding of Your Role in God’s Unfolding Plan
In addition to lacking an understanding of the depth of God’s love, Christians who don’t spend time in the Old Testament may easily develop a misunderstanding of their role in the unfolding of God’s plan. A study of only the New Testament can lead us to believe that our salvation is primarily about us – what God did for you and me. And while it is true that God so loved each of us that He gave His only son to die for our sins so that we might each have eternal life by believing in Him, it is also true that all of history is about God preparing a people for Himself. My salvation is as much about God’s plan from the beginning of time as it is about me.

There is sometimes a tension in the Christian walk between the individual and the corporate expression and understanding of our faith. The answer to the tension is that we must take a “both/and” approach. Both individual and corporate worship are important. Both individual and corporate prayer are needed. Both individual and corporate sin must be dealt with. Our salvation must be understood both as an individual salvation, and as the salvation of a people destined to worship and serve God forever. As a Gentile, my salvation wasn’t Plan B. God always intended to bless all the nations through Abraham. Studying the Old Testament gives readers a greater appreciation for the “bigness” of God’s plan and His ability to follow it through thousands of years until it impacted their life. It can help us appreciate that we are a part of something so much bigger than what we might have previously considered.

See God’s Faithfulness Throughout History
Which brings us back to the topic of the faithfulness of God toward a people who fail Him regularly – I’m convinced that God’s faithfulness cannot be fully understood with just our New Testament record. Yes, the New Testament provides examples of God’s faithfulness. Yet I find that “the more the better.” Hebrews 11 gives a list of saints who “by faith” overcame the circumstances of their lives and trusted God. God rewarded their faithfulness with His own faithfulness. Reading the list in Hebrews 11 begins to build the faith necessary for the trials we will face, but it’s a poor substitute for reading the Old Testament accounts of those stories. And learning the stories in Sunday School class, as many children do, is akin to reading the Reader’s Digest version out of sequence and over a long period of time. Yes, we have the head knowledge of the facts (perhaps), but it’s going back to the Old Testament as a new creature in Christ that builds faith as we read of God’s faithfulness over and over and over again. Surely, if He has been faithful throughout history, even when His people lacked faith and behaved badly, surely He will be faithful to me! Reading the Old Testament builds my faith as I see the faithfulness of God.

Learn How God Works in the Lives of His People
In addition to helping the reader understand God’s abiding love for us and helping to build our faith, reading the Old Testament illustrates to the reader how God works in the lives of His people. The New Testament focuses on a period of perhaps one hundred years. The Old Testament covers 2,000 years (excluding chapters 1-12 of Genesis which covers the creation of the world up to the call of Abraham). Often, the New Testament teaches principles while the Old Testament illustrates those principles worked out through the lives of people who had a relationship with God. For example, James tells us that faith produces perseverance, bringing us to maturity. That teaching is demonstrated in the life of Joseph. The New Testament urges me to persevere; Joseph shows me how to do so. Additionally, a careful reading of the Old Testament teaches us much about how God speaks to His people. An excellent resource that illustrates this point is the book Developing Your Prophetic Gifting in which the author, Graham Cooke, uses the Old Testament examples of prophecy to teach his readers how to hear the voice of God. The Old Testament illustrates how God works in the lives of His people and how He speaks to His people by allowing the reader to walk through history with them.

Scripture is God-Breathed…Every Bit of It!
Finally, there are two critical reasons for Christians to broaden their horizons and pursue a study of the Old Testament: Scripture tells us that it is valuable and Jesus quotes it often. II Timothy 3:16-17 is a commonly memorized passage: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This passage doesn’t say “The New Testament…”, it says “All Scripture…”. That verse alone tells me that there is much value in the Old Testament. Additionally, Jesus and the apostles frequently quoted from the Old Testament. It is clear that Jesus had a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament and many of His stories, parables and sayings refer back to it. Without some knowledge of the background of those passages, the quotes become a bit out of place and time…they lack “the rest of the story.”

As our church prepares to participate corporately in an extended fast, several things have been rattling around in my brain:

As we sample from the buffet of life, the more we eat of those things that have no nutritional value, the less room we have for the things that will nourish us.

Of course this applies to real eating – the more ice cream and cake I eat the less room I have for veggies & fruit. But it also applies to all of life’s activities. The more mindless TV I watch, the less time I have for reading or exercising. Now I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with ice cream and cake or even mindless TV. I’m just saying a steady diet of them makes us fat and weak, both physically and spiritually. And if we partake of those things FIRST, we close the door to those other things that can bring us great joy. Lord, help me to make good choices.

    “So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
     “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
               Matthew 6:31-34 (NLT)

If we focus on what we’re giving up instead of what we’re gaining we’ll never be happy.

Which would you rather have – a life of contentment or a life of lack? You can have either life from the same circumstances. Again, I’m not saying that there isn’t real lack in some of our lives. But for most of us, we have a house in which to live, enough food to eat and people who love us. I want my focus to be on those blessings, not on what I lack. As we look toward the fast, I can look at things I might be giving up and feel bad about that, or I can look at what I hope to gain and be excited for things to come. Our culture is so acclimated to looking at what we don’t have and wanting bigger, better and more. Lord, help me to be content with You and not long for all those other things.

for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
              Philippians 4:11b-12

One of the purposes of fasting is to strip away all the things that grab our attention and turn it away from God – to help us realize that He is the source of every good and perfect gift and to be content.

Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven’s lights. Unlike them, he never changes or casts shifting shadows. In his goodness he chose to make us his own children by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his choice possession.
               James 1:17-18

This morning I’ve been humming a song we sang in worship yesterday…

I will wait…I will wait for the Lord. How good is the Lord, to those whose hope is in Him.
I will wait…and let God be God. I will wait, I will wait for the Lord.

(Thanks, Pastor Larry, for writing it.)

Be blessed, all!

Psalm 21 (NIV)
          For the director of music. A psalm of David. 

¹    O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength.
    How great is his joy in the victories you give!

²    You have granted him the desire of his heart
    and have not withheld the request of his lips.

This morning as I began to read Psalm 21, I realized that David, the writer of the psalm, is the King. So I went back to the beginning of the psalm and read it through speaking in first person instead of third person. In other words, where it says “the king” I read “I,” and where it says “his” or “him” referring to King David, I substituted “my” or “me.” So the first two verses read like this: 

¹    O LORD, I rejoice in your strength.
    How great is my joy in the victories you give!

²    You have granted me the desire of my heart
    and have not withheld the request of my lips.

 What a blessing! Try it! It (1) caused me to read the Psalm more slowly and (2) gave it tremendously more personal impact. Sure, there were some verses that couldn’t be taken literally (“you placed a crown of pure gold on my head” v. 3b), but when they were not true in the literal sense, they were surely true in the spiritual sense (our “crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8), “crown of life” (James 1:12), and “crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4) – crowns which we shall lay at the feet of Jesus (Revelation 4:9)). As I read Psalm 21, I briefly thought of these crowns, and reflected on the crown of gold that rests on the head of Jesus (Revelation 14:14). As you personalize Psalm 21, God may bring other things to your mind. That’s the wonderful personalization work of the Holy Spirit.

So personalize it! You’ll be glad you did!

⁵    Trust in the LORD with all your heart
     and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶    in all your ways acknowledge him,
     and he will direct your paths
                      Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust Him, and Not Your Own Understanding
God is trustworthy. Our own understanding is not always so. He is the Creator who knows the big picture. We are the created who see our small part. Trusting Him with all our heart and not leaning on our own understanding is not only biblical, it’s logical.

But how do we go from trusting him and not leaning on our own knowledge of a situation to actually knowing what to do? That’s where the next verse comes in.

“In All Your Ways Acknowledge Him”
I am immediately struck by the word “all” in this verse. In ALL my ways I’m to acknowledge Him…not just the beginning of my ways, or the middle of my ways, or the end of my ways after I’ve likely messed things up. No, I’m to trust Him throughout the entire process.

In addition, I’m to acknowledge Him in all that I do, not just those things that I feel like I need His help on. I don’t know about you, but I am most prone to forget to acknowledge God in all my ways when I’m doing something that I’ve done before. I don’t think it consciously, but my attitude becomes one of “This is a no brainer – I just have to do this, this, and this…” and then I start working on it.

Warren Wiersbe talks about this. He says that “we may think our own wisdom is sufficient, but it is not. We need the wisdom of God…Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard…we put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding instead of trusting God with all our hearts.”  (Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines of the Old Testament)

He essentially says we act like atheists – those who don’t even believe God exists – when we trust on our own understanding instead of acknowledging God and leaning on His wisdom.

God promises wisdom to those who ask for it. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, James wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.” (James 1:5) God says he will give wisdom generously. And He doesn’t “find fault” with us for asking – I believe He actually takes delight in us asking for wisdom, as any other parent does when his or her child asks for their wisdom.

The word “acknowledge” doesn’t mean what it means in contemporary society. It’s much more than the nod of the head, a handshake, or a raising of the eyebrows in recognition. It’s even more than a “welcome” hug. The root of the word is “know” – it means “know the Lord” – “in all your ways, know the Lord” so that His ways can become your ways. In the second blog of this series, I stressed the need to get to know God better because we are most likely to trust someone when we know him or her better.

God is the One outside creation – He knows the beginning from the end. He knows what unexpected difficulties there are along the way. He can navigate around them. Acknowledge Him in all that you do so that He can lead you around those unexpected difficulties. More about that in the next blog…see you then.