DEAR HARDENED HEARTS

I pray for the ones who are hardened. My heart pleads, "not so!" for the ones I love.

The Scripture speaks of the Pharaoh of Moses' time:

. . . “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. - from Romans 9:17-18

Speaking of his own people, the Paul writes in Romans:

. . . the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear . . . ” - from Romans 11:7-8

I plead for those who are hardened! I ask that hard hearts be softened, that their eyes will see and ears will hear. Only God can change the ones I love, and He will because I'm asking! Who are YOU asking for today?

The Price of a Life

Last week's reading reminded me of the value of an individual life:

Truly no man can redeem another,

or give to God the price of his life,

for the ransom of their life is costly

and can never suffice . . . - Psalm 49:7-8

It is true that we can't buy or give the gift of freedom to another person. Those who are trapped in darkness can be led out by God alone, but we CAN pronounce a blessing over our loved ones in prayer. Jesus defined the purpose of "Christian" work to the apostle Paul. We can pray along these lines as well:

. . . open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ - from Acts 26:16-18

Birthday Prayer

As I pass the half-century mark in my life and count my many gifts and treasures, I want to state once more my intention, lest I should forget!

Let the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my rock and

my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

In years to come I pray the words of my mouth will consistently acknowledge and honor Jesus, and that I will keep the eyes of my heart focused on him moment-by-moment and day-by-day! I rely on his Spirit to supply the wherewithal to fulfill this intention, and am thankful that he is able to do it! AMEN.

FAITH IN THE FACE OF DISTRESS

The story of Job is not my favorite part of the Bible, but I'm playing catch-up from last week's readings (24th and 25th of June), and it is time to go through it again! It hurts just to look at that poor guy, and read the account of all he went through. But I'll read through the saga again because I believe what the Bible says of itself, "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable . . ."

Once again, I'm blessed by reading even this account, which I don't find "uplifting." It is good for me to be reminded that non-believers look at God's people and think our lives are just a bowl of cherries. They think, just as the adversary stated of Job, that we don't have a care in the world, so why would we NOT speak praises of God? Why would we be anything but happy campers when we lead such a charmed life? The enemy said this of Job:

Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you [God] not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? - Job 1:9-11

Maybe you are suffering unduly right now, just as Job did when God removed the "hedge" and allowed Job to be tested within an inch of his life. You now have the opportunity to prove your faith by walking it out even when you are not feeling particularly "blessed," but in fact quite the opposite - burdened down. Your faith shines as a beacon in the night when you speak well of God even in times of distress:

. . . [Job] said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." from - Job 1:21

We often throw around the term, "the joy of the Lord," and I think this is an defining example of that very thing. God points to Job and exclaims, " . . . my servant . . . still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason." - from Job 2:3

There is no ulterior motive of a charmed life full of blessings here. Job honors God out of pure faith. There is no veneer of earthly security, no prosperity granted from the magical Santa Claus in the sky, nothing but a belief that God is, and is to be trusted. Even Job's best friends taunt him, saying many things that hurt him deeply. At least Job's buddy Eliphaz got one thing right when he asked Job this question:

Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? – Job 4:6

It's true that the fear of God should be our source of confidence. Ant although we do not trust in our own integrity (we trust in Christ alone), we do train our integrity by making it a habit to line ourselves up with Bible truth. When we hide God's truth in our hearts and his word in our heads, so that we will have reason to hope that our integrity will not fail us in a crisis, but that we will have the integrity to do right when we are up against a wall.

And it is typical for us Christians to be against a wall from time to time, for sure. We're faced with rejection, misunderstandings, oppression, and all kinds of harsh circumstances. Yet the answer when bad things happen for no good reason is to keep right on going, confidently moving forward in the direction you are called. Keep right on trusting in God’s promises, and standing on the truth of his word, which cannot be broken.

My prayers are with you today, as I hope yours are with me. Let’s claim victory for all the saints today, that God’s people will stand firm in the truth of his word, and hold fast our integrity for the joy of the Lord. Let's count it a special privilege to bless God’s name, especially in the face of trouble. This attitude is what sets us apart as Christians, and shows the rest of the world a little more about who God is. And THAT is what we live for, right? AMEN.

Our Spoken Words

Jesus is synonymous with his words because he acted out everything he said. His words were so much the truth that there is no difference between what he said and who he is. There’s not one promise unfulfilled, not one retraction, not a boast or uncontrolled outburst. We all know (and sometimes we are) someone who is NOT who he or she says. Either through promises broken, falsehoods spoken, or harshness and haste, we fall far short of what we profess. Jesus prayed for you and me when he said:

. . . I have given them the words that you gave me . . . I am praying for them . . . Holy Father . . . Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth . . . – from John 17: 8-17

We have the words (the WORD, the Bible) that Jesus gave us. With them we are, in fact, equipped to live out the blessing Jesus prayed over us. When we speak the truth of God’s word over the people and situations in our lives, we see real change. We can speak Bible truth to God in prayer, and we can speak it to our troubles. Jesus said:

"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” – Matt. 18:18

Jesus even gave us the awesome power and responsibility to forgive, which has a whole lot more to do with what we say in our hearts and with our mouths than it does with how we feel:

"If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." - John 20:23

Jesus gave us power to bind, to loose, to bless, and to forgive. May we receive the Holy Spirit power today to exercise our authority in Christ over the words that come out of our mouths, as well as our mental talk. Instead of the disappointment of speaking out of turn, may we see the fruit of words well-spoken. Let's agree with what God himself says about his word:

. . . I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure . . ." - from Isaiah 46:9-10

Even to life-and-death extremes, may we insist upon speaking God's truth:

. . . God . . . gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. – from Romans 4:17

Let's pledge to speak life today!

No Ambiguous Effect

The Lord's word has an equal and opposite effect on us, depending upon how it is received. Jesus says to his followers:

Already you are clean

because of the word that I have spoken to you. - John 15:3

Later, he speaks of those who reject him:

If I had not come and spoken to them,

they would not have been guilty of sin,

but now they have no excuse for their sin.

- John 15:22

Our response to God's word determines its effect on us. Either we honor God's word or we do not. Both responses cause a profound effect on our lives. We have two alternatives: clean or dirty, innocent or guilty, with no ambiguous grey area between the two extremes.

In last Friday's Old Testament section, we see Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, as he fluctuates between the two extremes. For the most part King Jehoshaphat does things God's way in government, and causes a lot of good things to happen for his nation. Yet he stumbles, going into battle as an ally of evil.

Christians today suffer the same conflict; for the most part we honor God's word with a willing heart, yet at times we may act in direct and willful contradiction to what the Bible says. I pray you and I will have the grace today to respond with a willing heart to the word of the Lord, so that we'll stand before him clean and innocent.

ALL WE CAN DO

What a contradiction in terms, “All we can do is . . . pray,” or “God is . . . all we’ve got.” God allows us to be put in in the painful position where our only option is to cry out to him, and it's for our own good! Then he can show us "all we've got," and the power of "all we can do."

In yesterday's reading, King Abijah of Judah was forced to call upon God to rescue him from an attacking enemy that outnumbered his men two-to-one. Judah was surrounded, and the outcome would have been sure defeat and total annihilation, if not for the presence and power of God:

. . . the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD . . . – from 2 Chronicles 13:18

King Asa of Judah had the presence of mind to send an SOS to God in the heat of battle, at the moment when he and his people were attacked, embattled, and outnumbered against a raging enemy. He stood in the middle of conflict and verbalized his trust:

. . . O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you. – from 2 Chron. 14:11

Not surprisingly, there was triumph that day for Judah, yet how quickly people tend to forget the source of hope and deliverance! Even in the afterglow of great victory, God sent the prophet Azariah with a pointed reminder:

The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. – 2 Chron. 15:2

Asa took the prophet’s warning seriously, and took immediate action to remove the objects of adoration to false gods found throughout the land. Afterward, Asa called the people together to express his intention that all his people should earnestly seek and follow God, and his leadership caused a nationwide reformation:

. . . [the people of Judah] entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul . . . – from 2 Chron. 15:12

For several decades there was rest and peace for Judah, but when the next trial came, their king forgot who to trust! When battle threatened once again, Asa called upon an allied nation to help him against his enemy. That seemed to work out fine at the time, but in truth Asa lost far more than he gained. God sent word to this proud leader:

. . . "Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars." – from 2 Chron. 16:7-9

How sad that from that time on, Judah had no rest from conflict, and their leader never again humbled himself before God. In our New Testament portion, Jesus encouraged his followers to have rest from conflict and to consciously trust in him, on the eve of the battle of their lives:

Peace I leave with you; MY PEACE I give to you. NOT as the world gives do I give to you. – John 14:27 (emphasis mine)

Jesus made a fine point of the difference between the peace he offers and the peace the world can give. Let us not accept the peace this world offers in exchange for the peace that comes from God! Often in a crisis we forget God, and try to solve our own problems. Let us make a conscious effort to remember what a blessing it is when “all we can do is pray,” and “God is all we’ve got.”

Lord, save us from our own solutions, and help us remember YOU in a crisis! Thank you for the trouble that trains us to turn to you. Lord, help us remember that our answers, though they may provide immediate relief, will hurt us in the long term. Give us power to stay true to our calling today, and give us grace in our moments of distress to turn to you, our only true source of hope and help. In Jesus name, AMEN.