His Ways One-a-Day Wednesday 10/13/21

A life worthy

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long (Psalm 25:4-5).

This is a psalm asking for deliverance. David is in a world of hurt here–stressed out, ill, and under attack by slanderous enemies.  I would expect to find David asking for deliverance, healing, retribution, even forgiveness.

I didn’t expect this.

David asks God, in the midst of all this yuck (pardon the deep theological terminology) to teach him to be more like God.

Um…wow.

I wish I could tell you that, in the midst of deep physical and emotional crisis, I would ask God to make me more godly. Alas, I am far more likely to ask him to heal me and cause my enemies to explode.

If you decide to stop reading my blog now, I’ll understand.  But, there I am.

Beloved, I hope that God never allows great pain and sorrow into your life. I don’t care if it would make you more godly–I like you too much, and I’m just too selfish.  However, if the yuck of this sinful, broken world has to slop over into your life, I pray that God would use it to show you his ways, teach you his paths, and basically make you more like him.

Just don’t go looking for trouble, OK?

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.

Shame One-a-Day Tuesday 10/12/21

A life worthy

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.  No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame…(Psalm 25:1-3a).

Shame

Not embarrassment…not awkward self-consciousness, but full-blown shame.

Look, I’ve been embarrassed a time or two

or twelve.  

I’ve blown my lines in front of a large audience, I’ve driven my car over a curb amid a symphony of honks and jeers.  I’ve dropped the fly ball that should have been an easy out.

Hey, I once walked into a tether-ball pole in full view of the entire playground.  

I know embarrassment.

But shame, the way David is talking about it here–shame is different.  Shame strikes to the very core of your being. Shame isn’t about what you did.

It’s about who you are.

So…who are you?

If you are a child of God, you cannot be put to shame, because the very core of your being is Christ.

Because you are his Beloved.

So whether your enemy is some guy named Ted, or some disease named Cancer, or some life-wrecker named Self, you will not be put to shame, because your hope is in Him.

But, I gotta tell you, if you walk into a tetherball pole you’ll still feel like an idiot.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

Lead Me One-a-Day Monday 10/11/21

A life worthy

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me, and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24).

This psalm ends with a request.  Like I said when we started, this is a powerful way to check the state of your relationship with Christ.  If the thought of God searching your heart frightens you, you’ve got to ask, why? A few things to notice here:

  1. The psalmist invites God in.  God is a gentleman when it comes to our hearts; he won’t barge in where he’s not invited.
  2. The psalm began with the line, “O Lord, you have searched me…”  So this is not a one-time event. It is a recurring, ongoing process.
  3. The psalmist asks for four things: search me, test me, examine me, and lead me.  We present ourselves before God so that he can show us what is getting in the way of our relationship.  Essentially, we’re trying to clear out the junk so that God can bring us closer to him.

Are you in a place where you can ask this of God?  Can you afford not to?

Be courageous, Beloved.  Ask him in.

Happy Monday.

Righteous Wrath One-a-Day Friday 10/8/21

A life worthy

If only you would slay the wicked, O God!  Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.  Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.  (Psalm 139:19-22)

Wow.  Right in the middle of this psalm celebrating the wonder of God’s love and care for me, I get called to a holy war.  What’s that about? If you do a little study on this verse, you find that it echoes the ancient Near East covenant language between King and Vassal.  The vassal swears that any enemy of the king will be his enemy.

Are you impressed with my scholarliosity?  

Study Bible footnotes for the win!

But God is a God of love, right?  Aren’t we supposed to love everyone?

Show me where it says that in the Bible.

Well, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

Oh yeah, he did…huh.

I’ll admit—this is a toughie. It seems to me that, in light of the gospel, we should be pretty careful about hating people.  There is plenty for us to hate—the ways of the world, the devil and his schemes, our own flesh—plenty that rises up against God.  People seem pretty far down the list.

I think this passage is not so much a call to war as a call to total allegiance.  You have a God who knows every thought you have ever entertained and loves you anyway.  He surrounds you, literally, with his love and protection. Pledge your fealty to him again.  Go forth into your Friday as the sworn enemy of all that stands against him.

Serve the king who loves you, Beloved.

Happy Friday

The Thoughts of God One-a-Day Thursday 10/7/21

A life worthy

How precious to me are your thoughts, Oh God!  How vast the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.  When I awake, I am still with you. (Psalm 139:17-18).

Can you imagine what goes on in the mind of God?

No, I don’t suppose you can.  Me neither.

It’s like the worm I dig up in the yard knowing my thoughts.

No…it’s more like the microbial parasite living in the worm that I dig up in the yard knowing my thoughts.

No…it’s more like the subatomic particles that make up the microbial parasite living in the worm that I dig up in the yard knowing my thoughts.

Which probably doesn’t happen.

And yet, God wants us to know at least a portion of his thoughts. That’s why he gave us his Word.  You can fall asleep with his thoughts in your mind and awake with his thoughts in your heart. You can move through this day meditating on his Word, and making his thoughts your thoughts.

Because he wants you to know him.

Because you are his Beloved.

Which is just one of the many reasons that it is better to be you than a worm.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.

Freedestination One-a-Day Wednesday 10/6/21

A life worthy

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).

Predestination…or free will?

Look, first thing on a Wednesday is not the time to get into a discussion that heavy.  Let me just say—it’s both.

No, really.

OK, here we go.  God created all things, ya? Therefore, he created time.  He is not bound by time, the way you and I are. God exists at all moments in history simultaneously.  Simply put, all time—past, present, and future—is now to God.

This brings up all sorts of cool thoughts, but let’s just focus on one: You know the moment you ache for, that moment when Christ returns and you get a glorified body and there will be no more night or pain or sorrow or sin or tears?  That blessed someday?

Well, Beloved, it isn’t someday to God.

It’s Today.  It’s Right Now.

When God looks at you, he sees you as you are today—pimples, gray hairs, and all.  (And, by the way, how is it that I can have both pimples and gray hair going on at the same time?)

But God also sees you as you will be—glorified, complete, utterly and thoroughly his.  That is as real and immediate to him as the blotchy mess you might be on this particular Wednesday morning.

There is only One who can actually see the finished product, and he says it’s perfect.

Chew on that today, Beloved.

Happy Wednesday.

All the Days One-a-Day Tuesday 10/5/21

A life worthy

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes beheld my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:15-16).

He knows you

and 

He has known you 

since before 

you 

were 

you. 

He has written your story…and you know what?

God just loves a happy ending.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

Fearfully and Wonderfully One-a-Day Monday 10/4/21

A life worthy

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; all your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  (Psalm 139:13-14)

You were made by God, my friend.  Do you know that? Seriously…are you really realizing that the Lord of the entire universe, he who put the stars in their places, he who designed the atom, he who called it all into being just by the force of his will—he knit you together?  Every fiber of your youness was specifically designed by him. You didn’t come off an assembly line; you didn’t rise from the muck. You are no accident. You were custom made by God.

You are his work; you are wonderful.

You are Beloved.

Know that full well.

Happy Monday

Night Into Day One-a-Day Friday 10/1/21

A life worthy

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; night will shine like day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:11-12)

Look, I hate to be redundant, but are you detecting a pattern here?

He sees you.

If we were talking about anyone but God, this would be creepy and you would have every right to make a tinfoil hat and hide in the basement.

Not that it would help.

But this is God we’re talking about.  You know, the One who loves you. You don’t need to be afraid of what he sees.  You don’t need to be ashamed of what his light reveals. He knew every sin, every dark thought, every wrong desire long before you were ever born.

He paid for it all before you before you even came to be.

So embrace the miracle, Beloved–not that he can see you, but that he sees you and chooses you anyway.

Happy Friday

Flee One-a-Day Thursday 9/30/21

A life worthy

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise up on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me; your right hand will hold me fast  (Psalm 139:7-10).

There is simply no place where God is not.  I love this image. Overwhelmed by God’s presence, I try to flee from him—but there is nowhere to go. Wherever I run, he is already there, waiting to guide and protect me.

Question for today: Where, and why, do you try to hide from God?

Happy Thursday, Beloved.