Category: Devotions

Worship Whining

noises

In a recent worship service, I heard a song which I found grating and insipid and I began to complain about it in my heart.

I thought I was only blocking out the unwanted song………. but then, I knew that the Lord wanted to tell me something—“Listen! You are blocking me out! When you are grumbling you are detouring and avoiding something that I want to tell you to help you grow and change. So, stop complaining about the song and listen up!”

Later, after the service, reflecting, I was reminded of a famous Old Testament passage about grumbling.

That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness!Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” (Numbers 14:1-4)

So here they are, in the wilderness, grumbling against Moses. “Boo-hoo! That was some rescue you gave us! We’re gonna die! We wanna go back to Egypt!” We might want to laugh at these silly people. But of course, unfortunately, we have our own ways of grumbling. We each have our own way of going back to Egypt— we are tempted to fall back to how we used to live before we got serious about following our Lord. We end up just like the proverbial washed pig who returns to wallowing in the mud. (see 2 Peter 2:22)

The whining Israelites were growing far away from seeing that God was in sovereign control, was faithful to his irrevocable promises, longed for them to persevere, and would provide the power to do so. Whenever we see these Old Testament examples, they are all in the Bible not to give us historical information, but because God knows that the exact same thing can happen to us!

In my own ideal world, none of the things that make me whine would happen. And in the worship service, after starting to listen, a song did come up which was wonderful —powerful and based on the Scripture: Jesus coming again. What a change of focus! Then, the importance of what I whine about shrinks, and the importance of how Jesus looks at things increases. Jesus, who is coming again, is in control. That gives me a thankful heart; what a wonderful antidote for grumbling!

Not So Small After All

magnifying_glass

Today’s post was inspired at a recent meeting of our Writers group ¹ where our leader supplied us a list of prompts of a single word or very short phrases to be a seed for an entire blog post. I chose “magnifying glass”. After quickly writing a draft in our meeting, I have refined it at home, so that you can read my final post.

Recently, I had to read a label on one of our major appliances. It was printed in a microscopic font and was totally unreadable. So, I needed to use a magnifying glass to read what it said.

Sometimes, God can seem as microscopic to me as the wording on that label.

A given day may seem boring and listless.
If so, I must be missing something.
Sometimes my God is too small.

Then I remembered a verse in the King James Bible:

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. (Psalm 43:3)

Does God need our magnification?
No, not at all. God is still great whether or not I acknowledge it.

But God surely does desire that I see him as great. So, when I magnify the Lord I am simply being enabled to see what is already there! When that happens, I begin to have an experience of God’s greatness. And a big part of that experience is to see how God’s greatness exists totally outside of anything he does for me.

For it is so easy for me to make the gospel be all about me—-thinking that God is only great to the extent that he does stuff for me and gives me nice blessings; it’s almost like I think God is supposed to cater to me like a wonderful supernatural butler!

Paradoxically, the more I experience how God is great outside of me, the more I understand what God does do for all of us. He really invites us to walk in union with his Son. As the Son shines in us, we get to participate in what God’s purposes are—we cooperate in making the Lord’s prayer come true: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Join in!

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Unpayable Debt?

our debt

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments…. are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

We’re talking about three kinds of debt today.

#1, the national debt surpassed $20 trillion for the first time in U.S. history in September. It’s a huge debt, it’s continually growing, and it’s not getting any smaller soon.

#2, is the debt I owe for my sin. Astoundingly, it would be easier to pay the US National Debt back than for me to pay back the debt of my sin. $20 trillion is small change compared to that.

#3, is the debt I have to love others. This is a continuing debt, that can’t ever be paid back. Indeed, don’t you hate it when someone reminds you of that by saying “you’re not doing enough”? Boy, that’s some encouragement to want to do things for people. Not!

Thankfully, there is a great answer for both the second and third kinds of debt (I am not proposing a solution to #1 today!) For Christ paid debt #2 for me, in full, when he died on the cross for my sin. When I think of the infinite love that Christ showed when he did that, then I am delighted to show and pass on a measure of that love. When I do that, I am working at paying debt #3. It’s a pleasure and not a chore.

My wanting to show more love comes from the starting point of knowing I am already approved and loved and forgiven. What a wonderful opposite to feeling unloved and being overwhelmed by feelings of obligation, guilt, etc.

It is rejoicing in what Jesus has already accomplished that motivates me to persevere in love!

Delight in the Lord

Blessed is the one
     who does not walk in step with the wicked
 or stand in the way that sinners take
     or sit in the company of mockers,
 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
     and who meditates on his law day and night.
 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
     which yields its fruit in season
 and whose leaf does not wither—
     whatever they do prospers.  (Psalm 1:1-3)

What does it mean to delight in the law of the Lord? Does it happen if we have to force ourselves to read what is in a daily Bible reading plan, taking it like a dose of medicine, staring at a bunch of words on the pages of our Bibles, until that day’s dose is complete? If that’s all we view the Bible as being, then “getting into the Word” can seem like a dry duty, and even legalistic, with no personal contact with the Lord or heart or emotion in it.

Or—do we enter the presence of the very Lord who gave us the words of Scripture? Doesn’t delighting in his law mean that we delight in Him and being with him?

And how about meditating on the law? Well, the definition of meditating implies that you are engaging in contemplation or reflection. So, we are taking some time; not jumping to the quick and obvious conclusion; we start to see something a little deeper and begin to understand how God and his ways connect to every single area of life; we start to pray for God’s Spirit to illuminate the scriptures for us.

Finally, what does yielding fruit in season mean? First, remember that we are planted in Christ, he is the vine and we are the branches. And doesn’t that sound a lot like what we read in the Epistles about the fruits of the Spirit? As we encounter the Lord in scripture, then love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control increase in us!

Recently I heard the ex-pastor of our church, an 86-year-old, give a talk on something brand new he saw from the book of Luke about the wonder of how the Lord draws us to himself. If you asked him how old you are when you stop seeing new things in scripture he would say “It’s definitely older than I am now.” I am glad that his “leaf does not wither”.

May we all grow in delighting in the word of the Lord!