Wisdom

There is a safe place.

“We can see hope in the midst of hopelessness. We can see peace in the midst of chaos.” – Priscilla Shirer

Are you in a safe place? A place where you know you will be treated fairly? Or are you living in fear and dread of each new day? God wants justice. He wants his children to live without anxiety.

So much so, that in ancient Israel, he established several places as cities of refuge. A person accused of taking a life accidentally could run to one of those cities where he would await a trial. The purpose of the place of refuge was to protect him from death at the hands of relatives of the deceased person. God wanted him to be treated with justice, not vengeance.

The cities of refuge were located in places accessible by roads, and the elders in the surrounding towns were required to walk the route once a year to make sure there were no obstacles on the path and to place directional signs at any crossroads that read “To the City of Refuge” so the person fleeing wouldn’t get lost. God’s desire was to make it easy to get to a safe place. Nothing in the way. No detours.

Are you facing a crisis right now? Something that seems to threaten life as you know it? God invites you to himself as your refuge, your place of safety and strength, and he’s made it easy for you to get to him. There are no roadblocks. You can run to him through prayer, surrender, and faith. Rest in his presence, drink in his peace, and then trust he will show you the way forward. He really does care.

“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him.” – Nahum 1:7

Sometimes it’s good to change your mind.

“No one who meets Jesus ever stays the same.” – Philip Yancey

We tend to get set in our ways. We choose a path and follow it not realizing that all the obstacles that come may be God’s way of telling us to turn around. We sometimes defend opinions we’ve held for years without recognizing there might be another way of looking at things. We read our Bibles already knowing how we understand the passage, not being aware that God might be trying to give us a new perspective this time.

We’re not always right. Sometimes new information or new insights mean we have to be willing to change our minds.

Jesus and the Pharisees were having a discussion. When he asked them whether John the Baptist’s message was from God, they whispered together for a few minutes and then came back with their answer: “We don’t know.” Matthew gives us the back story by saying they were afraid to give an answer because of what people would think. Jesus challenges them again by saying they might not have been sure at the beginning of John’s ‘ministry, but after all the teaching and signs given, they should have been able to see the truth and speak it. They should have been willing to change their minds.

God expects us to make decisions, enter into relationships, and have opinions. But if I understand him correctly, he also expects us to take in new information, think deeply about our positions, and make changes when it is appropriate. It’s OK to change our minds. If we are growing in our faith, it will become necessary at times.

” . . . to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:23-24

From this day on . . .

 “The only way to get rid of your past is to make a future out of it. God will waste nothing.” – Philips Brooks

Here we are on the brink of a new year – a time of introspection, resolutions, and commitment to change. There are always things we want to improve about ourselves or things we regret in the year gone by, but maybe a new page on the calendar can also give us new hope.

Haggai, an Old Testament prophet, gave this message: “From this day on I will bless you” (Haggai 2:19b). God was pointing to an exact moment when he would stop his punishment on the wayward Israelites, and everything would get better. What caused God’s change of heart? It was when the people began to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed by Babylon’s armies. Maybe they didn’t realize what a huge turning point their obedience was in God’s eyes.

In so many ways, every day holds the possibility of being a turning point – not just January 1 or days of momentous decisions. Each day we can pursue God, develop friendships, reach out to those in need, and give our very best to our work and our families. We never know which encounter in the routine of our days will, in fact, be a turning point for us or for someone else.

Who knows what the new year will bring? Only God. I’m excited about facing each new day with anticipation of God’s fresh mercies and continued direction. I hope you join me in choosing to live in God’s light, receiving and cherishing his blessings “from this day on.”

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
 They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22b-23

Results

“The One who calls you to a life of righteousness is the One who, by your consent, lives that life of righteousness through you!” – Major Ian Thomas


The quality of the life we live is the product of many small choices we make each day. God tells us  “the fruit of righteousness will be peace, the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” (Isaiah 32:17).

If righteousness brings peace, quietness, and confidence, what does it say about choices I’m making if, instead of those qualities, I’m experiencing anxiety, turmoil, and fear? Maybe I need to take a closer look at righteousness!

What kind of life would God consider righteous? Loving him comes to mind, as Jesus clearly stated. Jesus also taught that right living hinges upon loving those around us and showing that love in tangible ways. It seems that righteous living includes seeking justice for the mistreated and help for the suffering. We would all agree that righeousness includes virtuous living: purity of actions and thought – in eating/drinking, sexual morality, caring for our bodies, and protecting our minds.

Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to live righteously. So, if we want the peace, quietness, and confidence that right living brings, we need to turn to the One who stands ready to transform our hearts, minds, and souls. He won’t do it without our invitation and cooperation. But, when we invite him, we begin to be sensitive to his conviction of wrongdoing and to his nudges toward good decisions. As we respond to those convictions and follow those nudges, we grow, realizing, as we do, that all righteousness is God-given. Without him, it’s impossible!

” . . . being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6

NOTE: This post is was originally published on this site in July of 2019.

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Stressed out?

“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.”  – Charles Spurgeon

There’s plenty to be stressed about these days, and so much of what makes us anxious is beyond our control. On the other hand, there are really practical things we can do to reduce stress in our lives. Some of the best advice on that is found in the book of Proverbs. Let’s take a look.

Plan ahead. Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow. One way not to have to worry is to have a plan – whether it’s for raising children, advancing in your career, saving money, or serving God.

Set good priorities. Part of planning is prioritizing. Find your priorities and follow them consistently.

Choose friends carefully. Get close to friends who will walk with you through joys and sorrows and will encourage your faith in our loving God.

Always tell the truth. It’s too much work to remember what you told to whom. Truth-telling is not only biblical, it’s safe!

Find good counselors. Proverbs is all about getting good input. In fact, it talks about having an abundance of counselors. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice!

Keep your finances in order. Make it a goal to spend less than you earn. Debt creates stress!

Help others. Step up when you see those who have needs they can’t take care of by themselves.

Trust God more than you trust yourself. As much as we’d like to, we really can’t trust our own thinking sometimes. That’s where God comes in. Trust him first and always. If everything follows from that foundation, stress will be calmed.

If you haven’t read the book of Proverbs lately, this might be a good time to revisit its amazing wisdom!

“A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh . . .”– Proverbs 14:30a

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It will make sense – eventually.

“God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.” – Peter Marshall

Why? is a question we find ourselves asking a lot. Why doesn’t God heal me? Why can’t I find a good job? Why aren’t my prayers being answered? Why, God?

Sometimes there are identifiable answers to those why’s. Maybe we’ve made bad decisions and need to correct them. Maybe we’ve wandered from God and need to reconnect. But, at other times, we sense there’s more to the story than what we see.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey at the beginning of the week of his crucifixion, the disciples watched, and John says they “. . . did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him” (John 12:16). They didn’t understand because they didn’t have the whole story – yet.

Later, just before the disciples and Jesus had their last Passover meal together, Peter objected to his Lord washing his feet. Jesus responded, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand” (John 13:7). In other words, just wait until you see how this ends. Then it will all make sense!

Sometimes we can understand the here and now only in light of what happens later. This requires trust that God is good and loving and powerful and will not allow our suffering to go unaddressed. Our cries are heard and our why’s will be answered – when we see how the story ends.

 “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.” – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18a

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Just a Glimpse

“Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight . . .Please show me your glory.” (Moses to God in Exodus 33:13 and 18)

There sure are a lot of problems in our world. Every now and then I try to think of ways to solve them. Last week I hit upon a solution – something that would take care of a lot of the these issues in a moment’s time. So I prayed all that day, off and on as I went about my activities, that God would just give a glimpse of himself to everyone in this world. Just a peek at who he is – some revelation of his glory, power, justice, majesty, awesomeness. That’s all it would take, I thought, to set things right.

But, his answer to that day-long, murmuring prayer came to me in my Bible reading the next morning, “You do not know what you are asking” (from Mark 10:38). Of course he was right. I have no idea what it would mean for God’s glory to be revealed to the whole world. Maybe it would set everything right. Maybe it would create a chaos I cannot fathom. I had to acknowledge that sometimes my prayers are wise and sometimes foolish. Maybe I should resist giving God advice and accept that he has a plan I don’t understand.

Something inside me still wants a glimpse of him for myself – even if not for the whole world. The more I know of him, the more I want of him. And I know I’m not the only one. You, too?

“The deepest longing of the human heart is to know and enjoy the glory of God. We were made for this.” ~ John Piper

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Forgetful?

“But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. . .” -1 Corinthians 2:7

Poor Jeremiah! He is trying hard to get the attention of the people of Israel to tell them their worship of idols is going to bring God’s judgment. They won’t listen. They seem to have forgotten even the most basic of God’s commands. Here’s how Jeremiah sums it up, “. . . they have rejected the Word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?” (Jeremiah 8:9b). It’s a blunt way of saying that, without God’s Word, humans are not as smart at they think they are.

Fast forward a few centuries to Jesus’ conversation with the Sadducees. They ask him a question about the afterlife and Jesus, after hearing their theory, says, “You are wrong because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29b). He, like Jeremiah, is saying that since they didn’t really know the Scriptures, even though they made a show of their presumed knowledge, they were getting things wrong.

Sometimes we forget our limitations in understanding and knowledge. We make plans assuming we have it all figured out. Then we hit a roadblock we hadn’t anticipated. That’s when the Holy Spirit reminds us (maybe as bluntly as Jeremiah and Jesus did) that we need him and his revealed Word to know the path we should take. Without an ever-growing understanding of the Bible, we’ll keep making mistakes, coming up against the impossible, and working in the dark.

We need to constantly go back to the Book. As one author says, “I need to keep opening my Bible and reading stories about how he operates. I’m a forgetful person.”*

Me, too.

“Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.” – Charles Spurgeon

*Brant Hanson

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A Good Life

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” – John 10:10b

How are you doing with living what Jesus calls an abundant life?

A life not focused on trivialities, but on substance.

A life with purpose that goes beyond what we can see.

A life of gratefulness for the pleasures we can enjoy, the beauties we can see, and the people we can love.

A life in which we truthfully can say something like, “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing else I need.”

Pastor and writer John Piper talks about living with “. . . the awakening of heart capacities to soar with beauties, and the mysteries of creation and redemption, and with the revelation of God’s nature and God’s ways in Scripture.” A heart that soars – that sounds like abundant living, doesn’t it?

Notice that abundance does not mean lots of stuff, money, thrills, or entertainment. It’s a deeper level richness – abundance of the heart, of relationships, of eternal values, of appreciation. It’s a learned skill to rise above the earthly to the spiritual, but it’s so worth the effort.

Here’s a prayer that might help us get a bit closer to the abundant life we all want:

Lord teach me to play, to have fun, to enjoy this life with you at my side. Teach me to be courageous, to try new things, to risk failure. Give me the imagination to find new paths, make new friends, travel to new places, to stretch and grow and love and learn and dream. Teach me how to skip happily through life in love with you, enjoying your presence with me always.

“The transformation of the self away from a life of fear and insufficiency takes place as we fix our minds upon God as he truly is.”” – Dallas Willar

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Call me.

“The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord . . .” – Psalm 25:14-14.

You see a friend across a crowded coffee shop just as you are on your way back to work. You give a quick signal with your hand to your ear, meaning, “Call me.” And you mean it.

Do you know God has been saying “call me” to his people for many centuries? Here are a few of his “call me” signals to us:

  • “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3)
  • “The same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:12b)
  • “When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.” (Psalm 91:15).

God makes it clear that he waits for us to call out to him with earnestness, consistency, and commitment. If we call, he will answer.

Did you notice something else about these verses? Not only does God ask us to call him, but he promises good things when we do: revelation, understanding, riches, salvation, rescue, honor, and his very presence. Don’t you think it’s worth the call?

One more thought. Calling on God is important for us, but I’ve found that the stronger my communication is with him, the better I can help others on life’s path with me. Without a vital, two-way relationship with God, I’m not much good to anyone else. You may sense that, too. Give him a call – for your sake and theirs!

“We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.” – A. W. Tozer