Devotional

Tuesday Devotional: Hosea 1

Devotional

bibleRead Hosea 1 here. 

There are very few things that we value more than our relationships.  Relationships require us to trust beyond comfort and to make ourselves emotionally vulnerable beyond security.  When a relationship is given a firm foundation of trust, and security to flourish, we will treasure the result more than most things.  These relationships become the closest to home that we will ever find, anchoring us when all other things show signs of weakness.  However, nothing quite compares to the pain when these relationships strain, weaken and eventually break.  The pain of broken trust and safety is something that many people never recover from.  The two things that most often fracture these relationships are indifference and unfaithfulness.  The experience of one’s trust and love not being reciprocated has the power to completely break a once unstoppable heart.  The experience of trust and love being set aside for the pursuit of another love can empty a heart once so abundantly full of endless love ready to be given.  Yet the love of the creator God has extended far beyond our love for one another.  The love of the Creator has broken the bonds of time that so constrict our human relationships.  The creator God has experienced an ongoing cycle of broken “ideal relationships,” yet has continued to pursue the ones he loves.  His love, for all intents and purposes, is “crazy” and “illogical,” beyond our ability to comprehend or duplicate.  But this is the gift: love we all seek, but only God can provide.

Tuesday Devotional: Song of Songs 2-3

Devotional

bibleShe
16 My beloved is mine and I am his;
    he browses among the lilies.
17 Until the day breaks and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved,
    and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag on the rugged hills.

3 All night long on my bed
    I looked for the one my heart loves;
    I looked for him but did not find him.
2 I will get up now and go about the city,
    through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
    So I looked for him but did not find him.
3 The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.
    “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them
    when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
    till I had brought him to my mother’s house,
    to the room of the one who conceived me.
5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
    by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.
6 Who is this coming up from the wilderness
    like a column of smoke,perfumed with myrrh and incense
made from all the spices of the merchant?
7 Look! It is Solomon’s carriage,
    escorted by sixty warriors,
    the noblest of Israel,
8 all of them wearing the sword,
    all experienced in battle,
each with his sword at his side,
    prepared for the terrors of the night.
9 King Solomon made for himself the carriage;
    he made it of wood from Lebanon.
10 Its posts he made of silver,
    its base of gold.
Its seat was upholstered with purple,
    its interior inlaid with love.
Daughters of Jerusalem, 11 come out,
    and look, you daughters of Zion.
Look on King Solomon wearing a crown,
    the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
    the day his heart rejoiced.

 

Love aroused is more powerful than anything in the entire human experience.  True love has the power to defy reason.  It has the power to contradict logic.  It has the power to dismantle immovable barriers and boundaries.  True love is an elixir for the soul that makes us believe that anything is possible.  When we experience true love it provides us with sweetness and flavor that instantly makes all other tastes and pleasures pale in comparison.  True love makes us sleepless, not out of worry but out of anxious anticipation of the new day that our love will inevitably be fueling and revealing.  True love keeps the heart smiling when there is nothing visible to smile about, and it keeps the heart laughing although sadness dominates our surroundings.  True love is something that we rarely receive but when we do we never want to let it out of our grasp.  True love is something we never forget.  The love of God can be nothing less than this to someone who professes faith in him.  If the love of God is reduced to anything less than “true love” the structures that currently reinforce our lives, that often provide more obstacles than free-passage, will remain unaffected and unmoved.  If the love of God is anything less than “true love” there is no hope of a better day.  All that remains is wishful thinking and empty promises.  If the love of God is in fact “true” you will find yourself always aware of it, always thankful for it, daily overwhelmed by it and transformed by it.

Tuesday Devotional: Ecclesiastes 3

Devotional

bibleThere is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2     a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

15 Whatever is has already been,
    and what will be has been before;
    and God will call the past to account.

16 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17 I said to myself,
“God will bring into judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
    a time to judge every deed.”
18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work,because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

The older we become, the more complex we find our lives to be.  With each passing year we come to the realization that life as we knew it is far more complicated and delicate than we had once envisioned.  While in childhood we saw one or two directions that life could follow, we come to find out that these two simple directions branch out into hundreds of smaller ones that we often have difficulty navigating through.  However, as we grow older we are also brought into levels of blessing that were unthinkable as a child, and many come to the understanding that life is more precious than we’d thought and far shorter than we’d like.  Throughout life we learn that while we all encounter moments and situations that were less than desirable at the time, all of them held value from a holistic perspective.  If life was simple when we were children, life was also incomplete, lacking the experience of life’s subtle intricacies that include the “good” and the “bad.”  As one comes into a greater understanding of God and how he views our lives and world we live in, we discover that he desires two things for all of us.  First, he desires that we use this life.   If we view only the “good” moments in our lives as useful, we will never understand the journey or the story he has created for us to experience.  For example, if one watches a movie only for the “good” moments that we like, we’ll never finish an entire movie and will never understand the ones we start but never finish.  Second, God desires that we enjoy this creation that he has put us in the middle of.  While we share humbling similarities to the animals that we share this planet with, we will always have something they don’t.  Our hearts long for more, long to reach farther than we see possible in this life because we were created by the One who originally created us to experience and have those things for which our hearts ultimately long.  Receiving joy in this world is not receiving joy about this world.  Receiving joy means finding meaning in the One who placed us here, to be used by Him and to be thankful for what He daily gives us.

Tuesday Devotional: Job 2

Devotional

bible2 On another day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish[b] woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

 

God allows suffering and we experience varying degrees of it on a daily basis.  How we respond to suffering quickly reveals who God is to us.  If our response to suffering is that God has either not cared enough to prevent it or has not done enough to stop it, we view God as not entirely good, not entirely loving and not entirely capable.  This approach to God will only nurture a bitter and resentful view of Him.  On the other hand, the God of the Bible repeatedly reminds his people that He can use even the most difficult trial that we face to bring about more blessing than we could ever possibly have imagined.  Bitterness toward God produced by suffering comes from an inflated view of ourselves and a near absolute distrust of God as he presents Himself to be.  Suffering that results in bitterness declares “God is there only to give me what I want and nothing else.”  However, a relationship with the living God necessitates the understanding that all we have is His.  When we know His character, the way in which he chooses to use our environment and particular circumstances is entirely up to Him.  And while we might not always understand his methods, we can remain confident that the intent is always good and the final product will always be good, because He is always good.

 

Tuesday Devotional: Esther 4

Devotional

bible4 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes. 4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why. 6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. 9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” 12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” 15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” 17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

Our lives are a patchwork of small moments, engaging each and every person at any given moment in time.  While we are never fully aware of all of these moments and the people involved, we all possess powerful influence over one another.  Like the threads in a piece of cloth, each thread, while small and seemingly insignificant,  when placed alongside the others can contribute to the strength and beauty of the finished product.  Likewise, if one thread defies the pattern of the rest, the fabric is collectively weakened, and loses its beauty.  God desires us to view each moment not for ourselves alone, but to consider the importance each moment holds for us collectively.  The gospel of Jesus is about all of us, never just about only “me.”  How we choose to approach our own part in the great design, with our limitations and imperfections, will dictate if we even desire to be woven.  However, once we are carefully woven into the weaver’s design it becomes clear that we are not the center of the beauty.  We realize that we contribute to the beauty alongside our fellow threads. But the final praise belongs entirely to the weaver, the creator of the design, who saw the beauty in all the threads carefully woven together before each thread could fathom anything as beautiful on their own. When we submit ourselves to His design, we find fulfillment.

Tuesday Devotional: Nehemiah 1

Devotional

bible1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said:
“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
I was cupbearer to the king.

Confessing a sin can be void of any pain or sacrifice.  Repenting for sin, by contrast, is anchored entirely in pain and sacrifice.  Repentance not only comes after one has seen the destruction of sin in one’s life, but after one has reflected on the potential darkness we all possess within our hearts.  While God is quick to show us the far-reaching power for good that resides in the human heart, He is as quick to show us that within the same heart is a similar appetite for evil.  Repentance rarely comes after prolonged periods of good fortune.  As our good days begin to outweigh the bad, we daily reinforce our own strengths, our own will and our own plans.  Repenting of sin must come from a place where our paths have repeatedly led us, crashing into the same wall.  In order to reach true repentance, we must sometimes crash into this wall hundreds and hundreds of times before realizing that we are simply retracing heavily worn out ground.  From here we can begin to ask for help, and as slow as we are to change, God is quick to remind us how quickly He intends to rebuild us and guide us, into the light and out of darkness.  Once we are completely enveloped in light we can finally see the dark for what it really was.  Dark is not dark if you choose to never turn on the light.  Our eyes adjust and we can function in the dark if we choose to.  However, once we have lived a full day in a well-lit room, none of us would ever choose to go back.  Light produced life and we were created to live.  Choose repentance and choose light.

 

Tuesday Devotional: Ezra 3

Devotional

bible3 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. 2 Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God. 3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. 4 Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. 5 After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. 6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid.

Any time we take a strong position on an idea or anything in which we firmly believe, there will be those that do not share our position.  When facing this opposition it can be difficult to uphold or sustain our faith in what we believe.  It can be difficult if we do not find complete joy in the faith we profess to those who disagree.  The feeling of intimidation at opposition toward something you believe is only felt if your faith was resting at least  partly on others sharing your faith and supporting you in it.  That is, underneath your faith, there remained an element of insecurity that desired the approval of others.  On the other hand, if what you have faith in is your sole source of joy, regardless of how many people either agree or disagree with your position, your faith will remain unshaken.  Faith in God is not a matter of working your way up a ladder of knowledge or education in the Lord.  The foundation of one’s faith has very little to do with background.  It has everything to do with experience.  And to experience the living God is to experience the truest and most complete reason to worship and celebrate.  Having found and experienced God, one does not need to know every detail about the word.  One must only know that the word of God is good because he is good, and that his gospel is the only truly “good news.” With this assurance we may stand and act in faith, regardless of outside attitudes.

Tuesday Devotional: 2 Chronicles 6

Devotional

bible2 Chronicles 6.12-42

12 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Now he had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high,[a] and had placed it in the center of the outer court. He stood on the platform and then knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. 14 He said: “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.15 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

16 “Now, Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me according to my law, as you have done.’ 17 And now, Lord, the God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David come true.

18 “But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 19 Yet, Lord my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

22 “When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, 23 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.

24 “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you and when they turn back and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication before you in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.

26 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 27 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

28 “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 29 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of their afflictions and pains, and spreading out their hands toward this temple— 30 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart), 31 so that they will fear you and walk in obedience to you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.

32 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 33 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

34 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

36 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to a land far away or near; 37 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; 38 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; 39 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you.

40 “Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

41 “Now arise, Lord God, and come to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might.
May your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation,
    may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness.
42 Lord God, do not reject your anointed one.
    Remember the great love promised to David your servant.”

The nature of God is that He is God.  The nature of man is that he is man.  These roles often get reversed in our prayer lives.  We tend to make demands of God as if He were serving us.  We demand relief from situations that we feel are unjust or unnecessary.  We request changes in fortune for health, finances, family, career, as if God made a mistake letting us experience challenges and must now, by our grace and under our supervision, rectify his errors.  The truth is that all we are and all we have is because of God.  He created all things out of love and desires to maintain them in love.  In all of history he has made good on his promises to be a loving yet just God, while we have been proficient at not keeping promises of our own.  Prayer should never be reduced to “what have you done for me lately?” nor should it be reduced to “what can you do for me tomorrow?”  Prayer is a desire to be in the presence of a God who has control of our often seemingly out of control lives.  While a hurricane might unleash devastating power, there is always a calm center amidst the chaos.  It is there that God desires we follow him, and it is there that Jesus says to come to him.  The center of the hurricane is still in the hurricane, but in the center, alongside our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we can survive, thrive and look ahead joyfully toward tomorrow.

Tuesday Devotional: 1 Chronicles 10

Devotional

1 Chronicles 10bible

10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him.

4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died. 6 So Saul and his three sons died, and all his house died together. 7 When all the Israelites in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them. 8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They stripped him and took his head and his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news among their idols and their people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung up his head in the temple of Dagon. 11 When all the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,12 all their valiant men went and took the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. Then they buried their bones under the great tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days. 

13 Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, 14 and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.

Daily we are faced with situations we believe should go in a different direction than they are going.  Daily we are faced with people who do not believe or do what we feel they should.  We love to be right and we love to prove others wrong.  This pride can be an empowering attribute, spawning great achievement, but it also possesses potentially destructive qualities.  With each passing day we face opportunities to either isolate ourselves as a result of our self-pride, or to engage in community in humility.  We hold onto pride harder than almost anything else.  We go to great lengths to remain right in our own minds, even if facts may prove otherwise.  The desire to be right and stay right has the ability to destroy everything good in our lives.  It has the ability to destroy our families.  It has the ability to destroy our occupations.  It has the ability to destroy our very selves.  It breeds unfaithfulness to every other thing, even what once was most important. Like being under a spell, pride effectively, powerfully convinces us that all of the destruction it brings is worth the cost of not losing one ounce of it.  Pride will never bring and maintain life.  Pride, in the long or short term, will ultimately take what you held dear and will leave you with only one thing to be proud of: that you stayed proud.

Tuesday Devotional: 2 Kings 4

Devotional

2 Kings 4:1-7bible

4 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” 5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

Our approach to God often takes on one of two natures.  We approach God with the expectation that he can change impossible situations.  However, we approach his claims as impossible to entirely believe.  We expect him to turn the water into wine in our own lives, yet we stubbornly refuse to adjust our lives one inch closer to him when he says, “Come, follow me.”  The result is a tug-of-war that leaves one feeling stretched and stationary.  This approach to God, while understandable, is not supported in the scriptures.  The scripture only shows us a God who, though constantly confronted by doubt and suspicion, responds with a confident promise to supply more than we even thought possible.  God always desires more for and from us, while we tend to feel paralyzed by not ever having enough.  With every passing year we further ingrain the limitations of this world into our foundational beliefs.  However, when building faith in God, the first step is to completely remove the old foundation.  From this position will we not only take God seriously when he promises to do more, but we will also learn to view this world as God does: limited but aching to be more, have more, do more and accomplish more.  Doubt has no place to hide when overwhelmed by the hopes and promises of Jesus Christ.