Old Testament

Tuesday Devotional: Ezekiel 37

Devotional

bible

Read Ezekiel 37:15-28 here.

From the beginning, God has desired two things for people: that we be united, and that we be with him.  God recognized from the beginning that life is far more fruitful when we work together as one.  He recognized that the heart of man is incomplete and unfulfilled in isolation. With a message that echoes throughout the entire Bible, Jesus prayed that we would be one, as God is one, in a reference to the triune experience.  God also realized that life’s daily obstacles are impossible for us to navigate without a guiding light, a path to follow or a voice to listen to.  From the beginning God communicated to his people that not only do they need to work as one, but they need to be “with him.”  Only in his presence would his people find the way that leads to prosperity of the spirit and safety for the soul.  However, as frequently as he communicated this message of “oneness” to his people, his people refused to listen and fragmented their human relationships as well as their spiritual one with their one and only God.  Likewise, as much as God advised them on the value of being one with him alone, for their own well being, his people continued to follow the idols of their hearts and reaped the destruction brought on by their choices.  The irony is that despite the continual neglect of his message, God’s patience with his people increased. More than that, in the end he proactively became “God With Us” in the form of the despised, rejected and crucified Emmanuel: Jesus Christ.  The life of Jesus Christ is more than simply good news.  It is THE news.  Jesus Christ represents the extreme limits of how far God’s love is willing to stretch, if only to be united with his children as he created them to be.

 

 

ASK: Ecclesiastes 4

ASK

This update is from a recent meeting of ASK Daegu. Each member contributed something to the message that follows. We pray that our group encourages you in the same way that it encouraged all of us.

Read Ecclesiastes 4 here.

“For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”

Why do we do this to ourselves?  Why do we live in a way that isolates us?  Why do we live in a way that causes division?  Why do we live in a way that serves ourselves, all the while fostering the suffering and oppression of others?

From the beginning, the lie of Satan– that we were created not to submit to God but to escape his oppressive presence and in turn be gods unto ourselves– has successfully deprived people of the enjoyment they were created to have, and led them into a life of oppression, toil and friendlessness.  In the position of God we assume the roles of creator and judge.  From this lofty and isolated throne we cast out judgment that only we can meet and create a world grounded in the criticism of what others do and the envy of what they have that we do not.  As God and therefore, Creator, we are left to our own power and will to create for ourselves “joy.”  The lie is that we can.  The truth is that, as a result of sin, our hearts are created to be fulfilled by God alone, and are hopelessly weak and depleted when fed by anything but him.

One goal is achieved and another, slightly higher, appears.  One good day is overshadowed by the new day, which presents the same (or even more) obstacles than the last, poised to thwart yesterday’s satisfaction.  But the persistent, relentless push of this lie convinces us that joy can be be attained, that the problem does not rest in the self but in the distraction of others and that their presence interferes with our attainment of true happiness.

When we take this place of counterfeit deity, the true nature of God is entirely beyond our reach.  The triune God of creation has always known fellowship. He can profess being in His very nature, love.  As creations made in His image, we were created, not only for fellowship with our creator, but also with one another through the love of the Father.  This fellowship is where “joy” is found, the joy that God has always desired for us.  This joy neither feeds the self, nor divides the whole.  This joy does not create toil, oppression or friendlessness, as the lie of Satan ultimately will.  This joy found in the Father and in the gospel of Jesus Christ promises peace, freedom and love.  We, as humans, have never demonstrated that we can hold the place of God.  Why do we do this to ourselves?

ASK: Joshua 3

ASK

This update is from a recent meeting of ASK Daegu. Each member contributed something to the message that follows. We pray that our group encourages you in the same way that it encouraged all of us.

Read Joshua 3 here.

Faith in Jesus that requires physical miracles as a condition of belief is neither scriptural nor sustainable.  If we overlook the miracle of a life truly transformed by the word of God, and fix our eyes on whether or not a person’s physical obstacles are either cured or not, we overlook the Gospel of Jesus, and we limit faith in Jesus to the physical world where regardless of a miraculous healing, sin continues to reign and condemn.

However, faith in Jesus that does not take the miraculous promises of the Gospel seriously is just as unscriptural and unsustainable.  Faith in Jesus without experience of a miraculous transformation has not submitted to the authority of Jesus as Lord.  To believe in Jesus is to acknowledge the miraculous.  Belief in Jesus alongside unbelief in miracles is impossible.

While our faith should not be built entirely on miracles, miracles do build our faith.  Blind faith has never seen.  And to see in the Gospel of Jesus is to acknowledge something beyond belief and reasonable explanation yet undoubtedly real.  Faith that has witnessed these things inevitably develops, in a reality where the impossible has in fact become possible through Jesus Christ.

As Christians, how much to we believe that the miraculous is still present in our world?  Do we believe that the supernatural is locked within the pages of the Bible? Do we believe that the supernatural life of the disciples is not one for us to inherit, but exists merely to inspire us?  From such positions of uncertainty and doubt it is no surprise that the Christian Church is often viewed as worldly and weak.  If we doubt the miraculous, we prevent ourselves from asking for the miraculous, andprevent the miraculous from entering this world.

Miracles are not to entertain us but to achieve certain objectives: to increase our faith in Jesus, our awareness of God’s holiness, awareness of our own sin, and ultimately to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth.  While it can be tempting to hear a message about miracles in the present age and immediately pray for a physical miracle, the miraculous cannot exist without the recognition of sin.  The petition for miracles without the confession and consecration of a heart reveals a dangerous misunderstanding of miracles.  The most important miracle was Jesus, and Jesus came to address and pay the debt of our sin.  Therefore, to ask for a miracle without acknowledging the authority and sacrifice of Jesus is a dangerous misunderstanding of miracles.

Miracles do and will occur.  However, a heart that prays for miracles but does not desire the forgiveness of Jesus, does not praise Jesus for his sacrifice, is a heart that does not seek the will of a Holy God, but is still imprisoned by the temptations of a sinful world.

Christians should pray for the miraculous with confident belief in the impossible becoming possible.  However, we must guard our hearts against the temptation to separate Jesus’ death from His miracles, creating a chasm between his will and our own which could ultimately separate us from His presence entirely.

Tuesday Devotional: Lamentations 1

Devotional

bibleRead Lamentations 1 here.

In a world that gets faster every day, where we meet in person less and less frequently, we can’t help but realize the quality of conversations and relationships have begun to suffer at the hands of our obsession with speed and convenience.  The word “friend” has been reduced to any person you encounter, digitally or otherwise.  The word “love” has been reduced to something we say about anything from cheese to our spouse.  Relationships have likewise been reduced to a series of relatively short-lived, predictable conversations, where little to nothing real is ever shared.

If you listened in on some of these empty conversations, you might come to believe that no one is suffering or experiencing setbacks, because “it’s all good.”  We are willing in these relationships to keep things positive even at the expense of overlooking the hard times we are experiencing.  The truth is that all of us are struggling in some way or another, and all of us are looking for answers.  The world tells us that keeping the hard times to ourselves is usually the best option. The God of the Bible takes a different approach to our suffering.  God not only knows that we suffer, but he understands that getting grief and pain out of our system is integral in moving toward resolution.

In times of trouble a true friend will not just give you any advice, but will simply sit with you and listen.  In these moments, when the thoughts of our hearts are out in the open, we can view them in the same way a detective lays evidence out and begins to connect the dots.  God has the human heart down to a science. He knows that only after we confront the realities of our distress can we speak our minds, whether in frustration, anger, confusion or pain, in order to find the connections, and finally find a way out.

Tuesday Devotional: Jeremiah 2

Devotional

Read Jeremiah 2 bible

Faith is foundational to the human experience.  We all profess faith in something everyday.  It is a fact that we do not know much about this world that we live in, or the lives we live in it.  Due to our ignorance we spend most of our time wondering, guessing and trusting.  Yet it seems that most of us profess the strongest faith in things that disappoint us.  We are quick to be offended by “faith” in the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet most would be quick to admit that they have far more faith in their bank account than in religion of any kind.  The God of the Bible seems perplexed by this, and shouldn’t we be as well?  Why this overwhelming faith in our financial systems?  Have they ever failed us?  Yes.  Has religion?  Maybe.  Has God?  I wouldn’t be so fast.  While it is true that many have been wounded by religion, one must reflect honestly on this wound and ask oneself if it was God that caused the pain, or was it a person, a group, or a Church.  God has entrusted his gospel to the hands of man, and man is flawed.  This takes enormous faith on His part!  Faith is trusting in something when reason or logic offers plenty of reasons to doubt, not trusting naively or stupidly but because something real and true resides below the surface.  Faith in humankind is illogical and unreasonable from the perspective of God.  Unless, that is, he knows that within all of us exists the potential to truly change the world through His power in us.  Faith in God defies our logic and reason.  However, to those saved by Him, there is no question that what our eyes do not see and what our hands have never touched truly exists and has changed our lives forever.  Thus, through the lens of the Gospel, it is not the world of God but the world of man that is foolish to trust.

Tuesday Devotional: Isaiah 1

Devotional

Read Isaiah chapter 1

bibleFrom an early age we come to understand two “truths” about life that are reinforced into adulthood.  The first is that we are not totally responsible for the problems in our lives.  As children we are quick to point the finger elsewhere when something goes wrong, even if the facts point in our direction.  We are quick to defend ourselves, not only by explaining our actions but also by highlighting the faults of others.  Early on we understand the weight of responsibility and guilt, and we learn to avoid carrying it at all costs through dishonesty and denial.

The second is that, when the facts weigh heavily in the direction of our own guilt, we can bargain our way out of punishment or consequence.  While admitting guilt is far too painful to even consider, the next best thing is to shower the accuser or injured party with gifts, praise, or attention, in an attempt to redirect and distract them.  Our view of the guilt and forgiveness process is so shamefully simplified that we see the bargaining approach as not only a viable option, but often as the most logical response.  The absence of guilt after transgression displays a complete lack of respect toward the offended party, reducing them to objects, not actual people.

For many, God is simply an object.  God is an idea, a concept, or a creation.  Viewing God this way makes it far too easy to evade our own guilt by trying to “buy” him off with church attendance, tithes or prayers of confession.  If he is an object, we will never find any reason in our stubborn hearts to ever feel remorse for our transgressions, remorse that could lead us to the repentance necessary to be forgiven and free.  If, however, he is not an object to manipulate, we will finally confront our own hand in our problems, an acknowledgement that acts as a jumping off point for growth and change.  If he is not an object, we will realize that we can never buy our way out of our transgressions, and more importantly, we will begin to understand and finally value his forgiveness, as it should be understood.

 

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.

ASK: Job 28-29

ASK

This update is from last week’s meeting of ASK Daegu. Each member contributed something to the message that follows. We pray that our group encourages you in the same way that it encouraged all of us. We’ll have this week’s ASK recap up tomorrow.

(via)

The metaphor in Job of a man digging deeper and deeper into the recesses of the earth to find something of worth, all the while finding nothing of true value, offers wonderful insight into the heart of mankind. Sure, treasures found as a result of exploration and tiring physical labor are beautiful and impressive. However, as the man reaches the end of his search, dangling dangerously in the dark, alone, with only the cold rock and oppressive darkness to offer him company, he understands that what he is truly searching for, the world itself cannot offer him. He discovers that his hunger for something the world ultimately could not provide him is not a trick or a mistake. He comes to learn that his craving that seems to stretch beyond the limitations of this world is a craving that only something free from the limitations of this world can offer him. God.

As the man turns to God and looks to Him alone for his fulfillment and value, the darkness is suddenly replaced by the all-encompassing light of the creator God. The man realizes that all of his desperation and toil in the darkness was not a result of God’s punishment or absence. His time in the darkness was a result of his own absence from God and his desire to find value in life apart from Him.

Through the encounter with the living God the man discovers wisdom and understands that wisdom is a gift and the truest treasure we have in this life. It is wisdom that not only transforms the man; once a slave to self-validation and worship through works and ability, to a man remade in the image of God, who receives the light of God and then blesses those around him with that same light.

We all are seeking, but few of us are finding. The reason for this is not that there is nothing to find. The truth is that we are burdening ourselves searching where there is no light. God offers us light through Jesus Christ and it is our choice whether or not to be graced with the light of his wisdom and life and be changed.

 

 

 

Tuesday Devotional: Proverbs 3

Devotional

bibleMy son, do not forget my teaching,
    but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years
    and bring you peace and prosperity.

3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
    bind them around your neck,
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
    in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.[a]

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
    and nourishment to your bones.

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth,
    with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
    and your vats will brim over with new wine.

11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    as a father the son he delights in.[b]

13 Blessed are those who find wisdom,
    those who gain understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver
    and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies;
    nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
    in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
    and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
    those who hold her fast will be blessed.

19 By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
    by understanding he set the heavens in place;
20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,
    and the clouds let drop the dew.

21 My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
    preserve sound judgment and discretion;
22 they will be life for you,
    an ornament to grace your neck.
23 Then you will go on your way in safety,
    and your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
    when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Have no fear of sudden disaster
    or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
26 for the Lord will be at your side
    and will keep your foot from being snared.

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
    “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
    when you already have it with you.
29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
    who lives trustfully near you.
30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
    when they have done you no harm.

31 Do not envy the violent
    or choose any of their ways.

32 For the Lord detests the perverse
    but takes the upright into his confidence.
33 The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
    but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34 He mocks proud mockers
    but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
35 The wise inherit honor,
    but fools get only shame.

Advice that leads us closer to the desires of our heart is easy to take.  We seek the advice of people that we know will never discourage or disagree with us, not because we desire wisdom or truth but because we want to be right.  Likewise, it is difficult to stomach advice that not only contradicts our desires, but rebukes them.  While we might see the truth in the words, we reject them– not because they are wrong or unwise, but because by rejecting them we offer ourselves the freedom to remain unchanged and “correct.”  This cyclical routine can only be altered with the addition of immovable trust.  Trust requires that one put his or her life in the hands of another.  We are only willing to do this if there is faith that our life in the hands of another will not only survive but can thrive.  If we lack this faith, we will never be willing to hand ourselves over, limiting our ability to change.  God does not desire that we follow his decrees blindly or accept punishment void of understanding.  God wants us to see his advice in the same light as we see the air that we breathe.  With it we find life and happiness.  Without it we cease to exist, and the heart capable of overwhelming joy ultimately stops beating.