Hope or Faith
(NIV) Ps 33: 20 We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.
After my first heart attack, I wrote the following poem:
HOPE
Hope drifts in on angel’s wings, barely
disturbing the air, the room, we
hardly know it’s there.
Yet, it arrives, unhurried, but
not unwanted.
We see it in the
face of a friend, the
trace of a smile, or simply
a kind word. It is the promise
of good things to come, the
assurance that we are not alone. It is
what gets us through another day
when we think we cannot go on.
I had just turned 50, we had only been in Pittsburgh two weeks, I knew no one and I was trying to put a house together. But I was so weak I couldn’t go up and down the stairs. I didn’t have a church yet. My friend Coralie offered to come help, but she had just lost her mother two weeks earlier and I was afraid it would be too much for her. So I needed hope.
Did my need for hope mean I had lost faith? Not at all! Hope is foundational to faith.
(NIV) Jeremiah 31: 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The difference between our hope and those without Christ is that we have a confidence that is built on a firm foundation. We hope in God because of Who He is, what He has done, and what we know He will do.
May we build up our own faith and hope by Bible reading and prayer and staying connected to other believers who we know will stand in the gap for us when we are too ill or weak to pray. And when we are too weak to even say a prayer, just say Jesus.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
(KJV) Ps 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof;
the world, and they that dwell therein.
2 For he hath founded it upon the seas,
and established it upon the floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?
or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD,
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him,
that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
Sometimes I just have to go to the King James translation. “The earth is the lord’s and the fullness thereof” is the way I learned it. So when I read the NIV which says “The earth is the lord’s and everything in it” I know it means the same thing, but those are not the words stored up in my heart.
I pray today that we can stand before the Lord, pure of thought and deed, so that we can seek Him with our whole hearts.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
But God had a plan
(KJV) Neh 1:1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, 5 And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: 6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. 8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: 9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. 10 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. 11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.
You might remember the story of Nehemiah, the cupbearer of King Artexerxes, the King of Persia. Nehemiah was born into captivity, yet when he heard of the plights of those Jews who had returned to Jerusalem, he was filled with remorse. Nehemiah fasted and prayed, asking for direction and he reminded God that those suffering in Jerusalem were His children. He then asked God to have mercy upon him as he approached the King, for nothing could be done without the king’s approval.
I have loved the account of Nehemiah since I first heard it fifty years ago. First, I can’t believe I can reference anything that happened fifty years ago. But more importantly we find a pattern in his prayer that we would do well to follow.
- Praise
- Repentance
- Reminded God of His covenant
- Asked for mercy as he approached the king
And then, he went to work. Nehemiah left his secure place as the Kings cupbearer to go to a place that was foreign to him, but God had a plan.
We will not all be Nehemiahs. But we can all make a difference in someone’s life. May we “bloom where we are planted”, listening to the Holy Spirit and following His guidance.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Taste and See, the Lord is Good
(KJV) 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times:
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD:
the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.
3 O magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened:
and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
What a wonderful psalm of praise! David has been running from the Philistines, even feigning madness to escape. Yet he is completely engaged as he praises his God.
David shows us that regardless of our circumstances, we can have an attitude of praise. We can be totally committed to seeking God and placing our confidence in Him.
When life is overwhelming, what if we just model David and, regardless of our situation, we speak the name of Jesus? What if we really could, once and for all, cast our cares on Him, knowing that He cares for us?
Paul says in Roman’s 5:20, “when sin abounded, grace superabounded.” I’ve said before, we can’t out-sin the grace of God or outrun the mercy of God. And that alone is reason to praise God.
May our first response to trouble be praise and may the joy of the Lord come bubbling up to the surface of our very being.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Servanthood
NIV John 13:12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
When our son was young there was a popular children’s song, “If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, you must be a servant of all…” Jesus constantly did the unexpected and washing the disciples’ feet was no exception. While it was a common practice for a servant to wash the dirt off a guest’s feet, for Jesus to do so was not just unexpected, it was unthinkable.
At first Peter flatly denied Jesus the opportunity to wash his feet, until Jesus said do this, or you have no part in me. Peter then went to the extreme by saying that Jesus should wash all of him. How often are we like Peter, thinking that our kingdom work is so important, yet we miss the chance to serve God by serving others? Being an intentional disciple involves more than study, it even involves more than prayer, it includes more than tithing and more than serving on church committees. Intentional discipleship includes servanthood which requires a change of heart.
Just prior to Jesus performing this act of humility, James and John were arguing about who would be greatest in the kingdom. But servanthood means putting others first, sometimes even at own expense. Serving others is not something we can fake. It is something that springs from a heart that has been transformed by the saving grace of Jesus.
May we truly understand the meaning of discipleship as we navigate this life, learning that service to others is a way to glorify God.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Seeking Holiness 