Invisible Support

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(Matthew 11:1) When Jesus had finished instructing His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

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This specific instruction (recorded in chapter 10) prepared the disciples to scatter throughout Israel to proclaim the Good News of God's Kingdom. As they did that, Jesus went to the disciples' home towns to teach (to privately inform, with the target of shaping the pupil's will) and to preach (to publicly inform, proclaim, announce valuable information and news). The disciples didn't proclaim themselves, and Jesus didn't proclaim them either--He is the Good News.

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As I attend to fulfilling God's call on my life, Jesus brings His uncontaminated, undistorted light into the weirdly lit shadows of my local haunts. I'm not capable of being always available, always correct, but He is. I'm not the Good News, the perfect answer to my neighbors, He is.

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Lord, help me to turn people's hearts and will towards You. As I give myself to fulfilling Your call and to serve my family and the people You've sent me to, I recognize that I'm not enough. By Your Holy Spirit, I trust You to privately teach each of us according to our true needs. I trust You to bring Your light and Your Words into our hearts so we can live fully.

Love Is the Sweetest Revenge

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(1 Samuel 24:17) [Saul] said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil."

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Having an enemy doesn't mean you're innocent or guilty. Having an enemy, and even more, having an opportunity for vengeance, exposes and solidifies one's character. As a just man, David prayed for vengeance (Psalms 9, 11, 34, 35, 59, 64, 65, etc.), but additionally, as a good man, (1) he protected himself and his people from Saul's wickedness, (2) he thought realistically about the consequences of sin, and (3) he returned his golden opportunity back to the Lord ... a freewill and extravagant offering to the Lord of his trust, innocence, and hope.

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Not everyone seems to have the "gift" of having a person turn and become his or her enemy. Wouldn't it be "sweet" if that never happened. However, the brutality and injustice of Jesus' cross attests to sin's reality and it warns me of God's inescapable justice. My concern is that I lay down my own weapons of wickedness so I can become a recipient and conduit of God's grace.

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Lord, help me become more righteous than merely vengeful. You were faithful and just to forgive me of my sins (1 John 1:7-9); help me to abide in Your faithful goodness and justice ... always.

Movers

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(Psalm 10:6) [The wicked person] says in his heart, “I shall not be moved...”

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David quotes two others who say that: people who are circumstantially secure and prosperous (Psalm 30:6) and people who humbly lean completely on God during peaceful times as well as disastrous threats (Psalm 16:8). “Moved” refers to being shaken or pushed off course. The wicked assumes God doesn’t exist, doesn’t remember, doesn’t care, or doesn’t hold people accountable (10:4,11,13). Those who trust any security but God ignore unwelcome facts and go on cheerily as though they’d annihilated them.

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Although I have very little power to avoid or withstand the major hardships, I don’t want to be fooled by being able to avoid or endure the lesser challenges. I want to learn what it means to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with my God” (Micah 6:8). I want to stay on God's course.

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Lord, I know You are faithful, trustworthy, and good. I know You allow unsettling experiences so I can be purified and improved (Jeremiah 48:11). I know I don’t always like that; however, I choose to trust You over my fears and doubts. You have proven to be faithful—why should I foolishly stop trusting You now?

Refuge of Light

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(Psalm 11:1) In the Lord I take refuge; How can you say to my soul, "Flee like a bird to the mountain?"

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David's advisers were smart, caring, and courageous, but not perfectly. Yes, Saul spent his energies and influence in secretive plots to destroy David. Yes, these plots were deadly and real. Yes, these plots grew out of violations of truth and justice. However, David also realized that--although eventually forced into defensive action--trusting God and living with integrity before His eyes has always been the only sure refuge.

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In honesty I'm forced to concede that God tests all people, including His righteous and sincerely obedient children (verses 4,5). Unfortunately, there seems to be no better way to firmly learn faith, courage, or perseverance (in a word, love) than through tests. In 1605, when Scottish pastor John Welsh was "silenced" in the dungeon of Blackness Castle, an encourager wrote to him to remind him that he was only "in the darkness of Blackness and not in the blackness of darkness."

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Lord, even though You warned of days when murmurers, complainers, and mockers would do violence to good people (Jude 1-25), I seek Your refuge. I choose to walk in Your light, where there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:4-10). I choose to be one who brings grace, truth, and light.

Divine Inability

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(2 Corinthians 13:4) For [Christ] was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but in dealing with you we will live with Him by the power of God.

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Christ chose to exercise “divine inability.” Although He could have removed Himself from the cross, avoided being arrested or humiliated at all, or called ten legions of angelic warriors to avenge Him; He chose instead to bear our sin and shame and reproach for us. Weakness is repulsive to us, the opposite of good health. Yet acknowledging it is our first step in becoming honest about our condition apart from God.

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I hate weakness as much as I fear my inadequacy, ineptness, incompleteness, and ignorance. Yet my refusal to recognize my condition keeps me a slave of frustration simply because that keeps me from admitting my need for Christ in thousands of daily details. It’s my incomplete successes and powers that trick me into thinking I don’t really need Christ.

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Lord, help me. I confuse self-confidence for Christ-confidence. I constantly aim for better then I can achieve, then I expect far less then what You’re able to accomplish through me. Help me to revel in Your peace, Your grace, Your love so I can boldly and joyfully experience Your power.

He Took the "Low" Road While I Took the High Road

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(1 Samuel 6:12) And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went ...

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These two milk cows foretell the crucifixion of the God-man, Jesus Christ. He "set His face like flint" to go unwavering to the destination of His life-sacrifice. He, who knew no sin, carried the burden of others' sins as these cows carried those golden, gross treasures. Jesus did this for people alienated from God. He, too, carried the wooden implements that would later become His altar. He went to His death alone, leaving behind His beloved family (His disciples, mother, siblings--His future bride, the Church). He went "lowing," peacefully worshiping God: "for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross."

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I grieve that the Philistines and their rulers could have witnessed this miraculous sign from God and enjoyed the benefits of God's forgiveness and healing, yet remain unchanged. They kept their hearts bitter and rebellious. Shortly later (described in the next chapter), they pick up their warfare against the people who worship God ... as though this miracle of grace had never happened. I don't want to receive Christ, but remain unchanged.

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Lord, please examine me and thoroughly scrutinize my heart. Please alert me to anything in my heart or habits that You'd find even mildly unpleasant. I want to walk in the fullest benefit of Your salvation and wholeness!

Abundant Sufferings, Abundant Comforts

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(2 Corinthians 1:5) For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too.

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This can also be translated: "For as the sufferings of Christ abound for us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ." These sufferings are not self-inflicted for the sake of punishing or purifying ourselves or for patronizing God--they are Christ's sufferings. I share His sufferings by being one with Him through perspective, prayer, and obedience.

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The more I understand life through Christ's mind, the more I grieve at seeing violations of love and the tortures of distrusting God. The more I hear and trust the promises of God's Word, the more I recognize the good results of His good works. There is no better comfort.

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Lord, it seems that my own suffering causes me to reach out for my own addictive, self-destructive comforts. Help me, Jesus, to live for You--to seek Your kingdom and Your will--instead of my own. Thank You for recently showing me once again that as I love and trust You in the midst of confusion and seemingly unbearable circumstances, You share Your supreme comforts with me--and that heals and frees me! Thank You!

Hail to the Chief!

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(Joshua 5:13,14) ... "Are You for us, or for our adversaries?" And He said, "No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come." ...

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This Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ is very informative: He is always the only one whose commands lead to ultimate safety, whose authority encompasses all authority and power. He unifies all our contradictory needs. Only in Him do mercy and truth merge perfectly. Only by obeying His commands does pure rightness and judgment blend lovingly with complete peace (Psalm 85:10).

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Joshua responded to Jesus' words by humbling himself in absolute worship, which he demonstrated by causing his entire body to declare His acquiescence to Jesus' authority. He offered God an open, unguarded, unlimited invitation to command him to action: "What does my Lord say to His servant?" Joshua responded with obedience. That prayer captures my heart and intentions, too.

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Lord, in our work places, our kitchens, bedrooms, and neighborhoods, our attempts at justice often lack mercy, just as our attempts at mercy often wound justice. The same problem exists with our attempts at truthfulness and love. Command me. Speak to me, too. Let Your kingdom come so my own circumstances become Your holy ground, the domain of Your tactical operations.