Blog: “Discovering His Living Hope”

Psalm 104:24-35 English Standard Version

²⁴ O Lord, how manifold are your works!
    In wisdom have you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ Here is the sea, great and wide,
    which teems with creatures innumerable,
    living things both small and great.
²⁶ There go the ships,
    and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.^[a]

²⁷ These all look to you,
    to give them their food in due season.
²⁸ When you give it to them, they gather it up;
    when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
    when you take away their breath, they die
    and return to their dust.
³⁰ When you send forth your Spirit,^[b] they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works,
³² who looks on the earth and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains and they smoke!
³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    for I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
    and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Reflect: When life feels chaotic and messy, it can be wonderfully therapeutic to look at creation and see how marvelously diverse and joyful God made it to be.

There is order, purpose everywhere in God’s good design.

The more we intentionally learn about the earth and its creatures, the more we can thank God and celebrate with Him exactly how completely amazing it is.

Reflect today, If feeling out of sorts or discouraged, try watching a nature documentary about flamingos or weaver birds, cockatoos or hummingbirds.

When you do, consider that Christ was there in the beginning, overseeing everything and taking great delight in the creation of this magnificent planet (Colossians 1:15-20 English Standard Version).

The Preeminence of Christ

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by^[a]  him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸  And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Spending time in wonder and awe as we consider God’s extraordinary, well-ordered creation can help us appreciate our place in the order of things too.

This can also lead us to reflect upon our places, feeling grounded and secure rather than tossed about by the sometimes merciless systems created by man.

Reflecting, pondering the marvelous works of God—the mountains; the water cycle; the birds, animals, insects, and sea creatures; and all of the forests and plants they depend upon—all ordered by our God – can also lead us to worship.

Recognizing all of this splendor with gratitude, thanks be to God, can deepen our connections both to God and to his world, filling us with the desire to be the better stewards God calls us to be and lift up our hearts in praise and adoration.

Going Back to the Beginning of All Days – Creation

Do you ever pause and think back to life “back in the day?” No internet, texting, FaceTime, data, or GPS. Funny thing is that those times weren’t too long ago…

We are in such a ridiculously obsessive fast-paced “right now” culture, society.

Going from here to there to all of a sudden thinking where has the day gone? 

If you are anything like me, the fast-paced life, while thrilling and exciting, gets the adrenaline and blood pumping, feels exhilarating and exhausting too.

After even a short 45 minute session of intense Cardiac Rehabilitation, my body will literally want to shut down, SO telling me “STOP! it’s time to SLOW DOWN!”

Something that I have come to realize recovering from my Open Heart Triple Bypass Surgery, is how often I am so quick to pass by something, or someone.

Too busy to really slow down, sit, watch, pay attention, because my priority is the destination, recovery from heart surgery, and not the journey to get there.

Let me repeat that again in case you need it, I find that I am more worried about the destination – that feeling of being strong and human – than the journey.

How many of you reading this right now are right there with me?

Too worried about what’s ahead you’re not willing to “stop, smell the roses?”

As I read and reflect upon today’s passage I could not help but read through the entirety of Psalm 104 (which I encourage you to do), it’s’ riddled with the way that ABBA Father God created the Earth and how He takes care of His creation.

In verse 27 it says, “These all look to You, to give them their food in due season.” 

I reflected and I was convicted when I read this, convicted: how often do I look to Him to provide, looking, trusting, that He will provide it in the right season?

Can I be honest with you?

The reason that I don’t is because I believe that the Lord doesn’t take notice.

But really, it’s the other way around; I’m too busy reflecting on my healthy self right now to “go forth” take notice of what the Lord has provided, IS providing!

As I continue reading and reflecting on the living Word of God in verse 34 it says, “May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD.” 

Yet, because I’m so busy in my days, am I taking time to meditate on Him?

His Creation, His goodness? His provision? His creation that is all around me?

Willing my body back to a semblance of health and happiness, something I want to challenge us all in is to take time to really be with the Lord, to take advantage of where He has placed us and the opportunities that we have to rejoice in Him!

Exactly right now, wherever you are existing, whether in a cubicle, at the beach, traveling on the highways, by-ways and subways, or just about to rush out the door – getting to any airport, take some time to pause – and yes you have time.

In the pause, open your eyes, look around you, for all of creation (every tree, flower, person, car, and building), opening your ears to the sounds, is waiting eagerly for God to reveal His children (Romans 8:19), which is you and me.

Reflect today, what would it look like for us then to go against the busyness?

Reflect today, to actually put away the phones? Pull out the old map in the car and simply drive to some far off point on a compass and get lost in creation?

To explore a new part of the city, walk the trails hike that mountain you have been saying you would for the past year, paddle a canoe down a lazy river or to maybe spend some of God’s time to invest in your neighbor for the evening?

Today, this hour, this week, month, and year, let’s live a little differently; more thankfully, to truly be satisfied with the good things that the Lord has given us! 

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 84 The Message

84 ^1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
    I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
    where I could sing for joy to God-alive!

^3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
    sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
    singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
    How blessed they are to live and sing there!

^5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live,
    whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
    discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
    at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!

^8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
    O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
    our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.

^10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
    beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
    than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
    generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
    It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

God of all wonders, draw our attention to your glorious works so that we might know you better, inviting all peoples to give thanks, praise and honor you. In Jesus, Amen.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Psalm 91 New American Standard Bible

Security of One Who Trusts in the Lord.

91 One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
³ For it is He who rescues you from the net of the trapper
And from the deadly plague.
⁴ He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may take refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and wall.

⁵ You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
⁶ Of the plague that ^[a]stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that devastates at noon.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
⁸ You will only look on with your eyes
And see the retaliation against the wicked.
^9 [b]For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
The Most High, your dwelling place.
¹⁰ No evil will happen to you,
Nor will any plague come near your ^[c]tent.

¹¹ For He will give His angels orders concerning you,
To protect you in all your ways.
¹² On their hands they will lift you up,
So that you do not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will walk upon the lion and cobra,
You will trample the young lion and the ^[d]serpent.

¹⁴ “Because he has loved Me, I will save him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
¹⁵ He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in ^[e]trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶ I will satisfy him with ^[f]a long life,
And ^[g]show him My salvation.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Psalm 91 shows that God, “the Almighty,” is not intimidating or frightening.

Instead, God is so gentle and concerned for everyone that they can find refuge in him like hatchlings under the care of a hen.

As God’s people, we can trust the Lord fully because he will surround us, guard us against dangerous threats, and deliver us.

Resting in the shadow of God’s protective wings means that we don’t need to be afraid of chaotic things happening around us.

There is a time for us to walk courageously into situations with God’s help, and there is a time to retreat and be still in his caring presence.

If you ever have the privilege of watching chicks take cover under a hen’s wings, you’ll see that they stay very still and quiet, completely out of view of danger, while the hen is alert, watchful, will do whatever she can to protect her young.

Jesus uses similar imagery when he expresses his deepest desire to gather up the people of Jerusalem and protect them (Luke 13:34).

He is gentle and makes space for His Children near to his Father’s heart.

The Ultimate Father-Son Relationship

John 5:19-23 English Standard Version

The Authority of the Son

¹⁹ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father ^[a]  does, that the Son does likewise. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. ²¹ For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. ²² For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

God is called by a variety of names throughout the pages of the Bible, each one sheds light on an aspect of His nature – Jesus’ favorite title for Him was Father.

Surprisingly, this name for God is used only 15 times in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, it’s recorded a stunning 245 times!

Many of God’s names speak of His majestic and lofty attributes that separate Him from mankind, but Father conveys a special measure, degree of intimacy.

Jesus used this name not only because He was God’s Son, but also to help people realize that Jehovah is not some unapproachable Deity gazing down upon them from a distance we cannot even begin to fathom or ever hope to give measure.

Rather, He is their right by their side, their sure covering and loving heavenly Father, who cares about them and wants to be involved in their everyday lives.

Throughout His time of ministry and mission among His Children on earth, God in Christ revealed by example what this kind of love relationship was like.

As our Gospel narrative reveals, He depended completely on His Father for daily direction and power, and provision and obediently carried out every instruction.

Throughout the Gospel narratives reveals, He often left the high demands of ministry and mission just to find a secluded place to be alone with Jehovah.

We know Jesus successfully conveyed the utterly unfathomable riches of this relationship to His disciples, because in John 14:8, Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father”—he desperately wanted to know Him just the way Christ did.

In this season of Thanksgiving – do we long for that kind of intimacy with God?  

He wants to relate to you as a Father to His child, and He’s given us the privilege of drawing near to Him – question is – how badly do we want to draw near Father?

In fact, He chose us to draw near to us before the foundation of the world, waits with open arms for us to enter His loving embrace to settle under the pinions of His Wings.

He Will Cover You with His Feathers 

The imagery that David uses in this passage gives us believers a great sense of security and hope.

God covering us with his feathers is just like a hen that covers her chicks under her wings to protect them from harm, from the elements, and from predators.

We can nestle in close to him for comfort and safety – God shields us from the threats we face and even the emotional turmoil events of our lives can cause.

The vision of our being Sheltered beneath Christ’s wings serves both for healing and for hiding, for curing and securing us; the devil and his instruments would soon pounce, devour the servants of God, if God did not set His invincible guard about them, cover them with, and beneath the golden feathers of his protection.

Rather than our flying around aimlessly, running around, grounded, wondering how we are going to make it when we face hurt, harm, or are in need of healing, we can instead run straight under the protective cover of God’s glorious wings! 

God’s guarding feathers can keep us from walking into situations that would tempt us to stray from what is good in the eyes of God.

It could be blinding us from a potentially toxic relationship.

Sometimes it’s as simple as being a young person that is never invited to the wrong kind of party with their peers, saying grace at the Thanksgiving meal.

It could be much needed infusion, a sense of God-inspired thankfulness, helps us stay positive when the temptation to complain, gossip, or lose hope arises.

God’s Spirit subtly nudges us and sometimes may even alert us in our hearts when we start wandering away from God’s wisdom and towards the pull of sin.

In this season of giving thanks to God, take comfort under the wings of God.

He is there to protect us, shield us, and nurture us with His warm embrace.

When we face sadness, temptation, loss, or any other trial we are not alone.

God, everlasting to everlasting, is there covering us with his powerful feathers.

As much as we will, wont acknowledge, God is our safe place in a very unsafe world.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God, the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 121 The Message

121 ^1-2 I look up to the mountains;
    does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
    who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

^3-4 He won’t let you stumble,
    your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel’s
    Guardian will never doze or sleep.

^5-6 God’s your Guardian,
    right at your side to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke,
    sheltering you from moonstroke.

^7-8 God guards you from every evil,
    he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
    he guards you now, he guards you always.

Lord, help us constantly to stay close to you so that when danger threatens, we will be safe in your care. Gather us in and hold us close. Amen.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Philippians 1:3-6 GOD’S WORD Translation

Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians

³ I thank my God for all the memories I have of you. ⁴ Every time I pray for all of you, I do it with joy. ⁵ I can do this because of the partnership we’ve had with you in the Good News from the first day ⌞you believed⌟ until now. ⁶ I’m convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion on the day of Christ Jesus.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

The poet John Donne wrote,

“No man is an island, entire of itself.” (John Donne, Meditation XVII).

What that expresses poetically is what we feel intuitively: we are not as good alone as we are with one another.

There is a very sound reason that the most dreaded punishment in a prison is placement into solitary confinement: no one wants to be alone all the time.

Community is important to us.

We want a place where we belong.

We all want a group that we can call our own.

We want to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

We want to know that there are people who care for us.

We want to know that there are people who we can care for, too.

That was part of the genius of the early church: they came together, gathered and bonded together into a community.

Many of these early Christians were slaves.

Many of them had no community to belong to at all—not even a family to call their own – they had no one to love them -they had no one to care about them.

And along came the Apostle Paul and other early missionaries preaching the good news that God loves them, and that someone named Jesus died to save them, and they can be born again and they can believe, can join God’s family!

Such a radically different message, And they grabbed hold of that message with fervor, because they finally saw God’s family as something worth belonging to.

It gave their meaningless lives purpose – it gave their hopeless existence hope.

And it works the same way today – or at least it can work the same way today.

You’ve heard me say this before:

“The Church of Christ, when it is functioning properly, is the hope of the world.”

It is in the church that darkness gives way to the light, the lost have the gospel preached to them, that sinners are saved, and that mercy, forgiveness is found.

It is in the community of the church that we all discover God’s plan for our lives.

It is in the community of the church we find our lives’ true purpose, meaning.

And it is in the church that we experience a family to belong to—a community that is bigger than we are, that we can be supported and loved and encouraged and inspired by, and that we can truly support and love and empower as well.

Even with the impossible to describe problems and the imperfections that we humans bring into it, the Church of Christ remains the one hope of the world.

It was to such a church that the Apostle Paul wrote the Letter to the Philippians, and spoke fervently of all the joy that was theirs because they belonged to Jesus.

Thanks Be To God, Our Creator For All Of The People

Philippians 1:3-6 New Living Translation

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer

³ Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. ⁴ Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, ⁵ for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. ⁶ And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Thanksgiving season is once again here and among us and now, across our country, and indeed, across the globe, laity and pastors will preach sermons, teaching and pointing out the need for Christ-followers to be thankful people.

As both a husband, a brother, step father, grandfather, laity, a blogger and a pastor, I have made impassioned pleas for Christ-followers to rise above the ingratitude of our culture… to resist the temptation for the holiday season to become simply another opportunity for us to be self-focused, self-indulgent.

Thanksgiving isn’t just about eating to the brink of explosion; shopping to the brink of bankruptcy; the internet, watching television to the brink of insanity.

I have always tried to make the point that Thanksgiving for a person who loves God, then loves their neighbor, can be so much more before their love of self.

Even so, I have discovered in my own life that despite what I’ve preached, I have so often carelessly missed that one crucial element in the process of my being a thankful follower of my Savior Jesus in my own life – being grateful for people.

I found that over the years I have been mostly thankful for the THINGS in my life; for food, finances, the house I have lived in, clothes I have worn, and so on.

While there’s nothing wrong with being thankful to God for these things, I have that I have too often missed owning that one boat on giving my thanks unto my God, who is my Creator for the biggest blessings of my God in my life… PEOPLE.

Consider how empty, purposeless, and meaningless our lives would be without relationships -relationships have shaped who we are and who we are becoming.

Without exception, everyone I know has in one way shape and form, at some point in their life, they have all been positively influenced by other people.

While it is easy to thank God for the THINGS in our lives, we should remember to be equally thankful for the host of PEOPLE God has placed in our lives as well!

Let me give you just one example.

I am thankful for my childhood friend Chuck.

When I was a child, we would do all the things with me my father could not do and worked with me for countless hours teaching me how to use tools, operate light like chainsaws then learning to cut down trees and sledge hammers, wood splitters and heavy equipment such as tractors and brush hogs for mowing the tall and heavy grass of my fathers 40 acres of country place, and how to fish, how to just get started early in the day, be grateful for the day and get to work.

He was the only one in my young life who had befriended me unconditionally.

We would sit in the woods for hours -it was his love for the independence of country life that infected my soul for the rest of my life. I thank God for her!

How about you?

Who do you thank God for?

Today, take a few moments and thank God for the relationships in your life.

Truthfully, it can radicalize and revolutionize your life. Happy Thanksgiving!

GIVE ALL THANKS TO GOD AND INTENTIONALLY GO DEEPER WITH GOD:

1. This thanksgiving and Christmas season, make a list of the people who have shaped your life. Share the list with your community of friends and of family.

2. Explore and discover how easy is it to just thank God for things in your life!

3. Discover how you too can live a lifestyle of thankfulness more consistently?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 100 New Living Translation

Psalm 100

A psalm of thanksgiving.

¹ Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
²     Worship the Lord with gladness.
    Come before him, singing with joy.
³ Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
    He made us, and we are his.^[a]
    We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
    go into his courts with praise.
    Give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good.
    His unfailing love continues forever,
    and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Psalm 55:1-8 GOD’S WORD Translation

For the choir director; on stringed instruments; a maskil by David.

55 Open your ears to my prayer, O God.
Do not hide from my plea for mercy.
² Pay attention to me, and answer me.
My thoughts are restless, and I am confused
³ because my enemy shouts at me
and a wicked person persecutes me.
They bring misery crashing down on me,
and they attack me out of anger.
⁴ My heart is in turmoil.
The terrors of death have seized me.
⁵ Fear and trembling have overcome me.
Horror has overwhelmed me.
⁶ I said, “If only I had wings like a dove—
I would fly away and find rest.
⁷ Indeed, I would run far away.
I would stay in the desert. Selah
⁸ I would hurry to find shelter
from the raging wind and storm.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Have you ever had the desire to just look up into the air and fly like a bird?

Do you ever wish you could just leap up and fly away for some peace and quiet?

Sometimes in life, the troubles we face can cause deep inner turmoil.

We may struggle with our physical or mental health, a physical disability or an acute, chronic disease, a relationship that feels stuck, a difficult career, a deep disappointment or loss of self or purpose, a cycle of poverty, or something else.

Take your pick — there are too many different things can make us feel trapped.

When David wrote this psalm, he was feeling disillusioned and stuck.

He was distraught by the situation he was in, and he felt betrayed by a friend.

He desperately wanted any way out and he prayed to God that dreamed of being like a dove so he could forget everything, just fly far away from all his troubles.

But as he wrestled with his discouragement, as he waited for God to answer his prayer, he grew to understand that although he did not have wings to fly away, nor would he be given them anytime soon, he did have a voice to call upon God.

Just a minimal desire to get away from all the, what seem like the relentless challenges, or wearying days where things just do not get around to changing.

I frequently think about all that’s gone on in the world over the last year, and the mounting cumulative effect of just so many different pressures, so many different tensions – Just want to shout to God;

“Don’t we, can’t we have one day or several days or a lifetime where we just want to put all those pressures, all those tensions deep into the sea of forgetfulness, “to fly away, high into the air, away from mankind’s nonsense like a dove,” to be gone?

That’s what the Psalms is saying here in Psalm 55:4–8, “I wish I had the wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest. I just want rest from it all. Yes, I would wander far away. And I would lodge in the wilderness. I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest. I just want rest and relief.”

We often find ourselves in this situation in this world. And I think most of us, especially over the last year in this world, this well describes where we’re at.

That’s why I wanted to read verses 4-8, and then jump down to verse 22.

There’s so much in this Psalm, but now verse 22 says,

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

Can I just read and pray that one more time over you the reader, and pray you too shout your prayers to God, to just hear this precious living Word of God ?

I mean, it’s the pressures and tensions, and challenges, and weightiness and weariness that you may be feeling that will take its toll upon your body, soul!

And then Just to hear this word straight from God, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

The solution to being released from life’s burdens isn’t to escape but to give them up to the Lord: “Cast your cares on the Lord, and he will sustain you.”

Echoing the assurance of this psalm, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. . . . Learn from me . . . and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).

So, Almighty, Compassionate and Merciful God, I just have to pray these verses over every single person listening right now who is weary, who is heavy of heart with sorrows, with challenges, and just lacking strength or lacking wisdom, or in some cases, some days feel like there’s a complete lack of hope for a change.

Psalm 55:4–8 Describes This Unbearable Burden, and Psalm 55:22 Teaches That We Can Cast Them to God, He Can Sustain Us

So God, we pray Psalm 55:22 right now. We cast our burdens upon you. God, I pray that you would give grace to every single person listening right now.

Just to cast all of these burdens on you, to know. We praise you, God, that we don’t have to carry these burdens alone. That we can cast them upon you, we can cast in a first Peter five way, all of our anxieties upon you, all of our worries, all of our burdens, all the things that weigh down our hearts and our lives. We cast them on you and to stay grounded in God and we trust that you will sustain.

Based on Psalm 55, verse 22, I trust oh God, that as we cast our burdens upon you, you will sustain and we praise you for this. We praise you that you will not permit those who trust in you to be moved. May it be so, we pray according to your word in Psalm 55, verse 22. In Jesus’ our Shepherds name we pray. Amen.

Lord and God, thank you that even when we are surrounded by troubles that we would rather escape, you give us the wings of prayer and you promise to sustain us. Help us to release our doubts, to cast our burdens on you. Amen.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Psalm 50:22-23 English Standard Version

²² “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
    lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
²³ The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
    to one who orders his way rightly
    I will show the salvation of God!”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

In the classic autobiography, The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom tells of her sufferings at the hands of the Nazis during the evil reign of Adolph Hitler.

Corrie and her sister, Betsie, were among the thousands incarcerated at the Nazi concentration camp, Ravensbruck, experienced terrible atrocities there.

On one occasion, they were forced to disrobe before the German soldiers.

In that awful, humiliating moment, an amazing discovery came to Corrie’s mind: “They took Jesus’ clothes too. He hung naked for me.”

When she relayed that wondrous thought to her sister Betsie, she gasped and said, “Oh, Corrie, and I never thanked Him for it.” 

For me especially, one of the things that made Corrie and Betsie such dynamic Christians was the truth that they both chose to see life from God’s perspective. 

In those worst of situations, they found new insights to praise and thank God.

And for me, I cannot imagine those “the worst of the worst possible situations.”

The collection of those Psalmists in Bible tells us that we are to give thanks in everything, the good things AND the bad things AND the very worst of things.

In Psalm 50:23, God says, “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me.”

Our choice of faith, our choices to live, to move, then to act, in that faith in God pleases Him while our thanksgiving glorifies Him, and the one that glorifies the Father is the true worshipper who chooses to worship Him in spirit and truth.

Genuine thanksgiving to the Lord is a freewill offering, a sacrifice of praise, a coming to God in our nakedness as His Son did at Calvary, a living sacrifice, a gift of un-yielding love which is a sweet-smelling savor to the Lord our God.

Such a sweet smelling offering is not meant to merely be an external display of reverent homage or a gesture of pious religiosity, but an inner spirit of genuine deeply rooted gratefulness, a heart overflowing with maximum adoration that springs from the man or woman or child that is so deeply in love with the Lord.

Indeed, no act of thanksgiving nor any form of worship that does not spring forth from the inner being that utterly loves the Lord is acceptable to Him.

The whole of Psalm 50 is a song that shows forth the greatness of God, His never-ending righteousness, and His long-suffering grace, but it is also one that is a severe rebuke to His people, Israel, for their disinterested complacency and hypocritical attitude into which their external acts of sacrifices had fallen.

Humanity may look on the externals, but God looks on the internal heart, and He knows all of the inner thoughts and the hidden attitudes of the mind, which can so often mask hidden insincerity in the worship of a double-minded man.

God, Who judges the hearts of all, is not to be mocked and warns all that are so inclined to cleanse their hearts, alter their ways, and dress themselves in the robe of Christ’s righteousness in sincerity and truth – in one word – to Repent!

Psalm 50:22-23 New Living Translation

²² Repent, all of you who forget me,
    or I will tear you apart,
    and no one will help you.
²³ But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me.
    If you keep to my path,
    I will reveal to you the salvation of God.”

And so we read: “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright, I shall show the salvation of God.”

It is never too late for any believer who has adopted a form of complacency or has put on a necklace of hypocrisy to change his ways, for God is gracious and long-suffering, He is slow to anger and abounding in mercy and forgiveness.

But He also is quite stern with His Children as He warns us to recognize all the errors of our ungrateful attitudes, and to change our ways, and return to Him.

Our faith in God pleases Him, while our genuine thanksgiving glorifies Him.

Let us be those that seek the renewal of our minds, glorify the Father through a bare naked sacrifice of praise as, day by day, we worship Him in spirit, in truth.

Remember in the hard times, thanksgiving is difficult.

In those impossible to imagine – very worst of times – is so nearly impossible.

It was definitely a “bare naked” sacrifice to thank God in a Nazi concentration camp, but it is so very necessary – In the very best of times and down to the very worst of times possible – Thanksgiving honors God, and when you and I strip off our garments of our forgetfulness, ingratitude, to honor God, He honors us.

(1 Samuel 2:27-30 The Message).

^27-30 A holy man came to Eli and said: “This is God’s message: I revealed myself openly to your ancestors when they were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. Out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose your family to be my priests: to preside at the Altar, to burn incense, to wear the priestly robes in my presence. I put your ancestral family in charge of all the sacrificial offerings of Israel. So why do you now treat as mere loot these very sacrificial offerings that I commanded for my worship? Why do you treat your sons better than me, turning them loose to get fat on these offerings, and ignoring me? Therefore—this is God’s word, the God of Israel speaking—I once said that you and your ancestral family would be my priests indefinitely, but now—God’s word, remember!—there is no way this can continue.

I honor those who honor me;
those who scorn me I demean.

How is your thanksgiving factor?

Are you living is the very best of times, facing the very toughest of all times?

Have you been griping, grumbling and complaining about the things in your life that are hard, harder and hardest, hardcore lonely and impossibly frustrating?

Why not try praising and thanking God for your difficulty.

He knows about it, He is all over it, stripped, He died naked, to care for you.

Without room for any questions, He has a purpose in every trial and tribulation.

The Lord IS 100% Your Shepherd – You have All You Will Ever Need in This Life!

Start today off with the Lord of Hosts – and LIVE into HIS life of thanksgiving.

If you will do it, I promise you on the living authority of the Word of God, your world will be stripped bare of that which distracts you away from God and your mind will be renewed, your attitude will change, the people around you will be blessed, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be max glorified and honored.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Let us Pray,

My Heavenly Father, I confess that I have not always had the right attitude of true thanksgiving toward You. I pray that from now on, my life would be a living sacrifice that is pleasing to You and glorifies Your name. Help me to identify and correct any wrong attitudes within my heart, and begin anew to worship You in spirit and truth. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Psalm 16 The Message

16 ^1-2 Keep me safe, O God,
    I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
    Without you, nothing makes sense.

³ And these God-chosen lives all around—
    what splendid friends they make!

⁴ Don’t just go shopping for a god.
    Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
    like brand-names.

^5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
    And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
    And then you made me your heir!

^7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
    is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
    I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

^9-10 I’m happy from the inside out,
    and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
    that’s not my destination!

¹¹ Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
    all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
    I’m on the right way.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Nehemiah 4:1-6 Christian Standard Bible

Progress in Spite of Opposition

4 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious. He mocked the Jews ² before his colleagues and the powerful men^[a] of Samaria and said, “What are these pathetic Jews doing? Can they restore it by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they ever finish it? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?” ³ Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “Indeed, even if a fox climbed up what they are building, he would break down their stone wall!”

⁴ Listen, our God, for we are despised. Make their insults return on their own heads and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity. ⁵ Do not cover their guilt or let their sin be erased from your sight, because they have angered^[b] the builders.

⁶ So we rebuilt the wall until the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had the will to keep working.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

We Saw State of the Wall. So, Ergo, We Rebuilt the Wall

Are there piles of rubble and brokenness around you somewhere in your life?

You look around at the condition of things on your streets, your neighborhoods and see what Nehemiah saw all those thousands of years ago – wreckage, ruin?

The Walls of the City of Jerusalem were that vision of wreckage and ruination.

Nehemiah, the Kings Cup bearer, was told of this vast wreckage and ruination.

He cried for days on end.

He prayed for days on end.

He was touched by the Spirit of God to go and back home to rebuild and restore.

He went to the king, the king sent him, he walked away from everything he had.

The king gave him everything Nehemiah ever needed to finish that sacred task.

Nehemiah trusted God to to the same – Give Nehemiah all he needed to succeed.

Nehemiah went home with a plan – and with the discouraged people now ready to give all themselves to their restorative work – the wall is fixed in record time.

Much to the discouragement of their enemies – there was complete restoration.

The book of Nehemiah reminds us that the Lord creates, redeems and rebuilds.

The Lord is fully and completely aware of what needs to be redeemed, restored.

We see the news, we read the newspapers, we have the internet, social media.

We see the wreckage and ruination in every which direction the compass points.

We can often see destruction and discouragement in these moments; however, in God, we can always have that hope that He can work things out for His glory.

In response to the opposition of what they were going to be doing for the name and sake of God and out of recommitting their labors and their lives to Him, the Israelites faced a lot of mocking and threats of death and of hatred from others.

Suddenly we read in verse 6 of Nehemiah 4 the word ‘so’.

In other words, in response to these threats and persecution, the people of God threw off the threats, were inspired to work harder and harder, rebuilt the wall.

Touched by the Spirit of God, the spirit of freedom which came with that sacred touch, they did not allow the chastisement from their enemy to hold them back from fulfilling the will of the Lord, the summons of God, to restore the broken.

In this season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, in what area(s) of your life do you feel the Lord is summoning you into doing a new work of restoration but the enemy is interposing himself, mocking you and trying to get you down?

The truth is that no matter what the time of year, we have to take action with the help of the Holy Spirit to ignore the words of the opposer and to take steps of faith with Christ to accomplish rebuilding and restoration for His name.

Till All of it Reached Half Its Height

Half its height indicates that during this verse, the wall was not completed.

Maybe you are in a season where you feel that God is not done with you or your loved ones or your personal ministry, your church’s ministry, mission project.

What I love is that even without our awareness, God is always in the process.

He is always working and providing meaningful lessons within the journey.

Even though we might feel that we are at “half height” right now, we can know with 100% confidence our Lord is the God who brings everything to completion.

Though I stumble or walk or sprint deep into the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

God WILL preserve my life from the anger of my enemies!

God Will extend His hand down to me and God WILL save me!

The Lord WILL fulfill His Purpose for Us!

Because His faithful love endures forever!

God WILL NOT abandon nor forsake the Works of His Hands!

Psalm 138 Christian Standard Bible

Psalm 138

A Thankful Heart

Of David.

¹ I will give you thanks with all my heart;
I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings.^[a]
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name
for your constant love and truth.
You have exalted your name
and your promise above everything else.^[b]
3 On the day I called, you answered me;
you increased strength within me.^[c]

⁴ All the kings on earth will give you thanks, Lord,
when they hear what you have promised.^[d]
5 They will sing of the Lord’s ways,
for the Lord’s glory is great.
⁶ Though the Lord is exalted,
he takes note of the humble;
but he knows the haughty from a distance.

⁷ If I walk into the thick of danger,
you will preserve my life
from the anger of my enemies.
You will extend your hand;
your right hand will save me.
⁸ The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.
Lord, your faithful love endures forever;
do not abandon the work of your hands.

Paul in Philippians 1:6 says, “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.”

By our heartfelt confession of faith (Romans 10:9-13) Jesus gives us eternal salvation, then refines, molds us more into His image through the Holy Spirit.

We are all on spiritual journeys.

We all have our own personal stories of wreckage and ruination to bring to God.

We all know we need to “wave our white flags of surrender,” know that we will not be completed on this side of heaven, but one day, only by the grace and the will of God, we will be made fully whole with God our Creator, Father, forever.

And that work is already happening now as we gather together, to celebrate His forever presence with all who believe.

For the People Worked with All their Heart

I heard recently that obedience never leads to love, but love leads to obedience.

When we encounter the love of Christ, it changes us.

Our hearts become His, and we belong to Him forever.

There is confidence and joy in being children of God.

The ancient Israelites knew how far they had fallen and how often they and to what lengths their ancestors had rejected the Lord and ran into idol worship.

Because of His great redemptive love, and the awareness of brokenness God gave to His people they were motivated to work with all their hearts for Him.

We, too, can be made aware of our brokenness, have this kind of motivation.

It is Christ who came to us – not for condemnation – but for our restoration.

Jesus Christ cares so much for us, and with literally everything He is, He gives all the empowerment, inspiration, strength to accomplish His kingdom work.

From our places of rebuilding and restoration, what are we working towards?

Remember that the Lord needs us to be an active part of your service to Him.

Anything we do in our own efforts is in vain.

We are to be resting in Him and delighting in Him to know His ways.

As individuals, as families, and as communities, as the Body of Christ, as God’s churches, we are both covenanted, invited to work for God with all of our heart.

This removes the duty mindset and welcomes us to join in the work that Christ is already doing.

It takes away our sense of pride or arrogance and humbles us that the Lord would include us in His plan.

Jesus renews lives, changes our hearts, and out of the work of the Holy Spirit, we can have the abundance of His clarity of direction as He calls us to rebuild.

Intersecting Faith and Life:

What or Who is God rebuilding in your life or those around you right now?

How has the all-tempting voice of the enemy tried to get you down lately?

How can you find joy and purpose in the process in the midst of the work?

In what ways can you find delight in Jesus to work from a place of His love?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Wesley Covenant Prayer – Traditional

“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

Psalm 23 King James Version

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Ecclesiastes 2:1-10 The Message

2 ^1-3 I said to myself, “Let’s go for it—experiment with pleasure, have a good time!” But there was nothing to it, nothing but smoke.

What do I think of the fun-filled life? Insane! Inane!
    My verdict on the pursuit of happiness? Who needs it?
With the help of a bottle of wine
    and all the wisdom I could muster,
I tried my level best
    to penetrate the absurdity of life.
I wanted to get a handle on anything useful we mortals might do
    during the years we spend on this earth.

I Never Said No to Myself

^4-8 Oh, I did great things:
    built houses,
    planted vineyards,
    designed gardens and parks
        and planted a variety of fruit trees in them,
    made pools of water
        to irrigate the groves of trees.
I bought slaves, male and female,
        who had children, giving me even more slaves;
    then I acquired large herds and flocks,
        larger than any before me in Jerusalem.
I piled up silver and gold,
        loot from kings and kingdoms.
I gathered a chorus of singers to entertain me with song,
    and—most exquisite of all pleasures—
    voluptuous maidens for my bed.

^9-10 Oh, how I prospered! I left all my predecessors in Jerusalem far behind, left them behind in the dust. What’s more, I kept a clear head through it all. Everything I had wanted I took—I never said no to myself. I gave in to every impulse, and I held back nothing. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task—my reward to myself for a hard day’s work!

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Well, truth be told, I am writing this the bulk of this devotional the night prior to my actually posting it because tomorrow morning very early, the wife has a vender affair at a distant Methodist Church – about 45 minutes from our home.

My wife makes jewelry of all kinds and literally spends hours on end in her craft room, sitting at her table putting together beads of all shapes, sizes and colors.

For us, it is that time of the year when the wife gets extraordinarily busy doing craft shows at churches, wherever it is she can get a couple of tables to set up.

For the last several years now, fall is the season where she typically gets busy with her planning, what beads she will buy, what people might be interested in.

All different kinds of themes come out of her spirit and my wife is in her own element – making colorful gifts for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.

Me, my time is usually spent doing nothing like that – I am not the crafty one, I am not the one who can sit for hours on end finding fulfillment from such stuff.

I really have no hobbies at all and generally spend my time enjoying her brag about her efforts which she’ll frequently brings out to me in my living room.

Of, course, right now, I am rehabilitating from my Triple Bypass Open Heart Surgery this past July 17, so my time is spent walking and being in rest mode.

She has all the fun with her crafting because that is where God has gifted her.

Me, my time is spent doing no hobbies in particular except the Word of God in prayer and discernment in thinking, reading, studying writing this daily blog.

How in this season of Thanksgiving and Christmas my wife’s interests in her crafting and vender affairs becomes her ministry and mission to her church.

My ministry and mission to the church is my (as much as possible) daily blog which is literally read all over the globe – (Matthew 28:16-20, and Acts 1:8) as the Reverend has John Wesley famously said “that the whole world is my Parish.”

On my mind tonight are those pursuits of pleasure-my wife’s love of crafts, my single minded pursuit-my getting the Word of God out to the ends of the globe.

My apologies for a longer than usual blog entry – God’s Word will do that to me!

Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 The Message

2 ^1-3 I said to myself, “Let’s go for it—experiment with pleasure, have a good time!” But there was nothing to it, nothing but smoke.

What do I think of the fun-filled life? Insane! Inane!
    My verdict on the pursuit of happiness? Who needs it?
With the help of a bottle of wine
    and all the wisdom I could muster,
I tried my level best
    to penetrate the absurdity of life.
I wanted to get a handle on anything useful we mortals might do
    during the years we spend on this earth.

Ecclesiastes is an ancient book, its way with words are compellingly relevant.

Although it was written around 3,000 years ago, you might think that the author had all ten of his ancient fingers on the pulse of our contemporary life.

And indeed, as you read it through, you will find yourself being walked down a number of dead-end streets representing the common paths we often tread in our single minded search for all the roads that only lead to our own satisfaction.

One route through which we try to find personal meaning in life is education.

Experts constantly assert the problems of substance abuse, sexual abuse and misconduct, other societal ills can be solved if only people are better educated.

Yet experience shows us that mere information cannot in and of itself satisfy the needs of the heart, nor is it capable of taming the unruliness of the soul.

Judged by many yardsticks, Western nations are the best-educated in human history, but somehow they do not appear to be the happiest, and they may well be those that most thirst for traveling all roads leading to instant gratification.

So if education doesn’t satisfy us, we might turn down the pathway of pleasure.

We decide, like Solomon, to let only the good times roll.

At first, in our zeal for all things fun, we might find something resembling happiness—but we eventually discover the pleasure it brings is only fleeting.

It turns out to be a cyclical form of escapism, luring us into a make-believe, rose-colored, self-focused life that sounds great but is like a circle – empty.

Much of the world that encircles our livelihoods, surrounds us with pleasures is no different than a fowlers snare, set up to call, walk us, down dead-end streets.

Now, it would be a dreadful misunderstanding for any baptized Christian to think, believe, all of our Christianity is disinterested in education and pleasure.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Yet the author of Ecclesiastes shows us that none of these pursuits will in and of themselves make any minimal sense of our lives, answer our deepest longings.

This is generally the sum total Christian life well lived for 300 days in the year.

Then we encounter the last sixty days, seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas, when God seems to hit a reset switch within us, only when we come to know the true and living God does the enjoyment of life’s blessings feed into lasting joy.

These dead-end streets do contain some hope, however—for Christ can break through, save us, drawing us onto the narrow path that leads to the good life. (Matthew 7:13-14 The Message).

Being and Doing

^13-14 “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.

Maybe that’s exactly what needs to happen for us – God to hit our reset switch.

Or perhaps we’re tempted to resist the warning of Ecclesiastes and go down one of these “all or nothing all about me self gratification pleasure paths” instead of the road of selfless faithful obedience solely unto the Lord—or we are tempted to implicitly or explicitly encourage our loved ones to join us and go down them.

If the temptation to see education or enjoyment as the one thing you must have calls your name, remember this: one day you, I will stand before the throne of God, and you, I, will have to give an account – Which path will WE walk along?

Trusting In God through Every Fresh Start and Restart

Isaiah 43:16-21 The Message

^16-21 This is what God says,
    the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
    who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
    they lie down and then can’t get up;
    they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
    don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
    rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
    —the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
    rivers through the sunbaked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
    the people I made especially for myself,
    a people custom-made to praise me.

Sifting through my wife’s beads, realizing that each had a special meaning with special prayers attached, the string she personally made for me I hung around the rear view mirror of my car touches my heart every time I see it, causes me to remember the other, freely swinging, joyfully, happily, from around her neck.

From a wife’s heart faithfully filled with all the good intentions I have come to know, love about her, came these special gifts to bless hearts all over the place.

God reminds us to have faith like a child securely grasping her mustard seeds .

There is something innocent and pure, yet true, captivating and convicting, about the way the faith of a child, of a whole fistful of mustard seeds, moves.

Inspired by the symbolism each of God’s carefully crafted creatures exudes, I randomly researched mustard seeds and researched the robin feeding on them.

Sitting on a lower branch of one of my trees last spring sat a pair of Robins.

Not just one day, but day after day.

I would try to quietly walk up beside their branch, new leaves growing wildly.

If she was not there already, or if my movements did not scare her, the robins would soon land faithfully on the branch, chirping with delight as if to greet me as an old friend.

The arrival of the robin traditionally symbolizes hope, renewal and rebirth.

It can also represent selflessness for a higher truth (or love), and some legend I read about suggests the robin received its flame red belly from a fire in which it was trying to protect Jesus. Even more, the spring arrival of the robin exudes new beginnings, life, is looked upon by many as a sign of fortune and good luck.

All this speculation aside, the Spirit moves in my heart whenever that robin tweets and walks along and among the branches of its young’s future home.

Of course, God can use the walk of a tiny robin along fresh spring branches to reassure us new hope, but the supernatural reassurance isn’t the robin’s doing.

It’s the solely the Lord, Jesus, promising never to leave us alone.

It’s God our Creator, it’s God our Father, making good on His promise that when we see His presence in Creation, we seek Him with all of our hearts, we will find Him – He will make Himself known in the most precious of ways.

“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6).

God promised the Israelites He would lead them out of the wilderness, but it would be in a way very much different from the roadways and pathways they were familiar with, or knew to look for. “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way” (Isaiah 35:8).

The highway, the NIV Study Bible explains, is

“a road built up to make travel easier,” the Way of Holiness, “The way less travelled, set apart for those who are holy; only the redeemed could use it.”

This Old Testament reference to a road God’s people would have actually traveled to the temple reminds me of the way Jesus Christ has paved for us.

There is the choice of our walking the High Road.

There is the choice of our walking the Low Road.

There is the Level Road between the High Road and the Low Road.

Then there is the destination we all somehow arrive at hopefully the same time.

We have the choice to try Interchangeably walking on all three to get there first, at all costs, whatever means, ahead of everyone else – to get the winner’s prize

Crisscrossing one path to get to the other – then back and forth, up and down.

We inevitably lose ground, we have to laterally change directions, stay on track.

Lateral change requires us to reset our bearings, restart- restarting is hard.

Fresh starts do not always feel like a crisp fall day or an early spring rain that makes the beauty of flowers bloom and things come alive again – but it does.

John 14:1-7 The Message

The Road

14 ^1-4 “Don’t let this rattle you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

⁵ Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

^6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

Christ made the ONLY way where there was no way. 

Where there is no way.

In our wilderness moments, and seasons “This new thing effectively reverses the exodus.

Whereas the winds of God caused the sea to turn to dry land to save His people from the Egyptians, now He will make paths and streams in the desert to deliver His people,” to show His Children the Only eternal pathway to God the Father.

In these seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas, God will hit our reset button.

Re-starting can be a fresh start, but sometimes starting over isn’t the path we choose for ourselves.

There are times in life when God redirects our attention in a direction we did not plan to, and might not want to, obediently go – in those moments, it’s important to get quiet with the Lord, and ask Him to confirm His calling. 

Hands joined together, my wife and I bowed our heads in the home we loved and gave it to the Lord all over again. “If it’s Your will …if You want us to go, God …we will go if You are in it …help us to know we are supposed to go.”

God is faithful to answer our questions, even our complaints, about the direction He is leading us to go.

When we excessively ask Him, “Are you sure?”

His response is not condemning, but convictive encouragement.

He will surely make clear the direction we are supposed to go.

But if we are too scared to take the next steps, He does not discount us.

His purpose for us does not fade. Whatever God’s will is …will be for us both.

Re-start can also be a fresh start.

Even if the catapult of change catches us off guard, often times we can look back after we’ve taken faithful steps of obedience to see His hand relieving us from a burden we were not meant to bear, or could not see coming.

Looking back over a life lived within the love of Christ Jesus will surely produce a trail of His faithfulness.

Discernment is defined as an acuteness of judgement and understanding.

“I am your servant,” King David wrote, “give me discernment that I may understand your statutes” (Psalm 119:125).

David was searching and seeking God to act wisely. 

God called David a man after His own heart. David’s heart was consumed by His relationship with the Lord. The Voice paraphrase of Psalm 119:125 reads:

“I am Your servant; impart to me understanding so that I may fully grasp the depths of Your statutes.”

This verse is part of a Prayer for Vindication.

David was praying for God to come to his defense, and we know God was faithful to defend David many times throughout his life.

“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law,” David prayed (Psalm 119:18).

The root of the Hebrew word for discernment or understanding means to “understand, be able, deal wisely, consider, pay attention to, regard, notice, discern, perceive, or inquire.”

David prayed for the ability to perceive God’s direction for his life.

When we pray for the will and favor of God in our lives, He is faithful to deliver.

Our Father in heaven wants us to succeed.

He sent His Son to save us in the greatest act of love of all time (John 3:16).

His heart breaks with us when we are broken.

God is with us, has made a way for us, and has plans for us that are more than we can ask for or imagine.

“We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us;” John wrote.

John also “but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood” (1 John 4:6).

Some people today think the path, road, of “faith” or “belief” is out of date.

But all of us have to deeply believe in something or we will fall for everything.

All of us have to place our feet upon a pathway, trust in someone or something.

How about you?

How about me?

Where does your ultimate pathway, our ultimate allegiance lie?

Allegiance strictly to self?

Allegiance strictly to God, the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit?

John reminds us that the content of faith is as important as the act of believing.

He calls us to “test the spirits” to determine whether our beliefs really come from God and are directed toward God.

John realizes that all who “believe in themselves” or put their confidence in human social and political power will inevitably, absolutely, be disappointed.

The content of our faith does not come from within ourselves or even from the latest ideas or movements around us.

The content of our faith comes from God, and God alone who has reached into a fallen world, walked Calvary’s path, speaks with a voice of love and authority.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 16 The Message

16 ^1-2 Keep me safe, O God,
    I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
    Without you, nothing makes sense.

³ And these God-chosen lives all around—
    what splendid friends they make!

⁴ Don’t just go shopping for a god.
    Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
    like brand-names.

^5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
    And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
    And then you made me your heir!

^7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
    is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
    I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

^9-10 I’m happy from the inside out,
    and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
    that’s not my destination!

¹¹ Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
    all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
    I’m on the right way.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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John 6:35-38 The Message

^35-38 Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own agenda but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

It is a severe understatement to say that sometimes God goes far out of His way to care for us, and ergo sometimes we need to go out of our way to be cared for.

It is also a severe understatement to say it’s not always easy to ask for what we need, especially when others might have reasons to be cautious about helping.

Ruth 2:11-12 The Message

^11-12 Boaz answered her, “I’ve heard all about you—heard about the way you treated your mother-in-law after the death of her husband, and how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to live among a bunch of total strangers. God reward you well for what you’ve done—and with a generous bonus besides from God, to whom you’ve come seeking protection under his wings.”

But then we biblically encounter a radical departure – see Ruth is a bold person.

She knows what she and her mother-in-law need, and she asks for permission to glean barley from a field that belongs to Boaz, a landowner from Bethlehem.

Now, Boaz is a relative of Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi, and he has heard about the directness and decisiveness of Ruth’s approach, but has not met her before.

And rather than being dismissive or indifferent, and being intrigued Boaz goes far out of his way and he welcomes Ruth and invites her to keep following along after the harvesters – to glean from the fields and be rewarded for her efforts.

What’s more, Boaz extends this emboldened moment of encounter to bless her for supporting her mother-in-law, indicates that Ruth is an honorable woman.

“May you be richly rewarded by the Lord,” he says, “. . . under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” (Ruth 2:12)

This statement reflects the caring, abundantly impressive providing nature of God’s character, and exactly now, it helps us to understand God’s love for us.

God extends Himself into the affairs of man, faithfully cares for and provides for us, and often He does this through the kindness and generosity of others.

And whether we know it or not, need it or not, need help or we are able to help someone else, we can be assured that the hand of God reaches far down from heaven, empowers and celebrates both the one who asks and the one who gives.

As God Goes Far Out of His Way, We Too Are Sent Afar in His Way

John 6:35-38 New King James Version

³⁵ And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will ^[a]by no means cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

It is the season of Thanksgiving and we ought be going far out of our way to celebrate and thank God for always going out of His way to provide for us all.

Has your church ever “gone out of its way”, done a community outreach event?

Perhaps you have been part of one of these that has offered people free food, along with games for children and a chance to bounce around on inflatables.

That’s all good hearted and wonderful.

We certainly want to go far out of our way to show people in our neighborhoods we are going far out of our way to be friendly, perhaps even going on to likable.

But, quite frankly, and quite truthfully, any civic minded group of people—believers or not—can go far out of their ways to put on an event like that.

As Children of God we must want more for our friends and neighbors than that.

Psalm 16 New American Standard Bible

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Portion in Life and Salvation in Death.

A ^[a]Mikhtam of David.

16 Protect me, God, for I take refuge in You.
^2 [b]I said to the Lord, “You are ^[c]my Lord;
I have nothing good besides You.”
³ As for the ^[d]saints who are on the earth,
^[e]They are the majestic ones; all my delight is in them.
^4 [f]The pains of those who have acquired another god will be multiplied;
I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

⁵ The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
⁶ The measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my inheritance is beautiful to me.

⁷ I will bless the Lord who has advised me;
Indeed, my ^[g]mind instructs me in the night.
⁸ I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
¹⁰ For You will not abandon my soul to ^[h]Sheol;
You will not ^[i]allow Your ^[j]Holy One to ^[k]undergo decay.
¹¹ You will make known to me the way of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

By the Will of God, we must long for them to go far out of their way to have an encounter with God, and His Son the risen Jesus, to find abundant life in Him.

The only best reason for a church to convene a community day, is the same reason for it to convene any gathering: so men, women, and children might have a direct encounter with the living God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, we want unbelieving people around us go far outside of their ways of sin, darkness to become maximally committed followers, servants of Jesus.

As God went far out of His way and sent His Son, and sharing His Son, one way for us to conceive of sharing the good news is by reciting the ABCs of the gospel:

A – Admit:

We all have something to admit.

We have sinned, every last one of us.

We have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

And though “the wages of sin is death, … the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:23).

Unless we admit our need, we will never know the remedy.

B – Believe:

There is something very, very special we go out of our way to always believe.

John 3:16-18 New American Standard Bible

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who  believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Jesus went far out of His way to quite literally give up everything He was and He came to us, He lived and breathed among us and loved us. (Philippians 2:5-11)

Jesus Christ went far out His way and He died in the place of sinners like us.

The good news of the gospel is not about what we’re able to do in order to make ourselves acceptable to God; it is the true wonder of what God has already done in Jesus – the message is that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). By the Will of God, We must make it our life’s mission to believe it.

C – Come:

We must come to Jesus.

We can have a sense of our sinfulness and even know that Christ died in our place, unless we go out of our way, entrust ourselves to Him, we remain lost.

Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, emphasis added).

Sometimes people get stuck between B and C and, despite knowing they are sinners and understanding the gospel, have never actually come to Jesus.

It is worth checking that this does not describe you.

If it does, it’s appropriate to ask, What are you waiting for, an engraved invite? 

The Lord Jesus Himself said, “Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

When we, like Ruth, sense pangs and longings in your soul that nothing else seems to satisfy, then come to Jesus – full and everlasting satisfaction awaits.

If you have come to Jesus, found life in Him, then do not keep quiet about Him.

The “bread of life” is for offering to one and all “far and wide and all around!”

So by all means, this Thanksgiving and beyond let us and our churches go far out our ways to show the ABC’s of God’s gospel kindness in our acts of love.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-18 New American Standard Bible

Christian Conduct

¹² But we ask you, brothers and sisters, to recognize those who diligently labor among you and ^[a]are in leadership over you in the Lord, and give you ^[b] instruction, ¹³ and that you regard them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. ¹⁴ We urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the ^[c]unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek what is good for one another and for all people. ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

By the Will of God in and through His Son Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, we are always going to be called to extend the hand of God do more, too: to share gospel truth in what we say – to whom will we extend the “bread of life” today?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 100 New American Standard Bible

All People Exhorted to Praise God.

A Psalm for ^[a]Thanksgiving.

100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
² Serve the Lord with jubilation;
Come before Him with rejoicing.
³ Know that the Lord ^[b]Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and ^[c]not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴ Enter His gates with ^[d]thanksgiving,
And His courtyards with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
⁵ For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting

Lord God, help us to trust in you, knowing that we can seek refuge in your name and from beneath your wings, you have blessed us to share with and help others. Amen.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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1 Kings 17:1-6 New Living Translation

Elijah Fed by Ravens

17 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

² Then the Lord said to Elijah, ³ “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. ⁴ Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”

⁵ So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

There are so many radio stations where I live that the possibilities for listening to all kinds of songs can seem endless.

For a time, though, one song seemed to be aired far more often than others—or at least I paid more attention to it than to others.

It was meant to be a love song, not necessarily a worship song, but whenever I heard it, it felt like God’s Spirit was whispering:

“Come and spend time with me. Let me shower you with love for a while.”

This happened during a time when I was busy and tired, and the Holy Spirit’s nudging in my surgically repaired heart heart to linger just a little while in his presence — it was a tender reminder that He would not leave me to flounder.

As we read and pray through the Word of God, we realize sometimes God meets us in ways that are a bit unusual, unexpected—and maybe even unconventional.

In our devotional text today we read when Elijah was alone in the wilderness, God cared for him in a way that was considered taboo or impossible at that time.

Levitical Laws declared that Ravens were taboo, unclean birds, so receiving food directly from their mouths, touching one would have seemed strange for Elijah.

He might have wondered if it was even okay to receive any help from something that was declared by God to be strictly off limits.

But God can use anything to bring the message of refreshment and restoration, and renewal, into the brokenhearted, whether it’s ravens or songs on a radio.

As Near the Air We Breath God is to the Brokenhearted

Psalm 34:18 The Message

¹⁸ If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there;
if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.

In much of Christian social media content and chatter, it’s easy to believe that God is always looking for the strong, the go-getters, the over-achievers in life.

Many individuals and Christian groups all over the globe, assert that He is much closer to those who are “the strong,” to those who are achieving their goals and making things happen around them, the “Movers and the Shakers” of the faith.

Perhaps you and I have fallen into that “fowlers snare” and believed it, too?

Maybe in a moment of “weakness” at your lowest points, maybe you have doubted if God is close by, or have wondered if He’s turned His back on you?

When looking at Scripture, we realize God never turns his back on his children.

From Genesis to Revelation, so much of the Word of God is written of the size of God’s heart towards those who are weak and vulnerable, broken, and in despair.

Jeremiah 31:25 states how God wants to refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. 

From yesterday, we read Isaiah 40:29 also reveals His compassion, describing how “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

Often when we are experiencing heartbreak, disappointments, vulnerabilities, setbacks, weakness, weariness, and more, in those exact moments, it’s very easy to feel like God isn’t near, like He does not care or even has time for you.

Yet Psalm 147:3 assures that,

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Psalm 147:1-6 The Message

147 Hallelujah!
It’s a good thing to sing praise to our God;
    praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.

^2-6 God’s the one who rebuilds Jerusalem,
    who regathers Israel’s scattered exiles.
He heals the heartbroken
    and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
    and assigns each a name.
Our Lord is great, with limitless strength;
    we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.
God puts the fallen on their feet again
    and pushes the wicked into the ditch.

Still, in our sinful humanity, as much as try to resist those thoughts, it’s too easy to feel hopeless and fearful believing there is no one around to help you.

Nevertheless, Isaiah 41:10 encourages you to

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Through His Word, God reaches out over and over again to the weary and the vulnerable and the despondent among us – even when we are those afflicted.

Scripture describes how the Apostle Paul dealt with an ongoing weakness, yet reassures of God’s presence in the midst of it. 

2 Corinthians 12:9 states, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

During discouraging times, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 encourages you to remember God is with you, even if you are hard-pressed on every side, you’re not crushed.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 New Living Translation

⁸ We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. ⁹ We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. ¹⁰ Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

If you’re feeling perplexed you don’t have to be in despair, and if you are being persecuted, you can be confident God has not abandoned you – even if you and I have been struck down, because God is forever with us, we are not destroyed.

The Word of God from Psalm 73:28 tells us that it is good to draw near to God.

Psalm 73:28 New Living Translation

²⁸ But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,
    and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

So take heart today in the knowledge he is always closely present in your life.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 8 The Message

8 God, brilliant Lord,
    yours is a household name.

² Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
    toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
    and silence atheist babble.

^3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
    your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
    Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
    Why take a second look our way?

^5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
    bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
    repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us stewards of sheep and cattle,
    even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
    whales singing in the ocean deeps.

⁹ God, brilliant Lord,
    your name echoes around the world.

Lord, we are amazed that nothing is too hard for you and that by whatever means you deem necessary you will come to reach us wherever we are. Thank you for doing what it takes to restore us to you. We live by grace in the power of your name. Amen.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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Deuteronomy 32:1-14 The Message

The Song

32 ^1-5 Listen, Heavens, I have something to tell you.
    Attention, Earth, I’ve got a mouth full of words.
My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain,
    my words arrive like morning dew,
Like a sprinkling rain on new grass,
    like spring showers on the garden.
For it’s God’s Name I’m preaching—
    respond to the greatness of our God!
The Rock: His works are perfect,
    and the way he works is fair and just;
A God you can depend upon, no exceptions,
    a straight-arrow God.
His messed-up, mixed-up children, his non-children,
    throw mud at him but none of it sticks.

^6-7 Don’t you realize it is God you are treating like this?
    This is crazy; don’t you have any sense of reverence?
Isn’t this your father who created you,
    who made you and gave you a place on Earth?
Read up on what happened before you were born;
    dig into the past, understand your roots.
Ask your parents what it was like before you were born;
    ask the old-ones, they’ll tell you a thing or two.

^8-9 When the High God gave the nations their stake,
    gave them their place on Earth,
He put each of the peoples within boundaries
    under the care of divine guardians.
But God himself took charge of his people,
    took Jacob on as his personal concern.

^10-14 He found him out in the wilderness,
    in an empty, windswept wasteland.
He threw his arms around him, lavished attention on him,
    guarding him as the apple of his eye.
He was like an eagle hovering over its nest,
    overshadowing its young,
Then spreading its wings, lifting them into the air,
    teaching them to fly.
God alone led him;
    there was not a foreign god in sight.
God lifted him onto the hilltops,
    so he could feast on the crops in the fields.
He fed him honey from the rock,
    oil from granite crags,
Curds of cattle and the milk of sheep,
    the choice cuts of lambs and goats,
Fine Bashan rams, high-quality wheat,
    and the blood of grapes: you drank good wine!

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Not long ago, In the middle of the night I was given a sharp moment of pause.

I realized that I hadn’t been invited to participate in something I knew would have been special, an event that I would have loved to have participated in.

It was surprising to feel excluded and forgotten in the middle of the night.

Being woke up out of a nice sleep, I wondered why I had been left out, but I was too embarrassed, tired to ask, so I assumed there must have been a reason for it.

In that sleep deprived weakened moment, it was hard for me to not to draw the conclusion that I had been excluded, that I had been forgotten quite on purpose.

Without regard to the time of day or might we feel it, those uneasy times when we might feel insecure or unwanted, it is natural for us to feel hurt and alone.

Feelings of isolation can create a deep ache in our hearts and a tiredness in our hearts our bones and worse – creates an unending tiredness deep in our souls.

We yearn for a loving connection, relationship, friendship and understanding.

Ironically, when we feel that way, it can be hard to connect with others even if they do reach out to us—because we have just begun to enter a lifecycle, feeling out of touch and unwanted, rejected and dejected, so unreachable, untouchable.

Humanly speaking, there might not be anyone with the knowledge or with the courage to try, who can truly care for us in the way that we need to be cared for.

In these upcoming seasons of both Thanksgiving and Christmas our hurts can sometimes arise again, with memories much too deep for any words to express.

What we need is the sensation of being born aloft as an eagle, as God gave the great Eagle the ability to effortlessly soar high and higher still, in the unseen and unfelt winds, our faith needs to be carried up over our troubled situations.

Him who Created the Eagle with His own hands, with all the necessary natural abilities to fly high, Our Lord and Savior is the only one who can truly do that.

God Created us and God Sees us, knows what we need, and comes to save us.

He scoops us up and carries us high when we are not capable of flying ourselves.

As We Are Watching the Eagle Soar – So God’s Holy Spirit Cares

Isaiah 40:27-31 The Message

^27-31 Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
    or, whine, Israel, saying,
“God has lost track of me.
    He doesn’t care what happens to me”?
Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
    He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
    And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
    gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
    young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
    They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
    they walk and don’t lag behind.

Isaiah 40:27-31 contains a great promise of strength for the weary: “they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

This promises us a supernaturally renewed strength—a strength that would compare to our renewal: mounting up as an eagle or running without fatigue.

But what does this mean for us in our moment of tired and how do we receive it?

The context of this verse helps us.

The Israelites who first received this promise were worn out from their hardship – they had been living in exile in Babylon for several decades.

Their perspective was darkened by despairing thoughts: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God” (Isaiah 40:27).

They thought God either couldn’t help or didn’t care.

Please notice carefully that God’s Prophet Isaiah uses a pair of words—faint and weary—three times in the briefest span of a few short verses (Isaiah 40:27-31).

The Israelites were exhausted and burdened from the circumstances of life.

They weren’t just weak in body, but weak in spirit as well.

How could they endure the hard circumstances of life any longer?

Isaiah responded to these questions with his own: “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not grow faint or grow weary” (Isaiah 40:28).

This was a good word for the weary then and this is a good word for the weary exactly this moment right now: You and I may grow faint, but God does not!

God is an endless source of strength, He gives it generously—“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29).

If we had not heard it before, we are hearing it right exactly now – this is who God is – ever-strong and never-weary One loves to help weak and weary people.

Here’s what this shows us: If we think or believe that our God is too great to be even .01% concerned about us, we actually do not believe God’s great enough.

God’s greatness is not just that he is strong, but that he is strong for us.

God’s glory is not just that he has power, but that he loves to use it to help those who need it – God is not too great to care, Our God is much too great not to care.

God’s greatness is not just that God is strong, but that God is strong for us.

In all our weariness, then, how do we get this strength?

We may expect Isaiah to share the wisdom of the day of physical rest, exercise, diet, endurance and perseverance and tons of self help tips so forth and so on.

But while those are all God-given sources of strength, they cannot give us the deepest strength we need when we come to the end of ourselves.

Isaiah acknowledges this—“even youths shall faint and be weary; and young men shall fall exhausted” (Isaiah 40:30).

In other words, even those in their prime with perfect health have limits.

We need a stronger strength to match our deep discouragements.

So, how do we get it?

There is only one answer, and here we come to the great promise of this text:

“They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.”

Not, those who work for the Lord, but those who wait for the Lord.

This is not about our doing our part and asking God to do the rest.

It isn’t about showing God how strong we are, asking Him to give us a bit more.

No, here we have to admit that we do not have .01% the strength we need.

We acknowledge that we need the strength only He can give.

And we wait for Him, which is more than just passing time.

In Hebrew, this word carries with it a sense of hopeful expectation.

In the mindset and from the midst of whatever it is which we call our hardship, we all have look to Him as the one who works all things together for our good.

As Christians, we look to Jesus, who came to us and said: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

He carried the burden of our sin and judgment upon himself on the cross.

He came from everything to live among those who have nothing, He ministered and He healed, He approached the unapproachable, touched the untouchable and He talked to those no one else would talk to – He raised the weary of body and of soul and was killed for His efforts -Yet by the power of His Father God He rose again, sent his Spirit to empower us and strengthen us in all our weakness.

And we now look to all of Him and wait for Him to work—ultimately looking to the day when Savior Jesus returns to set all things right, make all things new.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 121 The Message

121 ^1-2 I look up to the mountains;
    does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
    who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

^3-4 He won’t let you stumble,
    your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel’s
    Guardian will never doze or sleep.

^5-6 God’s your Guardian,
    right at your side to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke,
    sheltering you from moonstroke.

^7-8 God guards you from every evil,
    he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
    he guards you now, he guards you always.

Lord Jesus, as the Eagle protects her young in the nest, we can’t thank you enough for your care for us. When we feel hurt and alone, it is the greatest comfort to know that you guard us as the apple of your eye. We love you and pray in your name. Amen.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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