Hope Unswervingly

  Read 2 Chronicles 20:5-12 When the people had gathered to seek God together, King Jehoshaphat prayed aloud on behalf of their nation. His words are recorded in these verses. Notice how he starts by recalling God’s great and miraculous interventions for Israel as they came into the Promised Land. He acknowledges that they have been up against some impossible situations before and God has seen them through it. Because of their history together, Jehoshaphat and his people were again seeking help from the God they knew they could count on. There is a very human element to this prayer—a desperate plea for the Lord to act. You know, when we came out of Egypt, you (God) told us to leave these people alone and not drive them out. Now they are coming after us! We need you to help us protect the land that you gave us ! He is at once praising God for His power and reminding Him of His promise to the Israelite people. Once Jehoshaphat has laid everything out before God, he gets down to...

  Jehoshaphat, King of Judah. That is quite a name. He is one of a long list of kings in the old testament. Unlike some of those kings, he has quite a long list of good accomplishments to his credit. When I am thrown a curve ball in life, the piece of Jehoshaphat’s story in 2 Chronicles 20 is full of things I need to remember. With Jehoshaphat as our teacher, let’s see what we can learn. Read 2 Chronicles 20:1-4 Jehoshaphat was about to be overwhelmed. The armies of three different people groups were gathering to fight against him. It was a vast number of opposing soldiers, and they were already very close when the king learned of it. That is when Jehoshaphat made the first great decision of this crisis: He sought the Lord in his fear. In fact, it says that he RESOLVED to seek the Lord. It seems this wasn’t his automatic response – he was probably shaking in his boots and wanted to panic and run—but with an act of will, he chose to seek God’s perspective on this situation. ...

  Read Jeremiah 17:5-8 and John 10:10 For the last five years, I have skipped the New Year's resolutions. Actually, it has been much longer than that, but it was in the last five years that I have chosen a new approach that has been working for me. Instead of a resolution, I choose a word that will be my focus for the year - something that I can apply to every aspect of my life throughout the year. These words help me grow, discern choices, and give me a mindset to hold onto. Two of my favorite words have been brave and improve . I've been thinking and praying about my word for 2021. I have considered hope , adjust , and stretch . Although these all speak to an aspect of what I need for the coming year, none of these settled on my heart. Then this morning I was thinking about how we have been living during COVID-19. The mindset tends to be "just get through it" or "endure it until it is over." To survive. The Casting Crowns lyrics came into my mind. "...

Read Proverbs 16:9 Why does waiting seem to be so hard for us? We tend to see waiting as an idle or pointless delay in our plans, hopes and dreams. But what if there is purpose to it? What if I can be active in my waiting? How would that change my perspective, my attitude, and indeed, my life? From the start of life we are impatient, and some of us never “outgrow” it! The toddler whines to get the toy he wants right now. The teenager gets upset at the phone when the video is slow to download. The adult goes into debt so that she doesn’t have to wait for that wonderful fill-in-the-blank that will make life so much better. Each of these is a symptom of impatience, and a sign that we have not learned God’s lesson that waiting is an essential part of our Christian development. Without it, we become a world of Veruca Salts of Willy Wonka fame, going around pointing at all of our wants and desires and screaming out, “I want it now, Daddy!” As I look back on my prayers in my earlier fa...

Daniel 10:15-19 When he was visited by the messenger of the Lord, Daniel was physically and emotionally overwhelmed. He describes himself as speechless, anguished, and powerless. Breathless. Daniel asks this powerful question that continues to echo in my mind. “How can someone like me, your servant, speak with someone like you, my lord?” Indeed, how can someone like me approach Almighty God and speak with Him? To be in His presence would leave me speechless in awe, anguished in my sin, and powerless to do anything for myself. How grateful I am that God does His best work when we are in this state of weakness! When we humble ourselves at the feet of Jesus, acknowledging our sins and weaknesses, that is precisely when Jesus will reach down, take our hand, and respond in the way the messenger did to Daniel. “Don’t be afraid, you who are treasured by God. Peace to you; be very strong.” Fear flees and strength grows. With the burden of our sins removed and the assurance of God’s...

Read John 11:11-43 Let’s visit the sisters at Bethany one more time. Mary and Martha have set an example for us by believing in Jesus as the Messiah, even though He did not act in the way they expected or hoped. When Martha questions why Jesus didn’t come to save Lazarus’ life, she immediately follows it with a statement of faith. “Yet even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” (John 11:22) When Jesus tells her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live,” she affirms her belief again. There is no doubt that the sisters did not allow their questions to shake their faith. We don’t always understand why God does what He does, or why He waits to act, but we can still remain solid in our belief that God is God and He loves and cares for us. That never changes. We can depend on it. Jesus twice points out that the reason he waited was “so that you may believe.” (John 11:15, 42) This is a wonderful reminder ...

Read 1 Kings 18 My last two devotions have given us a glimpse into Elijah’s life, and we continue there today. My favorite part of this account is the last part of chapter 18, when we see Elijah’s faith in God as he continues to wait. We see the first glimpse of this in verse 41. After the demonstration of God’s power and the elimination of the prophets of Baal, Elijah confidently says to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a rainstorm.” Let me point out, there were still no clouds in the sky (we’ll hear about this in a minute). It was not really thundering or lightning. But Elijah’s faith in God’s promise was unwavering. He knew what God had said, and he had enough life experience with God to know that He was trustworthy.   It is not faith in the outcome that we need, but faith in the God who holds the outcome in His hands. Because of this faith, Elijah could hear the rainstorm before it was there. At this point, he assumes that posture of worship we h...