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...

  Read Isaiah 30:20-22 What truth is contained in these verses!! When we seek the Lord during hard times, things will become clearer and powerful things happen. Let's look at the three basic lessons that have become clear to me as I've studied this passage. First, God provides what we need – “meager bread and water.” Although we may be learning to do without some things, we still have a God who will meet our needs and help us become aware of our greediness for more than that. He has promised that when we first seek Him, He will provide for the daily stuff we tend to worry about (Matthew 6:33). Second, our Teacher will not be hidden and He will not be silent. Adversity helps us to grow and to learn about what God wants from us. As we stumble through the chaos, we will begin to see God in the midst of it, and God’s voice will become clearer.   He will lead us in His ways. Finally, when we are struggling, our lives get sifted. As the shaking continues, we begin to recogni...

Continuing in Daniel 10 When Daniel begins to hear from Go d’s messenger, the words that first come to his ears are, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God.” What a blessing it must have been to hear those words directly. Before you start saying “that has never happened to me,” consider the scriptures. Throughout the Biblical narrative we find God’s message that He loves and treasures each one of His creation. Some of us struggle to believe that based on our earthly experience that may not have included unconditional love or any kind of recognition of our value as a human being created by God. However, God’s biblical message to you is clear. He loves you. He treasures you. He took great care in making your unique person. He has a plan for your life designed just for you. Before we hear God speak to us, it is important to hear God’s words of love for us. That is foundational to everything else He will say – even the hard stuff. Everything He does and says comes out of His great l...

Read John 11:1-4 (We'll go farther in the story next time) Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick. Very sick. His sisters sent for Jesus, the compassionate miracle-worker. When Jesus didn’t come right away, Martha and Mary suffered. They expected Jesus, the Healer who loved them, to come and save Lazarus. When Lazarus died instead, they were left with their own thoughts and questions. I can imagine that they wavered in their faith, sometimes thinking, “Jesus has so many people to help, of course He couldn’t just come when we asked,” and sometimes “But He’s our friend. Aren’t we important enough to Him that He would come and help?” They maybe even wondered why Jesus didn’t say the word from afar and save Lazarus’ life. He’d done it for others. Why not for them?

Read Genesis 13:14-17; 15:5-7; 17:4-8; 18:10  I am in a waiting period in my life. At the beginning of it, I tried everything I could think of. I had a self-imposed timeline of one month to “fix it” or I was sure I would no longer have any control over the outcome. My actions were frantic. My words were often angry. My prayers were desperate and pleading. When the month had passed, I was no closer to my desired outcome than I had been at the beginning, but my prayers had been heard. God spoke to me like a little girl winding down from a tantrum, “OK, are you calm enough to listen now? I have some things I want to say but you’ve been making such a fuss, you couldn’t hear them.” When I gave up the human effort, I felt clear direction from God as to what I was supposed to do with this time. As months passed, though, I have gone through periods of discouragement, wondering how long the wait will be and what outcome God has in mind. Each time I have gotten to this point, God...