Well Done or Extra Crispy?

And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know of what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village. Luke 9:54-56 (New American Standard Bible)

Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, my zeal for the Lord surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees. It’s as though I’ve been drinking directly from the nozzle of a spiritual espresso machine. I’m primed and ready to call fire down from heaven on anyone and anything I believe is disrespecting the sanctity of the Judeo-Christian ethic.
My devotion to tradition and my own pride is the poorest reason to want to see others taken to task for their sins. Yet in my own eyes my personal indignation is the most righteous and pure. And whose righteous indignation is not the best? James and John were of a people whose righteous indignation and, at times, outright hatred of a neighboring region, Samaria, was always near the surface. It could bubble up like stinky sulfur without much provocation. Jews in this time were extremely antagonistic of Samaritans and the dislike was mutual. Calling fire down on them was not so much to avenge the slight upon the honor of God but due to prejudicial feelings of James and John. I can tend toward being like that too. I could think of a bunch of people I’d like God to turn into crispy critters. Jesus surely didn’t see it that way. As Deity Incarnate, He had every right and the personal power to call fire down upon those surly Samaritans who had insulted Very God of Very God. But He had not come to kill but to save.

Jesus didn’t try to reason with James and John but instantly give a warning to them for their insensitive and uncompassionate spirit they had allowed themselves to go into. I’m glad He will do the same with me when I am inclined to pray down fire and brimstone on an unbelieving world. But being stopped and rebuked really isn’t enough. What I long to see is a spiritual renovation of my heart. It is far better He would make me the kind of person who would automatically want to use oil to bind and heal wounds and not to boil scoffers in. How else would we expect sinners to act except to act like those out of fellowship with Christ? Is grace too weak and inept to have any effect? Thousands come to a saving knowledge of Him everyday all over the world. What if someone had burned them down the day before they became believers? Is anyone so lost in their sin that Christ’s death and resurrection can’t change them? Even those with an agenda so obviously opposed to the works and righteousness of God? If God can extend such amazing grace to an unbelieving world then I can work to understand what that looks like and practice that part of His presence. Lord Jesus help us when we want to call down fire on those who hate You. When trying to decide between Regular or Extra Crispy let us pray that we’ll choose grace, patience, prayer and to deal righteously instead. In that Lord you will only say “Well done.”

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

What if He Doesn't?

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Daniel 3:17, 18 (NASB)

OK, I have to admit it, I like to praise God when things work out like I hope but it’s the sound of crickets when He decides to work in a way that wasn’t in my idea of how things ought to conclude. Even if most of us don’t say it aloud when God doesn't do it the way we think He should most of us think “Man, I wouldn’t have done it that way. What’s wrong with you Lord? Didn't you see my way was better?”

Meshach, Shadrach, and Abed-nego were three Israelite slaves who served in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Though living in a foreign land where foreign gods were worshipped these three young men had dedicated themselves to serving only the One True and Living God. When commanded to worship another god they immediately said the answer was something they didn’t even need to think through. They would worship no other one than the God Yahweh and even if He didn’t keep them from being consumed in this Babylonian crematorium they would still not bow to the king’s idol.

So what about today? What if God’s decision for us is to face the fire and be physically consumed or left with a situation in life that is less than desirable? What if He doesn’t heal that brain tumor, or that cancer, or make that miserable job better or changes that mate into the person we crave? Does that mean He is any less loving or any less perfect in His choices for us? Would we, like these three children of Israel, put our complete faith into His choice for us and trust that through the fire He has a plan in it somewhere that benefits me? If He had not saved those 3 boys physically then there would have been a plan and direction for their deaths that would have glorified Him in some way and they would have been safe in the place He would have brought their souls. For myself praise is a two-way street that a lot of times leave me standing at the corner of ‘What I Want’ and ‘What God Knows is Best.’ Deciding to head down the street called ‘What God Knows is Best’ and trusting in that outcome is something that many times after the fact brings great understanding why the best choice was for me to endure the flames. I don’t need to like it but God does want me to grow through it. God is good and He is perfect in His choices all the time, not just when He pulls me out of the fire.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

I'm Not Afraid of God

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10 (NIV)

I was once rebuked by another Christian when I mentioned the phrase “the fear of the Lord.” The man had been a Christian for only a few years and didn’t understand what the meaning of the phrase really meant. I explained to him the word ‘fear’ meant a very deep and holy reverence and did not convey that we needed to be afraid of God’s punishment. Still, this gentleman was very offended at the word saying it conveyed to him a father of wrath who was ever willing to punish His children first and ask questions later.

I really couldn’t blame this brother for his feelings. I’d wrestled with that understanding for years. He wasn’t the God of love and grace to me but the short-tempered Parent-in-the-Sky that always had his Cosmic Club ready to pound me if I slipped up just a smidgen. I think many of us have been there or are currently struggling with that concept. We were taught early on an unbalanced view of any kind of correction as punishment, the kind that was given to control rather than to give instruction and teach correction. This certainly isn’t what is meant by the “fear of the Lord.” He wants us to know His complete and rounded character.

When things are balanced nothing gets broken. The concept of a great and fearfully working God is a real one but fortunately it isn’t the only one. Yes, He can show wrath upon wickedness but His being and attributes are beautifully counterbalanced by His perfectly gracious and merciful character. His great and awesome holy power should cause us to have deep awe and reverence of His Being. Even angels before His throne cover their faces and their feet as they fly before Him and cry holy to one another (Isaiah 6:2). They aren’t afraid of Him but reverence His Being. There is no one else in the entire universe like Him. He is so awesome and holy in His Being that only He has the right to require He be worshipped. I’m not mad at God and neither am I afraid of Him. I truly reverence His wonderful and breathtaking Being. That is the beginning of a wise relationship with the Ancient of Days. Blessed be His Holy Name forever.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

When God Reins

“Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Thine is the dominion, O Lord, and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all.” 1st Chronicles 29:11(NASB)

It was a perfect California evening. I went out for a walk one evening in a neighborhood I lived in back in the 1980s. The sun had set and
the twilight was softening the shadows. There was a nice smell to the evening air as I walked, lost in thought. I’d taken this route numerous times with no difficulties. As I walked around a corner and headed up a street toward my house I noted a large black Rough Collie (bigger than Lassie) I’d not seen before sitting in an open garage watching my approach along the sidewalk. It waited until I was directly in front of the driveway and lunged snarling down the driveway toward me. All I saw was a 70 pound mass of black fur coming at me. The animal moved so quickly that all I could do was turn and face my attacker and hope I could keep from being mauled to badly. It took that big dog about 2 seconds to get within jumping range of me then it reared up, continuing to snarl but standing on its hind legs. The animal was on a 12 foot chain and had reached its limit and could go no further. When it saw I wasn’t about to run it stopped growling and went to all fours and stared at me. I’d not ever seen any animal give a “gotcha” look but that dog gave me one. I was visibly shaken as I turned to walk on. At one point I glanced over my shoulder to see what the dog was doing and it had trotted back up to the garage to await its next “victim.”

Satan is a lot like that. He works by intimidation and fear making you think he has more power and clout than he does but, like that collie, God has him on a very short leash. While as a created spiritual being he does have a lot more power than any human he’s no match for the Son of Man. He can growl and threaten all he wants but Christ’s restraining supremacy reins him in. There is ultimate power in the Name of Jesus and many of us have experienced it firsthand.

Satan uses situations and other people to try and gain victory over God’s people. Sometimes it seems like victory is a sure thing for him but if you wait long enough you can see him drawn up at the end of the line as God reins him in causing those he sends against us to fail. That big, black collie scared the daylights out of me on that calm evening and Satan works the same way-through dread and harassment. But when it comes to the restraining power of the Living God it is evident, like that big old black dog, Satan's bark is a lot worse than his bite. All praise to the God of heaven who upholds us with the right hand of His righteousness (Isaiah 41:10).

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

I've Got You Covered

You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; Of the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not approach you. Psalms 91:6, 7 (NASB)

I really like stories about how God delivers people from drastic circumstances and even death. What is more exciting than reading about it is hearing a firsthand account from someone who experienced God’s protecting power. Nick Choco (sounds like choe-koe) a pastor of mine when I was a teenager, had been a Navy Medical Corpsman during the Korean War. Navy corpsmen were used as combat medics in Marine Corps divisions and a young Nick Choco was attached to the 1st Marine Division. At that time he was a 20 year old from New Castle, Pennsylvania and a committed Christian. Pastor used to briefly mention from the pulpit incidences he had experienced in going to injured Marines under fire and how God protected him. He mentioned one time from the pulpit that a Navy corpsman couldn’t stay under cover when a wounded Marine yelled “Corpsman!” but had to go to the man and give medical aid, even if bullets were flying. After one service I stopped him outside and asked, “Pastor Choco, were you ever wounded when you put yourself out in the open to help a marine?” He thought a moment and said, “No, but I came close.” He paused as his eyes got a faraway look. “I do recall one time I went to a wounded marine by a tree. While I was working on him Chinese machine gun bullets were tearing into that tree next to me.” His eyes got really big as he thought of it and he finally said, “Whew, that tree was being torn apart by that machine gun…thinking back on that I ought to be dead but I didn’t get a scratch. God’s hand was covering me that day.”

I believe it’s good to read and hear stories like this. A lot of Christians say miracles were only for the Old and New Testaments. But I’ve always tended to choke on that bone as I have personally experienced God’s miraculous power working in my own life and in the lives of those around me; Mighty Power that has no equal. That power is given to each of us individually to meet that individual need we are facing. Perhaps it isn’t always in the physical realm as it was for Medical Corpsman Nick Choco but in a wonderfully tender and emotional keeping that puts us at rest and builds our faith and trust in Him. He works for us in the smoke and noise and when His voice speaks to us in quiet reassurance. His keeping power is constant and capable. In any condition and situation His word to us is, "Don't worry, I've got you covered."

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Just Plain Scary

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time now and forever. Amen. Jude 25 (New American Standard Bible)


We’re a couple of days away from the first day of autumn and this past weekend I put my fall decorations in the front yard. One of them is a happy looking inflatable harvest scarecrow. When my 2½ year old granddaughter, Elizabeth, saw him she immediately buried her face in her mama’s shoulder saying she was afraid of him. We immediately took her out of the area and soothed her but when she and her mom left my house Elizabeth said, “Good bye Pawpaw,” and looking at the scarecrow said “Good bye Scary.”

Now you know as well as I my harvest scarecrow is purely decorative fun and is no threat to anyone or anything. But even though I am an adult I believe that, like Elizabeth, I sometimes see things outside of their proper context as looming horrors that will do me under.

Christ as my protector probably takes these incidences with a smile, much as I saw Elizabeth’s fear of this inanimate object. All I needed to do to handle this situation was to simply pull the plug on Elizabeth’s specter and he would have been immediately subdued. How hard is it for God to do the same for my own specters? Is He not the God of all power and authority? As the God who measures the universe with the span of His hand can’t He work through any problem I encounter? In an effort not to make light of people’s problems I do believe that the Living God sees any problem we encounter as simple and easily taken care of as Elizabeth’s. What may seem like a Scary the Scarecrow may in fact be to the Lord a problem just filled with air and His answer may be as simple as pulling a plug. He says of Himself “Behold, I am the God of all flesh; is there anything too difficult for me (Jeremiah 32:27)?” Jesus was right when He said in this world we would have troubles (John 16:33). It’s true and at times I’m hiding my face in the shoulder of the Father crying “Scary.” But in His sure way He smiles at my troubles knowing they can be as easily handled as a harvest scarecrow. Now that’s the greatest comfort. In fact that isn’t scary at all.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Is it Really too Good to be True?

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Revelation 21:5 (New American Standard Bible)

If I didn’t trust in the final work of Christ the reports I see of the world would lead me to despair. Things are bad enough already for me to have a continuing rock in the stomach and a knot as large as a pineapple between my shoulder blades. Tension might be relieved somewhat if things showed a tendency toward getting better, but alas the news I see seems to continue to grow more evil and darkness hovers over the earth like a funeral shroud. So how will it all end for us and how will we know what is going to happen?

The truth of it is God doesn’t want to leave us in the dark. For hundreds of years He worked through the prophets of Israel identifying things that would be happening in the future. Jesus continued unveiling the plan to His disciples when He spoke of the signs that would be happening in the world before His Second Coming. Many of the Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled and some are yet to happen. The final state of affairs ends in the Revelation of Jesus Christ when the earth and heavens as we know them will be fully redeemed and made new. What a glorious hope. At that time the tabernacle of God will dwell among us and we shall be His people. The curse will be lifted from animals and mankind alike. The strong will no longer prey upon the weak, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, death will be no more, there will be no more mourning or crying or, pain. As the old heavens and earth melt with fervent heat new heavens and a new earth will be created. Old things will be forgotten never to be remembered again (Isaiah 65:17). There will be no “Hey, do you remember back on earth when we did…” The old things will be gone replaced by eternal life in a completely pure mind and dimension.

It does all seem too good to be true which leads God to reassure us again that these things to come are faithful and true. In today’s world if it seems to be too good to be true it usually is. Not so at the end for believers in Christ. What we see now won’t even be a shadow of things that were. Those things will be gone and forgotten as the universe is made beautifully new and perfect by the One who holds all things together by the might of His power (Colossians 1:17). The hope is in Jesus the Anointed One of God who is the First and the Last. If it sounds too good to be true this time it will be. Christ is accurate, reliable and exact in His knowledge and power to do it. He is constant, unfailing and certain in His promises to fulfill it. Is it only too good to be true? It is beyond that for it is Faithful and True.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com