Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble.
There are times when it seems like God is not there. Days that stretch into weeks of wondering why He doesn’t seem to be fixing it. Making it better. I struggle in the helplessness I feel when facing a problem that is obviously too big. Too complicated. Too hard. I forget that I’m not the one who’s supposed to conquer my troubles. Continue reading
1 Kings 3:7-9 “Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
Seems to me that Solomon was a pretty wise dude. For starters, he recognized his own inability to accomplish the duties he’d been given. Not only that, but he knew where he needed to go for help. His humble request for assistance wasn’t a bigger budget or more discretionary spending. Not a larger kingdom, health or long life. He asked to have a discerning heart. The ability to tell right from wrong. Yeah. Smart dude. Continue reading
1 Samuel 17:8 When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
One of the most well-known stories in the Bible, the tale of David and Goliath was one of my favorites as a child. To this day I love the trust David displays in the Lord. The unwavering knowledge that since God was with him, nothing could destroy him. He went out to battle ready to face what none other would because he knew firsthand the faithfulness of God. And didn’t doubt Him for a second. What I have never caught before in reading this chapter in 1 Samuel is the reaction of David’s brother. The anger and snide remarks seem to betray loathing for David’s faith in the Lord. Or maybe Eliab’s history with David made him unable to see the mighty call God had on his brother’s life. He took David’s sureness of the Lord’s might as bravado, conceit and wickedness. I wonder how often my familiarity with people in my life taints my view of them. Instead of seeing them as God does, I judge them based on past experiences. Continue reading
1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
We view obedience as such a nasty word. We require it of children, so once we reach adulthood we feel vindicated in stomping our foot and saying “Nobody is going to tell me what to do anymore!”. Sometimes we disobey God with the best of intentions. We think we are pleasing Him with our efforts. That thru service to Him, sacrifice in our lives and giving to others we’ll be bringing pleasure to the Lord. Other times it’s more blatant – like the king of Israel in chapter 15 of Samuel. He knew what God had commanded him to do, but in his own pride, thought he knew better. The spoils of war were not the offering God asked for, but Saul thought they would be a good enough replacement for the obedience he would not give to the Lord. Many times I bring my own version of “the fat of rams” to God as an example of how much I love Him – when all He’s asked of me is to hear His voice and obey it. God doesn’t ask for showy gifts or lives lived in utter sacrifice and deprivation. All He wants is for us to be His kids. To know Him and follow His guidance in our lives. Continue reading
Psalm 64:6 They plot injustice and say, “We have devised a perfect plan!” Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.
I hear a lot how humans are basically good. That we can make for ourselves right and wrong. In many conversations I’ve taken the not too popular position that humans are not good. Not at all. That our natural inclination, our basic foundation of being is evil. That there aren’t “good” people. That belief is something I’ve long-held true, a belief I only have to watch my children to see firsthand. I mean, I didn’t ever have to teach them to lie, or be mean to each other. But I’ve never done any specific Bible searching about. It was particularly troubling me yesterday, and behold – God gave me a verse to start with in my reading today. He is so awesome at meeting us exactly where we are. Coming right down and essentially saying “So Tonya, something is bugging you? Let’s talk about it.” Man the Lord is incredible. Continue reading
Boy, God sure is blunt. “Hi there. You’re old. But there’s still work to do. Let’s go.” In the subsequent chapter, God lays out for Joshua all the lands he’s yet to conquer and that the Lord will be with him as Israel takes over many kingdoms. He’ll be defeating kings and waging war on a grand scale. All of this, as (apparently) a very old man. Talk about an active retirement! Continue reading
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
The context of this verse is dealing with sexual immorality, which is a serious issue and one handled at length by God. However, when I read this passage today – it struck me in a different way. These verses brought to mind ,weight, body image, self-worth & eating habits. My struggle in life revolves around food, not sex. In pondering the idea of my body not being my own relating to food, I thought of something I hadn’t before. What would I feed God? Continue reading
Mark 9:5-6 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Ah Peter. How I associate with you. I’ve often said I have no brain to mouth filter. Mostly I just say what’s in my head. It comes tumbling out of my mouth almost before I’ve realized I’m speaking. Frequently this gets me into trouble, or at least causes me to be the point of laughter. Which I don’t really mind – but wish I could figure out how to dam up my words, even for a split second so I can think things through. Continue reading
Mark 8:11-12 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.”
Wait. Jesus sighed? Like I do when I’m frustrated? When I’m sick of being asked the same thing over and over? He felt that way too? As I read this passage today, I was struck with the humanity of Jesus in the simple act of sighing. I looked up the Greek word for “sighed deeply” here and guess what. It’s the only place in the entire Bible the word (anastenazō – to draw sighs up from the bottom of the breast, to sigh deeply) is used. The only place! Apparently I express frustration through sighing a whole lot more than people in the Bible. If stories are ever written about my life, the phrase “She sighed deeply and said…” will be used constantly. Continue reading
Numbers 24:12-13 So Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, 13 ‘If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the LORD, to do good or bad of my own will. What the LORD says, that I must speak’?
I love the story of Balaam. The guy was not a good dude. He was a prophet, but not the kind that listened to God. He had his own ways of doing things. Sorcery was his usual means to gaining information and he was sought out by Balak to place a curse on God’s people. The problem (at least for Balak) is that God got to Balaam first. Continue reading
Dissonant Symphony 