Truly Happy

Posted on by Betsy

What would it take for you to be truly happy? Deeply, unquestionably, full-tilt happy? I know that is an enormous question, especially if you are reading this first thing in the morning. You may need to go grab another cup of coffee.

I think that there are some answers that come more easily than others. For those who are in places or systems of oppression, “being free” probably comes to mind. For those who are battling a serious illness, “being well” is a natural response. I would hazard a guess that for everyone reading this today, “the end of the pandemic” rings true.

Those responses represent things that are beyond our control. What is something you can control that would bring you happiness?

Psalm 128 (Common English Bible)

Everyone who honors the Lord,
        who walks in God’s ways, is truly happy!

There is always a practical simplicity to the Psalms, isn’t there? The Psalmist boils true happiness down to two precepts: 1. honor God, and 2. follow his ways.

Other translations use the word fear in place of honor. I have never cared for that, as we tend to define fear as be afraid when we read it. But fear is understood here as reverential trust. That changes it, doesn’t it? Having a reverential trust of God and following his commandments is the key to happiness. Simple, right?

Wrong.

For most of us, following God’s ways as spelled out in God’s Word is very difficult indeed. Our need to assert our free will, our need to have things our own way, our weakness against temptation, and our easily distracted lives get in the way. We can read and study God’s Word until the cows come home, but living God’s Word is a different matter all together.

But the Psalmist goes on to describe the reward for honoring God:

2 You will definitely enjoy what you’ve worked hard for—
    you’ll be happy; and things will go well for you.
3 In your house, your wife will be like a vine full of fruit.
  All around your table, your children will be like olive trees, freshly planted. 4 That’s how it goes for anyone who honors the Lord:
    they will be blessed!

That’s how it goes! Honor God, and you and your family will be blessed by knowing that you are faithfully serving in ways that are meaningful and significant.

When we truly honor God, we make what is important to him important to us. When we follow his ways, we behave in the way that Jesus behaved…tolerant, accepting, forgiving, inclusive, and most of all, loving. Every day that we make strides in those areas we are guaranteed to come closer to true happiness.

5 May the Lord bless you from Zion.
    May you experience Jerusalem’s goodness your whole life long.

Blessings, goodness, and happiness await those who walk with God. If you don’t have those things in your life right now, consider the path you are on. Good things come to those whose lives are turned toward God.

Look for the Cross by Bonnie Bennett

A Chance to Change

Posted on by Betsy

When you are raising children, you work every day to teach them the difference between right and wrong. It is a parent’s job to show their kids how to make the right choices, say the right words, and do the right thing. Even when they become adults, this is still a parent’s fervent prayer, because we know that doing what is right is inherently the safest way for us all to live.

Stay in your lane.

Don’t dump toxic waste into the river.

Drive the speed limit.

Recycle your trash.

Don’t swim when the red flags are out.

Buy the low emission car.

Don’t steal what isn’t yours.

Wear your seatbelt, don’t smoke in Non-Smoking areas, never drink and drive, stop for pedestrians crossing the street, and don’t go into an area marked, “Do Not Enter.”

God, like a good parent, teaches us the difference between right and wrong, and good and evil. It is in his very nature to do what is right, and in his case, it involves showing mercy even for those who doubt him. He spares every person, but he has no patience for pride. Especially the kind of pride that makes us think we can ignore his rules.

Wisdom of Solomon 12 (Common English Version)

16 Your strength is the very origin of doing the right thing. Because you rule over all, you spare all. 17 You show your strength to those who doubt how powerful you really are. You condemn the pride of those who should know better than to doubt you.

God’s sense of right includes exercising careful judgment. This is probably the exact point where humanity goes a different way. I don’t know a single person who is capable of that. We are quick to judge and too selfish in wanting to do things our way. We take a lot of pride in exercising our individual rights.

18 Still, though you rule absolutely, you exercise careful judgment. You govern us with amazing restraint. If you wanted to, you could do anything you wished. 19 By your actions, you taught your people that those who do what is right must always want what is best for others.

God’s litmus test is simple. Those who do what is right are those who ALWAYS want what is best for others. If your sense of what is right is good for you but harmful to others, you’ve missed God’s mark.

Your sons and daughters saw that you give to those who have sinned a chance to change their hearts and minds. In this way you encouraged them.

Think about your attitudes and your behaviors. Do they match up with God’s standard? Do they reflect an attitude that puts what is best for others ahead of what is best for you? Or is your need for individual freedom outweighing what is best for the common good?

It’s never too late to change. God always offers us a chance to change our hearts and minds.

It’s never too late to do the right thing.

Time for a Change by Michelle Robertson

No One Else

Posted on by Betsy

So many little gods! So many things to worship! From presidents to kings to Netflix to scientists to football teams to favorite causes, we have a lot of options. And what we worship becomes our focus. Our thoughts, priorities, decisions, and our resources are all dedicated to the god we serve.

Take a look at our behavior. We fly the flags of our royalty from our boats and balconies. We spend endless hours sitting in the glow of the majesty of our chosen television king. We fund the opportunity to gather together as loyal subjects in stadiums and theme parks without regard to the needs or safety of others around us. We adulate wealthy businessmen, pro athletes, movie stars, and even stand in awe of institutions of higher learning. And we spend a lot of time shouting down people on social media when they don’t support a cause we venerate…

What do we do, though, if all those little gods are taken away? If sports are canceled, if universities don’t open, if movies and TV shows stop being produced…what if all the king‘s horses and all the king’s men can’t put Humpty Dumpty together again? What will be our god then?

Isaiah 34 (Contemporary English Version)

I am the Lord All-Powerful,
the first and the last,
    the one and only God.
Israel, I have rescued you!
    I am your King.

God makes it clear that he is our all-powerful, first and last, one and only King. Any bowing down to anything else is futile. There is nothing that can compare to God. When it all falls away, God is still there.

7 Can anyone compare with me?
If so, let them speak up
    and tell me now.
Let them say what has happened
since I made my nation
    long ago,
and let them tell
    what is going to happen.

No human power can predict what is going to happen. No little god of government, science, statistics, medicine or opinion can say with 100% accuracy what is going to happen. No one entity can compare with God.

8 Don’t tremble with fear!
Didn’t I tell you long ago?
    Didn’t you hear me?
I alone am God—
no one else is a mighty rock.

God indeed told us long ago that he is with us, and is always working for our good. Yet we turned away and began to kneel down to other gods.

What are you worshipping that takes God’s place? What have you put on his throne? Who or what are your little gods, requiring all of your attention? ALL of those are failing right now. If this pandemic is good for anything, it is that all of our little gods have been exposed, one by one.

God alone is God, and he is mighty, immovable, impenetrable, and intractable. He is our solid ROCK. We need not fear. There is no one else. On Christ the solid rock we stand…all other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand.

The Wise Man Built his House upon the Rock (Vernazza, Italy)

Thick as Thistles

Posted on by Betsy

Once upon a time in jolly old England, I met a dog named Muffin. Muffin belonged to my boyfriend, and I met her when I had just arrived from the States on a trip to meet his parents. They were stationed in London with the US Navy at that time. Muffin took one look at me and said, “Nope.” I am actually very good with dogs, and so I was quite frustrated over my inability to win Muffin’s heart. I suggested we take her for a long walk along the creek. I was sure that I could convince her to adore me.

Instead, I ended up in a large patch of thistles. Long, spiny, SPIKEY, flesh-eating thistles. Thistles that penetrated my hands, arms, and legs in the spots where I had landed when Muffin….bless her little canine heart….PUSHED me down. Deliberately. With malice aforethought!

Oh, she was a clever girl! She waited for just the right time to jump on me, at the exact moment that my boyfriend made a move to put his arm around me. She played it off like an uncharacteristic display of happy excitement. I wasn’t fooled. She was jealous. Down I went, and I believe that she truly WAS uncharacteristically happy to see me….as I laid splayed on the ground, bleeding from the thorny spikes.

Jealousy had won the day for a dog named Muffin. On the other hand, I married the boyfriend. WHO’S THE WINNER NOW, MUFFY???

Matthew 13 (The Message)

24-26 He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.

27 “The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’

28 “He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’

“The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’

29-30 “He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’”

I love the fact that the thistles are the bad guys in this story, too. As Jesus will explain, the thistles in the field represent the subjects of the Devil, who is the enemy. An enemy who sows in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep.

36 Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, “Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field.”

37-39 So he explained. “The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels.

The thing about thistles is that they are deceptively pretty. They add color and texture to the sides of the creek, and their shape is like a soft Pom Pom. That is, until you get to the spikes.

The Devil and his minions are much the same. They are the pretty people, the people who are colorful and successful and don’t follow the same rules as the good seeds. They are the ones enjoying their affluence in the sun and their entitlement by the cool waters. They don’t do time, pay their taxes, obey the law, or have a moral code. They are ones who seem to be winning all the time.

Thistles, beware. Your time is coming.

40-43 “The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father.

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

This is the Word of God, for the good seeds of God. Thanks be to God.

Prickly Thistle by Becca Ziegler

Inescapable

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever watched a toddler test the limits of a parent’s authority? There seems to be a strong learning curve there. Mom and Dad said don’t touch that. I want to touch that. My two-old-brain is now in conflict. I want to touch that, but history has shown that I will get in trouble for touching that.

Maybe.

And so I give into my desire to touch that.

So many of us are acting like two-year-olds these days. We think, somehow, that we will get away with things that we know God has said, “DON’T TOUCH THAT.”

Don’t touch that other woman’s husband.

Don’t touch that alcohol or drug.

Don’t touch that nasty post you are about to type.

Don’t touch that temptation to speed on the highway, text while you’re driving, or swim without a lifeguard.

Don’t touch that desire to “assert your rights” at the expense of complying with a safety requirement.

Don’t touch that need to vent your anger in some vain attempt at finding relief for your pent-up feelings.

Just don’t touch that.

Psalm 139 (New Revised Standard Version)

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
    O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is so high that I cannot attain it.

For all the comfort that comes with knowing that God hems us in and lays his hand upon us, there also comes a warning when we are reaching out for something we shouldn’t touch. God is behind us and before us. He knows all of our ways. He will lay a hand of restraint on us.

God is inescapable.

7 Where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me fast.

Like a two-year-old, we need God’s right hand to hold us fast. We give in too easily to things that would harm us. No matter where we go, God is already there.


11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is as bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

God is a good parent, who waits in the darkness for us to need him. Like a tired dad who knows the toddler is going to try to climb out of the crib and get hurt, he stays alert and ready. The darkness won’t cover our misdeeds, for darkness is as light to God. His love is there to keep us safe.

So when you are tempted to flee to the farthest ends of bad behavior and have things your own way, remember that God’s hand is there to lead you, guide you, direct you, and restrain you. You can’t avoid him. You can’t run. You can’t even hide. He is discerning your thoughts before you even have them. So save yourself and take the easy way out.

Just don’t touch that.

The Farthest Limit of the Sea by Wende Pritchard

Stone Pillows

Posted on by Betsy

Have your dreams become more disturbing during the pandemic? I was chatting with friends who remarked that this is happening to them. I, too, am experiencing dreams that are louder, more colorful, more intense, and frankly more exhausting than usual. Obviously the stress of what is happening is being played out in our subconscious the minute we release consciousness. I often wake up feeling unresolved and tired. I imagine this is to be expected, given the situation.

So I thought it would be good to study a dream this morning that actually brought some good news to the dreamer. This is the kind of dream we all wish for…one that brings a sense of awe and wonder with it. This dream was filled by the very presence of God:

Genesis 28 (New Revised Standard Version)

10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 

And indeed, Jacob produced the twelve tribes of Israel, which spread all throughout Israel and dominated the land. But even better than that prophesy was the promise God made:

15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” 17 And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Note that verse 15 sounds very reminiscent of a promise Jesus made in Matthew 28:

 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (New Revised Standard Version)

I am with you, always. I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.

As you go off to college, I am with you.

As you go into surgery, I am with you.

As you go into the COVID-19 ward, I am with you.

As you go into the unemployment center, I am with you.

As you go into divorce, foreclosure, the second grade classroom, the never-ending argument…..I am with you.

Are you with ME?

18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

The word Bethel means “house of God.” Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the “house of Bread.” Appropriate, as he became the Bread of Life.

God invites us today to create a Bethel in our own hearts. When you establish your soul as a house of God, he is GUARANTEED to come and inhabit your life.

So make a place for him, and open wide your doors. We are all climbing Jacob’s ladder. God will be with you, always, even to the end of the pandemic age.

Every Rung Goes Higher by Jennifer Thompson

Pandemic Legacies

Posted on by Betsy

Is this time of incredible trouble bringing out the best in you, or the worst in you? Every day brings a set of frightening new numbers, a slew of new recommendations, a lot of new problems…and a deluge of new worries. As I write this, there is a national debate going on about children returning back to school in less than two months.

There are strong and cogent arguments on both sides. The medical side points out the possibility of an increased spread of infection. The social work side argues that remote learning increases stress on working families, which historically corresponds to increased child abuse in the home and damaging social isolation for the child. Experts are weighing in on both sides, and there is no magic solution here.

What can we do?

I remember once being told that in situations where you aren’t in control, you should focus on what you can control. About the only thing left to control at this point is your reaction to everything that is out of control.

How are you doing with that? Do you have your reactions under control? Yeah, me neither. Some days are better than others. Some days I just want to hide under the covers.

Today’s passage is a timely reminder that our reactions are a reflection of who we are and what we believe. Even in the midst of such global turbulence, Paul reminds us not to throw a question mark over everything God has done for us. In situations like this horrific pandemic, Paul says not to squander any of the marvelous life God has given us. Instead, we are to be a reflection of God in everything we do.

2 Corinthians 6 (The Message)

 1-10 Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us,

I heard your call in the nick of time;
The day you needed me, I was there to help.

Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing. Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details.

We may not have seen the worst of this pandemic yet, but listen: IT WILL END. We won’t be living this way forever. In due time, it will be eradicated. There will be a vaccine. Things will return to a semblance of normal. God hears our call and is here to help.

But let’s hope we don’t return to the way we were. Let’s strive to a new normal that is faith-filled, battle-tested, smarter, more compassionate, and more dependent on God than we ever were in the before-time. Let’s strive to come out of this BETTER.

What will your pandemic legacy be? Have you been a witness to God’s hope, grace, and mercy in these troubled times? Have you stayed true to your word? Are you still God’s servant, filled with deep joy, a pure heart, a clear head, and a steady hand? It’s not too late to pick up the mantle of hope. Even in this, you can be a beacon of gentleness, holiness, and honest love to the world.

You control your response every day. Let your light so shine that all would see Jesus reflected in you, and gain hope themselves.

People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly…in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we’re telling the truth, and when God’s showing his power; when we’re doing our best setting things right; when we’re praised, and when we’re blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.

Go out today and be “terrifically alive,” reflecting the deep joy of the Lord in everything you do. Let this be your hope: we are one day closer to the end of this thing.

Reflections by Jamie Mathis

If You Have Ears

Posted on by Betsy

Our foray into Matthew’s gospel today brings us to a familiar parable. If you spent any time in Sunday School or VBS, you may recall the well-known “Parable of the Sower.” It is a cautionary tale about seeds, soil, sowing, and harvesting. But mostly it’s about listening. If you have ears, pay attention.

I love the scene that Matthew sets in the first paragraph. He describes the cool lake in Galilee, the excited crowds eager to hear Jesus speak, and how Jesus turns a boat into a pulpit to deliver his message.

 Matthew 13 (The Message)

That same day Jesus left the house and went out beside Lake Galilee, where he sat down to teach. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he had to sit in a boat, while the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he taught them many things by using stories.

Pandemic pastors can relate. We have had to turn desks, kitchen tables, office studies, empty sanctuaries, pick up trucks, and back yard picnic tables into instant pulpits. My colleague and I even turned a graveyard, a beach, and a staircase at a baseball field house into instant pulpits. When God’s message needs to be heard, any pulpit will do. If you have ears, pay attention.

He said:

A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. 4 While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. 5 Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn’t very deep. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots. 7 Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants. 8 But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as was scattered. 9 If you have ears, pay attention!

One of the things I appreciate about this particular parable is that you don’t have to try to figure it out. Jesus is very clear and straightforward in how he wants us to interpret its meaning.

18 Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer:

19 The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. 20 The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. 21 But they don’t have deep roots, and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

Does this describe you at any point in your life? Hearing, but not listening? Things got hard, so you gave up? I know it describes me. God calls us to listen to his Word deeply enough that it takes root in our hearts and especially our actions…which speak louder than words.

22 The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything.

Or maybe you’re in the thornbushes. You know what God is saying to you, but your concern over your day-to-day life, your worries, or your desire for more material comfort chokes out the message.

 23 The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.

The message is simple. Be the good ground. Hear, understand, grow, and plant seeds in others.

If you have ears, pay attention!

Rocky Road by Becca Ziegler

Twinz

Posted on by Betsy

I will never forget where I was when we found out that my oldest daughter was expecting twins. My husband and I were with our youngest and her husband on a bus that had just broken down at Disney World. (!) We were pulling off to the median when the phone call came in. I knew she was having an ultrasound that afternoon and was I excited to hear about the pregnancy and maybe get a hint of the gender. Then her chin started to quiver and she said, “Mom, we’re expecting twins.”

“Twins!! You’re having twins???” I looked up at the startled passengers around me and yelled, “SHE’S HAVING TWINS!!” Many congratulations followed as we waited for a new bus to arrive, and anyone who had a twin story came over to tell it.

In the book of Genesis, twins are announced with far less fanfare and hopeful expectations. Rebekah discovered that she is carrying twins, but even in the beginning, it is obvious that these twins would not be ordinary babies…

Genesis 25 (The Message)

21-23 Isaac prayed hard to God for his wife because she was barren. God answered his prayer and Rebekah became pregnant. But the children tumbled and kicked inside her so much that she said, “If this is the way it’s going to be, why go on living?” She went to God to find out what was going on. God told her,

Two nations are in your womb,
    two peoples butting heads while still in your body.
One people will overpower the other,
    and the older will serve the younger.

If you are following your Bible history, you will recognize this as the moment the two nations of the Israelites (Jacob) and the Edomites (Esau) were born. Through deceit and trickery, a birthright was manipulated and indeed, the older ended up serving the younger.

24-26 When her time to give birth came, sure enough, there were twins in her womb. The first came out reddish, as if snugly wrapped in a hairy blanket; they named him Esau (Hairy). His brother followed, his fist clutched tight to Esau’s heel; they named him Jacob (Heel). Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

27-28 The boys grew up. Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob was a quiet man preferring life indoors among the tents. Isaac loved Esau because he loved his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29-30 One day Jacob was cooking a stew. Esau came in from the field, starved. Esau said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stew—I’m starved!” That’s how he came to be called Edom (Red).

31 Jacob said, “Make me a trade: my stew for your rights as the firstborn.”

32 Esau said, “I’m starving! What good is a birthright if I’m dead?”

33-34 Jacob said, “First, swear to me.” And he did it. On oath Esau traded away his rights as the firstborn. Jacob gave him bread and the stew of lentils. He ate and drank, got up and left. That’s how Esau shrugged off his rights as the firstborn.

I read a Jewish commentary on this passage that suggested that the twins also represent the struggle between the flesh/body urges of Esau and the spiritual/soul urges of Jacob. Esau was a boisterous hunter who was out in the field all day involved in physical activity, while Jacob stayed inside reading and studying. It’s an interesting take on the story.

But this passage is a warning about two things.

First, beware of the force of a temptation so strong that it might entice you to sell your birthright as a follower of Christ. When we indulge in our “fleshly” pursuits, we teeter on the precipice of giving up what we have gained in Christ.

And it is also a story about family deceit and preferential treatment. Rebekah’s preference for Jacob leads her to become a co-conspirator against her other son and her husband. Isaac’s preference for Esau was resented very much by Jacob, who retaliated by manipulating Esau into foregoing his birthright. This brother-against-brother conflict led them all to lie and cheat their own family members.

What can you glean from this story? I think it calls us to confront our own battles with physical temptations, and ask God to help us remain strong in pursuing healthy behaviors. And it calls us to address our family relationships and honestly assess our own behavior to see if we, too, might be guilty of emotional preferences, manipulation, lying to get our own way, or cheating others out of their place.

If Genesis 25 were a mirror, how would you look?

Troubled Waters by Michelle Robertson

Foot Lamp

Posted on by Betsy

When I was growing up, my family loved to go camping. We started out in a large tent, progressed to a pop-up trailer, and somewhere in my teenage years we upgraded to a travel trailer. We traveled the entire east coast from Canada to Florida as die-hard campers.

Of all the equipment that is essential for campers, I think the flashlight is probably in the top five. Until we finally reached the luxury of owning a travel trailer that had its own “john,” trips to the loo had to be done on foot. Those trips necessitated a flashlight after dark, lest you trip over a rock. Or a snake. Having a foot lamp was essential in these “essential” matters.

Psalm 119 (New King James Version)

Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
106 I have sworn and confirmed
That I will keep Your righteous judgments.
107 I am afflicted very much;
Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.

Are you mentally singing, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path?” You are in good company. I can’t read Psalm 119 without Amy Grant singing in my head:

When I feel afraid
Think I’ve lost my way
Still you’re there right beside me
And nothing will I fear
As long as you are near
Please be near me to the end

Isn’t that an incredible thought? God’s Word provides a light in the darkness of life that illuminates the way. It lights our path and keeps us safe. Scripture shows us how to live and move and have our being. But like a flashlight, it only works when we turn it on and use it.

108 Accept, I pray, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,
And teach me Your judgments.
109 My life is continually in my hand,
Yet I do not forget Your law.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me,
Yet I have not strayed from Your precepts.

Our lives are continually in God’s hand…but can we join with the Psalmist and say that we have not forgotten God’s law? Can we claim that we have not strayed from God’s precepts? Or has there been a little back-slidin’ going on?

Is God shining his light onto a behavior or attitude today that needs attention? Is your heart wandering away from God’s will?

I will not forget
Your love for me and yet
My heart forever is wandering
Jesus be my guide
And hold me to your side
I will love you to the end

Jesus, hold us to your side! Be our guide. We stumble in the dark without you.

111 Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever,
For they are the rejoicing of my heart.
112 I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes
Forever, to the very end.

Here’s the good news: every day is a new opportunity to get it right. Every morning when we wake up, God offers us a “do-over.” Perhaps that is the light he is shining onto your path right now.

When we follow the path of repentance to Christ’s offer of forgiveness, we too will be revived according to God’s Word. So turn on your light, and let your light so shine that others might see it and be drawn to the Lord.

And a Light Unto My Path by Michelle Robertson