Timing is God’s Business

Posted on by Betsy

Think for a moment of all the times you have wished for something, and wanted something to happen that didn’t go the way you planned. Maybe you even prayed about it and your prayers were met with silence. I try to remind myself that God ALWAYS answers our prayers, but sometimes we don’t like the answer. For the most part, his response is one of three things: yes, no, or wait. Of course “wait” might be the hardest one to hear, as it leaves you in some kind of limbo, wondering if he heard you at all.

He did.

But his measure of time and his sense of timing are far higher than ours, just as his thoughts and his ways are higher. When things happen in God’s timing, it is always for our good. But we are an impatient people who want the world and we WANT IT NOW. (Cue Veruca Salt…)

Can you think of a time when you had to wait on God’s timing? Waiting is HARD.

In our Ascension passage today, we find the disciples watching Jesus return to his father after a 40-day period of their being with him after the resurrection. Their hearts are troubled. They don’t want him to leave, but they know that he will come back someday. He promises that if they remain in Jerusalem, they will receive a baptism even better than the one John performed:

Acts 1 (The Message)

1 1-5 Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God.

As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon.”

Waiting is an important part of this story. Things were not happening quickly, or according to their wishes, but rather at a pace that God had set. Part of what needed to happen during the waiting was for them to readjust their expectations of what Jesus’ return would actually bring:

6 When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?”

They were still looking to Jesus to overthrow the existing power structure and establish his kingdom. Even with ALL they knew about their Messiah, they still didn’t quite get the fact that the kingdom he brought was an internal one. It was not time for Jesus to rule the kingdom of Israel just yet:

7-8 He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”

9-11 These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared—in white robes! They said, “You Galileans!—why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he left.”

As we anticipate the second coming of Christ, let us be about our Father’s work and spread the gospel to Jerusalem (your local community), Judea (your state and country), and Samaria (international destinations). There is much to do while we wait…but as we wait, let us remember that timing is the Father’s business. In his time, he makes all things beautiful.

Waiting for Sunrise

Through Thick and Thin

Posted on by Betsy

I have never been embarrassed about my profession as an ordained clergyperson, but to be perfectly honest, there are times when I don’t need or want the scrutiny that it brings. Times when I just want to be a mom or wife without the thousands of questions that come when people find out what I do for a living.

Many years ago, my husband and I went on a cruise with our best friends. We had a great time and loved hanging out with them. They were members of my church, but never treated me differently because I was their pastor.

We got stuck on the ship for a day due to a storm, and the cruise directors quickly came up with things to do onboard to pass the time. They announced that we would be invited to play a “What’s My Line” type of game in the main theater. Contestants with hard-to-guess occupations were solicited, and our friends immediately suggested that I should try out for it.

They took me to the theater to “audition,” and sure enough, I became a contestant. My friend was sure I would win the big prize. You can probably guess the rest: I went on stage, the “expert panel” asked me a series of questions (the audience had already been informed that I was a minister) and after deliberating for a few minutes, they made their best educated guess:

“Are you a Massage Therapist?”

Yep, I won the big prize. A deck of cruise line playing cards.

1 Peter reminds us to never be reluctant to speak up and tell people why we love and serve Jesus:

1 Peter 3 (The Message)

13-18 If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.

Being a Christian puts you under a lot of scrutiny these days. People will ridicule and reject you for your beliefs. Through thick and thin, we are reminded to keep our hearts at attention and respond with the utmost courtesy about why we live the way we live. Jesus went through everything just so that we might be brought to God. We should always be ready to tell that to others.

19-22 He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water. The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus’ resurrection before God with a clear conscience.

Our job, then, is to live our lives out loud, with a clear conscience and a full understanding that what we say, and more importantly DO, might bring others to Christ…or not.

Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He’s standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.

Home for Dinner By Michelle Robertson

Truth

Posted on by Betsy

Truth. What an elusive word. Truth is very much on trial these days. The twisting and manipulating of facts to fit political agendas is so rampant that we don’t trust anything, and we question everything…as we should. What is the truth? Can we ever know anymore?

God’s word is the last remaining truth, and yet we see even scripture being used to forward agendas. Clever people can argue a scripture “both ways” in order to push a personal perspective. It happens at all levels of ecclesiastical structures, the government, and even from your local pulpit and Sunday School class.

I think we have forgotten that God has sent us an advocate who is the only one capable of speaking truth into a situation. The Holy Spirit, referred to as a Companion in this translation, was given to us by Jesus upon his departure from this earth so that we might know the truth. But notice how this passage starts:

John 14 (Common English Bible)

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. 17 This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.

Jesus is making a direct connection between keeping the commandments and knowing the truth. The commandments are something else we have forgotten. In a world that doesn’t know or follow God’s rule of living, truth becomes muddled and unobtainable. And while the Ten Commandments still stand as foundational to our society and even our laws, let us not forget what Jesus said are the greatest ones:

Matthew 22 (New International Version)

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The TRUTH of the matter is, if we were to do just these two things, truth would be revealed. If we were actually capable of loving God with ALL our heart, soul, and mind, we would contain the truth within ourselves. Loving God with all our minds would mean there is no room for hate-talk, vitriol, prejudice, bias, or ostracizing the “other.” The truth would render us incapable of doing and saying much of what we do and say today. The truth would enable us to truly love our neighbor, and in so loving, all political and personal agendas would cease.

Notice how Jesus refers again to keeping the commandments:

John 14 continued…

18 “I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Want to know the truth? Try being the truth. Try filtering all of your thinking through the commandments. And where your thinking doesn’t measure up to loving God and loving what he loves, change your mind. If your words and deeds don’t measure up to loving your neighbor, change your behavior. The Holy Spirit enables us to love as God loves. That’s the truth.

The Truth Will Set Us Free by Barbara Hudson

Comparison Trap

Posted on by Betsy

Sandra Stanley wrote an insightful, provocative, and eye-opening book called the Comparison Trap. She explores how advertising and social media can pull us into an endless loop of comparing ourselves with the polished and artificial images we see on television, print ads, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, FAKEBook…yes, FAKEBook. So we tune in or log on in the morning, and we see an ad for a brand new Lexus and think, “Wish I had one!” Then our friend’s vacation pictures pop up on Facebook, and in the back of our minds we are thinking, “What’s wrong with us? We can’t afford a vacation like that.” 

Someone else boasts that their child won the spelling bee, got straight A’s, was named “Student of the Year” right after being selected for the first child to go into outer space, AND won an Oscar. And we think, “I can’t even get my kid to put the toilet seat down.” 

Your friend posts pictures of her new Jenny Craig-body and the caption under her picture (in her new purple bikini, looking AMAZING) reads, “Just turned 55! Finally going the speed limit!!” And you think, “I HOPE YOU DIE IN A CAR CRASH!! IN YOUR BRAND NEW LEXUS!!” OK, you don’t really think that, but you sure feel bad about your own tootsie rolls when you look at her toned abs.

The comparison trap leads us to all kinds of anxiety. The conscious and unconscious practice of CONSTANTLY comparing ourselves to the images we see around us leads us to be more and more unhappy with our spouses, bodies, careers, income, cars, kids’ performance in school and sports, our houses…

I confess that I cannot look at one more Joanna Gaines post. I love everything she does. It is impossibly beautiful. But she makes me feel so inadequate! I look at my living room and go BLECCCCH. I can’t invite somebody over here, there is no FARMHOUSE CHIC anywhere in this place! I have had to kindly rebuke all things Magnolia in the name of Jesus.

Jesus reminds us that stealing joy is an active pursuit of the devil:

John 10:10 (New International Version)

10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

And make no mistake: it’s not just the Enemy who is stealing our joy, killing our calm, and destroying our happiness. IT’S US. Every time you open your device and do that two-finger-expand thing to enlarge a picture for a closer scrutiny, you are opening the trap wider for feelings of discontent, insecurity, and inadequacy to come flooding in. We are our own worst enemy.

But Jesus continues:

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.“

Having life to the full means pulling away from every source of unhappiness, including feeling bad about other people’s good fortune, success, appearance, and lifestyle. It means graciously accepting ourselves for who we are.

Stick to what you have. Learn to love who you are. Stop comparing your orange to the apples around you. Find contentment in your backyard and quit looking over the fence. Look at your own Jesus-life in the loving arms of the savior, and ask him to show you the fullness of life that only he gives.

When you see things the way he sees them, your peace will return…in abundance.

It’s A Trap

God-Created

Posted on by Betsy

I need to start this devotional with an apology. I have a beef. I apologize that I am about to hurt some feelings. The beef is about the way people are attributing things that happen in their lives to the whim and fortunes of “the Universe.” I have seen this all over social media. I get it. It’s trendy. It’s cool. It’s….wrong.

In short, the “Universe” has no power of its own. It can’t control your fate, bring you good luck, find the right mate for you, or open doors to success. The universe is just part of God’s creation. HE is the one to whom we should attribute our lives and our blessings. God’s creation can not do this. Only God can.

I am in good company when it comes to this. When he traveled to Athens to share the good news of Jesus Christ, Paul saw a lot of things that weren’t right.

Acts 17 (The Message)

22-23 So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. “It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, to the god nobody knows. I’m here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you’re dealing with.

The Greeks had created a god-structure which was represented in stone, and worshipped these gods as powerful deities. Paul set them straight.

24-29 “The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him.

Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?

Christians, here comes the warning. God will overlook these slights as long as we don’t know any better.

We know better.

30-31 “God overlooks it as long as you don’t know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he’s calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead.”

A radical life-change means we don’t follow trends, use popular language the way the secular world uses it, or stray from the things we have been taught. Give God the credit he deserves. He is the only one who is capable of offering you a future with hope. Even the universe knows this.

Praise God of the Universe by Bonnie Bennett

Through Fire and Water

Posted on by Betsy

There is a great debate among the faithful about the pandemic and God’s activity in it. Some people believe that God has brought this upon the earth as a corrective measure. The effect of the stay-at-home orders on the environment is cited to support this notion. As the air and the waters clear up, people in that camp point to the lessening of pollution (due to the fact that we aren’t driving and flying as much) as part of God’s purpose in “causing” the pandemic. They point to the plagues of the Old Testament to solidify their argument.

Others are in the camp of “God allows.” This perspective suggests that there are things that simply happen that God allows. In other words, God didn’t cause it, but has allowed a virus like this to sweep the globe, which has brought needed changes and is teaching us many important things. God has allowed this situation, which has brought us a cleansing of the environment. This notion encourages us to know that what he “allows” is within his control, and in his time, it will end.

Wherever you stand on this, or if you don’t care either way, it is good to know certain things about God’s activity in a disaster.

We can know that he is with us.

We can know that he has brought us through fire and water, and he will bring us through this.

We can know that even when he corrects us, he does so with mercy and love.

We can know that he brings us through the refining fires of testing to a rich fulfillment that only he can provide.

Listen to how the Psalmist puts it:

Psalm 66 (New King James)

Oh, bless our God, you peoples!
And make the voice of His praise to be heard,
9 Who keeps our soul among the living,
And does not allow our feet to be moved.


10 For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
11 You brought us into the net;
You laid affliction on our backs.
12 You have caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water;
But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.

Our response, regardless of how we got here, should always be worship. Worship reminds us of who we are, and whose we are.

13 I will go into Your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay You my vows,
14 Which my lips have uttered
And my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals,
With the sweet aroma of rams;
I will offer bulls with goats. Selah

So if you are having a bad day/week/month, if you are worn out and ready for this pandemic to be OVER, remind yourself of all of the times that God has already rescued you. Can you name them?

Certainly God has heard us. And he always attends to the voice of our prayers.

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
And I will declare what He has done for my soul.
17 I cried to Him with my mouth,
And He was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.
19 But certainly God has heard me;
He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,
Who has not turned away my prayer,
Nor His mercy from me!

God has not turned away. So let us learn everything from him that he is trying to teach us right now. His mercy is always ready to be given! Blessed be the Lord.

Blessed be God! By Margaret Brushwood

Come

Posted on by Betsy

Isn’t it exciting to be invited to come to a party or event? Back when all invitations were delivered by mail, it was a thrill to open that small colored envelope that indicated an invitation to a baby shower, birthday party, graduation ceremony, or some other special event. Receiving an invitation was the height of inclusion. Somebody wanted YOU. Your presence was requested. The party would not be the same without you, so COME.

God is the ultimate invitation-giver. The entire bible might be summed up in the word “come.” Come to me, all you weary people. Come to me and rest. Come and be healed. Come and find peace. Just come.

In the 55th chapter of Isaiah, we receive a beautiful invitation. This one is offered to the thirsty, the poor, the hungry, and the people of every nation:

Isaiah 55 (New International Version)

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

Even the wicked are invited to come, and we are all invited to seek the Lord. Mercy is found when people seek God.

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

In the mystery of this universal invitation, all are invited to come for pardon. This may confuse us. We may question the offer of pardoning to the evil ones who have brought so much destruction to others. Yet God reserves the right to invite whomever he pleases…and it is not for us to question. His thoughts and ways are far higher than ours.

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

So we have two jobs today. One is to accept the invitation to come before the Lord and receive all of his mercy, pardon, and blessing. The other is to extend that invitation to the most vulnerable and hurting among us. Go, and do likewise. Or better still, come.

Come and See the Beauty of Creation by Wende Pritchard

Living Stones

Posted on by Betsy

When I was a kid, I was fascinated with stones. Every time we traveled, I brought home some kind of rock or stone in my pocket. One time we were camping at the Greenwood State Furnace in Central Pennsylvania, and my cousin and I discovered the jackpot of rocks. The old iron furnace that was on the property was surrounded by “slag,” which was a by-product of the iron smelting process that had taken place there. Slag was a glossy black and green glass-rock, and it could be tumbled and polished into beautiful objects. I probably had over a hundred pieces of slag stones.

In 1 Peter, we see Christ referred to as a “living stone.” This image contrasts the hard permanence of a stone with the qualities of living, breathing vibrancy. It is then expanded to include us, and paints a picture of a spiritual house being built with our sturdy, living stones:

1 Peter 2

4 Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone that people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honored. 5 And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house. You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God. 6 It is just as God says in the Scriptures,

“Look! I am placing in Zion
a choice and precious
    cornerstone.
No one who has faith
in that one
    will be disappointed.”

This is a beautiful image for us when we feel as though our own houses are crumbling around us. Life-changes such as death, job loss, divorce, and pandemics leave us feeling vulnerable and insecure. Remembering the sure foundation that is Christ, our rock, helps us to know that we are standing on his solid cornerstone. We cannot be moved.

7 You are followers of the Lord, and that stone is precious to you. But it isn’t precious to those who refuse to follow him. They are the builders who tossed aside the stone that turned out to be the most important one of all. 8 They disobeyed the message and stumbled and fell over that stone, because they were doomed.

My parents understood my fascination with the slag rocks, and took a small and particularly beautiful one to a friend who had a rock tumbler. It came back shiny and polished, and the tumbling revealed the marbleized streaks that were hidden under the rock’s bubbly exterior. My Dad had it mounted on a necklace for me. It was oddly shaped, but I loved it.

I proudly wore this the next time we went camping with our camping club. A somewhat tactless dad took one look at it and said, “What an ugly rock!” I was devastated. His wife chastised him, and the poor fellow spent the rest of the weekend trying to apologize for his hastily spoken words. My parents encouraged me to realize that not everyone saw beauty the same way. But obviously the sting of that critical remark stayed with me.

Rejection of our ideals and theology can feel that way. When a family member or good friend ridicules our faith, we feel the sting. Jesus isn’t precious to those who refuse to follow him. When that happens, and it will, try to remember that you are God’s chosen one. You are special to God. You belong to a royal family. Not everyone sees beauty the same way.

9 But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say,

10 “Once you were nobody.
    Now you are God’s people.
At one time no one
    had pity on you.
Now God has treated you
    with kindness.

On Christ the solid rock we stand…all other ground is sinking sand. Now go and tell all the wonderful things that he has done.

Greenwood State Furnace by Mary Anne Mong Cramer

Reunion

Posted on by Betsy

This is the time of year when our thoughts naturally turn to summer plans. The month of May typically includes the winding down of the school year, and Memorial Day weekend signals the beginning of summer. Vacations, trips to the beach, watching the sun set, and traveling to family reunions are just some of the things we anticipate. Or did, before the pandemic.

This year there will not likely be a big family reunion at the Haas farm outside of Pittsburgh. Run by my third-removed cousin, the “other” Betsy Haas, this glorious location sits nestled among the hills and valleys of green fields and picturesque farmlands. Our family reunion is filled with story telling, (some of them are even true!) hugging, laughing, and most of all, EATING. Popular family recipes show up every year, and we get our annual fill of fresh-from-the-garden three-bean salad, Aunt Judy’s Lemon Lust, and hot buffalo chicken dip on salty Fritos. It is a gastronomic delight. Hay rides and blueberry picking round out the day, and we delight in the company of family.

It always makes me think that heaven must be exactly like that. A big family reunion, a warm summer day, lots of feasting at the heavenly banquet, and seeing people we love from whom we are separated by distance and time.

John 14 is a common funeral text, and it references the place we will go upon our death as a family reunion of sorts. The dwelling place that God has prepared for us has enough room for the entire clan:

John 14:1-14

 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

In the midst of reminding his disciples that they already know the way to their heavenly reunion when their time comes, Jesus clarifies that the host is his Father, who is the one who sent Jesus to show them the way:

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Coming home at the end of our lives will be a reunion with the Father and the Son, and all of our loved ones. This is why Jesus begins with “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus will come and take us to a homestead that he has prepared for us himself. No matter what trouble the world gives, these things are guaranteed: a heavenly family reunion, a feast of good things, and the comfort of a home made ready by the Lord himself.

I wonder if there will be Lemon Lust??

Maybe Next Summer by Tim Neal

Deliverance

Posted on by Betsy

Deliverance. What a curious word! Think of the many things that get delivered. Mail gets delivered. Pizzas get delivered. Newspapers get delivered. Babies get delivered. People in jeopardy get delivered. Souls get delivered.

Have you ever asked God to deliver you from something?

It is not uncommon when you find yourself in a place of great distress to ask God to deliver you from it. Illness, abuse, violence, unfulfilling jobs, hateful bosses, out-of-control teenagers….Lord, in your mercy, deliver us. Even atheists pray in foxholes.

I have had many a broken-hearted spouse come to me seeking God’s deliverance from the awful pain of betrayal. Sometimes he delivers them from the marriage, and freedom is restored. Other times he delivers them from their own grudge-holding, and facilitates forgiveness and reconciliation.

One thing is sure: God is our refuge and strength. He is our Deliverer.

Take a look at the beautiful language of Psalm 31, but before you do, ponder this: is there something from which you need to be delivered? Some sin, a destructive habit, an overwhelming loneliness, a feeling of shame, debilitating anger, or a negative personality trait? These things can feel like a fishing net that has wound itself around your ankles. You can’t move. You are trapped.

Think of that net, and imagine that you are at the foot of the cross asking Jesus to cut you loose as you pray this prayer:

Psalm 31

In You, O Lord, I put my trust;
Let me never be ashamed;
Deliver me in Your righteousness.
2 Bow down Your ear to me,
Deliver me speedily;
Be my rock of refuge,
A fortress of defense to save me.

3 For You are my rock and my fortress;
Therefore, for Your name’s sake,
Lead me and guide me.
4 Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength.
5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

I’m sure you recognize verse 5 as the last thing Jesus said as he died on the cross. Jesus was quoting this scripture at the moment that God delivered him, cutting the crucifixion-net free and releasing his spirit as he left the earth.

So too will he do for you, if you trust him to release you from whatever has entangled you.

You don’t have to stay entrapped. You don’t have to be caught in despair. You may have done things that led you straight into a net that was laid out for you, but you don’t have to stay there. All you have to do is ask to be pulled out.

Behold! Your deliverer comes.

Old Net by Michelle Robertson