Daily devotionals

Strands that Bind

Posted on by Betsy

I have been asked to officiate my best friend’s son’s wedding and I am thinking about the homily. Nobody wants a long homily (!) but most people expect the pastor to “say a few words.” And by few, they mean as few as possible. Pastors typically try to connect the Scripture to those few words when possible. The wedding Scripture selections are up to the preference of the bride and groom. The one that most couples automatically default to is 1 Corinthians 13, also known as the “love passage.” You know the one:” Love is patient, Love is kind…love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” One might say that this choice is “love-ly” for every occasion!

Certainly this is the gold standard classic, which was read at my own wedding. But I actually prefer a different Scripture now when I officiate a wedding. It comes from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 4 (New International Version (NIV)

9  Two are better than one,

    because they have a good return for their labor:

10  If either of them falls down,

    one can help the other up.

But pity anyone who falls

    and has no one to help them up.

11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

    But how can one keep warm alone?

12 Though one may be overpowered,

    two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken

It is that last verse upon which a strong homily, and relationship, can be built. The way it applies to relationships is this: there are two people in a relationship who are bound together spiritually by adding the “third strand” of God. Couples who come to the altar to make a covenant with each other and with Christ are inviting and including the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to provide strength and beauty to their relationship. Think of a braid. Two strands alone are weak. Three strands woven together are ironclad.

Does this mean Christian relationships are impervious to disruption? Sadly, no. When one partner unbinds themself from the relationship, or from God through sin, the cord indeed can fall apart. In decades of marriage counseling I’ve heard the same story told with different characters. At some point of tiredness, ennui, boredom, or temptation, one pulls away from the braid and the relationship unravels. When “self-importance” overtakes the importance of “us,” that single strand elects to go wayward and the grip is loosened enough for the Enemy to pry in and pry it apart.

I think it is fair to say that the Enemy, whose job it is to “steal, kill, and destroy,” finds the breaking apart of relationships, marriages, and families a veritable playground for the havoc he comes to bring. Couples in jeopardy will spend years in the breaking-apart and putting-lives-back-together process. The grief, expense, overwhelming fatigue, anger, and debilitating soul-exhaustion that accompanies divorce can pull people away from their faith as they negotiate the troubled waters of permanent separation.

Keeping Christ at the center of your marriage, family, and relationships gives you the best weapon against this. When you turn your eyes upon Jesus and partner with him as a couple in your home, work, leisure time, finances, and focus, you stand a better chance of surviving the fiery darts that assault all marriages and relationships. And you’ll also find joy.

God invites us to find shelter our relationships in him:

Psalm 62 (New International Version (NIV)

1 Truly my soul finds rest in God;

    my salvation comes from him.

2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

3 How long will you assault me?

    Would all of you throw me down—

    this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

4 Surely they intend to topple me

    from my lofty place;

    they take delight in lies.

With their mouths they bless,

    but in their hearts they curse.

5  Yes, my soul, find rest in God;

    my hope comes from him.

6  Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

    he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

7 My salvation and my honor depend on God;

    he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

8 Trust in him at all times, you people;

    pour out your hearts to him,

    for God is our refuge.

No matter where you find yourself today, whether it is in a strong and committed relationship or in the chaos of one that is breaking apart, pour out your heart to God and trust in him.

He is your rock, your salvation, and your refuge.

Strands of Flags and Lights, Grassington, England

Release For the Captives

Posted on by Betsy

For a period of five years when I lived in Georgia, I did weekly jail visitations. It began when a teenage member of my congregation shot and killed his friend during a game of “Russian Roulette” with a new gun he had illegally purchased off the street. His mother implored me to visit him, and thus began five years of weekly visits that also brought other inmates into my life. The guards knew I would come every Monday, and they often greeted me with a list of inmates who had requested a clergy visit. Some weeks I sat in the window-encased attorney/clergy room for five to six hours, listening, praying, and serving where the Lord had called me. It was challenging, awful, inspiring, and exhausting.

I suppose that is why I love the prison stories in the Scriptures. One of the most dramatic stories is found in the book of Acts. Paul and Silas found themselves thrown in prison in Rome because they deprived slave owners of their potential income. You see, these men owned a slave who was a psychic and made money for them by telling fortunes. When Paul cast the demon from her, they lost their income, so they had Paul and Silas beaten and arrested for disturbing the peace.

What happens next is a Netflix-worthy sequence of events. They spent the night singing hymns and praying, and then God caused an earthquake to open up all the jail doors. The poor jailer woke up, and thinking they had all escaped, almost took his own life. But Paul prevented this and the jailer took them to his home to tell his family about the Lord.

Acts 16:31-33

“Then Paul and Silas told him and everyone else in his house about the Lord. While it was still night, the jailer took them to a place where he could wash their cuts and bruises. Then he and everyone in his home were baptized. They were very glad that they had put their faith in God. After this, the jailer took Paul and Silas to his home and gave them something to eat.”

It strikes me that perhaps the jailer had been the most imprisoned of them all. His lack of faith was a prison. His fear of reprisal by his superiors to the extent that he would kill himself rather than be killed was a jail. The entire oppressive Roman system was a jail. But Christ set him free.

How about you this morning? Are you free? We have a tendency to lock ourselves in prisons of our own making, especially if you are a grudge holder. Grudge holders can live in a bleak cell of self-grudge-righteousness that is a very dark stronghold. It manifests itself in the constant replaying of the injury or betrayal that led to the grudge’s formation. The tape plays over and over in the grudge holder’s mind in a continuous loop, at the expense of joy and peace. And worse yet, the person who caused the harm has most likely moved on and hasn’t given you a second thought.

A former Nazi prison camp survivor named Corrie Ten Boom once said,

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.“

God can open any prison door if we just let him. He longs to set you free from yourself. The message today is to be like Paul and Silas, and sing and pray yourself out of your jail. Our communion liturgy reminds us of this truth:

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Spirit anointed him
       to preach good news to the poor,
      to proclaim release to the captives
          and recovering of sight to the blind,
       to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
       and to announce that the time had come
          when you would save your people.

The time has come. Set us free, King Jesus.

Dreaming of Freedom

One Size Fits All

Posted on by Betsy

If you have been around for a while and have been wearing clothes while you’ve been around, you may have noticed a marketing trend called “Vanity Sizing.” This is a practice by clothing manufacturers where clothing sizes are being redesigned to fit an ever expanding national waistline. People are getting taller and wider, and the response to this is that clothing sizes are getting smaller. That would seem to be a paradox, but think about what size you wore ten to twenty years ago compared to now.

I found a favorite wool dirndl skirt in our attic when we moved several years ago. It had been my go-to skirt in college. I added a maroon turtleneck sweater, a wide belt and a pair of boots and I was ready for anything. I tried it on, knowing there was no way it would fit. It cut through my waist like a garrote as I tried to force the button into the hole. Nope, goodbye dirndl skirt. You did not spark joy! As I tossed it into the thrift store pile, I glanced at the label. It was four sizes larger than the size I am currently wearing, and I couldn’t get it on.

And to make things more confusing, each manufacturer targets its median size toward a different customer. Ann Taylor’s median woman is much different than American Eagle’s median customer. So you might be a comfortable 4 in Ann and find that you will need a 6 or 8 with the Eagle. Men’s wear has undergone the same changes; a pair of size 36 jeans at Old Navy actually measures a 41 inch waistband.

Vanity indeed! They have figured out that if we can buy a size or two smaller at their store, we will return. You got me, Ann.

Vanity, or the practice of focusing on worthless things, is nothing new. See what the writer of Ecclesiastes has to say about the vanity of his day:

Ecclesiastes 1 (New King James Version (NKJV)

The Vanity of Life

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

3 What profit has a man from all his labor

In which he toils under the sun?

4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes;

But the earth abides forever.

5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,

And hastens to the place where it arose.

6 The wind goes toward the south,

And turns around to the north;

The wind whirls about continually,

And comes again on its circuit.

7 All the rivers run into the sea,

Yet the sea is not full;

To the place from which the rivers come,

There they return again.

8 All things are full of labor;

Man cannot express it.

The eye is not satisfied with seeing,

Nor the ear filled with hearing.

9 That which has been is what will be,

That which is done is what will be done,

And there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which it may be said,

“See, this is new”?

It has already been in ancient times before us.

11 There is no remembrance of former things,

Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come

By those who will come after.

Doesn’t that just cheer you right the heck up? Geez. But there is so much truth in it. Everything, and I mean everything, fades to nothing. You work hard all your life, and then your generation passes away and is replaced. The sun and the rivers remain, but for the rest of us, there is nothing new under the sun. So let this be our take-away this morning: it doesn’t matter what the number is on the label of your jeans. It doesn’t matter if you need to lose ten pounds or gain ten pounds. It doesn’t matter what you will wear today, so why worry?

What matters, what lasts, what is NOT vanity, is the one-size-fits-all love of God. Putting that on every morning will fit you for today and the rest of your life, until you reach your eternal destination. The rest? It’s all small stuff. Don’t sweat it.

One-size-fits-all love: it’s what all the cool kids are wearing.

Pretty in Pink

Open Dialogue

Posted on by Betsy

In its best form, prayer is simply an ongoing communication with a heavenly parent who simply adores you and can’t wait to talk to you about every little thing. Somehow we have twisted prayer into a set of rubrics (“Do the A.C.T.S. of Prayer!”), a florid flood of flowery, flowing words (“I don’t pray out loud because I can’t pray like the preacher does every Sunday”), or rote repetition (when was the last time you really, truly thought about the words of the Lord’s Prayer?) It’s just not that complicated, people. Prayer is just talking.

I am a big advocate of the open dialogue that runs between God and his people when we set aside our preconceptions about prayer and just talk. When you practice open dialogue, it’s like you have your earbuds in, your speaker button on, and you just yak away. Talking to God like this throughout the day is a wonderful way to be in his presence. You can dialogue through your morning coffee and share your anticipations and concerns about the day. As you go about your work, dialogue about the traffic, your co-workers, assignments that are due, tasks you are worried about…you get the idea.

I practice this form of open dialogue prayer. I am sure I look like a mad woman driving down the road with my mouth flapping. About ten times a day I ask Jesus to take the wheel, and not just on the bypass. And if you pass me while I am running, you are likely to hear my constant prayer: “Lord, get me up this hill!”

Take a look at this wonderful nugget from the book of Ephesians. See how many times the words “all” and “always” are used:

Ephesians 6:18

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 

Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”

All occasions. All kinds of prayers. Al-ways keep on praying. All the Lord’s people.

Kinda makes you think that we should be praying all the time, always!

I love that Paul adds a personal prayer request at the end. Yes, Paul! He is showing us that we should feel free to ask other people to pray for us. His prayer request for fearlessness in sharing the gospel is a request we all can make. Lord, make us fearless when we talk about you! Make us fearless when we come to you! Make us fearless when we pray!

So open the dialogue and start talking. God is so ready to hear from his kids. You can tell him anything you want, and he will listen.

And he will always get you up that hill.

The Hill He Got Me Up

Delighting God

Posted on by Betsy

If you have ever stood outside and watched the sunset on a clear evening, you have likely seen God’s artistry at its finest. I have never seen the Northern Lights, but the sun setting over the Albemarle Sound is a masterpiece of color, technique, and artistry unlike anywhere else. We are so blessed in the Outer Banks to behold such beauty on a nightly schedule. I can imagine God with a palette and paintbrush, deciding which colors he will use each night to delight his children. Will it be lavender tonight? Rose with splashes of burnt orange? His palette is infinite, just like his love.

What would we give, if we were to return the favor? Ever wonder what would delight God? What does God want from us that would give him the immense pleasure we get from a full-color sunset?

Psalm 147 New International Version (NIV)

1 Praise the Lord.

How good it is to sing praises to our God,

    how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

    he gathers the exiles of Israel.

3 He heals the brokenhearted

    and binds up their wounds.

4 He determines the number of the stars

    and calls them each by name.

5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

    his understanding has no limit.

6 The Lord sustains the humble

    but casts the wicked to the ground.

7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;

    make music to our God on the harp.

8 He covers the sky with clouds;

    he supplies the earth with rain

    and makes grass grow on the hills.

9 He provides food for the cattle

    and for the young ravens when they call.

10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,

    nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;

11 the Lord delights in those who fear him,

    who put their hope in his unfailing love.

God delights in those who fear him. I learned in seminary that the word ‘fear’ in such cases is not the same as being afraid or terrified. No, indeed, this use of fear refers to “reverential trust.” God delights in those who have a reverential trust in him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. When you come straight to him for everything, it brings him delight.

You are God’s delight! Imagine that.

This Scripture reminds us that we paint our own sunsets of beauty for God whenever we sing to the Lord with grateful praise. In this sense, though, it is not literal singing, but leading a life of grateful praise. Serving one another as Jesus did, being generous to a fault, taking second place, praying without ceasing, encouraging the downtrodden … each of these things paints a beautiful scene for God to behold. And in those things, he is delighted.

A man approached me a while back in a store parking lot. He was gentle and apologetic. He only spoke enough English to say, “Sorry.” He indicated the grocery store from which I had just come and said, “Sorry (followed by a lot of Spanish) taco.” Taco may be the only word he knows for food, and his humility in saying sorry repeatedly touched my heart. When he opened his hand and pointed to a few coins and said, “one dollar,” I realized he was asking for money. One dollar.

One dollar won’t buy you a taco in this part of America, so I gave him a ten.

His eyes welled up and his head dropped in gratitude as he quietly and profusely thanked me. I don’t know if he went off to buy baby formula or beer, but as I put my cart away, I saw him walking into Publix with his head held high, and I saw God’s artistry in that moment.

Where are you being called to delight God today? Can you be generous? Encourage someone who is down? Pray for a hurting neighbor? Take a casserole to a lonely person?

Go ahead. Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Live out your life of grateful praise by painting something beautiful with your actions.

God will be absolutely delighted.

Sunset Path

The Good Gate

Posted on by Betsy

I had spotted her at events we both are required to attend, and felt her discomfort. An episode in our past that involved her adult son but did not directly involve either one of us had created an awkward and uneasy divide. I don’t know how she had processed what happened, but I know we both have felt pain and discomfort since.

I spotted her again at a recent event and knew I had to approach her. I suppose I will never know how it felt on her end, but I felt the strong leading of the Holy Spirit to “break the ice” and hopefully make it so that when we encounter each other again, we can nod and say good morning rather than circle the room to avoid each other.

I cannot say it was a break-through moment. I could feel her body stiffen up as I approached her. I said good morning, asked her how she was, and let her know I was praying for her family. Her responses were polite and minimal, making me fear that my “drive-by compassion” had really caught her off guard and did nothing to bridge the awkwardness as I had hoped it would. Worse, I fear I may have caused her pain by speaking to her, something completely opposite of what I was hoping to do.

So then I did what we all do in that moment. I began to question whose leading I was truly following by approaching her….God’s, or mine?

I had a mom in my office last week who expressed the same confusion. Praying for her son for a very specific resolution of an issue had led her to believe that a situation would be resolved in one particular way. When that did not transpire, she naturally began to question whether she was hearing God’s voice or her own as she prayed.

God speaks to us in ways that we do not communicate with others. His Spirit speaks to our spirit and we “hear” what he is saying….but only if we are tuned in with fine precision. This requires spending a lot of time in his presence, so that the voice becomes clearer with each encounter. We tune in every time we pray, serve, worship, meditate, fellowship and sit with his word.

John 10 The Message (MSG)

He Calls His Sheep by Name

10 1-5 “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”

6-10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

14-18 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd.”

Recognizing God’s voice in the cacophony of all the sounds swirling in our minds and hearts takes practice, discernment and the constant abiding in God’s Word, God’s will and his presence. The good news is that he loves his sheep. All of his sheep. He is constantly calling, cajoling, rebuking, correcting, wooing, comforting, directing, and saying words of caring to us.

Are you trying to hear God today? Tune in, stay tuned, adjust your dial, and wait. The Good Shepherd is calling.

The Gate

One Thing

Posted on by Betsy

Do you use a to-do list to organize your day’s tasks? I do. Granted, sometimes it turns our to be nothing more than a nagging wish list, but it can help me damper some of my anxiety about having too much to do, it gives me some structure and a plan, and the best part is that at the end of the day I have proof that I did accomplish something. Sometimes I even add something I did just so I can cross it off.

The problem with to-do lists is that they are just that: a list of tasks rather than a focus on just one thing. What would our day look like if we just committed to doing one thing? Could we ever achieve the single-mindedness of a dog looking for her dinner? Now that’s focus!

It would behoove us to think about people, things, and activities around us that derail our energy and dampen our motivation. Think about the things that take you away in a distracting spiral. What would be on your list? Online shopping, checking emails and social media, texting a friend with some juicy gossip, getting lost when you just turn on the news for a moment … all these things are life-draining.

What one thing does God desire of us and for us?

In Luke 18:22, Jesus made it pretty simple: “When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing…come, follow Me.”

Paul reminded us that focusing on one thing meant forgoing the past: “Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3: 13-14).

Surely following Jesus by reaching toward his call on our lives is more important than anything else on our to-do list that distracts us.

Have you written your to-do list for today? Throw it out and replace it with this one thing: Follow Jesus today.

Single-Minded Jellyfish

Do Not Disturb

Posted on by Betsy

Kids really do say the darnedest things.

We took our grandkids to LEGOLAND in Florida while their mother started school a week before they did. This has been our family tradition for four years now. We stay in a large room with a kid side with bunkbeds and an adult side with a big bed. The kid side is near the door.

We showed them how we put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door at night to let housekeeping know in the morning that we are still inside. After the first night, the oldest came to us with a major complaint; nobody had obeyed the sign. At first I thought housekeeping had knocked early in the morning and we didn’t hear it from our side of the room but he want on to explain that all night long he could hear kids running up and down the halls and being noisy. “They did not obey our DO NOT DISTURB sign!!’

Oh, my. If only it was that easy.

Do you ever wish you could hang a big Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob of your life?

I think we’re disturbed all the time. We are disturbed by the cacophony of the upcoming mid-term elections, election tampering, threats to our democracy, mudslinging political ads, and outright bullying, forgetting that God honors truth and fairness among his children.

We are disturbed by the horrific images of mistreatment of vulnerable immigrants, forgetting that we, too, were once slaves in Egypt and that God so loved the entire world that he sent his son to save the entire world, not just a select few.

We are disturbed by the despicable actions of seven entitled frat boys who viciously helped themselves to a young woman’s unconscious body, forgetting that all people are made in the image of God. Even women.

We are disturbed by seeing evidence of pollution and climate change that are destroying our world, forgetting that it was God who created this beautiful earth for the benefit of all humanity, trusting us with its care and stewardship.

We are disturbed by the thoughtless, careless, biting and wounding words slung like fiery arrows on social media, forgetting that Scripture teaches us to tame our tongues.

We are disturbed.

During David’s reign, the Sons of Korah served as a liturgical choir, expressing the distress of being disturbed by their circumstances. They wrote and sang this psalm with the calm reassurance that even in the darkest moments, God is still our saving presence:

Psalm 42 ( Common English Bible)

Just like a deer that craves streams of water,
 my whole being craves you, God.

2 My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see God’s face?
3 My tears have been my food both day and night,
as people constantly questioned me,
Where’s your God now?”

4 But I remember these things as I bare my soul:
how I made my way to the mighty one’s abode,
to God’s own house,
with joyous shouts and thanksgiving songs—
a huge crowd celebrating the festival!

5 Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed?
 Why are you so upset inside?

Hope in God!
Because I will again give him thanks,
my saving presence and my God.

Hope in God. It is all we can do. And God never, ever fails.

Sunset after the Nor’ Easter

Firm Foundations

Posted on by Betsy

Since 2020, more than 31 ocean front houses have fallen into the Atlantic Ocean in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore area in North Carolina. These beautiful beach cottages had stood in place for decades, built when the coastline was many blocks away and the strong dunes covered in protective woven sea grasses and oats blocked the water from eroding the shoreline. But time and tide slowly encroached and one by one, each stilted house fell off its water-worn pilings and drifted away into the ocean. Coastal erosion, shifting barrier island sand, and rapid sea-level rise all contributed to the problem. The scenes were tragic, as Outer Bankers scrambled to save their neighbors’ homes with sand bag upon sand bag, and then attempted to save their neighbors’ possessions by carrying pictures, lamps, and scrapbooks down rickety ladders that were perched under the windows of the walls of the house. 

Jesus’ words in in Luke 6:48-49 warn of the devastation that can happen when the foundation of our faith is weak and unstable, unable to withstand the floodwaters of our secular society because we didn’t heed his words and put them into practice.

Luke 6 (Common English Bible)

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and don’t do what I say? 47 I’ll show what it’s like when someone comes to me, hears my words, and puts them into practice. 48 It’s like a person building a house by digging deep and laying the foundation on bedrock. When the flood came, the rising water smashed against that house, but the water couldn’t shake the house because it was well built. 49 But those who don’t put into practice what they hear are like a person who built a house without a foundation. The floodwater smashed against it and it collapsed instantly. It was completely destroyed.”

Jesus is blunt in his statement: Why do you call me Lord and then don’t do what I say? Why, indeed! His story about the two houses and what actually lay beneath each one is striking. From the outside, these houses looked alike. But one was built on a firm foundation of bedrock that had been dug deep. We have to pause there to realize that firm foundations come with hard work. Digging all the way to bedrock was no easy task. But the payoff was huge; when the floodwaters came, the house stood unshaken because it was well built.

Woe unto the man who built his house right on the sand without a foundation! It easily collapsed and was completely destroyed in the storm.

So it is with us. When we build our lives upon the firm foundation that is Jesus Christ, we can weather all the storms that come our way. Tragedy, illness, sudden death, betrayal, loss, divorce, addiction … every threatening situation is better withstood when we have our lives firmly planted on Jesus’ shoulders. When we build that same life on the whims and promises of a shallow, groundless secular world, all will be lost with the first breath of an impending gale. If we spend our lives pursuing the temporary pleasures of wealth, attraction, power, status, and greed, we have squandered our time and energy on things that can’t possibly last. The real foundation of life is usually hidden and can only be proven in a storm. By then it is too late if your foundation is weak.

What are you building your life on? Jesus is clear here; doing what he commands is our only sure foundation. We discover this by taking verse 47 seriously: “I’ll show what it’s like when someone comes to me, hears my words, and puts them into practice.”

Come.

Hear.

Do.

May we hit a bedrock of faith as we dig deeper into the life-giving teachings of our Lord.

Take Shelter by Michelle Robertson

Panting For God

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever experienced a season that felt spiritually dry? We all experience seasons of dryness, times when we feel abandoned by God and isolated from his blessings. There is no shame in feeling that God isn’t hearing your distress or answering your prayers. Today’s psalm teaches us that everyone feels that way at one point or another. Situations like illness, death of a loved one, betrayal, financial insecurity, divorce, addiction, rebellious children … life is full of times when we look to God for an easy out and are met with silence. The question that our Scripture asks today is how can we get through those periods of dryness when they occur? How can we survive when our extreme thirst for God’s presence is not being satisfied?

Psalm 42 (New International Version)

As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

6 My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

8 By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me—
    a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Let’s start by talking about hydration, a necessary part of living, especially in the hot summer months. We know from science that the body is made up of about 60% water. Water is essential for health and is necessary for keeping the body running smoothly. It regulates temperature, assists cellular function, and is the primary source of waste removal. Your brain and your heart are about 73% water, your lungs are 83% water, your skin is about 64% water, and your muscles and kidneys are about 79% water. All parts of the body need water to work properly, and so drinking water is necessary for life.

I am a fan of shows like the History Channel’s Alone, where survivalists are dropped into wilderness areas and have to survive extreme conditions like below zero temperatures, lack of food and shelter, and loneliness. One of the first things they do when they are dropped off is to seek clean, drinkable water. Did you know that the body can survive for one to two months without food (except teenage boys … for them it’s much shorter) but can only survive for 3 days without water? The contestants immediately construct a temporary shelter and then go out to collect and boil water from streams, snow, and rainfall. Water is essential for life.

I think the teaching points from this passage boil down to three important concepts. First, this is a gut-wrenchingly honest lament. The psalmist pulled no punches here in his deep despair over his circumstance. I wrote a devotional about this last month when we read from the Book of Ruth. Naomi found herself without a husband or sons and returned to Bethlehem with a new name. She called herself Mara because of the bitterness of her situation. Both Naomi and the writer of Psalm 42 are great examples of people who handled their tragic situation with raw honesty. You will never get better unless you are honest about your situation.

The second teaching point from this passage is an encouragement to do some self-care by doing some self-talk. “Why are you so downcast?” the psalmist asks himself three times in this passage. Admitting the truth to yourself is essential for moving out of any state of being downcast. We call this “preaching to your own soul” and pretty much every Sunday, you can get an idea of the elements of preaching. A good preacher will ask you questions and then use Scripture to answer those questions. Those Scriptures help you reframe your focus and return to what God is saying to you. Preaching to your soul helps you come back to a ground zero of God’s unconditional love for you and his abiding presence in your situation, even when you can’t feel it. It’s very important to remember who you are, and whose you are.

And finally, the psalmist encourages us to choose hope. 

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Hope is a choice, my brothers and sisters. Hope is when we look up from being downcast and stand solidly on God’s promises. Hope is when we sit in an ash heap and count our blessings. The psalmist gives us permission to say, “This is the worst thing ever! And yet I will praise him!” No matter how hopeless and dark things can seem, there is always an “And yet” choice to make. We can refocus on God’s goodness instead of our despair in any dry season. 

Jesus invites all who thirst to come to him. He is the Living Water flowing freely from the heart of God. Come, and drink.

As the Zebra Pants for Streams of Water