136 - "Attend To God's Motions Both in His Providence and Influences" 1 Chronicles 14-16

"As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move out to battle, because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.”  So David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army. 1 Chron 14:15

It would seem beautiful to know that all we had to do was listen to the tops of the poplar trees.  God calls us all to faith, not sight.  Even in this text.  What did David do?  He inquired of God about the attacking Philistine army.  May that direct us in all our ways to acknowledge Him who directs our paths, our every step.  "In distress, fly to Him; when wronged appeal to Him; and when we know not what to do, ask counsel at His oracles to put ourselves under His direction and beg of Him to show us the right way."  Matthew Henry.

And may the sound in the tops of the going in the tops of the mulberry trees, direct us "to attend to God's motions both in His Providence and in the influences of His Spirit." 

PHOTO:  Tracer, the future generation.  Walking with a past generation.  His Pops in Spring 2023.                  No matter what you come against, may you depend on God Alone.  Your dad and mom did when they first met you at 3 small pounds. Against the odds.  Here you are!  God bless!  

135 - "Wait Patiently for the Lord" 1 Chronicles 11-13

This is the view out of my window

at the high school where I teach.

Seems like I'm waiting on some things to happen,

or am I waiting on God?

Thinking this night of fishermen and shepherds

who were doing what they were called to do.

Waiting on God, not on circumstances to change.

I Chron 11:3 ~ The elders of Israel came to David.  Samuel had prophesied a long time ago that David would be king.  David waited on no man to move.  David waited on God.  They crowned him at just the right time in history.  Tonight, I asked a friend about what God could possibly be doing in my life.  Her response staggered me.  Just trust in the pain.  How can we figure out God and what He is up to.  Love the truth that David lived in the present moment, not trying to figure out the best position to become a king.  Oh God, help us all find You this present hour.  

PRAYER FROM PSALMS

Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way or even because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.  Rest, Bev.  God is doing you good through even t.h.i.s.  Help me, God, to see things from your perspective.  Psalm 37:7

134 - "I Want To Be Greater Than David" 1 Chronicles 8-10

The valiant men stripped Saul of his head and armor. I Chronicles 10:8.  On a mount separating two unfriendly regions. And Saul's body is hung on the fence.  No more breath. I stood there on Mount Gilboa where you can see as far as the eye stretches both east and west. They chose that spot so that both directions could see Saul was dead. I stood at the spot where they hung Saul's body. And I so wondered as I stood there what it would have been like to have a father-in-law that wreaked so much havoc on you; and I wondered what it was like to live in those days.  Did they struggle with being invisible or independent.  Did they try to manage their lives to just make things work.  And the words of Saul haunt me---you remember the dancing in the street party where the women sang to Saul and he contemplated:  "They have ascribed unto David ten thousands but to me they have ascribed thousands."  I Sam 18:6-9.  From that day and forward to his very death, Saul never dealt with what really went on in his own soul.  May I deal this day with these misgivings that plague me. I struggle with everyone having a place, a space, an ace in the hold.  Things are not that tidy for me.  May we be a people known for surrender.  May I repent of anything that is not dependence on my Lord. 

I wrestle today, my LORD, with this mantra of Saul. Someone I trusted with my heart once told me: We will see who is right by the results of your life and church growth. I didn't think it was right then nor now. We are here for your glory, not numbers and prestige. Saul wanted to be somebody better and greater than David.  Father, help me to put on the full armor of God not just a shiny armor of protection.  Clothe me in this chink that I may learn to think better than this.  Thank you for detaching us from anything that makes us want to look for credit and praise for ourselves. 

PHOTO:  Reminds me of Mount Gilboa where you could see forever.  Something contemplative about miles and miles.  Something going on in my heart where I feel invisible and have found Something far better and I was looking for the wrong thing. 

133 - "For What Do I Wait?" 1 Chronicles 6-7

It's terribly Quiet here at the Quarries.

For what do I wait this night?

Psalm 39:7

Do I wait for things to turn around?

I'm at the Hyde Park Track Banquet setting things up for the season awards.  By myself.

I am feeling worse as days progress.  

I hit an all-time low today with this job. 

Here is the tribe of Levi in today's reading. I Chron 6:1. It's a long chronicled list.  Here are names we recognize astonishingly with such respect:  

Aaron and Moses---instruments in God's Hand to deliver Israel.  Faith.  Forbearance.  Foreshadowing.  Moses the Prophet.  

Aaron the Priest.  And we know them.  

And they are right next to Abihu and Nadab in the genealogy---your remember the terror they brought, the very strange fire. 

One rebuilt the temple and lived for God; the other tried to rebuild their lives---and lived for themselves.   "Devote your first energies to rebuilding the temple, not your lives." 66LL.   To the exiled but still proud community in this list, God underlined sin.  To the restored but discouraged community in this list, God aroused hope.  66LL.  

That's it, God.  Arouse my hope.  I have it. 

We come down so hard on ourselves for being discouraged, but I wonder if the real question is this---do we have hope this day?  

We are no longer exiles. 

We are living in hope. Delivered. Adopted. Beloved. 

PHOTO: These two girls. Megan and Hannah have meant so much to me over their high school career.  We are all letters written not with ink but with heart. 1 Cor 3:2.  As the ink dries on this track season, may God pass on things from our lives that matter for Eternity.

132 - "The Fabric Rose; The Fabric Tugged" 1 Chronicles 3-5

132 The fabric of the Temple was all built in silence. No hammers. No chisels. No iron tools. it Rose like an "exaltation"---so we too live our lives in quiet and confidence. #talkingtomyself

The Temple was built in silence. 
No hammers | No chisels | No iron tools were heard.

I Kings 6:7.
It rose like an "exhalation," says one commentary.

"No hammer fell, no ponderous axes rung.
Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung." Reginald Heber

The fabric rose in silence in the Old Testament. I Kings 6:7.

The fabric of the Sanctuary - roof, walls, floor. 
The fabric tugged in silence in the New Testament. Mark 5:27.

The fabric of the Savior Himself - his robe. 

We are to live out our lives in quietness and in confidence. Isaiah 30:15.
Thy Kingdom Come. 

Never an Observer. Always a Participator.

But that still small Voice.
The One we hear behind us, saying, this is the way. Walk in it.

And the commentary speaks to me:  "Don't mistake notoriety for spiritual progress."                                  The Kingdom went unnoticed by the Caesars and the philosophers of the day.                                                       The commentator said it grew silently like a baby in the womb, unheard, unnoticed, unknown.                   But this New Kingdom.  

Changes people 

in degrees, 

radically, 

publicly, 

inches. 

This new humanity was not so sudden.

“Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you." No better thought. No better plan.

PHOTO:  I have tugged at His fabric for as long as I can remember.  Even as a Catholic school girl.  Sacred Heart was my first invitation to the Savior.  But the real tug came when I was in my junior year at LSU and wild as the winds of a tornado.  I knew there had to be more.  A whole lot more than what I was experiencing.  And I found Him. And I turned to a whole new life. And I raised up a generation of kids offering them the Truth I found. Trying to live it out my troubled past before them every day. This is a grandkid.

131 - "This *One Thing* Made Him Fall" 1 Kings 3-4

He loved the LORD, only this...
Can it be said of us. Only but this one thing. I Kings 3:3.

Let's lay aside that "only" one thing and run the race before us.

Solomon knew that God showed great favor to his father, David.

"Ask what I shall give you."  I Kings 3:5.
"Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” I Kings 3:9

This pleased the LORD that Solomon didn't ask for himself but for his calling. 
May this very day, we see through what "only" we can do.

And David ends with a prayer for Solomon. Psalm 72:6. May he be like rain falling on the fresh mown grass. An answer to the drought in so many lives.  

Father, cause us to live like rain failling on a parched land.  Empower us today with the Energy that stirs so powerfully within.

PHOTO:  It's rain.  Falling in the Hill Country.  Let Him fall all over me. 

130 - "Deal With What Is Happening In Your Own Soul" 2 Kings 23-25

130 All we can deal with is what is happening in our own soul. We can lead people but we cannot make them follow God, not even our own children.  We lay them in the lap of our LORD.  We can invite, intrigue, engage, entertain in sober ways what is holy and what counts in life.  

                                                                

The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord

to walk after the Lord, and

to keep His commandments and His testimonies, 

and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul

to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book.

 II Kings 23:3.  

And all the people entered into the covenant.  King Josiah had just heard from his God that he could not stop the ruin of Jerusalem.  All we can deal with is what is happening in our own soul. We can lead people but we cannot make them follow God, not even our own children.  We lay them in the lap of our LORD.  We can invite, intrigue, engage, entertain in sober ways what is holy and what counts in life.  Josiah led his people to abolish idolatry, serve God in righteous living, find true repentance.  Many of those he led were compliant hypocrites who will stand before God, alone.  While Josiah could rein in the wickedness, he couldn't change their very souls.  

Judah and Jerusalem overflowed with wickedness. Would our forefathers have thought that America could do the same and evolve into such an evil place?  I grew up with broken people who never locked their doors, fearing no break-ins.  No more.  We all live behind bars and locks and gates.  In Josiah's 18 years of exemplary service, he lived from a humbled heart.  Yet, he could not change his nation.  "The records of God's word teach that all the real godliness or goodness ever found on earth is derived from the new-creating Spirit of Jesus Christ." M.Henry

Through Passion and Passover, revival broke out under the good hand of Josiah. The Mighty Hand of God.  God rained on them His Presence, His Favor.  Josiah must have been beside himself.  But, it only lasted until the traitors cut off the life of Josiah to raise up the next king.  Evil reigns again.  And the point of the passage is t.h.i.s. ~ We must take care of our own souls to stand next to the pillars in our own lives, make a covenant, keep His Word, carry out His Words. And when we can't; when we don't; when we won't, take care of your soul and repent under the Holy Hand of a very Good God Who is always doing us good. Colossians 1:29. 

God of Jacob, such is the generation of those who seek your Face not your Hand.
May we be a generation of people who deal with what stirs in our own soul.
May we seek your Face not our own ambition, safety, personal peace.
May our decisions never be made apart from Your Face.
Psalm 24:6

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. 2 Kings 23:16

Never before or after---a king like him---yet his own son, Jehoahaz, could not be influenced.  I remember telling words about a decade ago spoken to me in angst.  "We will see who was right by the size of your ministry."  I didn't believe it then.  I don't believe it now.  Josiah's own son couldn't be swayed by the strongest of kings.  We will all individually give account to God for our lives not for how our sons and daughters and followers turn out. 

129 - "Cut Me Off From the Wild Olive" 2 Kings 21-22

He was only 8 years old when he began to reign...and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. 2 Kings 22:1. He was a mere child who inherited a wicked rule. He had nothing to do with the state of affairs. He had everything to do with Kingdom affairs. "Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left." 2 Kings 22:2. It's my prayer for our children. God did for this child king: Romans 11:24 God cut him off from the wild olive and grafted him into the good olive. Nothing is too hard for that Grace to do." Josiah walked the narrow middle road. He took care to repair the temple. He took care to watch and wait in the Word of God. 

Oh Father, start with me. Cut me off from the wild olive. Graft us in today. May we take deep care to the place where we have been called. May we wait in Your Word this day, always!

PHOTO:  Narrow Paths.  May we find that narrow path, the walk of life and truth and love and God.  Thinking this day about doing what is right in the eyes of God.  Thinking about being grafted into the good narrow path.  

128 -- "Spread Your Dilemma Before The Lord" 2 Kings 18-20

 

This picture of Hezekiah going to God with his problems is cemented in my heart. 2 Kings 19:14. I'll go looking for Hezekiah in heaven to tell him just how much his story of spreading his problems before God's Eyes meant to me over my lifetime.  I've smoothed out sheets and asked God to sit in the hospital bed next to me.  I've smoothed out paper and invited Him to write a different script.  I've smoothed out sin-sick souls and sat next to them and wept.  Whatever we face, spread it before the One Who is the Author of all.  Isaiah 37:14 - Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:  “O Lord of hosts, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see..."

Spreading before the LORD what concerns us this very day. Oh God, incline your ear.

Romans 5:3-5 Rejoice in Suffering...How do you do that?
And God moves...
Endurance
Character
Hope 
Love poured into our hearts.

PHOTO: California. Whether cemented in splendor or surreal or surprise or senseless, spread it out before the Lord.

127 - "They Practiced Secrets Not Surrender" 2 Kings 16-17

We can appear religious and be far from it.  "Even though the Israelites were worshipping God, they were far from God. They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger." 2 Kings 17:16-17

These Israelites were dead serious!  

Reminds me of today's suicide bombers with ISIS.

Selling themselves.

Sacrificing their sons and daughters.

Oh my!

The Israelites followed kings not the King. 

They became faithless not full of faith.
They practiced secrets not surrender/

"And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right."  2 Chron 17

2 Chronicles 28:3 Infamous Ahaz —incredibly! indulged in the outrageous practice of "passing his sons through the fire."  That is unbelievable.  Verse 19 says:  Arrogant King Ahaz, acting as if he could do without God's help, had unleashed an epidemic of depravity. I have been thinking a lot about our moral choices.  We read the Charity chapter in Mere Christianity in class on Friday.  When I led the discussion, one student responded that Lewis' words proved "love is a choice."  But we must always allow God to reveal the motives and intentions of our hearts as we love.  Sin is way more than just making a wrong choice to not love or do the wrong thing.  

It brings to mind a quote from Crabb:  "Sin is more than wrong choices, more than bad behavior, more than wrong understanding.  And it is not a reaction to felt need that deserves tender compassion and patience.  Sin cannot be explained, but it can be defined.  Sin is defiantly walking past the living water God provides in relationship with Himself and proudly digging wells with one's own resources in the futile and foolish hope of providing for oneself the water needed for a meaningful and secure life."  Jeremiah 2:9 -13

John Piper calls it "sweet idolatries in which the longing heart embraces the wrong satsifaction."  What are my deep satisfactions this night?  Is it my children responding right to me?  Is it my husband not "missing" me?  Is it my friends responding like I want them to?  Is it my God coming through for me?  What do I most want?

PHOTO:  The Hill Country of Texas. 

126 - "In the Midst of Evil Times, God's Plan Is Moving Ahead" 2 Kings 14-15

                                                             

These kings in their palaces!  Ruthless.  Out-of-control.  Massive murderers.  

Yet, they did exactly what they wanted to do.  I just read a quote from C.S. Lewis:  "In each of us, there is something growing up which will of itself be Hell unless it is nipped in the bud.  It's not a question of God 'sending' us to hell.

Such a telling thought to throw a woman out of the window to her death.  God moves and works in ways we don't understand.  Wondering what they thought of this story in that day?  Wondering what we think of this forcible forthright dealing with sinful natures.

May we not take lightly the things we do.

2 Kings 15:1 - What is it that these kings continually failed to get rid of the sex-and-religion shrines that were popular with the people...wonder what these kings wanted more than the love of their God---their own popularity?? 

II Kings 15:16 - Menahem ripped open the pregnant women because the town didn't welcome him with open arms. They even indulged in outrageous practices of  burning their own children. 
These are really bad people..."all kinds of things on the sly."  "They threw out everything their God had told them." "They prostituted themselves to every kind of evil available."  In a lot of ways, it sounds familiar in some respects in our own country.  How incredibly sad! 

All I keep thinking about is the quote from 66 LL that says that in the midst of evil times, God's Plan is moving ahead.  "Above all else, seek to know Me better and represent Me well in every circumstance, no matter how you feel...You must understand the deceptive nature of evil.  [Evil today doesn't rear its head in outrageous practices in most Christian lives---it's more the deceptive evil that leads us astray. I will not be about burning my children but there's still cancer in my soul.)  Evil hides itself and does its destructive work slowly, beneath the disease of necessity, reasonableness, efficiency, pragmatism, even morality, even goodness."  So what is evil about my necessity, my efficiency, my morality, my goodness?  Praise God HE will show us this very day where we are out of His Will.  "I have a Plan to restore the Beauty of Eden, to create a community of men and women who live their lives in rhythm with My Holiness, who dance with Me into joy."  HE is a Beautiful God in charge and HE chose you!

PHOTO: A Castle. Courtesy of The Commons. 

125 - "Sin Cannot Remain Unchecked Unadmitted Unchanged" 2 Kings 11-13

We may not be able to break into social circles,
but always remember that your relationship with Christ places you
in the most important position you could ever have.

Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared." 2 Kings 13:17.

But there are so many sad tales in 2 Kings.  So many evil kings.  Like Jehoram, who yielded to the force of evil within him.  And then Manasseh, one of the most evil and longest-reigning kings of Judah.  God's love outlasted his hate. Manasseh turned back to God.  Sin in our hearts to this day cannot remain "unchecked, unadmitted, unforgiven, and unchanged."  Oh Judah! How lonely sits that city!

PHOTO:    Peering out of an airplane window at a summer sunrise.  Hard to believe we can live without thinking about God our Creator and what that means for how we spend our lives.  Hard to believe there is so much wrong with what we are doing.  Hard to believe "It's Me" is the problem.   

124 - "Something Growing Up In Each of Us" 2 Kings 9-10

 

These kings!  Ruthless.  Out-of-control.  Massive murderers.  Yet, they did exactly what they wanted to do.  I just read a quote from C.S. Lewis:  "In each of us, there is something growing up which will of itself be Hell unless it is nipped in the bud.  It's not a question of God 'sending' us to hell."

It's all about who we make covenants with.  2 Kings 11:17 "Jehoiada then made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people that they would be the Lord’s people. He smashed the altars and idols to pieces.  And the whole town became calm.  

May righteousness stir within us all. 

Jezebell asked the question to Elijah in 2 Kings 9 and so did others:  "Have you come in peace?"

Elijah didn't answer them, the perpetrators of evil.  He let them be. Had no mercy on their wicked ways.  

Such a telling thought to throw a woman out of the window to her death.  God moves and works in ways we don't understand.  Wondering what they thought of this story in that day?  Wondering what we think of this forcible forthright dealing with sinful natures.

May we not take lightly the things we do.  

Maybe, we think that we are doing all the right things.

Ministering.  Missional.  Madmen. 

How do we know we are right?

How do we know that what we do this day is really for God?

Jehu was anointed by God.  A madman ran in and told Jehu ... and ran right out.  Sometimes prophets are called a little out of their mind.  Jehu's life tells a compelling story---he destroyed the house of Ahab---so zealous for God. But there's so much more than living a zealous life, a successful life, a missional life.  We are here for God, not to build our do-good world.  There's a telling verse about Jehu, II Kings 10:31, reveals "Jehu wasn't careful to walk in the law of the LORD with all his heart."  Oh, how this makes me want to finish well.  Sin is never the way of peace ~ Isaiah 57:21.  

And the verse I take away from this passage and will hold dear:
It's a quote from the life of Jehu desiring to walk with his friend in unity.
It's a question we must ask ourselves.
“Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?”   II Kings 10:15

They bowed to starry hosts.

God never intended for us to worship nature more than Him.

They followed the practices of their peers.

God never intended for us to look sideways for direction.  Look up.

They even sacrificed their sons and daughters.

We may look very religious but are we doing it for ourselves?

In secret, they did things against their Lord, their God.

Things that were not right.

Do we?

Am I?

God, change us this moment as I reflect on what I do in secret.  Thoughts that may turn wild in motion, against the grain.  May I bring them captive to You.  May I look to You first, not my peers, never sideways.  Take these widdershin thoughts of mine and make them smooth as iron.  May I find You in this these 10,000 moments.  

Image:  Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.07478

123 - "God Eclipses Our Story For Good" 2 Kings 6-8

What are the chances of seeing a total solar eclipse in your lifetime?  

What are the chances of walking in on a King having a conversation about your son?

And you haven't lived in that town for 7 years.

God eclipses our story for Good---outshines, outlasts, outdoes.

There is nothing said in this life that God does not hear.
There is nothing done that God does not know.
Our Advocate may be silent or storming. 
His Eyes, His Ears are here today.  

The Shunammite woman took Elisha's advice in the midst of famine.
She sojourned in the land of the Phlistines for seven years.
Went to the familiar for help, for food, for life.
She took her son restored from the dead.
Nothing out of God's Knowing.

Upon her return, she appeals to the king to inquire about her house. 2 Kings 8:5
She enters and the King is talking with Gehazi about Elisha.
Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.
She speaks up: Elisha restored my son.
And so the king restores her land.
7 Years Worth---here it is.

There are no insignificant events in this life.  
A simple conversation can turn into a deep blessing.  
A mundane moment can produce holy hope if God is in the midst.
So keep on ploughing in reverence and in repentance.
Be present. Nothing is out of His Knowing.

122 - "But, I Thought" 2 Kings 4-6

But, I thought.

But, I thought it would happen this way.
But, I thought it should look like this.
But, I thought.

Naaman did not like the way that the prophet, the man sent of God, spoke.  2 Kings 5:11
Naaman thought Elisha should wave his hands and call upon the name of the Lord on behalf of Naaman's monstrous condition---leprosy.  The drama wasn't enough for Naaman.  The ordinary wasn't enough either.  Sure, he wanted to be cured.  But, he thought it had to look a certain way.  And don't we default every day and balk that God has not answered or performed a healing His Way. 

If only we could see what others see.
If only we could see what God sees.
And if only we could see what true love is.
And if only we would treat others to bread and water, not the strikes or put downs. 2 Kings 6:20-22             

In 2 Kings 6:16-17 - Elisha commented on the predicament he was in --- being chased down by evil.  They wanted his head, but he says:  "Don't worry about it—there are more on our side than on their side ... and, Elisha prayed, 'O God, open his eyes and let him see.'  2 Kings 6:20. The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A wonder! The whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha!"  

PHOTO:  California. 

But, I thought things would be different. 

But, I thought life wouldn't end this way. 

But, I thought God would heal me but not like this. 

But, I thought. 

121 - "Where is the God of Elijah?" 2 Kings 1-3

He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.  2 Kings 2:14

I'm beside myself with the evening Christian news.  Woe and behold if you focus on "sin."  People seem to want entertainment more than holy living. May we focus on what is true and right and holy.  

As we strike the waters to walk on dry land, may we call upon the Sovereign, the One Who sustains and carries us, even to our old age.  I won't see my children as mature adults in this world.  But I can pray for them this very day that they find the God of Elijah.  May the cloak fall on all of us as we read this holy Word.

God Who owned Elijah owns you.  The God Who provided for Elijah provides for you and yours.  The God Who loved Elijah loves you.  And He is near to you.  The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in Truth.  Psalm 145:18.  Keep on calling.  Keep on praying.  And Elisha prayed to God to fill the valleys with water overnight.  2 Kings 3:17.  God did just that.  May God fill all your valleys.

PHOTO:  At an Ironman triathlon with a sun creeping up to start a new day. I have been given miracles from the King of Kings. What will I allow to take away that peace this waking morning of how those miracles are being delivered? Something is going to happen. Something is going to try. Find rest in this power of the rising sun, my soul.

120 - "It's All Good---No, It's Not. Don't Take Matters In Your Own Hands" 1 Kings 21-22

120 Some will say: It's all good. It's not all good. So...Don't take matters into your own hands. All these Kings taking matters in their own hands. 

Either we are moving toward good, toward God, or away.                                                                           All these kings.  May we see how we are taking matters into our own hands.                                         These chapters show the intentions of their hearts.  That Still Small Voice from yesterday, Today.  May we move toward Goodness.  The Lord longs to be good to each of you.  But if we do not want His Goodness . . .  What do we really want?  Jezebel admonished her husband, the king who was sullen over a failed business deal.  The king who possessed no natural force of character as to move to openly rebel and seize the land. This landowner meant no disrespect---he followed his conscience---he couldn't sell his inheritance. Yet. This is not how we act as king, the obdurate Queen Jezebel derided.  Cheer up!  It's all good, as they say today.  Be positive.  And she goes on to say:  I'll take care of it and seal the deal, even if it means killing someone over it.  And Jezebel seals her ignominous fate. Yes, she did---Jezebel took a life.  And her king husband responded to Elijah's stern rebuke over such evil.  And God deferred the punishment to the children.  Oh my.  What do we want?

PHOTO:  My precious last born kid who took 7 years to arrive on Earth. Don't ever forget that. Your Mom and Dad was waiting for you all those days! And we received from the Hand of God far more than we dared ever imagine. Keep on moving toward Good.  

119 - "Finding God in the Low Whispers" 1 Kings 19-20

 

Elijah listens to God - I Kings 19:13 
And, Elijah found God in the "low whispers."

The common natural way of providing for the earth---rain.
It dried up.
The uncommon Providential way of providing for Elijah---ravens.
Never dried up.

Do I realize that the Providential Hand of God is moving in uncommon ways in my life this very day?

The vilest of creatures took care of Elijah, not the kings.
And Elijah was on a shelf for more than a year
The man who could breathe life into sons.
Patiently waiting on a Good God!!!
Eating from mouths of birds.
Trusting God's timing.
Under the Care.

Such a moving story to know God uses the lowly widow. She took Elijah at his word even before feeding her own family in famine. And that one act opened the jar for Elijah to feed the widow's family for more than two years. 

If I cannot see you and can only hear you, you exist for me not in space but in time where hearing happens. If I see you and can walk around you, I experience you as an object—-I can inspect you from all angles. Buechener says something of “extraordinary importance occurs when I more fully take you into myself by hearing you. “Hearing you speak brings me by the most direct of all routes something of the innermost secret of who you are.”  Buechner, Frederick Whistling in the Dark

He was the prophet who called down fire and rain. He knew. Yet, he hurt and wondered and just wanted to die in midst of glory and ministry.

And Elijah records: I have had enough, Lord. 1 Kings 19:7.  And I feel the same.  Problem is my testy circumstances matter in no kingdom.  

May I care about those things that touch Eternity. 

“I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” I Kings 19:10

And God responds: “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

And this spent seeking prophet finds his God in a gentle Whisper. God will do His Work in his time by His Spirit, a sweet and gentle blowing of the Spirit of God. Whisper by me. 

But He always comes.

And He is always asking:

What are you doing here?

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. I Kings 19:12. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

What am I doing here?

PHOTO:  I heard an audible Voice one day as I walked this beach.  A young lady stopped my stroll and said:  "I came up to this beach to read my Bible.  And God just told me to stop you and tell you that this thing you are going through is from Him.  He is with you.  You are going to be okay."  She could have never known.  I faced the biggest crisis, the Greatest Divide, of my life.  And matching the grandeur of the skies and sea, I heard an audible Voice from a mouthpiece of God. More than a match.

118 "Personal Holiness Over Effective Management" 1 Kings 16-18

118 For all that is dead in our lives, may we hear God's voice saying: Come Alive. Make your priority concern personal holiness over effective management.                                           

                                                                   

1 Kings 16:26 

Empty-headed, empty-hearted lives...not true hearted.  Oh! to be truehearted!  The lessons to be learned from these wicked men:  "Leadership without a priority concern for personal holiness over effective management at best produces only outward success.  It fails to engage the real battle in the human soul, between losing your life for Me or gaining your life without Me." 66 LL.  
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I love the story in I Kings of Elijah meeting a woman whose son died.  I cannot imagine what she was going through.  Elijah lies on top of the boy and asks God "Why have you brought this terrible thing on this widow...why have you killed her son?"  It's so amazing to me that God responds to our requests.  We can ask for the impossible.  God had already told this widow that her jars of flour will not run out and the bottle of oil never empty until she needs it no more.  The woman hung on tight to her life lessson, close to her bosom.  Elijah took the widow's only son and asked God to put breath back into the boy.  God did!  And this mom's response:  "you're a holy man, Elijah."  For all that is dead in our lives, may we hear God's voice.  Come alive!

PHOTO:  Be truehearted twins! The real battle of life is within your soul. 

117 - "Tell Me My Fortune Rather Than My Faults" 1 Kings 14-15

King Jeroboam, full of contempt. 

A dad with a dying child. 

Disguises his wife and sends her to the blind prophet. 

"Will my child die or live"? 

Wait. 

What about this---what about saying: 

How could I help my child, dear man of God? 

Will you pray for my child, dear man of God?

How could I deal with my own heart as I sit in a lonely frigid dark chamber?  

"It would have been more pious if he had desired to know where God contended with him.

It would have been more pious if he had begged the prophet’s prayers, 

more pious if he had cast away his idols.

Maybe the child might have been restored to him---as his hand was. 

Some people would rather be told their good fortune rather than their faults or their duty." 

I Kings 14:4

PHOTO: 2-year-old tiny twins with a future ahead of them. We will pray for you. Walk humbly into your duty. Deal with your own hearts always.                                                                                                      We will help you and pray you find God on your path. May those closest to you tell you the truth.

116 - "Look After Your Own House" 1 Kings 12-13

 

 Look after your own house. I Kings 12:16

The theme of today's reading drives me 'back home' to the place where we should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  It is when kings and paupers are not in the places where they should be.  It is when kings and paupers long for what they have not.  We are not in charge of any of this.  Just subordinates living for a King and a future world.  Just passing through here.  Leaving our mark be it success or silence.  Taking care of our own business.  Letting ambition go.  Living for another country.

The people listened to the Word of the Lord.  I Kings 12:24. But then, this son of Solomon, put a greater yoke on the people.  

The kings listened to the Lord until it didn't work for them.

Oh that I may truly know a little deeper that I am living for another country, another kingdom.  I am far too entrenched in what I see and touch and hear and feel.  God, please move in my own life.  Help me take my eye off of what I see; what I want.  Help me to look after my own house.  Amen.

PHOTO:  No eye has seen.  No ear has heard.  Never entered our minds.  All You have for us!  Look at this! So intricate.  Photo Cred:  Commons 

115 - "Effective Management Trumped Holiness" 1 Kings 10-11

115 Solomon may have been the wisest person to ever live but he wasn't holy. "Effective Management trumped holiness."L. Crabb 

                                                              

Solomon, one of the wisest men to ever live, the one who people all over the world came to speak with, the one with 700 foreign wives and 300 concubines.  How could that be?  And the Word says that the women led him astray.  That's a lot of influence on one man.  How could he even remember their names?  1,000 names.  Now, who are you again?  And he built high places to detestable gods.  Oh my.  And God replies in I Kings 11:11 --- "since this is your attitude, and you have not kept your covenant, I will tear your kingdom away from you..."  How could this happen in the midst of infinitesimal wisdom?  What about in my own life?

IKings 11: 9-10  "God was furious with Solomon for abandoning the God of Israel, the God who had twice appeared to him and had so clearly commanded him not to fool around with other gods. Solomon faithlessly disobeyed God's orders."  Solomon was obsessed with women and power and managing his kingdom. Maybe Solomon had wisdom, but he wasn't holy.  66LL "Effective management trumped holiness." God never intended for us to be obsessed with anything but Him!  We all deal with the depravity of man. Every one of us is obsessed with something or another person at different times. Yet, He is knocking on the door of our hearts, Rev. 3:19-20, offering us this moment an opportunity for Him to come in and fellowship with us as we repent from our lives "curved in on ourselves."  

Every day we move to live and love either self-obsessed or God obsessed!                                                

He is always about the beauty of detaching us from anything that we have come to depend on for our life, our joy, our peace.  

He is attaching us to Himself if we don't abandon Him in our minds, our motives, our management.  He is freeing us up from demandingness and that's so good!  When we made our big move to Austin, a friend gave me a "Me & Ro" necklace that is inscribed with the word "fearless."  It's from Phil 1:20 in the Moffat version.  It's my prayer for you this day.  My hope is that you not feel ashamed but that you may honor your Christ in your own person with "fearless courage."

One Day, the heavens and earth will pass away.  

White-hot stars will melt to a crisp, 

the stunning shimmering sun will melt forever. 

And it will happen in a blink. 

Another lovely generation of generations passes away.  

PHOTO: The sunrise over our heads today as generations pass on.

114 - "No One Is Out Of His Reach" 1 Kings 8-9

143 No one is out of His Reach. We cannot escape the Eyes and Heart of God. #talkingtomyself

It's a Grand House.

The Berth and Beauty still holds a judgment.

Day and Night God's Eyes watch His Temple.

These words of ours are near to Him night and day.  

Never a Moment gone by that God was not hovering watching.

"There is no God like You, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart."  I Kings 8:23.

This happened scores of years ago.

But Solomon is speaking to us today I Kings 8:57-58.

May The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. 

So, God, let these words of mine be near to You, our God, Day and Night.

God hears Solomon's prayer and responds: "I have consecrated this House" in I Kings 9:3. Only God can make a place holy. Only God can make our hearts holy. Living temples. He puts His Name, His Eyes, His Heart there perpetually. How beautiful is that to know this day.

And Solomon, "If you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, then I will establish your throne." I Kings 9:4. God knew. He perceived. He saw Solomon's heart.

And we know the rest of the story that Solomon would not repent (like his father did) of what is drawing him away from God---the love of this life. His father, David, broke in half when confronted with his sins...and David repented with great sorrow over the wrongs done before a Holy God. David did not live in guilt although forgiveness never took away David being a murderer, an adulterer. Forgiveness took away David's sentence, his guilt.

This "house is high"---I Kings 9:9--- but not out of reach of the Judgment of God. We will all give account. No one is out of His Reach. The grandeur, the splendor, the beauty cannot save the day. C.S. Lewis once said that prostitutes see a little more clearly, more quickly, than the proud and the mighty, the arrogant. Was Solomon full of himself? Am I? What's my bent? Bent on doing what I want to do. Bent on living like I want to live. Bent on being what I think is right.

PHOTO:  Night falls this night.  Night and Day.  God watches.  Be near to Me, O Word of God,              Night and Day.We cannot escape the Eyes, the Heart of the God Who is and is to come.

113 - "Don't Mistake Notoriety for Spiritual Progress" 1 Kings 5-7

#113 The fabric of the Temple was all built in silence. No hammers. No chisels. No iron tools. it Rose like an "exaltation"---so we too live our lives in quiet and confidence. 

The Temple was built in silence. 
No hammers | No chisels | No iron tools were heard.

I Kings 6:7.
It rose like an "exhalation," says one commentary.

"No hammer fell, no ponderous axes rung.
Like some tall palm the mystic fabric sprung." Reginald Heber

The fabric rose in silence in the Old Testament. I Kings 6:7.

The fabric of the Sanctuary - roof, walls, floor. 
The fabric tugged in silence in the New Testament. Mark 5:27.

The fabric of the Savior Himself - his robe. 

We are to live out our lives in quietness and in confidence. Isaiah 30:15.
Thy Kingdom Come. 

Never an Observer. Always a Participator.

But that still small Voice.
The One we hear behind us, saying, this is the way. Walk in it.

And the commentary speaks to me:  "Don't mistake notoriety for spiritual progress."                                  The Kingdom went unnoticed by the Caesars and the philosophers of the day.                                                       The commentator said it grew silently like a baby in the womb, unheard, unnoticed, unknown.                   But this New Kingdom.  

Changes people 

in degrees, 

radically, 

publicly, 

inches. 

This new humanity was not so sudden.

“Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you." No better thought. No better plan.

PHOTO:  I have tugged at His fabric for as long as I can remember.  Even as a Catholic school girl.  Sacred Heart was my first invitation to the Savior.  But the real tug came when I was in my junior year at LSU and wild as the winds of a tornado.  I knew there had to be more.  A whole lot more than what I was experiencing.  And I found Him. And I turned to a whole new life. And I raised up a generation of kids offering them the Truth I found. Trying to live it out my troubled past before them every day. This is a grandkid.

112 - "This One Thing Makes Me Fall" 1 Kings 3-4

He loved the LORD, only this...
Can it be said of us. Only but this one thing. I Kings 3:3.

Let's lay aside that "only" one thing and run the race before us.

Solomon knew that God showed great favor to his father, David.

"Ask what I shall give you."  I Kings 3:5.
"Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” I Kings 3:9

This pleased the LORD that Solomon didn't ask for himself but for his calling. 
May this very day, we see through what "only" we can do.

And David ends with a prayer for Solomon. Psalm 72:6. May he be like rain falling on the fresh mown grass. An answer to the drought in so many lives.  

Father, cause us to live like rain failling on a parched land.  Empower us today with the Energy that stirs so powerfully within.

PHOTO:  It's rain.  Falling in the Hill Country.  Let Him fall all over me. 

111 - "When Your Desire to Succeed is Greater Than Your Desire To Be Holy" 1 Kings 1-2

                                                                    

Do not fret because of those who are wrong. Do not envy those who do wrong. Because. Like the grass, they will soon wither one day. Psalm 37:2. Trust in the Lord and do good.

Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Trust in Him and He will do this. Psalm 37:3, This is a sermon, says the commentaries, 'calculated not for our devotion, but for our conversation." It is Maschil---a teaching psalm. Fall Forward in Faith. No matter how bleak. No matter how black. It shall be "well with the soul of those who fear God." 

Last words: Be Strong. Show what you are made of. Do what God tells you. Keep an eye out for the signposts.

I Kings 2:1-4  When David's time to die approached, he charged his son Solomon, saying, "I'm about to go the way of all the earth, but you—be strong; show what you're made of! Do what God tells you. Walk in the paths he shows you: Follow the life-map absolutely, keep an eye out for the signposts, his course for life set out in the revelation to Moses; then you'll get on well in whatever you do and wherever you go." 

Last words make you so want to listen to what they have to say about real life. No formulas from David, just beautiful rhetoric from a man who lived a dangerous, courageous life with a heart for God. I wonder what David thinks at the end of his life about his failures to trust God.  

66LL says about this book of I Kings: "Your desire to be effectiver, to depend on biblical principles for success in your family, church, career, and friendships is legitimately strong." Okay, stop right there.  I would say that my Christian life was spent depending on biblical principles and it was legitimately strong. 

But.... keep reading this:  "But when that desire is stronger than your desire to be holy and to depend on My power for becoming more like My Son, whether you succeed or fail in other ways, then you will not advance my plan...." 

Okay, that makes me so want to stop and evaluate. I think there was sin in my life---distance from people, jealousy over other's success, being so hard on myself I was really unkind to myself, and the laundry list goes on...---my heaviest point is that there was relational sin I overlooked all the time cause I couldn't straighten it out with my family or friends.......... nor could I walk out or walk away from the relationships I was in.  I never really took a look at how I came across to people nor did people really tell me. I was more focused on how they treated me.  I thought everything in life was okay until 18 years ago when I hit a crisis I couldn't overcome. The Great Divide. I hadn't been naming my evil.  Really didn't know how.  I was more interested in succeeding and I was in most ways. I've been an overcomer my whole life.  But success is not the signpost that everything is all right.  "Success is not greatness."

110 - "God Speaks Words Into David" 2 Samuel 23-24

We all live with ourselves.
We really know what we are like, what we think, what we do.

And we have a glimpse from this book of the things David did.
Evil.  Wicked.  And some Glorious.
David was self-aware of what his sins were.  He took ownership of the stormy seas.
He threw out an Anchor for his soul.  We waddled and waded through the mire, the quicksand.

And it was the Word of God breathed into David that he spoke.
2 Samuel 23:2. 
They knew that it was not their minds conjuring up great advice to give away.
These are God's Thoughts that David writes.
“The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me;
his word is on my tongue.
The God of Israel has spoken;
David dawns on them like the morning light,
like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,
like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth."
The Word of God has spoken.

And His Word still speaks today.  To you.  To me.
God speaks by me. 

PHOTO:  The Quarries Lake.  It's a silent spot I go to often to listen to God's Word. This lake has heard all of your names, all of my secrets, all of my cries.  

109 - "Man's Greatness and Wretchedness" 2 Samuel 21-22

Royal Ruin ... Not Much Left

From the Wretchedness in David's Life to ... 

A Brand New Chapter Every Day of a Glorious Ruin

David fainted but he didn't flee from his battle with the Philistines.  He was a noble man with flaws just like you and me.  But this time, he didn't run away from what was in front of him.  II Samuel 21:15.  "Man's greatness and wretchedness are so evident that the true religion must necessarily teach us that there is in man some great principle of greatness and some great principle of wretchedness."  Paschal.  Paschal's take allowed for both wretchedness and glory in the truth and rationality of Christianity.  "Rumors of glory" (Cockburn) are in all of us.  What stirs deep within our center?  Fierce words like in II Samuel 19:43?  Soft answers like in Proverbs 15:1?  We are all defaced in some way but never erased.  Within our origin is Divine Glory.  May we deal with this present moment and allow God to make us into the men and women He has called us to be.  For His Name's Sake.

The historian draws his conclusion of David's reign. It is David's weighty words as he ends his life on earth--- and they are spoken by inspiration. And he refers to his seed who will live forevermore. 

David settles the crown on Solomon's head;                                                                                                  he settles his treasures upon the temple which was to be built by the next king.                                     Here. Worthy words to be remembered to this very day. His house is right with God. He was raised up on high to see further than his neighbors.  

PHOTO: Not Much Left.

108 - "Love Those Who Hate You & Hate Those Who Love You" 2 Samuel 19-20

108 What is this---you love those who hate you and hate those who love you? 2 Samuel 19:6. Never hold on to what was not meant for me. To love deeply is what is meant for you. For the Messianic Presence hears all of it. John 1:29. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

                                                         

And they confront David: You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. 2 Samuel 19:6.

How do we do the very same things? O God of Mercy! That I may learn to truly love. To never hold on to what was not meant for me. To love deeply what is meant for me. 

Joab was the spokesperson brave enough to say to David:  I repeat 2 Samuel 19:6 cause this is so powerful. "What is this—loving those who hate you and hating those who love you? Your actions give a clear message: officers and soldiers mean nothing to you...you knocked the wind out of them."  

Why did David grieve his son Absalom at the expense of those alive around him?  What were his tears really for?  Himself?  David prayed in Psalm 25:18 "Lift this ton of sin."  I have so felt the weight of previous sin this week.  Lift the ton, O God!  

God lifted it and immediately David goes back to war with Sheba followed by even more enemies with 24 fingers and toes.  And David prays:  "When I call, give me answers. God, take my side! Once, in a tight place, you gave me room.  Now I'm in trouble again: grace me! hear me!"  Psalm 4:1

"You have listened to my troubles and have seen the crisis in my soul." Psalm 31:7.  The Messianic Presence hears every word. 

John 1:29-51.                                                                                                                                         Nathanael was home when Philip beckoned him to hear the glad news of the Messiah coming to their town. "We found the One." From Nazareth comes the "All Good." Nathanael goes quickly. He is both amazed and startled at Jesus' words to him---as if He knew him. "How do you know me?" asks Nathanael.  We have never seen each other before.  "I saw you under the fig tree," John 1:48--- in the deepest sense, the Messiah was there as Nathanael prayed and thought and wondered in his backyard under the fig tree.  There was an actual "Messianic Presence" in his inmost thoughts and yours too.  

I have to say the same.  As a Catholic schoolgirl for 12 years from 1956-1968, we went to Mass every single day Monday through Friday and every Sunday.  Sacred Heart of Jesus Church. 3200 Canal Street.  New Orleans. The presence of God was there for me in my innermost thoughts as I walked through the iron picketed fence protecting the shotgun house on Palmyra Street every day and scurried one block to Catholic school.  He was there. That was my fig tree and he heard all the heavy-weighing anxieties of my heart as I lived in fear of my mentally ill brother.  He saw my tremulous hopes for my life.  He answered all of my deep pleadings to be safe and sane. All those times I stood with my hand on the front doorknob of my living room waiting to escape and run to Colleen's house. A Messianic Presence waiting with me. The built-in sliding pocket doors separating the rooms. A Messianic Presence standing there. I would not know that Messianic presence personally until 1972.

But God knew me and loved me from the Beginning of the world. "In the beginning was the Word. Without Him was not anything made that has been made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." John 1:1-4 One philosopher said that these verses are "worthy to be written in letters of gold."  

PHOTO: My favorite spot on earth in Eatonville. I learned right here a tiny bit more how to love well.