90 - "A Life of Rest Undisturbed" Ruth 1-4

"The Lord grant you that ye may find rest." Ruth 1:9.  

A life of rest undisturbed by the overwhelming sorrow of being a widow; 

a life of rest untouched by the cares of this broken world and my broken story.  

What steals my peace?  May you find rest in the house of your husband." 

Both of their husbands are gone. 

They stood tall and did what they had to do to make a living.

Oh, God, help us all stand tall. 

Naomi's two sons and husband are now in heaven.  What loss for these three women to embrace.  The love of their lives.  God invites them to "rest" in the midst of their tragedy.  God is always beckoning us to "rest," not in our circumstances, but in Him.  Isaiah 30:7 - we rest by keeping still while Egypt's help is empty.  We are not empty people.  When we've been depleted, our God is filling us up.  Naomi and her two daughters found that kind of rest in Providence---seemingly simply story with a grand finale.  Another baby was born from the descent of Ruth---and that baby in a manger changed the world.

"No matter what happens in your life, God can reach into your heart with Power to form you into someone who values God above everyone and everything else.  God is determined to reverse our values."  66 LL

Ruth 4:15 ~ My God has not left me without a Redeemer. He has not left you. He shall be our Restorer of Life and a Nourisher in our old age. Hanging on to this verse with all my spiritual might. This love story of Boaz and Ruth whose child will become the grandfather of David. God never forgot Naomi and He hasn't forgotten me either. There are 3 intractable obstacles I must overcome to make you holy:  

God deals with three in the Book of Ruth:

1. Natural Disadvantages that to you seem more important to overcome than an unholy value system.         Do I see in my every day life how I focus on the natural disadvantages that come my way? Or am I more concerned about holiness?

2. Shattered Dreams that bring so much pain into your life that it is difficult to welcome the opportnity they provide for new levels of trust.  What do I do with my shattered dreams. Are the trails welcomes?

3. Material Resoures that make it easy to disguise narcissism behind non-sacrificial generosity.  What do I do with the material resources I have been given?"

66 Love Letters - Larry Crabb

Ruth is a story of affliction. Naomi lost her husband and sons. What tragedy. What tribulation producing patience. What Naomi cannot see is a God Who is doing her good in the midst of such sorrow and loss and confusion and dross.  Can we?

Naomi (can I place my own name here)
Distressed in her work
Mourning her loss of her family
Giving Up her home

All this seemed to be chalked up against her.
Yet, her God stoops to work all this for good
for Naomi and her family.

PHOTO:  Farm land.  Hands lathered in blisters from gleaning.  Backs broken sorely from stooping. Nothing reveals the kind of person you are like your work ethic.  Is your stall full?  Will I stoop in humility this day for the glory of God. Found while tending to my menial job, my assigned responsibilities, my ordinary life. It's a beautiful metaphor of humbled hearts: We stoop to work. God stoops to watch. Psalm 113:6Under the Infinite Care.

89 - "Sheer Wonder" Judges 20-21

Judges 21:25  "At that time there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing."  What a disturbing reading about this concubine that so brings up for me my own rape where I was left on the threshhold of my door passed out for several hours.  Did they ever repent? Did I repent?  The rape wasn't my fault even though I thought it was for years.  Not my fault.  What I did with it was my fault. And praise God, He has set me free to forgive and love and leave justice in His Hands.  Even if there was a king, there may be restraints on their behavior but no restraint in their hearts, the Israelites never repented.  It was best-behavior Christianity if the kings are around. .  What does real repentance look like?  God has to get in us and pour His Love into my heart---Romans 5:5---so that His motives reach deeper inside of me (66 LL) than my motives for a good stable joyful life here.   So what lingers with you as we close the book of Judges?  I've thought a lot about how they really didn't repent but did what they felt was right.  They missed God!  Also, I've thought about the kings who "were longing for a better country, a heavenly one." Heb. 11: 16.  And some of these kings and prophets administered justice and became powerful in battle, attached to their God.  Heb 11:34 says:  "their weakness was turned to strength."  Oooh...that's my prayer for you too, kids!  I see some weaknesses in my life this night as I engaged a little bit ago in a heated discussion over trivial stuff that I should not have entertained. I hurt my son over it.  I don't want to look bad.  I hurt tonight over what I did. But do I hate sin more than suffering?  I will hold close to my heart the words on page 30:  "My plan is to change you from the INSIDE OUT, to change your motives and to change your impact on people so that how you relate to others, like my Son, will make them thirsty for Me and will draw them into desperate, grateful dependence on Me."  I met Beth Moore several times and the first time I met her, I said two sentences to her about what was going on in my life.  Her response was:  "Your desperation is a gift.  God has yanked you by the hair on your head out of your situation, Ezekiel 8:3."  She had no idea that it was like "Sheer Wonder" (Judges 13:18) to me---like an angel speaking. Those 2 words have caught my heart from the book of Judges. For God was changing my motives, my impact.  He still is! So what lingers with you from Judges?

88 - "What Is Holy In This Situation I am In?" Judges 17-19

                                                                        

Judges 17:6  "In those days there was no king in Israel.  People did whatever they felt like doing."  Sounds like where we live.  Not that much Christian leadership. Isn't everyone sort of free to do whatever they feel like doing, just about?  

A very good friend of mine is battling serious health issues with cancer that have interrupted her life. I went to see her last week and walked away from her presence thinking about one word: Repent.  She talked about it in such an inviting way.  No condemnation there.  Made me want to repent.  

And that's what I keep mulling over as I continue to read through Judges and stories like Samson.  The Israelites did not repent.  Maybe sometimes their behavior looked like they were moving toward God with baby steps.  We do see the outcome of their lives.  You don't keep on living a life of sin---you don't want to!   

I am so grateful for a person in my life who has helped me discern what it means to repent and truly live, to really love. I was confused just like the Galatians with my expectations of feeling everything I wanted to feel in this fallen world, as Larry says. I worked hard not to feel unloved, unnoiticed, uncared for. There are parts of me today that is so free from that and some parts still struggling through. It seems the Chrisitan world I live in is way too focused on the good life here. 

People don't say to me----except Larry and some of you reading this---what is holy in this situation you are in?....no, they are asking me what can we do to get out of the cancer or to help our children who are failing in some area or to restore a relationship? What will make our lives work? Is that working for you? That's where most people are and it's God Who is knocking on our hearts to make every one of us holy. 

Everybody always wants to know how I am doing with my cancer---I want to answer: Am I hating my sin more than my suffering? I do tell them where I am. So many people aren't talking about their unholiness but rather how they are overcomers. Do you think deeply about how unholy you are? I'm a mess. And praise God, that's what Easter is all about! 

PHOTO:  My older 3 kids: 5, 4, and 3. They could sling a shot at a hair. Still can. May the deepest truths of the book of Judges be theirs. Holy lives. 

87 - "A Sorry Jawbone" Judges 14-16

                                              

My Dear Children, We can push someone too far to disclose, discredit, dishonor their own name. The verse about giant Samson goes like this: "So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him." Judges 14:17. 

When the Spirit of God came upon Samson, his cords were loosed. Some say it is a foreshadowing of Christ in the grave, loosed by the chains of death, set free, triumph over darkness. The victory for Samson was common means---the jawbone of an animal slew a thousand. And God confounds the wicked through the foolish things of this world. "If you see a poor Christian who is enabled to overcome a temptation by weak, feeble counsel, there is the Philistine vanquished by a sorry jaw-bone." M. Henry. 

Tonight my body is engulfed in a physical battle. Four days of fever. Can't keep anything down. Bacterial infection wracks havoc on my body. May I overcome the temptations that face me, the sin that dispirits me in the midst of even this small haunting thing. We are loosed by His power not by plan or cleverness or our own might. By His Power. How many times do I ask? How did this just happen? "A sorry jaw-bone."

Her  words sound compelling, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me?" Judges 16:15. Her motives are oh-so-wrong. Money. Ambition. Motives matter.

It's the story of Samson and Delilah. Samson, more than once, falls prey to the love of a woman. He is warned over and over and over but falls into a snare. And this third time, it costs Samuel his very life. Do we do the same? Licentiousness. A license to do whatever we please. What do we want more than we want the love of Christ? 

PHOTO: A Grandmother with her 5 grandkids. May they all wrestle well to put His Word deep in their hearts.

86 - "Signal Mercies" Judges 12-13

#86 Sin hides from our eyes the things that steal our peace. Mercies waited for can prove to be Signal Mercies for Others to hope in God's Mercy. 

                                                                       

Here we go...one more time into the hands of the Philistines.
And right smack dab when Israel was in distress,
Samson was born.
Son of a long childless mom.

Judges 13:3
"Mercies often waited for, often prove signal mercies,
and by them others may be encouraged to continue their hope in God's mercy."
Matthew Henry.
When you feel your trouble the most,
God often sends comfort.
There are answers to prayer I hold closely---

the compassion of God after a gang rape,

the healing of perceived childhood harm,

the loss of 5 babies to miscarriage, maybe twins, 
the birth of a long-awaited son after 7 years of infertility,
the victory over cancer after 17 years,
the amazing freedom from a felt betrayal.
All Signal Mercies.

Matthew Henry wrote: 

 "Sin dispirits men; it hides from their eyes the things that belong to their peace." 

When the Spirit of God came upon Samson, his cords were loosed.  The victory for Samson was common means---the sorry jawbone of an animal slew a thousand. 

PHOTO:  A look through a camera lens at Mount Rainier.  Do we see clearly or do we give in to magnify those things that make us feel safe, feel comfortable, feel successful in knowing God.  Remove the props, O Lord! 

85 “I Wanted Hoolidays from the School of Christ” Judges 10-11

#85  I wanted Holidays from the school of Christ. Not only do we want our distance from Christ but we also want tangibles---kids turning out right, even things that make us feel closer to God. Nothing wrong with the vehicle. Everything wrong with the motive.

Judges 10:1 - Abimilech debauched Isreal with evil, disquieted Israel with ambition, disturbed Israel's very peace.  Then, God raises up a good man to reform the abuses, stop the idolatry, and heal the wounds.  This new judge saved them from themselves.  And it should be our very hope, too.  May God save us from ourselves---from wanting ambition in this celebrity world; from wanting ministry success in this storied mission; from wanting to live in this present life more than dealing with daily repentance; from wanting more than God and what He has planned and offered to each of us.  Save us from oursleves.  

Fast Forward 2,000+ years.  It happens to every one of us as we wrestle through this God thing.  

From a Favorite Book:  "Though I wouldn't have admitted it, even to myself, I didn't want God aboard.  He was too heavy.  I wanted Him approving from a considerable distance.  I didn't want to be thinking of Him.  I wanted to be free---like a Gypsy.  I wanted life itself, the color and fire and loveliness of life.  And Christ now and then, like a loved poem I could read when I wanted to.  I didn't want us to be swallowed up in God.  I wanted holidays from the school of Christ."  Sheldon Vanauken "A Severe Mercy"  

Not only do we want our distance from God but we want tangibles---those things that draw us, make us feel closer to God.  Nothing wrong with the vehicle.  Everything wrong with the motive.  

Sheldon wrote: "I had always served beauty.  My wife and I together had loved beauty.  Now, maybe, I was worshipping beauty in the Christian God while my wife was worshipping God.  There may be danger in the love of beauty, though it seems treason to say it.  Perhaps it can be a snare."  

And just maybe today we are worshipping music, health, success, ministry, justice, mission, even our children turning out right.  Are we worshipping God or what is way too important in our hands?

Vow and pay. Psalm 76. This vow story belongs to each of us who live and breathe and vow.

According to Henry's commentary, Jephthah’s sense of the powerful obligation of his vow must always be ours: "I have opened my mouth unto the Lord in a solemn vow, and I cannot go back,’’ (Judges 11:35) that is, "I cannot recall the vow myself, it is too late, nor can any power on earth dispense with it, or give me up my bond.’’ 

We deceive ourselves if we think to mock God, says Henry. 

What a powerful argument a marriage vow is against my sin,

we have by those vows bound ourselves out from,

"what a strong inducement to our duties we have hereby 

bound ourselves up to, and what a ready answer to every temptation."

I must therefore go forward.

I have sworn, and I must, I will, perform it.

Let me not dare to play fast and loose with God."

This daughter did not.

Instead of dancing at her wedding,

her closest friends mourn in the mountains her hard fate.

Her grievances belonged to her friends. 

And to her father:

"I know I am dear to you, but am well content that God should be dearer."

PHOTO:  I know I am dear to you. Solemn vows made 46 years ago this year.  Standing on a suspended bridge on a train stop through the most scariest Colorado mountains 

84 - "Do Not Regard the Forwardness or Backwardness of Others" Judges 7-8

107 The sword is the Gospel in his mouth. It is the Gospel that really changes us. A Dream changed Things for Gideon. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself

A Dream Changes Things for Gideon.

It is the Gospel that really Changes Us!

God reduces Gideon's army to 300 people---No Way on Earth they could win this battle without God. No way on earth we can either. 

I am "taken" by a quote from Matthew Henry about this story: "In doing the duties required by God, we must not regard the forwardness or backwardness of others, nor what they do, but what God looks for is at our hands. He is a rare person who can endure that others should excel him in gifts or blessings, or in liberty; so that we may say, it is by the special grace of God that we regard what God says to us, and not look to men what they do."

God speaks to Gideon. “Arise, go down against the camp of Midian, and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go.” Judges 7:11. And, then, another confirmation. A dream interpreted ... that God would give the camp of Midian into their hands. That's it! Arise! Go take your spoil. "For the Lord." The dream was simple---a cake of bread rolls and knocks over a tent. Nothing special there. It's the interpretation that is Divine! "There is nothing else save the sword of Gideon." The sword is not in his hand. The sword is the Gospel in his mouth. Judges 7:14. Gideon takes this interpretation as a sure thing. He worships! Oh my soul! Can we worship God in the circumstances before us? Wherever we are. This moment. Providence is on our side! God's intervention may be a small event, maybe seemingly accidental. What is God speaking to you? What divine appointment encourages your faith today? 

As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals. And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Gideon in return for all the good that he had done to Israel."  Judges 8:33-34. What do we want more than the Love of God?  Life is not like a spicket that you turn off and on thinking you want to decide the distance between you and God.  

PHOTO:  No way on Earth we do this life well without God. Edited sun photo.   

83 - "The Eternal Word Speaks in the Present Moment---You Are A Mighty Warrior" Judges 6

#83 Gideon was more than weak, beside himself in a predicament. The Presence of God, the Eternal Word of God comes to Gideon and is with you, too, this very moment. God is with you, O Mighty Warrior. Believe God. Judges 6:12. 

God knew Gideon had courage.  Gideon had stood tall tens of times before. Yet, not this time. Gideon was beside himself over the scenario.  And his countrymen didn’t know him to be that way either. But, Gideon never stopped talking to God, meditating while he was threshing, over the horrific situation and how he could work out the deliverance of these heartless people.  Are we grieving over those who have stiff-armed our Lord?  This Presence comes to Gideon to say that it is None Other than Jehovah, the Eternal Word of God, Who was present with Gideon and with you and with me, right where we sit tonight in our house in this year of the Lord.  God’s Word is our help!!! And is ever Present! And that gives me so much hope! So, go to work tomorrow, teaching school, writing books, serving corporate America, taking care of the sick, and raising courageous children---and while you are there, remember, the Eternal Word of God will appear to you as He did to Moses and David herding sheep; Gideon threshing the fields; Elijah plowing the land; and the disciples dutifully catching fish and mending nets. The Eternal Word speaks in the present moment.  And that changes everything for me where I sit today.    

 Judges 6:12  God appeared to Gideon and said, "God is with you, O mighty warrior!"  This so speaks to me that God calls frightful Gideon a mighty warrior.  A vision painted for this guy who knew those things were not coming from a good place in his heart.  Gideon replies in verse 13: "With me, my master? If God is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about...I'm the weakest, I'm the runt of the litter." Sounds like Gideon wanted the good life here. God is about to change the motives of the mighty warrior.  The next 6 words from God make me want to stand tall:  "I'll be with you.  Believe Me..." (6:16).  And that is my dying prayer for each one of you.

And God proceeded to help Gideon. Judges 6:12  God appeared to Gideon and said, "God is with you, O mighty warrior!"  This so speaks to me that God calls frightful Gideon a mighty warrior.  A vision painted for this guy who knew those things were not coming from a good place in his heart.  Gideon replies in verse 13: "With me, my master? If God is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about...I'm the weakest, remember I'm the runt of the litter." Sounds like Gideon wanted the good life here. God is about to change the motives of the mighty warrior.  And God proceeded to help Gideon learn to trust Him by reducing his army to 300---all the rest may go home....and Gideon went before God to his knees in prayer.  May the Truths that we read sink deeply into our repentant hearts (Psalm 51:6).  May we learn to think deeper than just the behavior we see.  Learning to live in the tension of what we see and what really is.  Finding a deeper trust in a good God in the midst of His Plan for each of us.  What is God doing that is reducing what I've trusted in?  "Oh for Grace to trust Him more..."  You Mighty Warriors!

PHOTO: This spot in Fort Worth. It's where I was once beside myself, quite literally. God stood me back on my feet---and that is something that never happens that way. All glory to God!

 

82 - "God Is Changing My Motives" Judges 3-5

#105 The book is not about returning to God, finding God for the good life. This book is how our relationship with God is our greatest good. 

She drives a peg through the temple of the enemy king sleeping in her shelter. Drove that peg all the way through his brain all the way into the ground.  There are a few who believe God in the Book of Judges.  Judges 3:21.  But, generation after generation "they forget about God" when things are going good. And we all do the same in this generation. That's why we need the Book of Judges.

This Book isn't about returning to God, finding God, only for a good life and good blessings. This book is all about finding God!  Relationship with Him is our greatest good, our best blessing ever. The generations here in this book feared what we fear today:  "the loss of the blessings that were providing them with comfort and a sense of personal well-being."  66LL. Too small! There's more.

God is more about changing our motives than just our behavior.  I feel we look too shallow as we evaluate what we can do better, what circumstances need to change, what behavior needs to improve.  No more!  God heals us from within and transforms us.  If we are not changing, we must ask why?  Why do we do what we do?  God heals us to change our impact on those in our paths---does the Beauty of God pour out of us and draw others into dependence on God. Psalm 50:2. Or do we play it safe in relationships not rocking the boat.  

Deborah and Barak knew. "The leaders took the lead in Israel, the people offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord!"  And the tremblings go on and on through the earth through those who trust.  And when we forget ... will we repent when we remember?

Father, make the grandkids like the sun as they rise up in might.  Judges 5:31. "Let those who love God be like the sun when it comes out in full strength." Make us all mighty men and women who trust you when things go well and when things go wrong.  

PHOTO:  The ocean roars.  Santa Rosa Island.  Sunrise.  Thinking about how God is changing my motives and my impact, not only my behavior.  

81 - "Something Worse Than Suffering" Judges 1-2

#81 Something Worse than a difficult life. Something Worse than all this pain & suffering.

Something Worse than all the bad things that happen to us. Am I more afraid of losing the blessings or losing my relationship with God? 

The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?" Judges 2: 1-2.

We are no different.  Do we want God or do we want the good life here on earth?  

There is 

Something Worse than a difficult life.  

Something Worse than all this pain & suffering.

Something Worse than all the bad things that happen to us.

Insecure.

Invisible.

Inadequate.

Is that the worse?

Losing all life's blessings?

Is that the worse?

God is always re-defining the word "love" for us.

What is my greatest good in this life?

Is it God?

Are we any different than the people in Judges?

Am I more afraid of losing the blessings or losing my relationship with God?

PHOTO: Hawaii. Thinking about life's greatest good.