244 - "Stand On Your Two Feet" Ezekiel 1-4

                        

And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” Ezekiel 2:1.

This verse God spoke to me when I was at the absolute lowest point of my life.  Not exactly the spot I would go to.  Precisely what God did.  I stood and His Power entered into me and set me on my feet.  Ezek 2:2.  I stood cause I purposed in my heart to go with God in the midst of harrowing circumstances.  It is never about how strong we are.  It is always about how strong HE IS in each of us.  

So, don't be afraid.  Tell that to yourself.  Mean it.  "Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are rebellious..."  Ezek 2:7.  Speak my words to them anyway.  They will not be willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to God.  Ezek 2:7.

Oh Father, may Your Hand be strong upon each of us.  Ezekiel 2:14. 

Make us a watchman for our family and our ministry.

PHOTO: I almost died at this lake. I passed out unexpectedly and could not get up when I awoke. God stood me back on my feet through a phone connection and a dog barking that led people to where I was near the lake. They called an ambulance. God spoke to me. 

243 - "Complain of Evils Felt Not Evils Feared" Lamentations 4-5

                                       

Restore us to Yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored.  Lam 5:21. 
I sit in a funk, despondent in my present circumstances.  And since I am the only one talking to myself tonight, it's hard to know if I have fully repented or keep taking it back?  You see, this is about how others are responding to me---and it shouldn't be.  May we all find a deeper trust, an abandoned surrender.

 "Is any afflicted? Let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God. The people of God do so here; they complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt." Matthew Henry.  And that touches something in me.  May I look at what is happening and then gaze at God's Pardoning Mercy, God's Sanctifying Grace, and God's Kind Hand of Providence.  We owe everything in our lives today to His Mercy.  Under the Mercy.  And we are attached to the Giver of Grace.  Under the Grace.  Identified with the Giver of All.   Restore us this day, O God.

Dear Father, the Giver of Grace.  We need Your touch this day.  May we come to You with our woes and not to any man.  Restore unto me the joy of my salvation in this despondent day.  

PHOTO:  Rock Springs.  The no-filter view from my balcony as I stand in a rough patch and cry out to the Giver of Grace.

242 - “The Worst Is Never The Worst” Lamentations 1-3

  

Lamentations 1:1 - How empty the city, once teeming with people...1:8 - Jerusalem, who outsinned the whole world is an outcast.  1:9 - She played fast and lose with life; she never considered tomorrow.  1:16 She weeps buckets of tears and not one person cares for her soul.  What are her tears for?  What are my tears for this evening as I sit at a Starbucks contemplating my future?  Are they for myself?  If so, I will think no one cares for my soul.  It's just not true because of Lamentations 3. 2:19 - Get up each watch night and pour out your heart face-to-face with the Master.  Lift up your hands.  Lift up your head.

God poured on the trouble and hard times.  He locked me up in deep darkness.   He's got me cornered.  BUT, there's one other thing I am remembering that gives me a grip on hope:  God's loyal love couldn't have run out, His merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning.  How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).  He's all I've got left. God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times. When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst.  Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return. God's got my back.     

PHOTO:  I couldn't sleep the last few weeks of my pregnancy with Britt. Probably out of fright. Whatever. It was the worst---but never the last worst. God was merciful and gave me this baby to hold all my days. I couldn't love him more. He meant the world to me. It was a token of God's love waiting 7 years for this most precious moment to arrive. I never got over it. I never got over Britt. I never got over God.

241 - "Remember the Lord in the Midst of Delight, Disaster, Distress, and Distance" Jeremiah 51-52

                                                                         

 Babylon is like the pinnacle of success.  Such wealth.  Such treasures.  Such exports.  But what makes a city, a community, a family safe and secure?  Is it productivity?  Is it usefulness?  There is no security here for Babylon.  She will fall.  And, once again, Jeremiah does not mince his words.  This prophet lives in a pressure cooker world.  In Jeremiah 51:60, he writes all the disaster that should come upon Babyon.  And he tells Seraiah to see to it that he reads all these words.  Babylon forgot their God.  May we learn from these pages to remember the LORD our God whether we are in the midst of disaster or delight, distance or demise.  And especially in the good times, may we render to God the things of God and remember all the things He has done for us.

How can we ever forget what You have done for us.  You are the Lover of our soul.  Wherever we sit this day---in suffering, in silence, in solace, may we remember You for Nothing Else is worth living for.

PHOTO:  Sitting right here in North Carolina. Thinking about what it means for my life to "remember God."

240 - "And The Word Came Again and Again" Jeremiah 49-50

                                                     

It's a very intentional thing. The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. And it came. And it came. And he shared it, even with his friends, like the King of Babylon---the one who had befriended him. Jeremiah 50:1. And it wasn't the popular message of the day. It was the Truth that could set them free Jeremiah 49:14, 34. And the comfort of a God of Hope moved them to a good place in the midst of their suffering.

"Might often prevails against right among men, yet that might shall be controlled by the Almighty, who judges aright; and those will find themselves mistaken, who, like the Ammonites, think every thing they  own on which they can lay their hands is theirs. The Lord will call men to account for every instance of dishonesty, especially to the destitute."  Matthew Henry

And the Word of the Lord comes to us this day.  What will we do with it?

Father, it's one thing to share Truth with those who are ready to receive it.  But, to share boldly like Jeremiah did to those whose hearts were hardened is quite overwhelming.  Father, make us bold on the inside.  The iron clad grip of the Holy Spirit controlling our moments.

PHOTO:  The clouds roll. The sun beats.  The prey roams.  The Lord moves.  Help me hear.  Help me see.  Help me live differently.

239 - "Seek Not Great Things For Yourself" Jeremiah 45-48

                                                                  

Scripture interprets Scripture.
"Do you seek great things for yourself?  Seek them not." Jeremiah 45:5

"No one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you as much as you do."

Talk to yourself the Scriptures.

 I love this quote by Paul David Tripp.  Are we counseling ourselves in Truth?  According to the Word of God? 

"Johanan, the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done." Jer 41:11.  There is more evil in these chapters than we see in a lifetime.  So what do we do with this kind of trouble?  How did they live in the midst of this stress and uncertainty and horror?

And what did they tell themselves?  "Whom shall I fear?"  "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the Goodness of God in the land of the living."  Jeremiah offers a word as they wrestle to remember what God has done. 

And Jeremiah's mantra is recorded for me and for you this very day:  Seek not great things for yourself.

Oh God, we all have problems, and will have more as we walk uphill all the way home.  Would you reveal to each of us what we are really telling ourselves?  Would you let us see straight, the plumbline of our souls.  Come, Lord Jesus!

Jeremiah prophecies to Baruch, to Bev, to Holly, to Jenny, to Drew, to Marc, to Nancy, to David, to Reid, to Kelly, to all those people suffering who serve Him faithfully. To all those people who still trust Him in the darkest difficult most trying of days. This prophecy is for you not just for Baruch who sunk when under the scrutiny of the King. Baruch was doing what was right and good and true---this scholar wrote and read the rolls of Jeremiah to the whole city. The king didn't like it. Sentenced Baruch to prison. Baruch didn't like that. So, here is God's word through Jeremiah to Baruch and to all of us, once again. 

God's response: Seek not great things for yourself.  Jer 45:5. All those great things we expected. The sweet solid relationships with people whom we adore that is not happening right now. The beautiful ministries where we so want to be used that doesn't feel like that isn't happening either. The connections; the careers; the friendships; the finances; the dreams; the dilemmas. Here is our support---Jeremiah 45:5---seek not great things for yourself. God takes notice of what is happening. Be content for life is more than food. And those thickly flying arrows adding grief to Baruch's sorrow, to your sorrow. Loading the troubles upon troubles. Baruch thought he would be "known" by reading the scroll not "banished." And he wanted to be excused not enrolled in prison based on good behavior like Joseph. Why? Jeremiah even sympathized and listened to Baruch but couldn't see beneath the reasonable request of Baruch.  Jeremiah didn't know what to say to comfort Baruch.  Couldn't see like God could. It seemed to be a reasonable request to save him from jail time after he did a task so noble. Beneath it all, Baruch was flailing in his faith because what he really wanted was the honor that came from this world. In His mercy, God showed him Himself. God, in His Providence, is showing us who we really are way down deep and what our trust and honor is placed in. So, re-set your mind. There is no continuing city here. And, if our lives are continued, it is solely for the opportunity to glorify God in this world and get ready for that better city.  So, if you are reading this, this prophecy is for you.

238 - "Don't Burn Your Essential Oils For Nothing" Jeremiah 41-44

            

Plenty of food.

Well off.

Suffered no harm.

All the army officers refused to listen to Jeremiah, the prophet.  God did not send you to tell us to leave the land of Judah.  We are doing too well here burning the incense to the Queen of Heaven.  And, it is working.  So, if your life is working well, don't disturb it.  It's the mantra of so many of us.  Jer.  44:17-18. What should we do?  Train yourselves to distinguish what is good v. evil. Heb. 5:14.     Let us not stay in this peace of good circumstances, for this may cost us a relationship with God.  Let us not take the easy road to not disturb a relationship that is unhealthy. Let us not become complacent when God says to move on. Let us listen to those who speak based on the Word. They have been around for a very long time. If not, we are burning our essential oils for nothing.  

PHOTO:  The enemy of our soul wants us to be complacent and content with our outside present life without addressing what is really going on inside our souls.  

 

237 - "Trust Through The Injustice That Has Been Done" Jeremiah 37-40

Matthew Henry calls Jeremiah a lion with regard to God's cause; a lamb with regard to his own cause.  

God's providential Cause:  King Zedekiah will be handed over to Babylon.  So, where are your prophets now who said that you would not.

Jeremiah's emotional Cause:  Please do not send me back to the prison hole lest I die.  The King listened.  And that prison opportunity became a pasture for freedom and bread and life.  We may not get the answers we want today.  Will we trust through the injustice of what has been done to us.  Let God take care of it.

There is suffering in the room.
In my room.
In your room.
Therefore.
Fix your eyes on
The Master of the House.
The Glorious One Who
has built all things.
  The Apostle.
Who worked miracles then.
Who works miracles now.
Consider Him in your suffering and stead.

PHOTO:  A place where quite a bit of injustice has been done to me. Let it go. Let God take care of it.

236 - "Make Me Stand" Jeremiah 34-36

Start with me.

Here is Jeremiah, unjustly thrown into jail, again. So hard to believe. Yet, so surrendered to his God. It's okay. What stirs within this giant of the faith? What secret thoughts drive him to depend?
And what beautiful God intervenes when it's too much in the house of Jonathan. God knows our name. God knows our frame. God knows our flame.

Jeremiah 35:19 - the house of the Rechabites shall never lack a man to stand before God. Oh, it is what I long for my house more than anything. God says to the Rechabites: "Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you, therefore...you shall never lack a man to stand."

God is emptying me of myself...enjoying ministry success more than my relationship with God.  May it never be.  When ministry is taken away, what does it do to my desires?  Do I have to have ministry success to be happy in life?  Is that what will bring me joy?  Absolutely not.  And no one can take away my relationship with my LORD.  This prophet, Jeremiah, enjoyed his relationship with God way more than any ministry success.  No clanging cymbal here.  Willing to be a voice.  Willing to be jailed.  Willing to be emptied.  Willing to speak the truth in love.  

Jeremiah 36:10  Baruch took the scroll to the Temple and read out publicly the words of Jeremiah. The response of the government officials:  You and Jeremiah need to go into hiding.  Jer 36:23 With startling arrogance, the King read a portion of the scroll and would cut it off with his pocketknife and toss it into the fire, followed by reading a little more than tossing the scroll again into the flames until it was extinguished.   Jer 36:24 The King and his officials never showed "the slightest twinge of conscience."  What a scary face.  What a scary place.  

You know, you've never seen your face before.  Listen to those He has placed directly in your path.  Let them read your face and listen to the truth.  What is chaff is blown away.  Does my face show the slightest twinge of conscience?

PHOTO:  So taken by this beautiful sunset.  So longing for those I love to find a deeper trust.  So wanting it to start with me.  All I can deal with is my own stuff.

235 - "I Will Never Stop Doing Good to Them" Jeremiah 32-33

 "I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from Me." This promise! God will never stop doing good to me. It' just not my definition of "good." He changes my heart, my definition, to His. And that's good. We were never born to be in charge of our lives. Born to worship the One Who created us.  Jeremiah 32:40

God answers Jeremiah's prayer. What was in that prayer that was not from a good place in Jeremiah's heart? God says: Yes, "I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" The city was a provocation from the day it was built---they followed idols not a Living God. Turned their backs on God. Again and again. God is going to give the city into the hands of the king of Babylon. Yet, God will bring them back to the land, too. "I will give them one heart that they may fear me always, for their own good and for the good of their children...I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them with all My heart and with all My soul. Jeremiah 32:41. He brings disaster; then, He brings good. A Promise. 

Beside myself reading this passage.  Jeremiah buys a piece of property from jail!  This piece of ground signifies hope.  There is a new day coming!  Houses.  Fields.  Vineyards.  Gardens.  They are coming back!  And Matthew Henry wisely writes:  "It is good to manage even our worldly affairs in faith; to do common business with reference to the Providence and Promise of God." I had a scary accident recently, hydroplaning my SUV across three lanes of busy interstate traffic at noon on a rainy day. I missed all the cars. Every time I tell the story, I feel that I need to reference my existence to God. 

Jeremiah sighs in praise to the God he worships and adores:  "Ah LORD, Thous has made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee."  Jeremiah 32:17.  And there it is right there.  A man in prison, unjustly.  And I complained incessantly this year because Worker's Comp never allowed me to visit a doctor for the minor trauma I suffered on my face.  Great in counsel; mighty in work; Thine Eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men.  Jer 32:19.  What more do I really need to lay life on His lap?

And God's beautiful response to this beautiful Jeremiah! "Call unto Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you know not!"  Even in jail!  Jer 33:3.

WHERE SHALL THE WORD BE FOUND, WHERE WILL THE WORD RESOUND?  NOT HERE, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH SILENCE - T. S. Eliot 

Still locked up in jail, Jeremiah is given a second Word from God in Jer 33:3.  In the silence of a prison cell, Jeremiah listens and God speaks: "Call to Me and I will answer you.  I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.  I want to give thorough renovations, working a true healing inside and out, so that your motto is 'God has set things right for us.' "  My prayer for you:  Be silent, o my soul, that I may hear God's Message to me this day.  Wonder what God is saying to you?  Can you still your heart to silence?

PHOTO:  I stood next to this solo tree hovering over the Pacific Ocean wondering about God's Power.  What mystery.  May we believe deep down where it counts that your outstretched arm is headed our way, on our behalf.

234 - "I Have A Hole in My Heart" Jeremiah 29-31

 Two people have told me in my lifetime that I have a hole in my heart.

I still to this day wonder what they saw in me, in my words. Was it deep sadness and grief? Both were counselors.  When I read Jeremiah 30:12, I wonder:  "Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing.  There is no one to plead your cause...your allies have forgotten about you."  They forgot about Joseph both in his demise and then again in his glory.  Why cry for a pain with no cure?  God promises in Jer 30:21: "I will bring you near and you will come close to Me.  You will be my people and I will be your God.  In a world with so many religions, so many directions, that's it---He became my God.  See, the storm of the Lord, a driving wind swirling down on heads of those who oppose me.  A fierce God will not stop until He fully accomplishes the purposes of His Heart.  In days to come, you will understand this.  Jeremiah 30:23-24. You found favor in the wilderness.  "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.  I will build you up again.  Again!  And I will remember no more and never forget you, as long as this sun above gives light and the moon and stars are fixed by night and the seas are stirred up to roar----that's how long. Forever.

Am I more serious about finding God and wanting Him more than anything else?  In Jeremiah 28, Jeremiah told prophet Hananiah that God never sent him.  "You've talked the country into believing a pack of lies!"   You claim to be sent...I'll send you right off the face of the earth.  God did.   Jeremiah 29: 9 - 11 talks about a bunch of liars preaching lies and claiming God sent them.  "I never sent them."  God's Decree!  This is God's word on the subject.  "As soon as Babylon's 70 years are up, I'll show up and take care of you and bring you back home.  I know what I'm doing.  I have it all planned out---plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.  When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me, I'll listen.  When you come looking for Me, you'll find Me.  Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."  God's Decreee:  "I'll turn things around for you."  His definition of good is different than mine.  Consciousness of sin can draw me closer to God.  The nearness of God is my good not things on this earth making it a good life.  

PHOTO:  A Grandmother's love for her first grandchild ever. God knows the plans He has for you, Ezekiel. To turn things around for you. For His Glory. You have to find Him and want Him and I pray always that you want Him more than anything else in life. I love you so much. You will never know how much.

233 - “ The Gospel Doesn’t Come From Keyboards” Jeremiah 26-28

  I

And, he didn't mince his mission.  

Jeremiah set his face like a flint.

Belted out every word of prophesy.

And the officials of Judah respond:

“This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”  Jeremiah 26:9.

Jeremiah knew.

Sent by the Lord God Himself.

So, mend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of God.

And it is the same for us this day.

I hear a Gospel of what God can do for us coming from keyboards of words and songs.

We must announce what God requires of us.  Repentance.  Surrender.  Dependence.  Trust.

And He will be to you the God of boundless love wrapping Himself around your story.

But on the terms of the Potter, not the clay.

Jeremiah received a sentence of death and still proclaimed:

"But as for me, behold, I am in your hands." Jer 26:14.

Because He knew that underneath were the arms of a Strong Loving Present God,

Who was accomplishing His Purposes through the rending of hearts not garments. 

PHOTO:  It's the ceiling of a place I visit in Austin that boasts the most visitors. The Capitol building. The acoustics are phenom.  And I can't imagine the trumpets and trinkets and singers and sound that raised the roof in Glory!  And that's what we will have for the rest of our lives~

232 - “The Lord Will Own Those Who Are His, In All Conditions” Jeremiah 23-25

 My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. Jer 24:6. No other words!

We don't know what this day will bring.  The eyes of Omniscience does.  He sees already before the dawn of the day.  His Good Intentions are always for our good.  It is the suffering of this day that will turn our eyes, our hands, our hearts, convicted by our sins and surrendered to a Good God.  Humbled by His Hand.  Protected by His Eyes.  This day will teach us to pray.

Wean me from this world and what people think of me.  May we all return to You this moment.  Bless us Lord.  Take care of us today.  Deliver us from this little trouble we face.  Like Daniel in the furnace.  We now sit in our very own furnace of affliction.  May our eyes meet the Eyes of Providence today.  Always.  

"The Lord will own those who are His, in all conditions."  M. Henry

PHOTO: Quarries Lake where I ponder. God owns me tonight in this condition!!!!!!!!!!

231 - "God Announces His Words To Me" Jeremiah 19-22

              

And the humble honest Jeremiah proceeds: O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived;

You have overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
Everyone mocks me.
For each time I speak, I cry aloud; 

I proclaim violence and destruction,

Because for me the word of the Lord has resulted
In reproach and derision all day long.
But if I say, “I will not remember Him
Or speak anymore in His name,”
Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am weary of holding it in,
And I cannot endure it.

Jeremiah 20:7-9

Something is going on in his heart in the midst of mess.
Jeremiah has opened his cause to God.  Jer 20:12.
His problems are committed to God!

...But the Lord is with me like a dread champion.

Jeremiah's friends hoped for his fall---what kind of friends are they?
But.  God has this.

What if it pleases God to leave me where I am?

Jeremiah 18:2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,  “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, Jeremiah 20:7-10

Why do I think things have to be a certain way?
I mean, God brought together Hosea and a wife of ill repute.
I mean, God gave calamities to Joseph and Job, one right after another.
Why do I think I will escape the uncomfortable in this life?
Can God not do with me as He wills.  On the shelf.  On the pedestal.
It's not for me to decide.

PHOTO: Heritage Ranch. Couldn't wait to stand on the course and say: You know!

230 - "God Is A Burning Fire Shut Up in My Bones" Jeremiah 15-18

        

         

"O Lord, you know;
    remember me and visit me,
    and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
    know that for your sake I bear reproach.
Your words were found, and I ate them,
    and your words became to me a joy
    and the delight of my heart,"
Jeremiah 15: 16-17

Two small words contain an ocean of joy! The best thing we can do for ourselves is get into the Word of God. 

Father, you know! Nothing escapes your eyes and ears. Help us this day to find You in the Word. 

PHOTO: Heritage Ranch. Couldn't wait to stand on the course and say: You know! the Potter remake this clay into another vessel.

Jeremiah 18:2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,  “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. 

Why do I think things have to be a certain way?
I mean, God brought together Hosea and a wife of ill repute.
I mean, God gave calamities to Joseph and Job, one right after another.
Why do I think I will escape the uncomfortable in this life?
Can God not do with me as He wills.  On the shelf.  On the pedestal.
It's not for me to decide.

PHOTO:  A burning fire in Palm Springs.  Oh, this verse so speaks to me.  Where is that burning fire in my heart I have once known?  I open my cause to You, O God!

229 - "Is My Confidence in God or in Man?" Jeremiah 11-14

                                         

This is a very sad time in our lives.  "It's precisely our consciousness of sin that can lead us nearer to God."  Closer, Our God, bring us closer as we deal with our own stuff.  So aware of the presence of a Good God in the midst of some confusion over here.  We don't understand but we trust.  We are in the dark night of the soul and pray we hold tight and remain faithful.   

 

Why are we acting like tourists?

Jeremiah 14:7 Drought...We know we're guilty. We've lived bad lives—but do something, God. We've betrayed God, Hope of Israel.  Our only Hope...14:9 - God, you are, in fact, here, here with us! You know who we are—you named us! Don't leave us in the lurch. 
Does God always listen when we pray?Jeremiah 14:11 God said to me, "Don't pray that everything will turn out all right for this people. When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won't listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I'll not accept them....their preachers are liars telling them that everything is going to be okay.  Oh my!  God's eyes pour out tears for the people while the preachers go about business as usual as though nothing happened. Don't break faith with us, God.

  Jer 14:8
8 You who are the hope of our days
    Savior in times of distress,
why are you like a stranger in my midst
    like a traveler who stays only a night?

9 Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
    like a warrior powerless to save?

You are among us, Lord,
    and we bear your name;
    do not forsake us. Oh God!

PHOTO: Duomo de Milano, Italy

228 - "There Is A Balm in Gilead" Jeremiah 7-10

There are people who have no idea how they come across or what they are really doing to you. I am sure this happens to me every day. They are so lost in themselves.  Their sins trail behind them--- I Timothy 5:24.  For all those people in your life leaving a trail of sadness, stand up for them at their crossroads and ask for them the right paths of life.  Jeremiah 6:16.  There is a balm in Gilead.  Jeremiah 8:22.  There is a balm in your city to redress your grievances.  We have to submit to the care offered by God.  We have to submit to the cure offered by God. Redress me in my own trail of "misses" as sin is missing the mark.  The blood of Christ is the balm in Gilead.  We will remain in need not for want of the balm but for admittance of our need and submission to His cure.  Throws me back to my cancer days.  I had to submit to the cure to eradicate the cancer---it wasn't what I wanted but what was needed to move forward.  I didn't think Christ was what I wanted because I thought it was a religion to follow----and I already was.  But when we admit and submit and ask for the balm, it is more than anyone in the universe knows.  He offers an intimate relationship with Himself.  God gives us Himself and that's the dearest grandest offer of anything.  

PHOTO:  A trail. Our sins trail behind us. 

227 - "They Don't Even Know How to Blush" Jeremiah 4-6

This brand-new prophet, this child king---
they have inherited a people "greedy for unjust gain."
They embrace a mess of a kingdom. From the least to the greatest.
These righteous leaders couldn't make a dent in the evil bent of their people.  

This kingdom:
"They heal wounds lightly saying, "Peace, Peace." Jeremiah 6:14.

Do we do the same today glossing and minimizing pain saying, "It's all good." And it may not be so. And, yes, I do know that God is always doing good. But slapping a trite phrase on grief and pain and loss---well, that's not good.

This kingdom:
They have no shame over their sins,
they don't even know how to blush. Jer 6:15.

And it is the Lord, Who says:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls. Jer 6:16.

"Oh that men would be wise for their souls! Ask for the old paths; the way of godliness and righteousness has always been the way God has owned and blessed. Ask for the old paths set forth by the written word of God." Matthew Henry

Oh Father, give us Wisdom this day and the Grace to see the paths You have put in front of us by this written Word we hold. Solomon just prayed for it: Wisdom from Above. We humbly stop and surrender and ask for those old paths worn and creased and wrinkled and crafted by Your Beautiful Word. Counsel us this day, Oh God! We need You so!

PHOTO:  Jerusalem.  We walked this path.  Many followers have.  But it's the Written Word, the Living Word, Who they encountered on all these paths that we make supplication, that we seek, that we step into.  

226 - “I Know You” Jeremiah 1-3

 

A youthful prince & a novice prophet join Kingdom forces and things grow worse.
Josiah was 21 and trying to turn around his followers from the high places.
While God was calling a young Jeremiah to speak, prophesy and reform.
Both young men met the Voice of God in unison, in fear and trembling.
And Jeremiah hears God say to him:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, OH! That makes me cry!!!

and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:3
Not just a prophet to his people, but to the nations!

And Jeremiah tenderly trembles:
“Ah, Lord God!

I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 

But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Jeremiah 1:6-7.

Whatever it is God is saying to you this day.
Go in weakness. 
Speak in dependence.

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
And I am watching over my word to perform it.” Jeremiah 1:16.
God fits each of us to His Calling and watches over all.

But you, dress yourself for work.  Jeremiah 1:17

Dear Father, there are days when I believe I could have done better.  I could have taken more initiative.  I could have...the list goes on.  The truth is You are always working to bring about good.  I must lay down the high places in my mind of where I think I should be.  Direct me this day to speak Your Word.  Watch over Your Word to perform it today. 

We anticipate the Great Day. I am one year closer, this day, in Ancipation of that Great Day.

PHOTO:  Standing at this ocean wondering about my future.  Dressing myself for work today. 

225 - "My Worst Problem is Me" Isaiah 64-66

                                 

The prophet Isaiah has disturbed us all and stirred such good things in our hearts.  What is one thought from the book of Isaiah that you walk away with?  For me, it is the unholiness that runs right through me.  Isaiah 30:11 ~ I have been confronted with the Holy One and I have so much hope! My ears have been opened and I'm so very grateful in the midst of my mess.  "No matter what is happening to you, your worst problem is in you.  And that problem is not how badly you feel, it is how poorly you love.  Your failure to love Me above all else and to love others at any cost to yourself defines your unholiness.  When you recognize your unholiness and own it without excuse, your ears will be opened to hear My words of comfort and hope.  And those words will set you on the narrow road to relating with holy love.  There is no other kind."  66 LL.

Isaiah 64:4 "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
Who acts for those who wait for Him."
We wait for no man.
We wait for our God.
The Potter Who has worked us well to this place.
You will not stop with This Work of Your Hands, our Father. Isa 64:8
Your hands are spread out to us.
May we let go of all our devices.  Isa 65:2

These people so wanted God to manifest Himself like He did in the days of Moses and David and Elijah.  They beg him to do what He used to do. 
As I look back on my life and I am a little older,
I find myself begging for Grace undeserved.
Matthew Henry wrote:
"They need not fear being disappointed of it---for it is sure,
or disappointed in it, for it is sufficient. 
The very Sure Presence of our God.
The very Sufficient Grace from our God.
Our hope is in Him.
Our joy is in Him.
Wrapped up in what our God will do in us and for us and through us.
Such Mystery that we cannot even comprehend though we grasp the Grace.

God speaks his freeness and forwardness in doing us good.
Oh, my soul!
"See what communion there is between a gracious God and a gracious soul." M.Henry.                               

God's Decree ~  There is something I'm looking for: a person simple and plain, reverently responsive to what I say. But, your acts of worship are acts of sin: ... Well, I choose to expose your nonsense and let you realize your worst fears.  But listen to what God has to say to you who reverently respond to his Word: "Your own families hate you and turn you out because of me. They taunt you, 'Let us see God's glory! If God's so great, why aren't you happy?'   

"Now the once whispered word peals like the voice of many waters and mighty thunderings over the whole church of God." Ellicott

PHOTO: unfiltered,,,undone,,,the quarries

224 - “Crying in Heartache and Living in Hope” Isaiah 58-63

 

Isaiah 58:2 - 9    BUSY BUSY BUSY V. BEING AVAILABLE TO YOUR FAMILIES

Face my family with their sins! They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people—law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side. But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' "Well, here's why:

 

"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground.  "This is the kind of fast day I'm after:  to break the chains of injustice, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is:  sharing your food with the hungry, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. ...  So, I toed the line on Saturday in the Kansas City Marathon for World Vision. 800 kids today will lose their life because of polluted water sources. Fundraising to help World Vision build one well at a time---$50 builds one well for one child for a lifetime of clean water.

You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'  Isaiah 58:9 - I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places...You'll be like a well-watered garden...If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there— Then you'll be free to enjoy God! 

I do not cure your unholiness by overlooking or understanding it.  To overlook it would be to miss the spot on the x-ray that will destroy you.  To understand it in light of what you've suffered would be to excuse it.  I do not heal your selfishness by affirming your value.  I solve your deepest problem with My self-sacrificing, reconciling embrace that forgives all that is unholy within you."  What hope is given by the prophet Isaiah!  Faith to believe God is good in any circumstance. Love that pays any price to bless another both spring from hope.  66 LL 

Isaiah 59:1-2  WRONGHEADED LIVES CAUSED THE SPLIT
God's arm is not too short.  God's ears are not stopped up.  There's nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you.  Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God....59:12 - Our wrongdoings pile up before you, God, our sins stand up and accuse us...Good is MIA, missing in action.  

But You issue a decree in v. 20:  I'll arrive as Redeemer to those who leave their sins.   

PHOTO:  Walking every day and thinking about those without. Godspeed. 

223 - "Deliver us God from Ourselves" Isaiah 52-57

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger bringing good news, Breaking the news that all's well, proclaiming good times, announcing salvation, telling Zion, "Your God reigns!"...Isaiah 52:11 - Purify yourselves.  You're not running from anybody! God is leading you out of here, and the God of Israel is also your rear guard. 

Isaiah 53:6...But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us, and that made us whole. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on Him.

Isaiah 54:10 "The mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My Lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken, says the LORD Who has compassion on you."  Every one who is thirsty for more, come.  We recognize our deep inadequacies. With every breath, we either profane the moment or it is holy for we have been redeemed by a Holy One.  That which is not holy, may God refine.  Where we want something more than God, may God deliver us from ourselves.  

Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near. Isaiah 55:6

PHOTO: Mount Rainier - You feel so small standing next to it. The mountain is shaken by volcanoes. His peace will never be shaken in our lives. Not by any volcano. 

222 - "Lean On The God of Israel" Isaiah 47-51

Who am I really listening to?

What is playing over and over in my mind?

Am I listening to God?

Am I listening to what it means to "move in" to love those difficult people in my life?

\

You claim to be citizens of the Holy City; 

you act as though you lean on the God of Israel, 

named God-of-the-Angel-Armies. 

You've never been good listeners to me. 

You have a history of ignoring me.

I've refined you, but not without fire. 

I've tested you like silver in the furnace of affliction.  

Come close, listen carefully:   I've always been present with you."

Isaiah 48

He said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”

But I said, “I have labored in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
    and my reward is with my God.”

                                                                                Isa 49:3-4

Hope for a new chapter.  Hope for a better me.  Hope for new strength.  

I Thes 4:11 that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business ...

"It is very desirable to have a calm and quiet temper, and to be of a peaceable and quiet behaviour. Satan is busy to trouble us; and we have in our hearts what disposes us to be unquie; therefore let us study to be quiet." 

I think about this verse like every day. Am I moving quiet in my mind? Am I living quiet in my heart?

PHOTO:  Hope for these two firstborn boys. Barrett and Ezekiel. May their next chapters be full of love.

221 - "No One One Earth Knows Me Like God" Isaiah 43-46

          

Heavens, here comes a long post. No one is going to want to read this long post.

The Lord says:  I created you.  I formed you.  I redeemed you.  I summoned you by name.  You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. And the fire will not burn you. Isaiah 43:1-2

When God acts, who can reverse it? Isaiah 43:13.

God formed me from the womb. No one on earth knows me like that. He wired me together this way. He will help me even when I am fed up with me. Isaiah 44:2

He'll pour water on thirsty real estate. He'll pour His Spirit on our children.  

Fear not.

This God Who has formed us is here to redeem us. And that changes everything.  

This God Who formed us is here to deliver us from idols we do not even know we have. With one hand we use a simple piece of wood to fuel a fire, to bake some bread. On the other hand, we craft that piece of wood into an idol to worship. "Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Isaiah 44:20. 

And this Beautiful God confirms the Word to us, 
fulfills the Counsel of His messengers. Isaiah 44:26.

May we hear the Counsel of messengers. Confirm Your Word to each of us through the spoken Word, the written Word, the Word made flesh in those You bring across our paths. Open our eyes, our hearts to see idols we have crafted that worship time and people and achievement and success and safety and comfort.Am I stirred by my calling or by my pain?

 "I've singled you out, called you by name, and given you this privileged work."  Am I more stirred this day by my high calling or by the pain in my life?  Isa 45:11: "Do you question who or what I'm making? Are you telling me what I can or cannot do?"  Radical Repentance needed to respond to the truth of the Gospel to advance His Kingdom.

God will never stop doing you good.  Isaiah 45:3-6.  God says: I've been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, And I'll keep on carrying you when you're old. I've done it and will keep on doing it.  So why do I act like the center of the universe is me, sometimes.

In 66 LL, the author writes about a friend of his who thinks God's Love is all about the spiritual highs he sometimes expreriences when he sobs over how empty he feels.  But those "Divine Encounters" with Your Love don't seem to be freeing him to better love his difficult wife.  He backs away from her so he can experience Your Love without interruption.  As I stood on the beach as daybreak, and watched the Morning Star open its corridor, there was the sprinkle of rain and the surreal experience of singing the Doxology alone on a pristine island beach. Just happened to be the next song on my phone.  In the midst of my pain, I could have burst open, I was so "taken" with the God of the Universe Who walked with me on the succulent sultry sparkling saturated sand!  What is most alive in me this day?  Am I more alive with other people who are "safe" and backing away from those closest to me?  Heaven forbid.  What does love look like today toward those in my life who are difficult to read and dismissive in actions toward me?  "Only those who know they are unholy, who hate their unholiness more than their pain and emptiness, experience the transforming power of My Love!"  66 LL.  That's what God is saying to me this day. 

PHOTO:  Sunrise in Florida on that corridor

220 - "I Am In The Battle for Your Soul" Isaiah 38-42

I AM IN THE BATTLE FOR YOUR SOUL Isaiah 38 may have been written thousand of years ago, but this chapter about a prophet and a king deeply stirs places in my heart this day, this moment.  King Hezekiah hears the threatening report and goes into the sanctuary of his God.  He sends his administrators to the prophet to ask for prayer.  Prophet Isaiah responds with God's Message:  "I personally will take care of your enemy."  Isaiah was in the battle for Hezekiah's soul.  Am I in the battle for my children's souls, my friends' souls?  A letter arrives and Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it. Then he went into the sanctuary of God and spread the letter out before God.  This verse means much to me.  I have thought about it hundreds of times in my life.  God marked these words. God said:  "Haven't you gotten the news that I've been behind this all along? This is a longstanding plan of mine.  Can I see that what happens in my life is always God's Plan A?  "I've got My Hand on this city.  I've got My Hand on your life! The Angel of God arrived and struck the Assyrian camp— 185,000 Assyrians died.  Then Sennacharib was murdered by his own sons. Unbelievable.

In Isaiah 38, God said:  You're going to die.  You're not going to get well."  Hezekiah turned to God:  Please, I beg you.  Hezekiah wept as he prayed---painful tears.  Remember me.  God said through the prophet:  "I've heard your prayer.  I've seen your tears. Spread out this day before our God and that thing that disturbs you. Live for the bended ear. Just as it happened in Isa 38:5. God heard Hezekiah's prayer for his health. He was knocking on death's door. God saw his tears and words. God changed His mind and added 15 years to his life.  "I have My Hand on this city."  Whatever time I have left, it seems it was good for me to go through all those troubles. Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline. You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing. And my sins I let go of, threw them over my shoulder—good riddance! 

PHOTO: Small town in California where people once fought for their independence. 

219 - "Sighs and Sorrows Scurry Into The Night" Isaiah 32-37

This beautiful book counsels us in our deepest need where our plans to walk wisely fail.  

                                                                 

Where our plans to be strong sink.  Where this Holy One is our strength, our everything.

O, Lord, be gracious to us this sunrise.  We wait for you not for any man.  

"Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble."  Isaiah 33:2.  

And, You will be the stability of our times today, an abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.  Isaiah 33:6.  

AM I AWED BY SUCCESS?  AWED BY THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO RESPOND TO ME?  Isaiah 31: 1-3  Doom to those who go off to Egypt thinking that horses can help them, Impressed by military mathematics, awed by sheer numbers of chariots and riders— And to The Holy of Israel, not even a glance, 
not so much as a prayer to God. Still, he must be reckoned with, a most wise God who knows what he's doing. He can call down catastrophe. He's a God who does what he says. 

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I REPENTED TODAY? 
Isaiah 31:6 -7  Repent, return, dear Israel, to the One you so cruelly abandoned. On the day you return, you'll throw away—every last one of you—the no-gods your sinful hands made from metal and wood. 

DO I BELIEVE HE IS DOING ME GOOD?
Isaiah 32:20  But you will enjoy a blessed life, planting well-watered fields and gardens, 

WHAT IS STIRRING INSIDE OF ME AS I READ THIS CHAPTER?
Isaiah 33:22  No more pulling up stakes and moving on, no more patched-together lean-tos. Instead, God! God majestic, God Himself! ... God is our King.  God runs this place and He will keep us safe. ... And you will live guilt free!  Isaiah 34:8 It's God's scheduled time for vengeance.

DO I NAME THE EVIL IN ME?
Isaiah 34: 16 -17  Get and read God's book: None of this is going away, this breeding, brooding evil. God has personally commanded it all.  His Spirit set it in motion. God has assigned them their place, decreed their fate in detail. This is permanent— generation after generation.

DO I BELIEVE THAT I WILL SING EVEN WHEN I HAVE NO VOICE?
Isaiah 35: 1 -2 Wilderness and desert will sing joyously, the badlands will celebrate and flower— Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom, a symphony of song and color.  ... God's resplendent glory, fully on display. God awesome, God majestic. Isaiah 35: 3 -7  Energize the limp hands, strengthen the rubbery knees. Tell fearful souls, "Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here, on his way to put things right And redress all wrongs. He's on his way! He'll save you!"  Blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped, Lame men and women will leap like deer, the voiceless break into song. Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert. Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain. Even lowly jackals will have water to drink, and barren grasslands flourish richly. 

CAN I TRUST A GOOD GOD THAT ONE DAY OUR SIGHS & SORROWS WILL BE NO MORE? ISAIAH 35: 8 -10  There will be a highway called the Holy Road. No rude or rebellious people here.  It's for God's people exclusively— impossible to get lost on this road...Only the redeemed will walk on it. The people God has ransomed will come back on this road. They'll sing as they make their way home to Zion, 
unfading halos of joy encircling their heads, Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.

PHOTO: On this beach while I walk, be our arm in time of trouble. 

218 - "Wonder Upon Wonder" Isaiah 27-31

Three Verses I have thought about for the past three decades.
The default of the Jews was to go to their neighbors if they needed help,
not to their God.
What about me?
I too have run to the arms of flesh for guidance, counsel, support.
May we deeply depend this day on the LORD our God.

In Returning and Rest
In Quietness and Trust
Shall be Your Strength.
Isaiah 30:15

The LORD longs to be gracious to you
He longs to show mercy to you.
He is a God of justice.
Blessed are those who wait for Him, not for any man.
Isaiah 30:18

And though the Lord gives you
the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
Your teacher will not hide himself anymore.
Your eyes will see Your Teacher.
Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying:
This is the way, walk in it.
When you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Isaiah 30:20-21

We will find strength in affliction because You are there.  Help us this day in what you have allowed in your Providential Hand to escape the snares of the enemy of our souls.  Help us this day to find that quietness and rest in You in the midst of this world we live in.

Here it is.  The first verse I read that grabbed me and what I was doing, living, being when I was a mere 21 years old.

“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Isaiah 29:13.

And I turned.  I could no longer live in the human rules.

I could no longer live by the works of my hand.

I can no longer live today by the principle of this land.

Their worship is made up of rules that come from mere humans, yet the Sovereign Lord says: In quietness and trust is your strength. But they wanted none of it. 

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord. Isa 31:1 To Whom or what do I turn this day, this hour? 

Woe to the one

who tells God what to do.

Shall the clay tell the Potter

what to do?  

We have life mixed up..

Paul David Tripp calls it 

Eternity Amnesia.

"Life is a struggle.  The Lord, in His Wisdom, has left us in a fallen world.  But perhaps our struggles are not primarily about the brokenness that surrounds us.  Could it be there is something we bring to each of these struggles that makes them harder to bear?"   www.paultripp.com/articles/posts/your-final-destinatio

PHOTO: A Rabbit Hole.  As we look deep into the holes of our own lives, may we sense Your Presence with us, Your Provision toward us, and Your Bending Low to us.