All in Obedience
It astounds me that Apostle Peter wrote these words while in prison in Rome eighteen months before he was sentenced to be executed. The fifth ruler of the Roman Empire, Nero, was unsurpassed in his cruel behavior. Surely Peter knew his death was imminent when he wrote the New Testament letters.
“Shiphrah” and “Puah”, I stumble over the pronunciation of their names, but they, on the other hand, did not stumble when it came to obeying God. They stood firm.
Jeremiah, the prophet, only recorded two prayers in his book of prophecy. I especially enjoyed studying the occasion for one of those two prayers. God had asked him to do something that appeared incredibly illogical. Jeremiah obeyed, then wrote down his prayer. He began with a reminder to himself that the God who made the heavens and the earth could, obviously, do anything. Jeremiah then stated his question to God, “The Babylonians are outside the walls of Jerusalem and about to destroy everything and take us captive. Why, then, did you have me purchase this piece of property with silver near Jerusalem and record the transaction on a sealed scroll with witnesses?”
Our daughter recently got a puppy which had been rescued from a trash bin. She named it Gwinny -- cutest little black and white thing you ever saw. Of course, she stocked up on all sorts of puppy items for Gwinny including a comfy little bed with soft sides.
Yesterday, we marveled at Abraham’s trust and immediate obedience when God commanded him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Today, let’s study, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story.”
On the way up the mountain, Isaac asked his father about the absence of the lamb for the offering. Abraham replied, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” (Gen. 22:8).
Yesterday, a sweet friend presented me with a lovely figurine of a little hummingbird drinking from the throat of a tiny orange trumpet flower. I was transported back to a time several years before.
Life’s difficult circumstances sometimes turns peace to panic. Our survival may depend on living through complicated medical treatments, making difficult decisions about our children, struggling with financial hardships, caregiving, coping with unhealthy habits... and on and on. But seemingly hopeless situations are the perfect ground for God to show us his glory, as he did continually to Moses and the Israelites.
Have you ever watched a potter work, as Jeremiah did in today’s passage? It is amazing to see something lovely begin to take shape from a lump of clay. In this passage God was showing the prophet that the nation of Israel—as well as every person from the beginning of time—was to be shaped by His hand. We are all lumps of human clay waiting for the touch of the master Potter.
I could not believe my eyes and ears! On a popular cooking show contestants competed for a top chef prize. Their cooking determined who got to continue preparing dishes on the show or who went home empty handed.
Have you ever hidden something and forgotten where you put it? Not only did you conceal it from others, but also yourself. How frustrating! Not so with God’s word. When memorizing and cherishing his word in our hearts, accessing it effortlessly brings quite the opposite. It brings victory and peace.
My friend was having trouble getting her 7-year-old daughter up and ready for school in the mornings. After repeatedly asking her daughter to do her morning routine, she decided she had enough. She asked her daughter to come to the bathroom to brush and style her hair, but she didn’t keep asking. Her daughter hadn’t come in to get her hair styled by the time my friend was finished in the bathroom. When the girl wanted her hair brushed, the mom calmly told her that she had missed her chance. She didn’t follow her mom’s instructions, so she would have to go to school with her hair as it was. Hair au naturel – the natural consequence.
Normally I would not get excited about flying. I must admit that anxiety usually kicks in at the very thought of getting on an airplane. This time was different though. I had an agenda.
A deadline was quickly approaching, so I set aside today to complete the task. A couple of more pressing circumstances intervened taking center stage. My muscles tightened and my countenance fell as my stress level rose. How am I going to finish now? I wondered.
“Just Do It” is a phrase Nike coined in 1988. It’s a slogan to inspire athletes to out run, out train, and out move. The apostle James used similar words to inspire Christians hundreds of years earlier.
Mean words. Potty-talk. Critical comments. It was the beginning of a long summer, and I purposed to tackle the issue of the ugly mouth I heard coming from my children. For that summer, my children and I focused on the verse above. We memorized it. We talked about it. We defined words and explained concepts within it. We looked for it lived out in others. We noticed the opposite qualities lived out in others. And most importantly, we asked God to help us walk out this verse in our family relationships. That was hard for a big sister with a huge vocabulary that could slice and dice, and a little brother who had strong, fast arms, fists and feet!
Living in a new area, I was excited when a lady from a church we had visited calledand asked me to attend an event there that night. At first I had some excuses why I should not go, but then I thought, why not, and off I went.
“Excuse me. May I ask you guys a question? I noticed you praying before your meal.”
My husband was meeting with a friend over lunch at a local restaurant when the young man interrupted them. The man and his wife had recently moved and were looking for a church home. My husband and his friend had a nice conversation with the man, inviting him and his wife to church and welcoming them to town.
A much younger friend works out with me to help me improve my health. She regularly reminds me that I “pace myself” when I’m doing any given physical challenge. While she would like for me to exert myself fully throughout, instead I start slowly and gradually increase my effort. She says I hold back.
I’d patched it twice—a dab of spackling and a dollop of paint. I noticed it again while dusting the mantle. That small crack in the wall had returned. As I poked around, I discovered additional soft spots surrounding the crack. This could not be good! Bob-the-handy-man agreed. It could be water damage, dry rot or, even worse, termite damage.
Have you noticed the ads on social media for t-shirts expressing thoughts about kindness? The shirts may have pictures or other words on them, but they all end up saying, “Choose Kind”.
