Press the arrow to listen to Kari Jobe sing “Cry Out” while reading today’s devotion about a single purpose.
Scripture Unite my heart to fear Your name. Psalm 86:11
Observation
Thin strips of veneer are as flimsy as cardboard. But laminated together they become plywood, strong and stable. My heart is often like cardboard. It knows what it should want to do, but it cannot manage the strength to do it. And yet, when empowered, my human will can be greatly used by the Lord to choose the right and leave undone the wrong.
My only hope is lamination. The very weakness that works against me, when bonded together by the Holy Spirit, can empower me.
The message is not that God must peel and discard layers of our heart that are ineffective. Instead, he takes the very part that won’t cooperate and uses it to do his will.
Application
I had lunch yesterday with a man who has run between 3 to 6 miles a day for 31 years. I eyed his sixty-five-year-old lithe body and wanted to put my dessert back. What would keep a man running every day for 31 years? I can scrape together about 6 weeks of willpower to do anything and then my will becomes as flimsy as wallpaper.
Prayer Father, I am full of weakness. But the superglue of your power can somehow blend with my ineptness and create resilience. I need give you my flimsy heart and ask you to bring it together to fear you. Let my first question and my only aim be to do the thing that pleases you most. Amen.
Worship as you read this devotion by pressing the arrow. Song: Michael Card Joy in the Journey
Scripture But they approached Moses and said, “We simply want to build pens for our livestock and fortified towns for our wives and children. Then we will arm ourselves and lead our fellow Israelites into battle until we have brought them safely to their land. Meanwhile, our families will stay in the fortified towns we build here, so they will be safe from any attacks by the local people. Numbers 32:16-17
Observation
They could have gone farther, but in their imagination the chieftains of Reuben and Gad had gone far enough. It had been a 40 year march through the desert. At last they spotted green grass, open fields and homes empty and ready to move into. It was easy to say yes and hard to say no. What they did next showed their immaturity. They asked for the favor of jumping to the front of the line, dodging the draft, avoiding the war and putting down roots. Mature leaders would have fought the battles first then taken what God had to give. But the green fields and empty houses were alluring.
Sadly, they got what they wanted as well as what they needed. It works that way when we ask for an easier way. The Lord hears our prayer and he answers with yes. We think it is because of his great love to pamper us, when from God’s point of view he blesses us to try us. Reuben and Gad were given the land but with it came a centuries long division between them and the rest of the nation because of the river between them. Somehow they were always on the cold edge away from the center of action in Jerusalem. It was easy for them to dilute with the neighbors. Centuries later, Jesus would visit this region and find Jews in the pig business. They lived high on the hog and asked Jesus to leave. Comfort turned out to be a bad choice.
There is a human yearning to be comfortable and to have ideal conditions. We want to be home. We want open fields. We want ideal circumstances. As Christians we combine that with plenty of Bible and come to the conclusion where God is life is perfect. When conditions are less than ideal we become dissatisfied. We chafe. Ideal circumstances can become an idol that take us away from the Lord. From Genesis 1:1 it is clear that the Lord works best in chaos. The presence of God is not displayed in perfection but in a mess. Are conditions unfair, confusing, incomplete, disorienting? Yes, and they are perfectly God. We need to learn to live with discomfort this this is what motivates us to move ahead.
So what should we do in imperfect conditions? Continue to move forward under God’s direction and then see what comforts he offers to us. The people of Gad and Reuben would have been better off fighting for their kinfolk and then seeing what God would give to them. He would have given to them land chosen to make them into the people he wanted them to be.
I read this the other day from Henri Nouwen, “We all have dreams about the perfect life: a life without pain, sadness, conflict, or war. The spiritual challenge is to experience glimpses of this perfect life right in the middle of our many struggles. By embracing the reality of our mortal life, we can get in touch with the eternal life that has been sown there. The apostle Paul expresses this powerfully when he writes: “We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our … mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:8-12). Only by facing our mortality can we come in touch with the life that transcends death. Our imperfections open for us the vision of the perfect life that God in and through Jesus has promised us.”
Application
We are not to become comfortable until God gives the comforts to us. If I ask for what I want, God will give me what I need, and I don’t want that. So it is better to wait until God gives me what I need, then I will have what I really want. I really want that.
Prayer Father, I choose today to be content in you, not just at the end but on the way there! I give up the notion of ideals and the fallacy that all should be just right. I embrace the unevenness of life and follow you. Amen.
Scripture Greet Apelles, a good man whom Christ approves. Romans 10:16
Observation
Have you ever put you hand into a pants pocket and felt the little slip of paper that reads, “Inspected by Number 6″. When you put your hand into your soul what’s on the inspection slip? The best one reads, “Inspected by Christ.”
What is the Lord looking for in our quality? He wants to be certain that we have not allowed anyone to remove what he originally put into us. Apelles was a man “approved”. The Greek word is “dokimos” and with it comes an interesting story. Listen to this bit of background I found online today:
“In the ancient world there was no banking system as we know it today, and no paper money. All money was made from metal, heated until liquid, poured into moulds and allowed to cool. When the coins were cooled, it was necessary to smooth off the uneven edges. The coins were comparatively soft and of course many people shaved them closely. In one century, more than eighty laws were passed in Athens, to stop the practice of shaving down the coins then in circulation. But some money changers were men of integrity, who would accept no counterfeit money. They were men of honour who put only genuine full-weighted money into circulation. Such men were called “dokimos” or “approved”. Donald Barnhouse (Thayer and Smith. “Greek Lexicon entry for Dokimos”. “The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon”. <http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=1384&version=kjv>.)
As our lives circulate in human society there are people along the way who would like to shave off bits of our God-given character for their own selfish purposes. There is a class of people who are happy to use others to prop up their own success. They feed off of those who are insecure because of the universal desire for approval they give. These manipulative leaders are like money changers who want to carve up a person like a coin for their own ends. There are some so hungry for approval that even this jaundiced eye and crooked smile feels reassuring. The knife carves a little bit of them away and back they go into circulation less valuable than before.
Application
I don’ t want to be a coin getting lighter by the moment. I want to be a “dokimos” man who has not let anyone shave from of me the features of my Christ-minting for their own ends. I have been designed for a purpose. The approval of Christ will come when I remain consistent with who he has designed me to be. There are many who what to shave off something here or there from me to somehow make me fit their approval. But I cannot let that happen. I am approved by Christ and that is enough.
Prayer Father today, if there is any wear on me let it be from circulation of usefulness not because I allowed some miserly, person take from me what you gave to me. Amen.
Let God weigh me on the scales of justice,
for he knows my integrity. Job 31:6
Observation Job had personal integrity list. He had thought in advance of pitfalls that could swallow him up and had planned in advance to avoid them. Job knew how he would respond before he even came to the point of decision because he had predetermined decisions already made. Those are convictions. From Job 31, here is his personal integrity list from Job 31:
1. Do not look with lust on a young woman or be in a place of enticement to lust after another man’s wife.
2. Treat employees fairly as equals in origin and your status as responsibility toward them.
3. Extend the eves of your house to cover widows and orphans.
4. Have a home open to those who need love, a meal or a bed.
5. Do not become excited by what money can buy or discouraged by scarcity instead trust God as your provider.
6. Never gloat when God disciplines those who have hurt you, or it may be your turn next!
7. Be uncomfortable with unconfessed sin and open it quickly to the Lord.
These are not the words of a pastor but of a business man. Personal integrity is something that matters to all of us for one reason: God is watching. As Job said,
Doesn’t [God] see everything I do and every step I take? (Job 31:4)
All of life is an examination of our lives by the Lord. He watches everything that we do. The perks we enjoy in life are not given to us to cause us to forget our responsibility. Instead, one day, every fringe benefit of life will be taken away from us and only our integrity will hold us together. We are not given cars, homes, money, investments, businesses, employees, opportunities and so on to distance ourselves from human need or to elevate ourselves over others. All of these things are given to us because we are responsible to make a difference. One day God will take everything back and quiz us on what we did with his resources.
The only way to pass that exam is to have personal integrity. Job thought in advance of what mattered most to God about his daily life and how he would respond in a way that would please the Lord. What matters to God is often very different from what matters to us. God values faithfulness in relationships because he is faithful. God values the care of those who are weaker because he is a Saviour. God values transparency because he hates hypocrisy. Job thought through these and other things and formed his whole life around what matters to God.
Integrity is not a way to please God to be accepted by him. Instead, God is pleased with us because of Christ and therefore we live to please him as an act of love toward him.
Integrity, as Job learned, does not guarantee prosperity and success. Just because a person has standards does not mean that he will be exempt from hardships. But what Job did learn is that when all is stripped away it is our integrity that will hold us together.
Application Job’s list is probing. It would serve any business person or pastor well. We just need to think through the specifics of each point:
1. Use accountability software, have an accountability partner, be honest with yourself, a man should not counsel women, have a window in the office door, never give a woman a ride alone in a car or visit the home of a woman alone.
2. Do not brush aside requests from staff for equipment, pay rises, working conditions, personal need or relationship disputes, rather consider each fairly.
3. Look after single mothers and particularly the children from one parent homes.
4. Look for those standing alone after church and those new to the community.
5. Give generously, don’t accept money that violates principles.
6. Pray for your enemies, especially when life is difficult for them and help them.
7. Have an accountability partner who knows all and can ask, “Are you lying?”
Prayer Father, as the responsibilities of life increase let my personal integrity grow with them. Amen.
But Daniel was determined not to defile himself (Daniel 1:8)
Suited to serve in the royal palace (Daniel 1:4)
Unusual aptitude (Daniel 1:17)
Special ability (Daniel 1:17)
Ten times more capable (Daniel 1:20)
It was heady stuff for a budding young adult male to be whisked into the palace of the king for an honors graduate program for exceptional students. Daniel was in the 99th percentile. But what impressed others did not distract Daniel.
Daniel was determined.What was his determination?Was it to never forget who he was wherever he went?No it was more than that.Daniel was determined never to forget who God was wherever he went.Daniel was suited to serve in a royal palace because he wasn’t trying to serve the king, he was focused on pleasing the Lord.Because he could honor the Lord he was fit to serve in the greatest house of men.
Daniel was given remarkable gifts because of his determination.He was given “unusual aptitude” and “special ability” (verse 17).This depth set him apart from all the other groomed junior executives.
Daniel was “ten times more capable” (verse 20) because of one thing that he had done.Instead of being changed, Daniel changed others.If we are to become fit to serve in the places of leadership in business, in the church or in education we must grip tightly to Daniel’s secret:The environment will not change you if you will make the choice to change the environment.When God sees that resolve he will then change you in ways no study program can ever hone human skill.
Wherever I serve in life I want to serve as if I were in the king’s palace.This grows out of my first focus to serve the ultimate King of all.Because I serve him, wherever I am at work no matter how humble, I must treat it with royal diligence.I must not let the environment change me, I must change the environment.
Father I ask for the gifts of unusual aptitude and special ability as a reward for the determination to serve you while working for others. Amen.
But the Babylonian army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.Jeremiah 39:5-7
The king was a great politician.
On one hand he was a puppet installed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.So he had to kowtow to the Chaldeans on the right of the map.
On the other hand he was ruler of the Jews who were itching to throw the Babylonians off.So he had to curtsey to the locals on the left side of the map.
As the story unfolds King Zedekiah always knew what was the right political answer, but he never looked ahead at ultimate outcomes.He only looked to the left or right, he never looked ahead.
If kings struggle with people pleasing then we must as well.There are many voices trying to guide us home, and sometimes all of them sound right.We can live to please them and in the end lose everything precious to us.Or if we can bear to live for a little while with rejection we can inherit more than we have imagined possible.
A leader who is worthy of the title of leader must learn to be comfortable with disapproval.He must be a person who can close his eyes and play forward the impact of the decisions that he makes.He must also be a man of God who can get a bird’s eye view of life from his knees.If Zedekiah had only done those two things the lives of thousands would have been spared. That is why leaders must learn to be comfortable with discomfort.The lives of many depend upon it.
Father, help me not to get too comfortable along the way. Keep me steady when others don’t see what you do.Help me to see life more and more from your point of view.Amen.
Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, the garbage dump where he had delivered this message, and he stopped in front of the Temple of the Lord. He said to the people there, “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will bring disaster upon this city and its surrounding towns as I promised, because you have stubbornly refused to listen to me.’”Jeremiah 19:14-15
Observation
When God speaks at a garbage dump rather than in his holy temple it’s obvious that something is wrong.When a priest must turn trash man and stop at the front door of the church to deliver a message from God days are not looking good.And when the garbage can has more authority than the pulpit something is rotten in the church.
Imagine this:a ring ofpriests with skin pink from their latest bath and robes crisply ironed standing in a semicircle at the council tip.In the center is a passionate prophet uttering words of a God who is at his wit’s end.In his hand the emotional preacher holds a piece of fine china.At the climax of his sermon, with one dramatic hurl he smashes the porcelain.The message was clear even without Jeremiah’s narration.God in heaven was saying, “You just wait until I get down there!”
Why couldn’t the worshipers hear this message in the comfort of the temple?Why did God have to resort to the garbage dump to deliver his message?The answer is simple.The people had come to prefer only what pleased them. As a result the preachers told them what they wanted to hear.When preachers pander to the people in the temple or the church God will not just stop speaking, he will also show up where we least expect him to get his message across.
In his last tell-all letter, the apostle Paul put it this way:
For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.2 Timothy 4:3
The trend of Jeremiah’s day did not diminish.Selective deafness is on the crescendo today. If stirring truth is being spoken outside of the normal gathering places of God’s people, then the Lord’s own need to ask if they want to hear anything God has to say.For the temple of the Lord can be full prattle that anyone sitting in the audience could have written on their own.But if God is speaking through his preachers then the perspective of the man in the pulpit will be different from those who listen, and those who listen find their minds and hearts challenged to change.As Billy Sunday the baseball star turned evangelist used to say to critics, “They say to me, “Bill, you rub the fur the wrong way.” I don’t. Let the cats turn ’round.”
Application
I must admit that there is a part of me that wants to hear what I’ve heard before because it is easier to remain than to change.Then I hear preaching at the garbage dump and my heart is humbled.I want God to speak where I am.I don’t want to have to camp with flies to hear him.
Prayer
Father, I open my heart and ears to listen to you as you want to speak so you can access me especially when I am gathered at your feet with your people.And give me courage to speak in your house as if I were at the garbage dump when I need to.Amen.
I'm Phil McCallum, a husband, father and most of all one of the people Jesus loves. I'm privileged to serve Evergreen Community Church in Bothell, Washington as Senior Pastor where people love enough to believe "it's all about relationships." In 1982 I made a vow to read God's word daily and apply it to life. Each day I write out my reflections. Some days I post those on my blog. It's a little personal but it's my hope it will stir you to go deeper still. Learn how I do my devotions. These are my thoughts and not necessarily those of the ministry I serve. By the way check out the computer study Bible Glo. I highly recommend it.
