Deeper Still by phil mccallum

Scripture
There is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life. 1 Corinthians 8:6

Observation
I look out my fourteen foot long sliding glass door to a widescreen sky. Swirls of white clouds, each miles long, are brushed against a light blue background as broad as the planet. God paints fine details with a very big brush. All that I see was made through one man, Jesus Christ. Creation formed through one being is a lot to take in, but every daisy, bumblebee, kangaroo, orca, redwood, lava flow and lightning bolt came through his fingers. The planet ricochets with life today because God the Father made the world through Jesus.

I see all creation with my eyes for one reason: so that I may understand what Jesus is doing in my life. When I’m told that through Jesus Christ I have been “given life” this is not just a bit of colour to my face. The power of Jesus Christ in me is as grand as the Pacific Ocean, the Amazon rainforest, the Himalayas, the Antarctic ice shelves and every fish, sloth, yak and penguin on them. Through Jesus I am more than alive, I really live. The world has been created through him and in him I am being recreated. If the words spoken in Genesis 1 reverberate in echos of teaming colour, energy and vitality, then how much more does the word of God spoken through Jesus Christ change me?!

Only in Jesus can I come to the edges of what it means to be fully human. Only in Christ am I fully alive. I had dinner with a frat house student after his first semester. Christianity, he told me, was so constricting, but now off campus he was living it up. I told him that my choice to follow Jesus began an adventure for me that has taken me further than I could have ever imagined. Just as it was for the first disciples, those who follow Jesus don’t die where they were born and along the way they really live. Everyone else is tethered and slowly being bored to death.

Application
This life-surge from Jesus happens only if I accept the power of his title as my Lord. This means he has the authority to control everything, especially me. To him I give permission to have his way.

Prayer
Jesus, you are my Lord. I reaffirm today that you have the right to do whatever you like in me. Just speak your recreating word in me so that my life today is a Genesis 1 experience. Let my life come alive as you speak your creative words in me. I expect my life today to be as alive as the great outdoors. Jesus let me really live! Amen.

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Press the arrow to listen to Aaron Shust sing “Give Me Words to Speak” while you read today’s devotion.

Scripture
Jesse’s first son was Eliab, his second was Abinadab, his third was Shimea, his fourth was Nethanel, his fifth was Raddai, his sixth was Ozem, and his seventh was David. 2 Chronicles 2:13-15

Observation
Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon and John all had one thing in common: they were the youngest in their families. Even the Apostle Paul was something of the last born among the disciples. It wasn’t kosher for God to do much with the youngest, that was legally left to the eldest brother. But occasionally, when God wants to do something unique, he starts at the bottom.

So many expectations lay at the feet of the oldest child–from getting teeth, to losing them, from first steps to first days of school–everything must be done first and best. The other children all take their place and fit well into the family norm.

Just when life becomes predictable in comes the youngest child. He frustrates the oldest with his carefree jaunt through life. He colors outside the lines and marches to a different drummer. Occasionally this tag-a-long child catches the fancy of God and miracles happen.

Why does it surprise us when God behaves like God? Sovereignty means that God is full of surprises. Had it been up to the nitpickers it would have been King Eliab. Doesn’t that sound safe and boring! King David was a shocker at the time, but God liked it so much he had it written as the last human name mentioned in the Bible. God is unpredictable.

Application
If a man of God could be made of the baby of the family, then there is hope that God can use any of our lives for things unexpected. We should never let the yawning predictability of life keep us from the extraordinary. The Lord who led nations with little brothers has surprises in store for our days as well.

Prayer
Father, take my life and do something interesting. Amen.

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Press the arrow to listen to Michael Card and Phil Keaggy sing “The Poem of Your Life”

Scripture
“Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. The neighbor women said, ‘Now at last Naomi has a son again!’ And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.” (Ruth 4:16-17).

Observation

God is the author of each life story. That clear from the first biography God ever wrote – the book of Ruth.

Ruth as a book is perfectly balanced.

The introduction and the conclusion have the exact same number of words. The novel starts bitter but ends better.

There are four main sections that pull the reader along.
Each section has an introductory sentence that introduces segment.
Each chapter starts with a problem that is answered and leads to the next problem.

There is balance between selfless Ruth and selfish Orpah and between selfless Boaz and the selfish relative.

The story starts with a picture of Naomi an empty a widow with two dead sons.
The fairy-tale ends with a picture of Naomi now filled with a baby in her arms.

And in the first biography in the Bible everyone lives happily ever after in the end.

Why is the book of Ruth so perfect? Ruth is not beautiful just because the writer spun a good tale but because the Lord was the author of her life. The book of Ruth is beautiful because Naomi had a God-written life. The book is a masterpiece because there was a master-plot planned by the Master Himself. Remember, God is the best selling author of all time.

Every human life is like a story. Some are tragedies. However, lives given to God are stories authored by the Almighty Himself. If my life is in Jesus then my life is a story written by God. No matter the character, the plot, the scenery, every life-tale under God’s control ends better than it began.

Some like Naomi want to stop reading the story of their lives too soon. At the start of the book Naomi tried to stop the story of her life. When her husband and sons died she thought her story had come to an end. But it was really the beginning of a brand new story.

Application

My life is like a book, being written by God every day. It all takes longer than I think it should sometimes. Writers are notoriously slow. I heard James Mitchner wrote just 3 pages a day. God takes his time working out the plot of our lives.

Our lives are like a book, a plot written day by day. Many pages are senseless. Some seem to have temporary purpose only to be lost in the next chapter. But Jesus is the author skilled at turning bad beginnings into better endings.

In all of the Bible, any human life participating with the Lord has ended better than it began. Jesus wants to dip his pen into my life to inscribe his eternal purposes. My choice is, will I scrawl an autobiography, with each chapter written by me, struggling to find meaning. Or will I let Jesus story blend with my own story so that I can inscribe eternal purposes?

Prayer

Father, here’s a pen, here’s my life, please write your story all over me. Amen.

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Every Season by Nichole Nordeman

Scripture
She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” Genesis 39:16-17

The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. Genesis 40:23

So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” Genesis 41:16 (NKJ)

Observation

Joseph had a dream planted in his heart by the Lord. It was more than just an idea that Joseph had for his life. It was a plan that God has for him. That dream was like a seed buried deep in him. One day, in right conditions, that seed would grow. Meanwhile, that seed would need to remain hidden from view under prison clothes deep in his heart.

There were people that God put into Joseph’s life who made holding onto dreams difficult.

He first met the Dream Taker, Mrs. Potiphar. When she couldn’t steal his dream with her swinging hips she turned to purgery. Because Joseph made the right choice, she could snatch his cloak but she could not steal his dream. Sometimes we have to leave our reputation in the hands of others so we can hold onto the dream God has given to us.

Then Joseph met the Dream Faker, Mr. Cupbearer. Joseph showed genuine concern for his injustice, and gave him a great gift of hope. But words were forgotten and all the promises made were never delivered. There are many people in life who will promise opportunity and never deliver. Networking is a remarkable advantage in life. God can use it to open doors. But there are many who never deliver. Their lack of performance does not in any way hinder the power of a God-given dream. A true dream can survive disappointment.

The only reason Joseph’s story survives nearly 4,000 years later is because he met the Dream Maker, the Lord himself. As David Seamonds said, “Joseph was in prison but he did not let prison get into Joseph.” The last two years of waiting were the most important. Marinating in disappointment, Joseph never let it mutate into discouragement. Instead he came to the conclusion that he had been given a God given dream, which only the Lord could fulfill if he would so choose to do. His first public words tell it all: So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” He now knew that God alone could fulfill dreams.

We built our first house with the rustic feel of a ski lodge. Strewn about the job site were many left over blocks of timber. One hefty chunk of wood lay sunk in a mud puddle. I had walked around it many times, until the day came to craft the mantle piece. I needed a nice, thick slab of Cyprus pine to do the job. When I measured I found that the only one to fit the bill was the muddy beam in the puddle. I cleaned it up and went to work with my planer and router. Once the outer husk was peeled away, the beauty of heart of the wood sang out. With a sand and shine I fixed the mantle on top of the fireplace as the feature of the room. Just as mud could not deter the purpose of that board, so too disappointments from Dream Takers and Dream Fakers cannot inhibit God from working his purposes out through us.

Application
I could give some names for Dream Takers and Dream Fakers in my life. But I know there is a Dream Maker watching over me. He has surprised me before and he will likely do so again…when the time is right.

Prayer
Father, you alone interpret dreams. Fulfill through me what you have placed deep inside of me. Amen.

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Scripture
But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Matthew 15:22-23

Observation
How could Peter plummet from hero to zero so quickly? In one paragraph Peter was an honor roll student while in the next he is a dunce. How did he get it wrong? How can I get it right?

Here’s the secret: look at all of life from God’s point of view.

Peter was commended by Jesus not just for seeing that he is Messiah, but that “my Father in heaven has revealed this to you.” (16:17) What mattered most to Jesus was not that Peter had the right answer but how he had come to the right conclusion. Peter had taken time to ask the Father. That mattered most. Peter had been able to push past the denseness of the disciples and the criticism of the Pharisees and had seen the world just as God sees it. That meant that his heart was open, teachable, and looking beyond circumstances to God. Peter was asking and listening.

Peter was reprimanded because he was “seeing things merely from a human point of view not from God’s.” He saw the cross without the Father and could not imagine any good thing coming from that. But had he given God space to interpret it to him, Peter might have grasped the plan of salvation in advance. Abraham saw Jesus’ day and rejoiced from 2000 years before. Why not Peter just months away?

Application
I need in every life setback, to ask the question: Father, how does this look from your perspective? Tomorrow I’m going to a funeral that is very sad. A cousin of Leslie my wife died at just 31 years of age. She was newly married and had not yet had a family. It’s impossible to ignore the tragedy of a virus that destroyed her internal organs in just a few days. But there are things God can see if we will dare to look at the future through his eyes.

Prayer
Father, there is plenty of roadkill on my journey with you that I do not understand, but I ask that you would help me to see things from your point of view. I give you space and time to show me how the cross leads to the resurrection even in the events I walk through today. Amen.

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