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David Crowder Everything Glorious 

Scripture
The men of Gibeon quickly sent messengers to Joshua at his camp in Gilgal. “Don’t abandon your servants now!” they pleaded. “Come at once! Save us! Help us! For all the Amorite kings who live in the hill country have joined forces to attack us.”

Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day. There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day! Joshua 10:6-8; 12-13

Observation
Have you ever blundered so badly that you have felt that God could not use you again? Joshua must have had those feelings. He had been hoodwinked by the Gibeonites and was dumb enough to sign a contract with his enemies without consulting God. His treaty was binding not just for him but for centuries of leaders.

But Joshua discovered what many other Bible characters found: God is determined to be glorified, even if that means using our failures to do so. David failed with Bathsheba, but from their relationship came Solomon, Israel’s greatest king. There is something that allures God when he finds failure served up on the platter of a humble heart.

Salvation is not God erasing away our failure so that we will not make mistakes again. Instead, salvation is God taking our failure and making it part of his glory story.

Look again at Joshua. Before the ink was dry he was called upon to defend people he should have destroyed. He would have thought to himself, “How stupid could I have been!” But we can never underestimate God’s determination to be glorified. The Lord reached into the mess and worked a miracle. Joshua had the courage to pray a dramatic prayer in the midst of his shame. He asked for nothing short of the sun standing still; what is more, God brought planet Earth to a halt to answer his prayer.

A great miracle came because a leader did not allow himself to be crippled by his failure. He offered his blunder to the Lord and saw God’s glory come.

Application
Have I given my failures to the Lord for him to use? Do I have faith to believe that God can be glorified through them?  There are times that my prayer of repentance and regret can interfere with God’s determination to glorify himself through the broken parts of my life.

Prayer
Father, if Thomas Edison could make a light from a charred piece of cotton thread, then take my life and energize your glory through me. Take what is left of us after the fire and pour your glory through us so that your light will be seen by all. Let even our failures give you opportunity to glorify your name. Make all of the glory that you can out of my imperfect life. Amen.

Scripture
After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ Acts 13:22

Observation
How did God find out about David’s heart?

There was no resume that David sent to Samuel. There was no referee who put in a good word for him. Samuel didn’t point him out to the Lord. In fact, David’s father had pushed him out of sight by sending him to the back acres to care for sheep. His brother’s belittled him. David had no business card and took no time for networking. And yet he became King of Israel because God spotted him.

How did God find David and then find him useful?

God spotted David during his job interview. What interview you might wonder? David indeed had an interview to become king; it was called shepherding. While he was feeding sheep, fighting off lions and bears and singing psalms under the stars God was reviewing David’s file. Because David made the most of a dead end job God opened another door for him. What change can happen in life if we make the most of insignificant moments. Little do we realize that God is watching and because of our faithfulness in one difficult place the Lord opens the door for the next one.

David worked the way God works, that is why he was called a man after God’s own heart. He cared for sheep with passion just as the Lord does his own. He worshipped with gusto even without cds or mp3s. It is our attention to the trivial things of life that gains the attention of the Lord and gives us entrance into other things.

Had the Samuel advertised for a king in the newspaper his mail box would have been packed with resumes. Instead he listened to the Lord who had been watching when one one else was looking. What is invisible to others is in plain sight to the Lord and he can make the inconspicuous into the obvious just as easily.

Application
What matters most is our heart. We must throw our heart fully in what we are given to do. There can be no excuses that we would work harder if we had something better to do. We must work with heart. It is not enough to show up to work, we must throw ourselves into the job. God delights in passion when energy and emotion blend together to bring results; when love and labor intertwine and life changes for the better. What would happen if we treated every mundane moment like a job interview? Not only would we do our best but more importantly God will open doors for what he next has in store for us to do.

Prayer
Father, today I give you my heart by throwing it into that which you have given me to do. Amen.

Getting ready for a drive with my Dad. He’s drawing diagrams (as normal!)

Scripture
He controls my destiny. Job 23:14

Observation
It’s Thanksgiving day, or perhaps Christmas eve. On one end of the map is your toasty home with a strong roof and a thick comforter on your bed. On the other end of the road is your parents’ house with frosted windows, golden light pouring through the panes welcoming you into aromas, meals and love.

But between your house and your parent’s home stretches a windswept interstate with chilling winds, snow drifts and gas stations with dirty bathrooms. The road is not homey. Changing a flat tire in the blustering winds you might begin to wonder if there is any love in the world. On the windswept road the memories of home are snow blasted from your mind. The realities of the highway surround you: hitchhikers alone, roadkill ignored, billboards faded and headwinds.

Kids can’t handle this. “Are we there yet?” is the first full sentence any child first learns to speak in any language. But adults can handle the lonely motorway because they know that there is a home on either end of the lonely road. Love awaits them any direction they move, so they bundle up and move ahead.

There are windswept moments of life where we are left alone with a sovereign God. Job felt God’s presence and zipped up his jacket to shield himself from the cold wind. In chapter 1 of Job’s life were warm memories of family dinners. In chapter 42 of his life there would again be new families pictures. In between was a windswept road that only Job could travel. His friends leave the service road. HIs wife wouldn’t budge, so Job walked alone.

How was it that Job made it? Was it his great faith? Probably not, because more than faith is needed to counteract the fear of being alone with the will of God. What helps us on the lonely road is love. It is not our love for God but his love for us that casts out all fear.

Job put it this way,

But he knows where I am going.
And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. Job 23:10

Application
What keeps me driving long distances on black asphalt, under gray skies, through driving rain is the knowledge that there is love on the end of the highway. We need to reinterpret the sovereignty of God in these windswept moments. His will is not something uttered from an ice palace of a frozen heart of indifference. God’s will pours through his love. He is leading us home and the inclement roadway is his only way. Yes God is sovereign and because he is love sovereignty is a comforting thought.

Prayer
Father, keep me driving home. Amen.

Scripture
When the Israelites escaped from Egypt—
when the family of Jacob left that foreign land—
the land of Judah became God’s sanctuary,
and Israel became his kingdom.
The Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of their way!
The water of the Jordan River turned away.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs!
What’s wrong, Red Sea, that made you hurry out of their way?
What happened, Jordan River, that you turned away?
Why, mountains, did you skip like rams?
Why, hills, like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob.
He turned the rock into a pool of water;
yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock. Psalm 114:1-8

Observation
What does God look like from a rock’s point of view?
How does the ocean feel about the Almighty?
How does a river react to the presence of the Lord?

Those may seem like odd questions, but they are exactly what Psalm 114 asks. When God shows up things change; that’s the message of this psalm. Even the rocks and oceans and rivers make a reaction when God arrives on the scene.

The poet picks inanimate, natural objects like stones and water to show just how daunting the presence of the Lord really is. If inert objects snap to attention at the passing of God, then we can have every confidence that anything else that may block his path will also move.

If you follow God’s personal Daytimer as recorded in the Bible, it is clear that there are times when the Lord seems to step back and allow human events to unfold with divine tampering. Then when human events have reached a crisis, or the sins of the people have reached full measure, God steps in the ring and takes control.

That flux of God in and out of human affairs takes some getting used to, especially when it is your life that could use some divine intervention. God doesn’t show up exactly when we would like him to, and he arrives on the scene when we least expect him. But we can be certain of this…God will show up.

Application
There can be stubborn rock slides that block our progress or raging torrents that even a four wheel drive will not cross. There can be insurmountable obstacles that are before us. But of this we can be certain nothing can stop the Lord from accomplishing his will.

Every time we are asked to worship the Lord it is an invitation to re-calibrate what we are daunted by and fearful of. Instead of shaking in fear at the rocks and rivers in our way we should be trembling at the presence of the Lord. We need to be afraid of the right thing.

Prayer
Father, I ask you to show up.� � Amen.