Scripture
Then Jesus asked them, “Would anyone light a lamp and then put it under a basket or under a bed? Of course not! A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light will shine. For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given—and you will receive even more. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.” Mark 4:21-25

Observation
The message of these words of Jesus is this: if I become a bright light bulb the Lord will put me in a useful place to shine as far as possible.

How do I become a higher wattage follower of Christ? By paying close attention to what I hear. And how can I hear? I must read the word and let it affect me. I listen to some after they read a Bible passage and squirm as they argue against hope and question the book. I have come to a conclusion. To gain true insight, I must not read the Bible, I must let the Bible read me. The scripture is living and active and it probes through my soul like pruning shears. The more I let the word of God have its way in my hidden areas the candlepower of my heart will increase.

If my light is bright, will the Lord put me in a cupboard? Well look to history.

Take an obscure preacher who spoke to a handful of bible college students in a now defunct institution and who spoke to dying men as an army chaplain. He was cut down from an appendicitis attack and his widow returned home to London. But she took with her folders of shorthand dictation that recorded every word her husband had spoken. Ten years later she published a book of his thoughts called My Utmost for His Highest.

Take another story of a missionary to Japan filled with burning zeal to touch every household in Japan with the gospel. But declining health sent him as an invalid back home to be nursed by his faithful wife until his death. Wanting to change the world, the missionary could not change his own clothes. His wife nurtured her own soul through the ordeal with books, magazines, scriptures and kept clippings of the encouragements that the Lord sent her way. The result was a devotional called Streams in the Desert.

Application
Jesus does not make it clear who brings the lamp out into the open and places it on a stand so that all will see its light. One could take his words to suggest that we should put ourselves forward to position our story of Jesus in the most accessible place possible. But I think more often it is the Lord who gives us a lamp stand and it is he who pulls us out of ineffective places and puts us in a place where our light is useful. The one thing we have control of is the brightness level of our light. The Master puts us where he wills, but it is up to us to be sure we are the highest wattage bulb possible.

Prayer
Father, somehow it is comforting to know that all of this is not up to me. You place the lamp on the lamp stand it is mine just to shine. I trust you in that. Amen.

Scripture
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. Exodus 2:23-25

Observation
I wonder if a baby thinks that parents disappear when they leave a room, for their cries sound so frantic. It’s been years since I’ve lived with crying babies, but the memories are still fresh. We would hear the cries from our bedroom in the middle of the night. Sometimes we would spring to action because we discerned the sound of the cry. But other times in kindness we let our children cry because we knew that the process of waiting would be good for maturity.

Crying does not sound dignified, but it is incredibly significant to God. If we want something to change he calls us to cry out to him. But he won’t answer as quickly as we think he should. Our Father is a good parent, so his delays have a purpose. He knows when to intervene.

Even if nothing seems to be happening, God is listening. The Jews cried out to God in their slavery but nothing changed. In heaven, however, God was listening like a parent laying in bed at night. Oftentimes we give up praying just when God is preparing to answer. There are times our relationship with the Lord is one way: he can hear us but we cannot hear him. It is in those times when we think our prayers are making the least difference that they seem to make the very most impression on him. Our persistence to ask even without answers brings out of us a faith that matters very much to the Lord.

When we cry out to the Lord we should not always expect his immediate action, instead we should be aware that we do have his attention. God heard the Israelites groan and so he looked on them. Often when we cry out to the Lord and nothing changes we can begin to doubt him and grumble to others. We should remember at those times hat the Lord is watching. It is as if he is the Invisible Man in the room. Our words and actions in difficult times matter much to him. We should watch our actions for the outcome may depend on our faithfulness.

When God meets human problems he usually works through people. There is often the reason for the slow down. The lack of response from God may have nothing to do with the willingness of God but rather the slowness of humans to say “yes” to him. Moses was the answer, but it would take a process to bring him to the rescue. God is at work bringing the answer to our cries, but we may have to wait on someone to say ‘yes’ to him. What should we do? Continue to cry out to him.

Application
May the Lord find me crying out to him when he brings the answer from heaven. This continued desperation is the greatest sign that I trust him. May I continually remind him of his promises because it is the promises that he has made that move him even more than my problems.

Prayer
Father, I continue to ask because I know you are listening. But do remember that while you are invisible, I am not. There are real problems I face that stare me in the eye. Show up and work on my behalf to rescue me. Amen.

Scripture
And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News. That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. 2 Timothy 1:11-12

Observation
The Bible is inspired but paragraph separations are not. The separation between verses 11 and 12 of 2 Timothy chapter one is unfortunate. Of course in the original letter that Paul wrote to Timothy there were no paragraph divisions. In fact there weren’t even spaces between words. Ancient writers were very environmentally friendly, because they wasted no paper with spaces or paragraph returns.

So as it reads in the original, Paul said in one sentence that he was chosen by God to do a job while in the next he claimed that was the reason he was locked in a cage. What an odd contrast. If God wanted Paul to preach, why did he lock him up? Wouldn’t it have made more sense for the Lord to put him into a pulpit?

When we read the story of Paul’s life most of the page space in Acts is naturally devoted to the busy days of public ministry. But there were just as many days of finger-drumming boredom as Paul paced a prison cell. There were many downtime seasons in Paul’s life.

How did Paul keep his equilibrium? Around him were snarly prison guards. But Paul remembered this: the Lord was his keeper. He wrote, “He is able to guard what I have entrusted to him.”

Paul’s perspective can help us when we are pinned down in life by sickness, setback, lack of opportunity or injustice. If God has called us to a certain thing, but something binds us from doing it, we are not to be ashamed but rather to trust the Lord to guard our commitment to him. Paul had spoken his “yes” to God’s call and the Lord would protect that. If Paul could not live out that call, his promise was nonetheless secure with the Lord himself.

Application
There are downtimes in the kingdom when we cannot do all that we signed up for. Every race car has a pit and every batter a dugout. There are timeout seasons in our kingdom work that are every bit as important as the hectic seasons. We are not controlled by the prison guards of setback, downsizing, sickness or whatever. It is the Lord who is our guard and holds our commitment to serve him. He determines the stop and go and so we trust him.

Prayer
Father, today I am certain, not guessing, but absolutely persuaded that you hold the keys of my life. You can turn it off and you can turn it on. I trust you to make the best decisions. Amen.