Jody's Devotionals

(2) Enlarge your encampment,
And your tent curtains,
Stretch out and don’t hold back.
Lengthen your tent ropes,
And strengthen your tent pegs. — Isaiah 54:2

I like to go camping, though I haven’t done so in quite a few years. I recall a number of difficult campsites, however. One in particular stands out, near Priest Lake in Idaho. The problem was roots. Roots were everywhere. Each time I tried to drive in a peg to secure the ropes from my tent, I hit a root. Now I had the alternatives of going outward, further away from the tent. This would work, but it put stress on the peg at a different angle, and they had the tendency to pull out.

It was on that camping trip that I “strengthened my tent pegs.” At a hardware store I bought some very large spikes. They were not nearly as good looking as the nice plastic pegs, color coordinated, that had come with the tent, but they had a major advantage. First, being stronger, I could pound them in the ground even when there were roots and hard soil. Second, once they were in, they were long enough that they stayed there.

There’s a simple rule here: Larger tent, stronger stakes. You can extend it: Longer ropes, stronger stakes.

Anyone who has had to pitch a tent probably has some understanding of what I’m saying here. If your tent pegs aren’t up to the task, your tent isn’t going to stay pitched, and it is very important that your tent stays firm. If the fabric is not solidly stretched out it will not shed water as well, and even a waterproof tent is annoying once water has pooled in loose folds of cloth.

I’ve heard this passage form Isaiah 54 preached any number of times. I’ve heard many people pray it over folks at the altar as a promise. I’ve done it myself many times. In these sermons and prayers I hear a great deal about the larger campsite or living area, the bigger tent curtains and flaps, and the longer ropes. I hear much less about the strengthened tent pegs.

Now we can’t all always preach a precisely balanced sermon or pray a precisely balanced prayer. The Bible doesn’t manage to make every verse or passage precisely balanced either. But I think in this case I see the results of extended imbalance in our lives and in our churches.

I am an advocate of diversity, of not being too doctrinally tense–unity on essentials and diversity on the non-essentials. But even to conduct effective dialogue you have to know your starting point. Often people believe that in order to get along, in order to have an effective conversation, you need to be completely affirming of everything the other person may say. I would suggest, instead, that you need to strengthen your stakes, that you need to know even more definitely who you are and where you are going. Then you can examine someone else’s position without fear, and you also have something to present to them.

Do extend your boundaries today, but don’t forget to check out the tent pegs!

I have asked one thing from YHWH,
And that’s what I’m going to go after.
To live in YHWH’s house as long as I live,
And to search deeply in his temple. — Psalm 27:4

When we lived in South America near the coast the weather always stayed very near the same temperature. It was 80 degrees, plus or minus a few. One time there was a cold snap. It got down to 72 degrees. That Wednesday night there were people who missed prayer meeting because it was too cold.

Now if you’re laughing, think again. Sure, it sounds silly to us, but this isn’t about silly people in South America. They’re no more silly than we are. It’s just that their reason doesn’t make sense to us. But would our reasons make sense to them?

Which brings us to one of the reasons why we need to go somewhere to be in God’s presence. God is everywhere. Why can’t I just worship him on my own at home? Am I any more in his presence at church than at home?

Well, there are two things to consider. First, we need other people to help check on our excuses—accountability.

²⁴And let us pay attention to each other, so as to stir up of love and good works, 25not neglecting our meetings, as is the practice of some, but encouraging, and doing this even more as we see the day approaching. — Hebrews 10:24-25

Second, however, God has promised that he will be amongst us where two or three are gathered. If we, the church, are the body of Christ, one of the ways we have to be in God’s presence is to be together, to be in one another’s presence.

¹⁹Or don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary {or temple} of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from Go and you are not your own? — 1 Corinthians 6:19

So one of the ways to be in God’s presence, even in his temple, is to seek out the fellowship of other believers.

Now this sounds like a good Friday or Saturday morning devotional, presented in time to persuade people to go to church. But what about other times to be in God’s presence? Small groups, Wednesday night activities, even choir practice can be times when you can just hang out in God’s presence.

It may seem a bit odd to take the Psalmist literally on this. Who really wants to be in church all the time, after all? But when we get to heaven, being in God’s presence will be our constant activity, for eternity.

Perhaps we ought to get into practice!

(15) I, YHWH your God stirred up the sea so that its waves roared. My name is YHWH of Armies! (16) And I put my word in your mouth, and gave you protection under the shadow of my hand. I stretched out the heavens, I founded the earth, I said to Zion, “You are my people!”
(17) Get up! Get up! Stand firm, Jerusalem!
You have drunk from YHWH’s hand the cup of his wrath,
You’ve finished the wine-glass stumbling completely. — Isaiah 51:15-17

This is a good verse for early morning—Get up! Get moving! There’s lots to do! Everybody groan together now.

It’s ironic that most people, if you ask them, really want joy. They want to be happy, fulfilled, and positive. Yet the place were we tend to settle naturally is one of unhappiness, dissatisfaction, frustration, and pessimism. This is even true of Christians, sometimes more so than others. It’s quite easy to take Christian doctrines like our sinfulness, which should be our motivation to seek God, and transform (or deform) it into an excuse to look down on ourselves and a reason to live unhappy lives.

There are three requirements to become a joyful person, living a happy and fulfilled life:

1. Learn who you belong to
2. Learn who you are
3. Make the decision to live accordingly

Our verse really addresses all of these questions.

First, we belong to God. Who is this God? He’s the one who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth. He’s the creator of everything. It’s pretty easy for us to forget that. No, I don’t mean to say that we announce that God isn’t the creator, or that we actually believe God isn’t involved. Rather, we start saying that God isn’t active. Well, if God isn’t active, nobody’s around to notice it. We owe our existence to our creator. But we never have to worry about that, because he is who he is—the creator.

Second, we’re important to God. We are ones he created, people he has chosen. Notice the end of verse 16. God is credited with three things: Stretching out the heavens, founding the earth, and telling the people of Zion that they are his people.

¹Just look at the type of love the Father has given us, that we can be called children of God! And we are! Because of this the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. ²Loved ones, now we are children of god, and it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. ³And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as that one is pure. — 1 John 3:1-3

Third, he calls on us to wake up and get going, working with him. As part of that call, he has put his word in our mouths. Again, Wow! That is the word that created the heavens (Psalm 33:6-9). What a call! What amazing people we must be!

Wake up! Smell the coffee! Start living up to God’s call!

“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” John 2:4 (NIV)

This verse has been swirling around in my spirit for several weeks now. The recounting of this story in John includes the statement that this was the beginning of the miraculous signs in Jesus’ ministry and that it revealed Jesus’ glory and his disciples put their faith in him. What happened in Jesus’ life between age 12 (at the temple) and age 30 in Cana? Scripture doesn’t tell us although commentators have written reams of suppositions. We might be able to say with some certainty that Jesus was in “a time of preparation”.

As I read this Scripture again my eyes were drawn to the jars that were standing empty over by a wall. Jesus told the servants to “Fill them with water” (John 2:7). It spoke to me that I might be an empty jar in need of a filling of His Living Water. Jesus desires to fill me and change me miraculously into something He can use. I am in a time of preparation in my life. It has felt like was just sitting against the wall; filled only with water. It has felt like I am waiting and waiting for …

My time has not yet come in this season of my life but the preparation time has come and it is not to be wasted and it is very important! I am learning so much as I spend time with God. He sends me teachers and then meets with me to study and discern with Him what I am to learn from His lessons. It is a time of listening and exercising the lessons that God is teaching me. It is a time to “be still and know that I AM GOD” (Psalm 46:10)!

Whatever the season of our lives, God has a perfect plan and He knows the perfect time. Each season, like the seasons we see in nature, has a purpose. The snow of winter provides a time to collect moisture after the heat of a refining summer and winter also gives a time of hibernation/rest. Fall is the end of one life cycle while spring shows us the beginning of life. God created and has control of our seasons – in the fields and in our lives. It is my choice to seek God’s vision for the seasons. It is for me choose to walk in God’s timing through the seasons and learn from them, using them for His glory OR stagger in confusion, even arrogance, moving out of His time, missing opportunities, missing His blessings.

But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands… Psalm 31:14-15 (NIV)

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” Revelation 22:12-16 (NIV)

(5) And now this is what YHWH says,
He is the one who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
To restore Jacob to him,
And gather Israel back to him.
I will be honored in YHWH’s eyes,
And my God will be my strength.
(6) But he said,
“It’s too small a task for you to be my servant,
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And return the survivors of Israel.
I have also appointed you a light to the nations,
To carry my salvation to the ends of the earth.
(7) This is what YHWH, Israel’s redeemer and Holy one says,
To one who is deeply despised,
To one that the nations abhor,
To the slave of rulers:
“Kings will stand up when they see you,
and princes will bow down to you,
Because of YHWH, who is faithful,
The Holy one of Israel, who has chosen you.” — Isaiah 49:5-7

We’re in the season of Lent now, and I’m focusing on the way in which Jesus transforms things. What looked like something terrible becomes something great, what looked hopeless becomes hopeful, and what looked pitiful and useless becomes the most important thing around.

Isaiah 49:7 talks a bit about Israel. Despised, abhorred, slave. Not exactly the set of characteristics you’d put on your resume. “Despised, abhorred slave seeks position as world coordinator, giving orders to presidents, prime ministers, kings, and princes. Currently in exile, has no country, lost the last one to invasion because of malfeasance in office.” Nope! That’s one of the resumes that hit the circular file by the desk. We need someone with a proven track record of ruling large countries, diplomatic and military experience, and ability to get along with others.

But here’s Israel, God’s servant being called. Now as Christians we believe that parts of these prophecies are fulfilled through Jesus. Some of them will yet be fulfilled at his second coming. But the people who are being addressed at this point are the Israelites, and specifically Israelites who are in exile at the moment, without country, without leadership, without hope.

But I left one thing off of that resume—they have God, the Holy One of Israel. They may be despised and look useless. They may have no other claim to fame. But God chose them, formed them from the very start, and God is going to make use of them now. “It’s too little,” he says, “for you to restore Israel. You’re going to be a light to the entire world.”

I’m going to revisit this topic in another devotional to talk about some attitudes that are necessary, but right now that is the one thing that we need to take to heart. All things are possible with God. But even more, when we have found the impossible thing, and convinced ourselves that God can do it for us; we need to listen for God’s idea of what can be done.

Listen for the voice of God today. Is he telling you that not only can he do that impossible thing you’re asking, but that he has even greater plans?

¹⁶ But when you fast, don’t be somber like the hypocrites, for they mar their faces so as to appear to other people to be fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. ¹⁷ But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face ¹⁸ so that you don’t appear to other people to be fasting, but rather to your father who is in secret. And your father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

¹⁹ Don’t store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But rather store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. — Matthew 6:16-21

On the one hand we look at the instructions Jesus gave for fasting, and we understand. Jesus doesn’t want us to be hypocrites. We are not supposed to put on a religious face for the public in order to gain respect. The temptation is to be much less spiritual in private and even in our own minds, while impressing friends, neighbors, and even enemies with how truly close to God we are.

But there’s another part of this that we don’t really understand as well. That’s the idea of fasting joyfully, of suffering just a little bit—and I must admit that fasting is not a major hardship for me; I can live off the fat of the land, so to speak—and doing so not merely without showing it, but with joy.

I’m writing this on Ash Wednesday, though most of you will read it tomorrow. In this part of the world, at least, Ash Wednesday is preceded by Fat Tuesday. Revelry that has been going on for weeks comes to a climax. In the old times, this would be followed by the ceremonies of Ash Wednesday, when we are reminded of our mortality, and our need for repentance. Tuesday is for joy, but Wednesday is for sorrow and soul searching.

During Lent, many of us will give something up, some token at least of a fast during these forty days. We’ll be asked, “What are you giving up for Lent?” Don’t ask me. I’m not going to tell you whether I’m doing anything of that sort, or what it is. That’s between me and God.

You see, I think Lent should be a time of joy for us. In fact, I think all times should be a time of joy. The fact that we have parties and celebrations leading up to Lent, and then we think we have to become all spiritual and doleful symbolizes how little we’ve managed to understand about what Jesus Christ actually did.

You see, Christianity is about transformation. People are transformed. Times are transformed. Symbols are transformed. That doesn’t mean there should be no solemnity during Lent, as we remember what Jesus has done for us, but throughout this time there should be a profound joy. This should also be a time when we let Jesus work on the inside, rather than making a show of the outside.

Jesus transformed many symbols, including the symbol of the cross.

The transformation that Jesus accomplished on the cross, symbolized by the transformation of the cross itself, is something that we all can grasp. Circumstances and our environment are not fixed things that we have to take as they are. They can be transformed by our attitude and by the way that we deal with them. Every cross in your life, everything that you would prefer not to have done or not to have encountered can be transformed. — Henry Neufeld, Not Ashamed of the Gospel, p. 20

Don’t think of your troubles as static. Jesus has blown that idea away! Prepare to transform your circumstances by the power that transformed the cross!

¹²For the word {message} of God is alive and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and spirit, bones and marrow, and judging the desires and thoughts of the heart {mind}. ¹³And there is no creature who is not visible to him, for everything is naked and laid bare to his eyes, to whom we must render an account. ¹⁴Since we have such a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold our confession tightly. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, since he has been tested in all things in the same way we have, but without sin. ¹⁶Let us approach the throne of grace boldly, so that we might receive mercy and we might find grace in time of need. — Hebrews 4:14-16

Today I heard a speaker on a television program comment that celebrities are actually less self-confident than the average population, and that they were generally under confident before they became celebrities. In fact, they really need all the positive strokes that they get from people who appreciate their work. But even all that adoration that they get from fans only makes them more dependent. It doesn’t make them more confident.

The book of Hebrews is a letter to people who lack confidence and endurance. The reason they lack endurance is that they really aren’t sure that their Christian journey is worth all that effort. What good was it all going to do? The book of Hebrews also gives us an answer. Jesus came to take care of our sin problem completely, once and for all, done and over with, period!

God could have sent Jesus to encourage us. He was, in fact, an example. He showed us what to do. He spoke words of healing and encouragement.

But if he had stopped there, we’d be in the same place we were before, or a bit worse. But instead, Jesus came and got not only under our skin, but fight down into our innermost selves, dividing even between soul and spirit. He went right at the problem.

And what was that? Our problem was, and is, sin. Basic rebellion against the king of the universe. Basic unwillingness to have it fixed.

We can be very belligerent, but that’s not bold. We can storm into situations about which we know nothing, but that’s not bold. It’s just a cover up for our weakness, a weakness we don’t want to admit.

But Jesus has the answer. He has the gift of real confidence, true boldness. And where does it come from?

It comes from letting our innermost selves, everything that we think, everything that we do, everything that we are come under the will of God. I’ve been reading a book on Paul recently, and the author points out that even where Paul seems to be talking about things that we need to do, what he’s really talking about is things that are going to happen because Jesus and his Holy Spirit are living in the church and in us.

The one source of true confidence is actually being right. Not self-righteous, not arrogant, not overbearing, not belligerent, not loud—just right. And the one and only way to be right is to let God’s two-edged sword do that surgery on you, lay it all out, and bring everything into line with God—the rightest possible position you can be in.

When Jesus Christ is living in you, you have no reason whatsoever not to be completely confident.

Why not relax into his hands today?

(6) Those who pour out gold from a bag, and weight out silver on scales,
Hire a smith, to make it into a god, then adore it and worship it.
(7) They take it up on their shoulders, then set it firmly in place, it can’t move from that spot.
If anyone cries out to it, it cannot answer, it can’t save him from his trouble. — Isaiah 46:6-7

I’ve been talking a great deal about idolatry lately, and my best excuse is that the Bible does much the same thing, particularly in the book of Isaiah, which is one of my devotional study items at the moment.

This passage reminded me of recent ads by a certain income tax firm lately. A man is working on his taxes, and he’s in trouble. His wife says something like, “Why don’t we ask the person who prepared our taxes? Oh, that’s right! We don’t have a person, we have a box! OK, let’s ask the box!” At which point she speaks pointlessly to the box, which is not capable of answering her.

That could be a parable to teach Isaiah’s message about things that are not God. We often regard these passages about idolatry as something that’s just historical. Ancient people worshiped idols. We don’t. Or perhaps we relate these passages to the images in certain churches.

But the fact is that we are all capable of having idols. We can create idols in our head. Our idols might be images in our head of who God is. We may think of God as the great dispensing machine in the sky. Just insert a prayer (or 2 or 3) and out comes the thing you want. If you are depending on that idol, you will soon be disappointed. There will come the time when you insert the prayer, and the desired candy bar doesn’t appear. That’s because God wants you to relate to him, to depend on him, not on something you imagine.

But we can also depend on our own plans, and then when they are disturbed or rearranged, we feel betrayed. Where was God? Well, were those his plans, or your plans?

We can try to buy our own security through saved money, insurance, houses, or investments. But will all of those things respond to us in our need?

I’m not suggesting that making plans, thinking about God, saving money, or buying insurance are bad things. But if you pour out your money, as our text says, to get a god made for you, then watch out! Bad things are about to happen.

What do I mean by pouring out your money to make a god? If you’re making those expenditures to provide something to depend on ultimately, to make your final hope of salvation, to give your attention to instead of God, then you’re pouring out that money (that time, that mental energy) to make a god. You’ll have to carry that god, it won’t carry you. You’ll have to put it in its place, it won’t go there itself, and when the time comes for prayer, you’re going to have to provide your own answer, because it won’t.

Why not just let God be God in your own life?

(10) Bring all the tithe into the treasury, and let there be food in my house. Yes, test me in this matter, says YHWH of Armies, and see if I will not open up heaven’s windows for you, and pour out a blessing on you until you have no more room to receive it. — Malachi 3:10

Whenever a pastor or teacher starts to talk about tithing, there’s sure to be a reaction somewhere in the congregation. It may be on someone’s face. It might be a sigh. It might even be audible. “Oh no!” folks are thinking, “We’re talking about money again.”

There is much controversy about exactly what tithing means. What is the true percentage that the Israelites actually were to give to the temple every year? 10%? 30%? Were the different “tithes” added together, or did they refer to different purposes for the money in different years? In modern times, the question arises if you can tithe your before tax income, your gross pay, or your take-home pay. Then there are a substantial number of people who believe that the law of tithing went out with the Old Testament, and is no longer a standard for Christians.

And indeed I would say that tithing is no longer the standard for Christians. All the arguments about percentages and what portion of your income you figure the percentage on are missing the point of what God asks of Christians today.

God’s request now is for 100%. That all of your time, all of your money, all of your heart, all of your actions, every bit of everything that you are or that you own.

Stewardship isn’t just about money. Now some people want to say this so they can avoid money. But it is definitely about money; that’s just not all that it’s about. But if you react in the way I mentioned above when your pastor starts talking about money needs in the church, then I think you need to examine yourself carefully. There are, it seems to me, two key possibilities. The first is that your money isn’t part of that “all” that you’ve surrendered to Jesus. If that is the case, then a sermon on money is probably the most convicting sermon on Christian discipleship you can hear, and the reason you react negatively is that you don’t enjoy that conviction.

The second, however, is that you haven’t gotten comfortable with God about your giving. Consider the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). I have heard this repeatedly taught as a kind of heavy-handed, make sure you give it all message. But the issue, as is made clear in the story, is not how much money was given, but that they told the apostles and the Holy Spirit one thing, but they did another. The issue was hypocrisy. Now I’m not just talking about hypocrisy. I’m talking about being comfortable when you’re doing what God has told you to.

If you spend the proper time with God about the dedication of your money, you should be able to use the money sermon as a path check. “Yes,” you say to yourself, “This is a good message on stewardship, but I already know I’m giving what I’m supposed to, because I talked to God this morning and I listened for the response.”

You see, some of the rest of that stewardship is going to involve using your resources to go on vacation, for recreation, for time with your children and grandchildren, and even for building the kingdom through creative couch-sitting. (Creative couch-sitting occurs any time when it’s time for body soul and spirit to get some sit-down time!) True stewardship, and being comfortable with that stewardship, involves being in conversation with God about each and every portion of your life.

Are you listening to God about every decision?

Additional reading: Mark 10:17-31; Acts 5:1-10

¹Three days later there was a wedding in Cana, Galilee, and Jesus’ mother was there. ²Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. ³And they ran out of wine, and Jesus’ mother told him that they didn’t have any more wine. ⁴Jesus said to her, “What does that have to do with us, woman? My time hasn’t come yet!” ⁵His mother told the servers, “Whatever he says, do it!” ⁶Now there were six stone water jars there, used for the Jewish ceremonial washing, each one of which could hold 20 gallons or so. ⁷Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he said to them, “Now draw some out and carry it to the master of the feast.” So they took some to him. ⁹Now when the master of the feast tasted the water which had become wine, he didn’t know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water did) he called the bridegroom, ¹⁰and said to him, “Everybody serves the good wine first, and when people are drunk, the poorer wine, but you have kept the good wine till now.” ¹¹Jesus did this first sign in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. — John 2:1-11

Are you the kind of person that people invite to parties? Do people enjoy being around you? Are you fun? I have to confess to not being that much of a “people” person. Jody is. She delights in being around people and is refreshed by social contact. She has taught me a great deal about having fun, even though she may think it has been largely a thankless task!

But I’m not talking just about a matter of personality. I’m interested in how being a Christian impacts our life. There’s a traditional view of the truly spiritual person, one who spends lots of time fasting, hours at a time in prayer, isolated from people with only God for company. Many of our heroes of the faith have given up everything so that they could spend all their time preaching the gospel. We congratulate them for their dedication to the Lord, but very few of us would invite them to a party. We think it might be too secular for them. Perhaps they would disapprove of our entertainment.

But I suspect that we would mostly be afraid that they would look pityingly on us from the heights of their perfect spiritual dedication, and pray that we would learn to spend more time on serious matters, and a bit less time on frivolities like parties. That is, if they didn’t just find a good reason not to attend at all.

But if Jesus is our example, we see him here, in John’s gospel, starting his ministry at a wedding reception, with wine, no less. He and his disciples were invited. It doesn’t say why, but obviously the host didn’t think Jesus would show up like a wet blanket and extinguish all the fun of the wedding reception. Mary didn’t have any qualms about it. She apparently knew, when she reported that the wine had run out, that Jesus wouldn’t just say, “Good! The folks here are getting a bit too elevated as it is!” She was comfortable asking him to do something about it.

While there is deep spiritual meaning in the various elements of this story and in the miracle Jesus chose to perform, I’d like us to see something a bit less intense—a bit shallower, perhaps! Jesus had fun. He enjoyed himself. He liked to see other people enjoying themselves.

There are times to be serious, times to fast and dedicate yourself to spiritual things. But not all the time. Sometimes you have to relax and have fun. Remember that just as when you pray, study the Bible, fast, or meditate, you’re following the example of Jesus when you have fun.