The More, the More, the More and More .

Psalm 51:1-131.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment. 5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8. Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice. 9. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me. 12. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13. Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee.

Let’s break it down to the bottom line. We need God. We desperately, completely and absolutely need God. The problem is we edge Him out during our day. We forget where we came from. We don’t remember whose we are. I don’t know about you, but after reading these verses I feel so relieved and refreshed. We can’t hide our true selves from God, so just giving everything to Him, in and of itself relieves stress and anxiety.

I don’t take this passage to be a self-loathing, debasing series of statements. Rather, a confession or realization not that we are nothing but that we are nothing without God. We have no intrinsic value unless it is as a child of God. Without our souls, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are like all the other creatures God made. He loves them all, but we are His precious, coveted, priceless creations for which and about which everything else was created.

That thought alone is enough to send us to our knees! We are not worthy of that much love! We are not capable of earning the right to be God’s precious ones, and yet we are! We are worth it, because God made us. He is the source and center of our worthiness—it's not of our own making, but of His. I feel like David must have felt when I have forgotten this truth. When I fail to rest in God, to turn everything over to Him, when I think I can go out on my own and “run the world” my way, and fail miserably, that’s when I fall on my face, in the dirt, calling out to God.

We can rejoice because we are His beloved. He lets us wallow around in self-pity and self-recrimination for a while, until we get it all out of our systems. Hey, that sounds like a day in the life of my classroom full of three-year olds! God probably has a similar vision of us: He knows our potential, already planned our future, lets us have our little fits and bouts of independence and defiance and then welcomes us back into His loving arms. Or as we say in my classroom, “OK, I need a hug now.” One the little girls in my class often throws open her arms, looks up at me and says, “I love you the more, the more, the more and more.” If that’s not a reason to get out of bed in the morning, I don’t know what is!

We say, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” God replies, “I love you the more, the more, the more and more.” We beg God, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” God’s response is, “I love you the more, the more, the more and more.” We continue, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” God, in his mercy and infinite patience repeats, “I love you the more, the more, the more and more.” Get it? Try reading the verses of this passage one by one, inserting, “I love you the more, the more, the more and more” after each one. What were you getting ready to say about a bad day on the horizon?

My prayer today is that no matter what you’ve done or haven’t done; no matter how much success you celebrated or the miserable failures you have experienced; no matter what, no matter what, you’ll remember God loves you the more, the more, the more and more. And that He waits for you with loving arms open wide.

Mary  ¶ 7:00 AM

  Save the Cheerleader . . . Save the World .
Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

I don’t watch much prime time television. In fact, I don’t watch much television at all. One NBC program that has really gotten me hooked though is Heroes. The “Cheerleader” is one of the main characters. It’s a pretty “out there” storyline about all these people who are genetically pre-disposed to have super powers that at apparently some pre-planned time become activated. As this season has progressed each of their powers become stronger, and many of those with powers begin to acquire other powers as well. It’s a sci-fi, action/adventure, fantasy show that is has just the ideal number of out-there possibilities that I am hooked. Reality TV is just too stressful for me to watch—this stuff, I consider sheer entertainment!

The tagline for the program – which is probably what piqued my interest in the fist place, is “Save the Cheerleader . . . Save the World. We (the viewers) don’t know if the cheerleader must be saved in order to save the world, or if both the cheerleader and the world need be saved either simultaneously, separately or in a particular order. We don’t even really know who the “bad guys” are or how everyone is connected yet.

I get pretty wrapped up in the drama of it all. Several of the characters have become so driven to do their part to “save the world” that they’ve actually risked their lives. None of them have figured out what their exact role in the whole plan is supposed to be, but they know that losing the battle to save the world is not an option. They are desperate to save the world. They will do anything to do so. They will risk everything. They are each willing to die if that is what will be required.

Thus far you’re wondering what this program has to do with the scripture. Maybe I’m the only one who can see the irony of the program and how we humans take on so much. We come to believe we have so much power. Do we honestly believe we can save the world? I get in that frame of mind on a regular and on-going basis! I see something that isn’t right in the world and think I have to fix it. I don’t settle with just doing what I can do, and accepting that the rest is out of my hands. I stress and fret and lose sleep over the fact that the outcome I want isn’t happening. Worse, it may never happen, and I get even more stressed about that! In short I fall victim of the belief that I must, and I mean must, be in charge of the world. When the world doesn’t comply, I start to fall apart.

I forget that Christ is the one to whom I should be giving these problems. God made the world, not me. God has a plan that I cannot possibly know. He knows the future. I do not, nor can I predict it with any certainty or credibility. I do know and believe with all that I am that Jesus was speaking to me when he uttered these words, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” He wants us to rest in him and to allow ourselves to be comforted and assured that the world is in the hands of our God.

We don’t need to fear we will fall short of saving the world. God’s got it under control. Our job is to do all we can, live the best lives we can, and to help others do the same. Our faith is what makes us stand apart in the world. We don’t need “super powers” because we already have a savior that saved us all a long time ago. And He waits for us at the end of time—whenever that will happen, and in whatever way God has already decided.

My prayer today is that after you have done all you can to right the wrongs in the world, you will give the results of your efforts to Jesus. And that you will rest in Him as the world unfolds according to God’s divine plan.

Mary  ¶ 5:54 PM

  It Is What It Is .
Micah 6:8

He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Wow! That’s all I can say as I realize that yet again (or still) God is refining and shaping me to be more like Him. Not too terribly long ago I shared that I had “one last stronghold” that I was struggling with. I indicated I was having a difficult time turning over that last stronghold to God. Well, that was a pretty arrogant statement looking back on it. I’m not saying that to beat myself up, but to share a caution. I have many, many more strongholds. I hang on to each of them as if they were my lifeblood. I don’t think of them as strongholds because they are so ingrained in my psyche that they have come to define who I am.

That doesn’t mean I have to stay “who I am!” But it does require something that doesn’t come easily to me: humility. I’m not talking about the self-effacing humility when I’m complimented on a skill or ability, or some success defined by worldly standards. I’m talking about deep, complete and absolute recognition of myself as a flawed, broken and imperfect being. Wikipedia offers: ‘Humility is defined as: "A quality by which a person considering his own defects has a humble opinion of himself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God's sake."’

The new awareness has come about through a trial I have been experiencing – and not moving through with much grace, admittedly! I am my own worse enemy when situations arise over which I have no control, meaning I don’t get the result I think I should get from others. Okay, I have a major problem with control. There, I’ve said it! Notice the prevalence of “I” thus far in this paragraph. That’s the problem. That’s the stumbling block. That’s the stronghold—my ego. My will, my desires, my way or the highway is the attitude that causes me so much stress.

My husband has been dealing with a difficult situation as well. He, however, has been a model of grace for me throughout the past several months. He has been lovingly admonishing me, “It is what it is.” Then yesterday on the way to work I was stopped at a red light behind a car that clearly revealed the attitude of the driver. Most of the sentiments were not very Christian, but two really hit me square between the eyes. The first said something like, “Stop complaining, start a revolution.” The other one I have no exact recollection of but I remember thinking it was similar to, “it is what it is.”

"Thank you, God. I get it God. I praise you God. Please, please, please keep working in me. I have so many strongholds that I cannot even list them all." That’s what ran through my mind as I waited for the light to change. God’s grace is so complete and so vast and his love is so deep and wide that we have hope we will one day be perfected. That perfection will not be of our own will. It will not be our own efforts, desires or through any act or deed of our own. That perfection will be realized in heaven.

My prayer today is that you peel off the multiple layers of strongholds in your life. And that you humbly submit to God every molecule of our body, every thought of your mind, and every aspect of your life.

Mary  ¶ 6:59 AM

  The War is Real. The Victory is Certain Psalm 42:1-2

1. [For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah]. As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee, O God. 2. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?

This passage pretty aptly defines my own longing for God and the only solution I have found to remain positive and quiet within myself. In this case, David is feeling alone and adrift, assailed by enemies, both verbally and physically. Actually David spent a great deal of his life running from the enemy, fighting the enemy and/or dealing with the aftermath of confronting the enemy. While most of us don’t wage war against our enemies in the physical world, we are in a battle each every day.

The war is real. Evil exists and is thriving and it has since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and Cain murdered Abel. If you doubt we fight a war against the evil one think about how often in any day you participate in gossip, tell a lie, curse a driver who cuts you off or do something your boss has instructed you to do, even though you know it’s unethical. If more convincing is required, listen to the news tonight and then sit and watch the prime time television programming until you fall asleep.

Still more convincing may be necessary. Explain that feeling of disquiet and sense of being unsettled in your soul. Can you figure why you’re just plain angry at the world and everyone in it, especially those in your life – your family, friends (if you have any), coworkers – the world! Why are you so sad so often? Why do you have indigestion, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue? Why are just plain unable to get up and go out into the world with your confidence intact and your heart on your sleeve?

The answer to our life problems is not found in a gym, on the golf course, at the water cooler at work, on the internet, through homeopathic medicine, astrology or alternative anything. There is one answer, and only one. David knew that: As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee, O God. He has suffered an astounding defeat prior to writing these words. Yet another of the many earthly wars he fought ended in defeat and he was beyond discouraged.

Life is hard. If we allow that truth to rule us, we will spend our lives very sad and alone and lost. God is good. We long for Him, yet we seek out everything else. I use both the editorial “we” as well as the all-inclusive (meaning I’m included) “we.” Life is hard but God is good. Long for him; thirst for him; run to him. Rest in Him. David looked around the battlefield and surely crumpled into a heap on the ground. He surveyed the unspeakable loss of life and certainly had to felt defeated and alone; as if he had let down his people and failed to be the kind of leader he wanted to be. Probably he was bewildered at the defeat because he was God’s warrior.

He didn’t retreat in anger and bitterness, though. He offered up his defeat to God. He recommitted his life to God. Life is hard. God is good. David longed for him. He opened his parched lips, prostrated himself and called out to his God.

My prayer today is that no matter what battle you are fighting against the evil in the world, you will remember that God is always victorious. And that you call out to God, running to Him with all your strength and speed, for the days are evil.

Mary

Labels: angry, evil, God, health, life, sin, war

  ¶ 6:52 AM

  This is a test...it is only a test... Genesis 22:1-2, 10-14 RSV

1. After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 2. He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 10. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 12. He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14. So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided."

This morning I had the title for the devotion in my mind before I even made it to the computer. I had no idea what scripture I would use, though I knew several off the top of my head about being tested. My husband and I are being tested. Not our relationship, thankfully. Our marriage has been a true blessing of late, and has sustained us through our worldly trials.

No detail of the testing is required in order for you to relate to our situation. Each situation is different, but the testing is universal. I have not responded well in the past to the various tests in my life. I have become angry and sometimes even bitter, feeling I deserved “better.” I made the test about me and what I wanted and needed and had earned. This time around, somehow God has touched our hearts and opened our eyes. We are not bitter or angry. We are not afraid. We are in a state of limbo, actually. We are resting in God.

We understand and believe that God is doing some deep, refining work within us, both individually and as a couple. He is shaping us and changing us into His image of us and our lives. He is there to catch us when we will surely feel as if we are freefalling out of control. We have become “softer.” I don’t know how to elaborate on that very succinctly, but I’ll try.

I realize we are quieter within our souls than I ever imagined either of us would be. We have had to let go of anger, self-recrimination, regret, bitterness, fear, selfishness and ego. We each made the decision, separately and independently, and then as a couple, to turn our lives over to God—our finances, our children, our jobs, our needs, our very lives—because none of those things are really within our control beyond a certain point. We are waiting to see what God has in mind for us. We are striving to trust Him and His plan.

Everything we have and everything we need has come from God throughout the past 30+years together and we are fully confident that He will continue to provide for us. What struggles are you dealing with in your life? Money? A job you can’t stand? Marital difficulties? Problems with your children? Problems of your children? Family problems? Health concerns? Life just isn’t the way you thought it would be? I understand. Believe me. I understand.

I am one of the least qualified to offer advice to anyone. I have made more mistakes than I will ever recount in the spoken or written word! But this time, I am doing something right: I am trusting completely, patiently, absolutely and faithfully that God is all I need. He loves me more than I can fathom. He desires abundance, love, hope, peace and joy for my life and He will never abandon me.

I have not posted a devotion in some time and it has caused concern. I apologize for that and I am so honored that the words I receive from God have blessed you. My obedience has not faltered, but God is working in me and leading down a path I have not fully discerned yet. I will be posting less often for a while, but will be thinking of each of you and praying that my test will be a teaching experience for everyone.

My prayer today is that you stop right now, before you do anything else, and offer up your finances, your job, your marriage, your children, and every aspect of your life to God. And that you will rest in Him as you see the amazing plans He has for you unfold.

Mary  ¶ 7:01 AM