Devotional 99- God is Deep

"There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still."  Quoted by Corrie Ten Boom after being released from a German Nazi prison camp during World War II.

Romans 11:33 "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!"

I have been given permission to print the following from one who will remain anonymous.

"It’s difficult to describe the pit to anyone who hasn’t been thrown in themselves.  I say thrown in because that is what it is.  It is something that happens to you. The pit has no mercy.

The pit is what it feels like to be in depression.  Depression is different than being unhappy, which is very uncomfortable.  Depression touches your soul and squeezes the life out.  Like a life eater.  You don’t really hurt, you just don’t want to live.  Hurting would take too much energy.  Crying takes too much energy and you have none. 

The pit is so deep sometimes, there is no light at the top.  I know the light is there,  I just can’t see it.  There are no life lines or toe and hand holes .  It is dark and dry.  I cannot lie down in the pit.  I can only stand and look up with the black, dirt walls just fingertips away."

Have you ever felt like that, ladies? When life seems dark and confusing, remember God! 

God says: "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty you will not drown....For I am the LORD, your God...your Savior...You are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you. Do not be afraid, for I am with you."  Isaiah 43: 1-5 New Living Translation

Remember your God! For no pit is so deep that God is not deeper still!

By the way, here is how my friend finishes her testimony.

"I am grateful for the pit.  I am happy for the pit.  Without the pit, I could never feel the joy, relief, contentment of not being in the pit.   I thank God for the pit.  My mountains are higher because of the pit."

Oh the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge of God!  He knows what He is doing in your life. This day was planned for you!

OUR GOD IS DEEP.

               

Devotional 98 -His Accent

"The most important single aid to my ability to use my tongue for the glory of Jesus is allowing the word of God to dwell in me so richly that I cannot speak with any other accent."
The Power of Words and the Wonder of God  by Sinclair B. Ferguson

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."
 Colossians 3:16

I have seen it--- this Christlike accent. I have seen it over and over in those around me. Those who spend time with Jesus speak with His accent. The more Christ's word dwells in you richly the more it will naturally come out of you.

I was in the kitchen with my mother-in-law (called Momo) and sister-in-law. We were helping Momo prepare one of her marvelous dinners. Neither my sister-in-law nor I were chopping or mixing the way Momo wanted, so she had to constantly correct us. My pride raised its ugly head and I walked out of the kitchen quietly, but thinking "fine, she can just do it herself!" But as I was leaving I heard my sister-in-law turn to her Mom and say, "Mom, you are such a good cook. I am here to serve you. Just tell me what to do, I want to do it your way."

I was so convicted. My sister-in-law had let the word of Christ dwell in her richly and I saw her speak with the accent of Christ. I want to be like that, don't you? To respond with thankfulness in our hearts toward God is to lose our touchiness and to live with humility.

I also see the Christlike accent in women who speak the truth even when it is unpopular. The scripture says we love when we speak the truth. We need truth telling men and women who will speak up for righteousness and call sin "sin". We have made love to mean being nice and making everyone feel good about themselves...but that is not love. That is deception and keeps some happily feeling good while on their way to hell.

So let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and you will teach and admonish with wisdom. Sometimes the accent of Christ is kindness and forgiveness, and sometimes it is warning and rebuking. May God give us the grace to know when each is needed.

Proverbs 12: 18-19 "There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment."

Devotional 97 Christmas Thankfulness

"...to thank is to remember God."   One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Luke 22:19 And (Jesus) took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

In my files I found an old note that a child had written several years ago and left on a table after being in our home with her family . It said, "Remember to get angry at my brother for taking the chair." This child had to leave a note to remember to stay angry, and in spite of that, she forgot to take the note with her.

I chuckled, how I wish I had to leave myself notes to stay angry. Instead, you and I must do the opposite. We must leave ourselves notes not to be angry, or fearful, or doubting.

Gratitude waters down the fire of anger. Remembering and gazing on Christ  muffles the shouts and cries of fear, worry, and doubt.

The message of Christmas reminds us everywhere that we are loved. We remember He came in the flesh to live among us. His birth means I am understood; His resurrection means I am never alone. His birth means He prepares a way to God for you; His resurrection means He is the way to God for you. 

Let us everyday thank God for the season filled with so many reminders of our reason for joy. Let us leave the angry notes behind. Let us throw away the notes of fear. Let us forget to pick up the note of doubt and worry.

"Every time fear freezes and worry writhes, every time I surrender to stress, aren't I advertising the unreliability of God?"  One Thousand Gifts  by Ann Voskamp

"Give thanks to the LORD of lords. His faithful love endures forever." Psalm 136:3  

I pray your Christmas holidays are filled with gratitude as you remember Him.

Devotional 96 - Transformation

"The Bible is like a lion. It does not need defending. Simply open the cage and let it out."  - Charles Spurgeon

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."  
2 Corinthians 3:18

I had a bad day last week. You know one of those female days where you don't like yourself and you feel sad for no good reason. One of those days where you tend to be crabby with your husband for no good reason. I played too many cards on the computer and didn't read my Bible or get the laundry done.

What's a woman to do!?

Look at the quote and verse above. Simply let the lion out of his cage to do the transforming work of becoming like Jesus.

The next day (for with the Lord there is always a tomorrow, either here or there) I confessed to God my lack of interest in Him and asked Jesus to make me love Him more. For I know my greatest joy is found in the presence of the beautiful, powerful Savior.

You and I must simply open the pages of the Bible and let Jesus soak in and fill up the cracks. We are being changed little by little as we look at Him. We don't realize it, we don't feel it, but the transformation is happening because no one can stop the hand of our Almighty God from accomplishing the good works in our lives that He has prepared before the beginning of the world.

For all our good and bad days we need Jesus, the Jesus we see in the Bible.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."       Ephesians 2:10

Devotional 95 - Treasure

TREASURE 

"It is as though the man stood there with his hands full of money and Jesus said, 'You lack one thing; reach out and take my hands.' To do this the man must open his fingers and let the money fall."
What Jesus Demands From the World     by John Piper

Mark 10:21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him,and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up your cross, and follow Me."  

When Jesus gave the challenge to the rich man the Bible makes very clear that the Mighty Creator, Lord of the universe, loved the man.

Out of love for us Jesus challenges us to give up the lesser treasure to receive the greater treasure.
What is one thing today that I have my hand wrapped around?

It used to be my children's success. So God let them, on occasion fail. It reminded me that Christ was and is my greater need, my greatest treasure.

On this latest trip to Colorado, I realized my hands were gripping my in-laws, affectionately called Momo and Popo. A sadness surrounded me because I realized at 93, with weak hearts and poor digestion , they were going to someday die.

I need Momo and Popo to live. Beautiful Boulder will not be the same without them. "Hang on, Carol, hold them tight," I told myself as if my grip could keep them here.

But the one thing I need is not Momo and Popo. My one treasure is not their love. IT IS JESUS!!!!

Jesus, our solid Rock, our sure Foundation, our Fountain of Joy, Lover of our souls----the Great Comforter who will never, ever leave us.

Open your hand! Grab on to Jesus! He is your treasure!

Devotional 94 - Happiness

"God is actually happy...He's rapturously happy...He lacks for nothing...Imagine the pleasure He must take in everything He's made."    When God Weeps by Tada and Estes


"People should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God."           Ecclesiastes 3:13


I watched her eat- a young, thin woman with sandy blond hair swept to the side and tied in the back. Her swan neck and aquiline nose were raised with the anticipation of each bite of  her toasty, cheese sandwich. She ate politely but with joyful intensity. Her dark eyes sparkled as she brought the sandwich to her mouth -open, closed, and crunched. Every chew smiled. Her tongue quickly slide across her lips to retrieve each salty crumb.

Slender fingers of both hands balanced the brown crust of her treasure as she eagerly opened for the next gift to her taste buds.

With half a sandwich done, she licked each finger and wiped her lips with her napkin. She resolutely placed her hands down around the plate holding the second pleasurable half of her golden sandwich. She stood up and threw it away. Her smile disappeared and she walked away.

I was disappointed. The show was over and I didn't like the way my people-watching adventure ended. What did I want to see?

I wanted to see this thin woman pick up the second half of her buttery sandwich with delightful abandon. I wanted to see her take bites large enough to fill her mouth with peppery, meaty flavor.

I wanted to see her eyes dart up to heaven and her head nod "yes" to the Creator who made her 1,000's of taste buds, and the smile to continue to creep across her face the closer she came to cleaning her plate. When no morsel was left, I wanted to see her lean back in her chair, pat her bulging tummy and laugh- "Ah, that was good!"

I wanted to see a woman who received this gift of food and drink as gifts from a loving, and happy God.

I want to be that woman who eats and drinks and works all for the glory of God, all for the joy of God, all for a happy God. I want to see this life as His gift to treasure ...even the day of adversity.

May God help you and I to embrace all that He gives.

Devotional 93 Suffering

"Hardships press us up against God."    When God Weeps  Joni Eareckson Tada 

1 Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." 

I was communicating with a friend the other day on the internet about the goodness of God. She had experienced a divorce years ago. Shortly after that, one of her sons died of diabetic complications in his twenties and another twenty-something son was in a car accident which paralyzed him from the waist down. I wrote: 

"With divorce, death, paralysis, and I don't know what else in your life, do you still trust God? Is He still loving to you? Are you ever mad at Him? 

Are you able to say as Job did, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." and in verse 1:10 Job says: "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"

Are you able to bless and praise His name when you know full well God had the power to stop the tragedy? Is God always working out His perfect and precious will when we suffer? Could suffering actually be a part of His good and glorious plan for us?

May the Lord continue to grow you closer to Him and all His beauty. May no trial pull you away from His loving embrace. May you look at the hard truths in scripture and still lift you eyes to heaven and cry, even in the midst of pain, 'Blessed be the name of the Lord!' "

Amos 3:6 When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?

Lamentations 3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

I Samuel 2:6-7 The LORD brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up. The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.

Ephesians 1:11 God works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.

I am asking the Lord for you, my reader, and for myself, that God might give us the grace to respond to trials with  joy. They come to all of us in differently wrapped  packages. May we open this unsolicited gift with a thankful heart, trusting in the love of God.