Devotional 108 God Overrules

"A person wills an action, an event is triggered by natural causes, or Satan shows his hand ---yet God overrules."     New King James Commentary regarding Proverbs 16:33.

Proverbs 16:33  "We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they will fall."

Last week  Emil de Leon won $45,000 on Wheel of Fortune. His win was so unusual that he was on the national news. Pat Sajak, the host of the show, said it was the most amazing solve in his 30 years on the show.

Emil had to solve this puzzle with only this much information:  NE_    _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ . The first thing that came out of his mouth was NEW BABY BUGGY. That was it! The crowd went wild and Pat Sajak had a moment of stunned silence.

Now if you google this you will find a bunch of conversation trying to explain how he could guess this with so little information. I remember immediately thinking "God gave him the answer." And this verse came to mind in Proverbs that even the throw of the dice is controlled by God.

"Can anything happen without the Lord's permission? Is it not the Most High who helps one and harms another?" Lamentations 3: 37, 38

No one can cause an event to happen if the Lord has not already  designed to use it for good and ordained the outcome to glorify His name. Failure,  success,  marriage,  divorce, unplanned children, planned children who never come, death, disability, war, peace, presidents and dictators, on and on...in it all God still rules!

Hard to grasp! But nothing comes to pass apart from God's decree. So Emil won not so much because he was a brain with letters or pure luck, but because there is a God in heaven who rules and does His pleasure in the world.

In your life He has ordained this day for your good and His glory.

Devotional 107 Wonderful Sovereignty

"All things that come to pass in this world ultimately come about through the sovereign agency of God Himself."  R. C. Sproul  

Colossians 1:16 (Msg)"For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,...everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him." 

In spite of illness and death in our congregation, inspite of the economy and family troubles, inspite of stress on the job or worries in the home, we are still in God's hands. His sovereign rule covers us even now.

My husband"s parents died one day apart at the age of 94. They died in their own bed with family at their side. They died God's way in His timing. But this summer a relative of mine buried their still born son. He, also, died God's way in God's timing. God is in charge. Nothing escapes Him. Nothing surprises Him. All by His hand, all with a purpose.

The wind is His. It blows where He tells it to. The clouds float by in the exact numbers He directs. The sun gives its light on cloudy days as well as cloudless, by His decree.

When Romans 11:36  states that "of Him and through Him and to Him are all things" it is confirming that there is not one subatomic particle barreling through space but by the design and purpose of God. God created it, caused it, and sustains it. That tiny particle has a purpose. And so do you! This day for you has been planned by the God of love.

 As R.C. Sproul put it in his commentary on Romans. "We need to embrace this because the great joy of the Christian is to know that all things are in God's hands and are being used by Him for His purposes, regardless of the causal means He uses to bring about whatsoever He pleases."

"Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are His riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His methods!"  Romans 11: 33 NLT

Devotional 106 Passionate Gaze

"God smiles when we love Him supremely, trust Him completely, obey Him wholeheartedly, and praise and thank Him continually."    Rick Warren    The Purpose Driven Life

"Whom have I in heaven but You? I desire You more than anything on earth."  Psalm 73:25

So the conversation went like this with the three year old who observed the large number of presents under my tree.

"Where's mine?" She stood staring at the big and little shapes of colored bows and sparkly paper.

"I gave yours to you today. Remember? We played together with it. You know, the little dogs." I replied.

She gave me no eye contact but continued to peruse the gifts under the tree.

"Where's mine under there?" she repeated.

"There isn't one for you. These are for husband, son, daughter, grand-daughter, and me. I already gave you yours."

With single minded passion, drowning out all the other voices, she finally turned to me with pleading eyes and said, "But, Auntie, where's mine?"

Chuckling, her Dad said to me, "She's not listening to a word you are saying."

Her gaze was on the gift and everything else dimmed in importance around her.

That's the way we want our new year to start...with our eyes on the great gift. the treasure supreme..JESUS! So wonderful His love sparkles in our life. He brings color to our darkness, purpose to our dullness. Let us place our gaze on our beautiful Savior.

Whom have we in heaven or earth but Jesus! Look to Jesus! Love Him! Thank Him! Be still and know God. Have a passionate gaze that stirs your heart and lifts you up, that fills the emptiness, that brings you hope and joy...JESUS!

Devotional 105 Pride and Anxiety

TO BE ANXIOUS IS TO BE PROUD

"Faith admits the need for help. Pride won't. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won't. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won't."  Battling Unbelief    John Piper

Isaiah 51: 12-13 "I am He who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man... and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth..."

I've had many things on my mind lately....troubled marriages close to home, illnesses of loved ones, my responsibilities in church and community. One night I woke up at 3:30 a.m. with a worrisome thought, another day I realized I had a nagging headache, yesterday my neck muscles were sore. I know you've been there, too, because scripture tells me that we all are tempted to be anxious.

Scripture also tells me not to worry. Matthew 6:25 "So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life..."  Philippians 4: 6,7 "Don't worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He has done." Anxiety is disobedience to God and pride.

How is an anxious heart like pride?

 Because it is trying to rely on self to get a certain result instead of God. Living as if it is all up to me is a proud spirit. When we think it is all up to us we worry about our failure to get the job done.

So what do we do?

 When I woke up in the wee hours of the morning I recognized I was worrying and confessed my sin of worry to God. I thanked Him for His sovereignty and control, His goodness and justice, His ability to work all things out for His glory. I told Him I trusted Him to do what was best for me and my loved ones no matter how dire the situation might get. And then His peace came.

In 1Peter 5: 6-7 It indicates that the way to humble yourself under God's mighty hand is to cast all our burdens on Him. I gladly do that today.

How about you?

Devotional 104 - Witness

 "Backing down or being afraid of speaking out about Christ is like treating the defeated challenger as the champion. Everyone around you has a message, a philosophy, or an input, and so should you."   In the Backyard of Jesus  by Steven N. Khoury

1 Peter 3:15 "You must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it."

The two ladies were conversing at the table next to mine. It was Monday and my husband and I were studying our Bibles at a coffee shop. My ears perked up when I heard the two ladies mention their church. I glanced at Rhett but he was absorbed in his reading.

Lady 1: "I just love our church. They never talk about hell or sin. I come away feeling so happy."

Lady 2: "Oh that's nice. What time is your service. I need a happy church."

I felt a nudge to speak.

"But, Lord, they do not know me. I have not been invited into this conversation."

I felt the nudge again.

 "Yes, Lord, I know I have the truth, but they might get angry if I tell them hell and sin are Biblical and that You spoke about it openly and often."

The nudge again.

"Alright Lord. Let me write down my thoughts first and then I can give them the paper."

So while they continued to converse, I busied myself with looking up scriptures to introduce them to the Living God. And then I stalled. The scriptures were written and I sat staring at the paper. The struggle began. You know the struggle. The one that is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6: 12)

As my hands gripped the Words of Life, they rose from their chairs, paid the bill and left.

I had not shared. I felt empty and sorry. I did not love my Savior enough that day to risk. 1 Peter 3 says as I worship Christ as my Lord I will have a joyful hope to share with the world. Those ladies may not have asked for the reason of my hope, but my Lord had asked it of me.

It boiled down to I cared more about my own comfort than their eternal destiny.

I love what Steven Khoury wrote in the quote above. Everyone else has an opinion and so should we! We should be engaging the culture with the marvelous truth of scripture. Don't give ground to the devil. Resist his schemes to thwart the spread of the precious news of the love of Christ for man.

I am sure God will give me another chance to share the reason for the hope within. And He will give you another one. Be ready! Be obedient!

Devotional 103 - Don't Be a Fool

"You've seen people treat this world like it was a permanent home. It's not. You've seen people pour time and energy into life like it will last forever. It won't. You've seen people so proud of what they have done, that they hope they will never have to leave - they will."  And the Angels Were Silent  Max Lucado

Luke 12: 19-21   And I'll sit back and say to myself, "My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!" But God said to him, "You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?"
Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.

When I was a special education teacher many years ago I had a little girl who collected grasshoppers out on the playground. She would never play with the other children. While kids were flying through the air on the swings, or bouncing a ball, or chasing one another around the fenced in yard, little Curly Locks was catching grasshoppers and putting them in her zip lock bag. She missed out on all the fun with the other children because she was obsessed with grasshoppers.

One day, on the school bus, wouldn't you know, she forgot to zip lock her bag and she dropped it. Oh the hoopin' and hollerin' that ensued as all those little green and brown buggers began to hop their way around the young captive audience. There was more than bugs jumping around that day.

The bus driver had to pull over and do some extermination work. Curly Locks was inconsolable. Her passion was gone. Terminated. No more. And even if they had not escaped that day, grasshoppers do have a short life span in a zip lock bag.

The next day the children were still there ready to play, but Curly Locks brought her empty zip lock bag and began the obsessive work of collecting again.

What about you? Are you filling your bag with grasshoppers? Are you pouring time and energy into things that won't last? Are you missing out on the joy of playing with the people around you? Or do you only see the problems that need to be collected in your zip lock bag?

Are you taking time to look up and see God smiling? Is God your passion? Does He delight? Do you find your refreshment in Him? Is He your treasure? If you are going after what you can see and touch and own, it is not real. It will not last. You have got to learn to think invisible, intangible, and eternal.

"Joy is the garment of those who are rich toward God. They always have it on." Enough  Will Davis Jr.

Psalm 16: 11 "...in Your presence there is fullness of joy..."

Devotional 102 - Enough

"When Jesus promised to give us abundant life, He wasn't talking about wealth. If that were the case, He wouldn't have died for us; He could have just written each of us a check."
Enough by Will Davis Jr.

Hebrews 13: 5  Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Could we also insert in the above verse: "Keep your lives free from the love of stuff."?

When do we have enough. Enough for retirement. Enough electronic equipment. Enough clothes. Enough cars. Enough space.  Jesus, who left glory to be born in a barn, who left His heavenly mansion to travel from city to city with no home to call His own, who as Creator of the universe hung on the cross and died with absolutely nothing, never once worried about His future or whether He had "enough".

Jesus considered "enough" to be what He had today and that is the way He teaches us to think also. Consider the way He taught us to pray: "Give us today our daily bread."  One day at a time- provision for today. Be content with that.

Why can we be content with today? Because in our "today" is Jesus. We have enough because what I need today is Jesus.  We need to cling to His promise "Never will I leave you."

Our God takes care of the tomorrows. If you are worrying about tomorrow you are in sin. When God tells you to be anxious about nothing (Philippians 4:6, 7) and you are anxious, you are disobeying God, and need to ask for His forgiveness.

Let's simplify our lives of too much stuff and get down to the serious business of joy.

"The Bible actually says you'll be richer if you scale back what you have. It says your life will be fuller. You'll have less stress, more time for things that matter...more joy." Enough by Will Davis Jr.