pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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Walking Closer

Reading: Psalm 51:1-13

Psalm 51:12 – “Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit.”

In this Psalm David circles his need for forgiveness and cleansing. This need has been brought on by Nathan’s confrontation around David’s sins with Bathsheba. Many were his sins: lust, deceit, adultery, conspiracy, murder… It is the realization of and the weight of these sins that are driving the depth of David’s pleas for mercy…

We also circle our need for forgiveness and cleansing – often. Our sin is like David’s in that it separates us from God. Whether lust or gossip, deceit or a little white lie, adultery or pornography… all sin separates us from God. No matter the sin, to be made right with God, we too must seek mercy, compassion, cleansing, and forgiveness.

To receive these graces of God we must begin where David began: confession. He admits his sin and acknowledges that God is justified in seeing him as guilty, as unclean. David then longs to be cleansed and purified, to be made whole again. Then he can rejoice in God’s presence. David knows, as we do, that God alone is capable of this restoration and redemption.

David also pledges repentance. This is the necessary second step if being made right with God. Confession is not worth much at all if not accompanied by a commitment to walking in a new way. David longs to know God’s truth and wisdom. He wants to have a willing heart. In verse 12 David asks this if God: “Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit.” From this place of contrition and commitment, David will help others to walk closer with God. May this be the path that we seek to walk daily.

Prayer: Lord God, lead us to a time each day when we can reflect on our lives and the heart within. By the power of your Holy Spirit reveal our sins and failures. Guide us to a place of humble confession and genuine repentance. In that place, cleanse us and restore us, equip and encourage us to walk closer with you. Amen.


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The Lord Will Fight

Readings: 2nd Chronicles 29, 2nd Chronicles 30, 2nd Chronicles 31, 2nd Chronicles 32

2nd Chronicles 32:8 – “All he has is human strength, but we have the LORD our God, who will help us fight our battles!”

Hezekiah is the focus of today’s readings. In the first month of his rule he reopens the temple and sets the priests to making it holy once again. After eight days the temple is purified. Early the next morning sacrifices are offered for all Israel, songs are sung, the Lord is praised. Hezekiah invites the people to bring thank offerings to God. The response is so great that the Levites have to step in and help.

Next Hezekiah reestablishes the celebration of the Passover. He sends word throughout all of Judah – and Israel. Some from up north laugh and make fun of the invitation, but some come from Israel. A huge crowd gathers and celebrates the Passover. So wonderful and joyous is the celebration, they decide to worship God for seven more days. Fueled by this celebration the people go out and cleanse Judah of all idol worship. The pillars, poles, shrines, and altars are all destroyed.

Hezekiah then calls for the resumption of the tithe to support the daily needs of the priests. The people bring their best in great abundance. Judah is at its high point in its relationship with God – the best since the days of Solomon. It is then that King Sennacherib of Assyria comes. Hezekiah trusts fully in God. He encourages the troops to be brave and strong. He says, “All he has is human strength, but we have the LORD our God, who will help us fight our battles!” Hezekiah trusts that the Lord will fight the battle. That very night God’s messenger comes and kills 185,000 Assyrian soldiers (2nd Kings 19.) Sennacherib goes home in disgrace.

A deadly illness then sets in on Hezekiah but he cries out to God and is healed. But in that moment he is too proud to properly thank God. He and Israel begin to feel God’s anger. They repent and God’s blessings return. Hezekiah dies and is buried in the “upper area” of the tombs with David’s sons. Gold star!

Prayer: Lord God, what a great reminder of the value of a long, steady, obedient faith. In the big and the small, your will and your ways were the focus. Trust in you was sure. Help us to live out this kind of faith. Amen.


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Refined and Purified

Reading: Malachi 3: 1-4

Verse 3: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

Photo credit: Kim West

Today in Malachi we move forward from the ancient to the present. The process that God described as necessary for the priests and the temple is also necessary for our faith development. John the Baptist began the process as he prepared the way for the one who would call each of us into a personal relationship with the Lord our God. It is through this relationship that we are refined and purified.

In verse three we read, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” No matter how we come to Christ as Lord and Savior – whether through a slow and steady process or in a moment of sudden realization of our need – all who believe come to a moment of decision. At that moment we ask Jesus into our heart, into our lives. We make a commitment to giving Jesus authority over all areas of our lives. We commit our time, energy, resources, talents, finances… to loving God/Jesus and neighbor more than self. Just as a couple joins hands and commits to a lifelong covenant, so too do we in this moment of decision. We commit to love no matter what.

If you are or ever have been married or been in a long-term relationship, you know that some days it is hard to love the other. Our own selfish desires and many other distractions cause us to stumble and to fail to honor our commitment. Here is where the refiner and purifier steps in. Over and over Jesus Christ, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, calls us back to love. Through the process of conviction, confession, repentance, and forgiveness we are refined and purified. Each time through we are remade again, each time a little closer to the image of God within us. For our part we must stay connected to Jesus Christ through worship, study, prayer… We also must remain open to the voice and nudge of the Holy Spirit and to the working of God in our lives. If so we will become more and more like those Malachi speaks of: people who offer all of ourselves to God and neighbor in righteousness. May it be so for us all.

Prayer: Lord God, open my eyes and heart to hearing and knowing your voice. Drive down my pride and ego so that I may see my faults and sins. Elevate my humility so that I gladly accept your loving hand, leading, guiding, correcting, refining, purifying. Moment by moment make me more like you. Amen.


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Loving Deeply

Reading: 1st Peter 1: 17-23

Verse 23: “You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God”.

Today’s reading distinguishes between perishable and imperishable, between temporary and eternal, between earthly and heavenly. Peter reminds us that we were bought or redeemed with the “precious blood of Jesus”. Jesus comes from and belongs to the imperishable. The “lamb without defect” was chosen to be the final sacrifice “before the creation of the world”. It is through Christ Jesus that we place our hope and trust in God.

Peter opens our passage for today by encouraging us to “live your lives as strangers in reverent fear”. For as long as Christ and then Christians have walked the earth, we have been “strangers”. Even in the land that God promised and then gave to his children, the Christian faith has been rejected and fought and often persecuted. It is a faith that lives and exists in the world – in the perishable and temporary and earthly – but it is not of this world. Hence, we are strangers. That is a good thing. Just as Jesus did in his day, so too are we called to stand out from the world and its desires and pursuits. Peter also calls us to live in “reverent fear”. This is not the same as having a fear of spiders or of heights. It is a deep respect, a profound honoring, an obedient heart towards and with God. A reverent fear recognizes that God is holy and just and altogether righteous and good.

Peter next reminds us that we are purified when we live according to God’s ways. When we do so, the chief manifestation is in how we “love one another deeply”. Even the Romans of Peter’s day and throughout the days of the early church took note of how deeply the Christians loved one another and those in need around them. We too are called to be known in this way. We can love this way because of who we are and because of whose we are. In verse 23 we read, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God”. We are new creations in Christ – imperishable, eternal, heavenly. May we live accordingly, loving deeply as we seek to be the “living and enduring word” as the hands and feet of Christ in our world.

Prayer: Father God, thank you for a love for me that began before the creation of the world. Thank you for your eternal and unchanging love for me and for all of your children. Grant that I may share that love with others today. Amen.