Painful Ministry

ALL – Psalm 54:1-7
ALL – Proverbs 23:1-3
OT – Isaiah 6:1-7:25
NT – 1 Corinthians 11:16-33

Interesting passage for the day: I have lived with weariness and pain and sleepless nights. Often I have been hungry and thirsty and have gone without food; often I have shivered with cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. – 2 Corinthians 11:27, The Living Bible

Thought: Martyrdom. Persecution. Suffering. When I think of the Christians who have endured severe trials for Jesus and His kingdom, I am amazed by them. They seem so strong. What great perseverance! What incredible faith! What certain hope they must have had to walk through the difficulties they did.

And as I am amazed by them, I begin to daydream about if I were ever to go through the same things. I daydream about the powerful statements of faith that would fall from my lips as I stood trial before my persecutors, statements like Stephen’s, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them,” and Martin Luther’s, “Here I stand. I can do no other.” And in my daydreams, persecution and martyrdom almost begin to seem like glorious experiences.

They aren’t glorious. They’re dreadful. They’re overwhelming. They’re exhausting.

The verse above is just one verse in quite a lengthy list of sufferings that Paul endured as he proclaimed hope through Jesus Christ. And Paul didn’t write about them to display his strength. He wrote about them to demonstrate his weakness, His complete dependence on Jesus, and the genuine nature of His ministry to the Corinthians. He didn’t endure them because he was strong and glorious; Paul endured them in spite of his weakness because Jesus is worthy.

Question: Do you remember how worthy Jesus is? When Jesus asks you to do something hard, how do you respond? How should you respond?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

No Burden Too Heavy

ALL – Psalm 40:11-17
ALL – Proverbs 22:2-4
OT – Job 20:1-22:30
NT – 2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Interesting passage for the day: We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for he can even raise the dead. – 2 Corinthians 1:9, The Living Bible

Thought: When Christy, Emma and I headed to Louisville so that I could attend the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in June of 2006, we felt ready and self-sufficient. We had saved about $15,000 as a cushion for the first few months’ expenses, Christy’s web design business was clearly capable of generating income, and we had everything planned out for me to watch Emma enough each week for Christy to be able to run her business smoothly. Survival would not be an issue in seminary. We were going to thrive!

That’s not how I felt in September or October when I was sitting in the corner of the dining room, sobbing uncontrollably because we were already less than a month away from being completely out of funds, and feeling like a total failure as a husband and father. What had I led my family into?

I felt kind of like Paul: “doomed to die and [seeing] how powerless we were to help ourselves.” Okay, maybe the dying thing is a little dramatic, but seriously, I was totally aware of my own weakness, powerlessness, inability, failure.

But God turned things around. He provided business for Christy. He gave me the strength to add a part-time job (actually two jobs, for a while) to my schedule. We weren’t wealthy, but we were living. God had saved us from going totally broke.

God is always providing for us. He does it for the entire world. But He especially delights to provide for His children. Sometimes God calls us into situations that we cannot handle, circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us—even to wipe us off the face of the planet! But our God is able to raise the dead! He owns all of creation! There is not a challenge we can face that is “too big” for Him!

Question: What has overwhelmed you—in the past, or perhaps even now? How can we support one another as we call on Jesus, our God who saves us from every trouble?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Beyond Understanding

Daniel 8; Psalm 123; Proverbs 29:2-4

Humanity is amazing. The progress people have made in understanding the world and the principles that govern its cycles since the Enlightenment is astonishing. The rate at which technology advances is blindingly fast. We are constantly learning, and very little—almost nothing—seems to be beyond our understanding.

Until God speaks.

Thankfully, God usually speaks to us in words and concepts simple enough for us to hear, understand, and respond to. God now and then chooses to remind us, however, that He is God and we are not. And in those cases, He reveals to us truths that are beyond our understanding, even though they are revealed to us in our own languages.

After seeing a vision about the rise and fall of kingdoms, as well as the (temporary) desecration of Jerusalem and the temple, this was Daniel’s response:

I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days. Then I got up and went about the king's business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding. – Daniel 8:27

Exhausted. Ill. Appalled. Daniel was overwhelmed. The vision was too much for him; it was beyond his understanding—yes, even Daniel could be overwhelmed by God’s revelation.

Father, Your work is beyond my understanding! I praise You for Your wisdom, Your understanding, Your guidance. Thank You that You are in control, even when I am nowhere close to being in control.

Anyone else feel overwhelmed by things God has revealed? What has God revealed that is beyond your understanding?

On My Face in Thanks

Ezekiel 44:1-45:12; Psalm 119:33-64; Proverbs 28:15-16

Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown. – Ezekiel 44:4

Do you realize that the one true God’s glory is overwhelming? That no man can stand before Him unless God Himself makes the man stand? That He is so holy, so good, so majestic that all our sins and flaws are sharply highlighted by His ever-wonderful perfection?

When we come to God, we are not simply coming to some impressive human—a high school star athlete, a homecoming queen, a successful businessman, a winsome celebrity, or a prestigious politician. Some people are impressive in their own ways, but at some level we believe that they are reachable, touchable, knowable. They’re not so far removed from us that friendship is hopeless.

God is. We simply cannot deserve time with Him, conversations with Him, smiles from Him. God would be perfectly within His rights to despise us, avoid us, ignore us. Simply by virtue of God’s glory and our antiglory, we have no right to come to Him.

And yet it is this God who has invited us into His presence. It is this glorious God who has condescended to relate to us, who has lovingly reached out to us without reluctance by sending His own perfect and glorious Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross as a ransom for our lives. We can boldly approach Him, not because He’s reachable, but because He reached out to us.

If there’s any reason to give thanks today, that’s it!

Father, thank You.