You have done nothing ...

Todays Reading:  Exodus 5:10-23

Exodus 5:23  Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people.’

It is hard to find a message of mercy and grace in this passage.  You can't help but identify with Moses here.  Who hasn't said, at least in their heart, to God "you have done nothing".
But we know the rest of the story.  God does deliver them from their bondage. But that is not all.  He delivers them even though they complained, even though they had a lack of faith.  Now, this doesn't have the same result in the wilderness after they have been delivered.  Then their rebellion is met with disaster. Though, God still hears their complaints.
Even our Lord Jesus on the cross cries "why have you forsaken me". Sometimes we get to a place where that is all we know how to do, because we can't see the future, and because the time is hard to endure.
I guess the lesson I see here is that we need to give God thanks when we can, because there may be times when we can't find it in ourselves to trust Him. But that is the greatness of God.  He delivers us anyway.

Heavenly Father, thank you for delivering me, for my past, and for my future. Forgive for the time when I don't trust you, even those I have not encountered yet. I thank you now for your deliverance then. Help me to always see your grace, and when I don't see it, please help me anyway.   Amen

Wash and be clean?

Todays Reading:  2 Kings 5:1-14

2 Kings 5:13 - But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’

A very challenging passage. "Wash and be clean?" That is too easy, right? We have, of course, heard the expression "you get what you pay for". I think on a concious level we readily believe in miracles and God's Grace, but on a deeper level I am not so sure we totally accept it.  I think there is still a tendency for us to equate our efforts with the results.  The problem with this is it undermines God's mercy and grace. And maybe that is the point.  Maybe we have too high of a self evaluation.  Maybe we think that God has to do something really fantastic in order for it to count as a miracle.  Maybe we think that we have to do just the right thing.  We have a vision or an idea of what God's role in our lives should be and when it doesn't match reality we begin to doubt, or even rebel.
But while God does have expectations for us, and calls us to live lives that are worthy to be identified with Him, there is also the challenge of letting God do the real work and letting God set the rules and letting God get the glory.  Those are the tough ones.  We want to think that we are an important part of the solution, but that takes away God's glory.  While we do have to live and work, we need to let God be God and trust in that.

Heavenly Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to trust you to set the rules and do the real work and of course get the glory. Help me always to give you the glory. Amen.

If your eye is healthy ...

Today's Reading: Luke 11:33-36

Luke 11:34  Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness.

I am assuming that "your eye" is not referring to our physical eye, but rather how we see the world. It could refer to what we lust over, or desire, but for today it strikes me that it is more about how we look at things.
In today's culture there is this kind of hysteria over being offended by others.  We have become a culture of judgement.  We spend too much of our time and energy accusing others of offending us.  What we see is not healthy at all.  What we see is threatening and offensive.  
But, Jesus didn't say that what we see is the problem.  Jesus puts it on our eye. It is how we see more than what we see.  He didn't say the world was full of darkness, but rather our body is full of darkness when our eye is unhealthy. For that matter, he didn't even say our body was full of darkness by itself.  Only when our eye is unhealthy.
I think we need to spend more time and energy on the way we see rather than what we see. It was said in our Sunday School class this last Sunday that more Christians killed other Christians during the Reformation than there were Christians killed by the Romans in the first century.  Is this because Christians need to be killed?  Or is it because they didn't see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ?  Isn't it because of how they see?  And you have to ask yourself if we aren't on the verge of that today.  The way we attack and accuse each other, looks a lot like the days of the Reformation.  The difference is the issue is not religious conformity as much as it is political.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to see with healthy eyes, that I may see my brother and sister and not get hung up on what they say and do as an excuse to attack and accuse.  Amen

All things are wearisome

Todays Reading:  Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

Ecclesiastes 1:8  All things are wearisome; more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing.

All things are wearisome.  Yes, there are days that I feel that. That is why reading Ecclesiastes is so rewarding.  There is a sense of justification as Solomon expresses his lament.  Yes, I feel that too!  In a way it even brings a sense of joy or peace when the Word of God reflects my own feelings. 
With all the stuff going on these days, Ecclesiastes rises to the top, being so profound with it's insight. This book pierces through the noise and nonsense and calms my anxious heart with words of truth. There is nothing new under the sun, yet, people clamor for position and power and influence because they think they have the "new" way.  There is no new way!  When people tell you that there is a new order, or we have progressed and matured by embracing new ideas and mores. It is not new, just wrong.
But, the realization expressed in Ecclesiastes gives me a sense that I can see through it, though I have failed to.  I hope that I can internalize the peace that comes with the realization that there is nothing new under the sun and that it is all vanity.  Then maybe I can have peace.

Heavenly Father, by your Holy Spirit, guide me to see that it is all vanity and I need not fear, but only rest in your peace. Forgive me for my anger, and my lack of faith, and fill me with the vision of your glory.   Amen