Category: Blog

Evil is rising in the world and in our culture. It surrounds us. We don’t have to look very far or try with any effort to find it. Darkness hovers, increasingly more accessible.

If you are like me, you feel a variety of responses to the condition of our world. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the levels of evil. Other times I get angry at the permissions evil has been given to infiltrate and destroy. When I’m not angry or overwhelmed, I want to work for change so that I can feel like I’ve done something about the situation instead of sitting back and complaining or going into hiding.

Here we are in the fourth week of Lent, the season in which God helps us see our sinfulness leading us to turn to him for redemption. His call to us as his followers includes a delicate mix of intercession for the lost, witness of his work in our lives, and rest in him as our refuge.

In the remainder of this devotional, I’ll share with you Bible verses that strengthen, comfort, and guide as we continue to stand in the world shining the light of truth and hope.

I trust the Lord will speak to you, as he has to me, through His Word.

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Psalm 91:5-11 (NIV)

No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, says the Lord. Isaiah 54:17 (NIV)

Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:1-7 (NIV)

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

You shall increase my greatness and comfort me on every side. Psalm 71:21(NKJV)

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 (NIV)

You are my Lord. Do not withhold your compassion from me. Let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever. Psalm 40:11

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make music. Psalm 57:7 (NIV)

Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken. Psalm 55:22 (NIV)

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV)

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14 (NIV)

Stand fast, therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1 (NKJV)

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 39:17-22 (NIV)

Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:25

This portion of verse 25 is the only cheerful statement in all of the seventh chapter of Romans. In reading through this chapter, we find Paul in a struggle for his life, as though he’s tangled up in an arm wrestle with an octopus. His two arms against the octopus’s eight. The poor man doesn’t stand a chance, and he knows it.

Paul isn’t necessarily complaining about his condition. Rather, he’s giving us an honest look at an impossible dilemma. In verse 25 he says that what he wants to do he doesn’t do. And again in verse 19 he says that he doesn’t do the good he wants to do. Instead, he keeps on doing evil.

The monstrous octopus that has a suffocating hold in Paul is his own sin. It gets in his way. In verse 21 he says that he finds a certain law at work: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” At least he intends to do good. He delights in God’s word (verse 22), which means that he is aware and accepting of what God requires of him.

But in verse 23 he goes on to say that he sees another law at work in him, waging war against the law of his mind (God’s word) and making him a prisoner of the law of sin.

Now we can see Paul’s unsolvable dilemma. He wants to do good. He knows what good is. He’s learned the instructions from God’s word of how to accomplish good.

And yet—evil aggravates his every step, throwing him off course, distracting him from his goal, distorting the instructions, and thwarting his efforts.

No wonder we see him thrown down on the mat heaving, exhausted, and ready to give up. “What a wretched man I am!” he cries out. “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (verse 24).

Poor guy. It looks like he’s going to lose. The suction-cup-covered octopus of sin has triumphed. Evil appears stronger. It sucks the life right out of him a little at a time until he has no strength to fight and even less of a desire to.

And this is how Romans chapter 7, one of the most real and unrefined chapters of the Bible would end, except that he drags in one more breath and wheezes, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

The answer to his dilemma has come. It is the deliverance of God. If God wouldn’t intervene on Paul’s behalf, death would have swallowed him. Evil would have had the last word if Paul operated in his own strength. But he doesn’t. He relies only and fully on God’s power to save him. Thank goodness the book of Romans doesn’t end there. It goes into a celebration in chapter 8 of living life in the Spirit, and then becoming more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8:37).

Paul threw off the power his sinful nature had over him. He understood that he must be a slave to something (Romans 7;25). The reality of being bound to another doesn’t go away. But because of God’s work of redemption, we can serve one who gives freedom and love instead of evil, death, and destruction.

He says in Romans 7:17 that, “it is no longer myself who do it (those things he does not want to do) but the sin living in me.”

Paul faced down his spiritual enemies, whatever they were, and he completely defeated them because over in Galatians 2, he says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

The Presence of Christ replaced the law of sin. This doesn’t mean, as believers, we no longer have the potential to sin, but that the nature still inside us that wants to indulge in it has decreasing power over us.

Paul’s struggle is our struggle. His dilemma is our dilemma. The good we want to do we don’t do. Evil comes more natural and suggests itself more provocatively than good does. But in the power of Christ, we can accomplish victory.

This passage from Romans is one of the suggested texts for the third Sunday of Lent. During this season of prayer and confession, call upon the Lord to deliver you from the slavery to sin, once and for all. Allow him to crucify it so that his Presence exclusively lives in you.  

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

This is one of the most meaningful truths found in the Bible. Paul confidently declares that nothing can separate him from God’s love. He is secure in God’s care for him. Nothing can snatch him away. Paul was a person who knew hardship. In 2 Corinthians 11 we have a complete list of them in Paul’s own words:

Five times he received from the Jews forty lashes minus one (verse 24).

Three times beaten with rods (verse 25).

Pelted with stones (verse 25).

Three times shipwrecked (verse 25).

One night and a day spent in the open sea (verse 25).

In danger from rivers, from bandits, from fellow Jews, and from Gentiles (verse 26).

In danger in the country, in the city, and at sea (verse 26).

In danger from false believers (verse 26).

He has labored without sleep (verse 27).

He has been hungry and thirsty, cold and naked (verse 27).

This list of trouble occurs in a larger passage with the theme of boasting. Paul lists off all the ways he has suffered so that he can demonstrate how well God has cared for him.

Shipwrecks, beating, and hunger do not at first strike us as ways God would care for someone. They aren’t, unless you look at it like Paul does. 2 Corinthians 11:30 says, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” Paul understands that power comes through weakness. “Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

For Christ’s sake, he is willing to experience weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties because when he is weak, he is strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Now that we’ve gained a bit of insight into Paul’s perspective, we need to go back to Romans 8. The list of forces that threaten to separate us from God comes at the end of a passage that describes Christians as justified conquerors. He uses very clear, bold words to say things like this:

If God is for us, who can be against us? (verse 31)

Who will bring any charges against those God has chosen? It is God who justifies (verse 33).

In all these things (the trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword mentioned in verse 35) we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (verse 37).

Paul is making the point that God’s love completely sustains our lives. It regulates our minds and calibrates our hearts. God’s love holds us steady. It informs us on who to believe, giving us the standard against which to measure truth.

When we have in place our secure faith along with a conviction of the truth, we live in the safest place in the world.

I’ve never been shipwrecked, beaten or pelted with stones, or left for dead on the open sea. That, to me would be the ultimate test of my trust in God. I’m grateful for the heroes of the Bible, like Paul, who have endured the worst and then lived to tell about it. His stories help us keep our perspective.

If Paul can meet terrifying danger and real, intentional threats on his life with the assurance that none of it changes the levels of love God pours out on him, then I hope that I can meet the anxieties and sufferings in my life with the same confidence.

God is fighting your battle for you.

He holds you in the palm of his hand.

His love for you is high and long and wide and deep (Ephesians 3:18), and nothing in this world has the power to remove you from it.

This passage from Romans 8 is one of the texts suggested for meditation during this second week of Lent. Use of this passage during Lent tells me that God wants us to delight in our frailties, in our weaknesses, and in our limitations. Only when we face them and accept them do we throw ourselves in full reliance on his love.

It takes courage, but keep confessing sin. Turn your weaknesses and temptations over to him. He will shine through them giving you increasing power, strength, and a calm faith in his deep love for you.

Prayer

The collect from the Common Book of Prayer designated for the second Sunday of Lent:

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to keep ourselves. Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities that may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32.

In this brief passage, the Apostle Paul gives us quite a stack of negative emotions. He even asks us not only to curb them or manage them, but to get rid of them. This means not even a trace of any of this is allowed to remain in our personality or in our interactions with others. My goodness. I find this to be a rather impossible standard, don’t you? In that moment of conflict when our anger and those nasty words we long to fling about rise in us, what are we to do?

The very first passion Paul tells us to eliminate is bitterness. When I looked up the meaning for bitterness, I discovered a list of words to describe food gone bad. Descriptors such as: sour, caustic, biting, cutting, and stinging. Sadly, our souls can become like that too. The Apostle Paul gives us some wise counsel so that we can prevent our souls from resembling food that has spoiled.

In preparing to write this devotional, I searched to find where the word bitter or bitterness appeared in the Bible as it relates to our emotions. The prophets used one of these words frequently to express their grief and sorrow.

James uses it as an adjective to describe envy. James 3:14 says, “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.”

The book of Hebrews warns against bitterness when it says in chapter 12 verse 15, “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”

After reading the passage from James and from Hebrews, it makes sense to me why Paul would start his list in Ephesians 4 with bitterness. According to Hebrews, it is the root, or the source, of so much of our negativity.

I remember, a few years back in my own faith journey, God was at work on some pretty substantial formation of my soul. He exposed the beginnings of a bitter root in my life. In his gracious way, he healed me. Then he gave me a choice. I could continue to cultivate the sort of environment that nurtured a bitter root, or I could go a different way and make some changes.

When we go back and look at these passages in Ephesians, Hebrews, and James, we’ll see that each one presents a choice. If the reader dares to leave behind the bitterness Paul calls to attention, they will discover a more wholesome and sustainable way to function.

In Ephesians, Paul invites us, after getting rid of the bitterness and rage and so forth, to be kind and compassionate, to forgive as God forgives. If we back up a little farther in chapter 4, we see that the verse right before the one about bitterness and anger talks of the Holy Spirit. It is possible to grieve him. Practicing bitterness, anger, slander and malice will do it.

Believers have been sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption (verse 30). We don’t have to rely on negative (i.e. destructive) emotions to make the world go as we think it should. The Holy Spirit of God has already covered our lives and guaranteed for us a portion of God’s saving power.

Get rid of the mechanisms and the tools you rely on to control your world, Paul says. Instead, rely on God’s Spirit to help you love, to show compassion, to be kind, and to forgive.

If we look at the passage from James 3, we see that once James is finished mentioning bitter envy and selfish ambition, he defines wisdom. Here’s a great list of positives to replace the stack of negatives: “But wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (James 3:17).

James assumes that people who practice these qualities will be peacemakers because he says in the next verse that peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness (verse 18).

In Hebrews, where the bitter root is mentioned, the verse preceding it mentions peace, like the passage in James does. Peace and holiness are actually related because the verse reads like this: “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness, no one will see the Lord” (verse 14).

Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Last week’s devotional told the story of Hagar and made the point that God sees us. If we make the right choices in our lives, we can help others see God.

Which choice will you make? Have you ever been where I was a few years ago, needing to decide between bitterness and love?

As someone who, with God’s help, victoriously fought this battle, may I champion you to do the hard work to choose love?

Instead of giving your heart, your life, and your integrity over to bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, malice, and envy, partner with the Holy Spirit of God to live in kindness, compassion, forgiveness, peace, holiness, and wisdom.

This season of Lent is a gift to us because it offers us time to consider the costs and make changes. Ask the Lord to give you the courage to search your heart, and then ask him to also redeem you and set you free. A harvest of peace and wisdom awaits.

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13

Hagar isn’t someone who usually gets pointed out as a heroic figure. An Egyptian, she worked as a slave for Abraham’s family. Her job description included waiting on his wife Sarah, performing household tasks, and standing in as a substitute when Sarah failed to conceive and become pregnant.

Hagar was the mother of Ishmael, Abraham’s oldest child. But he wasn’t the heir of the covenant God had made with Abraham. These promises were reserved for Isaac (Genesis 17:21).

At the time when God appears to Hagar, she is the one woman of the household expecting a child. Sarah mistreated her which caused her to leave Abraham’s home.

This is where God catches up with her. In the desert. Alone. Abandoned. Hurting. He has a conversation with Hagar in which she recognizes him for who he really is.

“You are the God who sees me.”

With that statement, Hagar’s direction changed. She was no longer the outcast and betrayed slave wanted by no one and disposed of.

God had seen her. He’d seen her long before this conversation in the desert. He knew of her actions and the choices she’d made, the good ones as well as the bad ones. His presence had come to that wilderness and descended over Hagar. She’d heard him speak and received a vision of the work he wanted to do in her life.

He will increase her descendants (verse 9). The promise he gave Hagar sounded very similar to the one given to Abraham. “I will make the son of your slave into a nation also.” God said to Abraham, “because he is your offspring.”

God’s generous blessing overflowed into Hagar’s live. She had to look beyond the conflict with Sarah and see the value that God placed on her. He gave her a place in his divine plan that stood independent of Abraham’s or Sarah’s treatment of her.

That day in the desert became for Hagar a time of renewal. She became fully aware of the nature of God. Like with Moses, he assured Hagar of his guidance and his protection.

Since she was an Egyptian, a foreigner with no connection to Abraham and his family, and also a woman viewed as second class and therefore insignificant, I wonder if God revealed his presence to her in a way that proved his commitment to her. Abraham was married to Sarah, not Hagar. Where then, could she go in this foreign land with no male provider to care for her and her child?

Her renewal in the desert assured her that she belonged to God.

In this season of Lent, followers of Christ take the time to reflect on his sufferings. We confess sin, repent, and ask for forgiveness. This regular cleansing frees us from the tyranny of sin. It creates space in us to encounter God in the wilderness of our own feelings of abandonment and betrayal. His presence fills the new space and restores in us our awareness of him. We belong to him. There is a sense in Hagar’s story of lingering. She stayed in that place with God feeling all the heartache of her experiences with Abraham and Sarah while also soaking up God’s word to her and his vision for her.

We can do the same. During this season of Lent, stay with God, in that place of sharing heartache with him, of listening to his vision for you, and of soaking up the message he intends especially for your life.  

The God who sees, Lahai Roi, has always seen.  He is the same and unchanging, attentive and available. 

I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

I love how Paul can string a few words together in one sentence that can capture layers of meaning that not only go deep, but stretch across time. This verse is one of those that arches over a great span. It starts at one point, goes high, and then comes down again in a new place. Think rainbows or the arch in St. Louis.

Each word in this verse is loaded. Paul is the one who is confident. He is confident in God, and he is confident in God’s ability to do what he says he will do. God begins a work, then it grows. He sustains both the work and the growth until Jesus returns.

Paul sees this truth working itself out in individual people as well as in the community. God has a purpose for each life. He also has a purpose for each group of people.

On God’s growth plan, we will outgrow roles or perspectives. In order to move into the next stage of growth God has designed for us, we must let go of the place where we’ve been, the attitudes we’ve held, and maybe even the networks we’ve depended on.

These points of growth happen repeatedly over the course of a person’s life. They can feel like stepping from a canoe to a motorboat in the middle of a lake on a windy day. Easy to lose your balance. Nothing to hold onto. The perfect conditions for rough, shaky transitions.

But God is faithful. Paul reminds us that God will carry the work onto completion. No matter how many times you fall, God will help you get back up again. He will make sure you get where you need to go.

His work has a master design to it, and it is on a schedule that he has set. Disruptions and surprises cannot throw it off course. God will accomplish the plan for which your life was created. Nothing will get in the way.

What is the good work God has begun in you? Are you a teacher, an artist, a writer, or an apostle? Does the life you are leading today feel far removed from where you thought you were going? God has a way of using all of our circumstances and all of our decisions for his glory. Take a good look around you. The work God is doing in your life might be bursting from a recent disappointment, a wall of reality you’ve run into, or a gift he has given you that you might not be quite sure what to do with.

God knows. He’s always known. He will develop the work, grow it, and bring fruit from it at just the right time and in the right place to reap a great harvest for the kingdom.

This is true for communities, too. God brings people together, gives them the vision for a common goal, and then continues to lead as they work together on his mission. This is the context in which Paul wrote this verse. It is a part of a letter to the church in Philippi, one that Paul started. Along the way, he became fond of these believers. He wants to champion their efforts to preach and advance the gospel.

Through Paul, God began a good work in Philippi. He won’t abandon it, just like he won’t abandon the work he’s started in any of us.

He sustains us. As we grow, change, move, and listen to him, we can rely on him to help us stand. We can believe the word he has spoken. We can trust that God is in charge of the master building project going on in each one of our lives.

He won’t fail, forget, or grow fatigued. God is on the job all the time.

Remember to look to him through your shaky transitions. Believe that he holds your future. Sanctification’s promise is of a sweeter, holier life as we age. It is drawing us ever closer to God until the day when we enter into heaven forever.

Those places that feel too small and uncomfortable now won’t last forever. God is preparing you for something grand, something only you can do. When the work is complete, growth and beauty and love will rush from your life glowing with the marks of his glory.