Dev: Nov 21 - Isaiah 40:31

But those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

So far we've learned two things about hope. 

The first is that hope looks upward. It focuses beyond our earthly horizon. It yearns for God's plans, God's power, and God's provision. Upward!

Second, hope focuses forward. Hope obviously doesn't focus backward. The past is past. Rather, we hope for the future. Christian hope, indeed, focuses on our future in heaven when there will be no more mourning or crying or pain. Hope yearns for Christ to come again gloriously and for the eternal victory to begin!

And what is the fruit of this forward and upward looking hope? Today's lesson tells us:

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. The trials of this earth batter us, wound us, seek to crush us. Hope gives us strength. And when we quit focusing helplessly on this earth, hope links us to the supernatural strength that comes from the Lord. 

What is the fruit of hope? The prophet tells us that those who trust in the Lord will soar on wings like eagles. Forward and upward, right?

They will run and not grow weary. Why? Well, remember how Jesus said, "Come to me, all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28)? When we come to God, when we trust and hope in the Lord, we rely on God's provision and not our own. And that's the strength of hope that comes from the Lord. 

Finally it says, they will walk and not be faint. When we hope, we pick ourselves up again. We start walking again. We start moving forward again. And God is ahead of us, not behind us. Our future - God's future for us - is ahead of us. And when we start hoping, we start walking toward his power, purpose, and provision. 

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who if he

was allowed to pick

a superpower would

probably choose to fly

(Gracious God, lift me up

on wings like eagles!)

Dev: Nov 19-20 - 1 Thessalonians 4:13

Brothers and sisters,

we do not want you

to be uninformed about

those who sleep in death,

so that you do not grieve like

the rest, who have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13

 

When someone is shy and bashful, where do they look? 

 

Downward. 

 

It's cute when a child does it. When a little boy meets a pretty girl, what does he do? He usually looks down at his shoes! And his feet are usually pigeon-toed and digging at the dirt. It's cute look for a kid. 

 

But looking downward is not a cute look for an adult. Indeed, let's move beyond childhood bashfulness to the real reasons most adults look down -- discouragement and defeat. This world is hard. 

 

Hope, we've been saying, involves looking up -- looking up to the God who comforts and provides. 

 

Hope also involves looking forward. As we learned yesterday, we can be transformed by hope when we look forward to Christ's glorious return. Why? Because that ushers in the eternal age of no more mourning or crying or pain, where the throne of God will be among mortals. 

 

Yes, this world is hard, but quit staring at your feet! That was yesterday's message! 

 

Look upward.

 

Look forward. 

 

Yes, that was yesterday's message. And it's today's message too! We don't have to grieve just like the rest of this shoe-gazing world -- pigeon-toed and grinding our toes in the dirt. 

 

That's precisely what the Apostle says in today's  verse -- "Don't be uninformed and grieve like the rest. Rather focus on the best!" 

 

Focus upward. 

 

Focus forward. 

 

Death does not have the final world. 

 

Indeed, death is the gate to victory!

 

Yes, we'll still grieve. This world is hard and the Apostle admits precisely that. He's saying essentially, "Of course you'll grieve. I just don't want you to grieve like the rest of the world that has no hope." 

 

It's what everyone who grieves a major loss eventually tells me: "I don't know how people do it without God/faith/hope/the church."

 

Hope has the power to transform us. So keep focusing upward. And forward. 

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's traded in

his little boy shoes

that used to bashfully

dig at the dirt

 

Dev: Nov 18 - Titus 2:13

we wait for the blessed hope –

the appearing of the glory

of our great God and Savior,

Jesus Christ

Titus 2:13

We're still looking for a full and rich Christian definition of hope. (Indeed, I trust that “hope” is big and richer than any simple catch-phrases we can come up, don't you think? Indeed, hope is probably as big as God himself!)

And what today's passage tells us is that hope is in the future. 

Now … that's probably no big surprise to anyone. (Duh! Right?) We all know that we don't hope backward! We can't say, for example, that we hope that when we wake up tomorrow that the past will have changed and that Hitler didn't kill six million Jews after all. I certainly free to wish many things didn't happen in the past. But wanting to change the past is not hope. 

 

The past, of course, is past. Hope points instead to changed future, a better future. True hope points, as we said yesterday, to God's plans, God's promises, God's future. 

 

So what is God's future?

Today's verse doesn't tell what's ahead for you tomorrow. It tells what's ahead for you in ten thousand tomorrows. It is saying, "there will come a day when Christ will appear in glory."

 

And that's our ultimate hope. (Say that with me: Ultimate Hope.)

 

Yes, I can and should hope for God's will to occur 24 hours from now. God desires to bless his children. Daily! And yet God has also given us free will. 

 

·         Therefore, unless Christ comes tonight like a thief in the night, tomorrow you and I will sin, and we will reject God's loving desire for us. 

·         Tomorrow someone will also sin against you and they will stall God's loving desire for your life.

·         There will be wars and rumors of wars. Why? Because of free will ... and its twin, called sin. 

·         Tomorrow loved ones will die. Why? Because death is the inevitable consequence of our free will and our rebellion. 

 

Can I hope that all this pain goes away? Sure … but only if you use a secular definition of hope (as in: a wish). A Christian definition of hope, however, aligns with God's purposes, and our free will is obviously a high enough value in God's kingdom that a) he allows free will and rebellion and b) he loves us enough to come and die to set us free from the consequences that our free will and rebellion wreak. 

 

So ... can I hope that all this pain goes away? Well ... let me revise my last answer. Yes, you can hope -- indeed, you can be confident -- that all this pain will go away! When? When our Savior appears in glory!

 

There will come a time when the Lord will wipe every tear from our eyes. As it says in Revelation 21, there will be a glorious day when death will be no more, when mourning and crying and pain will be no more. 

 

That's what we long for. 

 

That's what we hope for. 

 

Day-by-day, we'll occasionally get glimpses of heaven on earth. But because of sin, we'll get glimpses of hell on earth too. When persecutions come, when loved ones are dying, when the battlefront nears your door (which it is for Christians in ISIS ravaged territory today), will you hope for earthly solutions? (Of course!) But when those earthly solutions don't seem to arrive frequently enough on this sin-stained planet, will you choose to start hoping for something bigger? 

 

Hope is pointing forward (not backward). It is trusting that no matter what this world throws at us, God has a plan to bless us in the end. And until we adopt that ultimate hope, we will inevitably face times when we're unable to face the present. 

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy whose life changed

when he adopted the outlook

that it's always a good day

to go to heaven

(when a friend taught this to me,

suddenly I quit worrying as much)

Dev: Nov 17 - Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is being sure

of what we hope for and

certain of what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

So what is hope? 

It could be said -- and rightly so -- that today's verse is about faith (and on another day, we can talk about what this powerful verse teaches us about faith). But today, let's focus on what this verse teaches us about hope.

According to secular definitions, hope is a feeling, an expectation, a desire for some potential thing to happen. 

In secular terms, hope is almost an adventure in possibilities and impossibilities. It is wishing for something that is not to become something that is. 

Biblical hope is something different. Today's verse uses two different words to describe faith and hope. It speaks of "being sure." 

 

It earthly, worldly terms, I can hope that something might occur, but I can't be sure. Spiritually, however, I can be certain that all things are possible with God. 

 

Let me say that a different way, because this is important … "Being sure" doesn't mean that I'm confident that my every wish will occur. Of course not! Rather, it means I can "be sure" that God can (and will) make happen what truly needs to happen. Thus our godly desires can always be a reality with God.

 

Therefore … Christian hope is not hoping is not that our own wishes come true. Rather, we're hoping that our desires begin to align with God's desires. (Read that last sentence again and again until it begins to sink in.) When we begin to desire what God desires, that is when we can begin to "be sure" that all things will work together for good for those who love God.

 

Does that make sense? Christian hope is not hoping for our own wishes and desires. It's hoping that we begin to align ourselves with God's desires. Thus, Christian hope is the end of "my will be done," and it is, rather, hoping for "thy will be done."

 

With God, I'm not relying on coincidence. And that’s why is can “be sure.”

 

My hope doesn't change God. Rather, when I align my heart to God, my hope changes me.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who hopes

to hope

what God hopes

Dev: Nov 16 - 1 Chronicles 29:15

For we are aliens and transients

before you, as were all our ancestors;

our days on the earth are like a shadow,

and there is no hope.

1 Chronicles 29:15

 

I've been fascinated by how this word hope is used chronologically at the beginning of the Bible. 

 

·         It's used first in Ruth 1:12, with Naomi saying sadly that there is "[no] hope for me." (She's looking hopelessly for earthly solutions, rather than hopefully up to the Lord.)

 

·         The second time that "hope" occurs is in 2 Kings 6:33 when the king of Israel implies that he used hope in the Lord, but with all the trials on earth, "why should I hope in the Lord any longer?” (He too is looking hopelessly for earthly solutions, rather than hopefully up to the Lord.)

·         The third occurrence, 1 Chronicles 29:15, sounds utterly hopeless too. Looking down at this things of this earth, King David says, "For we are aliens and transients before you ... Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope."

Here’s the context … David's days are numbered. He was the transient shadow who was about to pass away (and pass the mantle of leadership to his son Solomon). Are his concluding words, "There is no hope"?

Only if he was only looking down!

 

David, you see, was also looking up. For those of us who have the tendency to look earthward, we’ll all get to come the realization of this verse: "15 For we are aliens and transients before you ... Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope." That in a sense is our truth, our reality. 

 

But … David also surrounds this sentence with words that draw his listeners (including us) upward, instead of down. 

 

He points heavenward and sings, "10 Blessed are you, O Lord ... 11 Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty ... 12 Riches and honor come from you ... In your hand are power and might." 

 

And then, because he's still looking up, King David then turns humble, “14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you ...” And that’s where our verse for today fits in. “14 Who am I … 15 we are [but] aliens and transients before you ... our days on the earth are like a shadow, and [on our own] there is no hope. 16 [But] O Lord our God, all this abundance ... comes from your hand and is all your own."

 

Do you see the humble power in David's prayer? Do you see the source of hope? On our own, we are but transient shadows. But hope comes from looking up!

 

It comes from praising.

 

It comes from trusting.

 

It comes from recognizing God's pattern of care and blessing throughout our lives in past times … and applying that to today in trust and hope. 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who wants to

finish this devotion like

David finished this prayer:

"17 I know, my God, that

you search the heart, and

take pleasure in uprightness ...

18 O Lord ... direct ... forever

... the hearts of your people

... toward you.

 

Dev: Nov 15 - 2 Kings 6:33

Why should I hope in

the Lord any longer?

2 Kings 6:33

We are studying "hope." But ... the first two mentionings of "hope" in the Scriptures are not very hopeful! 

Yesterday we looked at the first time that the word "hope" appeared in the Bible. In Ruth 1:12, we learned that Naomi had her husband. She'd also lost her sons. From a human perspective, she was without hope. 

And that's true for all of us. If we focus only and ultimately earthly things, we will eventually and inevitably wind up at the side of a grave. Lasting hope does not come from the things of this earth. Thus ... the lesson is: Look up. 

Today's verse represents the second time that "hope" is mentioned in the Scriptures -- the second time at least in my translation (NRSV). 

Now it seems like the king of Israel, who utters these words, has been looking up, right? As opposed to Naomi who'd been looking only downward at her losses, the king of Israel seems to be say, "I've been looking up and looking up and hoping and praying, but the results are not in my favor; therefore, 'Why should I hope in the Lord any longer?'"

Isn't that what this sounds like? "I've been looking up ... but now I just plain give up." (Isn't that interesting ... and sad. The first two times that hope is mentioned in the scriptures, the people are hopeless.)  

A little context: In 2 Kings 6, the capital of Israel is under siege by King Ben-Hadad of Aram. Cut off from food and supplies, the famine was so bad that anything even semi-edible cost a fortune. For example, "25 one-fourth of a kab of dove’s dung [sold] for five shekels of silver." (And trust me, as disgusting as that is, that's the pleasant part of this story.)

The king is mortified by the plight and horrors surrounding (and perpetrated by) his people. And he cries out to the prophet Elisha, "Why should I hope in the Lord any longer?" 

Question: Was the king looking up -- hoping, trusting, believing in the Lord all along? Or was he really looking down? In grief at the plight of his people, was he focused on earthly circumstances (just like Naomi was looking down at the  griefs in her own family)?

It's possible (probable) that as humans we think we're looking up and relying on God when we're really still focused on the things of this earth and the trials around us. 

Even with a prophet (or pastor) standing right next to us, it's natural to focus on the things of this earth, to worry about the things that can be seen rather than trusting in the One who can't be seen. 

I am constantly guilty of this too. It's normal. It's human. And it's self-defeating. 

The last words of 2 Kings 6 are, "Why should I trust in the Lord any longer?" But turn the page! The first words in chapter 7 are: "But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord ..."

What was God speaking life into the king and into Israel. He was saying essentially: “Today looks bad. I know. God knows. Today, pigeon dung is being sold as food for five shekels of silver, but by ‘7:1 tomorrow about this time a measure of choice meal shall be sold for a shekel.’ Indeed, by tomorrow at this time, there will be hope." 

Yes, today is often hard, but trust in God for tomorrow. 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who needs to quit

focusing on today's troubles

and start looking for

tomorrow's victories

Dev: Nov 14 - Ruth 1:12

… Even if I thought

there was hope for me …

Ruth 1:12

 

Years ago, my wife’s beloved 2½ year old poodle died rather suddenly and very unexpectedly. Brain cancer.

 

When it was finally time to get a new dog, she said, “What’s the Hebrew word for ‘Hope’?” “Why?” “Because that’s what I want to want to name my dog, since I’m hoping in the Lord for a good dog!”

 

Now we didn’t actually name our dog that word for hope. (One of the most common Hebrew words for hope is tikvah, but we didn’t want to wish ticks and fleas on our pet!) Nevertheless, we still chose a form of ‘hope,’ a less common Hebrew word that speaks of hopefulness – chasah.

 

The question for today is this: What are you hoping for?

 

For these next several weeks, we’re going to be focusing on hope. Hope is an obviously an important spiritual concept. We hear about the Messiah being Israel’s long-awaited hope and salvation. We hear about heaven being our eternal hope. But do you know the first time “hope” occurs in the scriptures (the first time at least according to my translation)?   

 

It’s in our verse for today. Naomi and her Jewish family moved to the land of Moab. Now her husband and both her sons have died. And she is hopeless. Defeated, she is going to wander back to Israel. And her plan is to do it alone. In fact, in the fullness of this verse, she is urging her Moabite daughters-in-law to stay in Moab. She’s essentially saying, “’Even if I thought there was hope for me’ back home in Israel, there’s no hope for us as a family or for you as young women without husbands.”

 

Hopeless!

 

She is looking down at this earth … and not at all up to heaven. And in her power and according to the ways of this world, everything truly does look hopeless.

 

Have you ever been there?

 

I don’t want to compare for a second my wife’s loss of a dog to Naomi grief for her husband and sons. (Not by a million miles.) And I don’t want compare my wife’s grief to yours – whatever it is. Nevertheless, I do want suggest that there are two ways of looking at the world. One is in a purely human way. The other is in a hope-filled way.

 

My wife look up from her grief and said, “I’m hoping in the Lord for a good dog.”

 

Which direction are you pointing in life. If it’s downward (if it’s earthly), you’ll inevitably be very disappointed. (Everyone dies.) But if you focus upward and hope in the Lord, then the best is yet to come. Always!

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who’s honestly and

probably a little dyslexic –

and yet I know that my hope

does not come from DOG.

(It comes from GOD.)

 

Devotions 11/13: Ecclesiastes 2:1-3

 

I said in my heart, “Come now,

I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.”

But behold, this also was vanity.

I said of laughter, “It is mad,”

and of pleasure, “What use is it?”

I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine

—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—

and how to lay hold on folly,

till I might see what was good

for the children of man to do under heaven

during the few days of their life.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-3

 

Guest Devotion Writer – Pastor Nate Wolcott

 

One thing that strikes me about our American culture is how focused we are on entertainment.  According to Barna Group, 62% of Americans watch 3 or more hours of TV a day.  30% of those are watching more than 5 hours… a day!  I would say that I never did such a thing, but honestly I very much used to watch many many many hours during football season.  Hey, many times I was multitasking, working on homework with the game or a show on for background noise.  I probably worked slower, but it got done, and so it wasn’t wasted time…

 

But let’s be honest.  Our society and culture push the idea that time when we are not working should be spent being entertained.  Win the lottery, and what do people say they’re going to do?  Quit their job and go to Mouseworld™. 

 

We don’t do well in silence.  We want to have a show on, or be engaged in a hobby.  I enjoy doing a lot of things!  I have to remind myself the teaching of the Bible: the richest king and the wisest king tested his heart with every pleasure and hobby he could think of and afford, and his verdict?  “It is vanity.”  Vanity, which more literally translated would be “a mere breath.”  The NIV renders it as “meaningless.”  The HSB translates it as “futility.” 

 

Entertainment is often times just a diversion from things which actually have significance. 

 

Many times I have an unsettled feeling in my soul, and instead of turning to God and seeking peace, I turn to a diversion to seek distraction from the uncomfortable feeling.  Every time I make that wrong choice, I’m choosing an idol over my God. 

 

I’m not saying that watching TV is evil, or that playing sports with our kids or reading a novel is sin.  However I have noticed in myself that frequently games and diversions and videos online is something I end up doing because I’ve not intentionally chosen to do something better.  Very frequently this is what turns me away from spending time with the Father in whom I am supposed to be finding my delight.

 

As we look at how we can take time to pursue joy in relationship with God through prayer and the study of his love letter to us, I challenge you (and myself) to take a hard look at your entertainents and diversions.

 

Are your diversions of no lasting significance getting in the way of the one eternal relationship you are offered? 

 

Come as you are, but by all means COME.

 

For the King who is worthy

of all of me and not the scraps of me,

Pastor Nate Wolcott

 

 

 

 

Devotion 11/12 - Mark 9:20-24

And they brought the boy to him.

And when the spirit saw him,

immediately it convulsed the boy,

and he fell on the ground and rolled about,

foaming at the mouth.

And Jesus asked his father,

“How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood.

And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him.

But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

And Jesus said to him,

“‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said,

“I believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:20-24

 

Guest Devotion Writer – Pastor Nate Wolcott

 

I love the story of the halfway-believing father.  He comes to Jesus, not really sure if there’s any hope, but desperate to try Jesus out just in case he can free his son from bondage.  He says to Jesus, IF you can, and Jesus calls him on his lack of faith. 

 

“What do you mean IF?  I can do anything if you’d just believe!”

 

Here is where this story brings me much hope.  Our human expectation is for God to be offended that he (or us!) has not believed enough.  We expect God to leave in a huff and not do anything for us.  Sometimes we expect God to not do anything for us but to do something against us because we just aren’t believing hard enough.

 

God isn’t doing what I want.  I guess I’m not believing hard enough.  I’m not even going to bother praying about that, because I don’t believe God’s actually going to do anything about it.

 

There’s a tremendous problem with this mindset.  It makes faith a work. If I do this faith thing, God is bound to answer.  It’s about faking myself into believing something I don’t yet believe.  Friends, this is not the Gospel.  Notice how the father responds to Jesus, because he did it right: “I believe, help me in my unbelief!”

 

The father confesses belief in Jesus as being Lord, and confesses his struggle in trusting the implications of Jesus being Lord.  Essentially that man said to Jesus, I trust you, even though I can’t in my human frailty and grief see how you can do what my heart cries out for.

 

Heer’s the amazing fact this verse teaches: coming to Jesus in prayer is enough.  Even if we come doubting, as long as we are choosing to come to him it is enough. God didn’t require perfect faith from us.  The cross paid for that lack as well.

 

Do you have doubts about God’s ability to meet you at the point of your deepest hurts and needs?

 

Come as you are, but by all means COME.

 

For the King who

makes our faith strong,

Pastor Nate Wolcott

 

 

 

Devotion 11/11 - Luke 10:38-42

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village.
And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.  
And she had a sister called Mary,
who sat at the Lord's feet
and listened to his teaching.  
But Martha was distracted with much serving.
And she went up to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care that my sister
has left me to serve alone?
Tell her then to help me.”  
But the Lord answered her,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious
and troubled about many things,  
but one thing is necessary.
Mary has chosen the good portion,
which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

 

Guest Devotion Writer – Pastor Nate Wolcott

 

One of the biggest things that keeps me from spending time with God in prayer is business.  When there’s a list of things that I think needs to get done, the great temptation is to get off my knees and on to work.  Martha apparently had this same issue.  The food had to get served, the duvet had to be smoothed out on the guest bed, and the pillows needed to be plumped and arranged… or whatever hospitality looked like in those days.  Martha was anxious and troubled.

 

I get that.  I know that Greer and I can get anxious and troubled whenever we have someone coming over.  Our house alternates between orderly and toddler typhoon.  Orderly takes hours.  Toddler happens in the time it takes to nuke your coffee.  It’s not just house.  It’s job!  We get up and start doing, but we are not dwelling.  We aren’t taking time to be with God, unless we’re careful to choose that over getting a head start on all the things we think we need to get done. 

 

Mary knew that all the things Martha was stressed out about needed to get done.  They both knew of those needs.  Martha asks Jesus, don’t you get it?  I need helping doing all these important things!  Jesus tells her where she’s wrong.  There’s one thing, he tells her, that is so much more important than the other important things that it might as well be the ONLY thing.  He calls it the one necessary thing.  Spending time at his feet, being in relationship with him.  Other things are perhaps important, but only fellowship with Christ is necessary. 

 

If we let the important things crowd out the necessary things, we have discarded the better portion.  In God’s eyes, faithfulness in relationship is more critical than crossing tasks off of our punchlist.  It’s a better portion. 

 

Are you choosing the better portion?

 

Come as you are, but by all means COME.

 

For the King who wants my heart before my work,

Pastor Nate Wolcott

 

 

 

Devotion 11/10: Jonah 4:1-4

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,

and he was angry.  

And he prayed to the Lord and said,

“O Lord, is not this what I said

when I was yet in my country?

That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish;

for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,

and relenting from disaster.

Therefore now, O Lord,

please take my life from me,

for it is better for me to die than to live.”

And the Lord said,

“Do you do well to be angry?”.

Jonah 4:1-4

 

Guest Devotion Writer – Pastor Nate Wolcott

 

This morning, at least 59 million people in our country alone are upset with how things turned out.  Many will fail to move to Canada, but are wondering if life would be better there.  Some are questioning why God let it turn out this way.  If the votes had gone the other direction, much would be the same except Canada would have been exchanged for Texas.  Either way, times come when We don’t much like the meal God sets before us.

 

Jonah didn’t like the meal God set before him.  He hated the Ninevites, but God wanted him to go and preach repentance to them so that they might be spared destruction.  Jonah had a great respect for God’s ability to work a miracle through preaching, he just didn’t like the implications.  So he got angry, and ended up sitting and watching Nineveh, hoping that God would do what Jonah wanted instead of what God wanted.

 

Many times we get mad at God.  We might be embarrassed to admit it, and we know at some level that being mad at God is not right.  After all, God never does anything wrong, so if I’m mad about something, I guess the wrong one is ME, right? 

 

Often this keeps us from praying and talking with God.

 

Yes, we are wrong when we’re mad at God, but the good news is that it’s OKAY.  Note that Jonah is mad, but God’s answer to his anger is a question.  It’s a question that is supposed to make Jonah consider and process through the emotion.  God doesn’t answer with a thunderbolt and offense at the nerve of the guy!  As the book of Jonah concludes, we see a tender God teaching Jonah through the life and death of a plant that God is a God of mercy, and Jonah deep down understands.  God leads Jonah into a deeper understanding of His merciful nature.  He does it even when Jonah is being a pill about it!  That’s what God does when we’re angry with him: tenderly grows us so that we better understand him, and trust in him.

 

As one of my Pastor-friends told me, “it’s okay to tell God you’re mad at him.  Hey, he already KNOWS, right?”  He takes joy in bringing you out of your anger and into peace and understanding.

 

Are you angry with God?  Are you mad about how things have turned out for you?  Go start a conversation with God.  You don’t have to stop being angry first.  He’s secure enough in himself to hear you out, and then answer in mercy.

 

Come as you are, but by all means COME.

 

For the King who is gentle

when we’re angry with him,

Pastor Nate Wolcott

 

 

 

Devotion 11/9: Isaiah 40:28-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable. 
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might
he increases strength. 
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD
shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

 

Guest Devotion Writer – Pastor Nate Wolcott

 

Several weeks ago I preached on the parable of the persistent widow that Jesus told in Luke 18:1-8.  The point that Jesus was making was that Christians are to “…always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1).  In our church this week, we have seen the answer to many, many years of prayers!  Sandra finally received lungs!  Eight years of praying.  Three years of being on the list.  Finally! 

 

However I think anyone involved will confess if you ask that there were times when they were tempted to give up on praying.  When we’re praying for something and it’s not happening, there are a lot of ways that we can be tempted to give up on praying.

 

I often expect God to answer within a certain window.  As I look at circumstances, in my wisdom there appears to be an 11^th hour beyond which no help can come.  In all honesty, as the window within which God answering my prayer with “Yes” grows smaller and smaller, the hope within my heart that he’s going to answer with yes also shrivels.  When we’re six months away from depleting our savings account, praying for a new job isn’t that stressful.  After all, God can answer without this really hurting!  However the closer and closer to the wire we get, the more we see that we might actually suffer.  There’s a tendency to turn to fear instead of faith.

 

“If God was going to answer my prayer, he would have done it by now so I guess he’s not going to show up for me.”

 

“There’s no more time left in which God can help me.”

 

“I’ve prayed for years.  Why isn’t God listening to me?  Does he even care?”

 

When these thoughts start bouncing around my head, I am tempted to give up and not spend time with God in prayer.  I forget that I don’t come before God in need of answers only, but also I come to him in need of the faith and understanding to persist in prayer at all.  God shows up the biggest when we run to the limits of what we are able to give.  When I have nothing left in my own strength, and I go to God confessing my complete lack of anything, God often shows up the biggest. 

 

As Rutherford said, “Faith grows best in the winter of trial.”  1 Peter 1:6-7 confirms this, but so does our experience.  How much faith did it take to pray for new lungs three years ago when Sandra was first put on the list?  A lot less than two weeks ago when we were weary in praying and not having received an answer yet.  Praying at the 11^th hour takes a more refined faith.  Refined faith doesn’t happen unless 10 hours of trial have already happened.

 

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness... (1 Peter 3:9)

 

So are you not approaching God in prayer because you are weary of not receiving answers?  Are you stumbling because you interpret the lack of a “Yes” as a lack of God’s listening to you?  Come to God in your weariness, and ask Him to renew your strength in prayer.

 

Come as you are, but by all means COME.

 

For the King who calls renews our strength,

Pastor Nate Wolcott