22 February 2010 Devotion for Today "Dealing With Differences" Genesis 13:1-18

 1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

 3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.

 5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

 8 So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. 9 Is not the whole land befo

re you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."

 10 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

 14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring [a] forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."

 18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

 
 

 
 

Have you been dealing with differences with others lately? Perhaps a conflict with a family member, a fellow employee, or a church member has left a hole in your heart. Perhaps you haven't experienced the conflict yet, but you see one looming on the horizon; threatening like a severe storm, you know it seeks to unleash havoc upon the relationships around you. You would like for there to be peace and good will, but the more you try to avoid the conflict, the more rapidly the conflict heats up. There are differences amongst you that you cannot deny or overlook. Sooner or later you will have to deal with a head-to-head. What will you do?

 
 

Abram gives us some insight as to how to deal with differences with others. From this passage, he was dealing with a close family member, Lot. The conflict may not have been between them personally, but it threatened to do so as the herdsmen of Lot and Abram began to fall into competitive rivalries which eroded into bitter disputes between them over the best pasture lands and watering holes from which they fed and watered their livestock. Ironically, this began to happen because God had blessed the herds of both owners. Yet what had been a blessing to Lot and Abram soon became the focus of a conflict that bubbled just below the surface of their relationship. What would they do?

 
 

Abram, the senior and perhaps most spiritual if not the wisest of the two took the initiative to speak to Lot and clear the air between them. He called a meeting between them to determine the future of their corporation. It is clear that Abram valued the relationship of Lot far more than any potential profits he might have reaped. So Abram proposed the breakup of their corporation, and allowed Lot to have the opportunity of the first choice between them. "Is not the whole land before you?" Abram asked, "If you go to the right I will go to the left," etc. Lot took Abram up on the offer, and made the first choice and chose what he perceived to be the best that was out in front of him. This was a risky venture, because Abram stood to lose a lot of money in the breakup. But God spoke to his heart and assured him this would not happen. Instead, Abram gained far more than he might have lost in the deal. Following this meeting, Abram went back to Mamre and built an altar of worship to the Lord confident that He would look after Abram's interests, he offered a sacrificial offering there.

 
 

Often for the sake of peace we try to forestall most conflicts, especially when we sense they might not be resolved peacefully. However, Abram knew that to delay a conflict is usually to make it worse until the issues are brought out upon the table. Wisely, Abram sought to diffuse the conflict and proposed that they part company before a bitter battle ensued. We must also be prepared to lose money or our pride as we offer the terms of peace- as Abram was. Still, Abram would have lost far more than money had he allowed the conflict to continue. It certainly would have cost Abram the relationship of Lot. The simmering conflict might have boiled over into bloodshed. No one wanted something like that to happen. God has called us to peace.

 
 

What threatens the harmony in your relationships today? Would you be the one that takes the high ground and defer to the other even though you know in your heart it is not fair? If you have, you have not only done the right thing, but you have also trusted God for the results and left the dealings in His control. Can you do this today?

 
 

Prayer: Dear God, I see conflict looming on the horizon. I don't want it to come, but there is nothing I can do about it. Help me to preserve the good will and love of the relationship within the storm as much as is possible for me to do so that I may continue to glorify You.

 
 

Have a blessed day!

 
 

 
 

17 February 2010 Devotion for Today "In Memory of My Dad" Genesis 12:1-4

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

2:05 PM

 1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

 2 "I will make you into a great nation

       and I will bless you;

       I will make your name great,

       and you will be a blessing.

 3 I will bless those who bless you,

       and whoever curses you I will curse;

       and all peoples on earth

       will be blessed through you."

 4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. (Genesis 12:1-4)

 
 

This is a call to Travel with God.

 
 

God invites on a journey. One that will be long and difficult. This will be an uncomfortable journey. One that require everything Abram can must over the remainder of his life. But I'd like you to notice a few things.

 
 

Abram doesn't speak, at least not yet, in this story. He offers no ideas, no agendas, no plans, no solutions. God is the one doing the speaking and the direction. All Abram has to offer is his obedience and yielding of his plans over to God. Abram offers no excuses. Neither does Abram know the whole story or the road map of the entire journey, nor does he know the destination. Abram is called to follow. He is called, at age 75, (when most of us are in the full throes of our retirement years), to leave his homeland, his security, and everything he had grown up with and familiar and go to "who knows what?" Would we be as willing to do this? Yet Abram goes.

 
 

I have known a few like Abram in my lifetime. They are not the ones who are "set in their ways." As they grow older, they grow closer to the Lord. Every time you are around them you come away enriched, blessed, and with a full plate. They are always sensitive to the needs of the younger, willing to invest themselves into others and to divest themselves of selfishness. They always have you in mind.

 
 

Abram's call from God was one thing. But what about his wife? Wouldn't she have some say in this matter? Of course, that was a different day. But if Abram had lived today, his Sarai would be right by his side without him having or needing to ask anyway. She followed not so much because of Abram, but because of the God whom Abram trusted. She didn't need to be pushed, cajoled or demanded to do anything. Their nephew Lot also went with them- a young man so full of opportunity, but excited about the adventure.

 
 

I dedicate this devotion to my late father, Edwin M. Russell. He was a man like Abram in many ways. Like Abram he was a blessing to all of us. He was not afraid to take God by the hand and follow Him even if that meant giving up everything and starting over in a strange place. At age eighteen he joined the United States Navy at the beginning of his grand adventure. That was pretty much our lives anyway, at least when we followed dad around in his navy career. It wasn't much different after he entered the civilian world at age forty- there was always a new adventure, a new corner to be turned, a new lesson to be learned, a new challenge by faith to be shared. At age fifty, dad entered the adventure of illness and learning by faith what it meant to trust God when nearly all of his doctors had all but given up hope on him. At age sixty, when most men take up the golf clubs and the fishing poles, my dad did not retire, but instead embraced a new vision, by faith, of a business enterprise which would long provide for my mother and his family. He did not get to see age seventy, but like Abram, dad saw the promise fulfilled of everlasting life- a newer adventure still. When you live by faith you never get old. This new adventure Dad embarked five years ago today when he went home to be with the Lord. I look forward to being with him one day. But even then, he will be busy enjoying the new work that Christ has lined up for him there. I hope that I will be able to keep up with him then- I know I could scarcely do it when he was here on earth. Thanks, Dad, for showing us what it meant to live by faith, and to look to a vision greater than yourself, and for instilling that in me. I only hope I will live to be as faithful as you were to my mother, to my family and to my Lord.

 
 

Have a blessed day!

 
 

 
 

 
 

16 February 2010 Devotion for Today "The Original Language and Legacy" Genesis 11:10-30

^{10 This is the account of Shem.}

      Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father [d] of Arphaxad. 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

 12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. [e]

 14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

 16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

 18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

 20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

 22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

 24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

 26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

 27 This is the account of Terah.

      Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children. ( Genesis 11:10-30)

 
 

When one first looks at this passage, one might easily dismiss it as one of those "begat" passages of the Bible; you know- an on-going litany statements of ancestors and their descendants which might appear somewhat meaningless to the modern reader. To be sure, they are not as interesting to read as other parts of the Bible; but this does not mean they are any less inspired. In fact, there are two or three very important facts that we can derive from this passage which might otherwise be overlooked. For one thing, we read about Shem, the son of Noah- who lived to be 500 years old: not as old as his father who lived to be 950 years old (Genesis 9). Following Shem, his descendants' lifespans are diminished significantly to the point that four generations later, Shem's great grandson lived only half as long as Shem did. By the time Abram was born, people were living on average only 100-125 years. This is in keeping with the promise of God in Genesis 6:3 when God said prior to the flood:

"Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." I would speculate here to say that this was accomplished by the rains perforating a great vapor shield around the earth at that time which shielded its inhabitants from harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. Gradually, man's lifespan decreased in the years following the flood. But this only confirms also that God means what He says.

 
 

Secondly, the name Eber is mentioned in verse 16. A casual reader might over look this as well. This name is also mentioned in the previous chapter. Nothing more significant is mentioned in either passage save that he was the son of Shelah and that he had sons and daughters. Yet what is significant is the fact that it is from Eber's name that the Hebrew people are named. In chapter ten, Eber is mentioned this way: "Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber. " (v.21). This is not mentioned in Scripture, but Jewish legend says that Eber refused to be involved with the building of the Tower of Babel, and therefore his language, nor the language of his children or descendants were not confused as those who worked on the Tower. It would be considered then, that if this is true, Eber- the Hebrew language, is the most ancient language on earth today; since this is the language Noah (and perhaps his ancestors) also spoke.

 
 

This is not to say that the Hebrew language has not undergone drastic changes and modifications throughout centuries, but the Hebrew language is at the very least a link into our ancient past and heritage. This is the backdrop of the language and the culture of the Hebrews who also worshipped one God by the time Abram was born.

 
 

There are many people who devote their retirement years to working on their ancestry or family tree. They might sheepishly encounter the names of people that they are not so proud of- persons who became criminals or those who possessed a somewhat less-than-respectable character. Others discover links to those who contributed much to society and civilization. Others are just names whose significance was once known only by those who knew them, but was lost when those who knew them died out as well. However, our legacy will be known by the words we speak. This was certainly true of Eber, and will be true of us as well. The words that we use will be known and repeated by those who come after us. Will we be known for our words of encouragement or words of defeat? Will we be remembered for our harshness or gentleness in the way we communicate? Will our grand children or great grandchildren think fondly as they remember us or will our memory cause a chill to go up their spines. These are things we don't often think about as we live our lives today, but they will one day. I have no memory of either of my grandfathers. Both died before or shortly after I was born. I only know them by the conversations I have heard about them by those who knew them. Sometimes those conversations are flattering; at other times somewhat less so. None of us are perfect- neither were those who lived before us. But if we are to be remembered, let's strive to be remembered for our love and our positive influence on the lives of others; to seek to be people admired and emulated, not as models to be avoided. Most of all, may we continue to leave a legacy of love and godliness to enrich not only our own families but people all around us to the glory of God.

 
 

Prayer: Dear God, I am not perfect, nor were my parents or grandparents perfect. Father I know that I will likely be remembered for my many faults and short-comings. But let the love of Jesus Christ and His tender mercy be born in me, so that it may be instilled in those who come after me as a testimony to Your ever-living presence and to Your glory. May this prayer be prayed by all of us, so that all who come behind us find us faithful. In Jesus Name, Amen.

 
 

Have a blessed day!

 
 

 
 

15 February 2010 Devotion for Today "Confused Speech" Genesis 11:1-8

 
 

 
 

^{1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.}

 3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:1-8)

 
 

I heard just yesterday from my Sunday School teacher that as a young missionary in Brazil years ago, he befriended a young lady who was a member of the New Tribes Mission organization. The young lady's family were the third generation of her family in the region who had made contact with a native tribe who had little contact with western civilization. The tribe numbered around 40 people. They spoke no Portuguese. In fact, their language was completely unlike the language of the people in the next village. The missionaries' grandparents first made contact with the region and discovered the tribe in the 1940s. They spent their lives building relationships with these native Indians, lived with them, and raised their children with them as they learned their language. It took a lifetime to learn the language until finally they were able to develop a working alphabet. By the time the next generation of the missionaries' family came along, they were able to teach the alphabet to the native tribesmen as they witnessed Christ to them. As this generation of missionaries grew older, they are tasking the young lady and her generation to develop a translation of the Bible in the native tongue. I was aghast at how long this process took- almost sixty years of learning a culture and building trust, learning the language and developing a working alphabet, and now developing a working translation of the Bible: three generations of hard work in the depths of the Amazon rainforest! The grandparents of the missionary have long since retired before the Gospel message in that language came out in print.

 
 

Learning a language is not an easy task. When I lived in Europe I was ashamed to discover that many Europeans looked disdainfully upon Americans because of our unwillingness to learn a language other than English. To my embarrassment, I tried to master the German language and communicated fairly well until I discovered that most Germans speak the English language better than most Americans. We are truly a global village where we can communicate freely over the internet and make friends with people all over the world. Yet there still exists primitive peoples like the ones I described in the previous paragraph whose language is so obscure It takes a lifetime to devote to learning it.

 
 

In Genesis 11 we learn about the Tower of Babel. The structure that was being build is similar to the Mesopotamian ziggurats which ruins we can still see in that region even today. Only this building was to be much larger and higher than any structure build before. The people imagined themselves building it to reach heaven. Did they possess the skills- or even the materials- to be able to do this? Probably not. But Nimrod- Noah's grandson, evidently possessed the organizational skills to cause him to think that he could. If grandaddy Noah could build an Ark, Nimrod could certainly build a tower! But the purpose of building this tower is what was such an affront to God. Building a tower was not the issue; it was why they built it. Nimrod and his followers set themselves up as no longer partners with God, but as competitors. They felt man's achievement's could possibly eclipse anything God had ever done. Eventually they would come to reject God. So God set out to knock mankind down a few pegs. He confused their language so that those working upon the project could not speak to one another effectively. Without this ability to communicate, it frustrated man's attempt to outwit and to outdo God.

 
 

Some may feel that God's response to man's attempts here was petty. But let the reader understand that anytime man gets to the point where he no longer feels God is necessary or relevant in man's world, man sets himself up for his own destruction. God had already instructed Noah and his descendants to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth. However, Nimrod did not feel it was necessary to do this. He desired to keep all the people of the earth in one place and at the same time,

Nimrod could keep the people under his own control. Nimrod could then exploit them for his own purpose. By getting them to focus upon building the tower to the sky, Nimrod could focus their attention away from their dwindling food supply and squalid living conditions. In this way, Nimrod was probably the father of politics. One thing Nimrod never counted on was what God did in confusing their speech. When God did this, He showed mercy upon the people and removed them from this despot's control. From then on, Nimrod's ability to control them was greatly diminished.

 
 

It may appear to be convenient to have all of the world speaking the same language, living under the same economy, serving the same political structure, or using the same money. But history has proven over and over again that this is not the best situation for man to live in. The larger the empire, the less control the people have in governing their own affairs. Individuality is part of what makes us human. Only God can bring such a wide diversity of people together for the purpose of glorifying Him. No matter what language we speak, God knows it and understands it perfectly. He knows our hearts as easily as He knows our customs. There is no culture shock with God. And we can trust Him with no fear of being manipulated or exploited because God does not need to have power over us. All He wishes is to enjoy a personal relationship with us.

 
 

Prayer: Dear God, thank You that I have a God who loves me and speaks my language. Thank You that to You I am not just a number, I am an individual who is free to glorify You as I express myself to You in worship and service. Help me to look around me with eyes of love to bring all people to You. In Jesus Name, Amen.

 
 

Have a blessed day!

 
 

 
 

 
 

10 February 2010 Devotion for Today "Letting Down" Genesis 10:18-28

^{18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.}

 20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.

 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,

       "Cursed be Canaan!

       The lowest of slaves

       will he be to his brothers."

 26 He also said,

       "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!

       May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

 27 May God extend the territory of Japheth

       may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,

       and may Canaan be his slave."

 28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

 
 

Now many will point to this verse and point out the evils and dangers of

drinking. I would agree with that. I personally have never seen anything good yet to

come out of a bottle of beer, wine, Jack Daniels or anything you might prefer to have.

But that is not the focus of the teaching here. The point is that somewhere along the

way, Noah got to the point where he let down. Somewhere Noah started thinking only

of himself. He decided he had had enough of the hard work and the back-breaking

labor that he had known getting ready for that ark experience. Now it was time to sit

back and enjoy life. There's nothing wrong with enjoying life, except Noah went a little

bit too far with it. This one whom Genesis 6:8 says But Noah found grace in the eyes

of the Lord. was found by one of his sons, passed out and exposed for all the world.

This Noah-says Matthew Henry, who had kept sober in drunken company, is now drunk

in sober company. The shame and embarrassment of Noah being seen in this condition

caused him to lash out and actually curse one of his children, Ham- one who had shared

the labor of building the ark- him he condemned to slavery and servitude, and the

relationship with his family was never the same after that-all because Noah went from

trusting God to just surviving. Many scholars teach about Ham's lack of respect for his

father that caused him to be cursed, and that might well be. Shem and Japeth, Ham's

brothers-out of love and respect for their father saw to it that Noah did not remain in

that shameful condition. But it is still clear to us that for whatever failings Ham had as a

son, it was out of response to Noah's failing-at least in this instance- as a father.

 
 

Such stories are countless to recall in Scripture. David, also favored by God so

much that he was entitled "the man after God's own heart," was brought low when

David let down. He had gotten to the point where he felt he had fought enough battles

and it was time to sit back and relax. David must have thought, "After all I am fifty

years old. I've paid the price. Its time to let somebody else pay their dues- I've certainly

paid mine." That was when he peered over his balcony and saw Baathsheba. And my

friend, all of the hellish intrigues and battles that David fought up until then could not

Compare with the trouble David fell into after he had entered into adultery with her.

Again, David's problem, like Noah's problem was just in surviving, letting down in his

focus upon God and faith in God.

 
 

Letting down is a big temptation for all of us, but especially those of us who are getting older. Like a salmon swimming upstream, its takes more struggle the closer he gets to the end. It would just be so nice to sit down and coast for a while. This is when temptation does its greatest work because we feel so tired, and entitled! However, God has given us His strength and power to overcome temptation, and helps us to keep focused upon the goal. So don't let down, and receive the blessing of His assurance and strength to endure to the end.

 
 

Dear Father, help me not to get lazy or let down in the work that I do for You. Help me to understand that the closer I come to ease, the easier it is to fall into the snare of the evil one. Remind me, Lord, through the failings of others that there but by Your grace go I. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

03 February 2010 Devotion for Today "When God Shuts Us In" Genesis 7:13-24

 

 

^{13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.}

 17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. [b] , [c] 21 Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

 24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days. (Genesis 7:13-24)

 
 

 
 

Have you ever been shut out of something or by someone? Being shut out is the feeling and/or experience of rejection brought on by people who have purposefully, or unintentionally, excluded others from their circle of friends or from their fellowship. Sometimes there is also a perception of cliquishness or awkwardness in developing relationships with people. Signs of being shut out include people who walk into a room without acknowledging the other person in the room- even when that person is known to them-by greeting, a nod, making eye contact, or generally treating that person as if they were not even there. It is humiliating and disappointing, and an affront to one's pride to be treated so dismissively as to be rejected by ones peers. Being shut out or closed out is perhaps the ultimate, consummate fear of teenagers; however, adults experience this phenomenon as well.

 
 

When one reads this passage of Scripture in Genesis 7, it is clear from the context that Noah and his family are not shutting out the people who are not aboard the ark. Anyone who wished could have come aboard. But when the rains came and the floodwaters rose, the giant door ascended after all the animals came on board. God did not shut out the ones who did not come aboard, but he closed Noah, his family, and all of the animals safely inside. It was not a matter of not being good enough to get aboard the ark. Those that perished were the ones who rejected Noah and ultimately God.

Those who adhere to extreme views on the doctrine of predestination hold to the idea that God chooses a few people for salvation to the exclusion- or elimination- of others. They often betray their attitude of wanting to be distinctive or shown to be better than their peers. God does choose for salvation, but He leaves the door open and will not reject anyone who willfully comes to Him. As in the case of Noah's Ark, the door was open for anyone who wished to enter. They would have gladly been given refuge by Noah's family had anyone applied. Sadly, no one else did. This was not a shut out, but a shut in, as Noah and his passengers prepared to set sail for a one hundred day journey.

 
 

Do you feel shut out today? Understand that God is not willing that any one should perish, but that all should come to repentance. If we feel shut out, it is our sense of wanting to shut God out of our lives and not the other way around. God desires to shut you in to His salvation to secure you for the experience of the next life that will know nothing of the rejection we feel from our peers here on earth.

 
 

Have a blessed day!

02 February 2010 Devotion for Today "An Unsettling Faith" Genesis 7:1-10

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

8:17 AM

 1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven [a] of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."

 5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. (Genesis 7:1-1-10)

 
 

 
 

I mentioned that yesterday was my birthday and the older that I get I tend to like where I am and don't really want to change my surroundings. Almost seven years ago we unpacked boxes and I said to myself then: "I am tired of moving. We hope that this will be it for a long time!" And since then, it has worked out pretty well. We love our church and love where we live. We have sung roots down and feel the Lord has us where we are to help look after family members. God provided a place where our children can finish out their high school years with the same group of friends they started with. Its been a blessing watching them grow.

 
 

But at the same time, when I read what God said to Noah I thought about how unsettling this must have been for him. God said, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family…" God was not only going to unleash a deluge of water upon the earth, but He was going to uproot this righteous family who set themselves apart from the corruption that was all around them. How heartbreaking it must have been for Noah and his family to see people they knew and loved die in the floodwaters. Even though they were steeped in wickedness, they must have had some friends and family members perish in spite of their pleas. And what of their beloved home where Noah and his wife watched Shem, Ham, and Japeth grow up. Those memories would be washed away forever. Stepping aboard that ark must have been so difficult for them- giving up all that they had ever known to get aboard a boat loaded with animals to float around for who knows how long. It was an unsettling faith.

 
 

It is frightening and unsettling to be yanked up by the roots. But as Noah was to find out, their home was not going to be secure surroundings any more. In the ark lay their only hope. Trusting in God is the only security that we could ever hope to have. We delude ourselves at times into thinking "I've got it pretty good here, I would be crazy to ever want to leave." It is this attitude that prevents people from walking with God by faith. Even though it may be hurtful, faith is the ability to trust God enough to let go of those so-called secure surroundings. Its hard enough to do this for ourselves, but to subject your children to them, who have had no choice in the matter, is almost overwhelming.

 
 

By faith we must get ourselves back to the point of realizing we cannot hold on to this world forever. That was the attitude which caused Noah's friends to perish in the flood. However, Noah also knew that beyond the ark a new world of fresh opportunities lay waiting for him. It was an unsettling faith- a world Noah could not yet see with his eyes, but with his heart.

 
 

As you reflect on this today, try to envision a world that you can see by faith-even an unsettling faith. Trust God and ask Him for the courage to go there as He directs by faith.

 
 

Have a blessed day.

 
 

01 February 2010 Devotion for Today "Time-Flowing Like a River" Jeremiah 29:8-14

Monday, February 01, 2010

4:19 PM

Where did all those years go? On my birthday today I have had the overwhelming realization that I am staring down the realization that a half-century of life has passed me by and I am thinking, "Where did all the time go?" For the first time in my life I have the feeling that- unless I will live to be 100 years old, more years are behind me than are in front of me. No longer do I feel the luxury (if I ever did) that I am going to live forever; in heaven, certainly, but not on the earth. All day long the haunting stream of music has reverberated in my mind these words from the Alan Parson's Project:

 
 

Time flowing like a river, Time beckoning me.

Who knows when we shall meet again, if ever

But time, keeps flowing like a river, to the sea.

(Time, The Alan Parsons Project, 1980)

 
 

Indeed time does go on flowing like a river, but not without end and not without purpose. This river may have hit a new bend and with different landscape, but its still flowing and probably deeper than its ever been before.

 
 

Some years ago I felt led to choose as a life verse contained in this passage in Jeremiah 29:

 
 

^{8 Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the LORD.}

 10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

(Jeremiah 29:8-14)

 
 

God is telling his people that He intends to keep them in captivity following their exile in Babylon. He wanted them to settle down, build houses, have children, and focus on living life- but not as they had before. He says don't listen to the ones who will encourage His people to rebel or to forget about God. And even though the heartache and memories of Jerusalem haunt them, God says they will not abide there forever. A new day is coming for which they can have hope and look forward:

 
 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

 
 

I chose this verse as my life verse in 1980. At the age of twenty I saw the world pretty much the way I see it now, but with this one difference. I see my own purpose getting clearer and brighter with each passing day. As I see my hair turning grayer and hearing more people call me "sir" than I remember hearing before, I know that my purpose in life has not passed me by- its only just beginning. Its even more true now than it was when I started to float downstream in this river called life.

 
 

I spent this day recounting the joys and blessings God has given me: a wonderful wife and now three grown children, and perhaps happier and richer than I've ever been- not with money, to be sure, but with life. Someone not long ago told me that "its all downhill after this." Certainly my health will become more of an issue than its ever been. Financial concerns may threaten on the shores. But I don't need to be afraid of the future as long as God is with me. As He was with me thirty years ago, He is with me now with plans to give me a future and a hope.

 
 

Do you feel yourself going downstream at times? It is not without purpose as you do. Even though time may flow like a river, make that river deeper. Enjoy the ride, and experience with joy all the blessings of what God has for you.

 
 

Have a blessed day!