Don’t Forget

By: joe Stowell, Strength for the Journey

Apr

30

2019

“Be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 6:12

We all have little slips in our memory once in a while, right? I love the story about the guy who decided to do something about his increasing forgetfulness. This poor chap decided to attend a seminar on how to increase his ability to remember things. And, to his great delight, the seminar worked! A few weeks later he sat in his living room, chatting with a friend about his newly improved recall ability.

“You won’t believe it,” he gushed, “This memory seminar really has helped me remember things better. I have a whole new lease on life!”

“That’s great,” his friend replied. “How does it work?”

“Well, you simply think of a common object that helps you build a link to whatever you need to remember. If you can remember the common object, then you’ll remember the other object.”

“Wow!” said his friend. “You know, to be honest, my memory’s slipping a little. What’s the name of the seminar? I think I might sign up for it.”

“Okay,” the guy replied. “Let’s see, think of a flower with red petals . . . long stem . . .  thorns . . .  rose.” Then he yelled to his wife in the next room, “Hey, Rose, what was the name of that seminar I went to?”

In Deuteronomy 6:12, Moses is talking to the Israelites about the danger of memory loss when it comes to forgetting God. God’s people were standing on the edge of the Promised Land, ready to enter a land with great cities they did not build, houses full of good things they did not fill, and vast and lush vineyards they didn’t plant. And, as good as the prospect of all this prosperity was, there was a danger lurking under the blessing. Moses knew that in good times it’s easy to forget God. The people were in danger of forgetting that it was God who had given them this land flowing with milk and honey; forgetting that it was God who went before them in each battle; forgetting, in fact, that it was only through God’s gracious choice of them as His people that they were enjoying the blessings of their new home and country. And, when we forget God, we become unthankful, proud, and self-sufficient—the kinds of things that are offensive to the Giver of every good and perfect gift.

So the solution for Israel—and for that matter, for us—is keeping God in mind! The book of Deuteronomy is actually a memory seminar about God’s goodness to His people. Moses reminds the Israelites of the law that was given on Mount Sinai. He tracks the Israelites back over the ways God miraculously provided for them—battles won, food given, shoes that didn’t wear out—the list of God’s providing work is long.

So, here’s the lesson. Beware! When God is abundantly good to us we are in great danger. We are in danger because in good times it’s easy to forget God. It’s easy to be so consumed with the gifts that we forget the Giver! And if we do that, we end up worshiping the blessings and not the One who in His amazing grace has blessed us.

The benefit of keeping God in mind is that it keeps our hearts grateful, appropriately humble, and delighted in our God for His goodness to us. Believe me, delighting in Him beats being consumed by the stuff that He has given us.

Memory lapses in our daily routines may be normal for us. But remembering God’s goodness in our lives is something we can’t afford to forget!

Responding to Life’s Trials

By: Diane Markins,   www1.cbn.com

Two women I know are going through difficult times. One (we’ll call her Jen) lost her 32-year-old son to suicide, experienced the death of her beloved father-in-law and her husband of nearly 40 years, all within the past few months. Over the years she has known other hardships, including the loss of both parents and personal health issues.

The other woman (“Judy”) has also known grief. She waited many years before finding “the right man” to marry, but after fighting valiantly to make it work, her marriage ended. Single most of her life, she is a consummate career woman; battling for position, security and survival. She has endured a physical problem that causes her to feel self-conscious and she too lost both parents. Most recently, she faced the death of a cherished pet.

So much in common, but their responses are polar opposites. Jen is sort of in a grief haze. She is desperately sad and lonely and is struggling to get through each day, but she keeps moving forward. She has invested in the lives of family and friends throughout her life; and they are rallying by her side. While she doesn’t understand how all this loss could come to her, she doesn’t blame God or turn her back on Him because she’s been in a loving relationship with Him all her adult life. She knows Him and that He’s still with her. He will take her through this trial.

Psalm 63:7-8 says,

“Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

Jen has experienced this and relies on it as truth for this difficult trial.

Judy bounced back from her latest loss fairly fast; but doesn’t have the same vast array of friends and family around her as Jen. She is often alone and lonely. She is angry in general and specifically toward God; even questioning whether she still wants to call herself a Christian.

Jen is taking her time as she processes and experiences the pain, allowing it to come in measured doses each day, then doing her best to take grief breaks.

Judy plunged into the pain and immersed herself there for a week or so, then got back up and is working at closing the door on her hurting soul. She puts on a happy face and appears to be coping well.

We all have tragedy invade our lives; big and small, short-term and sustaining, just as Peter says,

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” 1 Peter 4:12

Our response to those awful times can define us and shape our future. If we don’t properly deal and heal from a deep gash in our spirit, all our actions and relationships are impacted. We are less able to be honest and committed if we hold back and protect ourselves.

When crisis and pain hit, we need to walk through the fire instead of looking for a way out or around it, denying it or disguising it (alcohol, anger, etc). God’s promises can sustain us, like the one in 1 Peter 5:10,

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

The Journey of Faith

by Inspiration Ministries

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. Hebrews 11:8 NLT

Born in London in April 1770, David Thompson was one of the most important explorers in the history of North America. He has been called the greatest land geographer who ever lived, yet he received little credit during his lifetime. Only after his death did the world realize the extent of his accomplishments. Thompson’s life of adventure began when he was just 14, after being sent to western Canada to work in the fur-trading business. Three years later, driven by curiosity, he left on a personal journey. Walking throughout the prairies, he encountered many types of peoples and explored uncharted places.

Along the way, Thompson learned astronomy and mathematics, and spent so much time examining the heavens that he lost sight in one eye. After suffering a broken leg, he limped the rest of his life. He could have given up, but he continued to explore, even mapping much of Canada and the US. Overall, Thompson traveled more than 100,000 miles in his life, a remarkable achievement for his day.

The Bible describes the impact of pioneers like this who accomplished great things in the spiritual realm. Abraham and many other Biblical heroes dared to venture into the unknown. Despite the risks and uncertainties, they were willing to leave the comfort and safety of home to follow God’s leading, trusting Him completely.

These are people who lived by faith. As a result, they experienced new possibilities and new dimensions of God’s blessings. They also pointed the way for others, making a difference for time and eternity.

God Is Beautiful

Psalm 45:11 “And the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.”

This psalm is rather different than most as it is almost like a love poem but it is directed toward God Who first loved us before we ever loved Him (1 John 4:19), even though we were not lovely at all but still in our sins (Isaiah 59:2) and enemies of God and wicked sinners (Rom 5:8, 10) but do you not desire to see the King of kings and Lord of Lord and see His beauty and then, since He is Lord, “bow to him?”

Isaiah 28:5 “In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people.”

What is a more beautiful thing than to die for someone who was an enemy and yet Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and amazingly He says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). If you had a friend and he or she promised to do something for you but then didn’t do it, could you say that they really love you like a close friend should? No, as Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23).

Isaiah 33:17 “Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.”

Again, for those who trust in God, they will behold the King that is most glorious and most beautiful but it’s not so much the appearance of beauty on the outside but the beauty of the work of the Person of Christ. We shall see Him someday, as it were, face to face (Rev 21:3; 22:4) and He will be with us and we will see Him and He will be our God, forever more. Isn’t that a beautiful thought?

Psalm 50:1-2 “The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.  Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.”

This one describes Zion, the City of God, as beautiful but this glimpse of beauty is yet in the future, when the kingdoms of the earth will become the kingdoms of our Lord, Jesus Christ. His glorious splendor cannot even be described but the glory of God, in all His majestic beauty, will surely shine forth someday for all who trust in Him to behold.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

Since God doesn’t look at the outward appearance but at the heart (1 Sam 16:7), what He sees in the heart can either be ugly or beautiful and a beautiful spirit is one which is humble, contrite, and willing to live a life of service and love for others.  There is also beauty in the creation and it reflects the beauty of its Creator God Who created a perfect world but was quickly populated by imperfect human beings. Only when a person trusts in Christ does God see anything beautiful in us but it’s not really our beauty but the very righteousness of Christ that God sees (2 Cor 5:21).

Contemplating God in the Beauty of Nature

Bill Gaultiere     soulshepherding.org


A primary way God nourishes our souls with his loving presence is 

through the beauty of nature. The face of the Lord shines on his in the sun. The moon and stars remind 

us that God’s light and love shine to us even in the dark. The Lord is speaking to us and warming us from

 the heavens, the Psalmist says (Psalm 19:1-6). The joy of the Lord comes to us in splashing waves and

 playful animals! (Psalm 29:3, 6)

Throughout the Bible we read testimony of the Lord communicating to us in the skies, ocean waves, breeze rustling through the trees, fields and flowers, and birds that sing cheerfully. Jesus reassures us that our Father in the heavens always near cares for the little sparrows and he cares for us (Matthew 6:26 and 10:29).

Nature reveals to us God’s beauty, glory, power, wisdom, presence, creativity, and, most of all, his loving care. This is why we’re drawn to spend time in the beauty of nature and to enjoy animals. To talk a walk on a beautiful day, play with your dog in the grass, or hold your cat are reliable ways for many people to connect with God’s loving presence.

Jesus makes continual use of nature in his parables that welcome us to find life with him in the Kingdom of God. The revelation of God in nature is so poignant and prevailing that the Apostle Paul cautions if we don’t notice and honor our Creator we are without excuse (Romans 1:20).

The Word of God inspires us to contemplate God in creation. Saint Francis of Assisi and Henri Nouwen are two devoted disciples of Christ who draw our attention to love God by loving his creatures and creation. Below are some of the Bible verses that inspired them. These are followed by Saint Francis’ famous nature hymn: “All Creatures of Our God and King” and a meditation from Henri Nouwen on “Being Sisters and Brothers of Nature”.

God Can Give You the Right Words

By: Diane Pearson, 1cbn.com

In 1975, an Indiana farmer named Frosty Hofmann was diagnosed with severe kidney problems. He was only 35 years old at the time and eventually had to go on dialysis. He and his wife Jane managed his dialysis treatments at their home for the next two and a half years.

In 1978, Frosty’s brother gave him the gift of life:  a donated kidney. Frosty lived another 25 years and earned the distinction of the longest living kidney transplant patient in the country. He passed away in 2002.

For the last 15 years of his life, Jane and Frosty traveled around the country, entertaining more than 1400 audiences. Jane was known as “Erma Bombeck on a tractor,” drawing from her 35 years of farming with her husband and raising four children. Frosty concluded their program with a serious message on patriotism and respect for the flag. They were a popular team.

Jane and Frosty had an unwritten rule that they never mentioned his health problems.  “We didn’t want to capitalize on it or make people feel sorry for us,” said Jane. “But just one time I broke that rule and made a little comment about the kidney transplant, certainly not something I planned on doing.”

At the end of the program, a woman made her way to the front of the room. She said, “My grandson is having kidney problems and may have to have a kidney transplant. I need to know all the details about your experience.”

Jane said, “She was desperate for some first-hand information. Her family didn’t want to upset her, so they didn’t let her know what was going on, which only made her fears worse. She was so encouraged to meet a man who had lived a normal life for so many years.”

“It was so evident,” continued Jane, “that God led me to say those few words at exactly the right time so we could be a source of information, comfort, and encouragement to her.”

Isn’t it amazing how God uses people to speak exactly the words He wants in His perfect timing?

Scripture confirms this through the Lord’s words to the prophet Jeremiah:

But the Lord said to me … “You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.” Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.” Jeremiah 1:7, 9(NIV)

As you go throughout your day, pray that God will put His words into your mouth. You never know when God might use your words in a powerful, life-changing way.

A Glimpse of Ascension Day

By: Julius Medenblik, today.reframemedia.com

  

Scripture Reading — Psalm 110

The Lord says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” — Psalm 110:1

This coming Thursday will mark Ascension Day on the calendar of the church. Forty days after Easter Sunday, Jesus ascended into heaven, leaving his disciples to do the work of his church on earth. In today’s psalm reading, we have a glimpse of that day from King David, who wrote this psalm.

Jesus is in the genealogy line of King David. About 1,000 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem (David’s hometown), David gave thanks and praise to God as he wrote this psalm.

Jesus links himself to this psalm in the gospel of Matthew. He asks the religious leaders and teachers, “Whose son is the Christ (or, Messiah)?” They all answer that the Christ is the Son of David. Jesus then asks how that son can be called a lord over King David. To back up his point, Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1, which they know is a prophecy of the Messiah, who would one day sit at God’s right hand. The teachers are silent. They don’t know how to answer. (SeeMatthew 22:41-46.)

The answer is in the fact that Jesus has always been with God the Father. He has always been the Son of God, even before he became the Son of David. As Colossians 1:17 puts it, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Isn’t it amazing and humbling that the triune God was working out this story from the beginning of time?

Acts 1:6-11 New Living Translation (NLT)

The Ascension of Jesus

6 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. 10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

When God Says No

Streams in the Desert

April 24

“There hath not failed one word of all his good promise” (1 Kings 8:56).

Some day we shall understand that God has a reason in every NO which He speaks through the slow movement of life. “Somehow God makes up to us.” How often, when His people are worrying and perplexing themselves about their prayers not being answered, is God answering them in a far richer way! Glimpses of this we see occasionally, but the full revelation of it remains for the future.

“If God says ‘Yes’ to our prayer, dear heart,
And the sunlight is golden, the sky is blue,
While the smooth road beckons to me and you,
And the song-birds warble as on we go,
Pausing to gather the buds at our feet,
Stopping to drink of the streamlets we meet,
Happy, more happy, our journey will grow,
If God says ‘Yes’ to our prayer, dear heart.

“If God says ‘No’ to our prayer, dear heart,
And the clouds hang heavy and dull and gray;
If the rough rocks hinder and block the way,
While the sharp winds pierce us and sting with cold;
Oh, dear, there is home at the journey’s end,
And these are the trials the Father doth send
To draw us as sheep to His Heavenly fold,
If God says ‘No’ to our prayer, dear heart.”

Oh for the faith that does not make haste, but waits patiently for the Lord, waits for the explanation that shall come in the end, at the revelation of Jesus Christ! When did God take anything from a man, without giving him manifold more in return? Suppose that the return had not been made immediately manifest, what then? Is today the limit of God’s working time? Has He no provinces beyond this little world? Does the door of the grave open upon nothing but infinite darkness and eternal silence?

Yet, even confining the judgment within the hour of this life, it is true that God never touches the heart with a trial without intending to bring upon it some grander gift, some tenderer benediction. He has attained to an eminent degree of Christian grace who knows how to wait.
–Selected

***

When the frosts are in the valley,
And the mountain tops are grey,
And the choicest buds are blighted,
And the blossoms die away,
A loving Father whispers,
“This cometh from my hand”;
Blessed are ye if ye trust
Where ye cannot understand.

If, after years of toiling,
Your wealth should fly away
And leave your hands all empty,
And your locks are turning grey,
Remember then your Father
Owns all the sea and land;
Blessed are ye if ye trust
Where ye cannot understand.
–Selected