Intimacy with God
Deuteronomy 4: What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way God, our God, is with us?
Iām tempted to focus on “national gods” here. In this distant day each nation has its own gods and itās unthinkable for anyone to imagine a nation kicking out its gods to worship those of another nation. Iām pretty sure a case could be made that we still have “national gods.” In the instance of my country those gods are named “Materialism” and “Pleasure.” However, instead of pursuing that line of thought (come to think of it, I guess I already did!) Iāll focus on what itās like to worship the true God. Humans donāt make this God out of some precious metal. Rather, this God makes human beings out of the dust of the ground. This God makes no demand of those who serve him that he doesn’t first make of himself. For instance, before he calls people to love him he first loves them. In fact, this God always acts first, moving in grace-full ways in the lives of people. And, as Moses says, this God seeks intimacy with his Creation. Moses wants his congregation to realize how blessed they are. Of all the nations of the earth, they have the God who willingly involves himself at every level of their lives. Today, this Almighty Being invites me to experience that same level of intimacy, that personal day-to-day relationship with him.
Take Away: What a privilege it is for the creature to have intimate fellowship with the Creator.
Tag: God’s presence
Devotional on Deuteronomy
Step into the fire
Deuteronomy 5: You were afraid, remember, of the fire and wouldn’t climb the mountain.
It was over 40 years earlier but Moses remembers it like it was yesterday. God called him up to the mountain and in that place he had a powerful encounter with the Almighty. The people of Israel, however, didn’t want that experience. They saw the billowing smoke and the fire of God and were afraid. Because of that, they preferred that Moses be their representative while they stayed safely in the valley. I wonder how many blessings I miss because it is easier to stay where I am than it is to have a raw, fire-filled encounter with the Lord. To be fair, thereās more going on in my heart that just my wanting to stay comfortably unchanged. After all, itās frightening to come face to face with God. To get that close to God is to step into the fire. Intellectually I know itās a good thing to meet God at that level. In fact, I hunger for him in my spirit. Still, I find myself hesitating to abandon myself to the fire of the Almighty. But I must. Otherwise, I condemn myself to a life thatās a shadow of what it could be.
Take Away: When the Lord invites you to step into the fire accept that invitation.
Devotional on Deuteronomy
Living as a people of God
Deuteronomy 6: The next time your child asks you, “What do these requirements and regulations and rules that GOD, our God, has commanded mean?”
The people of God are different than other peoples. However, their difference isnāt just for the sake of difference. Rather, their uniqueness means something. Theyāre a unique people because they have a unique relationship with God. While thereās no question that God is worthy of worship, thereās more to it than worship. Thereās a connection between them and their God and that connection impacts everything about them. Obviously, that includes moral behavior but it also impacts what they eat, how they cut their hair, and how they dress. Even their calendar is built around their relationship with God. Itās because of how their relationship with God saturates their lives that their own children and people from the outside are perplexed and ask questions. Moses tells them how to answer those questions: “We live this way because of God. He has rescued us from our past and he has impacted everything about us. Our lives are all about him. Everything about us is about the Lord God.” This sweeping relationship between God and people was unique in their world and itās unique in my world too. For others, God (or the gods) has his place and when we enter his territory he is to be acknowledged. Otherwise, we wonāt bother him if he doesnāt bother us. For a follower of God-Jehovah though, that approach never works. Our lives are connected to him at every level. We live as we live because of that relationship. This is the message we pass on to our children. In fact, itās the message we have for all who observe and question our approach to living.
Take Away: The Lord isnāt distant and observing. Instead, heās present and involved.
Devotional on Deuteronomy
The waterās fine, come on in
Deuteronomy 20: Donāt waver in resolve. Donāt fear. Donāt hesitate. Donāt panic. God, your God, is right there with you.
A dad is teaching his son to swim and his approach is quite reasonable. Dad doesnāt relax on the lounge chair and tell his son, āIf you need me, Iāll be right here.ā Instead, Dad gets into the pool and then beckons his son, āCome on in, Iām right here and Iāll help you.ā Moses is instructing the spiritual leaders of the people of Israel. Soon these people will cross the Jordan River and engage the armies of the nations of Canaan. Theyāll be outnumbered and will face experienced armies in numerous battles. Moses instructs the spiritual leaders of the land to prepare Godās people for battle by encouraging them to be strong and courageous. The reason for confidence is that God is going into the battle with them. Moses is about to depart but the Lord isnāt going anywhere. Instead, thick or thin, heāll be with them all the way. God is never a sideline spectator to our lives. Of course heās near when things are going well. Heās also near in the darkness of night. As my spirit trembles he reaches out to me, reassuring me that itāll be okay because heās right here and heāll help me through it all.
Take Away: Everything in life changes, but God remains faithful.
Devotional on Deuteronomy
The funeral was poorly attended
Deuteronomy 34: No prophet has risen since in Israel like Moses, whom God knew face-to-face.
At 120 years of age Moses is physically and mentally as fit as ever. The years have not taken their toll because the Lord has intervened, overriding the aging process. Now, though, the time has come for Moses to die. Under Godās direction this 120 year old man sets out alone to climb a mountain. From the peak he looks across into the Promised Land. He will never set foot there but he knows his people will. Then Moses dies leaving a legacy of superlatives. The only one at his funeral is the same God who met him alone at the burning bush eighty years earlier. From first to last itās been God and Moses. Iām a bit sad that after giving his life to the project that Moses doesnāt get to lead the Israelites across Jordan. However, itās hard to be too sorry about it. After all, he lived long and well. He walked with God and knew his Maker face-to-face. At the end of his long journey, the Lord, himself, lays him to rest. I can only hope that, with the more spectacular elements stripped away, something remotely similar can be said when the final lines of my life are written.
Take Away: Thereās something beautiful about the passing of one of Godās choice people.
Devotional on Joshua
Are you with us or against us?
Joshua 5: “Whose side are you on — ours or our enemies’?” He said, “Neither, I’m commander of God’s army. I’ve just arrived.”
I confess that I love these mysterious passages of the Bible. As Joshua prepares for his first Canaan conquest battle he encounters a stranger whoās holding a drawn sword. Joshua asks his allegiance, and the answer is that this stranger is on neither side. Heās commander of God’s army and has only just arrived on the scene. Whatās going on here? God has an army? He sends his commander to scout out the battlefield? There are more questions than answers here. Apparently, the commander of God’s army has come to give Joshua the heavenly battle plan. As I continue reading, the “March around the City” strategy is given to Joshua. In light of the abundance of unknown things in this little passage, I don’t want to go too far out in finding devotional material, but a few things come to mind. First, Godās ready to go to war on my behalf, even when I’m unaware of his presence. Second, God doesn’t claim allegiance to me; I claim allegiance to him. Third, God has a plan that may be very different than my own. Fourth, his plan is always the best one.
Take Away: Itās good to know God has an army, that heās on my side, and that he has a sure fire, God-guaranteed plan.
Devotional on 1 Samuel
Spiritual Springtime
1 Samuel 3: God continued to show up at Shiloh.
God’s presence has been rare and, as a result, even those who desire righteousness have blindly stumbled through life. At our best humans are still pretty pitiful and, in this distant day, most people have no interest in striving for anything close to “the best” anyway. Because of that spiritual darkness dominates. Then, in the figurative and literal night God speaks to young Samuel. Even better than that: God speaks and then continues to speak. Thereās something wonderful about the phrase, “God continued to show up at Shiloh.” It has the feel of springtime in it. After the long, cold winter, the sun is shining and new life is breaking out everywhere. Iāve journeyed through my share of spiritual winters: times when God seemed far away and unreachable. But Iāve also enjoyed spiritual springtime. Frankly, my experience was more like Samuel’s than I care to admit, because in my case, like his, I didn’t have much to do with the dawning of the new day in my heart. All I know is that, after the night, God showed up and then continued to show up. By his grace, I will be faithful when spiritual winter comes, but, oh, how I love the spiritual springtime!
Take Away: Spiritual winter comes to just about everyone. How good to be reminded that after the winter season, springtime arrives.
Devotional on 1 Kings
Glory!
1Kings 8: The glory of God filled The Temple of God!
The painstaking work of constructing the Temple is complete. Itās a truly impressive structure with every detail perfect. This house of worship is one of the wonders of the world. But thatās the least of the story. What really matters is what happens next. As the dedication service is about to begin God’s glory falls on the place. His glory is so powerful that itās tangible. The Presence of God flows into and through the structure to the extent that the priests, who have assumed their assigned positions of service are driven out! Like a cloud, God’s glory has descended and the people are in reverent awe of the Lord. Iāve been in church services in my life in which God came in glory and majesty. The scale was much smaller, but Iāve tasted just enough to imagine what itās like on this day. In less public moments God has touched my life and these are my most precious spiritual memories. I thank him for such wonderful encounters with the divine. Beyond that, I hunger for God to pour his glory out on me and on his church. Passages like this both warm my heart and rekindle a hunger for God in the depths of my spirit.
Take Away: Thereās nothing like the presence of the Lord.
Devotional on 1 Kings
Move right on in
1Kings 8: Can it be that God will actually move into our neighborhood?
Solomonās praying his great prayer of dedication of the newly constructed Temple. He understands that, while the Temple is an impressive house of worship, that God is bigger than any one place, even as beautiful a place as this is. With the thought in mind that God is the God of the universe and can’t be contained in any one place, Solomon prays that the Almighty will always be attentive to the worship done, and the prayers prayed, at this new Temple. Heās a wise man, after all Godās too big to really live among us, right? Well, not quite! Many years in the future God will do exactly what Solomon imagines being impossible. God will come to us. Heāll indeed move right into our neighborhood. As he does this, human beings will encounter God in a whole new way. And the story won’t end with the pages of the Gospels. God will come to us in the Person of the Holy Spirit, and in so doing, heāll move right into the temple that is the heart of every willing person. Heāll not only be “with us,” but God, the Holy Spirit, will be “in us.” As impressive as the Temple is, and as lofty as Solomon’s prayer of dedication is, we have the privilege of God actually moving into the neighborhood of our lives today.
Take Away: Have you invited God, the Holy Spirit, to take up residence in your life?
Devotional on 1 Kings
Itās easy to miss
1Kings 19: …a gentle and quiet whisper.
After hearing the voice of God Elijahās told that heās to prepare himself for a personal encounter with the Lord. As Elijah sits inside the mouth of the cave things start happening outside. Thereās a great wind, then an earthquake, and then a fire. Weāre told that God isn’t in these things. In other words, while theyāre sent by God he doesnāt inhabit them. What the Lord has for Elijah is yet to come and itās only after the wind, earthquake, and fire that the Lord comes to Elijah in the gentle, quiet whisper. When Moses met God on this same mountain it was the same way. There was thunder and lightning and earthquakes followed by a face to face meeting with the Lord. We see this pattern repeated throughout the Bible. For instance, on the Day of Pentecost it wonāt be about the sound of wind, the tongues of fire, or other languages being spoken. Rather, it will be about God, the Holy Spirit, filling their lives with himself. As I see this repeated spiritual fact of life Iām reminded to dial back my love of the spectacular and pay more attention to the āgentle quiet whisperā of God in my life.
Take Away: Ultimately itās not the fireworks but is, instead, the personal presence of the Lord that counts in my life.
Devotional on 2 Kings
Do you see what I see?
2Kings 6: Don’t worry about it — there are more on our side than on their side.
The Lord has been revealing to Elisha the military plans of nearby Aram and Elisha has, in turn, told those plans to the King of Israel. Because of that, Elisha has become a prime target. In fact, on this morning in the town of Dothan Elisha awakes to find the whole town surrounded by his enemies. To Elisha and his servant this is more than an inspirational Bible story: its life and death. His servant is mystified by Elisha’s calmness in the midst of his pending capture. That is, heās mystified until Elisha prays that this young servant will see what he sees. Surrounding the army that surrounds them is a “whole mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire.” With God’s army escorting him Elisha has nothing to fear from the army of Aram or anywhere else for that matter. God didn’t send the army of Aram that day, but he was prepared for it to come. Had Elisha been captured, well, that would have been an unwelcome thing for Elisha and company, but it could only happen if God allowed it to happen. Elisha might have been more aware of it than I am, but the Lord’s army is escorting me too. That doesnāt mean that everything always works out just the way I want. Still, difficult days only come if he allows it, and in the end, I have the assurance that victory will be mine.
Take Away: The Lord walks through life with us, even when we arenāt aware of his presence.
Devotional on 1 Chronicles
Precious memories
1 Chronicles 15: God exploded in anger at us because we didn’t make proper preparation and follow instructions.
This is the second effort David has made to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. The first ended with death. David says that was because the proper preparations and procedures werenāt followed. This time things will be different because he’s paying better attention to the details. Thereās nothing like the Ark in Christianity. Many traditions have holy objects but none of them are revered as was the Ark. Thereās a reminder here of the importance of sacred places and things. For instance, there are places that are special to me because Iāve had especially powerful encounters with God in them. Maybe you have your motherās old Bible and just holding it causes you to feel not only closer to her, but to the Lord. These things aren’t the same as the Ark or, later on, the Templeās Holy of Holies. Still, though, as I see David making plans to move the Ark, Iām reminded of the power of some things that have been used by the Lord to connect me to him. I donāt worship them, but they are precious to me.
Take Away: Itās a good thing to be reminded of times and places where the Lord has seemed especially near.
Devotional on 2 Chronicles
I love it when God moves in
2 Chronicles 5: Then a billowing cloud filled The Temple of God.
Solomonās building project is complete and itās a great success. An impressive Temple is now the official place of worship for the people of Israel and all others who will come. The building is complete with the fixtures in place, the offerings ready, and the personnel standing ready to serve. Then God moves in. In a display of glory that hasnāt been seen since Moses climbed the mountain to meet the Almighty, the Glory of the Lord fills the Temple. The Presence of the Lord is so great, so real, that the priests canāt even carry out their assigned duties. Outside the Temple Solomon does the only reasonable thing: he begins to call on God in prayer. Today, I long for Godās glory to fall on his Church, for Him to come in such majesty that the order of worship is set aside and people begin to simply call on the Name of the Lord. Oh God, we seek, not so much the ābillowing cloudā as we seek you. Pour yourself out upon your Church as you did upon the Temple so long ago.
Take Away: The people of the Lord need to seek and, yes, expect, the Lord to fill our worship services with himself.
Devotional on the Psalms
Playing hide and seek with God
Psalm 139: Your reassuring presence, coming and going.
It’s no surprise that this is a favorite psalm for many of God’s people across the years. Itās a celebration of God’s connection to our lives. The writer doesn’t have any concept of an absentee God who spun the world up to speed and then moved on to other things. He doesn’t think of God as aloof and disinterested. His God is an involved God, deeply connected to his life. The psalmist can see the hand of this involved God when he looks back on the events of his life. He has no doubt that the Lord will continue to be connected to him. David imagines his playing a game of “hide and seek” with God, not that he wants to be hidden from God for a moment, but that he wants to be sure of God’s knowledge of his life no matter where he might be. In this imaginary game, David goes mountain climbing, and then spelunking in the depths. As he arrives at those remote, hidden places itās no surprise to him that God is already there waiting on him. The psalmist finds that God always finds him in both the extremes of life and the common places as well. This psalm speaks to all of us who love the Lord and don’t want to live for even one moment outside his grace and mercy.
Take Away: Where ever I am, God is there first.