Devotional on Lamentations

2009 – Dream Lake – RMNP, CO

Working through grief and loss
Lamentations 1: Judah has gone into exile.
Lamentations, to me, is the book of the Bible most like Job. In Job’s story we find him in a state of misery, lamenting all that has been lost. Lamentations takes us into similar unwelcome territory. The destruction of Jerusalem isnā€™t a tidy event. There’s a long siege that results in starvation and a descent into barbarism of the worst sort. It’s the mildest of statements to say that things get ugly. Inhumanity and misery rule. Now, Jeremiah, still reeling from it all creates poetry in an effort to describe the remaining sense of loss and grief. While it’s true that their destruction is the result of their own sin the misery of it all is real. In Lamentations the weeping prophet takes us on a walk through the rubble of his beloved Jerusalem. He replays for us the scenes of murder and rape and loss. I confess that I’m not looking forward to spending these few days with Jeremiah. Two things come to mind as I begin this journey. First: loss is a part of the human condition. Even as Job faced it, so does Jeremiah; and so do we. Second: sometimes we’re wise to allow ourselves to embrace this unwelcome aspect of life. We tend to hurry past the bad times; to smile through our tears; to cheer up believing things will get better. It really doesn’t work that way. The route to healing may begin with our taking time to grieve — to lament — all that’s been lost. Like it or not, that’s the path we follow when we walk with the weeping prophet in the book of Lamentations.
Take Away: The route to healing may begin with our taking time to grieve.

Devotional on Joel

2013 – Covered Bridges in west central Indiana

Weeping with those who weep
Joel 1: Get them into Godā€™s Sanctuary for serious prayer to God.
The event that drives Joelā€™s sermon is a natural disaster. A swarm of millions and millions of locusts have devastated the country. Every green thing has been stripped bare. The result is that famine is most certainly coming to the land. What are they going to do now? One thing Joel calls for is for people to take their fear and pain to the Lord. He says to the priests, ā€œYou, who lead people in worship, lead them in lament.ā€ This is no time for empty promises that everything will be okay. Rather, this is a time for fasting and crying out to God. Joel takes his own advice and a few lines later he prays, ā€œGod! I pray, I cry out to you!ā€ Today, I find this passage to be frighteningly instructive. Itā€™s quite likely that our version of the disaster of Joelā€™s day will come. What is the church to do when a hurricane or earthquake or tornado sweeps through the community destroying lives and property? Joel says this is a time for pastors and other leaders to lead the community in lament; a time for ā€œweeping with those who weep.ā€ Iā€™m not ignoring the good that can be done in practical ways, but I’m reminded here that the church isnā€™t to just ā€œput on a happy face.ā€ Itā€™s okay, and even necessary, for Godā€™s people to lead the way in crying out to God, declaring the pain and suffering of a community in the face of disaster.
Take Away: Sometimes itā€™s the role of the people of the Lord to lead the way in crying out to God.

Devotional on Mark

2014 – Point Whitehorn Marine Reserve – near Birch Bay, WA

At the cross

Mark 15: Jesus groaned out of the depths.

The Gospel writer takes us to cruel Golgotha, a place of torture and death. This is no well-intentioned passion play in which the special effects man tries to convince us of the pain and suffering while keeping in mind that some precious souls in the audience donā€™t want it to be too real. These are real nails being driven into real flesh. This is real blood, real suffering. Our Lord is not only being killed in this horrible way but heā€™s carrying a spiritual burden of sin and separation from his Father thatā€™s beyond my understanding. Before Pilate he remained silent, but now, out of the depths of his suffering he groans under the weight of it all. I want to look away and think about other things but that groan draws me back and I look up into his face, into his eyes. He mouths the words, ā€œI love you.ā€ My eyes fill with tears as he breathes his last.

Take Away: For me he died.

Devotional on 2 Corinthians

2014 – Cape Meares, OR – in the fog

At the end of myself and at the beginning of God

2Corinthians 1: And heā€™ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing.

Since his first letter to the church at Corinth Paul has gone though some hard times. His words remind me of some of the Psalms of complaint when David thought it was all over for him. In words similar to what David used, Paul describes how he was crushed and sure that he was at the end. In his despair he realized he was out of options and that there was nothing he could do to save himself. At that low point, he remembered his greatest Resource. When he came to the end of himself he found himself at just the beginning of God. Throwing himself on the mercy of God is the smartest thing he ever did. After all, Paul reminds us, this is the God who even raises the dead. The Lord was equal to the challenge and, for Paul, the sun rose once again in his life, giving him a new lease on life. This journey to deathā€™s door and back, Paul says, has turned out to be a positive event in his life. These days heā€™s quicker to stop struggling and to start trusting in God to bring about a rescue in his life. This is a lesson I need to learn anew. I serve a God who loves me and who has the power to, when necessary, raise the dead. I may not like it when life brings me my share of uncertainty and even pain. At the same time, I can remember that the same God who has brought me through difficult times in the past can ā€œrescue me as many times as I need rescuing.ā€

Take Away: In an uncertain world the Lord remains my steadfast certainty.

Devotional on 2 Corinthians

2014 – Along Oregon Hwy 101 – north of Florence

Paulā€™s thorn in the flesh

2Corinthians 12: The weaker I get the stronger I become.

As Paul defends his ministry he describes a vision he experienced many years earlier. At least I think heā€™s describing a vision he had. His wording moves to third person, but the setting of the passage concerns visions and revelations given him by the Lord. Paul was lifted up into heaven and there heard things he was forbidden to share with others. The Apostle says that if he wanted to he could focus on such experiences and trump about anyone. Instead, though, he chooses to focus on his humiliations and, in fact has found his most troubling, humbling handicap (although he doesnā€™t tell us what it is) to be yet another great blessing. This handicap serves two good purposes in his life. On one hand it balances out the ecstasies he experienced in Christ, keeping him firmly grounded in the here and now. On the other hand, his weaknesses drive him to even greater dependency on the Lord. As he relies on the Lord rather than on his own experiences, as deeply spiritual as they might be, he finds strength. Blessings are, well, a blessing! However, they can also be a curse. If I think the Lord has made me a favorite because of some deep spiritual experience that experience can actually serve as a stumbling block in my life. Of course, the Lord knows this. I think he sometimes withholds some special intimacy from us for our own good. At other times, as it is in Paulā€™s case, the Lord works in our lives in wonderful ways but refuses to do something that would be precious to us to keep us from becoming so heavenly minded that weā€™re of no earthly good. We donā€™t know what Paulā€™s thorn in the flesh is, but we can see it as he does: as part of Godā€™s working in a life for the good of one he dearly loves.

Take Away: Sometimes the Lord does things for us because he loves us. Sometimes the Lord doesnā€™t do things for us because he loves us.

Devotional on 1 Peter

2014 – Yosemite National Park

Breaking the ā€œme centeredā€ way of life

1Peter 4: Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way.

Peterā€™s target audience is Christians who are isolated and suffering for their faith. He doesnā€™t suggest to them that suffering in itself is good but he does tell them that their suffering for the right reason gives them reason to rejoice. If the same people who hate Jesus hate us because they see Jesus in our lives their poor treatment of us may be unwelcome but in it we can see a compliment. He also tells his readers that suffering tends to wean us from the idea that we’re always supposed to get our own way. As infants, we all start off there, caring not at all about the needs of those around us, but instead, totally focused on what we want and having it right now. To some extent we never outgrow that. Peter says that suffering (something no one wants) helps break that ā€œme centeredā€ way of life. This, in turn, sets the table for allowing the One who knows and loves us best to have his way in our lives. Again, the suffering isnā€™t a good thing, but the result can be a good one. My earnest desire is that Iā€™ll learn these lessons early and well as the Lord uses the ups and downs of my life to benefit me and his kingdom.

Take Away: If weā€™ll allow it the Lord will use both the ups and downs of our lives to our benefit.

Devotional on 1 Kings

2015 – Natchez, MS State Park

Praying when in pain
1Kings 19: Elijah, what are you doing here?
More than a month has passed since Elijah fled Jezebel and asked God to take his life. During this time the angel of the Lord has ministered to him and heā€™s traveled 40 days across the wilderness to Horeb which is the mountain range that includes Sinai where Moses met God and was given the Law. In other words, Elijah has retreated to holy ground. Here, even as Moses encountered God, Elijah has an encounter of his own. This meeting though, starts very differently. For Moses, there were earthquakes and thick smoke. For Elijah, things start with God asking him a question, “So, Elijah, what are you doing here?” With that, Elijah begins to state his discouragement, loneliness, and fear. The big stuff is still coming but Iā€™m taken with just this today. I know that prayer should generally start with words of worship and reverence. Sometimes, though, weā€™re so broken and confused that we can hardly bring ourselves to pray at all. Sometimes we have to travel out into the wilderness for a while possibly ending up at some place that’s significant to us. And then, it isn’t us but God who starts a conversation that doesn’t begin with “Our Father who art in heaven” but instead with words of pain. Know what? Thatā€™s okay with God. Take note of just who it is that asks the opening question here.
Take Away: Our prayers are going nowhere if they donā€™t come from an honest heart.

Devotional on Job

2019 – North Central PA

Where on earth is Uz?
Job 1: Job was a man who lived in Uz.
So begins the ancient story of Job. The land of Uz was likely in today’s northern Saudi Arabia. No other information is given us, and that doesnā€™t matter much because the location of the story is pretty much irrelevant. Some folks get all wrapped up in proving that Job is a historical figure but that doesn’t matter very much either. As they say, “there are bigger fish to fry” here. While I lean toward the ā€œhistoricalā€ side of the debate, Iā€™m much more interested in learning the God-lessons that are taught here than I am in the silly ā€œJob has to be real or the whole Bibleā€™s not trueā€ debate. Hereā€™s a story about suffering; and not just suffering in general, but undeserved suffering. Job doesn’t suffer quietly and he doesn’t just go along with the conventional wisdom of his friends. He complains persistently and loudly: to God! If I spend my time debating the location of Ur or whether or not Satan has face to face consultations with God I miss the whole point of this story. If Iā€™m willing to just let the story be told without my attaching some personal agenda to it, I find myself in some pretty challenging material, dealing with big issues of undeserved suffering and life and death.
Take Away: Every story in the Bible is, ultimately a God-story. To make a story into something else will cause us to miss the point.

Devotional on Job

2019 – Watkins Glen, NY State Park

Story or real?
Job 1: God replied, “We’ll see. Go ahead.”
Iā€™ve heard some say that the fact that God gives permission for Job to be tested brings comfort to them. They tie it in to Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; heā€™ll never let you be pushed past your limit; heā€™ll always be there to help you come through it.” I see what they see in this. In the midst of the pain and suffering thereā€™s some consolation in remembering that God is allowing this and he wouldn’t allow it if he didn’t know I can take it. However, this also troubles me. To think that the Lord grants permission for a life to be devastated (not to mention the very lives of Job’s children) is hard to take. I think this is why some people have decided that this is a parable-like story rather than a historical one. If this is fiction based on fact I can relax and focus on learning the lessons I can learn here. If, though, this is the real deal then I find myself struggling. If you think I am about to come up with some profound answer I fear youā€™re going to be disappointed. Beyond that, if you decide to skip ahead of me and read how the story of Job ends to find an answer there, well, you won’t find it there either.
Take Away: Sometimes we just have to trust the Lord, especially when we have more questions than answers.

Devotional on Job

2019 – Watkins Glen, NY State Park

Taking it to the next level
Job 2: A human would do anything to save his life.
Everything of value has been taken from Job in one breathtaking, horrible day, yet Job continues in his relationship with God. Now the adversary suggests that the reason for this is that Job is still playing the game of serving God because heā€™s still getting something out of it; that is, his very life. The stakes are incredibly high. Itā€™s been proven that Job isn’t serving God because he gets wealth and possessions out of it. Satan suggests that Jobā€™s hanging in there because he gets out of it life itself. The Lord doesn’t hand his servant completely over to this accuser, but he does grant permission for Job to be afflicted physically. What Satan does to Job is intended to be “a fate worse than death.” This is all intended to answer the fundamental question of this book of the Bible: “Does Job serve God for nothing?” Will Job continue in faithfulness when heā€™s getting nothing out of it? Will he serve God when all the blessings are turned to curses and his very life is a living death? The remainder of this book answers this question.
Take Away: All else can be stripped away but nothing can rob us of our faith.

Devotional on Job

2019 – Watkins Glen, NY State Park

Mrs. Job
Job 2: Curse God and be done with it!
I’m not sure how far one can go in thinking about Mrs. Job. Obviously this story isnā€™t about her. Itā€™s Job’s faithfulness to God even when heā€™s getting nothing out of it that drives this story. Still, I feel sorry for Job’s wife. Sheā€™s suffered all the same losses he has. Sheā€™s lost everything, including her family. Now her husband sits before her, quivering in agony. Her life is ruined. When she advises Job to give up on God itā€™s because she already has. Her response is what Satan predicted Job’s would be: if the blessings of God are withdrawn human beings will no longer serve him. Job’s reply is that this is a foolish approach. God grants us life and we enjoy the good days that come. When things turn sour we go on trusting and serving him. That doesn’t mean weā€™re happy about things or that we don’t change them if we can. It does mean that weā€™ve chosen to trust God with both the good and bad that life brings. Job is angry with God, as we shall see, but he refuses to turn away from Him, even when serving God has resulted in so much pain.
Take Away: Faith is a matter of the will and not a product of circumstances.

Devotional on Job

2019 – Watkins Glen, NY State Park

Enter the friends
Job 2: They went together to Job to keep him company and comfort him.
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and later on Eliju come to visit poor, miserable Job. I think these guys get a bad rap from most people. The first three, at least, are friends of Job and when they arrive and see the pitiful shape heā€™s in theyā€™re shocked, speechless and broken hearted. They can hardly bear seeing their friend like this. When they do speak, they do so in response to Job’s complaint and the things they say are the same sort of things Job might have said to them had their places been reversed. The debate that follows isnā€™t based on Job believing one thing and them believing another. Instead itā€™s about Job’s insistence that things arenā€™t working as he and his friends always believed they worked. They say, “Bad things don’t happen to good people, therefore, as surprising as it is, Job must be a bad person.” Job says, “I agree that bad things don’t happen to good people, but Iā€™ve remained faithful to God and bad things have happened to me. Therefore, God isn’t following the rules.” The thing about Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar that needs to catch our attention is that they say all the same things weā€™ve said at one time or another.
Take Away: Do we trust God even when we don’t understand him?

Devotional on Job

2019 – Watkins Glen, NY State Park

Job one, Satan nothing
Job 1: God gives, God takes. God’s name be ever blessed.
As round one of Jobā€™s trials concludes we find Job a heartbroken man. Everythingā€™s gone, including his children. Jobā€™s in shock and deep mourning. In this midst of his pain, he falls to the ground — and worships! The test is to see if a man will serve God “for nothing” and, as this round of testing ends, we find Job still worshiping God! His worship doesnā€™t consist of his shrugging off all that has happened. After all, the pain is real. His actions declare the depth of his pain yet his words carry a philosophic tone. Job declares, “I entered with world with nothing and that’s how I’ll leave.” Does Job serve God for nothing? Job’s answer is “God gives, God takes. God’s name be ever blessed.”
Take Away: Job trusts in the Lord even when everything falls apart. Does that describe us?

Devotional on Job

2019 – Watkins Glen, NY State Park

Telling it like it is
Job 3: Why didn’t I die at birth?
All of my life Iā€™ve heard people speak of the “patience of Job” and, frankly, I don’t get it. Just a quick read through chapter 3 reveals that Job doesnā€™t stoically accept his condition. Heā€™s miserable and he wishes heā€™d never been born. “May those who are ā€˜good at cursingā€™ curse the day of my birth,ā€ he says. As I look at this miserable man I canā€™t help but appreciate his stark honesty. This guy isnā€™t given to platitudes. Instead, he tells it like it is, and at this moment in his life, life isnā€™t worth living. Somehow Christians have gotten the idea that we ought to behave as Job does in chapter one when he sincerely declares “God gives, God takes.” We read that and make it our model for dealing with pain and suffering. However, we need to keep on reading. Soon we find this same man crying out against his own life. Beyond that, to excuse Job as being “out of his mind” in pain is such a horrible put-down of Job. Yes, heā€™s in agony but heā€™s still thinking and the things he says reflect exactly what he believes. When we deny ourselves (and Job) the right to be absolutely honest about how we feel we destine ourselves to continue in a shallow relationship with God. You see, when Iā€™m going through a trial God isnā€™t interested in seeing me put on a brave front and hearing me say all the right things. Itā€™s honesty that he wants and sometimes that includes our telling him, and others, how miserable we are. Such honesty opens the way for God to work in our lives at levels we didn’t even know existed.
Take Away: Thereā€™s never a time to pretend things are different than they are before the Lord.

Devotional on Job

2019 – Watkins Glen, NY State Park

How things really are
Job 5: What a blessing when God steps in and corrects you!
If I work my way through the book of Job and pick out various quotes from Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Eliju and then present them to about any Christian I think theyā€™d find the words quite acceptable. On the other hand, I could pick out many things Job says and those same Christians would shake their heads in dismay. How can it be that this old book which has been available to God’s people for so long be so poorly understood? Eliphaz says the same kind of stuff that we say. He reminds Job of his good life and suggests that he draw on that for hope now, in this day of suffering. He tells Job that everyone knows that for God’s people everything will turn out okay. It’s the bad people who need to worry about what the future holds. He even reminds his friend that human beings are born into trouble. In other words, ā€œthatā€™s life.ā€ Job needs to throw himself on the mercy of God who delights in lifting broken people. So now, Job ought to be thankful that God cares enough about him to discipline him. If Job does that everything will be just fine. Eliphaz concludes, “This is the way things are.” The thing that I find spooky here is that if this speech was, for instance, in the Psalms, Iā€™d read it and not think anything about it, just accepting it as truth. Itā€™s only as I realize who it is who says this and then skip to the end of the story that I realize I need to do some serious sifting through this kind of thinking if Iā€™m to actually know “how things really are.” It isn’t that everything Job’s friends say is wrong. Instead itā€™s that not everything they say is right. This is a book for people who are willing to think about big issues.
Take Away: Beware of things youā€™ve easily believed.

Devotional on Job

2019 – Tompkins Corps of Engineers Campground – Lawrenceburg, PA

Looking for justice
Job 14: If we humans die, will we live again?
This is one of the most famous statements in the book of Job and it comes as Job laments the unfairness of life. A tree can be cut down and yet be the source of new life, but Job hasn’t seen that with human beings. When a person, good or bad, dies and is buried it appears that itā€™s the end for them. Is there a possibility of resurrection? Job hopes so. After all, if God is good and yet people who serve him come to tragic ends and that is that, well, something is wrong! This insight doesn’t stop Job from his suffering and questioning, but itā€™s a brilliant insight concerning human suffering. We may not always see the full picture of God’s justice and goodness now, but the final chapter of his dealings with human beings isnā€™t written at the grave. If Godā€™s justice isnā€™t seen this side of the grave, it must be seen beyond it.
Take Away: Without Easter Job has arrived at a theology of a resurrection. Isnā€™t that neat!

Devotional on Job

2019 – Lake Ontario – Wilson, NY

Getting away with it
Job 21: They’re given fancy funerals with all the trimmings.
Zophar admits that, for a while, evil people get away with it. However, he says, their good times are always short-lived and then everything falls apart for them. Job is having none of it. He replies that heā€™s watched things too, and it isn’t very often that such people get their just deserts. In fact, he’s attended their funerals and heard the lies said about them even as their bodies were lowered into the ground. The big theme of Job’s story is “will a man serve God for nothing.” Then, as things play out, weā€™re confronted with the issue of human suffering. Is it possible that people suffer and it isn’t because God is angry with them? Now, we meet yet another theme. Itā€™s the reverse concern. If itā€™s true, as Job contends, that sometimes people suffer through no fault of their own, is it also true that sometimes evil people get away with it? Is it possible that some enjoy all the pleasures of sin all the way to old age and never hit the brick wall of God’s judgment? I think that before this ordeal Job was fairly comfortable with Zophar’s philosophy. At least he hadnā€™t given it much thought. Now, he finds himself dealing with the issue of how unjust life can be. All the time God remains silent, allowing Job and his friends to grapple with it all. For most of us, reading through these discussions is more philosophical than anything else. Once in a while though, these issues become quite serious and they did for Job so long ago.
Take Away: Some people live their entire lives believing things to be true that arenā€™t. Once in a while though, weā€™re given the opportunity (or maybe ā€œforcedā€ is a better word) to get a fresh grip on ā€œtruth.ā€

Devotional on Job

2019 – Niagara Falls, NY

Serving God for nothing
Job 30: What did I do to deserve this?
Job’s final reply to his friends is his longest speech. He doesn’t summarize so much as restate all he has already said. Heā€™s cried out to God for justice, but can’t get an answer. Heā€™s lived a just life, avoiding immorality, falsehood, dishonesty, and pride. Heā€™s treated people with respect and honesty, caring for the poor and the stranger. Now, in the midst of the trial, all heā€™s wanted is an audience with God, an audience which has not been granted. Job, like his friends, believes that bad things only happen to bad people. He maintains that heā€™s lived a life pleasing to God, yet bad things are happening. If he could only sit down with God and work all this out! Were that to happen, heā€™s sure this mess could be straightened out. Among all the other losses Job has suffered is the loss of his comfortable understanding of God and life. However, even with that taken away (and maybe this is the last thing to go) Job continues serving God. And he does so, yes, for nothing! At this point, Satan’s accusation from the opening paragraphs of this story is proven false. In spite of the suggestion otherwise, a man will love and serve God even when heā€™s getting nothing out of it; even when it seems God, himself, is breaking the rules; even when all else is taken away. If the book of Job ended with chapter 31, the point of the whole story is made.
Take Away: Yes, itā€™s possible for a person to love the Lord and trust the Lord even when there appears to be no tangible gain in it.