2009 – Day 39.Feb.9
Passage of the Day: Genesis 45: 8 – 9 … 27 So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. 29 When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he [Joseph] said, “I will do as you have said.” 31 Then he [Jacob] said, “Swear to me.” And he [Joseph] swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.
My Journal for Today: As Swindoll points out in his devotional for today, deathbed promises are not that uncommon; but in this text for today we read of a rather bizarre custom that apparently was a serious way to take oaths in those days in the middle east.
Jacob asked his son to promise him that he’d make sure old “Israel” was buried in Canaan, the Promised Land, … not in Egypt, where the family had migrated to stay alive and be with Joseph. And he asked Joseph to make this vow by placing his hand under his dad’s buttocks. Sounds somewhat weird; doesn’t it? But we have similar funny ways of taking vows here. We ask the person taking the vow, “To swear on a stack of Bibles;” or maybe we say, “Cross your heart and hope to die.” This posture of “hand under my thigh” in those days would have been like the President putting his hand on the Bible and taking the oath of office. It was serious business; and Joseph pledged that he would insure that his daddy was buried back in his homeland.
Interestingly enough, this very day I leave, along with about 65 other pilgrims from our church, to see the very Holy Land to which old Jacob wanted to return to be buried. And I feel like God is saying to me that I’m blessed to go and see this “Promised Land,” to which Israel must return one day, especially when our Lord, Jesus, the very Messiah for which Jacob and Joseph longed, walked the earth, died, and was resurrected as the Redeemer of His people, … first the Jews and then for those, like me, who’ve been grafted into the Family of God.
I feel so blessed to be headed today to see that land to which Jacob longed to return.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, may our walking where Jesus walked help me to know You more deeply and serve you more powerfully. But I know that such a pilgrimage must begin in my heart and commence in Your presence. Amen
Monday, February 09, 2009
Sunday, February 08, 2009
2009 - Day 38- Testing Integrity
February 8, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: The Test of Integrity
Passage of the Day: Genesis 47: 18 – 23 … Please go to this link …
My Journal for Today: Today we see another example of one of the best models of personal integrity in all of Scripture, save Jesus, of course. That’s why Joseph is a pre-incarnate picture of Christ from the Old Covenant. Earlier we read of Joseph’s sexual integrity and purity as he resisted the temptation of Potiphar’s wife. We saw his personal integrity shining through when he had the opportunity for revenge on his brothers, but forgave them instead. And in today’s passage we read of Joseph in the personal place of power to take advantage of others who were desperate for food; and from this test of character, Joseph’s Christlike integrity comes shining through.
Yesterday we read about how Joseph used a lot of innovative planning and helped the people physically during this immense crisis of famine in the land. And in that more inclusive passage, we can also read (from our verses today) how Joseph helped the people maintain their dignity as the famine got worse, giving them access to food by allowing the people to sell their land for food, and providing them with Pharaoh’s protection by strategically moving them into cities all over Egypt.
Joseph not only used his Spirit-given (I believe) gifting, showing his administrative prowess with these moves; but he showed God-like love for the people, as well as Christlike integrity in not taking advantage of others when he had the power and opportunity to do so. I agree with Swindoll that Joseph was the perfect example of the Biblical adage from Christ’s instruction: “To whom much is given, much is required.” [see Luke 12: 48]
Chuck Swindoll’s words as he closes his devotional for today are very telling, and maybe convicting, as he teaches on integrity (as it was exemplified by Joseph). Swindoll writes, ”Integrity keeps your eyes on your own paper during the test. Integrity makes you record and submit only true figures on your expense account. Integrity keeps your personal life pure and straight. Integrity restrains us from taking unfair advantage of others.”
It would behoove us all to allow viewing the life of Joseph to be a faith test as exhorted by God’s word in 2nd Cor. 13: 5; and to aspire to become like this man of God, Joseph, who had become transformed into a Godly shining light of integrity.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, heavenly Father, try me to shape my character to have integrity like Joseph, or better yet like You. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 47: 18 – 23 … Please go to this link …
My Journal for Today: Today we see another example of one of the best models of personal integrity in all of Scripture, save Jesus, of course. That’s why Joseph is a pre-incarnate picture of Christ from the Old Covenant. Earlier we read of Joseph’s sexual integrity and purity as he resisted the temptation of Potiphar’s wife. We saw his personal integrity shining through when he had the opportunity for revenge on his brothers, but forgave them instead. And in today’s passage we read of Joseph in the personal place of power to take advantage of others who were desperate for food; and from this test of character, Joseph’s Christlike integrity comes shining through.
Yesterday we read about how Joseph used a lot of innovative planning and helped the people physically during this immense crisis of famine in the land. And in that more inclusive passage, we can also read (from our verses today) how Joseph helped the people maintain their dignity as the famine got worse, giving them access to food by allowing the people to sell their land for food, and providing them with Pharaoh’s protection by strategically moving them into cities all over Egypt.
Joseph not only used his Spirit-given (I believe) gifting, showing his administrative prowess with these moves; but he showed God-like love for the people, as well as Christlike integrity in not taking advantage of others when he had the power and opportunity to do so. I agree with Swindoll that Joseph was the perfect example of the Biblical adage from Christ’s instruction: “To whom much is given, much is required.” [see Luke 12: 48]
Chuck Swindoll’s words as he closes his devotional for today are very telling, and maybe convicting, as he teaches on integrity (as it was exemplified by Joseph). Swindoll writes, ”Integrity keeps your eyes on your own paper during the test. Integrity makes you record and submit only true figures on your expense account. Integrity keeps your personal life pure and straight. Integrity restrains us from taking unfair advantage of others.”
It would behoove us all to allow viewing the life of Joseph to be a faith test as exhorted by God’s word in 2nd Cor. 13: 5; and to aspire to become like this man of God, Joseph, who had become transformed into a Godly shining light of integrity.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, heavenly Father, try me to shape my character to have integrity like Joseph, or better yet like You. Amen
Saturday, February 07, 2009
2009 - Day 37 - What A Deal!
February 7, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Innovative Planning
Passage of the Day: Genesis 47: 1 – 26 … Please go to this link …
My Journal for Today: Today we have a longer segment of Joseph’s story. I hope you read it; because it illustrates how Joseph productively used his administrative gifting, with innovation and creativity for God’s glory and for the good of those in his sphere of influence. He not only kept his family alive and well in a land hostile to the Hebrew people; but he kept all of Egypt well during the horrible times of famine which had been visited on these lands at the time.
He did things and took actions which had never been taken before. Joseph not only thought and made decisions “out-of-the-box,” to use a modern day buzz phrase; he broke the box apart and reassembled it. And Chuck Swindoll likens this “wild-n-crazy” plan of action to God’s plan, explained in Phil. 2: 6-11, where God activated a “way out” plan to save all of mankind who would buy into and receive his plan. God Almighty set aside his majesty, came as a babe, walked in love among man, died on a cross, and was raised again from the dead; and he did all of this out of his mercy and grace to give me, a sinner deserving nothing by death, an opportunity to be saved and to dwell with my Lord in heaven for eternity.
Joseph’s was a plan to save the people which had never been done before; and only those who bought into the plan and “got with the program” of Joseph, the designated “master,” would those people so receiving Joseph’s mercy be saved. And this is a life picture from history as to what was to come when the Godhead activated a plan, with Jesus as THE MASTER, … a plan which was, and will always be, the most innovative plan of salvation ever. And I am one (and I pray you, too) who has bought into the latter plan. I gave up all my life to become the indentured slave of this Master Planner. Jesus is my LORD and my SAVIOR. He, like Joseph’s plan, requires only that I give Him the first fruits of what He provides for me; and as it says in Matt. 6: 33, all I have to do is put my Lord first in my life; and I will be given all I need for this life and the next.
That’s quite a plan; don’t you think – the greatest deal ever offered?! And I hope that when I run up against the walls of this life, I can simply put aside my own agenda, grab hold of the circumstances of life, and follow My Lord’s way of doing things. That was “the plan” for discipleship laid out by THE MASTER PLANNER (read it in Luke 9: 23); and all those who use this plan will have their needs met, just as did those in Egypt in the tough times we read about in today’s life lesson from God’s word.
Live and learn from God!
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to do nothing in life but to seek after Your plans and to follow Your ways … during this life as preparation for the next. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 47: 1 – 26 … Please go to this link …
My Journal for Today: Today we have a longer segment of Joseph’s story. I hope you read it; because it illustrates how Joseph productively used his administrative gifting, with innovation and creativity for God’s glory and for the good of those in his sphere of influence. He not only kept his family alive and well in a land hostile to the Hebrew people; but he kept all of Egypt well during the horrible times of famine which had been visited on these lands at the time.
He did things and took actions which had never been taken before. Joseph not only thought and made decisions “out-of-the-box,” to use a modern day buzz phrase; he broke the box apart and reassembled it. And Chuck Swindoll likens this “wild-n-crazy” plan of action to God’s plan, explained in Phil. 2: 6-11, where God activated a “way out” plan to save all of mankind who would buy into and receive his plan. God Almighty set aside his majesty, came as a babe, walked in love among man, died on a cross, and was raised again from the dead; and he did all of this out of his mercy and grace to give me, a sinner deserving nothing by death, an opportunity to be saved and to dwell with my Lord in heaven for eternity.
Joseph’s was a plan to save the people which had never been done before; and only those who bought into the plan and “got with the program” of Joseph, the designated “master,” would those people so receiving Joseph’s mercy be saved. And this is a life picture from history as to what was to come when the Godhead activated a plan, with Jesus as THE MASTER, … a plan which was, and will always be, the most innovative plan of salvation ever. And I am one (and I pray you, too) who has bought into the latter plan. I gave up all my life to become the indentured slave of this Master Planner. Jesus is my LORD and my SAVIOR. He, like Joseph’s plan, requires only that I give Him the first fruits of what He provides for me; and as it says in Matt. 6: 33, all I have to do is put my Lord first in my life; and I will be given all I need for this life and the next.
That’s quite a plan; don’t you think – the greatest deal ever offered?! And I hope that when I run up against the walls of this life, I can simply put aside my own agenda, grab hold of the circumstances of life, and follow My Lord’s way of doing things. That was “the plan” for discipleship laid out by THE MASTER PLANNER (read it in Luke 9: 23); and all those who use this plan will have their needs met, just as did those in Egypt in the tough times we read about in today’s life lesson from God’s word.
Live and learn from God!
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to do nothing in life but to seek after Your plans and to follow Your ways … during this life as preparation for the next. Amen
Friday, February 06, 2009
2009 - Day 36 - Loyalty
February 6, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Loyalty
Passage of the Day: Genesis 46: 31 – 34 … 31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘My brothers and those of my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 And the men are shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.’ 33 So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
My Journal for Today: The more I study Joseph, the more I’m amazed that at his young age (of just over 30), his Godly character shines through so consistently in his interaction with Pharaoh, his brothers, and the people of Egypt. And in today’s highlight passage we see that clearly in Joseph’s sensitivity to the Egyptian culture and for his “boss,” the Pharaoh.
Swindoll makes a good point in today’s devotional entry from his book, pointing to a criticism about Christians in the work place. Sometimes, he declares, Christians who are the same faith as the boss on the job expect favoritism because they share the same faith as the work leader. It’s a spirit of entitlement. We certainly don’t see Joseph have such a spirit, even though he had a close and trusting relationship with Pharaoh.
Swindoll points out that Egyptians, and most certainly the ruling elite, looked down upon “shepherds.” And so, we read today that Joseph, being quite sensitive to this cultural viewpoint, instructed his family to tell Pharaoh and his court that his family were “livestock handlers,” not “shepherds.” Small difference; but I expect it would have immense impact; and I can imagine that when he set his family up in the lands as instructed and provided by the king, these Hebrews from Israel were dressed as those who “feed livestock,” not as “shepherds” in Egypt.
When I read this I think of how Daniel was sensitive to those in leadership in Babylon culture when he had such a close relationship with the Babylonian kings he served. I think of the Apostle Paul’s sensitivity to the pagan Greek cultures where he preached and witnessed, for example the eating habits of the Corinthian gentiles (see 1st Cor. 8 or 9). Both Paul and Daniel did not advocate living idolatrous lives; but they, like Joseph, were sensitive to, and morphed into, the culture of the people to whom they witnessed and served, so as not to be a stumbling block to their witness.
We Christians must maintain our integrity in Christ; but there is no reason to flaunt our Bible-centered beliefs to others, setting ourselves so far apart from the culture that we will appear to be disloyal or so that we are shunned by our world. It’s a strategic fine line at times; and Joseph demonstrated love and loyalty to his Pharaoh by simply instructing his brothers on the use of “buzz words” in that culture.
So, on the job, if our boss is a Christian we must be careful not to have expectations of favoritism where we can get away with lesser rigor in the workplace because we are in the same spiritual family as the boss. Or if our boss is a non-believer, we still must honor his or her position of leadership, treating that person with respect for their position as the leader. Christ was careful to treat the Pharisees with respect for their “position” in leadership. It was only when their behavior was an affront to God, the Father. Only then did he become confrontational with those hypocrites. And Joseph was careful not to be an affront to Pharaoh simply by using words like “shepherd,” which had nothing to do with their Hebrew beliefs in God.
So, I pray today that I can develop that kind of strategic, yet sensitive, witness in a world where my leaders, for example like my President, are trying to change the world in such an ungodly ways. It’s going to be a tough witness to be loyal to my national leader, yet stand for my God.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, help me to be loyal to You above all; but to honor my leaders in ways which make me Your effective witness in the world. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 46: 31 – 34 … 31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘My brothers and those of my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 And the men are shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.’ 33 So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
My Journal for Today: The more I study Joseph, the more I’m amazed that at his young age (of just over 30), his Godly character shines through so consistently in his interaction with Pharaoh, his brothers, and the people of Egypt. And in today’s highlight passage we see that clearly in Joseph’s sensitivity to the Egyptian culture and for his “boss,” the Pharaoh.
Swindoll makes a good point in today’s devotional entry from his book, pointing to a criticism about Christians in the work place. Sometimes, he declares, Christians who are the same faith as the boss on the job expect favoritism because they share the same faith as the work leader. It’s a spirit of entitlement. We certainly don’t see Joseph have such a spirit, even though he had a close and trusting relationship with Pharaoh.
Swindoll points out that Egyptians, and most certainly the ruling elite, looked down upon “shepherds.” And so, we read today that Joseph, being quite sensitive to this cultural viewpoint, instructed his family to tell Pharaoh and his court that his family were “livestock handlers,” not “shepherds.” Small difference; but I expect it would have immense impact; and I can imagine that when he set his family up in the lands as instructed and provided by the king, these Hebrews from Israel were dressed as those who “feed livestock,” not as “shepherds” in Egypt.
When I read this I think of how Daniel was sensitive to those in leadership in Babylon culture when he had such a close relationship with the Babylonian kings he served. I think of the Apostle Paul’s sensitivity to the pagan Greek cultures where he preached and witnessed, for example the eating habits of the Corinthian gentiles (see 1st Cor. 8 or 9). Both Paul and Daniel did not advocate living idolatrous lives; but they, like Joseph, were sensitive to, and morphed into, the culture of the people to whom they witnessed and served, so as not to be a stumbling block to their witness.
We Christians must maintain our integrity in Christ; but there is no reason to flaunt our Bible-centered beliefs to others, setting ourselves so far apart from the culture that we will appear to be disloyal or so that we are shunned by our world. It’s a strategic fine line at times; and Joseph demonstrated love and loyalty to his Pharaoh by simply instructing his brothers on the use of “buzz words” in that culture.
So, on the job, if our boss is a Christian we must be careful not to have expectations of favoritism where we can get away with lesser rigor in the workplace because we are in the same spiritual family as the boss. Or if our boss is a non-believer, we still must honor his or her position of leadership, treating that person with respect for their position as the leader. Christ was careful to treat the Pharisees with respect for their “position” in leadership. It was only when their behavior was an affront to God, the Father. Only then did he become confrontational with those hypocrites. And Joseph was careful not to be an affront to Pharaoh simply by using words like “shepherd,” which had nothing to do with their Hebrew beliefs in God.
So, I pray today that I can develop that kind of strategic, yet sensitive, witness in a world where my leaders, for example like my President, are trying to change the world in such an ungodly ways. It’s going to be a tough witness to be loyal to my national leader, yet stand for my God.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, help me to be loyal to You above all; but to honor my leaders in ways which make me Your effective witness in the world. Amen
Thursday, February 05, 2009
2009 - Day 35 - Final Family Reunion
February 5, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Final Family Reunion
Passage of the Day: Genesis 46: 28 – 30 … 28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive."
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll is right in his devotional book for today that this short reunion scene, as touching is it is, becomes an apt reminder of the hope we have in Christ and our readiness to be with Him for eternity. In verse 30 of Gen. 46, Jacob, after holding his long lost son, Joseph, and after weeping and laughing with him, declared that he, Jacob, was ready to die.
What is not said in this passage is that Jacob could be ready to die only if his hope and faith were placed in The Messiah to come. “Israel” (i.e., Jacob) expressed his readiness to die because of Joseph being there to hold; and that’s a very human emotion. Maybe you have very deep emotions when you think of dear ones who are no longer with you in this life; and you know that the only way you’ll see them again will be in heaven.
But that latter reunion will never take place in the future unless your loved one was given over in faith to Christ sometime in the past before he or she died; and you are in Christ now. Perhaps you reckon that you’ll never see your loved one because you know, in your heart of hearts, he or she never accepted Christ as Savior/Lord during that dear one’s life. Perhaps you know that your departed loved one was a Christian and you now have doubts about your salvation. If this is the case, the most important question of your life now is …, “Will you be reunited in heaven with any Christians from your past who’ve gone on to be with the Lord?”
If you have doubts about that, you cannot go back and justify your lost loved ones in Christ. However, you can KNOW that you will be in heaven with any Christians who’ve gone on before you to heaven. And you can know that - IF - you really believe, acknowledging that you’re a sinner, Christ died for your sins; and - IF - you believe and declare Christ (to anyone) to be your Lord. And - IF - you’ve confessed that from your heart and with your mouth, YOU ARE SAVED! That’s the promise of God’s Word (see it in Romans 10: 9 – 13) And nothing you’ve done in your past or nothing you can do in your future can now separate you from any heavenly reunion you will experience when you die and are reunited with the most important dear One in your life; ... and that, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Since Joseph is a type of Christ in the Bible, imagine, after many years of not seeing Him, when you are translated into Heaven at your death, being able to spiritually embrace Your Lord. But there will be no tears of missing Him from the past. The only spiritual tears you will have, in Heaven, will be those shed out of sheer joy of being in the presence of Yeshua Hamashia, … Jesus, The Messiah.
Oh, how I longingly look forward to that reunion; but, to be honest, I’ve still got a lot of living to do – at least in my own hopeful time-table. But if, in God’s time-table, He would have for me to be with Him tomorrow, or in the next hour for that matter, paraphrasing what old Jacob said, “I am ready to die, because I know my Savior lives!”
How about you? Do you know Christ lives; and that He died for you? If you need to make that clear, for eternity, it would be my eternal privilege to usher you into heaven by hearing your confession and declaration that Christ is Your Savior. Contact me (you probably know my phone/email contacts) and let’s get this settled for eternity. Or get with some other person you know to be a Christian and give them the privilege of embracing a new Christian when you declare to God and to them that you’ve accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. That will be a union here in this life; but it will set up a reunion in the next and for eternity.
Oh, how I pray that we’ll one day embrace in heaven as brothers or sisters in Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I long to be You, my Yeshua Hamashia; but as long as You give me life on this side, I will live for Your glory! Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 46: 28 – 30 … 28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive."
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll is right in his devotional book for today that this short reunion scene, as touching is it is, becomes an apt reminder of the hope we have in Christ and our readiness to be with Him for eternity. In verse 30 of Gen. 46, Jacob, after holding his long lost son, Joseph, and after weeping and laughing with him, declared that he, Jacob, was ready to die.
What is not said in this passage is that Jacob could be ready to die only if his hope and faith were placed in The Messiah to come. “Israel” (i.e., Jacob) expressed his readiness to die because of Joseph being there to hold; and that’s a very human emotion. Maybe you have very deep emotions when you think of dear ones who are no longer with you in this life; and you know that the only way you’ll see them again will be in heaven.
But that latter reunion will never take place in the future unless your loved one was given over in faith to Christ sometime in the past before he or she died; and you are in Christ now. Perhaps you reckon that you’ll never see your loved one because you know, in your heart of hearts, he or she never accepted Christ as Savior/Lord during that dear one’s life. Perhaps you know that your departed loved one was a Christian and you now have doubts about your salvation. If this is the case, the most important question of your life now is …, “Will you be reunited in heaven with any Christians from your past who’ve gone on to be with the Lord?”
If you have doubts about that, you cannot go back and justify your lost loved ones in Christ. However, you can KNOW that you will be in heaven with any Christians who’ve gone on before you to heaven. And you can know that - IF - you really believe, acknowledging that you’re a sinner, Christ died for your sins; and - IF - you believe and declare Christ (to anyone) to be your Lord. And - IF - you’ve confessed that from your heart and with your mouth, YOU ARE SAVED! That’s the promise of God’s Word (see it in Romans 10: 9 – 13) And nothing you’ve done in your past or nothing you can do in your future can now separate you from any heavenly reunion you will experience when you die and are reunited with the most important dear One in your life; ... and that, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Since Joseph is a type of Christ in the Bible, imagine, after many years of not seeing Him, when you are translated into Heaven at your death, being able to spiritually embrace Your Lord. But there will be no tears of missing Him from the past. The only spiritual tears you will have, in Heaven, will be those shed out of sheer joy of being in the presence of Yeshua Hamashia, … Jesus, The Messiah.
Oh, how I longingly look forward to that reunion; but, to be honest, I’ve still got a lot of living to do – at least in my own hopeful time-table. But if, in God’s time-table, He would have for me to be with Him tomorrow, or in the next hour for that matter, paraphrasing what old Jacob said, “I am ready to die, because I know my Savior lives!”
How about you? Do you know Christ lives; and that He died for you? If you need to make that clear, for eternity, it would be my eternal privilege to usher you into heaven by hearing your confession and declaration that Christ is Your Savior. Contact me (you probably know my phone/email contacts) and let’s get this settled for eternity. Or get with some other person you know to be a Christian and give them the privilege of embracing a new Christian when you declare to God and to them that you’ve accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. That will be a union here in this life; but it will set up a reunion in the next and for eternity.
Oh, how I pray that we’ll one day embrace in heaven as brothers or sisters in Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I long to be You, my Yeshua Hamashia; but as long as You give me life on this side, I will live for Your glory! Amen
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
2009 - Day 34 - God In The Move
February 4, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: God In The Move
Passage of the Day: Genesis 46: 1 – 7 … So Israel [i.e., Jacob] took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
3 So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. 4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.”
5 Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him. 7 His sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.
My Journal for Today: I think we all can identify with old Jacob’s potential apprehension in this major transition in the life of his family. Here they were to go from the land God had promised to Israel’s forefathers and to move into the land occupied by a pagan culture. And there had to have been questions about the reliability of the promises which his sons had reported to old Jacob about his son, who now was reported to be living and in a position of power in Egypt. Can’t you just imagine old Jacob saying something like, “What gives with that?!” All of it had to produce a lot of tension and anxiety.
But this son of God’s Old Covenant, now called “Israel,” had learned a lot of lessons in life, going back to the blessing he had wrestled for decades earlier and on into the life he had lived as the patriarch of God’s children. Yes, the old man wanted to be sure that God was in all this moving business; and in this passage we read the only divine vision which is in Scripture associated with Joseph’s life. And God came to old Israel with a clear message … that Jacob was to take his family and go to Egypt with the assurance and peace that God was, not only in the move, but that the Lord would prophetically be The Deliverer of all of God’s people because of this move of obedience.
This is a great lesson for all God’s people to learn, Old or New Covenant believers. Any great move of life can be a most disquieting experience, not only a geographical or positional move, but also such moves as going from one life status to another, … such as going from being single to be married, … from childless in marriage to having a first child, … or from going from one job/career to another. A move can bring great anxiety; and it behooves all Christians to know that God is in the move and will be there, going ahead in the move to guide and protect His children (e.g., as promised in Deut. 31: 6, 8). As you read in these passages, God will always be with a believer; but whether He goes on ahead depends upon whether a Christian is responding, as was Jacob, in obedience to God’s will or whether we are moving onward for our own selfish reasons.
Years ago, my Godly mentor taught me a principle out of the Apostle Paul’s writings which can be used as a direction-finder in making carefully considered “moves” in one’s life. The principle is spelled out in Phil. 4: 6,7; and it can always be used when one has to make a “move” in life (of any kind). Let me lay out the passage, though I hope you have this one memorized.
Phil. 4: 6 … 6 Be anxious for nothing; but in everything, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; 7 … and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
The command of God in this decision making process is straight forward, i.e., to avoid anxiety in any big decision, with a straight-forward direction to bring such leanings or feelings about the “move” in question to God with a heart of thanksgiving (which, always involves an attitude of humility and surrender to God’s Spirit). And then the outcome will be God’s peace – IF – the “move” in question is clearly within the will of God. Jacob got that part given to him directly from a vision from God. However, almost never will that be the case for you or me. We’ll have to wait on God’s peace to come when we bring some leaning to God’s throne of grace. But the promise is clear, if we are truly trying to be obedient to God’s will and we come to Him with a pure, humble, and thankful spirit (which is many times the toughest part), God will or will not give us His peace. If we don’t get this peace, God is either showing us that the “move” is not in His will, or He’s simply getting us to wait on Him for further directions. But if that “peace which surpasses all understanding” comes in this process, the green light is on from God for the “move” in question.
For many years now, I’ve used this decision-making process in my life; and God has never failed me in it. The Lord made it easy for Jacob; and he took his family into unknown, “enemy” territory with the promise that God would go ahead of them and deliver them from all evils. God’s people would one day be tested in this as we know from the history of the Hebrew people being enslaved by later Pharaohs. However, God came through with His promise to Jacob; and his bones were one day, led by Moses, and delivered, along with the great nation of Israel, from Egypt back to God’s Promised Land.
I will pray that I can always remember the truth of this study, especially when I’m confronted by the anxiety producing “moves” of life. I must always remember that God will never forsake me (see Joshua 1: 5 or Heb. 13: 5); and when I’m obedient in completely seeking to follow my Lord, I must trust that He will always be there to direct my path in life (see Prov. 3: 5, 6).
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, how I do trust You and seek after Your will and direction in my life, especially when I’m confronted by a big move. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 46: 1 – 7 … So Israel [i.e., Jacob] took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
3 So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. 4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.”
5 Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him. 7 His sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.
My Journal for Today: I think we all can identify with old Jacob’s potential apprehension in this major transition in the life of his family. Here they were to go from the land God had promised to Israel’s forefathers and to move into the land occupied by a pagan culture. And there had to have been questions about the reliability of the promises which his sons had reported to old Jacob about his son, who now was reported to be living and in a position of power in Egypt. Can’t you just imagine old Jacob saying something like, “What gives with that?!” All of it had to produce a lot of tension and anxiety.
But this son of God’s Old Covenant, now called “Israel,” had learned a lot of lessons in life, going back to the blessing he had wrestled for decades earlier and on into the life he had lived as the patriarch of God’s children. Yes, the old man wanted to be sure that God was in all this moving business; and in this passage we read the only divine vision which is in Scripture associated with Joseph’s life. And God came to old Israel with a clear message … that Jacob was to take his family and go to Egypt with the assurance and peace that God was, not only in the move, but that the Lord would prophetically be The Deliverer of all of God’s people because of this move of obedience.
This is a great lesson for all God’s people to learn, Old or New Covenant believers. Any great move of life can be a most disquieting experience, not only a geographical or positional move, but also such moves as going from one life status to another, … such as going from being single to be married, … from childless in marriage to having a first child, … or from going from one job/career to another. A move can bring great anxiety; and it behooves all Christians to know that God is in the move and will be there, going ahead in the move to guide and protect His children (e.g., as promised in Deut. 31: 6, 8). As you read in these passages, God will always be with a believer; but whether He goes on ahead depends upon whether a Christian is responding, as was Jacob, in obedience to God’s will or whether we are moving onward for our own selfish reasons.
Years ago, my Godly mentor taught me a principle out of the Apostle Paul’s writings which can be used as a direction-finder in making carefully considered “moves” in one’s life. The principle is spelled out in Phil. 4: 6,7; and it can always be used when one has to make a “move” in life (of any kind). Let me lay out the passage, though I hope you have this one memorized.
Phil. 4: 6 … 6 Be anxious for nothing; but in everything, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; 7 … and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
The command of God in this decision making process is straight forward, i.e., to avoid anxiety in any big decision, with a straight-forward direction to bring such leanings or feelings about the “move” in question to God with a heart of thanksgiving (which, always involves an attitude of humility and surrender to God’s Spirit). And then the outcome will be God’s peace – IF – the “move” in question is clearly within the will of God. Jacob got that part given to him directly from a vision from God. However, almost never will that be the case for you or me. We’ll have to wait on God’s peace to come when we bring some leaning to God’s throne of grace. But the promise is clear, if we are truly trying to be obedient to God’s will and we come to Him with a pure, humble, and thankful spirit (which is many times the toughest part), God will or will not give us His peace. If we don’t get this peace, God is either showing us that the “move” is not in His will, or He’s simply getting us to wait on Him for further directions. But if that “peace which surpasses all understanding” comes in this process, the green light is on from God for the “move” in question.
For many years now, I’ve used this decision-making process in my life; and God has never failed me in it. The Lord made it easy for Jacob; and he took his family into unknown, “enemy” territory with the promise that God would go ahead of them and deliver them from all evils. God’s people would one day be tested in this as we know from the history of the Hebrew people being enslaved by later Pharaohs. However, God came through with His promise to Jacob; and his bones were one day, led by Moses, and delivered, along with the great nation of Israel, from Egypt back to God’s Promised Land.
I will pray that I can always remember the truth of this study, especially when I’m confronted by the anxiety producing “moves” of life. I must always remember that God will never forsake me (see Joshua 1: 5 or Heb. 13: 5); and when I’m obedient in completely seeking to follow my Lord, I must trust that He will always be there to direct my path in life (see Prov. 3: 5, 6).
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, how I do trust You and seek after Your will and direction in my life, especially when I’m confronted by a big move. Amen
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
2009 - Day 33 - The Nature Within
February 3, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: The Nature Within
Passage of the Day: Genesis 45: 16 – 28 … Linked to read, study, meditate on today’s passage …
My Journal for Today: Today’s passage is a most revealing one about our human nature. As we have read and studied in the past days, through Genesis, about the life of Joseph, we have seen that both Joseph and his brothers have been shaped, or rather re-shaped, by the circumstances of their past. However, we can also certainly say that their human natures were still there; and Joseph recognized this when he noted Pharaoh’s generous offer and charged his brothers to go back to Canaan to being their father back to Egypt.
I agree with Swindoll’s observation about Scripture. In the Bible we read very personal details, which are inserted on occasion to amplify the identification we can have with Scripture. In today’s passage, we read how Joseph saw all that Pharaoh lavished on his brothers, as well as the promise of the best of Egyptian land when they returned with Jacob. Joseph obviously had become an astute judge of human character. And we get an insight into his savvy ability to judge his brothers in verse 20, where we read Joseph’s exhortation to his brothers, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.” This admonishment can also be translated, "Do not quarrel on the journey,” as it is in the NASB.
Joseph knew that his brothers would be talking along the long caravan to Canaan; and he also knew that they had recognized that Benjamin had been given an extra offering of 300 shekels of silver, more than all the other brothers. And Joseph recognized what I think we all have observed in our lives … that human nature has trouble handling good fortune; and that we humans also have trouble when others are given more than we are given. I agree with Swindoll’s analogy in comparing this scenario with how we parent our children. There are times when we see things go well for our kids, maybe like Christmas time when they are lavished with gifts. But we have to make sure that no one of our kids gets an obvious abundance of good things because it will cause jealousy.
Well, jealousy is the human emotion that had led to his being sold into slavery; and Joseph knew that his brothers may have trouble with the reality of their good fortune as well as the imbalance of generosity bestowed on Benjamin. So, we read him, using almost parental language, in his exhortation to the brothers to avoid quarreling on the way home.
Swindoll, also points out a good principle to recognize in human nature when he writes, “I think it is safe to say that we are to trust one another, but we are never to trust one another’s nature.” This is very good advice, not only to parents raising their kids, but also to all of us as we deal with the human nature of those who have gained our trust as loved ones. I’m sure we all can remember how our fellow humans, maybe even family members or good friends, have disappointed us by doing something selfish or unseemly in our relationships with them. Maybe we, ourselves, were the ones who perpetrated our selfishness on others in breeching some trust in our dealings with others.
I hope you have family or friends whom you can trust. However, I know that we all must be wary of our Romans 3: 23 nature. I hope you know that passage, which reads, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God wants for us to be able to trust others, just like we are commanded to trust Him (see Prov. 3: 5 – 6). However, when we do place our trust in others, do not be surprised if those whom we’ve trusted fall short; because the one who falls short may, someday, be me.
My Prayer for Today: Help me to trust others, Lord; but I also know, my Savior, that I’m one choice away from disappointing another with my human failings. But above all help me to trust in You … ALWAYS! Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 45: 16 – 28 … Linked to read, study, meditate on today’s passage …
My Journal for Today: Today’s passage is a most revealing one about our human nature. As we have read and studied in the past days, through Genesis, about the life of Joseph, we have seen that both Joseph and his brothers have been shaped, or rather re-shaped, by the circumstances of their past. However, we can also certainly say that their human natures were still there; and Joseph recognized this when he noted Pharaoh’s generous offer and charged his brothers to go back to Canaan to being their father back to Egypt.
I agree with Swindoll’s observation about Scripture. In the Bible we read very personal details, which are inserted on occasion to amplify the identification we can have with Scripture. In today’s passage, we read how Joseph saw all that Pharaoh lavished on his brothers, as well as the promise of the best of Egyptian land when they returned with Jacob. Joseph obviously had become an astute judge of human character. And we get an insight into his savvy ability to judge his brothers in verse 20, where we read Joseph’s exhortation to his brothers, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.” This admonishment can also be translated, "Do not quarrel on the journey,” as it is in the NASB.
Joseph knew that his brothers would be talking along the long caravan to Canaan; and he also knew that they had recognized that Benjamin had been given an extra offering of 300 shekels of silver, more than all the other brothers. And Joseph recognized what I think we all have observed in our lives … that human nature has trouble handling good fortune; and that we humans also have trouble when others are given more than we are given. I agree with Swindoll’s analogy in comparing this scenario with how we parent our children. There are times when we see things go well for our kids, maybe like Christmas time when they are lavished with gifts. But we have to make sure that no one of our kids gets an obvious abundance of good things because it will cause jealousy.
Well, jealousy is the human emotion that had led to his being sold into slavery; and Joseph knew that his brothers may have trouble with the reality of their good fortune as well as the imbalance of generosity bestowed on Benjamin. So, we read him, using almost parental language, in his exhortation to the brothers to avoid quarreling on the way home.
Swindoll, also points out a good principle to recognize in human nature when he writes, “I think it is safe to say that we are to trust one another, but we are never to trust one another’s nature.” This is very good advice, not only to parents raising their kids, but also to all of us as we deal with the human nature of those who have gained our trust as loved ones. I’m sure we all can remember how our fellow humans, maybe even family members or good friends, have disappointed us by doing something selfish or unseemly in our relationships with them. Maybe we, ourselves, were the ones who perpetrated our selfishness on others in breeching some trust in our dealings with others.
I hope you have family or friends whom you can trust. However, I know that we all must be wary of our Romans 3: 23 nature. I hope you know that passage, which reads, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God wants for us to be able to trust others, just like we are commanded to trust Him (see Prov. 3: 5 – 6). However, when we do place our trust in others, do not be surprised if those whom we’ve trusted fall short; because the one who falls short may, someday, be me.
My Prayer for Today: Help me to trust others, Lord; but I also know, my Savior, that I’m one choice away from disappointing another with my human failings. But above all help me to trust in You … ALWAYS! Amen
Monday, February 02, 2009
2009 - Day 33 - Walk By Faith
February 2, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Walk By Faith
Passage of the Day: Genesis 45: 9 – 13 … 9 “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.”’ 12 “And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”
My Journal for Today: If you are reading here for the first time, you probably should go back at least one day and meditate on my journal entry for yesterday where I covered Swindoll’s point that one’s attitude leads to action. And for today that theme is carried over with an emphasis on the reality that one’s attitude will determine one’s faith … and visa versa. It is an equation. Attitude equals faith; and faith equals attitude. To quote a closing line from Swindoll today, “A faith-filled life means all the difference in how we view everything around us. It affects our attitudes toward people, toward location, toward situation, toward circumstances, [and] toward ourselves. Only then do our feet become swift to do what is right.”
And this returns me to a theme which was developed earlier in the study of Joseph, our hero, who was whom he became because of his vertical attitude, which was, in turn, determined because Joseph faithfully saw God in every where he was, … at any moment in time, … no matter where that might be. It was his faith that determined his attitude; and then it was his attitude which influenced his actions. In today’s scenario we see that Joseph rose above petty human vengeance and bitterness, being a shining example of Christ-like humility and forgiveness.
Joseph saw that God had brought him to this place with his brothers; and furthermore, he saw that it was God who had changed even the likes of Judah, who had been his most hateful brother. And so Joseph’s faith shaped his attitude; and his attitude shaped his mercy and generosity as he charged his brothers – IN FAITH – to go back, fully laden with provisions, and to bring their father, Israel, back to Joseph.
Swindoll makes the point that Joseph’s life illustrates several key points about faith and attitude.
· First, he writes, “When I’m able, by faith, to see God’s plan in my location, my attitude will be right.”
· Then, his says, “When I’m able, by faith, to sense God’s hand in my situation, my attitude will be right”
· And finally, Swindoll writes, “When I’m able, by faith, to accept both my location and situation as good, even when there’s been evil in the process, my attitude will be right.”
Okay, have you just done an attitude and faith inventory, as I have? I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some faith building and attitude adjusting to do in my life. Or a better way to see it would be to surrender and let God use His sanctifying grace to shape my attitude and faith for my life to come.
However, and this is important for us all to see; I can proactively and intentionally work to see life vertically in any or all of life, before relenting to my very human reactions of fearfulness or selfishness. I can internalize the truth of Romans 8: 28, which speaks volumes, and with power, about how we view where God has led us or placed us. I hope you KNOW that verse; and I don’t mean that you just have it memorized. I pray that God can help me internalize its truth; and to let this word from God, along with Prov. 3: 5 – 6, be the credo of my life’s attitude and faithfulness.
Before I was a Christian, I used to love the old Frank Sinatra song, My Way, because it seemed to espouse an attitude of SELF confidence and SELF control. However, I’ve come to see that my life needs to write a song entitled His Way, which is characterized by the attitudes of humility and surrender; … so that my life, as it unfolds, can be patterned after a man like Joseph, or even more aptly like that of Christ … and certainly not the likes of Frank Sinatra.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to see life, in faith, through Your will, from Your word; and then I pray to do life Your way rather than mine. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 45: 9 – 13 … 9 “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.”’ 12 “And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”
My Journal for Today: If you are reading here for the first time, you probably should go back at least one day and meditate on my journal entry for yesterday where I covered Swindoll’s point that one’s attitude leads to action. And for today that theme is carried over with an emphasis on the reality that one’s attitude will determine one’s faith … and visa versa. It is an equation. Attitude equals faith; and faith equals attitude. To quote a closing line from Swindoll today, “A faith-filled life means all the difference in how we view everything around us. It affects our attitudes toward people, toward location, toward situation, toward circumstances, [and] toward ourselves. Only then do our feet become swift to do what is right.”
And this returns me to a theme which was developed earlier in the study of Joseph, our hero, who was whom he became because of his vertical attitude, which was, in turn, determined because Joseph faithfully saw God in every where he was, … at any moment in time, … no matter where that might be. It was his faith that determined his attitude; and then it was his attitude which influenced his actions. In today’s scenario we see that Joseph rose above petty human vengeance and bitterness, being a shining example of Christ-like humility and forgiveness.
Joseph saw that God had brought him to this place with his brothers; and furthermore, he saw that it was God who had changed even the likes of Judah, who had been his most hateful brother. And so Joseph’s faith shaped his attitude; and his attitude shaped his mercy and generosity as he charged his brothers – IN FAITH – to go back, fully laden with provisions, and to bring their father, Israel, back to Joseph.
Swindoll makes the point that Joseph’s life illustrates several key points about faith and attitude.
· First, he writes, “When I’m able, by faith, to see God’s plan in my location, my attitude will be right.”
· Then, his says, “When I’m able, by faith, to sense God’s hand in my situation, my attitude will be right”
· And finally, Swindoll writes, “When I’m able, by faith, to accept both my location and situation as good, even when there’s been evil in the process, my attitude will be right.”
Okay, have you just done an attitude and faith inventory, as I have? I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some faith building and attitude adjusting to do in my life. Or a better way to see it would be to surrender and let God use His sanctifying grace to shape my attitude and faith for my life to come.
However, and this is important for us all to see; I can proactively and intentionally work to see life vertically in any or all of life, before relenting to my very human reactions of fearfulness or selfishness. I can internalize the truth of Romans 8: 28, which speaks volumes, and with power, about how we view where God has led us or placed us. I hope you KNOW that verse; and I don’t mean that you just have it memorized. I pray that God can help me internalize its truth; and to let this word from God, along with Prov. 3: 5 – 6, be the credo of my life’s attitude and faithfulness.
Before I was a Christian, I used to love the old Frank Sinatra song, My Way, because it seemed to espouse an attitude of SELF confidence and SELF control. However, I’ve come to see that my life needs to write a song entitled His Way, which is characterized by the attitudes of humility and surrender; … so that my life, as it unfolds, can be patterned after a man like Joseph, or even more aptly like that of Christ … and certainly not the likes of Frank Sinatra.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to see life, in faith, through Your will, from Your word; and then I pray to do life Your way rather than mine. Amen
Sunday, February 01, 2009
2009 - Day 32 - Attitude Adjustment
February, 2009 Topic: Joseph: A Man of Integrity & Forgiveness - Continued
We move into February and continue for a couple of weeks with Chuck Swindoll’s devotional exposition of the life of Joseph. If you’re reading and studying along with me in these journal entries, I hope you’re getting as much from this study as I am. But, we move on in Swindoll’s coverage in his devotional book, Great Days with the Great Lives.
Administrative Reminder: Again all Scriptures quoted in my journal entries will be from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise referenced.
===================
February 1, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Attitude Adjustment
Passage of the Day: Genesis 45: 8 – 9 … [Joseph speaking to his brothers] 8 “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father [Hebrew “ab,” meaning a respected head of a people or family] to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 9 “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry.’ ”
My Journal for Today: Swindoll closes out his devotional today, entitled “Attitude Adjustment” with a one sentence sermon, inspired by the late preacher, John Henry Jowett. He writes: “Greatness is revealed mainly in our attitude.”
What a powerful statement of what Joseph represented for all believers in God’s word. Think about it! Here was a man who, based upon his life, could have displayed such attitudes as anger, bitterness, hatred, or vengeance. Yet, as Swindoll writes, he had chosen to become “… supportive, merciful, gracious, generous, and [totally] unselfish.” And about Whom does that remind you? Well, the capital “W” may give that riddle away.
Yes, Joseph, as I’ve said in past journal entries is a type of Christ in the Old Testament. And through the trials and testing of his life, Joseph was developed by God with attitudes very unlike most men; and, when you analyze his vertical outlook, he had become a man much like The Messiah for Whom looked toward, but Whom we can celebrate as our Risen Lord.
There is a New Testament scripture to which I’ve often referred in my discipleship and teaching in Phil. 2 (verse 5) which states clearly what the attitude of those claim Christ as Lord should be. It states, Let this mind [or attitude] be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ... I also think of Ephesians 4: 1-3, where Paul exhorts Christians, ... I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Can you see, as I do, that as Christians we are practically commanded to move toward worthiness as disciples of our Lord … to develop and maintain an attitude which is modeled by Christ. If we are Christians, that is, like Paul says, “prisoners of the Lord,” we are to be surrendered and have an attitude which honors our Lord and Savior, Jesus. But what are the attitude and value qualities to which we, like Joseph, should aspire and develop? In answer to that important discipleship question, I believe those are also found in the writings of Paul in Galatians 5: 22 – 23, i.e., the fruit of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (or meekness), AND self-control.
The wonderful thing about being a New Covenant believer is that we are given ALL of these qualities, the values of Christlikeness, when we are truly born-again as Christians. Joseph, I believe, also had the Holy Spirit guiding him in his life as a type of Christ whom we can read about in Scripture; but just like New Testament Christians, Joseph had to be in surrender to God’s Spirit to develop and exhibit the qualities we have read about in Genesis, where his life becomes a shining example of a Christ-like attitude.
I truly hope (and pray) that I can not only aspire to have an attitude like Christ, but to humbly walk in surrender to His Spirit, Who can/will allow the fruit of His very being to permeate my mind and heart and to help me develop an attitude which is like that of our Savior.
I pray that is the goal we all have in Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Help me, Lord, to have Your attitude as I make decisions and act in worthiness to Your Name. Amen
We move into February and continue for a couple of weeks with Chuck Swindoll’s devotional exposition of the life of Joseph. If you’re reading and studying along with me in these journal entries, I hope you’re getting as much from this study as I am. But, we move on in Swindoll’s coverage in his devotional book, Great Days with the Great Lives.
Administrative Reminder: Again all Scriptures quoted in my journal entries will be from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise referenced.
===================
February 1, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Attitude Adjustment
Passage of the Day: Genesis 45: 8 – 9 … [Joseph speaking to his brothers] 8 “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father [Hebrew “ab,” meaning a respected head of a people or family] to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 9 “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry.’ ”
My Journal for Today: Swindoll closes out his devotional today, entitled “Attitude Adjustment” with a one sentence sermon, inspired by the late preacher, John Henry Jowett. He writes: “Greatness is revealed mainly in our attitude.”
What a powerful statement of what Joseph represented for all believers in God’s word. Think about it! Here was a man who, based upon his life, could have displayed such attitudes as anger, bitterness, hatred, or vengeance. Yet, as Swindoll writes, he had chosen to become “… supportive, merciful, gracious, generous, and [totally] unselfish.” And about Whom does that remind you? Well, the capital “W” may give that riddle away.
Yes, Joseph, as I’ve said in past journal entries is a type of Christ in the Old Testament. And through the trials and testing of his life, Joseph was developed by God with attitudes very unlike most men; and, when you analyze his vertical outlook, he had become a man much like The Messiah for Whom looked toward, but Whom we can celebrate as our Risen Lord.
There is a New Testament scripture to which I’ve often referred in my discipleship and teaching in Phil. 2 (verse 5) which states clearly what the attitude of those claim Christ as Lord should be. It states, Let this mind [or attitude] be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ... I also think of Ephesians 4: 1-3, where Paul exhorts Christians, ... I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Can you see, as I do, that as Christians we are practically commanded to move toward worthiness as disciples of our Lord … to develop and maintain an attitude which is modeled by Christ. If we are Christians, that is, like Paul says, “prisoners of the Lord,” we are to be surrendered and have an attitude which honors our Lord and Savior, Jesus. But what are the attitude and value qualities to which we, like Joseph, should aspire and develop? In answer to that important discipleship question, I believe those are also found in the writings of Paul in Galatians 5: 22 – 23, i.e., the fruit of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (or meekness), AND self-control.
The wonderful thing about being a New Covenant believer is that we are given ALL of these qualities, the values of Christlikeness, when we are truly born-again as Christians. Joseph, I believe, also had the Holy Spirit guiding him in his life as a type of Christ whom we can read about in Scripture; but just like New Testament Christians, Joseph had to be in surrender to God’s Spirit to develop and exhibit the qualities we have read about in Genesis, where his life becomes a shining example of a Christ-like attitude.
I truly hope (and pray) that I can not only aspire to have an attitude like Christ, but to humbly walk in surrender to His Spirit, Who can/will allow the fruit of His very being to permeate my mind and heart and to help me develop an attitude which is like that of our Savior.
I pray that is the goal we all have in Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Help me, Lord, to have Your attitude as I make decisions and act in worthiness to Your Name. Amen
Saturday, January 31, 2009
2009 - Day 31 - Grace to the Guilty
January 31, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Grace to the Guilty
Passage of the Day: Genesis 45: 1 – 8 … 1 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. 4 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
My Journal for Today: Note the words I have highlighted in bold and red in today’s passage … “AND God” as well as ”BUT GOD!” In so many things in life, which turn things around in the face of human failure or seemingly impossible odds, we can only say, “BUT GOD did it” or “AND GOD was at work here.” Certainly this applies to the scenario involving Joseph and his brothers. I don’t think I need to remind you of the incredible place Joseph had found himself in the presence of his brothers who had sold him into slavery almost 20 years earlier. BUT GOD and His grace had intervened; and as we saw in the last two days, AND GOD had shown Joseph how His transforming grace had changed the brothers, especially their leader, Judah, who was quite obviously a changed man.
BUT GOD had also changed Joseph, who was tried by the fires of life in Egypt, … by the tests of temptation by Potiphar’s wife, … by the rigors of unjust imprisonment, … and by the elevation of power … to be in exactly this place in time, willing and able to say to his brothers [in verse 7 above], “AND GOD sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” And how revealing is this as a vertical perspective on life, as we studied from Genesis earlier this month? Really, I doubt if a better example could be found.
Do you have any BUT GOD instances or AND GOD stories in your life? I sure do. If one could have known me close to 30 years ago, a cynical agnostic who was deeply into a double life of habitual sexual sin; and then to compare that with my life now as a surrendered Christian who has been transformed to love and serve God as totally as I can. One would have to say, "ONLY GOD could do something like that in someone’s life.”
Like Joseph’s transformation and Judah’s transformation, mine is definitely an “AND GOD” alone story. It’s way above any set of human choices to come from where Judah, Joseph, and Bill Berry came in our lives. I’m certainly not trying to elevate myself to the status of a Joseph; but my story, like his, is definitely A GOD THING! And in such super-human stories, as humbly as I can reveal mine, as well a theirs in today’s passage, only God gets the glory – exactly as it should be!
I hope you’re now thinking of a “BUT GOD” or an “AND GOD” story from your life, thanking our Lord for where He has brought you in life; because, as Christians, we probably all have them; and we can all say, as our Genesis hero Joseph could say, … “TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!”
My Prayer Today: Lord, You and You alone could take my life from then to now; and may it be only for Your glory. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 45: 1 – 8 … 1 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. 4 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
My Journal for Today: Note the words I have highlighted in bold and red in today’s passage … “AND God” as well as ”BUT GOD!” In so many things in life, which turn things around in the face of human failure or seemingly impossible odds, we can only say, “BUT GOD did it” or “AND GOD was at work here.” Certainly this applies to the scenario involving Joseph and his brothers. I don’t think I need to remind you of the incredible place Joseph had found himself in the presence of his brothers who had sold him into slavery almost 20 years earlier. BUT GOD and His grace had intervened; and as we saw in the last two days, AND GOD had shown Joseph how His transforming grace had changed the brothers, especially their leader, Judah, who was quite obviously a changed man.
BUT GOD had also changed Joseph, who was tried by the fires of life in Egypt, … by the tests of temptation by Potiphar’s wife, … by the rigors of unjust imprisonment, … and by the elevation of power … to be in exactly this place in time, willing and able to say to his brothers [in verse 7 above], “AND GOD sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” And how revealing is this as a vertical perspective on life, as we studied from Genesis earlier this month? Really, I doubt if a better example could be found.
Do you have any BUT GOD instances or AND GOD stories in your life? I sure do. If one could have known me close to 30 years ago, a cynical agnostic who was deeply into a double life of habitual sexual sin; and then to compare that with my life now as a surrendered Christian who has been transformed to love and serve God as totally as I can. One would have to say, "ONLY GOD could do something like that in someone’s life.”
Like Joseph’s transformation and Judah’s transformation, mine is definitely an “AND GOD” alone story. It’s way above any set of human choices to come from where Judah, Joseph, and Bill Berry came in our lives. I’m certainly not trying to elevate myself to the status of a Joseph; but my story, like his, is definitely A GOD THING! And in such super-human stories, as humbly as I can reveal mine, as well a theirs in today’s passage, only God gets the glory – exactly as it should be!
I hope you’re now thinking of a “BUT GOD” or an “AND GOD” story from your life, thanking our Lord for where He has brought you in life; because, as Christians, we probably all have them; and we can all say, as our Genesis hero Joseph could say, … “TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!”
My Prayer Today: Lord, You and You alone could take my life from then to now; and may it be only for Your glory. Amen
Friday, January 30, 2009
2009 - Day 30 - Final Exam, Part Two
January 30, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Final Exam, Part Two
Passage of the Day: Genesis 44: 17 – 34 … Link available for your reading/study …
My Journal for Today: As Swindoll points out in Great Days with the Great Lives, yesterday reviewed Joseph’s test of his brothers’ vertical perspective, … i.e., how they viewed their past and present through God’s eternal view of life. And the brothers, especially the key older one, Judah, passed that vertical test with flying colors. Now, for today’s devotional, we see Joseph continuing his testing with one more angle of examination, this time focusing on the horizontal perspective of the brothers toward their father and the younger brother, Benjamin. And again, with Judah becoming the spokesman and focus of this test for the brothers, Joseph sees his long lost family as changed men.
To me, this scenario is an Old Covenant picture of how God’s saving and enabling grace brings transformation in any who are willing to surrender to God and allow His Spirit to bring about Godly change in the values, choices, and lives of a child of God. And Judah is a prime example of the transformational power of God for believers. Some 20 years earlier it was Judah’s jealousy and hatred for the sons of Rachel and indirectly for their father, which brought him to strike out at Jacob (i.e., Israel) by using Joseph, first planning to kill him … then deciding to lead the brothers to sell him into slavery so that they could benefit financially from his sin-driven hatred. And now, in Joseph’s testing and Judah’s response, we see a transformed man, Judah being very willing to unselfishly protect young Benjamin, also a son of Rachel, as well as to choose to protect his father, protecting him from the loss of “another” son (at least in what Judah imagined would be Jacob’s feelings).
Isn’t this a wonderful Old Testament example of the New Covenant truth and reality expressed in 2nd Cor. 5: 17, … that God produces changed lives from the reception of God’s grace (see also Eph. 2: 8 – 10)? Judah passed Joseph’s tests completely because Judah displayed God’s fruit of transformation, which shown through like a light in the darkness.
And we need to see that God will allow challenges into our lives, as those confronted by a man like Judah to help us grow into His fruitfulness and to be purged from our flesh-driven ungodliness, as we can read the Apostle Paul write about in Gal. 5: 19 - 23. That’s what Joseph saw in Judah; and I know that Joseph must have smiled with satisfaction, like God must when we pass His tests and shine our Godly light in the dark places of life so as to glorify our Father in Heaven (see Matt. 5: 16).
My Prayer Today: Father, as You test me, may I be prepared to pass with Your flying colors and grow in Christlikeness. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 44: 17 – 34 … Link available for your reading/study …
My Journal for Today: As Swindoll points out in Great Days with the Great Lives, yesterday reviewed Joseph’s test of his brothers’ vertical perspective, … i.e., how they viewed their past and present through God’s eternal view of life. And the brothers, especially the key older one, Judah, passed that vertical test with flying colors. Now, for today’s devotional, we see Joseph continuing his testing with one more angle of examination, this time focusing on the horizontal perspective of the brothers toward their father and the younger brother, Benjamin. And again, with Judah becoming the spokesman and focus of this test for the brothers, Joseph sees his long lost family as changed men.
To me, this scenario is an Old Covenant picture of how God’s saving and enabling grace brings transformation in any who are willing to surrender to God and allow His Spirit to bring about Godly change in the values, choices, and lives of a child of God. And Judah is a prime example of the transformational power of God for believers. Some 20 years earlier it was Judah’s jealousy and hatred for the sons of Rachel and indirectly for their father, which brought him to strike out at Jacob (i.e., Israel) by using Joseph, first planning to kill him … then deciding to lead the brothers to sell him into slavery so that they could benefit financially from his sin-driven hatred. And now, in Joseph’s testing and Judah’s response, we see a transformed man, Judah being very willing to unselfishly protect young Benjamin, also a son of Rachel, as well as to choose to protect his father, protecting him from the loss of “another” son (at least in what Judah imagined would be Jacob’s feelings).
Isn’t this a wonderful Old Testament example of the New Covenant truth and reality expressed in 2nd Cor. 5: 17, … that God produces changed lives from the reception of God’s grace (see also Eph. 2: 8 – 10)? Judah passed Joseph’s tests completely because Judah displayed God’s fruit of transformation, which shown through like a light in the darkness.
And we need to see that God will allow challenges into our lives, as those confronted by a man like Judah to help us grow into His fruitfulness and to be purged from our flesh-driven ungodliness, as we can read the Apostle Paul write about in Gal. 5: 19 - 23. That’s what Joseph saw in Judah; and I know that Joseph must have smiled with satisfaction, like God must when we pass His tests and shine our Godly light in the dark places of life so as to glorify our Father in Heaven (see Matt. 5: 16).
My Prayer Today: Father, as You test me, may I be prepared to pass with Your flying colors and grow in Christlikeness. Amen
Thursday, January 29, 2009
2009 - Day 29 - Final Exam, Part One
January 29, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Final Exam, Part One
Passage of the Day: Genesis 44: 1 – 16 … Utilize this link to read, study, and mediate on this passage.
My Journal for Today: This is interesting stuff for any believer. It sure is for me. Here we have Joseph setting up a test, a trial for his brothers, to see if they had Godly values in their heart. And as the trial unfolds, we see Joseph planting a silver chalice in the bag of young Benjamin, which was discovered by the Prime Minister’s steward when he came to do a check of their belongings as they were traveling back to Canaan once again with grain.
And upon the return to the household of the Master (i.e., Joseph), Judah steps forward to take the lead for the brothers, … Judah, who’s hatred had almost caused Joseph’s life when the brothers finally decided to sell him into Egypt rather than kill Joseph. And we read Judah’s remarkable confession, which was exactly what Joseph wanted to hear. I’m sure Judah’s words had to have been an answer to Joseph’s unvoiced prayers, … that the hearts of these men who had hated him over 20 years earlier would be softened, … that they would come to repent of their evil deeds, … and that they would see God at work in all of where the Lord had taken them, including this, most recent, episode.
And really, as Swindoll points out in his devotional entry, when you consider all the water under the bridge in the lives of the brothers, especially Judah, what took place in today’s passage is really God’s answers to Joseph’s prayers. Joseph didn’t want to reveal himself until he could see that the brothers had remorse, not only for the incident with the cup, but also for their past rejection of Joseph.
And in verse 16 of today’s passage, Joseph hears what he wanted to hear, … that Judah recognized that God had not let their past sins go unchallenged, … that Judah’s remorse had transformed him enough to take responsibility for the cup which implicated Benjamin, … and that here were his brothers standing before him, ready to be his brothers again.
Somehow, I know that others who read this, like myself, have unresolved anguish or hurts from the past to which we have taken to God but yet remain unresolved. I still pray for a sister who is lost, one who totally rejects God in her life; but like Joseph, I have seen God intervene in the lives of family to bring them to Himself. My mother, whom I feared was lost, came to confess Christ as her Savior just hours before she passed away, literally on her death-bed. My wife’s mother, who was deeply into dementia in her last years, we’re convinced, had a Spirit-led epiphany, discovering God just about a year before she died. So, meditating on this scenario unfolding in the life of Joseph and knowing and believing God’s word in 2nd Peter 3: 9 [linked for you here] , that He desires that my sister come to Him just as Elly patiently waited and saw our mothers saved by God’s grace, I am lifted up with hope.
So, if you’re like Joseph, doing all you can, but leaving unresolved family issues on God’s throne of grace, hopefully you can find a refuge of hope in today’s passage and my words of testimony and witness. God desires that any/all come to Him; but it still must be those who can repent and receive His saving grace. And we read that truth in Judah’s answer to Joseph’s trial.
Keep praying for lost or wayward family; God not only relishes in your trust and patience. He also patiently waits for His chosen family, like Judah, to seek His mercy.
My Prayer Today: Like Joseph, Lord, I wait on You to intervene in the life of my family to bring them to repentance and salvation. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 44: 1 – 16 … Utilize this link to read, study, and mediate on this passage.
My Journal for Today: This is interesting stuff for any believer. It sure is for me. Here we have Joseph setting up a test, a trial for his brothers, to see if they had Godly values in their heart. And as the trial unfolds, we see Joseph planting a silver chalice in the bag of young Benjamin, which was discovered by the Prime Minister’s steward when he came to do a check of their belongings as they were traveling back to Canaan once again with grain.
And upon the return to the household of the Master (i.e., Joseph), Judah steps forward to take the lead for the brothers, … Judah, who’s hatred had almost caused Joseph’s life when the brothers finally decided to sell him into Egypt rather than kill Joseph. And we read Judah’s remarkable confession, which was exactly what Joseph wanted to hear. I’m sure Judah’s words had to have been an answer to Joseph’s unvoiced prayers, … that the hearts of these men who had hated him over 20 years earlier would be softened, … that they would come to repent of their evil deeds, … and that they would see God at work in all of where the Lord had taken them, including this, most recent, episode.
And really, as Swindoll points out in his devotional entry, when you consider all the water under the bridge in the lives of the brothers, especially Judah, what took place in today’s passage is really God’s answers to Joseph’s prayers. Joseph didn’t want to reveal himself until he could see that the brothers had remorse, not only for the incident with the cup, but also for their past rejection of Joseph.
And in verse 16 of today’s passage, Joseph hears what he wanted to hear, … that Judah recognized that God had not let their past sins go unchallenged, … that Judah’s remorse had transformed him enough to take responsibility for the cup which implicated Benjamin, … and that here were his brothers standing before him, ready to be his brothers again.
Somehow, I know that others who read this, like myself, have unresolved anguish or hurts from the past to which we have taken to God but yet remain unresolved. I still pray for a sister who is lost, one who totally rejects God in her life; but like Joseph, I have seen God intervene in the lives of family to bring them to Himself. My mother, whom I feared was lost, came to confess Christ as her Savior just hours before she passed away, literally on her death-bed. My wife’s mother, who was deeply into dementia in her last years, we’re convinced, had a Spirit-led epiphany, discovering God just about a year before she died. So, meditating on this scenario unfolding in the life of Joseph and knowing and believing God’s word in 2nd Peter 3: 9 [linked for you here] , that He desires that my sister come to Him just as Elly patiently waited and saw our mothers saved by God’s grace, I am lifted up with hope.
So, if you’re like Joseph, doing all you can, but leaving unresolved family issues on God’s throne of grace, hopefully you can find a refuge of hope in today’s passage and my words of testimony and witness. God desires that any/all come to Him; but it still must be those who can repent and receive His saving grace. And we read that truth in Judah’s answer to Joseph’s trial.
Keep praying for lost or wayward family; God not only relishes in your trust and patience. He also patiently waits for His chosen family, like Judah, to seek His mercy.
My Prayer Today: Like Joseph, Lord, I wait on You to intervene in the life of my family to bring them to repentance and salvation. Amen
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
2009 - Day 28 - A Reflection of Christ
January 28, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: A Reflection of Christ
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 33 – 34 ... 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. 34 Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.
My Journal for Today: Today, emphasizing Joseph being a picture of the mercy and grace of our Lord, Jesus, Swindoll closes his devotional entry, reinforcing what he spoke of yesterday: …
First Swindoll makes reference to the passage in Isaiah 30: 18, certainly appropriate for this study …
Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
Then Swindoll continues … “Do you long for Him [i.e., Christ]? I’ve got great news! In an even greater way – greater than you could ever imagine – [our Lord] longs to be gracious to you. He is offering you all the things you hunger for. The table is loaded, and He is smiling, … waiting for you to sit down and enjoy the feast He prepared with you in mind. Have a seat – grace is being served.”
As we pointed toward in yesterday’s devotional, that is the picture we get from meditating on this segment of Genesis 43, where Joseph’s brothers, being convicted and repenting of their past treatment of Joseph, were treated, without knowing all there was to know of their brother, to an overflowing and limitless abundance of grace from this lord of the king’s household.
As Swindoll repeats today, can we see ourselves at our Lord’s table of mercy and grace? Because if/when we can, we will find that, with our being receptive to His mercy, we can join in with THE LORD of God’s kingdom, dining with Him in His abundance forever. That is the message of Rev. 3: 20 – 21, which states, …
20 Behold, I [The Lord] stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Is that not the coolest prospect one could imagine, especially since I deserve nothing short of death for what my sinful life represents? Well, I don’t know about you, but I pray that my life is lived by being willing to open that door and letting my Lord in so that I can dine with Him – at His table.
My Prayer Today: Lord, come in and dine with me! Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 33 – 34 ... 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. 34 Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.
My Journal for Today: Today, emphasizing Joseph being a picture of the mercy and grace of our Lord, Jesus, Swindoll closes his devotional entry, reinforcing what he spoke of yesterday: …
First Swindoll makes reference to the passage in Isaiah 30: 18, certainly appropriate for this study …
Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
Then Swindoll continues … “Do you long for Him [i.e., Christ]? I’ve got great news! In an even greater way – greater than you could ever imagine – [our Lord] longs to be gracious to you. He is offering you all the things you hunger for. The table is loaded, and He is smiling, … waiting for you to sit down and enjoy the feast He prepared with you in mind. Have a seat – grace is being served.”
As we pointed toward in yesterday’s devotional, that is the picture we get from meditating on this segment of Genesis 43, where Joseph’s brothers, being convicted and repenting of their past treatment of Joseph, were treated, without knowing all there was to know of their brother, to an overflowing and limitless abundance of grace from this lord of the king’s household.
As Swindoll repeats today, can we see ourselves at our Lord’s table of mercy and grace? Because if/when we can, we will find that, with our being receptive to His mercy, we can join in with THE LORD of God’s kingdom, dining with Him in His abundance forever. That is the message of Rev. 3: 20 – 21, which states, …
20 Behold, I [The Lord] stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Is that not the coolest prospect one could imagine, especially since I deserve nothing short of death for what my sinful life represents? Well, I don’t know about you, but I pray that my life is lived by being willing to open that door and letting my Lord in so that I can dine with Him – at His table.
My Prayer Today: Lord, come in and dine with me! Amen
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
2009 - Day 27 - A Banquet of Grace
January 27, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: A Banquet of Grace
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 31 – 34 ... 31 Then he [Joseph, after being overwhelmed with emotion and tears] washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, “Serve the bread.” 32 So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. 34 Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.
My Journal for Today: One doesn’t have a doctorate in theology or Old Testament religion to see what the scene in today’s chosen passage depicts. It is a banquet of grace with which all born-again Christians ought to identify.
Here we have a band of sinners, Joseph’s brothers, who had come into the presence of a powerful lord. They had their past sins on their consciousness; and they were filled with guilt and fear as to what their fate might be. They had acknowledged their guilt before God, recognizing and repenting of their ways; but now they had humbly come into the presence of one who could meet out any justice he saw fit for them.
And it was to their astonishment that they were entreated to mercy from the lord of this household, actually to a banquet of grace. They certainly didn’t deserve to sit and feast in the king’s court and partake of this lavish bounty offered to them. But they were overjoyed to be able to do so, partaking from the mercy offered to them by this grace-filled lord.
And now, as much as any time during the Old Testament character study I have undertaken with Chuck Swindoll’s help, I think one can see why I see Joseph as an Old Covenant picture of the character of our Lord and Messiah, Jesus. These men had done nothing short of pound the nails in the hands/feet of their brother, much as we have done to Christ with our sinful past. And the sinful brothers in this tale, like yours truly, deserved nothing short of death. But like Joseph’s brothers, recognizing my sin and receiving the grace of my Lord, the Christ, I can now sit at His table and partake in faith from His mercy and grace, which is unlimited and full of abounding favor.
And truly, God’ mercy, depicted in this scenario today, in the words of John Newton’s wonderful hymn, is “AMAZING GRACE that saved a wretch like me.” And this was also the case for the guilt ridden brothers of Joseph. And one day, though I deserve death, I will sit at the wedding feast of the Lamb of God because I have acknowledged my sin and received my Lord’s grace. And so, in this little scene from Genesis 43 we see a picture of why we can find our salvation from a merciful God, Whose grace abounds in the face of our guilt.
Do I sense a “PRAISE GOD” and a “HALLELUJAH [!!]” from anyone reading here? Those are certainly my feelings; and I hope you share them.
My Prayer Today: Oh, praise Your Holy Name, Lord, for my being able to sit at Your table of love and grace. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 31 – 34 ... 31 Then he [Joseph, after being overwhelmed with emotion and tears] washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, “Serve the bread.” 32 So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. 34 Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.
My Journal for Today: One doesn’t have a doctorate in theology or Old Testament religion to see what the scene in today’s chosen passage depicts. It is a banquet of grace with which all born-again Christians ought to identify.
Here we have a band of sinners, Joseph’s brothers, who had come into the presence of a powerful lord. They had their past sins on their consciousness; and they were filled with guilt and fear as to what their fate might be. They had acknowledged their guilt before God, recognizing and repenting of their ways; but now they had humbly come into the presence of one who could meet out any justice he saw fit for them.
And it was to their astonishment that they were entreated to mercy from the lord of this household, actually to a banquet of grace. They certainly didn’t deserve to sit and feast in the king’s court and partake of this lavish bounty offered to them. But they were overjoyed to be able to do so, partaking from the mercy offered to them by this grace-filled lord.
And now, as much as any time during the Old Testament character study I have undertaken with Chuck Swindoll’s help, I think one can see why I see Joseph as an Old Covenant picture of the character of our Lord and Messiah, Jesus. These men had done nothing short of pound the nails in the hands/feet of their brother, much as we have done to Christ with our sinful past. And the sinful brothers in this tale, like yours truly, deserved nothing short of death. But like Joseph’s brothers, recognizing my sin and receiving the grace of my Lord, the Christ, I can now sit at His table and partake in faith from His mercy and grace, which is unlimited and full of abounding favor.
And truly, God’ mercy, depicted in this scenario today, in the words of John Newton’s wonderful hymn, is “AMAZING GRACE that saved a wretch like me.” And this was also the case for the guilt ridden brothers of Joseph. And one day, though I deserve death, I will sit at the wedding feast of the Lamb of God because I have acknowledged my sin and received my Lord’s grace. And so, in this little scene from Genesis 43 we see a picture of why we can find our salvation from a merciful God, Whose grace abounds in the face of our guilt.
Do I sense a “PRAISE GOD” and a “HALLELUJAH [!!]” from anyone reading here? Those are certainly my feelings; and I hope you share them.
My Prayer Today: Oh, praise Your Holy Name, Lord, for my being able to sit at Your table of love and grace. Amen
Monday, January 26, 2009
2009 - Day 26 - Strength To Weep
January 26, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Strength To Weep
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 24 – 30 ... 24 So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. 25 Then they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there. 26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to the earth. 27 Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves. 29 Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there.
My Journal for Today: Don’t you just love the realness of Scripture? Here was our strong and mighty hero, the Prime Minister over millions; and our Bible tells us that Joseph, learning that all of his brothers were finally with him, including the young one, Benjamin, whom he loved; and also learning that his father still lived, Joseph just lost control of his emotions and had to leave to find the solace of his bedroom where he could be alone with God and weep. As Swindoll points out, all of a sudden all those years of loneliness and missed birthdays with his family came rushing back into his consciousness; and our very human Prime Minister became the little boy back in Canaan who was at odds with his brothers. It was all just too much; and he let it all out in tears.
What I love about this is how I can identify with this human saga. We’ve all been in places where our feelings become too much. I was just at a funeral the other day for the mother of a dear friend; and just being there reminded me of the quiet strength of my mom, who is now with Jesus. The feelings flooded forth; and I know that I was not alone at the home-going celebration of this lovely woman. My tears came easily in this moment of memory and empathy. So, I can identify with the strength of Joseph to allow his feelings to flow out in tears.
I agree with Swindoll that Joseph’s weeping was not a sign of his weakness. No, to the contrary, it was a sign that his heart, being in surrender to God, could feel the pain of the past and he could express that quietly alone. He didn’t need to make a show of the emotions to his brothers. As we’ll henceforth read, the response to Joseph’s emotions was yet to be revealed to the brothers; but at this point this strong man needed to allow his feelings to be shared with the One Joseph knew he could share anything; and that was with God in solitude.
I hope that we all realize that there is nothing we cannot share with our God. He desires that we share our inner-most feelings with Him. And I hope we’re all like Joseph, with the strength and vulnerability to do just that.
My Prayer Today: Oh, Lord, your eye is on the sparrow, so I know You’re watching me. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 24 – 30 ... 24 So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. 25 Then they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there. 26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to the earth. 27 Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves. 29 Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there.
My Journal for Today: Don’t you just love the realness of Scripture? Here was our strong and mighty hero, the Prime Minister over millions; and our Bible tells us that Joseph, learning that all of his brothers were finally with him, including the young one, Benjamin, whom he loved; and also learning that his father still lived, Joseph just lost control of his emotions and had to leave to find the solace of his bedroom where he could be alone with God and weep. As Swindoll points out, all of a sudden all those years of loneliness and missed birthdays with his family came rushing back into his consciousness; and our very human Prime Minister became the little boy back in Canaan who was at odds with his brothers. It was all just too much; and he let it all out in tears.
What I love about this is how I can identify with this human saga. We’ve all been in places where our feelings become too much. I was just at a funeral the other day for the mother of a dear friend; and just being there reminded me of the quiet strength of my mom, who is now with Jesus. The feelings flooded forth; and I know that I was not alone at the home-going celebration of this lovely woman. My tears came easily in this moment of memory and empathy. So, I can identify with the strength of Joseph to allow his feelings to flow out in tears.
I agree with Swindoll that Joseph’s weeping was not a sign of his weakness. No, to the contrary, it was a sign that his heart, being in surrender to God, could feel the pain of the past and he could express that quietly alone. He didn’t need to make a show of the emotions to his brothers. As we’ll henceforth read, the response to Joseph’s emotions was yet to be revealed to the brothers; but at this point this strong man needed to allow his feelings to be shared with the One Joseph knew he could share anything; and that was with God in solitude.
I hope that we all realize that there is nothing we cannot share with our God. He desires that we share our inner-most feelings with Him. And I hope we’re all like Joseph, with the strength and vulnerability to do just that.
My Prayer Today: Oh, Lord, your eye is on the sparrow, so I know You’re watching me. Amen
Sunday, January 25, 2009
2009 - Day 25 - Calming Response
January 25, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Calming Response
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 15 – 23 … 15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” 17 Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. 18 Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.” 19 When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; 21 but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. 22 And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
My Journal for Today: Yesterday, we looked at intentionally moving toward and super-naturally developing a vertical perspective on life (i.e., a faith-based attitude) rather than reverting to one’s own natural, horizontal perspective (i.e., a fear-based attitude); and we noted that to develop the latter, we need to decide to surrender self to God and exercise faith over fear, first intentionally, and then long enough until a vertical surrender to God becomes our second nature.
In today’s passage (above) we read the result of both perspectives. Joseph’s brothers, having been returned to Joseph’s presence, certainly are illustrative of a horizontally developed, fear-based attitude which led to their guilt and anxiety in the presence of Joseph. And in Joseph’s servant, to whom the brothers poured out their story of fear, we see the results of being under the influence of Joseph, who was the exemplar of a faith-based, vertical perspective on life.
We don’t have the name of this servant, who listened to the story and recognized the anxiety of Joseph’s brothers. However, we read of his response to the men’s fears. He spoke words that would calm the men and dispel their fears. But how would such a servant of Joseph, and an Egyptian at that, be able to speak to them in this way, actually witnessing to them about the God of Abraham. Well, of course, it had to have come from the influence and teaching of Joseph, who had become a model of faithfulness to his God.
Here was a man who knew how to turn the men’s horizontal fears into a vertical perspective of faith. First, he invoked the Hebrew concept of “shalom” to these men. Note, in Gen. 43: 23, Joseph’s steward, after hearing of their fears, invokes the Hebrew greeting of “Shalom” (i.e., “Peace be with you), which had to have had a calming effect on these men. Then this faithful witness for Joseph, who very likely had become a believer under Joseph’s influence, knows exactly what to say – telling the men the truth – to dispel their anxiety; and in his words we read of the Egyptian’s witness of their own “Elohiym,” their God Almighty, which undoubtedly helped the brothers to see that they were in a save and friendly place. Then came to ultimate calming touch, as Simeon, who had been held by Joseph as leverage to promote Benjamin’s return, was returned to them unharmed (and likely relating how well he had been treated in their separation).
The point here is that the vertical perspective on life, as we discussed in yesterday’s devotional, which is grounded in surrender to God, yields faith rather than fear, dispelling anxieties which comes from our human-based horizontal outlook on life. Joseph – and in today’s case his Egyptian servant – are clear examples of letting faith dispel fear and living in such a way as to let God pour His grace into our lives, as He had into Joseph’s life for all the years he had been in Egypt. Joseph’s brothers are examples of the opposite, which is fear-based, horizontal thinking, developed out of years of trying to dispel guilt by denial and defensiveness.
I hope you, as I have, clearly see the difference; and we can become like Joseph and his servant, believing in God to the point we see things first and foremost vertically, in faith, rather than letting our very natural fears overtake us.
My Prayer Today: Lord, in the moments of life which produce anxiety, help me to see that You are in control and I am a child of the King. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 15 – 23 … 15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” 17 Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. 18 Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.” 19 When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; 21 but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. 22 And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
My Journal for Today: Yesterday, we looked at intentionally moving toward and super-naturally developing a vertical perspective on life (i.e., a faith-based attitude) rather than reverting to one’s own natural, horizontal perspective (i.e., a fear-based attitude); and we noted that to develop the latter, we need to decide to surrender self to God and exercise faith over fear, first intentionally, and then long enough until a vertical surrender to God becomes our second nature.
In today’s passage (above) we read the result of both perspectives. Joseph’s brothers, having been returned to Joseph’s presence, certainly are illustrative of a horizontally developed, fear-based attitude which led to their guilt and anxiety in the presence of Joseph. And in Joseph’s servant, to whom the brothers poured out their story of fear, we see the results of being under the influence of Joseph, who was the exemplar of a faith-based, vertical perspective on life.
We don’t have the name of this servant, who listened to the story and recognized the anxiety of Joseph’s brothers. However, we read of his response to the men’s fears. He spoke words that would calm the men and dispel their fears. But how would such a servant of Joseph, and an Egyptian at that, be able to speak to them in this way, actually witnessing to them about the God of Abraham. Well, of course, it had to have come from the influence and teaching of Joseph, who had become a model of faithfulness to his God.
Here was a man who knew how to turn the men’s horizontal fears into a vertical perspective of faith. First, he invoked the Hebrew concept of “shalom” to these men. Note, in Gen. 43: 23, Joseph’s steward, after hearing of their fears, invokes the Hebrew greeting of “Shalom” (i.e., “Peace be with you), which had to have had a calming effect on these men. Then this faithful witness for Joseph, who very likely had become a believer under Joseph’s influence, knows exactly what to say – telling the men the truth – to dispel their anxiety; and in his words we read of the Egyptian’s witness of their own “Elohiym,” their God Almighty, which undoubtedly helped the brothers to see that they were in a save and friendly place. Then came to ultimate calming touch, as Simeon, who had been held by Joseph as leverage to promote Benjamin’s return, was returned to them unharmed (and likely relating how well he had been treated in their separation).
The point here is that the vertical perspective on life, as we discussed in yesterday’s devotional, which is grounded in surrender to God, yields faith rather than fear, dispelling anxieties which comes from our human-based horizontal outlook on life. Joseph – and in today’s case his Egyptian servant – are clear examples of letting faith dispel fear and living in such a way as to let God pour His grace into our lives, as He had into Joseph’s life for all the years he had been in Egypt. Joseph’s brothers are examples of the opposite, which is fear-based, horizontal thinking, developed out of years of trying to dispel guilt by denial and defensiveness.
I hope you, as I have, clearly see the difference; and we can become like Joseph and his servant, believing in God to the point we see things first and foremost vertically, in faith, rather than letting our very natural fears overtake us.
My Prayer Today: Lord, in the moments of life which produce anxiety, help me to see that You are in control and I am a child of the King. Amen
Saturday, January 24, 2009
2009 - Day 24 - A Vertical Focus
January 24, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: A Vertical Focus
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 13 – 15 … [see focus passage in bold] ... 11 And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. 14 And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!” … 15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph.
My Journal for Today: When I read this passage and meditated on it a bit before reading Swindoll’s devotional, I actually was struck by the same thing which Swindoll used as a teaching vehicle in his book today. We both apparently wondered what happened on that long trip back to Pharaoh which the 10 brothers had to take. In the passage, we are brought, through the author’s writing, directly from Jacob’s charge to Pharaoh’s court; but there was that long caravan back; and the men had a lot of time to contemplate, to commiserate, and to discuss what was going to transpire.
Yes, Jacob (“Israel”) had expressed the hope that “El Shaddai,” (Hebrew for “God Almighty”) would give his boys mercy; but did the 10 sons really contemplate that; or did they do what is the most likely human reaction as they traveled to Egypt … to contemplate, in fear, the worst which could happen? Certainly most of us, when we’re presented with the choice to think negatively or positively, will gravitate toward the negative. And in doing this we gravitate into horizontal thinking. At least for a moment, when his boys departed for Egypt, Jacob forced out a vertical perspective, hoping that God Almighty would intervene and give his boys mercy. But it is likely, as his boys traveled to Egypt, that there was a lot of horizontal thinking going on.
Today, Swindoll uses this scenario to teach the reality that it’s not easy to move from horizontal thinking to a vertical perspective on life. It’s like trying to get rid of a deeply embedded bad habit; and we know that habits don’t just change automatically. It takes intentionality and discipline. It takes at least a moment of reflection; … then it takes acknowledgment of the need for change; … and then there is a commitment to move from one pattern of life to another … followed by proactive planning; … and finally, there is the rigorous discipline to think or do something for long enough to replace one habit with another. This is not a finger-snap moment in life. It takes time.
In this case, it would have been NATURAL for Joseph’s brother to dwell in the negative – or horizontal thinking – all the way back from Canaan to Egypt. But Swindoll speculates and teaches what it would have taken for the brothers to change on the way back. Chuck speculates that it would take a three step process, if these brothers were to move from negative to positive on their journey. And the first of these steps is to "recognize and admit [the] negative mentality.”
As Swindoll points out, much of the cure and change of a course-correction in life comes in recognition, ownership, and confession … as well as an honest admission of the need to change. I don’t know about Joseph’s brothers, but unless they were able to reflect on their past mistakes and admit their sins, these dudes were not going to come before the Prime Minister of Egypt with the right, vertical perspective on life. It takes a commitment to change … to change. And that begins with the reality and vulnerability to admit failing and to seek a surrendered will, allowing God (our vertical thoughts) to do business with our heart and to transform our lives. And that is the tough process of decision which must lead to discipline.
Swindoll’s second point in this process is that we must … “force a vertical focus until it begins to flow freely.” I once had a friend, a leader in business, who often used to say, “Fake it until you make it.” When we recognize and acknowledge that our past patterns need to change, we’re insane if we expect a change to occur by doing the same things we have done in the past. It takes change to change. We have to intentionally do something different and keep doing it long enough for a new pattern, hopefully a successful one, to become a part of our choices and actions. And beginning that process takes repentance – i.e, the willingness to turn from one direction to another. And that’s not an easy thing to do. I’ve heard it said that it takes 80% of a rocket’s fuel to get that rocket just a few feet off of the launching pad. And for Joseph’s brothers to change from horizontally directed fear to vertically directed faith would take a decision on their part … a decision which would not be easy given their horizontal and very human past.
Finally, Swindoll posits that the process of habit change will more likely happen if we don’t demand too much of ourselves at the outset. He says, “Stay open to a new idea (or behavior) for at least five minutes.” What he means is that choosing a new direction (i.e., true repentance) may be too much to ask of our will power for even a full day in the beginning; but it’s not too much to ask for our minds to handle five minutes at a time.
Years ago, when my mentor realized that I did not have a disciplined, daily devotional life, he asked me if I might be willing to commit to ten minutes a day for a morning quiet time with God. When he asked me that, I was almost shamed into realizing that 10 minutes per day was not much time to intentionally schedule to begin building a more abiding relationship with my Lord. So, I did. I began with 10 minutes, which quickly became 20 and then 30 minutes over time, … which ultimately became an hour a day. And I had to decide and discipline myself to get up earlier to devote such time to God; but the more I did it, the more God poured His enabling grace into this time … and the more, I realized, I was getting from the time commitment. The whole process moved from horizontal decision to vertical discipline; and I changed.
From this meditation, I hope any reader can evaluate what might be needed to go from horizontal, and a very human, direction to vertical, and decidedly Godly, direction in life. Can we afford five minutes of vertical thinking in small spurts of decision daily to recognize, repent, and reorganize our thinking to head in new, vertical, direction in life? Jesus said that this was the process of discipleship, when, in Luke 9: 23 (hope you know that one by heart), “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” That is moving from horizontal to vertical; and I pray that is the direction of change in my life.
How about you?
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be a vertical thinking and doer in life. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 13 – 15 … [see focus passage in bold] ... 11 And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. 14 And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!” … 15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph.
My Journal for Today: When I read this passage and meditated on it a bit before reading Swindoll’s devotional, I actually was struck by the same thing which Swindoll used as a teaching vehicle in his book today. We both apparently wondered what happened on that long trip back to Pharaoh which the 10 brothers had to take. In the passage, we are brought, through the author’s writing, directly from Jacob’s charge to Pharaoh’s court; but there was that long caravan back; and the men had a lot of time to contemplate, to commiserate, and to discuss what was going to transpire.
Yes, Jacob (“Israel”) had expressed the hope that “El Shaddai,” (Hebrew for “God Almighty”) would give his boys mercy; but did the 10 sons really contemplate that; or did they do what is the most likely human reaction as they traveled to Egypt … to contemplate, in fear, the worst which could happen? Certainly most of us, when we’re presented with the choice to think negatively or positively, will gravitate toward the negative. And in doing this we gravitate into horizontal thinking. At least for a moment, when his boys departed for Egypt, Jacob forced out a vertical perspective, hoping that God Almighty would intervene and give his boys mercy. But it is likely, as his boys traveled to Egypt, that there was a lot of horizontal thinking going on.
Today, Swindoll uses this scenario to teach the reality that it’s not easy to move from horizontal thinking to a vertical perspective on life. It’s like trying to get rid of a deeply embedded bad habit; and we know that habits don’t just change automatically. It takes intentionality and discipline. It takes at least a moment of reflection; … then it takes acknowledgment of the need for change; … and then there is a commitment to move from one pattern of life to another … followed by proactive planning; … and finally, there is the rigorous discipline to think or do something for long enough to replace one habit with another. This is not a finger-snap moment in life. It takes time.
In this case, it would have been NATURAL for Joseph’s brother to dwell in the negative – or horizontal thinking – all the way back from Canaan to Egypt. But Swindoll speculates and teaches what it would have taken for the brothers to change on the way back. Chuck speculates that it would take a three step process, if these brothers were to move from negative to positive on their journey. And the first of these steps is to "recognize and admit [the] negative mentality.”
As Swindoll points out, much of the cure and change of a course-correction in life comes in recognition, ownership, and confession … as well as an honest admission of the need to change. I don’t know about Joseph’s brothers, but unless they were able to reflect on their past mistakes and admit their sins, these dudes were not going to come before the Prime Minister of Egypt with the right, vertical perspective on life. It takes a commitment to change … to change. And that begins with the reality and vulnerability to admit failing and to seek a surrendered will, allowing God (our vertical thoughts) to do business with our heart and to transform our lives. And that is the tough process of decision which must lead to discipline.
Swindoll’s second point in this process is that we must … “force a vertical focus until it begins to flow freely.” I once had a friend, a leader in business, who often used to say, “Fake it until you make it.” When we recognize and acknowledge that our past patterns need to change, we’re insane if we expect a change to occur by doing the same things we have done in the past. It takes change to change. We have to intentionally do something different and keep doing it long enough for a new pattern, hopefully a successful one, to become a part of our choices and actions. And beginning that process takes repentance – i.e, the willingness to turn from one direction to another. And that’s not an easy thing to do. I’ve heard it said that it takes 80% of a rocket’s fuel to get that rocket just a few feet off of the launching pad. And for Joseph’s brothers to change from horizontally directed fear to vertically directed faith would take a decision on their part … a decision which would not be easy given their horizontal and very human past.
Finally, Swindoll posits that the process of habit change will more likely happen if we don’t demand too much of ourselves at the outset. He says, “Stay open to a new idea (or behavior) for at least five minutes.” What he means is that choosing a new direction (i.e., true repentance) may be too much to ask of our will power for even a full day in the beginning; but it’s not too much to ask for our minds to handle five minutes at a time.
Years ago, when my mentor realized that I did not have a disciplined, daily devotional life, he asked me if I might be willing to commit to ten minutes a day for a morning quiet time with God. When he asked me that, I was almost shamed into realizing that 10 minutes per day was not much time to intentionally schedule to begin building a more abiding relationship with my Lord. So, I did. I began with 10 minutes, which quickly became 20 and then 30 minutes over time, … which ultimately became an hour a day. And I had to decide and discipline myself to get up earlier to devote such time to God; but the more I did it, the more God poured His enabling grace into this time … and the more, I realized, I was getting from the time commitment. The whole process moved from horizontal decision to vertical discipline; and I changed.
From this meditation, I hope any reader can evaluate what might be needed to go from horizontal, and a very human, direction to vertical, and decidedly Godly, direction in life. Can we afford five minutes of vertical thinking in small spurts of decision daily to recognize, repent, and reorganize our thinking to head in new, vertical, direction in life? Jesus said that this was the process of discipleship, when, in Luke 9: 23 (hope you know that one by heart), “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” That is moving from horizontal to vertical; and I pray that is the direction of change in my life.
How about you?
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be a vertical thinking and doer in life. Amen
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Four Berry Patch Beauties
Hey, Y'all ... I think it's about time that I inject a more personal tone to my blog here, ... though I don't want to imply that my devotional journal entries are not very personal - because they are!
However, those of you who know our family, which we affectionately call "The Berry Patch," are very aware of how our lives revolve around the four beautiful jewels depicted above. And since they grow and change so rapidly, I need to interject pictures like this for any who come here who love us and desire to see the Berry Patch beauties.
Above (#1) is Sydney, 7, who is growing like a weed ... and so smart and sensitive, it's hard to believe. She actually loves her sister, Brooklyn, that much (in the foto). It's really almost scary to see how much she cares for her sister. We certainly didn't experience that with our two, their mom and sister, when they were growing up.
Now (#2) the foto of the Colorado two hides a bit of the reality of Amanda (5) and Alexandra (2). Little Alex is really into the "terrible twos" and she can make life a real drag at times for Amanda, who'd love to dote over her sister like her cousin Sydney does for Brookie; but Alex won't have any of that.
Oh, how we enjoy sharing time with these four. This PawPaw gig is definitely a gift from God!
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2009 - Day 23 - God's Direction
January 23, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: God’s Direction
Passage of the Day: 42: 1 – 12 … Go to this link, read and study this passage …
My Journal for Today: When I read this passage, in the NKJV, I was struck first by the fact that the name of the father, “Jacob,” after reading his name used in this way, in verses 6 – 12, God’s word refers to the old man with his post-wrestling moniker of “Israel.” I say this because I was led this morning back to Genesis 32 where I re-read of Jacob’s encounter and wrestling match with a Man who was God, likely a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. And after that struggle with God, Jacob’s name, which in Hebrew means “one who deceives,” was changed to “Israel,” which means “one who struggles with God.”
And here in our passage for today as Jacob’s name, "Israel" is used, we can see why these names are so revealing of the character of Joseph’s dad. It was in Jacob’s sin nature to be a deceiver; and God had recognized long before this, by changing Jacob’s name to “Israel,” that this man would struggle with his Lord for direction and blessing all of his life. Jacob was such a stubborn man; and in our passage for today we read [see verse 10] that his son Judah noted that his Dad’s personal struggles, his fear and delay, had put their family in jeopardy. And then we see how “Israel” once again set up a plan, a scheme, which somewhat deceptively would try to cover all the angles as he finally decided to send his boys back to Egypt for more provisions.
As I read this and meditate on the implications of this study, I find myself wanting to say to Jacob/Israel, “Just find God’s direction, and follow it!” And that is what Swindoll is pointing his readers toward in his discussion of this passage. So often I am like “Israel,” procrastinating in fear, and seeking within myself to come up with my own way; and all God desires is for me to do is what old Solomon wrote to his son (and to us) in Proverbs 3: 5-6, “Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”
Why, so often, do I find myself seeking the path within myself? And then when I finally make a decision, I don’t even consider God’s will or direction for my path. And like old “Israel” here, I often try to scheme my way – even wrestling with God as did Jacob in the past – to cover all the bases with MY way so that I can get God’s blessing with MY decisions. And all God wants for me is to seek HIS way; and we know from His word (again see Prov. 3: 5-6 as well as Psalm 37: 4 and James 1: 5-6) that when we surrender to God and seek His way, expecting that we will get His wisdom, He will – through His enabling grace - reveal HIS way … THE way.
What I am reminded of from my time with God here this morning, and need to learn more permanently, is that I need to stay in “surrender mode” in my life, rather than reverting to doing things, in the words of the old Frank Sinatra song, “MY WAY.” All I have to do is compare Joseph’s “M.O.” to Jacob’s. Joseph was in continual surrender mode to His Lord; but Jacob was always looking within himself for God’s way. The former will always work – the latter, never! When we surrender to God’s will and His way, usually finding it through His word [see Joshua 1: 8], we will save a lot of time; and often we don’t have to find out the hard way as Jacob did when God had to give “Israel” a permanent and painful disability for the man to receive God’s blessing. Personally I’d rather learn my lessons gracefully …without the pain.
So, I hope that I can learn this lesson and seek out God’s direction rather than relying on my own – very painful - way.
My Prayer Today: Lord, make Your way my highway! Amen
Passage of the Day: 42: 1 – 12 … Go to this link, read and study this passage …
My Journal for Today: When I read this passage, in the NKJV, I was struck first by the fact that the name of the father, “Jacob,” after reading his name used in this way, in verses 6 – 12, God’s word refers to the old man with his post-wrestling moniker of “Israel.” I say this because I was led this morning back to Genesis 32 where I re-read of Jacob’s encounter and wrestling match with a Man who was God, likely a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. And after that struggle with God, Jacob’s name, which in Hebrew means “one who deceives,” was changed to “Israel,” which means “one who struggles with God.”
And here in our passage for today as Jacob’s name, "Israel" is used, we can see why these names are so revealing of the character of Joseph’s dad. It was in Jacob’s sin nature to be a deceiver; and God had recognized long before this, by changing Jacob’s name to “Israel,” that this man would struggle with his Lord for direction and blessing all of his life. Jacob was such a stubborn man; and in our passage for today we read [see verse 10] that his son Judah noted that his Dad’s personal struggles, his fear and delay, had put their family in jeopardy. And then we see how “Israel” once again set up a plan, a scheme, which somewhat deceptively would try to cover all the angles as he finally decided to send his boys back to Egypt for more provisions.
As I read this and meditate on the implications of this study, I find myself wanting to say to Jacob/Israel, “Just find God’s direction, and follow it!” And that is what Swindoll is pointing his readers toward in his discussion of this passage. So often I am like “Israel,” procrastinating in fear, and seeking within myself to come up with my own way; and all God desires is for me to do is what old Solomon wrote to his son (and to us) in Proverbs 3: 5-6, “Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”
Why, so often, do I find myself seeking the path within myself? And then when I finally make a decision, I don’t even consider God’s will or direction for my path. And like old “Israel” here, I often try to scheme my way – even wrestling with God as did Jacob in the past – to cover all the bases with MY way so that I can get God’s blessing with MY decisions. And all God wants for me is to seek HIS way; and we know from His word (again see Prov. 3: 5-6 as well as Psalm 37: 4 and James 1: 5-6) that when we surrender to God and seek His way, expecting that we will get His wisdom, He will – through His enabling grace - reveal HIS way … THE way.
What I am reminded of from my time with God here this morning, and need to learn more permanently, is that I need to stay in “surrender mode” in my life, rather than reverting to doing things, in the words of the old Frank Sinatra song, “MY WAY.” All I have to do is compare Joseph’s “M.O.” to Jacob’s. Joseph was in continual surrender mode to His Lord; but Jacob was always looking within himself for God’s way. The former will always work – the latter, never! When we surrender to God’s will and His way, usually finding it through His word [see Joshua 1: 8], we will save a lot of time; and often we don’t have to find out the hard way as Jacob did when God had to give “Israel” a permanent and painful disability for the man to receive God’s blessing. Personally I’d rather learn my lessons gracefully …without the pain.
So, I hope that I can learn this lesson and seek out God’s direction rather than relying on my own – very painful - way.
My Prayer Today: Lord, make Your way my highway! Amen
Thursday, January 22, 2009
2009 - Day 22 - A Horizontal Viewpoint
January 22, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: A Horizontal Viewpoint
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 29 – 38 … 29 Then they [Joseph’s brothers] went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: 30 “The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34 And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’” 35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” 37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”
My Journal for Today: Among football fans it is said that “… it’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback.” Another pertinent saying might be, “Hindsight is always 20/20.”
I raise these old sayings because, as I read today’s passage, which focuses on old Jacob’s response to the news brought to him by his sons upon returning from Egypt, it would be easy for me to judge the old man saying that he responded with knee jerk fear. Certainly we see this very human viewpoint because the patriarch of this Hebrew family, from the lineage of Abraham, whom God had given His covenant promises, could not seem to see God in the picture of the events which had befallen his family. As Swindoll points out in his devotional for this date, Jacob had only a HORIZONTAL VIEWPOINT on what had transpired.
Upon learning what this “lord of Egypt,” who, of course, was Joseph, had done in keeping his son, Simeon, hostage, Jacob immediately assumed the worst; and seeing things – again, horizontally - from what had happened in the past, he just reacted by thinking that he now had two dead sons. And he horizontally projected that he might lose Benjamin as well if he were to be taken to Egypt. And here we are with 20/20 hindsight … as well as 20/20 foresight, being able to read/know God’s word as to the end of the story. It would be easy for believing Christians to judge Jacob and say, “Oh, you of little faith!”
But in my own rearview mirror, I can think of many times when I was confronted with life challenges and my viewpoint on life was just as horizontal as Jacob’s. Swindoll challenges his readers, “Call to mind your most recent test. Did you rest calmly in Him [i.e., God’s promises, provision, or power]? Or did you push the panic button out of fear?” Though I’m not a betting man, I would wager that most of us would have been no more vertical in our viewpoint than Jacob, taking the very human horizontal view on things as did this Jewish patriarch and reacting with fear and anxiety.
When we’re thrown into the swirl of worldly and personal events, it’s far easier to view things horizontally rather than vertically, trusting God implicitly and His truth from such biblical promises as we should know in Deuteronomy 31: 6, 8 … Isaiah 41: 10 … Romans 8: 28, 31 … Philippians 4: 6-7, 13 … or 2nd Timothy 1: 7. These truths just popped into my head as I was meditating on Jacob’s reaction; and I was convicted to have to say that given what Jacob learned and what he had experienced in life, even knowing and believing the truths of those verses above, I probably would have been a horizontal thinker just like Jacob. I hope that I could know God well enough to respond vertically to His promises rather than horizontally, reacting in fear; but I really don’t know how I would come out on such a test of my faith.
All I can do is continue to grow in my relationship with Christ; and I contend that I’m certainly much more of a vertically oriented Christian now than I was 25 years ago when I first surrendered to Christ. And knowing more and more of my Lord through His word, like those passages I referenced above, I now have more of a personal foundation from which to respond to life vertically rather than to react horizontally as did Jacob. But as it says in 2nd Cor. 13: 5, we need to continually, or at least periodically, test ourselves in the faith to see how vertically our responses to life might be.
Are you a Christian with a vertical or a horizontal viewpoint on life? I maintain that if we answer with the latter, we likely don’t know God from His word well enough. So, what must we do to become Christians with a vertical viewpoint on life? Well, we immerse ourselves in God’s word and invest the time to get to know our God intimately; and then, we abide in His truth. Because, to know God deeply is to love God deeply; and to love Him deeply will be to obey Him completely. So, I plan to do all I can daily to saturate my life with God’s word; because it is in God’s truth that I can develop a Godly, vertical viewpoint on life.
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be more like Joseph and less like Jacob. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 29 – 38 … 29 Then they [Joseph’s brothers] went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: 30 “The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34 And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’” 35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” 37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”
My Journal for Today: Among football fans it is said that “… it’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback.” Another pertinent saying might be, “Hindsight is always 20/20.”
I raise these old sayings because, as I read today’s passage, which focuses on old Jacob’s response to the news brought to him by his sons upon returning from Egypt, it would be easy for me to judge the old man saying that he responded with knee jerk fear. Certainly we see this very human viewpoint because the patriarch of this Hebrew family, from the lineage of Abraham, whom God had given His covenant promises, could not seem to see God in the picture of the events which had befallen his family. As Swindoll points out in his devotional for this date, Jacob had only a HORIZONTAL VIEWPOINT on what had transpired.
Upon learning what this “lord of Egypt,” who, of course, was Joseph, had done in keeping his son, Simeon, hostage, Jacob immediately assumed the worst; and seeing things – again, horizontally - from what had happened in the past, he just reacted by thinking that he now had two dead sons. And he horizontally projected that he might lose Benjamin as well if he were to be taken to Egypt. And here we are with 20/20 hindsight … as well as 20/20 foresight, being able to read/know God’s word as to the end of the story. It would be easy for believing Christians to judge Jacob and say, “Oh, you of little faith!”
But in my own rearview mirror, I can think of many times when I was confronted with life challenges and my viewpoint on life was just as horizontal as Jacob’s. Swindoll challenges his readers, “Call to mind your most recent test. Did you rest calmly in Him [i.e., God’s promises, provision, or power]? Or did you push the panic button out of fear?” Though I’m not a betting man, I would wager that most of us would have been no more vertical in our viewpoint than Jacob, taking the very human horizontal view on things as did this Jewish patriarch and reacting with fear and anxiety.
When we’re thrown into the swirl of worldly and personal events, it’s far easier to view things horizontally rather than vertically, trusting God implicitly and His truth from such biblical promises as we should know in Deuteronomy 31: 6, 8 … Isaiah 41: 10 … Romans 8: 28, 31 … Philippians 4: 6-7, 13 … or 2nd Timothy 1: 7. These truths just popped into my head as I was meditating on Jacob’s reaction; and I was convicted to have to say that given what Jacob learned and what he had experienced in life, even knowing and believing the truths of those verses above, I probably would have been a horizontal thinker just like Jacob. I hope that I could know God well enough to respond vertically to His promises rather than horizontally, reacting in fear; but I really don’t know how I would come out on such a test of my faith.
All I can do is continue to grow in my relationship with Christ; and I contend that I’m certainly much more of a vertically oriented Christian now than I was 25 years ago when I first surrendered to Christ. And knowing more and more of my Lord through His word, like those passages I referenced above, I now have more of a personal foundation from which to respond to life vertically rather than to react horizontally as did Jacob. But as it says in 2nd Cor. 13: 5, we need to continually, or at least periodically, test ourselves in the faith to see how vertically our responses to life might be.
Are you a Christian with a vertical or a horizontal viewpoint on life? I maintain that if we answer with the latter, we likely don’t know God from His word well enough. So, what must we do to become Christians with a vertical viewpoint on life? Well, we immerse ourselves in God’s word and invest the time to get to know our God intimately; and then, we abide in His truth. Because, to know God deeply is to love God deeply; and to love Him deeply will be to obey Him completely. So, I plan to do all I can daily to saturate my life with God’s word; because it is in God’s truth that I can develop a Godly, vertical viewpoint on life.
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be more like Joseph and less like Jacob. Amen
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
2009 - Day 21 - New Perspective
January 21, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: New Perspective
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 25 - 28 ... 25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. 26 So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. 27 But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. 28 So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”
My Journal for Today: This is a most powerful and personal segment of Joseph’s story for me; well, in this case about the brothers. It tells of God using Joseph’s interaction with the brothers to pour out the Lord’s prevenient grace into their lives, giving them a new perspective on life.
You can read the unfolding story from the passage; but as I said, these circumstances from God’s word have a deep and personal impact on me. They take me back to April 13, 1983, when God poured out His prevenient grace into my life to give me new perspective.
Prevenient grace is God’s grace which “comes before.” It is when God sets about life circumstances to either draw the lost to Himself or to bring the Christian into a closer relationship with God. On 4/13/83, as a lost soul, I was confronted with a set of life circumstances which, as for Joseph’s brothers, communicated that God was in control of my life; and He desired me to repent and go a different way.
Sure, for the brothers, it was Joseph who had carefully given the money back to them; but God used that pre-planned incident to give the brothers the ability to view life as God desired them to see things. And that’s what happened to me when I listened to the testimony of a young quadriplegic in 1983; and God used that testimony and the words from Phil. 4: 13 [I hope you have that one memorized] to help me see that I needed God’s strength in my life to deal with my human failings. I, like Joseph’s brothers, after denying God’s view for so many years, could finally see what I had been and where I needed to go. I, like the brothers in today’s scenario, finally had the perspective on that day in 1983 to be reborn of mind and heart. It was the day when the truth of 2nd Cor. 5: 17 came alive for me … the day that the old me had died (see also Gal. 2: 20); and a new way of seeing the world was now my way of seeing things.
Perhaps you were like Joseph’s brothers or Bill Berry or the Apostle Paul, whom we remember was knocked from his donkey on the road to Damascus and given a new perspective on life [see Acts 9: 1 – 19]. Maybe like me, you can remember when your perspective on life changed. Perhaps you can’t put a stake in the ground of time to remember when it happened for you; but you know that God’s Spirit is in your born-again heart and allows you to see life with conviction and direction because your life is yielded to God in a pursuit of His will and His way. You still have a sin nature; and you still must see the world through very human eyes, but God’s Spirit and His word, since you’ve surrendered to His Lordship, help to illumine your path in life and you are, because of God’s perspective, becoming new in Him (see Ps. 119 – yes, all of it - and Phil. 1: 6).
Joseph’s brothers would never see life the same way after the incident recorded in today’s passage; and as we’ll read in upcoming devotionals, God’s full power from His prevenient grace was about to unfold as God and life would reveal Joseph being alive. But right now God was using this set of circumstances to get them to a place where they could see their sinfulness of past choices and a willingness to surrender to God as their Lord. They had a NEW PERSPECTIVE. And we all need to have that kind of perspective on life, always seeking to see life through God’s eyes. How about you? Are you seeking to find God’s way of looking at your life circumstances; because if you are truly a Christian and trying to view life through only your own eyes, you, like Joseph’s brothers, are going to have to confront life through the eyes of agonizing reflection; … until, that is, you are able to surrender and move toward God and away from self?
Take it from one who’s been there and is now one who sees the folly of trying to view life through my own sinful eyes. It’s much better to put on the glasses of Godly perspective and do all I (we) can to see life through the 20/20 vision of God’s will. Without such a view of life, I become spiritually blind; but I know from my Messiah’s mission statement (found in Luke 4: 18) that He desires to help me see my way to follow Him through His eyes. And that will be my continual pursuit … His vision … to walk in His way … through His word as my light in the darkness (see Ps. 119: 105).
My Prayer Today: Give me Your perspective, Lord. Help me to see life through Your lenses; and to find Your path as I walk to follow You. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 25 - 28 ... 25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. 26 So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. 27 But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. 28 So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”
My Journal for Today: This is a most powerful and personal segment of Joseph’s story for me; well, in this case about the brothers. It tells of God using Joseph’s interaction with the brothers to pour out the Lord’s prevenient grace into their lives, giving them a new perspective on life.
You can read the unfolding story from the passage; but as I said, these circumstances from God’s word have a deep and personal impact on me. They take me back to April 13, 1983, when God poured out His prevenient grace into my life to give me new perspective.
Prevenient grace is God’s grace which “comes before.” It is when God sets about life circumstances to either draw the lost to Himself or to bring the Christian into a closer relationship with God. On 4/13/83, as a lost soul, I was confronted with a set of life circumstances which, as for Joseph’s brothers, communicated that God was in control of my life; and He desired me to repent and go a different way.
Sure, for the brothers, it was Joseph who had carefully given the money back to them; but God used that pre-planned incident to give the brothers the ability to view life as God desired them to see things. And that’s what happened to me when I listened to the testimony of a young quadriplegic in 1983; and God used that testimony and the words from Phil. 4: 13 [I hope you have that one memorized] to help me see that I needed God’s strength in my life to deal with my human failings. I, like Joseph’s brothers, after denying God’s view for so many years, could finally see what I had been and where I needed to go. I, like the brothers in today’s scenario, finally had the perspective on that day in 1983 to be reborn of mind and heart. It was the day when the truth of 2nd Cor. 5: 17 came alive for me … the day that the old me had died (see also Gal. 2: 20); and a new way of seeing the world was now my way of seeing things.
Perhaps you were like Joseph’s brothers or Bill Berry or the Apostle Paul, whom we remember was knocked from his donkey on the road to Damascus and given a new perspective on life [see Acts 9: 1 – 19]. Maybe like me, you can remember when your perspective on life changed. Perhaps you can’t put a stake in the ground of time to remember when it happened for you; but you know that God’s Spirit is in your born-again heart and allows you to see life with conviction and direction because your life is yielded to God in a pursuit of His will and His way. You still have a sin nature; and you still must see the world through very human eyes, but God’s Spirit and His word, since you’ve surrendered to His Lordship, help to illumine your path in life and you are, because of God’s perspective, becoming new in Him (see Ps. 119 – yes, all of it - and Phil. 1: 6).
Joseph’s brothers would never see life the same way after the incident recorded in today’s passage; and as we’ll read in upcoming devotionals, God’s full power from His prevenient grace was about to unfold as God and life would reveal Joseph being alive. But right now God was using this set of circumstances to get them to a place where they could see their sinfulness of past choices and a willingness to surrender to God as their Lord. They had a NEW PERSPECTIVE. And we all need to have that kind of perspective on life, always seeking to see life through God’s eyes. How about you? Are you seeking to find God’s way of looking at your life circumstances; because if you are truly a Christian and trying to view life through only your own eyes, you, like Joseph’s brothers, are going to have to confront life through the eyes of agonizing reflection; … until, that is, you are able to surrender and move toward God and away from self?
Take it from one who’s been there and is now one who sees the folly of trying to view life through my own sinful eyes. It’s much better to put on the glasses of Godly perspective and do all I (we) can to see life through the 20/20 vision of God’s will. Without such a view of life, I become spiritually blind; but I know from my Messiah’s mission statement (found in Luke 4: 18) that He desires to help me see my way to follow Him through His eyes. And that will be my continual pursuit … His vision … to walk in His way … through His word as my light in the darkness (see Ps. 119: 105).
My Prayer Today: Give me Your perspective, Lord. Help me to see life through Your lenses; and to find Your path as I walk to follow You. Amen
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
2009 - Day 20 - Guilty
January 20, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Guilty
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 21 – 24 … 21 Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.” 22 And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” 23 But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. 24 And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
My Journal for Today: “We are truly guilty,…” were the words of Joseph’s brothers as they were confronted with the reality of their past actions when they were merely reminded of their deed by the questions from this young Prime Minister. And yet they didn’t know that their brother stood right before them; and Joseph could understand their Hebrew words, though he cunningly used an interpreter to give the brothers the impression that he didn’t speak their language. And the reactions of the brothers were emotionally wrenching, or maybe uplifting to Joseph, who had to leave their presence because he became so emotional hearing them admit their guilt.
We don’t know exactly what the tears from Joseph represented. It could have been joy in finding the family he had lost; or it could have been tears of empathy, because Joseph knew exactly what it felt like to be in the custody of a power over their life. But we do know that Joseph had to turn or walk away from his brothers to hide his emotions. And we also know, from the unfolding of the story to come that Joseph’s emotions were devoid of any bitterness toward the brothers – a most super-natural response, for sure!
Now, we see a carefully enacted ploy develop to move his brothers to go back to Canaan and bring his father and younger brother, Benjamin to him. But no matter what their sentence from Egypt, through Joseph, the past guilt of these men had caught up to them. As Swindoll very perceptively writes, “… when God comes to tap on stooped shoulders and to break a guilty heart, He does not stop with a slight nudge or mild reproach.” And that is why believers, who live by the truth of 1st John 1: 9 (as I pointed out yesterday), must keep short accounts of sin, coming to God’s throne of grace for cleansing from confession any time sin is perpetrated, comes to one’s consciousness, and is acknowledged by the guilty party.
However, we can be so stupid at times as Christians, holding on to guilt and shame, when it is needlessly retained. How intelligent is it to hold on to a burning ember when we only need discard it and receive the balm of healing from a merciful and graceful God Who promises us complete cleansing and healing from His blood? That’s just dumb [!]; and as my wife often says, “There’s no real cure for dumb.” But so often we can be so dumb as followers of Christ; can’t we?
I hope we can be smarter than the brothers of Joseph, who held on to their guilt for over two decades. But as they confronted the Prime Minister of Egypt, who unbeknownst to them was their brother, little did they know that they were going to have to pay the piper … and the piper was Joseph, … the one whom they had wronged; and this was about to become apparent to them. Stay tuned! The plot thickens; and the truth is more wondrous than any novel.
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be always open and real with You, holding on to no shame and seeking Your mercy. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 21 – 24 … 21 Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.” 22 And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” 23 But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. 24 And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
My Journal for Today: “We are truly guilty,…” were the words of Joseph’s brothers as they were confronted with the reality of their past actions when they were merely reminded of their deed by the questions from this young Prime Minister. And yet they didn’t know that their brother stood right before them; and Joseph could understand their Hebrew words, though he cunningly used an interpreter to give the brothers the impression that he didn’t speak their language. And the reactions of the brothers were emotionally wrenching, or maybe uplifting to Joseph, who had to leave their presence because he became so emotional hearing them admit their guilt.
We don’t know exactly what the tears from Joseph represented. It could have been joy in finding the family he had lost; or it could have been tears of empathy, because Joseph knew exactly what it felt like to be in the custody of a power over their life. But we do know that Joseph had to turn or walk away from his brothers to hide his emotions. And we also know, from the unfolding of the story to come that Joseph’s emotions were devoid of any bitterness toward the brothers – a most super-natural response, for sure!
Now, we see a carefully enacted ploy develop to move his brothers to go back to Canaan and bring his father and younger brother, Benjamin to him. But no matter what their sentence from Egypt, through Joseph, the past guilt of these men had caught up to them. As Swindoll very perceptively writes, “… when God comes to tap on stooped shoulders and to break a guilty heart, He does not stop with a slight nudge or mild reproach.” And that is why believers, who live by the truth of 1st John 1: 9 (as I pointed out yesterday), must keep short accounts of sin, coming to God’s throne of grace for cleansing from confession any time sin is perpetrated, comes to one’s consciousness, and is acknowledged by the guilty party.
However, we can be so stupid at times as Christians, holding on to guilt and shame, when it is needlessly retained. How intelligent is it to hold on to a burning ember when we only need discard it and receive the balm of healing from a merciful and graceful God Who promises us complete cleansing and healing from His blood? That’s just dumb [!]; and as my wife often says, “There’s no real cure for dumb.” But so often we can be so dumb as followers of Christ; can’t we?
I hope we can be smarter than the brothers of Joseph, who held on to their guilt for over two decades. But as they confronted the Prime Minister of Egypt, who unbeknownst to them was their brother, little did they know that they were going to have to pay the piper … and the piper was Joseph, … the one whom they had wronged; and this was about to become apparent to them. Stay tuned! The plot thickens; and the truth is more wondrous than any novel.
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be always open and real with You, holding on to no shame and seeking Your mercy. Amen
Monday, January 19, 2009
2009 - Day 19 - Taking Responsibility
January 19, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Taking Responsibility
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 1 - 24 ... Go to this link to study this passage …
My Journal for Today: Here we have a most interesting scenario. After his years as a slave in Egypt, in prison unjustly for two years, and those years of administration and stewardship as the #2 in command in Egypt, Joseph encounters the brothers who years before had put him into a pit and sold him into slavery; and now we read that these brothers thought Joseph to be dead to their family.
It would be very easy in this confrontation between the brothers and Joseph to make the brothers into the bad guys; and most certainly the brothers had wronged their little brother in their past jealousy. However, as the scene unfolds here, we actually read of the brothers taking ownership of their ill begotten decision to sell Joseph into Egyptian slavery.
As Swindoll’s devotional points out, in verse 21 of Gen. 42, we read a very telling use of pronouns … “Then they said to one another, ‘ We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.’ ” Note how the brothers, to one another, were taking direct ownership of their treatment of Joseph now that they were confronted with this memory and Joseph’s strategic ploy to bring his father and younger brother, Benjamin, back into his life. The lesson is revealed from these brothers; and Swindoll writes, “The first step toward softening a seared conscience is taking responsibility for one’s own personal guilt.”
Joseph’s brothers could not blame their dad’s passivity or Daddy’s favoritism of Joseph in those early years. Those factors may have contributed to their jealousy and anger back then; but their choice to toss their brother into that pit and sell him was their choice, not the fault of their father. Even if Joseph, in his youth, had been an arrogant youngster [which may have been the case], it would not have excused them for the ungodly choice of selling their brother into slavery. But now, they were seeing their true sinfulness and taking the responsibility for these past deeds. And so we read the brothers pointing directly to themselves with the series of “we” pronouns in verse 21 above.
Yes, God had engineered all of Joseph’s past to bring him to this place of family confrontation; and as we’ll read later this month, there will be more to this story as it unfolds. However, here we learn a valuable lesson of conviction when an ungodly set of circumstances is clearly uncovered. When we are wrong, we are wrong; and only by recognizing, acknowledging, and confessing our sinfulness can God bring about the ultimate cleansing of this guilt.
New Covenant believers should know the truth of God’s word in 1st John 1: 9 about God’s grace being available to cleanse ANY believer in ANY situation for the confession of ANY sinfulness. Sometimes, that’s hard for obedient and Godly believers to accept … that God will actually provide His saving grace of forgiveness whenever that one is willing to take responsibility for sin and confess those sins before God and mankind. And this is the lesson we see shining forth from this family confrontation, involving Joseph and his brothers.
Oh, how I pray we all can glean truth and grow from this scene.
My Prayer Today: Lord, when I am wrong, I am wrong; and praise Your mercy and cleansing grace when I am willing to acknowledge my sin and bring my faults to you. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 1 - 24 ... Go to this link to study this passage …
My Journal for Today: Here we have a most interesting scenario. After his years as a slave in Egypt, in prison unjustly for two years, and those years of administration and stewardship as the #2 in command in Egypt, Joseph encounters the brothers who years before had put him into a pit and sold him into slavery; and now we read that these brothers thought Joseph to be dead to their family.
It would be very easy in this confrontation between the brothers and Joseph to make the brothers into the bad guys; and most certainly the brothers had wronged their little brother in their past jealousy. However, as the scene unfolds here, we actually read of the brothers taking ownership of their ill begotten decision to sell Joseph into Egyptian slavery.
As Swindoll’s devotional points out, in verse 21 of Gen. 42, we read a very telling use of pronouns … “Then they said to one another, ‘ We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.’ ” Note how the brothers, to one another, were taking direct ownership of their treatment of Joseph now that they were confronted with this memory and Joseph’s strategic ploy to bring his father and younger brother, Benjamin, back into his life. The lesson is revealed from these brothers; and Swindoll writes, “The first step toward softening a seared conscience is taking responsibility for one’s own personal guilt.”
Joseph’s brothers could not blame their dad’s passivity or Daddy’s favoritism of Joseph in those early years. Those factors may have contributed to their jealousy and anger back then; but their choice to toss their brother into that pit and sell him was their choice, not the fault of their father. Even if Joseph, in his youth, had been an arrogant youngster [which may have been the case], it would not have excused them for the ungodly choice of selling their brother into slavery. But now, they were seeing their true sinfulness and taking the responsibility for these past deeds. And so we read the brothers pointing directly to themselves with the series of “we” pronouns in verse 21 above.
Yes, God had engineered all of Joseph’s past to bring him to this place of family confrontation; and as we’ll read later this month, there will be more to this story as it unfolds. However, here we learn a valuable lesson of conviction when an ungodly set of circumstances is clearly uncovered. When we are wrong, we are wrong; and only by recognizing, acknowledging, and confessing our sinfulness can God bring about the ultimate cleansing of this guilt.
New Covenant believers should know the truth of God’s word in 1st John 1: 9 about God’s grace being available to cleanse ANY believer in ANY situation for the confession of ANY sinfulness. Sometimes, that’s hard for obedient and Godly believers to accept … that God will actually provide His saving grace of forgiveness whenever that one is willing to take responsibility for sin and confess those sins before God and mankind. And this is the lesson we see shining forth from this family confrontation, involving Joseph and his brothers.
Oh, how I pray we all can glean truth and grow from this scene.
My Prayer Today: Lord, when I am wrong, I am wrong; and praise Your mercy and cleansing grace when I am willing to acknowledge my sin and bring my faults to you. Amen
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