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Proverbs 3:5-6, Various

Which Way?

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 5, 2024

Wisdom isn’t a collection of facts! Wisdom isn’t even an accumulation of days, months, and years. Wisdom involves not just comprehension but behavior.  Actually, our comprehension of things and methods and practices can often be contradictory to each other and what is really the truth. No, it’s not the depth of comprehension or understanding that’s truly the important thing about wisdom. It’s the diligence by which the truths we perceive and understand are applied to our lives.

When I was being trained in the Navy on how to scrub a deck (and I did it a lot!), and how to paint a bulkhead (that’s a wall),  or clean a head (that’s a bathroom), and how to do just about everything else on the ship as a young recruit, I was often told there are three ways of doing things; the right way, the wrong way, and the Navy way. One Master Chief, who was the Master-at-Arms on board the USS WALLER (DD-466), told me he only cared about the Navy way. Don’t confuse me with a discussion of what’s right and wrong. We’re going to do it the Navy way! The ways he promoted, he would argue, were tried and true. He didn’t care what we thought or what we’d like or what we’ve learned in the world. The only acceptable way to do anything, understand it or not, was the Navy way! The interesting thing about this huge, black Master Chief from Detroit was that he was always right. We hated that about him. But as we faced many difficulties on our trip across the Atlantic, many of his ways proved of great value. We learned to avoid many unpleasant experiences by listening to him and obeying. His instructions saved the life of a young torpedo man’s mate during a storm in the North Atlantic. He always settled arguments and prevented fights on the ship also.

This isn’t the place for a bunch of sea stories, so I’ll skip right to the point.  If the Master Chief knew what he was talking about, how much more does God? Solomon says, “Do what I say, and you will live. Be as careful to follow my teaching as you are to protect your eyes” (Proverbs 7:2). Jesus says, “Everyone who hears my words and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). And Jesus’ brother, James, warns us all “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). Another most profound piece of wisdom comes from Proverbs 3:5-6. Everyone should memorize this passage. It says,   “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  According to man’s understanding, there’s a right way and a wrong way. But it’s always the wisest choice to do it God’s way!

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Proverbs 2:1-5, Various

Ask For It

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 4, 2024

God’s wisdom for living a healthy, happy, and wholesome life is available to all of us. I’m not just referring to the contents of the Scriptures, even though that’s a significant part of it. I’m referring to God’s promise to do for us what he did for Solomon. He asked for wisdom and got it. He promises his son and us in Proverbs 2:1-5, “My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understand; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.” The desire for wisdom must be the highest priority in our lives. Further, James (the wisdom writer of the New Testament) makes a similar promise. In James 1:5, he says, “if any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it. He is generous and enjoys giving to all people so that He will give you wisdom.”

One writer identified four truths about God that should encourage us to ask God for the wisdom we need. He writes, “First, God is a giving God. Giving to those who ask from him is natural for God. Second, God gives generously to all. He has no favorite recipients of his gifts but gives to all classes, races, and types of people. Third, God gave without finding fault. God does not give in such a way as to humiliate us. He does not chastise us for our failures or hold our unworthiness against us. He is always ready to add new blessings to old ones without finding fault in us for our many shortcomings. Finally, God promises to answer those who come seeking wisdom.”

Max Lucado wrote, “Thomas came with doubts. Did Christ turn him away? Moses had his reservations. Did God tell him to go home? Job had his struggles. Did God avoid him? Paul had his hard times. Did God abandon him? No. God never turns away the sincere heart. Tough questions don’t stump God. He invites our probing. Mark it down. God never turns away the honest seeker. Go to God with your questions. You may not find all the answers, but in finding God, you know the One who does.” Jesus’ promise is very comprehensive as well. He says, “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). Miller concludes this discussion. He says, “We, too, can ask God for anything. We don’t usually need to be prodded to ask for more money, the power to make our dreams come true, or the health to enjoy it all. But when we ask for wisdom, we’re asking our Father to make us more like him. It must please him to know we love him that much.”[1]

 [1] Miller, Stephen M. 2006. Everyday Relevance: Your Bible Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

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Proverbs 1:7, 1 Kings 3:9, Various

What Do You Want?

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 3, 2024

If God were to ask you what you wanted most, what might that be? If he offered you one wish, what would you wish for?  I can think of a lot of things.  At 77, A new body would be nice!  How cool would it be to win the lottery? I would ask my wife what she wanted, but I’m afraid she’d ask for a new husband.  A lifetime supply of toasted almond fudge ice cream would be great, also. There’s a cute commercial out these days that first aired during the Super Bowl. A Toyota owner rubs the nose of his new car, and a genie appears (strangely enough, holding a Chihuahua). She offers him three wishes, and he asks for his “spare tire” to be gone.  He was referring to the extra 20 pounds around his midsection, but the genie makes the one from the car disappear. Other wishes follow from each member of the family. It was one of the funnier commercials that year.

When Solomon inherited the reigns of the Kingdom of Israel from his father, David, In 1 Kings 3:5, God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you.” Solomon’s options were many. He could have asked for riches, long life, power, prestige, infinite wishes, and anything else you might think of. He was about 20 years old at the time, so it wasn’t a new body. Of all the things he could have asked for,  in 1 Kings 3:9, Solomon says, “Give me the wisdom I need to rule your people…”  In the next chapter, 1 Kings 4:29, we read, “God gave Solomon great wisdom so he could understand many things…His wisdom was greater than any wisdom…He was wiser than anyone on earth.” With his great wisdom came everything else he might have wished for in life. In 1 Kings 3:13, God tells Solomon that he will bless him with great wisdom, but “I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.”

In his commentary on the book of Proverbs, James Kitchen observes, “Suddenly, the value of wisdom is pressed home and made personal. Nothing you can ‘desire’ will ever compare with the value of wisdom. The human capacity for desire is vast, but the exclusivity of wisdom’s worth sets her apart as unique among all others.” Kitchen nails this truth! Indeed, we desire much! Unfortunately, we don’t desire what we need most. God makes it perfectly clear that we must truly want it, above all else, if we’re ever going to get it. Kitchen goes on to quote three Bible verses related to the proper wish: ‘Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth’ (Ps. 73:25). ‘Delight yourself in the LORD, And He will give you the desires of your heart’ (Ps. 37:4). ‘He satisfies my desires with good things so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Ps. 103:5, NIV).” Wisdom is the greatest thing. Where do I get some! Solomon tells us where we can get started. At the beginning of the book, Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

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Romans 8:35, Various

Through It All!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 2, 2024

We don’t have a choice, do we?  We all have to face this life with all of its storms.  The problems we face in life are many and varied.  Some we bring on ourselves because of the choices we make. Some happen simply because of where we are in this fallen world.  Some happen because you are a believer in Jesus, and Satan is attacking with his cruel power.  David argues in Psalm 22 that our problems begin at birth. “From birth, I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb, you have been my God.” In verse 11, he says, “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one to help.” Moses tells us that our life span is normally about 70 or 80 years, yet, as verse 10 says, “Their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” When Job’s wife tells him to curse God and die, he replies, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” Peter talks to suffering people and tells them in 1 Peter 4:12, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange was happening to you.” A. E. Houseman wrote one of my favorite poems, “Terrence, this is stupid stuff.” One of the lines has been unforgettable to me for some reason. He tells us to face the reality of suffering by preparing for it. He says, “Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure; I’d face it as a wise man would and train for ill and not for good.”

Having been born into this world, there is no escaping it. We all will face trials, suffering, pain, and, of course, eventually death. Some philosophers and some world religions say that there is nothing we can do about it. We are like chips of wood floating on a tossing ocean carried hither and yon until we become too waterlogged and sink to the slimy bottom only to rot into nothingness. Hogwash! Both Houseman and these philosophers present us with a defeatist attitude toward life. The Bible does just the opposite. No matter what problems you face – whether things in your past, present, or future – there is good news.  Psalm 9:9 says, “The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” In Psalm 34:18-19, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all. Then, in Psalm 46:1-3, we read, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives away and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

When Christ came into the world, He demonstrated the depth of God’s love for us all by paying the penalty for our sins on the cross. He rose from the dead and offered us new life through faith that is received simply by faith. Paul, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, made it clear in Romans 8:35. He asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” The answer is nothing! We are loved regardless of the current situation of life in a fallen world. This will not eliminate the storms.  But Jesus will provide for us in the midst of the storm.  We need to understand this better.  We do have problems and troubles, and we will have more – that is the nature of life on this earth. But nothing can separate us from God’s love. Psalm 3:5 says in the New Living Translation, “I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the LORD was watching over me.”

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Exodus 1:8-11, Job

Heavy Burdens

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
February 1, 2024

In Exodus Chapter 1, we see that Jacob’s descendants had become slaves in Egypt. The Pharaoh who knew and honored Joseph was gone, and a new one was now in charge. He didn’t feel the same way about Joseph and his family as the previous Pharaoh did. The passage tells us, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens.” Things went from bad to worse for them. Pharaoh made them do slave labor. Then, he made the labor more severe. Then, he tried to cut their population by infanticide. Then, he tried to destroy the nation with genocide. No nation has suffered at the hands of others as much as the Jewish nation has. Pharaoh attempted genocide, Haman attempted genocide in the Book of Esther, and more recently, Hitler attempted genocide, but through it all, God’s people remain.

Things often go from bad to worse for God’s people before He delivers them. Consider the life of Job. The first Chapter takes us from one calamity to another. No one went from bad to worse as quickly and as severely as Job did. He lost his wealth. He lost his loved ones, and then he lost his health. Job remained strong in his faith in God through the whole ordeal. Even when his wife confronted him and told him to curse God and die, job wouldn’t give in to the temptation to turn against God through it all. He said, “Though He slays me, yet will I trust Him.” “Naked, I came into the world, and naked from it, I will go.” “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Yes, things may go from bad to worse, but God always comes through for His people. Yes, He allowed the suffering, but he didn’t forsake them. He delivered Israel from its slavery in Egypt, and in the end, he delivered Job from his suffering as well. He lets them suffer, and he lets us suffer because He wants us to learn that we can trust Him in every circumstance of our lives, even when things go from bad to worse. Maybe things have gone from bad to worse for you also. It happens. We wonder why things seem to pile up against us.  God had a purpose for Israel’s suffering in Egypt, and he has a purpose for your suffering as well. Malcolm Muggeridge wrote: “Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful with particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my experience, has been through affliction and not through happiness.”

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Jeremiah 31:4, Various

The SELF!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 31, 2024

I often struggle with those verses in the Bible that teach us that God not only forgives, but he also forgets.  Jeremiah 31:4 says, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Hebrews 10:17 says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Many other examples could be given, but although it’s clear that God forgives and forgets, it’s just as clear to me that I don’t! Max Lucado writes, “No, he doesn’t remember. But I do, you do. You still remember. You’re like me. You still remember what you did… In the cellar of your heart lurk the ghosts of yesterday’s sins. Sins you’ve confessed, errors of which you’ve repented, damage you’ve done your best to repair.  And … the ghosts still linger. Though you’ve locked the basement door, they still haunt you. They float to meet you, spooking your soul and robbing your joy.”

One theologian did a study of the Hebrew and Greek words for forgiveness in the Bible. He discovered that the concept of forgiveness is never, no, not once, referenced with respect to forgiving ourselves. In the Bible, forgiveness has only two directions, both of which extend from us, not TO us. We receive forgiveness from God vertically, and we receive forgiveness from others horizontally. This theologian writes, “Self-forgiveness is tied back to the self-love movement. Its proponents justify loving oneself from the often-quoted passage about loving a neighbor ‘as yourself’ (Lev 19:34). They contend that if a man does not love himself properly, then he cannot really love his neighbor. Self-love advocates interpret the ‘as’ in the second greatest commandment to mean ‘as you should.’ However, the context of Scripture interprets ‘as’ to mean ‘as you do.’ In other words, we should love our neighbors as we already do love ourselves. The Apostle Paul wrote, ‘So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it ….’ (Ephesians 5:28–29). This passage teaches that people naturally look after themselves.” I’ve always struggled with the “self-love” movement because of 2 Timothy 3:2. In the end times, there will be a strong movement away from God and His word and those that are part of this movement, according to Paul, will be “lovers of self…” along with other ungodly traits.

Some may argue that there are people who do not love themselves and do themselves harm. But truly, those with such tendencies are doing what they do because they become too “self-centered” rather than God-centered or other-centered.  My theologian continues his case: “In either case, the focus is on self. That is the problem with all this ‘self’ terminology. There are self-forgiveness, self-love, self-hate, self-esteem, self-image, self-worth, self-awareness, self-ad infinitum. This self-centered therapy may sound caring, but it is only a Band-Aid that will never cure a deeper spiritual problem.” Jesus teaches us to deny our “self” and focus our attention on God and on others. The only truly biblical focus is both upward and outward. It is in this context that we obey the Greatest Commandment – Love God and Love others above all else. I believe this will satisfy God, others, and ourselves. God said that He has forgiven us. Only the enemy of us all wants us to feel unforgiven. He is still whispering in our ears, “Yeah, hath God said….?”

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John 14:6, Various

Today’s Religion: Pluralism

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 30, 2024

Warren Buffet, commenting on his huge contribution to charity, said, “There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.” I commented before on the part of the quote that suggested he intended to purchase a place in heaven today; I’d like to look at the first half of the quote: “There is more than one way to get to heaven.”  You can check this quote out for yourself at the below link.

(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/27/business/main1753895.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;1)

I would argue that most people in our world today agree with Warren; pluralism is the acceptable religion of our day.  Pluralism removes the urgency to seek truth because it presents all systems as the truth. But this is a logical impossibility. One writer put it this way, “All paths but one lead away from God. It is critical to understand this so that we will be motivated to seek after the true God. Unless He is found, we will never discover religious truth, we will never discover the true path to salvation, and we will never discover how to live a more abundant life in the here and now. Everyone’s eternal destiny rests on the outcome of this quest.”

One of America’s most committed abolitionists before the Civil War was William Lloyd Garrison. He was uncompromising in his opposition to slavery. He often shocked slave owners and moderates alike in his attacks on the system that allowed such a practice. Just to stand by and allow such a thing was unthinkable to him. He attacked the Northern states, particularly for tolerating the system to continue in the South without intervention. Garrison was called an “extremist” in his position in an environment that was desperately attempting to avoid polarization on the subject.  Although mocked, ridiculed, and ostracized for his position, his cause won out, and he became a hero of the just cause against slavery. Everyone admits that he was absolutely right today.

His opponents viewed Jesus as an extremist as well. He argued that His truth was incontestable. He, and only HE, had the truth about eternal life and the procedure by which man might obtain it. He insisted that one had to totally disassociate himself from all others who have claimed to have found the true way to God. His teaching sounded radical then. It sounds just as radical now, for the modern mind thinks it is incredible that there is only one way to heaven. But it is simple, really. If Jesus is what he claimed to be, he is the only way to God—no other way exists. Once he is accepted as God, all his claims and demands are simply accepted.” There is still criticism, ostracism, and often persecution for those who continue to hold out the message that Jesus boldly proclaimed: He is “The way, the truth, and the life, and no one can enter into the presence of the Father in heaven except through Him.” (See John 14:6) But as it was with slavery, so will it be with Jesus. He will overcome and reign supreme. “Every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11).

 

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Titus 3:4-7

The Right Recipe!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
January 29, 2024

I read a brief article from a trusted biblical commentator who spoke about Omaha’s own Warren Buffet. In the commentary, he said, “The world’s second-richest man announced in June 2006 that he would donate 85 percent of his $44 billion fortune to five charitable foundations. Commenting on this extreme level of generosity, Buffet said: ‘There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.’” Now, it seemed a bit far-fetched to me that Mr. Buffet would actually say he thought he would be buying his way to heaven. So I logged on to the CBS News website and did a search for “Warren Buffet and Heaven.” The article came up, and sure enough. He was quoted as saying just that. (Here’s the web address if you’d like to see it for yourself. I had to!)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/27/business/main1753895.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;1

Most of the people I know, common people, people without the wealth, status or power that Warren Buffet has, know the Bible clearly teaches that the sole condition for receiving eternal salvation from hell is faith (trust) in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who died a substitutionary death on the cross for man’s sin and rose from the dead (John 3:16–18; John 6:47; Acts 16:31).  No act of obedience in resisting temptation or no act of philanthropy or good works preceding or following faith in the Lord Jesus Christ may be added to, or considered as a part of, faith as a condition for receiving eternal salvation (Rom. 4:5; Gal. 2:16). This saving transaction between God and the sinner is simply the giving and receiving of a free gift (Eph. 2:8, 9; John 4:10; Rev. 22:17).  Titus 3:4-7 explains it clearly. It says, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

M.R. DeHann told about an instant cake mix that was a big flop. The instructions said all you had to do was add water and bake. The company couldn’t understand why it didn’t sell—until their research discovered that the buying public felt uneasy about a mix that required only water. Apparently, people thought it was too easy. So, the company altered the formula and changed the directions to call for adding an egg to the mix in addition to the water. The idea worked, and sales jumped dramatically. DeHann went on to explain how this story reminded him of how some people react to God’s plan of salvation. To them, it sounds too easy and simple to be true. They feel that there is something more they must do, something they must add to God’s “recipe” for salvation. They think they must perform good works to gain God’s favor and earn eternal life. But the Bible is clear—we are saved by grace through faith. Paul wrote to Titus, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy.” Unlike the cake-mix manufacturer, God has not changed His “formula” to make salvation more marketable.

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