Author: astherainandsnow

“From there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden.  But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ And he said to her, ‘For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.’  And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone…

“And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.‘” Mark 7:24-30, 36-37

The tension between what Jesus initially wanted and what happened reveals the Son of Man, who needed rest and time alone with His Father, and the Son of God who was bent on fulfilling every iota of His purpose here on earth. There is no inconsistency between the two, only perfect, inexplicable harmony in the flesh of our Sovereign. He could not not be merciful to one who had not been His focus, but providentially approached in faith. He could not not be a Savior.

There are things we, while living in the flesh, can’t not do. This side of heaven, we will yield to temptations of flesh and mind. We will sin. We will suffer. We will regret. We will grow older.

But for Christ Jesus, what He can’t not do is always good, redemptive, and holy. O, to be like Him! Always full of love and compassion, always selfless and giving, always appropriate and kind! Always grateful, sensitive to needs and able to meet them perfectly. Always in tune with the Father, always yielded to His will. Always in control and zealous for God’s honor. Always doing all things well!

Holy God hates sin, but He can’t not be gracious- He does not always accuse nor harbor His anger forever. He allows helpless sheep to wander, but can’t not extend compassion and hold them tight. He disciplines us for good, but grows impatient at our misery, and can’t not be merciful. He sends us into storms, but can’t not be faithful to bring peace in the midst. He can’t not love, or rule, or abide as our dwelling place. His character and attributes are consistent and constant, unchanging and righteous, infinite and divinely balanced. (Judges 10:16; Psalm 90:1; 103:8-9,17; Matthew 14:22-27,32; Mark 6:34; John 10:28-29)

What default habits can’t we not do that we can humbly bring under Christ’s sway? Would we choose to appropriate what is true about God to each?

Lord, tether me to You and Your sure promises. May I glorify You by standing stable in all You can’t not be and do.

“Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised… When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and praised God and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” Matthew 27:51-52,54; Luke 23:46-47

“I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Philippians 3:8-10

Physical, emotional, and soul suffering open many windows. We see through them the sufferings of Christ, the victories of Christ, and the fellowship of our suffering with him. There is a mysterious and exquisite beauty in watching another in Christ endure with grace and unflappable faith- we glimpse the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus, we sense the rumble of resurrection power, we gaze through the rent veil of pain and say, Truly this is the Son of God! Christ in them, Christ in us, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

Suffering also may expose areas of our hearts we do not like. It can reveal impatience, stubborn self-determination, and pride that erupt when pain presses hard. But the suffering of Christ Jesus appropriated there transforms and restores. He touches the agonies, applies His It is finished!, and draws us alongside to learn the meaning of the cross. Ex-cruciating, ‘out of the cross.’ He died for all of this, and arose to assure hope of ultimate restoration. Will we allow Him to have His way? (John 19:28-30)

Nothing we suffer is a surprise to God. Our ability to endure is a gift from His Spirit. He wastes no suffering, instead working in and through us love and character and hope that are pleasing to Him. This is a gracious thing. Can we step back to see God’s broad perspective on what is to us now all-consuming, and say Truly, this is the Son of God, teaching me what it is to hope by knowing the power of the resurrection? (Psalm 42:3-9; Romans 5:3-5; Hebrews 13:20-21; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 2:19)

Would we open the window of our heart and allow Jesus to flood in with His love and light? Sharing in His sufferings brings a communion with the Divine that is inexplicable, and precious. Would we trust Him to bloom radiant beauty from the deepest pain and sadness, spilling blossoms that cause others to say, Truly this is the Son of God!?

Father, for those I love who suffer, help them endure with hope. And Jesus, in any suffering You call me to share, may others see that You, the Son of God, are glorified. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

“Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.’ And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” Mark 6:45-52

After hearing of the horrendous death of His cousin, after ministering rest to his disciples, after feeding the 5000, Jesus got away to pray. Always engaged, always in tune, always compassionate, Jesus remained intimately connected with His heavenly Father, and His people. Refreshed and enlightened by the divine communion of prayer, He saw His disciples struggling in their boat and went to them, walking on the water. We don’t know why he intended to pass them by, but do know that seeing their distress and fear, He stopped. (Mark 6:27-44)

Jesus is infinite and manages everything in perfect awareness and with perfect precision, everywhere. He is at once soaked in prayer, full of love, and all-wise. There is nothing in our hearts, minds, or lives He is not concerned with or does not see. Even when we are in the fourth watch of the night, in the darkest of dark, hardest of hard, remotest of remote, He is there, walking across our tempests to meet us and cheer us to take heart. Take courage! (Psalm 139:1-3,7-12)

Jesus orders our rest, directs our work, and sends us into storms. He is always near, praying for and watching over His beloved children. He knows when we’re baffled, pained, and terrified, and comes to comfort. ‘It is I, take heart. I am in the boisterous wind and choking waves. I see your angst and fear, and they do not ruffle me. I know the limits to your strength, but I am strong. And you can take heart in Me.’

What has the Lord asked us to do that has grown more difficult in time? Where has He directed us into a storm we are too weak to handle? What impossible do we face right now that appears to have no smooth resolution? Picture the Lord, on a mountain above, watching in love, praying for us, and then coming to get in the rocking boat alongside our anxious bodies. How does His very presence make a difference? What comfort, hope, and help does He bring? Where will we take heart because of His promises today? (John 17:9-17; Romans 8:34-39; Hebrews 7:25

Lord, astound me at Your compassion, loving care, and magnificence. May I in faith behold You in every circumstance and fix my heart in Yours, to the exaltation of Your great name.

“The Lord said, ‘Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?’ And he said to him, ‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man…’

“Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.’ And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.  Then Gideon said to God, ‘Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.’ And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew…

“That same night the Lord said to him, ‘Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid, go down to the camp… [and] hear what they say…’ Gideon [heard] a man telling a dream.., ‘This is the sword of Gideon;.. God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.’

“Gideon… worshiped. ‘Arise, for the Lord has given Midian into your hand.’.. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade… And the army fled.” Judges 6:14-16,36-40; 7:9-10,13-15,22a

When God called Gideon, He committed to making him into His man for the task. Gideon was a mighty man of valor, but he had doubts about conquering the formidable Midianite army, and honestly expressed them. His Lord heard, understood, and dealt with each one. Gideon’s weakness and inability was met with God’s presence and Spirit, his need for assurance that he was indeed God’s instrument was answered with fire and supernatural dew, and then God allowed him to overhear the enemy’s fear. The Lord knew Gideon intimately, and graciously allayed his every doubt and made his way. (Judges 6:17-22,34)

Every time a new calling, or obstacle, or challenging circumstance presents itself, our Lord is in it. He personally enlists our faith, and listens and supports us when we doubt. He knows our earnest ‘I believe, help my unbelief,’ and supplies wisdom and confirmation when we ask, without finding fault. (Mark 9:24; James 1:5-6)

How do we respond to God’s instructions? Do we mask resistance and disobedience by claiming incapability? Do we doubt the goodness of His plan? Or do we step up, confess our uncertainties, and trust Him to provide? Neither inexperience nor unmatched strength remains an obstacle when we advance with Him. Our communion with God trains us for all that is to come.

Lord of Hosts, I commit my doubts and cause to You. Help me trust You more each day, and obey with confidence in Your blessed sufficiency. (Jeremiah 20:11-12)

“Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus, and seeing [Jesus], he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.’ And he went with him.

“A great crowd followed him and thronged about him. There was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years… She had heard reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.  For she said, ‘If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.’ And immediately… she felt in her body that she was healed. Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my garments?..’ The woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.  He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

“While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, ‘Your daughter is dead…’  But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe…’ They came to the house.., and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly…  He took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand he said to her, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’ And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were overcome with amazement.” Mark 5:22-25,27-30,33-36,38,40b-42

He was just a man, but He was different. Jesus was sought out because He had an authority they recognized but couldn’t explain, compassion and healing power that were beyond natural, and irresistible. Crowds thronged to watch, individuals bowed and reached to make contact. Just one touch, whether they Him, or He them, and everything could change and be made right. (Mark 1:27; 2:12; 4:41)

In the pressing crowd of everyday life, there are many places that need healing. Relationships have rifts, attitudes sour, and filters on what we watch and say shake loose. We suffer pain in illness and strain in business. How often, when we have real needs, do we flit from person to place to possible solution and skirt around Jesus? Do we just watch from a distance? Is He a last resort, or even considered?

There is nothing like the personal touch of Jesus. We grab His feet and beg, and He goes with us. We touch His garment in the hope of faith, and His power flows out. His hand on our brow fevered with worry and fear, and over our still heart, revives and makes whole.

When will I reach to Jesus for specific healing? Of mindset, spirit, body? Will I pick up and open His word for wisdom, understanding, guidance, comfort, and cheer? What areas of my life will I make available for His healing, transforming, or renewing touch?

And how might I touch another for good? When I cannot be present, how might loving words, encouragement, or prayers bouy a flagging soul? Whom will I beg Jesus to restore?

Lord, hold and lift me, and touch others through me.

“The angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. [He] appeared to him and said, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.’ And Gideon said to him, ‘Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.’ And the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?’ And he said to him, ‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house…’

“Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. [He] said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.’ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace.”  Judges 6:11-15,22-24a

Israel was under suffocating, destructive oppression from the Midianites, and God’s favor seemed a distant reality. When the angel appeared to the earnest, hard-working Gideon, his message was hard to understand. ‘The LORD with us? Then why these seven years of unrelenting, merciless opposition?’ His reply turns Gideon’s supposition upside down. ‘Go and save Israel. I’m sending you and I will be with you.’ Gideon rose from the weight of his circumstances to look God in the face. (Judges 6:1-10)

That was the message: ‘Lift your eyes! I am the Lord, I am sending you, I will be with you. Focus no further on all the small what-ifs and whys. I give you might and peace. You are not forsaken, but rather, favored and called as a man of valor for a great deliverance.’

When circumstances are grim, the Lord is with us. When the enemy cuts off hope and seems to deplete us of sustenance and joy, the Lord is with us. When we’re called to tasks larger than our abilities, the Lord is with us. When we’re threatened and attacked for faithful obedience to God, the Lord is with us. Instead of looking at our hard situations and wondering why and how, we can look to Jehovah Shalom who is with us always. From where is God calling me today to see Him anew? He’s designing the big picture. Looking to Jesus transforms how we see our troubles in a magnificent way. (Judges 6:25-30)

“O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.” ~Helen Howarth Lemmell (1922)

Lord, clothe me with Your Spirit, that I may wholly trust your presence with me. Help me, without question and with confidence, to live out Your purposes and bear forth Your glory. (Judges 6:34)

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:  ‘Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

“Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.  Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.”’

“But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart…’

“My people have forgotten me;
    they make offerings to false gods;
they made them stumble in their ways,
    in the ancient roads,
and to walk into side roads,
    not the highway.” Jeremiah 18:1-12,15

The Lord gives vivid visuals to His prophet Jeremiah to illustrate His heart for redemption. To watch a potter knead and press and shape clay on a wheel is to understand the loving, purifying, caring hands of the Artist. It was God’s good plan to rework and redeem His people; He would ultimately send His Son Jesus to make it eternally possible. Though he may buck and chafe and resist, man, made from clay, is ever clay in the Creator’s hand. (Galatians 3:13; Titus 2:14)

What spoils us is our stubborn penchant to go our own evil way, to turn from the God who made us for Himself. We worship false gods of intellect, health, productivity, family, and luxury. We must be king in control, and fashion our plans and listen only selectively to God’s voice as it suits our desires. We stray to side roads of compromise in confidences, integrity, and biblical principles. (Genesis 2:7; 3:19)

All the while, the Master Potter is itching to get His hands on us. In love, He lets us choose our path and direction, and stands ready to return us to the wheel for reworking when we return to Him. Will we amend our ways and yield?

What impurities need removing? How might the Lord knead harsh words and hard attitudes into softer, more grace-filled ones? Where can self-righteousness, stubbornness, and pride be reformed into humble servanthood?

Lord, have Your full way with me. Work me into a vessel for honored use in Your kingdom and for Your glory. (Romans 9:21)

“[RIghteousness] will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 4:24-5:2

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

The early palette is pale blues and greens, grass and firs and maples framing the grey green water, blue hills beyond. The only pop is the red rubber ball of low sun, splashing splotches of sparkles like a skipping stone as the milky sky, tinted faintly pink, pulls it up. Loons congregate on the velvet lake, occasionally submerging for a breakfast bite or taking off in flapping rhythmic slaps along the surface. All else is silent. A majestic heron soars from its perch in needled limbs above shore, gracing wide strong wings in fluid motion. Every pore soaks in peace.

Man gnaws for peace in the brawl of life, yet seldom takes the effort and time to soak it in. We carry war in our hearts towards people and circumstances, and wield weaponry of blame and offense without conviction. We nurse secret sins and habits that erode our hearts, yet fail to bring them into the light to be cleansed and healed. We say ‘peace, peace’ where there is no peace, playing a charade with inner angst, unable to convince ourselves, and others. On our own, we are troubled by inner turmoil and cannot seem to escape it. We may even try manmade substances to procure it. What is true in our salvation never makes its home in our hearts, and we are the worse and miserable for not reckoning it our own. (Jeremiah 6:14)

Christ Jesus has made peace for our souls in the excruciating agony of the cross, yet we pretend He has not fully forgiven, that it is not finished. The Prince of Peace is ever-present, ruling in serene control, unflappable in His governing of all things, but we keep Him at bay, preferring to manage ourselves into busy and frenzy and fretting about the future. It is the enemy’s way to keep us questioning the goodness and sufficiency of God, but we know the trick and should be alert to his conniving. (Genesis 3:1-4; John 19:30; 1 Peter 5:8)

Weary soul, when will you come to rest? What need we set aside, forever, to appropriate what is true about Christ’s finished work and abiding Holy Spirit of peace? He has overcome the frenetic world, He has reconciled enemies to be friends. When will we pause to soak in these truths and allow them to permeate every part of us? His peace makes a difference in all aspects of life. (John 14:27; 16:33; Ephesians 2:13-17)

Lord, fill me with Your incomprehensible peace so I might think clearly, behave wisely, speak calmly, and spread abroad the fruit of Your peace to those I encounter. (Galatians 5:22-23)

“From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher.  And Caleb said, ‘He who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter for a wife.’ And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter for a wife. When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Give me a blessing. Since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.’ And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.” Judges 1:11-15

Caleb’s daughter had learned under a father who was brave and zealous with faith. What God had promised He would not only give, but He would supply for His people all they needed to make the most of that gift. Now it was her time to request the “also” in order to capitalize on the land allotted to her, and she boldly did so. Land is good, and springs provide the water necessary to make them fruitful. (Numbers 13:17-30)

We have been given much by way of health, dwelling, and work, but when we hum along with a horizontal mindset, we can grow complacent about making the most of what has been entrusted to us. We skim by. We do the minimal. We have no vision for flourishing, no drive to multiply, and limited desire for sharing or passing on.

But the Lord has made us to make more and the most of what we have. He gives ten talents and expects ten more. He’s fashioned us with specific abilities and resources not to rest on or hoard them, but to engage the Spirit’s power to put them to work. Our faithfulness and well-doing brings greater responsibility and great joy. (Matthew 25:14-29)

Where have I settled for mediocrity? Where am I languishing in fervor, or turned inward and selfish in my choices and activities? Has greed overtaken generosity, sloth swallowed servanthood, or pampering replaced purposefulness? What will urge me to ask my Father for different and more? (Romans 12:11)

What specific treasure has God entrusted to me? Would I regularly take inventory, then open my hands and say, ‘Lord, give me also springs so these might be put to most productive, God-honoring use’? The Spirit waters us with counsel, spiritual wisdom, and power to make the most of who He’s made us to be. His welling up in us flourishes forth in abundant, benevolent living. He supplies love and grace for relationships, discernment and vitality for industry, passion and focus for service. (John 7:38-39)

What is it we lack? Will we ask for His blessing of springs?

Father, You have entrusted me with much. Please give me also springs of courage, fortitude, zeal, and energy to be an honorable steward, that You are glorified and Your goodness is known.

“But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.’ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

“After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, ‘Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.’ And she said, ‘Yes, for so much.’ But Peter said to her, ‘How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.’ Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.” Acts 5:1-10a

Contrive: To plan with cleverness or ingenuity; devise. To invent or fabricate, especially by improvisation. To plan with evil intent; scheme.

The account of this couple carries several lessons, but a superficial reading affords none of them. Our Lord is deeply interested in our hearts, knowing that from them stem our actions and words, so He includes this story to warn of motives that meander from His sway. We must dig beneath the surface in both our reading and applying to get the gold. Begin with the “But…” (Luke 6:45)

The preceding paragraph tells of the growing early church’s unity of heart and soul, and God’s great grace being poured out in abundance with results of lavish generosity. What Ananias and Sapphira actually did was not condemnable as much as how they made their decision and carried it out. They had at their disposal the full amount they owned, as had the other believers, but their motives and actions stood in stark contrast. Peter discerned that Ananias had lied to the Holy Spirit and God after contriving with his wife to pretend they had made a lesser amount. They agreed to be dishonest and hold back some of their proceeds, putting on airs of righteous generosity like the others had displayed, while inwardly hoarding selfishness. (Acts 4:32-37)

The consequence for Ananias was death, and without knowing her partner in deception had died, Sapphira fell to the same grave judgment. Lying, making light of God’s omniscience, attempting to deceive the Lord, and putting on appearances because we fear man more than God, are an affront to His holiness, and will not be tolerated.

Where has my clever planning been tainted by greed and self-promotion, and strayed from biblical principles? What habits need to be reconsidered and corrected before the penetrating light of God’s word?

Father, bring my every plan under holy scrutiny and purify my secret motives. May all I do and say align with godly integrity and truth.