Author: astherainandsnow

“It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers… Take care… lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness,.. and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock… You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish… 

“O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven… Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land…’ Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in.., but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord is driving them out from before you.., for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord… Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose you above all peoples.” Deuteronomy 7:7-8; 8:11-15,18-19; 9:1,4-7; 10:15

Repeatedly, in preparing Israel for entering the Promised Land, the Lord warns them to keep any ounce of self, any credit, any success, any deserving, any idol or ideal, off their pedestals. He was LORD alone. Puffery and swagger would not serve them well as His children, and would lead only to His discipline and their demise. An ego-erected pedestal of their own righteousness would topple. Beware, remember, do not forget! How graciously God instructs us, and oh, how virulently our pride constructs against Him!

Israel had staggered under horrendous slavery, yet once freed thought themselves rightful to plenty. We cry out in helpless need, yet when God provides, we forsake His generosity and take credit ourselves. We are a rebellious and stubborn people whom God has mercifully loved and redeemed through His greatness, power, and outstretched arm. May we never forget! (Exodus 1:13-14; Deuteronomy 9:26,29; Numbers 11:1-6; Romans 5:6,8,10)

Quarrels, distrust, and strife come from an inflated sense of self-importance, our own insecurities from our unstable balancing act on self-made pedestals. Would we stop, climb down, and exalt the true Victor?

Lord, may I actively, continually, gratefully remember You, and all You have done for me. To You belongs all glory.

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” Deuteronomy 5:12-15

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
    from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
    and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
    or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
    and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth.” Isaiah 58:13-14

“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
    I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
    I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:1-2

In the beginning, God rested after six days of creating the heavens and the earth, blessing the seventh day as holy. On Sinai, He established an end-of-week Sabbath rest for His people from the pattern He’d set in Eden. In Deuteronomy (the “second law”), Moses recounts the giving of the ten commandments and includes the caveat that this day of rest should involve reflection on God’s delivering them out of slavery. He set apart the day for pausing from a normal schedule and self-driven pleasure to delight in Him, to remember His great salvation from sin’s captivity and rejoice in His freedom. ‘Remember where you were, and where you are going.’ (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11)

In days of turmoil and hours of frenzy, we seldom stop to contemplate. The God who made us knew our human tendencies, and how vital it is for our spiritual health and outlook to clear our vision, get perspective, and be thankful. Every present Sabbath is an opportunity not only to reflect on God’s past deliverances, but to rejoice in the soul-rest Jesus gives now and look forward with glad expectancy to the ultimate rest He promises. (Matthew 11:28-29; Hebrews 4:9-11)

When engulfed in a tumult of chaos and violence and agitated emotions, our hearts can rest in Jesus. He who ordered the original Sabbath as a sign has won our ultimate one at the cross, where He overcame sin and death, injustice and pain, confusion and despair. His sure promises are trustworthy. Will we take Him at His word, and choose to rest in the true respite and peace offered in Him alone? (John 16:33)

Good Father, keep me regularly still long enough to remember, to look both back and forward at all You have done and will do. Lift my heart above the fray to rest and rejoice in You, Ruler over all.

“You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:6-9

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you… My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him.” Jeremiah 31:3

Much is mentioned about the worth of a life these days. The pre-born, the elderly, minorities, majorities, ‘likes’ and ‘cancels’ and ‘babies on board,’– fallen man confuses labels with value and neglects God’s truth about love. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… God is love.” Grasping this deep love of Jesus establishes our faith’s foundation and our relationship to Him and others. (1 John 4:7-11,16)

John described himself as “the one whom Jesus loved.” He knew the extent of that love as recipient of its lavish expression, and in witnessing His innocent death on his behalf. He wrote from first-hand knowledge. (John 13:1-5,23; 19:26-27)

Are we as overwhelmed as he, that God would set Hs affection upon us, and pursue us to salvation? That He would lovingly sacrifice His life to wash our hearts, and give us individual purpose? This is an amazing love which envelops us forever. Insecurity lurks and pesters because of horizontal cursory comparisons and superficial evaluations. How can we communicate and behave differently to show others their intrinsic worth as God’s image-bearers? How can we display His unconditional, covenant love? (Genesis 1:26-28)

“My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device nor creed;
I trust the Ever-living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea;
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.”  ~Eliza Edmunds Hewitt (1851-1920)

Lord, it is enough, and the highest esteem, that You created and died for Your people. May I treat others as beloved, by You and by me. May they see You and be drawn irretrievably by Your pursuing affection.

“And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but… by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep [his] commandments by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land… And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God… lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,.. your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord, who brought you out of… slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness,.. that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end… You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power.” Deuteronomy 8:2-7,10-12,14-16,18

Forty years is a long time, and God wants His people to remember His leading and provision and lessons through them all– their captivity and His miraculous split of the Red Sea to their freedom, the unknown path through wilderness and His pillars of fire and cloud, their hunger pangs and His provision of manna and quail, their parched thirst and the water flowing from rock, their viper bites and His healing. Whose sandals would not wear thin after four decades of walking unpaved land? What leader could remain steady and vigorous through hundreds of months with grumbling cohorts? Only God could have brought them this far. (Exodus 13:21-22; 14:21-22; 16:13-15; 17:6; Numbers 21:6-9)

The whole way God leads us is to do us good in the end. How quickly we can choke in the pressure of the urgent, high emotions of the moment, tangling difficulties, arresting set-backs, lack and loss, consuming sorrow, and forget to consider the whole way. And once we are relieved of weighty burdens, we can drift into ease and smugness and forget God altogether. His eye is on us from beginning to end. He is always working good that results in conformation to His image and ultimate glory for those who love Him. From a place of broad perspective, would we want anything less? (Deuteronomy 11:12; Psalm 34:15; Romans 8:28-30)

We know God best when we consider His whole counsel and method in our sanctification. Will we accept and expect His good for us through every test?

Lord, keep my hope in You, not circumstances. Give me eyes to see Your hand and Your glorious ends.

“Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
    or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
    or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!

“Behold, the Lord God of hosts
    will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
    and the lofty will be brought low… 

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
    or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
    and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
    and faithfulness the belt of his loins… 

“They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 10:15,33; 11:1-5,9-10

Many today reign in their specific territories of government, health, journalism, industry, education, and their expertise and influence exert certain power over public opinion, policy, and individuals. Some have authority to effect results with specific actions or movements, and still others dictate behavior through terror or unrighteous force. But for all, their power is restricted, wielded only within the confines of the limits endowed by their Creator. As sharp as an axe may be, it has no effect unless used by one stronger.

A beautiful truth about our Lord Jesus is that He came as one of us, and never rose to human heights. He was born weak, helpless, a shoot from the stump of humanity so He could know how we breathe and decide and suffer and love. As our Savior, He gave up the right to earthly power and offered Himself, sinless, to take on our sin and its death penalty on our behalf. He understands every pressure, every passion, every anguish. (2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:5-8)

But one day, this Branch will reign. The Spirit of the Lord has anointed and promised our Perfect Ruler, the righteous Judge, wholly wise, all-knowing, almighty, merciful, and faithful. Claiming His kingship in our hearts now, and living assured of His one day, guides how we see current events and what we choose to do with our days and lives.

Will we lead and plan, but as those who know the One who determines success? Do we grieve, but not as those without hope? We sweat and toil, we weep and love, we raise children and bury loved ones, and in all we can know that to live is Christ and to die is gain when all is done as unto Him. Will we serve the Lord of hosts? (Proverbs 16:9; Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Lord, help me live wholeheartedly this day, for that day!

“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ ..Take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children… so they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.

“Watch yourselves very carefully…  Take care, lest you forget… Seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul… For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them… Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Keep his statutes and his commandments… that it may go well with you and with your children.” Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6,9-10,15,23,29,31,39-40

“He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.” “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Isaiah 33:6; James 1:5

It is one thing to prepare a feast for someone, a spread rich in colorful, delectable enticements, and another thing to take their hands and pull them forward, offer them a plate, and urge them to ‘come, partake, savor, have your fill!’ Our Lord does this with His wisdom. He embodies wisdom beyond compare and measure, and not only makes it readily available to us in His word and for the asking, but prods us with consistent admonition and encouragement to seek, take hold, ingest, keep, apply, and pass it on.

In the volatility of today’s frenetic events, gloomy forecasts, and untenable unrest, we need wisdom. The electricity of conflict, relentless information, and a myriad of dichotomous expert opinions charges our affections and demands our time. The God who understands the dilemmas of our tenuous times offers a firm foundation in His written truth, generous knowledge to fortify our stability and make us wise. Wherever we are, whatever we presently face, do we intentionally seek Him prayer, and take time to glean from His word divine wisdom and perspective? Will we consciously view ourselves in light of His kingdom purposes, and act accordingly? (Proverbs 3:3-6; Romans 12:3-8)

Lord, You embody all I need for the present. Grant Your wisdom for my times, that Your perfect will be done and Your righteous authority be exalted.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15

“For the body does not consist of one member but of many…  If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose… God has so composed the body,.. that there may be no division.., but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:14,17-18,24-27

One of the beautiful mysteries, and mysterious beauties, of the Body of Christ is the deep, compassionate care we have for one another. The palpable comfort we give and receive in love is inexplicable, as real and strong as the greatest powers we know: “Love is strong as death… Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.” Whether in grief over the solitary burial of a 60-year spouse, the tragic death of a young adult son, or the victims of violence we’ve never met, there is nothing like the Body to come alongside, to undergird in prayer, to weep and hurt in anguish as an interconnected people. (Song of Solomon 8:6-7)

God Almighty, in His infinite wisdom and perfect plan, composed His Body to integrate us, so our pain would be shared, our tears would flow together before His throne, our cries to Him would rise like pungent incense to buoy the hurting, our support could be felt and our hearts synchronized over long distance. (Psalm 141:2; Proverbs 17:17; Galatians 6:2; Revelation 5:8; 8:3-5)

In times when we are unable to personally express or practically exhibit our care, we can pray. God understands and transcends every dimension of hurt. His Spirit translates our groanings when we know not exactly what to pray, and ministers to those for whom we pray. He works invisibly and divinely through heart concern and inexpressible longings to perform His bidding and to redeem suffering. He works ultimate good as He has promised, and we glimpse His glory to be revealed through the invisible connection of shared sorrows. (Romans 8:18-28)

When separated from those whose lives are in turmoil, how will we reach out? When will we commit to pray for those who may never know, but will be affected? Is there a particular way God would have us today salve a wound, bridge generational pain, be a balm in another’s Gilead of mourning? (Jeremiah 8:21-22)

Father, thank you for the gift of shared grief and the privilege of upholding those who are suffering deeply. Help me care well for Your Body, that the hurting taste Your comfort and long for future glory.

“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 17-25

We all have passions, and indeed they are a gift from God, distinguishing us from other creatures He has made. How we fuel them determines where we direct them. And where we direct them makes a difference in how we see and what we seek, how we relate to others and what we glean from relationships. God gives us free will that can be exercised either to indulge worldly enticements, which lead to scoffing, divisiveness, and pride’s self-gratification, or to maximize our passions’ effectiveness and delight by developing faith, love, self-forgetfulness, and mercy that blesses others. (James 1:14-17)

God’s word calls us to beware those who would pull our passions away from the Lord and point them toward the world. When once we lose sight and ‘tight’ with Jesus, our passions can run amok with unchecked attitudes that inflame loose tongues that castigate those with whom we disagree, destroy reputations of those we do not like, and foment anger, derision, and dissension. (James 3:6)

But we have One who is able to keep us from stumbling, who envelops us in love and is gracious in mercy, who imparts most holy faith that restrains our impulses and shows itself in bold, selfless ministry to the weak and needy. He is worthy of our passionate allegiance, and though it receives the glory, majesty, and dominion that is due Him.

Do we rev our day’s engine devoid of the Spirit, or nurturing our faith by praying in the Spirit? Are we handling the fires of doubt and flesh by adding to destruction, or rescuing others from their heat and pointing them to the Savior?

“The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Titus 2:11-14

Lord, keep me in Your love and purify my passions as only You are able. Point them always to Thee, and energized by Your Spirit, to effect Your mercy and joy in the world.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are… Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure…  For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another… Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you… By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”  1 John 3:1-3,11,13,16-18

When we confront and deeply contemplate Jesus’s love for us– the ultimate sacrificial love of our Savior– it captures our hearts. And when our hearts are seized and enveloped, Jesus’s love swells in our hearts and spills over into love for Him and for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. There is nothing like familial love in His body– generous, life-giving, fruit-multiplying love.

First, we see His love, what kind it is, what it does when lavished on us. This is a love that saves forever and promises we will one day be like Him. This is a love that knows all about us, and scoops us in a holy embrace in unbreakable affection, adopting us into God’s family. We become children of God! Siblings of Christ! We reciprocate this love between parent and child. (Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:5; Hebrews 2:11)

This certain truth and hope of two-way love compels us to pure hearts washed clean of grudges and preconceptions, favoritism and the puffery of superiority and irritations we give room. The palpable reality of Jesus’s love wells up in and out of us so we forgive as we have been forgiven, demote our preferences in honor and deference to others, genuinely care for the needs of individuals and the brokenness of our world. Laying down our lives for others means saying every morning, ‘Lord, I am available. My breath, my agenda, my resources, my time– all for You. Love through me. Work through me in deed and truth so others see, hear, and feel reflected the magnetic, perfect love of Christ.’ (Romans 12:3,9-10,15-16; Ephesians 4:32)

As God has freely set His affection on me, how freely and deliberately do I set my affection on others? What alien loves and pet indulgences must I forsake in order to make my heart accessible to develop and extend His love to others? Where am I holding back tenderness or compassion because of inconvenience, prejudice, selfish wants, past hurts that have grown bitter roots? (Deuteronomy 7:7-8; Philippians 2:3-7; Hebrews 12:15)

Lord of love, complete Your love in me and help me love as You so love– lavishly, sacrificially, without reservation. Spread Your love abroad in my heart so fully that the body of Christ, and the world, will know and adore You. (Romans 5:5; 1 John 4:11-12,16-17)