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But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple. Psalm 5:7
When I was young I delivered papers in my home town. Saturday was collection day so my parents would drop me off on the furthest end of my route and I’d wander door to door collecting from each of my customers.
I remember one Saturday in particular. I’d lost track of time and was still quite far from finishing my duties when the town siren went off. It was warm, cloudy and we’d had some pretty severe storms recently. I panicked. I was sure that the siren sounded to warn of an approaching tornado and I was completely at the mercy of the oncoming storm.
I hurried quickly to the next customer and knocked on the door. No one home. My anxiety shot through the roof! What would I do?
I went to the next door neighbor, even though they were not a customer. Trying to be as brave as I could, I asked the person answering the door if there was going to be a tornado. I felt a bit sheepish when I found out the siren I heard was the siren that blew (in those days) every day at noon!
I think of that story when I read Psalm 5:7. What a privilege we have that we can enter God’s house! We are invited in, not as guests, but as his child. We can partake in all of the safety, warmth, protection and comfort his home can provide. Better yet, this is no modest three bedroom bungalow. This is the home of a king, this is a palace.
The second statement David makes is even more revealing of the intimate access we have to our Father. We are allowed into his holy temple. When David wrote these words the temple we think of was yet to be built. The ‘temple’ he was referring to was the inner room of the tabernacle, the holiest of holy places where God himself dwelt.
What a marvelous reminder of God’s grace. We are not worthy to enter his home, but he welcomes us in as his child. Not only are we welcomed in as his child, we are given access to the most intimate parts of the home…the temple where God dwells.
When the storms of life threaten to attack. When you seem to be far from the safe confines of family or friends. When it seems the enemy is lurking at every corner. Remember that your Heavenly Father welcomes you as a child into the safety of his presence.
Today ‘home’ for some isn’t a pleasant place. If that’s the case with you, think of all the things home means to you in the best of circumstances. This is the home your Father in Heaven welcomes you into is a home of peace in the midst of the storm, warmth in the cold winter night, love in the midst of an angry world.
PRAYER: Father Thank you for the promise that I have a home with you. Thank you for the grace you offer me to welcome me as a child even though I don’t deserve it. When fear (real or imagined) attacks me, help me remember I have a safe place with you. Amen.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. Colossians 2:9
Most people don’t reject Jesus, they reject religion. After all, how do you spurn a man who heals the lame, stands up for women and outcasts, gives mothers back their dead children, and refuses to condemn the guilty?
Ask the man who sat by a pool for 38 years before someone named Jesus came along and finally showed they cared. As he picked up his bed and returned home do you think he had a bad thing to say about Jesus?
As the woman who’d been suffering from hemorrhaging for 12 years how she felt about Jesus. By touching him she made him ceremonially unclean. By ‘being found out’ she not only interrupted the ministry of a very important teacher, for a brief moment all attention was turned on her. Think she felt defamed or ridiculed as she felt her body suddenly stop bleeding?
Ask the woman walking home with a son who, moments ago, was being carried to his grave along with all her hopes for grandchildren. Do you think she doubted the power of God to bring life to the dead?
Ask the woman who closed her eyes expecting rocks to fly at any moment. After he raised her to her feet and told her she was no longer condemned. Do you think she went away thinking God could never forgive her past mistakes?
I could go on. The young mom who suddenly could feed her hungry children because the great teacher miraculously produced enough food for over 5,000 people from some kids sack lunch. Or the parents of the man who was blind from birth and now could see. The man who brought home his son, now completely healed from demonic powered seizures.
Fact of the matter is a study of Jesus Christ reveals a man who did absolutely nothing that others could look down upon, except maybe those intent on legalistic rules and regulations. If you want an example of who God is, look to Jesus. If you want an example of what a loving compassionate father, look to Jesus. If you want to see what grace looks like, look to Jesus.
I can’t explain what it means that Jesus was completely God and completely man. 100% human and 100% deity. I can’t explain it. I can’t explain it, but I like it because this example of love, forgiveness and mercy give me strength to go on.
With Jesus the voices of your past become silent; the accusations of the present fall away; the reminders of your weakness become foundations for your strength.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus. Once again I come in humble praise for all you showed in your life here on earth. I thank you for coming to live among us so we could catch a glimpse of the Father. Empower me now with your Spirit to show those around me your grace. Amen.
When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Luke 7:13
A young man lies in a hospital bed fighting for his life as the result of a gunshot to the head. The community and surrounding area hold vigils for his healing. Prayer meetings are held in coffee shops, restaurants and churches. Television news trucks are parked outside the hospital waiting for word on the fight for life.
Inside, a young mom holds vigil over the bed of her husband and the father of her three young children. She cries. She tries to be strong, but can’t. She prays harder than she’s ever prayed before. Minutes stretch into hours and hours stretch into days. Well wishers look for any indication that there is improvement, and sign of hope, but there would be none.
Somewhere near by another mom suffers in silence. Her son was the one who fired the shot. She is the one sitting at a funeral of her little boy who died of a self-inflicted gunshot. Once a hero, now maligned as a vicious offender, this mom suffers in silence. Heartbroken over the death of her son, yet ashamed of his actions, she tries to block out the voices she hears. She avoids being in public because of the stares. Even the few, sincere condolences she receives do little to heal her own pain, not to mention the pain she feels for the other young mom in the hospital holding vigil.
The story in Luke has a much happier ending. This mom, unlike the other two would receive back her loved one. We really know little about her, or the life she lived. We know she was a widow. We know she’d just lost her only son. How old was he? Some versions of the bible say a man, some a boy. Most likely he was a teenager.
Jesus didn’t see the crowd of mourners. His attention wasn’t focused on the stretcher. Luke tells us that “Jesus saw her…” His attention was riveted on this mom who also had just lost her son, her only son. She was alone now. After her husband died, he’d become the man of the house. It was he who would be her assurance of provision into old age. Now he was gone and she was alone.
There is no grief so deep as the grief of a parent whose lost a child, and that wound is deeper for the one who carried the child in her own bosom, bore that child out of pain and nursed it at her breast.
Three moms, three different outcomes, but one Jesus. Only he can offer the comfort a parent needs when tears are shed over a child. Only he can heal the wounds with the oil of his love, because God knows what it’s like to lose a son. No one, regardless of how sincere, can know the pain of a mom (parent) who has lost a child except Jesus. He looks beyond the externals and sees the heart.
PRAYER: Father God. Today I pray for all those parents, especially mom’s, who have lost a child. I pray that they would be comforted through the comfort only your son Jesus Christ can offer. May your Holy Spirit walk with them through the healing they need during a most difficult time. Amen.
He saves my life from the grave and loads me with love and mercy. Psalm 103:4 NCV
How full is full? The answer to that of course depends on the size of the container to be filled, and what you are filling it with. Also, the supply source can have an influence on your answer.
For example, if I were to try to fill a gallon container with water from a quart sized container the question becomes unimportant. I can’t fill the gallon sized container because my source will dry up. If, however my source is unlimited and my destination container is small, filling it to overflowing is easy.
The Psalmist tells us that your Heavenly Father loads you up with love and mercy. Interesting thing about love and mercy. When they are present they squeeze whatever is inside of us out. Love and hatred can’t abide together. When I’m filled to overflowing with God’s love I can’t hate, even if I want to.
Mercy can’t co-habitate with guilt. Forgiveness can’t share a bed with revenge. Grace won’t be seen with a judgmental attitude. Freedom (in Christ) won’t associate with legalistic attitudes. Fear can’t sit down to eat with worry. Your new life in Christ ignores the voice of your past as it screams accusations and reminders of your failures.
You are a child of the Living God. When you accepted Christ onto your life and asked forgiveness of your sin something else happened. The Father filled you to HIS measure with love and mercy. The filling with God’s love is immediate even though the results can take time to show themselves.
Sometimes our humanity fights the filling so it takes time to see the full results. Don’t give up on yourself though. Don’t give up on God’s ability to remove the sludge of the old life. Constant reliance on his love will slowly squeeze out the fear, the doubt and the pain that keeps us from feeling the full benefits of your Fathers unlimited love and mercy.
So when the affair you had reminds you of your unfaithfulness, remember God’s mercy. When the words you wish you could take back haunt you, remember his forgiveness. When the bruises of an abusive past cause you pain, remember his love. When the voices of addiction taunt you and welcome you in, lean on his strength.
I love the phrase, “He loads me up with love and mercy’. In this we can find all the strength we need to carry on.
PRAYER: Father God I thank you for giving me the full measure of your love and mercy. I ask now that you would empower me with your Holy Spirit so that love and mercy will spill over to those around me. Amen
Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. Psalm 23:4 (NLT)
There are times in our lives when we feel the darkness is so oppressive that we aren’t sure we can go on. The darkness of our hearts is far more painful, far more fearful than the physical darkness of night. That darkness is temporary and we can use artificial light to guide us on our way.
Not so with the darkness of our soul. The abuse of our past, the struggle to survive in the wilderness and the feeling we can’t go on add to the depth of the darkness. The darkness of our soul causes us to lose sight of God and, more importantly, of ourselves. We become victims of the enemies that lie in wait for us. Worry. Doubt. Despair. Anger. Frustration. Guilt. All these and more paralyze us and keep us from moving forward.
Psalm 23 is a Psalm that is often linked to death and funerals but it’s far from being a funeral dirge. It’s a song for the living. It’s a song of hope in the midst of darkness, safety in the midst of the enemies attack, life to the fullest in the face of death.
Religion offers no light. In fact, it only adds to the darkness. Relationships with others can offer some help for a time, but soon we realize that those we walk with are also making their way through the dark.
What we need then is a guide, a protector, a shepherd that knows us, understands our fears, overlooks our failings and isn’t offended by our weakness. We need a shepherd. Not just any shepherd mind you, we need the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, the one who came to earth to walk among us so he could best understand the darkness each of us must endure.
The rod and staff of the shepherd brought comfort and confidence for the sheep. It was used by the shepherd to count the sheep. They were said to “pass under the rod” as the shepherd made sure each of his lambs was accounted for. Not a mere number count mind you, but a checking over, an accounting for. It was individual. It was personal.
The rod and staff guided the sheep as well. When the sheep wandered from the safe path, or strayed from the safety of the flock, the shepherd used the staff to bring the wandering home. To be sure, some didn’t heed the first gentle redirection. Some required a harsher tap or even a strike to bring them home. Painful? Yes. But the pain of the redirection was much less than the pain of losing you in the darkness and having you be defenseless to enemy attack. Painful as it was, the Good Shepherd would rather inflict temporary pain now than to lose a precious sheep later.
The rod and staff were protection as well. The sheep were in constant danger from enemies that lurked in the darkness. The Good Shepherd was constantly watching the shadows to make sure no enemy could attack his precious sheep.
Regardless of the darkness you are in, with Jesus by your side to comfort, guide and protect you, the darkness will have no power over you. He never promised we would not walk through the dark times. He only promised that in the darkness he was right beside us all the way.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, as with the Psalmist I thank you for your rod and your staff for they remind me of your great love and protection for my soul. Help me today, as I walk in darkness to sense your presence beside me. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 