Tag Archives: Devotional

Our Shepherd

He guides me along right paths,
bringing honour to his name.
Psalm 23:3b, NLT*

Psalm 23 is probably the best-known psalm, and it’s such a comfort, whether we’re in the green meadows or in the narrow valley of the shadow.

Our Shepherd is with us, resourceful to nourish us, powerful to defend and rescue, wise in His leading and rewarding us for following.

We can get to thinking it’s all about us, and there’s a lot of “us” in the message.

Today’s verse reminds me of the bigger picture: the psalm—and life—is about revealing the character and nature of our Shepherd. It’s about Him.

Thank You, God, for the care You give us. You provide, protect, guide and reward. The way You treat us reveals more about You than about us. You are the Holy One, worthy of all honour and praise. Help us follow obediently, not just to stay safe but to give You glory.

∞

Our song this week is the traditional Irish hymn, “The King of Love My Saviour Is,” sung here from the Maranatha Celtic Hymns recording.

*New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Taking God for Granted

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Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
Romans 1:21, NLT*

Knowing God but not worshipping Him or being thankful leads to terrible depths. God lets us find out the hard way, and what’s saddest is that some never see and turn back.

The context here is people who turn away from God. They know about Him but don’t care. I wonder how many start out with that intent and how many drift away because they aren’t paying attention to God.

That troubles me, because I know plenty of good people who believe in God but don’t seem to think about Him. Sure, He’s there to turn to in a crunch, but what if their spirits harden and they won’t call out to Him for help? What if they believe the enemy’s lies about God and decide there’s no point?

And what about those of us who know and love God? This is a warning for us too, not to take God for granted and let our relationship stagnate. It takes discipline and intentional effort to keep a strong, daily connection with our God. There are so many distractions and drains on our time.

Father, I don’t want to slide away from You even a little distance. You are life itself. There’s so much more of You to know; draw me deeper into relationship with You. Let me know You better so I can more fully trust and obey You. And please, by Your grace, draw back the ones who are slipping away. Help them see, help them choose Your life. Our whole world needs You, Lord. We’re no good on our own. Open eyes, soften hearts, draw many to Yourself.

∞

I know we’ve had this song last week, but it fits so well today: Here’s Michael W. Smith with “Draw Me Close to You.”

Quiet Times with God

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My child, eat honey, for it is good,
and the honeycomb is sweet to the taste.
In the same way, wisdom is sweet to your soul.
If you find it, you will have a bright future,
and your hopes will not be cut short.
Proverbs 24:13-14, NLT*

I love the invitations to wisdom we find in the Bible, and how they’re free to those who will seek God and draw near to Him. They’re not conditional on our latent intelligence or on our spotless pasts, but they’re based on God and His love for us.

In these verses we’re encouraged to look for wisdom rather than waiting for it to magically appear. The honeycomb illustration implies an eager, childlike search for something we know we’ll like.

Where do we find wisdom?

From God, and through His Book. We need a daily quiet time with Him, to read, pray, listen and learn. It’s not enough to know about Him. We need to know Him.

Daily quiet times are hard habits to get into, and easy habits to break. There’s no point getting legalistic over them or guilting ourselves, but if we can find even five minutes to get alone with God, we’ll be the richer for it.

Morning, after lunch, bedtime, whenever works best for you. Consistency helps, but some schedules won’t allow it. I heard of one person who linked his devotional moments to his morning coffee time—something he looked forward to and something he made sure happened each day.

Often we don’t have time to stop and pray, but I find as I get myself out of bed a bit earlier for my quiet time, the rest of the day goes smoother. We can’t bribe God into giving us pleasant days, but if we’re aligned with His Spirit, we’re better prepared to face what comes.

Father God, what a privilege it is to spend time with You. It’s more than our minds can grasp, but You invite us and You enjoy us. Help us make this a priority in our daily lives, not as an obligation but as a respite, a delight, and a time of refreshing and nourishing. Thank You for Your grace and Your love for us.

∞

A good, soul-quieting song is “Draw Me Close to You,” sung here by Hillsong.

Too Busy Not to Pray (christianitytoday.com)

Cheerful Hearts

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A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
Proverbs 17:22, NLT*

I’ve had both a cheerful heart and a broken spirit. I much prefer the cheerful heart!

What interests me about this verse today is the good medicine. Nobody takes medicine when they’re well, but we usually have a few spiritual “germs” in our systems that need fighting.

We’re called to take every thought captive under Christ’s authority, focus on praising God, and not dwell on the negatives. But we can’t manufacture a cheerful heart or mend a broken spirit.

Who gives us a cheerful heart? Who binds up our broken spirits? It’s God.

Our part is to cultivate an openness to Him, to receive what He has for us, to discover Him to be our source of healing and light. And to choose to obey. After all, according to the King James translation, Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Father God, our Healer and Sustainer, grant us cheerful hearts—based on Your goodness, not on our circumstances. Let them be a tonic when we’re in good space, and let them be medicine when times are hard. And when our spirits crack and break, bind us up and renew us, heal our hearts and plant cheer in them again to make us strong.

∞

The song, “Hands of the Healer,” by Fee, has been on my mind a lot lately. May it cheer us today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3-5UfJiP8Q

Linked with Wednesday’s Word.

Wisdom is a Choice

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And this is what he says to all humanity:
‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom;
to forsake evil is real understanding.’
Job 28:28, NLT*

The Book of Proverbs spends a lot of time looking at the thoughts, actions, and ultimate ends of the wise and the foolish, the godly and the wicked.

Wise and foolish, here, aren’t about intelligence. They’re not natural temperaments or personality attributes. They’re choices and learned behaviour.

They begin with our choice to seek or to ignore God.

Growing in relationship with God, learning to trust, obey and love Him—and developing a healthy respect and reverence for the one who adopts us as His own but who is the all-powerful God and Judge of all creation—is the way to wisdom.

The Book of James promises, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” (James 1:5, NLT*)

Wisdom isn’t always about specific guidance about the best thing to do or say in a given situation, although God can give us that. I like how Carolyn Watts puts it: “God promises to give us His wisdom, but the wisdom that He gives is sometimes more about learning to trust Him with the questions than about receiving specific answers.” [Rational Worship, p. 16]

Foolishness and wickedness are choices, and we don’t seem to need much help to excel at them. I’m so glad that wisdom and godliness are valid choices too, and that God offers all the help we’ll need to grow in them.

God who formed the universe, You are wiser than we’ll ever be. Thank You for inviting us into relationship with You. Thank You for the promise of wisdom if we’ll give our hearts to You and follow Your ways.

∞

Since wisdom is a daily choice, our song is Brian Doerksen‘s “Today“. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFs1d32K_ro]

A Symphony of Praise

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Let them all praise the name of the Lord.
For his name is very great;
his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
Psalm 148:13, NLT*

The final pages of the Book of Psalms resound with calls to praise – for what God does and for who He is.

From the most powerful people to the least, praise the Lord!

But the praise doesn’t stop there. Psalm 148 calls praise from the armies of heaven and small, scurrying animals; from created things, wind and weather.

It’s a symphony of praise, with each aspect of creation adding its own part. Those who can sing, speak or make noise contribute audibly. The trees and mountains may do their parts simply by existing.

Imagine what this would sound and look like in the heavenly realms: everything reflecting praise and glory to God our Creator and Sustainer.

Psalm 147 says it’s good, delightful, fitting to sing praises to God. It brings perspective (as we remind ourselves of His power and His care) and contentment (we are safe in His hands). It’s what we were made for.

J.I. Packer challenges us “to realize how unlimited are [God’s] wisdom, and His presence, and His power.” (Knowing God, trade paperback edition p. 86) The better we know God, the more we’ll overflow with praise to Him.

Our God, teach us to live so that every action and word reflects our confidence in You—our reliance on You and our praise of who You are. Thank You for giving us a part in the symphony of Your praise.

∞

Here’s a contemporary song of praise: ‘Forever Reign‘ from the Newsboys.

To Know God

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Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14:9, NIV*

Have you heard the anecdote about three blind people encountering an elephant for the first time? The one, touching the trunk, said the creature was skinny, long and floppy. The one at the elephant’s side insisted it was huge, while the third one stood at the patient animal’s foreleg and thought maybe it was a tree.

God is so much bigger than we can comprehend, and the silly story illustrates the danger of insisting we know all about Him based on what we’ve personally encountered. We have the Bible to teach us about Him, but we need to be careful to read all of it instead of focusing on what we “get” or on what makes us feel good.

And we have Jesus, who reveals the Father’s character. That makes the four Gospels extra valuable for study.

Majestic and holy God, the better we know You the more we can trust You. And the more our spirits will surrender to You in worship. You alone are holy, all-wise, our Redeemer and our Judge. You are more than we can comprehend, yet You reveal Yourself to us. Open the eyes of our hearts to the truth of who You, and help us to live lives of worship.

∞

For a light touch on the subject, here’s Jonny Diaz‘ song “Figured Out.”

Here’s a link to the story behind the song.

What Pleases God?

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He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse
or in human might.
No, the Lord’s delight is in those who fear him,
those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Psalm 147:10-11, NLT*

If you take a few minutes to read Psalm 147 you’ll see descriptions of God’s power and actions. He restores the nation of Israel but also heals the broken-hearted. He names each star and feeds baby ravens.

He does it all without needing our help, although the Bible makes it clear that He invites and empowers us to participate in His work.

God is big, vast beyond our knowing. His power can’t be thwarted, nor His mercy exhausted.

What does He ask us to do? Save ourselves? Restore and bind up ourselves? Name the stars and feed the wildlife?

Some of those things we will do, and it will please Him. We’ll care for one another and for creation. That’s important. And I’m sure He doesn’t mind that we name the stars, even though His names for them are truer.

But it’s not our strength, accomplishments or actions that delight God. It’s our heart-responses to Him—responses of healthy fear of His power and hope in His love. His unfailing love, in case we missed that.

Majestic Creator God, there is none like You. You give us so much—including salvation—that we could never earn nor repay. Instead of trying to do the impossible, our response is to be reverent fear and hope. You say it pleases You, so help us to live this way more and more. And help us to show our love for You in how we treat others.

∞

God has saved us, and we have nothing to prove. Here’s Todd Agnew’s song, “I Need No Other.” You may recognize the seeds of an older song, “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place.”

Working with Purpose

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That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.
Colossians 1:29, NLT*

Paul’s motivation and passion is “to present [everyone] to God, perfect [or ‘mature’] in their relationship to Christ,” and he pours his whole life into it.

It’s different when we don’t have an overriding sense of calling or mission, or if we don’t have a felt purpose or deadline.

I’m in the happy state of being an at-home mom to almost-grown sons. They don’t need a lot of care, although they’d appreciate more home baking.

There’s plenty of housework that needs doing, but… it waits quite patiently. And there’s more writing I’d like to be doing, but… it too waits. As much as deadlines stress me, I often find I get more done when my time is tighter. Daily life (and email) seems to spread to take up all the available time.

I had full-time work from October through December, a repeat of my previous year’s seasonal job. It was a great opportunity that stretched me and demanded more than I had to give. When I told people God sent me back to the same role to re-learn the lessons He’d taught me the first time, I was only half joking.

The task was too big for me. I had to rely on God. That meant getting up early enough to start each day with prayer and a Bible reading. It meant committing the day to Him and depending on His intervention and provision.

There wasn’t much of me left over at the end of each day, but He was enough. And somehow the other details of my personal life (little things like preparing for Christmas) fell into place.

God our Sustainer and the Director of our paths, thank You for demonstrating Your goodness. Help me—help us all—to view each day as the assignment You have for us, however simple or complex. Help us to anchor ourselves in You and to work diligently, relying on the power of Christ in us. Nourish us daily from Your Word and Your presence. When things come up that aren’t on our agendas, give us discernment to know if they’re redeployments to obey or distractions to ignore. Help us do all to Your glory, with willing hearts.

∞

Geoff Moore’s song, “Your Day,” is a good one to start each morning. (Click to listen to Your Day at Last.fm)

To See God

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Where there is no vision, the people perish:
but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Proverbs 29:18, KJV*

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint;
but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.
Proverbs 29:18, NIV**

When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.
But whoever obeys the law is joyful.
Proverbs 29:18, NLT***

Interesting nuances in the translations of this verse. The opening phrase is what’s on my mind today, with the vision / revelation / divine guidance – that which we need to not only receive but accept and obey.

I usually think of this verse in terms of direction and planning: of a corporate sense of purpose. But God’s been suggesting to me that there’s more to vision than just seeing the next step in His plan.

There’s seeing Him.

Not literally – not yet – but seeing, believing, accepting His revelation of who He is. His character. His attributes. His promises, laws and requirements.

Do we really know Him? Or are we distracted by the pain or pleasure in our own small lives? Too often the problems look bigger than the God who can solve them. Or we pray for help but don’t really believe things will change, because we don’t see them changing.

Instead, we need to see God.

At Other Food: daily devos, Violet Nesdoly often quotes J.I. Packer’s classic, Knowing God (affiliate link for The Word Guild). I received a copy for Christmas, and God is using the opening chapters to reinforce what He’s been saying to me about my need to actually see Him – to know Him rather than just knowing about Him. To believe Him instead of believing whatever stress is currently staring me down.

Holy and mighty God, You spoke the universe into being and You proved Yourself as Israel’s King and defender. You haven’t changed. Reveal Yourself to Your people today as we live among people who reject You and who are indeed casting off restraint and running wild. Guide us. Strengthen us. Give us a glimpse of who You really are, so we can stand in firm confidence in You, so that others will see You too.

∞

Paul Baloche’s “Open the Eyes of My Heart” is a good prayer for today.

*King James Version (KJV) Public domain.

***New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Janet Sketchley

Writing Christian Mysteries & Suspense

Tag Archives: Devotional

Our Shepherd

Taking God for Granted

Quiet Times with God

Cheerful Hearts

Wisdom is a Choice

A Symphony of Praise

To Know God

What Pleases God?

Working with Purpose

To See God

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