Month: July 2017

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PWTE Daily Devotion

Protected

Lord Come to Help.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

Harbor Seal pups are protected.  When they are left on the beach by their mothers, barricade tape is put up to warn people to stay clear and let the pup alone.  When we lived on California’s Redwood Coast, we would encounter the same phenomenon with a rare shorebird when it built its nest in the sand to raise its young.  Humanity will occasionally spread protection to others.

God will always spread his protection over you.

“But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy.  Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.”
Psalm 5:11, New International Version

I love the Psalms.  They speak of real life issues and needs.  The speaker frequently changes.  The one being addressed can change numerous times within the same Psalm.  Here, the Psalmist speaks to the Lord.  What the Psalmist asks of the Lord, the Lord does.  All the time.

The Lord spreads his protection over you.  It may not be barricade tape, but still the Lord’s protection marks you as special, an object of the Lord’s own protective impulses.  Our whole lives are surrounded by God’s protective grace.  Thus, even death cannot own us, and is powerless over us.

I acknowledge that there are times when we can wonder about the Lord’s protection.  We can feel pretty vulnerable.  Don’t underestimate the power of faith, the enormous power of trusting the Lord.  Continuously practice his presence in prayer.  Grow your relationship with him intentionally.  Trust his promises.  Trust his protection.  Live in them both, daily.

The Lord frequently spreads his protection, over us, through the people of God, including family, who surround us.  Never take those relationships for granted.  Don’t leave them behind.  Live as God intends, in the protective community of his church.  My wife, kids, and grandkids are some of the Lord’s protective layers over me.  So are my brothers and sisters at church.  There is protection in the community we enjoy with the Lord.  There is protection in the community we enjoy with God’s people.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Waiting

The Lord’s Garden.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

These newly-built raised beds are waiting.  They first waited for soil.  Now they wait for seeds, for life, for growth, and for fruit.  I was late getting these built, but I am planning what they will contain.  Strawberries, asparagus, rhubarb, and assorted vegetables.

Long ago, “The Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden…” Genesis 2:8, New International Version.  These opening chapters of Scripture amaze me.  At the close of each creative day, the Lord saw that ‘it was good.’  On the last day, he saw the whole of his creation and proclaimed, ‘it was very good’.  I find myself thinking, ‘The Lord’s omniscience didn’t let the future perversion of creation, through humanity’s sin, spoil his appreciation of his handiwork.’

We are God’s handiwork today.  We are the result of his creative act through the Gospel.  We are a new creation.  We are not the soil.  That is Jesus.  Our roots sink deeply into him.  We gain real spiritual nourishment as we delve into the Word, settling roots down into the fertile soil of our Lord.

The world is waiting for the appearance of the daughters and sons of the Lord.  It is waiting every day.  Every day we ‘re-enter’ the world, rising from restful sleep to seed the world with the Word of the Lord who dwells within us.

That’s what these empty beds remind me of. The world awaiting us.  Awaiting you.  These raised beds are not sentient, of course.  The people awaiting us are sentient indeed, but many of them do not know they are waiting.  They do not know the surprise of God’s love, grace, and mercy that is coming their way in you, and in me.

What a wonder it is that God includes us not just in his family, but in his work of planting the seed of the Word, of helping water and nourish real spiritual growth, and of enjoying the harvest of praise that is the people of God.

Look around you today.  Where is someone waiting…for you and Jesus?

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO

Categories
PWTE Daily Devotion

Signs

Sunset over Puget Sound

Seeking what really matters.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“…When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’….”
Matthew 16:2, New International Version

There is nothing new about wishing for a sign, some help or indication, about what is going on or what decision to make.  The Pharisees and Sadducees tested Jesus by asking for a sign from heaven.  The word ‘tested’, in verse 1 of Matthew 16, is the same word used of Satan in the testing of Jesus, in Matthew 4.

Sunset over Puget Sound

I’m not suggesting it’s satanic to desire a sign.  It’s human enough.  However, when used to test the Lord one crosses a line.  Jesus said, “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times,” (verse 3).

In our day, like so many days, the red evening sky can bring more than just wonder and praise at the glory of God’s creation.  It can remind us that such a sign in the sky, like the rainbow, surrounds us with the greater sign of God’s glory, the sign of the empty cross and the empty tomb.  The sign of Jonah has been fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus.

We pursue the ‘work’ of the Lord, loving and serving God while loving and serving one another.  We’ll leave the seeking of signs for others.  The sign they need is the people of God in their midst, loving and serving God while loving and serving them!

I remember an old ‘BC’ comic strip.  In the first three frames, BC stands at a cliff-top shouting to the heavens, “Give me a sign.”  In the fourth frame, he is flat on the ground with a large stop sign on his back!  Sometimes it even takes visual exaggeration  to make the point.

Enjoy the red sunset when you see it.  Revel in the glory of God’s creation.  Let it all be a sign for you that God remembers you in the person of His Son.  You are God’s own child.  You are the best sign of his loving presence, in your corner of the world today.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO