God's giving

God acts.

God acts.

Isaiah 58

In this chapter, God exposed the Israelites’ empty practice of two religious rituals—fasting and Sabbath-keeping: “On the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high… If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, (vs 3-4, 13-14)

God must be odd ('cuz He never gets even).

God must be odd ('cuz He never gets even).

Isaiah 55

I stole the title of this blog from the title of a chapter in my father’s book, Freedom Fighter: How God Wins the Universal War on Terror. That chapter is all about God’s amazing forgiveness. (I invite you to read the chapter online.) In many ways, God’s forgiveness does seem odd to us, because unlike most of us, God never holds a grudge. Ever.

God gives abundant life.

God gives abundant life.

Isaiah 40

You know, there are some days on this blog when it seems like I’m grasping at straws to find something, anything in the chapter to write about. I particularly remember feeling that way during the ten genealogy chapters of 1 Chronicles! Today, I had the opposite problem. I think I could have written 15 different blogs from things in Isaiah 40. How come he had to cram all the great stuff in the same chapter?

God made us to belong.

God made us to belong.

Song of Solomon 6

Love is a mysterious and powerful thing. We have a hard time truly defining it, yet we all know it can be exhilarating or devastating. It can bruise and it can heal. It can affirm us in the deepest part of our heart, or it can confront us about the need to change. This last part is, to me, one of the great mysteries of love—how it has the ability to “mature” us into better people.

God gives pleasure that lasts forever.

God gives pleasure that lasts forever.

Proverbs 20

Alright, let’s start today’s blog with a pop quiz. It’s been a while since we studied Psalm 16. Do you remember this verse? “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy. In Your right hand, there are _________ _________.” (Ps 16:11) Can you fill in the blank without looking it up?

God gives what can't be bought.

God gives what can't be bought.

Proverbs 2

There are many things that can be bought, but wisdom isn’t one of them: “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding—indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” (vs 1-6)

God is a giving Master.

God is a giving Master.

Psalm 123

Again in this psalm, we are lifting our eyes. But this time, we aren’t stopping at the mountains: “I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy.” (vs 1-2)

God's blessings often come disguised as curses.

God's blessings often come disguised as curses.

Psalm 66

What else is to be concluded from this psalm? After all, I’m sure you read this section: “Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” (vs 8-12)

God always has more.

God always has more.

Psalm 65

There is a lovely story my dad used to tell about a little boy named Johnny. One day, Johnny and his grandmother went to the grocery store. After they were done with their shopping and had paid for their items, they were getting ready to leave. The grocer behind the counter scooped up a bit of candy, put it into a sack, and handed it to Johnny. Delighted, Johnny grabbed the bag, immediately turned around and headed for the door. Johnny’s grandmother was mortified and quickly reprimanded Johnny: “What do you say, young man?!” Johnny stopped, turned around with a smile, held out his hand and said, “More, please.”

God is a safe place.

God is a safe place.

Psalm 47

In this psalm, David says, “He chooses our inheritance for us.” (vs 4) When I read this, I remembered how, after the birth of our first child, my husband and I suddenly realized we didn’t have a will and that we needed to get one put together. Of course, we wanted to make sure that if something happened to us and we weren’t around, our children would be taken care of (without too much red tape!).

God knows no limits.

God knows no limits.

Psalm 36

I recently read a quote (and I will have to apologize because I don’t remember who said it) that went something like this: God gives the world everything it needs. He just doesn’t distribute it. That’s up to us.

What do you think? Do you agree? At the risk of being misunderstood (which I hope I will not be), I have to say that I don’t. For this would either mean that God is incapable of providing for the needs of His creatures or that He prefers to let us direct and control His generosity. I don’t believe either is true.

God knows what you need.

God knows what you need.

Psalm 23

Well, what do you say about the most famous chapter in the Bible? Both you and I have read it or heard it read probably hundreds of times. It’s certainly been recited at nearly every funeral I’ve ever been to. I suppose that’s because it is a psalm of utter confidence and contentment. David knows that his God will take care of him. Period.

Take a look at how the first verse reads in a number of different translations:

  • The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. (NLT)

  • The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. (CEB)

  • You, Lord, are my shepherd. I will never be in need. (CEV)

  • God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. (MSG)

  • The Lord is my shepherd. I am never in need. (GW)

God is happiness.

God is happiness.

Psalm 4

Several years ago, I used to edit and produce a monthly newsletter for Canadian business people who were trying to either get rich or stay rich. It was an interesting job, to say the least. On the average, I edited articles from, roughly, 30 “experts” in various fields of business. I learned a lot about investing, marketing, and real estate. But, in all time time I produced that newsletter, I was never tempted to drop everything and run after the wealth. Maybe you could say I’m lazy. (I know that’s what at least four of those “experts” would have said!) Or maybe you could say that I just have different priorities in life.

God is great.

God is great.

Esther 10

In the New International Version of the Bible, the tenth chapter of Esther bears this heading: The Greatness of Mordecai. With such a title, it’s surprising that the chapter is so short. Just three verses! But the third verse is of particular interest: "Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews." (vs 3)

God offers satisfaction.

God offers satisfaction.

Esther 5

Perhaps the theme of the 1965 hit by the Rolling Stones is apropos to this chapter—I can’t get no satisfaction. Poor Haman. That was his problem. It seems that no matter how "good" things got for him, it wasn’t enough: "Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. 'And that’s not all,' Haman added. 'I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.'" (vs 10-13)

God's giving inspires our giving.

God's giving inspires our giving.

Nehemiah 12

When all the people came together to dedicate the temple, it was a day of great pomp and celebration. There was feasting and music, with dozens of instruments and two huge choirs. Nehemiah says the "sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away." (vs 43) When these Israelites threw a party, they apparently made sure everyone knew about it!

Ransom {ex30:12}

Photo © Unsplash/Sharon McCutcheon

Photo © Unsplash/Sharon McCutcheon

Imagine having to pay for your life
the way you pay for your heat
the way you buy your electricity
the way you purchase water and sewer.

Perhaps if we received
a monthly bill for
"Life-Services Rendered"
     breath and
     blood and
     heart beating and
     neurons firing and
     general suspension of the return-to-dust clause

we would remember that
life is a utility we can't generate
and be immune to
the otherwise-all-pervasive plague
of self-sufficiency.

 

God sometimes says no.

God sometimes says no.

Nehemiah 6

I was recently engaged in a conversation about whether God really answers our prayers. A question had come up regarding the passage where Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mk 11:23-24) and we were discussing the merits of "name it and claim it" theology.