Surrender
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Monday, March 31st, 2025
We make decisions every day. From turning the alarm off (who wants to listen to that!) to then deciding whether to heed the alarm’s call to get up, to taking a shower, to fixing or eating breakfast on the run, the list is endless. Some mundane. Some life-changing.
The Bible is filled with characters who made major decisions. For example:
- Samson who decided to follow his lusts instead of being obedient to the one whom his mother promised him to (God). While Samson knew some victories (usually brought on by his anger or his strength) his life is also a story of missed potential. He played with fire until the fire didn’t just singe him, it burnt him and consumed him.
- Ruth decided to be submissive to her mother-in-law by following her back to Jerusalem. As a Moabite woman Ruth could have stayed home and remarried one of her kind. But she chose to honor Naomi and in the process met Boaz, the man she eventually married. As a result she is in the lineage of Jesus. She had Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of David.
- Then there was Samuel who was promised to God even before he was born, but made the choice to follow God at a young age. A few words: “Speak, your servant listens” changed the trajectory of his life. His entire life was spent as a prophet in service to God. He anointed Saul until that became a monumental mistake and then was led by God to anoint David as the next king of Israel.
- Saul was “head and shoulders about everyone else” in physical stature, but his obedience factor was bad. Really bad. He spent more time disobeying God and blaming others for it than he did in being a godly king and leader.
- Then there is David, the “man after God’s heart.” Perfect? Not by a long stretch. Who doesn’t know about his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband ordered by David? But David was also a man who admitted his sin and sought forgiveness. (I’d like to ask you to read Psalm 51 at this point). David shows us humility, and repentance, and that there is hope for even the worst of us.
We all make decisions-some good, some bad. Proverbs 16:9 says, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” Proverbs 14:2 says, “Those who follow the right path fear the Lord; those who take the wrong path despise him.”
Choose wisely (cue up Indiana Jones in the last crusade when he finally handles the cup of Christ). 🙂
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, God's Plan, Leadership, Lifestyle, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Story, Surrender
Thursday, February 27th, 2025
Psalm 118:5-9 says, “In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people to do me? Yes, the Lord is for me: he will help me. I will look in triumph at those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.” (NLT)
Those verses were part of my Scripture reading this morning. As I read the rest of Psalm 118 I was further impacted by what the psalmist writes. But I couldn’t help but come up short as I read verses 5-9. Given our current political climate and the world stage, those verses took on more meaning. And then as I read Moses’ opening comments in his swan song (Deuteronomy), I couldn’t help but make a connection.
Moses and the people of Israel are at the cusp of the Promised Land…again. Forty years earlier they were there also, but a lack of trust and faith in God’s ability to keep His word led to their wandering the wilderness. Deut. 1:2-3 is stating the current situation: “Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea…But forty years after…” Moses is now challenging them with entrance into the Promised Land. He is recalling historically how God has been with them. In fact, in 2:36 he writes, “The Lord our God also helped us conquer Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Gorge…” Moses was trying to help them see God’s role in their lives. But their failure had been to see that God was enough. All they saw were giants and unobtainable cities and land.
Circle back to that passage in Psalm 118. The psalmist is reminding his readers of God’s role in their lives: “It is better…” It is wise to get control of spending, especially that which is wasteful (and in some cases morally wrong). But we are foolish to think that one man, or two men, any number of men/women will fix things. Humans are fallible which means we will make mistakes. We all long for peace on earth but we are fools to think any man will accomplish that. We can try but unless the Prince of Peace is involved, there won’t be any. IMHO I believe there will not be peace on earth until the Prince of Peace returns. Man can try…and should…in order to make this world a better place to live, but unless and until we realize that our trust is not to be in any human, it will be temporary at best.
Just as Moses reminded the people of Israel who their real leader was and who gave them the victory; until we see what the psalmist is trying to say about where our trust must be, we will miss the mark. I’m all for peace and dealing with the debt, but let’s remember WHO truly is in charge and who alone can make it right.
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, God, God's Plan, Leadership, Opinion, Peace, Reflection, Scripture look, Story, Surrender
Thursday, February 20th, 2025
“You are as stubborn as a mule.” Ever heard those words…only not so kindly? Other words can be and have been used as substitutes. Since I don’t talk that way, I prefer to use the more bland word “donkey.”
My reading this morning from Everyday Gospel included Balaam and his incident with his donkey. Balak was fearful of the horde of Israelites who were at his doorstep so he commissioned Balaam, a “prophet from God,” to pronounce a curse on them. Balaam first refused but the lure of money drew him to Balak. It was on his way there when Balaam’s donkey saw an angel and three times was beaten by Balaam for his stubbornness. (See what I did there?) 🙂 Anyway, eventually Balaam saw the angel and was rebuked by his donkey and the angel for beating his donkey. Long story short Balaam pronounced what was supposed to be a curse on the Israelites but it came out as a blessing. Unable to pronounce a curse, Balaam gave Balak another approach: have your women seduce the Israelite men, thus compromising who they were. Intermarriage was forbidden in the Israelite culture and, more importantly, by God. It got so bad that one of the Israelite men flaunted his Midianite woman in front of others and took her into his tent. Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, took a spear and thrust the spear completely through him and into the woman’s stomach. Lovely picture (and you can use your own imagination), but it stopped the plague.
Okay…so that might have been a bit TMI for now. But not really. God doesn’t take sin lightly. But let’s pedal backward for a moment. I’m still intrigued by the donkey and Balaam. I have been called the other word (with some adjectives added) in the past, and I may hear it again in the future. But, in this case, it just might be a compliment. I have, at times, been as stubborn as a mule. I will admit that. As I have gotten older I realize there are some hills worth dying on and some that I will let others have. I’m sort of stubborn when it comes to truth. But other times? It’s not worth it. When I think of being stubborn and being almost cartoonish about it, I think of a little child standing with his arms crossed and a lower lip pouting out. I heard it once said that a little girl was being punished and told to go to stand in a corner. Her comment to her mom was, “I may be standing on the outside, but I’m sitting on the inside.”
That’s me sometimes. “Do what God? You talking to me?” “I don’t wanna!” And there you have it. Stubbornness. I need to be more like Balaam’s donkey and less of an…well you know. Are you stubborn? How have you learned to deal with it? Has God softened your heart?
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, God's Word, Lifestyle, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Scripture look, Sin, Story, Stubbornness, Surrender
Tuesday, February 4th, 2025
As I read this morning from Leviticus 11-13 during my reading through the Bible, I kept wanting to either skip past some things or to simply say, “I read this” and close my Bible. After all, no one is checking up on me. Right? I mean, who would know? Well…you know the answer to that question. 🙂
Now…in case you are not in the “read-the-Bible” mode, I’ll just tell you that Leviticus is part of a mind-numbing section of Scripture where rules, laws, and stipulations are laid down for the people to follow. I recently had someone ask me, “How in the world could they remember all of those laws and ‘eat this and don’t eat this’ or ‘don’t touch this'”? That’s a great point! The answer is: I don’t know. Leviticus 11-13 is about what they can and cannot eat, touch or get near. It is about skin diseases and what is clean and unclean and how long to be in quarantine and when to get out. See why I was looking for a way out?
Then I went back and read a couple of sentences I highlighted in Paul David Tripp’s Everyday Gospel Devotional.
“By the loving miracle of God’s grace, unclean hearts are made new and pure.” (p.42)
“Although the laws surrounding leprosy had to do with God’s lovingly and wisely protecting his people from a deadly infection, they also point to something profoundly deeper. Sin is the ultimate infection. No one escapes this disease. {My note: Romans 3:23 shows us that}. It separates us all from our Maker. It cries out for the ultimate cure, one only the Messiah can provide.” (p.43)
Psalm 69:5-6 is rather poignant: “O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you. Don’t let those who trust in you be ashamed because of me. O Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies, Don’t let me cause them to be humiliated, O God of Israel.” (NLT) What a difference our lives would make if that verse was a daily prayer. The stain of sin won’t just go away. We can’t wish it away, hope it away, dream it away, fantasize it away, speak it away, sleep it away, or pretend it away. It is humanly unremovable and can only be taken away by an act of grace. 2000+ years ago that act of grace was done on a hill outside Jerusalem.
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Tags: Choices, Forgiveness, God's Plan, Grace, Jesus, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Sin, Story, Surrender
Wednesday, January 1st, 2025
As I said in yesterday’s post, the chances of anyone reading this today are slim to very slim (maybe none). In that post I commented how I had preached on Feels Like Home during the months of September and October. Earlier in the year I had read several books which gave me an idea to write something. Those books were Feels Like Home by Lee Eclov; Glad You’re Here by Walker Hayes and Craig Cooper; and Just Show Up by Drew Dyck. I was inspired reading those books and got a hair-brained idea to write something. OVCF, the church I pastor, recited it occasionally early in the year, but when I preached in September and October we did it almost weekly. It is part of our DNA. We have not recited it since the last Sunday in October but will start 2025 off by saying it together. I thought I would share it with you today:
WE’RE GLAD YOU ARE HERE!
If you are happy we want to celebrate with you.
If you are tired and need rest;
If you are hurting and need comfort;
If you have failed, feel guilt and shame and wonder if God still loves you;
If you feel you are at the end of your rope and need a lifeline;
If you think you are too great a sinner and feel hopeless;
If you are here but can’t raise your eyes, head, or hands in worship…
That’s okay. We want this to be a place where you find strength to go on. Let us pray for you, stand beside you and even carry you to God’s throne where you can find new hope.
Maybe you need to read or hear this today. You may never be able to attend OVCF or have a personal conversation with me, but I want you to know there is a God who is always available, always accessible, and will NEVER turn you away…no matter your state. May 2025 be the year of an encounter with Jesus for you.
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, Forgiveness, God, God's Plan, Grace, Hope, Love, Mercy, Opinion, Reflection, Seeking, Story, Surrender
Thursday, December 12th, 2024
“For whom do you live?” is a good question to ask myself and for others to ponder as well.
It is typical, especially in the culture wars of today, to say, “I live for myself.” We can see it in phrases like “My body; my choice.” It is, after all, all about me. And tragically, it is finding more and more footing with Christ-followers than we might think. We seem to be on a road to self-actualization. I will call it rationalization. It is too hard living my/our life for someone else so let’s crawl back into our hole and live for self.
For those outside of Christ, that philosophy can be understood. They don’t have a higher calling. They don’t have the Creator of the universe, the sovereign God who made all, rules all, and controls all as the “check” in their lives. But for we who call ourselves Christ-followers, there comes a point where we must choose. And frankly, that choice is a tough one. It involves making a radical decision to humbly lay aside our wants and desires and lay it all at His feet and say, “Here I am Lord. I lay my desires, my plans, my dreams, my future at your feet and surrender them all to You.”
What it comes down to is the opening question I presented: “For whom do I live?” You see, we were not made to bring glory to ourselves. We were made to bring glory to the Father. In the OT story of the children of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses was in mountains getting the Law from God. They became impatient and wanted a “god.” So Aaron took the gold they left Egypt with and fashioned a golden calf. When Moses saw it he was enraged. So enraged, he busted the tablets which had just been made. Ironically, one of the first statements on those tablets said, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Moses was livid; God was even more so. They had taken the glory intended for God alone and given it to a mass of formed gold. I’m still trying to figure out Aaron’s thinking when he said, “Don’t get upset my lord (talking to Moses)…When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:22-24) Aaaah yeah. Simply put: the people of Israel decided that God’s glory was not enough. They wanted a fake.
Am I much different though? How often have I been so stuck on myself that I have laid aside the glory only God should get for that which is given to me? I take credit for something I have no business taking credit for. I must remember that I am only a creature; He is the Creator. He won’t settle for second place. So let me ask again: “For whom do you live?”
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, God's Plan, Humility, Leadership, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Surrender
Wednesday, November 27th, 2024
This will be my last Learning Journal entry for this week. I’m going to do tomorrow what we all should be doing: laying aside our devices, our social media fetish, and our “all things tech” obsession and spend time with family and friends. I have some more Learning Journal entries written and will just carry them over to next week. Here is Learning Journal entry #3: SLOW AND STEADY.
One week before my surgery, one of the teenage girls in the church family had hip surgery. Some of it was from birth (her hip socket was not round and each time she ran or rotated that hip friction and erosion happened), and some of it was from a TKD opponent in class who did what he was not supposed to do-grab a kick and twist her. Anyway, she has hip surgery and one week later mine followed.
She has a blog she writes on Substack (carefully monitored by her parents…yay for them!) and in one of her posts she talked about slow and steady. I commented that slow and steady is most definitely the road back to health. I know for myself I have experienced some frustration after exercising religiously and therapy that it is not progressing as quickly as I would like.
Slow and steady. These exercises hurt. Slow and steady. I don’t want to use the walker. Slow and steady. Get me that cane! Slow and steady. I’d sure like to go to the office. Slow and steady. I want to drive. Slow and steady. I want to go to the Y. Slow and steady.
Sort of reminds me of the Christian walk. When a person come to Christ, no one should expect a spiritual giant in a week. Least of all, that person himself/herself. And yet, we sometimes get frustrated because we aren’t moving as fast we we want or think we should. Slow and steady are the words to keep in mind. Plus…give yourself some grace!! 🙂
Another factor to keep in mind is we will not always be on an upward trajectory. Ups and downs. Plateaus. Spurts and stops are all a part of the growth process. I’m reminded of the words of Colossians 2:6-7: “And now, just as you accepted Christ as Lord…Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” (NLT) These verses are a reminder that life in Christ is a slow growth process. Roots don’t grow deep overnight.
Sort of like slow and steady.
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Tags: Growth, Lifestyle, Opinion, Perseverance, Reflection, Scripture look, Slow and Steady, Story, Suffering, Surrender, Trials
Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024
Of all the questions people ask, one of the most frequent is “Where is God when it hurts?” That is put in different way, like “Why do Christ-followers suffer?? or “Why does God feel so far away when I’m going through a tough time?” I’m sure you could add your own variation to that. This morning as I was reading Psalm 13, I flashed back to the first time I ever looked at this psalm in depth. I was in a period of deep questioning-not when it came to where was God- but in my own life’s purpose. It was, and has been, one of the most eye-opening experiences I ever had. I’d like to share that with you today. I’d like to suggest a Bible and a highlighter (different colors) as you study.
The chapter is written by King David. {Following Scripture is from the NLT}
If God truly forgot David as he says in verse 1a: “O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?”
Why does he say at the same time that God truly loves him unceasingly in verse 5a: “But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me”?
David also says in verse 1 that God hid his face from him: “How long will you look the other way?”
But in verse 6b he says God was good to him: “Because he is good to me.”
In verse 2 David said he struggled (wrestled) with many thoughts and had sorrow in his heart every day: “How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart everyday?”
Yet in verse 6 he sang with joy: “I will sing to the Lord.”
Finally, in verse 2b David said his enemy had the upper hand: “How long will my enemy have the upper hand?”
Yet in verse 5b he says, “I will rejoice because have rescued me.”
How can that be? Is there a discrepancy between the verses? No, actually there isn’t. The difference is between David’s feelings and David’s beliefs. David felt God had hidden His face from him, but he believed God’s love for Him was unceasing. David felt God had hidden His face from him, but he believed God was somehow good to him.
The same is often true for us. There is a disconnect between our feelings and our faith. And there you have just one more reason why we should not trust our feelings over our faith. And it is also one more reason why we should not get trapped into thinking “just follow your heart.” Feelings are deceptive.
Follow your faith, not your feelings. Anchor yourself in God’s Word; don’t rely on your feelings.
{Note: my unfailing thanks to Randall Arthur and his book Wisdom Hunter for the insight into this passage. It forever changed my life}
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Tags: Belief, Choices, Christian Living, Faith/Feelings, God's Word, Opinion, Perseverance, Reflection, Scripture look, Story, Surrender, Trials
Thursday, October 3rd, 2024
“I’m nobody.” “I’m inadequate.” “I have no status.” “I have no talents or skills.” “I have nothing to bring to the table.” And the penultimate: “I can’t.”
Those are often short little comebacks we use when asked to do something out of our comfort zone, or when challenged by something out of our wheelhouse. We often shrink in fear because we just don’t think “we got it” or to put it another way: we think we don’t have the “it” factor (whatever “it” is).
Step back for a moment and take a breath. Imagine if some of the Bible characters said that and were paralyzed by fear:
- David was the runt of the litter. Not even his dad thought he could be a candidate for the next king.
- Gideon was hiding, crushing grain while in hiding out of fear of the Philistines, when the angel appeared to him and called him a “mighty man of valor.” 🙂
- Deborah became the only female judge because she was willing to trust God (unlike Barak, her counterpart).
- Peter was a blue-collar fisherman trying to keep his head above water (pun intended) making a living.
- Caleb and Joshua stood against the odds (10 other spies) to say, “We can do this. We can take this land.” They spent the next 40 years wandering the wilderness because the other 10 spies were able to convince millions of people to be afraid.
This brings to mind verses in I Corinthians 1. Verses 27-29 say, “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.” (NLT)
The world see humility and trust in God as silly, as a sign of weakness. Foolish is the word Paul uses. Little do they know God’s presence and power make all the difference in a believer’s life.
So…step out today in faith. Take that step which seems so scary, so unsure. Your nothingness, your inadequacy, becomes much in God’s hands.
Besides…can’t never did anything.
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Tags: Choices, Christian Living, Faith, God's Plan, Inadequacy, Leadership, Lifestyle, Ministry, Opinion, Perseverance, Reflection, Story, Surrender, Trust
Tuesday, August 6th, 2024
Knowing whom to trust is absolutely essential to navigating life.
And, of course, following on the heels of that statement is another one: knowing whom to trust is not always easy. Case in point: shysters who put on a good front of being reputable, but they are found as being liars and deceivers. How many people do we know or read about who lost tons of money, sometimes their life savings, due to someone who pretended they were trustworthy?
In my own profession (pastor), time after time we read stories of deception, immorality, abuse, gossip, theft, etc. all coming from one who deceived, lied and covered up their true intentions. Sadly, someone who was supposed to be trustworthy.
A young boy we have been praying for close to two years has a brain tumor, a gioblastoma. M has lived two years this September since being diagnosed, but the effects of the spreading cancer and steroids has taken its toll. A little over 2 months ago this little 6 year old suffered a stroke, but he refuses to give up. This past Sunday M was baptized by his dad. I baptized the dad and then (with help from his wife) he baptized their son. We baptize by immersion and it was the parent’s request and met with M’s approval. I can be heard on the video (which I did not know was being recorded) telling M to “trust your dad.” Dad held him close to his chest and went under the water with him (as did mom).
“Trust your dad.” M relied on his father’s strength to hold him close both above and below the water. He trusted because he knew his father was trustworthy and was not going to allow anything to happen to him. We too have a Father we can trust. He has been, is now, and always will be completely and wholly trustworthy. That’s because He is a good, good Father. It is absolutely essential we place ourselves into His hands. You see…we don’t need to know everything when we are with someone we trust.
Posted in InTheShadow | 6 Responses »
Tags: Choices, Christian Living, Faith/Trust, God, Opinion, Reflection, Story, Surrender
