God's Loving Reproof

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Return to Obedience

Revelation 3:14-22

The Message

To Laodicea

 ¹⁴Write to Laodicea, to the Angel of the church. God's Yes, the Faithful and Accurate Witness, the First of God's creation, says: ^15-17"I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.
 ¹⁸"Here's what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that's been through the refiner's fire. Then you'll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You've gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.
 ¹⁹"The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they'll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!
 ^20-21"Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That's my gift to the conquerors!
 ²²"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches."

For Reflection
Apathy!  When my son was a child, the worst punishment I could deliver was to ignore him.  (Not that it lasted all that long, but it got his attention.)  Ignoring God is the worst insult.  When you worship yourself, rich or poor, successful or not, collapse is just around the corner.  Are you prepared for failure?

Pray
that you answer the door.  Pray that you listen to the "Wind Words."

Unless You Repent

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Return to Obedience

Luke 13:1-9

The Message

Unless You Turn to God

 ^1-5About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, "Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die." ^6-7Then he told them a story: "A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren't any. He said to his gardener, 'What's going on here? For three years now I've come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?'
 ^8-9"The gardener said, 'Let's give it another year. I'll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn't, then chop it down.'"
  
For Reflection 

"You can lead a horse to water..."   When bad things happen, is it always a result of God's hand?  Not in these passages.  Those who suffered death were just a sinful as all the others.  The apple tree was given chance after chance to bear fruit.  The Gardner will invest even more into this fruitless bush.  How does this story parallel your life?
Pray
to respond the the Spirit which resides within you.  Pray for others that they will also respond to the spirit.  Offer thanksgiving for the love and care God has extended to you.

New Hearts and New Spirits

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Return to Obedience

Ezekiel 18:25-32

The Message

 ^25-28 "Do I hear you saying, 'That's not fair! God's not fair!'?
    "Listen, Israel. I'm not fair? You're the ones who aren't fair! If a good person turns away from his good life and takes up sinning, he'll die for it. He'll die for his own sin. Likewise, if a bad person turns away from his bad life and starts living a good life, a fair life, he will save his life. Because he faces up to all the wrongs he's committed and puts them behind him, he will live, really live. He won't die.
 ²⁹ "And yet Israel keeps on whining, 'That's not fair! God's not fair.'
    "I'm not fair, Israel? You're the ones who aren't fair.
 ^30-32 "The upshot is this, Israel: I'll judge each of you according to the way you live. So turn around! Turn your backs on your rebellious living so that sin won't drag you down. Clean house. No more rebellions, please. Get a new heart! Get a new spirit! Why would you choose to die, Israel? I take no pleasure in anyone's death. Decree of God, the Master.
    "Make a clean break! Live!"

For Reflection
God's hope for humankind is abundantly evident in these passages.  In today's terms the people of God have a sense of entitlement.  "What have you done for me lately, God?"  they whine.  When will we learn that our lives are filled with the consequences of our own behavior.  In the face of knowing the truth of God's love, why, indeed, would we choose to live lives in sin.  God takes no pleasure in human frailty.  He hopes for our obedience to Him.

Pray
for the courage to follow God's will.  Pray for forgiveness when we respond to our mortal rather than our spiritual selves.  Quietly listen to God gentle nudge toward a new life in Him.  Pray to "Make a clean break. Live!"

The Path to Forgiveness

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Return to Obedience

1 Kings 8:44-51

The Message

  When your people go to war against their enemies at the time and place you send them and they pray to God toward the city you chose and this Temple I've built to honor your Name,
      Listen from heaven to what they pray and ask for, and do what's right for them.
   When they sin against you—and they certainly will; there's no one without sin!—and in anger you turn them over to the enemy and they are taken captive to the enemy's land, whether far or near, but repent in the country of their captivity and pray with changed hearts in their exile, "We've sinned; we've done wrong; we've been most wicked," and turn back to you heart and soul in the land of the enemy who conquered them, and pray to you toward their homeland, the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you chose, and this Temple I have built to the honor of your Name,
      Listen from your home in heaven to their prayers desperate and devout and do what is best for them.
   Forgive your people who have sinned against you; forgive their gross rebellions and move their captors to treat them with compassion. They are, after all, your people and your precious inheritance whom you rescued from the heart of that iron-smelting furnace, Egypt!

For Reflection
Solomon understands that the people of God will sin and sin again.  He understands non of us is without sin.  He prays to God to forgive the foolish ways of God's people.  He prays that God will respond to the acts of repentance.  Forgiveness begins with God.  We forgive as He forgives us.

Pray
like Solomon, prayers to entreat God to forgive us.  Pray for the courage to find true repentance and pray for God's forgiveness.  Pray that you will forgive as God forgives you.

Grief to Repentance

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Return to Obedience

2 Corinthians 7:5-11

The Message

 ^5-7When we arrived in Macedonia province, we couldn't settle down. The fights in the church and the fears in our hearts kept us on pins and needles. We couldn't relax because we didn't know how it would turn out. Then the God who lifts up the downcast lifted our heads and our hearts with the arrival of Titus. We were glad just to see him, but the true reassurance came in what he told us about you: how much you cared, how much you grieved, how concerned you were for me. I went from worry to tranquility in no time!
 ^8-9I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don't feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I'm glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.
 ¹⁰Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.
 ^11-13And now, isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You're more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you've come out of this with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was not for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for you—that you would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God. That's what happened—and we felt just great

For Reflection
Most often we see distress in our lives as a bad thing.  To be sure, experiencing distressful times are not easy, sometimes painful.  However, distress points to the differences between what is and what ought to be.  It marks a period of great growth potential.  It is in the path to resolution that we find God: listening, suffering, and guiding us to a more intimate relationship with Him. 

Pray
for hope in times of distress. Pray that you will find a quiet place in the midst of turmoil to listen to the guiding whispers of God.  Pray to find the courage to follow God's call.

A First Act of Obedience

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Let God Rule

Judges 6:25-32

The Message

 ^25-26 That night this happened. God said to him, "Take your father's best seven-year-old bull, the prime one. Tear down your father's Baal altar and chop down the Asherah fertility pole beside it. Then build an altar to God, your God, on the top of this hill. Take the prime bull and present it as a Whole-Burnt-Offering, using firewood from the Asherah pole that you cut down."
 ²⁷ Gideon selected ten men from his servants and did exactly what God had told him. But because of his family and the people in the neighborhood, he was afraid to do it openly, so he did it that night.
 ²⁸ Early in the morning, the people in town were shocked to find Baal's altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it chopped down, and the prime bull burning away on the altar that had been built.
 ²⁹ They kept asking, "Who did this?"
    Questions and more questions, and then the answer: "Gideon son of Joash did it."
 ³⁰ The men of the town demanded of Joash: "Bring out your son! He must die! Why, he tore down the Baal altar and chopped down the Asherah tree!"
 ³¹ But Joash stood up to the crowd pressing in on him, "Are you going to fight Baal's battles for him? Are you going to save him? Anyone who takes Baal's side will be dead by morning. If Baal is a god in fact, let him fight his own battles and defend his own altar."
 ³² They nicknamed Gideon that day Jerub-Baal because after he had torn down the Baal altar, he had said, "Let Baal fight his own battles."

For Reflection
God asks a lot of us.  Sometimes He puts a whole family in jeopardy.  Gideon showed great courage. His father, Joash, was a follower of Baal.  By turning his father, Gideon's act was turned into victory,  Baal was defeated.

Pray
that we are not intimidated by the task God hands us.  Pray for courage to follow through on God's call.

I Will Be with You

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Let God Rule

Judges 6:11-16

The Message

 ^11-12 One day the angel of God came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, whose son Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, out of sight of the Midianites. The angel of God appeared to him and said, "God is with you, O mighty warrior!"
 ¹³ Gideon replied, "With me, my master? If God is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about, telling us, 'Didn't God deliver us from Egypt?' The fact is, God has nothing to do with us—he has turned us over to Midian."
 ¹⁴ But God faced him directly: "Go in this strength that is yours. Save Israel from Midian. Haven't I just sent you?"
 ¹⁵ Gideon said to him, "Me, my master? How and with what could I ever save Israel? Look at me. My clan's the weakest in Manasseh and I'm the runt of the litter."
 ¹⁶ God said to him, "I'll be with you. Believe me, you'll defeat Midian as one man."

For Reflection
God seems to always select those who are not aware of their strength in Him.  No one would appear weaker that Gideon.  And yet God has selected Him.  Isn't there a clue here about how God shares His strength and about the level of trust we should give Him?

Pray
that you never underestimate your value in the Kingdom of God.  Pray for those in God's service.

Suffering Oppression

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Let God Rule

Judges 6:1-10

The Message

Gideon

 ^1-6 Yet again the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God's sight. God put them under the domination of Midian for seven years. Midian overpowered Israel. Because of Midian, the People of Israel made for themselves hideouts in the mountains—caves and forts. When Israel planted its crops, Midian and Amalek, the easterners, would invade them, camp in their fields, and destroy their crops all the way down to Gaza. They left nothing for them to live on, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. Bringing their cattle and tents, they came in and took over, like an invasion of locusts. And their camels—past counting! They marched in and devastated the country. The People of Israel, reduced to grinding poverty by Midian, cried out to God for help. ^7-10 One time when the People of Israel had cried out to God because of Midian, God sent them a prophet with this message: "God, the God of Israel, says,
    I delivered you from Egypt,
      I freed you from a life of slavery;
   I rescued you from Egypt's brutality
      and then from every oppressor;
   I pushed them out of your way
      and gave you their land.
    "And I said to you, 'I am God, your God. Don't for a minute be afraid of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living.' But you didn't listen to me."

For Reflection
Yet again indeed!  Gods people just don't listen.  So what's new? In spite of themselves God's people are spared, but not without suffering.  The people of God are weak.  God is strong. His people are strengthened only through Him.

Pray
that you recognize the strength you have in God.  Pray that you remember that you are a child of God and his strength flows through you.

Follow the Lord Only

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Let God Rule

Deuteronomy 13:1-5

The Message

 ^1-4 When a prophet or visionary gets up in your community and
gives out a miracle-sign or wonder, and the miracle-sign or wonder that he gave out happens and he says, "Let's follow other gods" (these are gods you know nothing about), "let's worship them," don't pay any attention to what that prophet or visionary says. God, your God, is testing you to find out if you totally love him with everything you have in you. You are to follow only God, your God, hold him in deep reverence, keep his commandments, listen obediently to what he says, serve him—hold on to him for dear life! ⁵ And that prophet or visionary must be put to death. He has urged mutiny against God, your God, who rescued you from Egypt, who redeemed you from a world of slavery and put you on the road on which God, your God, has commanded you to walk. Purge the evil from your company.

For Reflection
"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."  How long has it been since Franklin D. Roosevelt uttered these famous words? Fear motivates more human behavior than many of us would like to admit.

Spend the time over a period of a few evenings and observe how much fear is used to influence you.  Television ads like "Help I've fallen and can't get up!" and much of the political rhetoric attempts to arouse your fear of impending disaster unless you accept this or that course of action.  I almost always hold suspect those who appeal to fear.  especially when they are experts on topics that most assuredly they tell me I know nothing about.  So what do you think will happen if we stop worshiping the god of safety, the god of secure finances, the god of good health and rely solely on the God of all creation?

Who are the "visionaries" in your communities that compel you to follow other Gods?

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/ if you want to revisit FDR's inaugural address which comes on the heels of the depression.


Pray
for the wisdom to sort out the false paths from the true path.  Pray to trust in God's guidance.  Pray for the bold courage to follow the path that God has commanded you to walk.

No Holy One Like the Lord

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Let God Rule

1 Samuel 2:1-10

The Message

 ¹ Hannah prayed: I'm bursting with God-news! I'm walking on air.
    I'm laughing at my rivals. I'm dancing my salvation. ^2-5 Nothing and no one is holy like God,
      no rock mountain like our God.
   Don't dare talk pretentiously—
      not a word of boasting, ever!
   For God knows what's going on.
      He takes the measure of everything that happens.
   The weapons of the strong are smashed to pieces,
      while the weak are infused with fresh strength.
   The well-fed are out begging in the streets for crusts,
      while the hungry are getting second helpings.
   The barren woman has a houseful of children,
      while the mother of many is bereft.
 ^6-10 God brings death and God brings life,
      brings down to the grave and raises up.
   God brings poverty and God brings wealth;
      he lowers, he also lifts up.
   He puts poor people on their feet again;
      he rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope,
   Restoring dignity and respect to their lives—
      a place in the sun!
   For the very structures of earth are God's;
      he has laid out his operations on a firm foundation.
   He protectively cares for his faithful friends, step by step,
      but leaves the wicked to stumble in the dark.
      No one makes it in this life by sheer muscle!
   God's enemies will be blasted out of the sky,
      crashed in a heap and burned.
   God will set things right all over the earth,
      he'll give strength to his king,
      he'll set his anointed on top of the world!

For Reflection
Hanna prayed for a child.  Her prayers were answered.  No longer would she have to endure the taunting of her husband's other wife.  Hanna had every reason to boast of God's gift.  She had cause to praise the gift and hold Samuel high over all others.  If ever there was a time to gloat, this was it!

Hanna chose instead to praise the giver not the gift.  Hanna chose not to boast but to revel in the joy of this event.  She knows the power of God's word and has learned to trust in His judgment.  Do you have sufficient trust in God to let him rule?

Pray
that your trust in the Lord is steadfast and unwavering.     Pray that you give all your mortal  need for control to the Lord.  Pray for exceptional trust in God.

May the Lord Give Strength

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Use God's Strength

Psalm 29

The Message (MSG)

A David Psalm

 ^1-2 Bravo, God, bravo! Gods and all angels shout, "Encore!"
   In awe before the glory,
      in awe before God's visible power.
   Stand at attention!
      Dress your best to honor him!

 ³ God thunders across the waters,
   Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming brightness—
   God, across the flood waters.

 ⁴ God's thunder tympanic,
   God's thunder symphonic.

 ⁵ God's thunder smashes cedars,
   God topples the northern cedars.

 ⁶ The mountain ranges skip like spring colts,
   The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.

 ^7-8 God's thunder spits fire.
   God thunders, the wilderness quakes;
   He makes the desert of Kadesh shake.

 ⁹ God's thunder sets the oak trees dancing
   A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
   We fall to our knees—we call out, "Glory!"

 ¹⁰ Above the floodwaters is God's throne
      from which his power flows,
      from which he rules the world.

 ¹¹ God makes his people strong.
   God gives his people peace.

For Reflection
Have you ever felt like yelling praises at the top of your voice when you see the result of God's intervention?  This is a song of supreme confidence in the transformational power of God.  God makes us strong.  God gives us peace.

Pray
for the peace of God to surround you.  Pray for the strength of God to infuse you.  Pray for the victorious triumph of the Kingdom of God,

In God I Trust

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Use God's Strength

Psalm 56:1-11

The Message (MSG)

 ^1-4 Take my side, God—I'm getting kicked around, stomped on every day.
   Not a day goes by
      but somebody beats me up;
   They make it their duty
      to beat me up.
   When I get really afraid
      I come to you in trust.
   I'm proud to praise God;
      fearless now, I trust in God.
      What can mere mortals do?

 ^5-6 They don't let up—
      they smear my reputation
      and huddle to plot my collapse.
   They gang up,
      sneak together through the alleys
   To take me by surprise,
      wait their chance to get me.

 ⁷ Pay them back in evil!
      Get angry, God!
      Down with these people!

 ⁸ You've kept track of my every toss and turn
      through the sleepless nights,
   Each tear entered in your ledger,
      each ache written in your book.

 ⁹ If my enemies run away,
      turn tail when I yell at them,
   Then I'll know
      that God is on my side.

 ^10-11 I'm proud to praise God,
      proud to praise God.
   Fearless now, I trust in God;
      what can mere mortals do to me?

For Reflection
The psalmist may not know it but God has already answered his prayers.  "Fearless now," he says, "I trust in God, what can mere mortals do to me?"  You may not outlive your enemies, but God is on your side?  We never fall from the grace of God.

Pray
Pray for unflinching trust in God.  Pray that you have the courage of your faith that propels you through hard times.  Pray for all Christians who suffer, that they may be comforted.

A Cry For Help

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Use God's Strength

Habakkuk 1:1-5

The Message (MSG)

Justice Is a Joke

 ^1-4 The problem as God gave Habakkuk to see it: God, how long do I have to cry out for help
   before you listen?
How many times do I have to yell, "Help! Murder! Police!"
   before you come to the rescue?
Why do you force me to look at evil,
   stare trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out,
   quarrels and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
   Justice is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung
   and stand justice on its head.

God Says, "Look!"

 ^5-11"Look around at the godless nations.
   Look long and hard. Brace yourself for a shock.
Something's about to take place
   and you're going to find it hard to believe.
I'm about to raise up Babylonians to punish you,
   Babylonians, fierce and ferocious—
World-conquering Babylon,
   grabbing up nations right and left,
A dreadful and terrible people,
   making up its own rules as it goes.
Their horses run like the wind,
   attack like bloodthirsty wolves.
A stampede of galloping horses
   thunders out of nowhere.
They descend like vultures
   circling in on carrion.
They're out to kill. Death is on their minds.
   They collect victims like squirrels gathering nuts.
They mock kings,
   poke fun at generals,
Spit on forts,
   and leave them in the dust.
They'll all be blown away by the wind.
   Brazen in sin, they call strength their god."

For Reflection
I sometimes reflect on the nature of world affairs--indeed our own national affairs and local affairs.  It seems that there are so many tyrannies-- so little selflessness -- so much corruption.

I  am also concerned about the counterpart of tyranny, fear.  I see how fear is weaponized.  I see how fear paralyzes us.  I find that even people of God squabble endlessly about the correctness of this or that and in doing so miss the point.

God is in us.  We have the capacity to enact peace-making.  We see the injustices.  Why do we expect others, or God for that matter, to do what we should be doing ourselves with God's help.  Act out of love, not fear.

Pray
that fear will not control your actions.  Pray for a faith so strong that the cry's for help are answered. Pray that you can become a peace-maker where ever God leads you.

Wait for the Lord

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Use God's Strength

Psalm 27:7-14

The Message (MSG)

 ^7-9 Listen, God, I'm calling at the top of my lungs:
      "Be good to me! Answer me!"
   When my heart whispered, "Seek God,"
      my whole being replied,
   "I'm seeking him!"
      Don't hide from me now!

 ^9-10 You've always been right there for me;
      don't turn your back on me now.
   Don't throw me out, don't abandon me;
      you've always kept the door open.
   My father and mother walked out and left me,
      but God took me in.

 ^11-12 Point me down your highway, God;
      direct me along a well-lighted street;
      show my enemies whose side you're on.
   Don't throw me to the dogs,
      those liars who are out to get me,
      filling the air with their threats.

 ^13-14 I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness
      in the exuberant earth.
   Stay with God!
      Take heart. Don't quit.
   I'll say it again:
      Stay with God.

For Reflection
Sometimes it seems that God has not answered us.  It could be that we have been assuming the answer thinking, "Of course God will do this for me."  Sometimes, no, most of the time, God will do something entirely unexpected.  Have patience. Look for the hand of God with-out preconceived expectations.  You will see it working.

Pray
for patience.  Pray to see God's hand at work in  your life.  Pray that you stay with God.

The Lord is My Stronghold

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Use God's Strength

Psalm 27:1-6

The Message

A David Psalm

 ¹ Light, space, zest— that's God!
   So, with him on my side I'm fearless,
      afraid of no one and nothing.

 ² When vandal hordes ride down
      ready to eat me alive,
   Those bullies and toughs
      fall flat on their faces.

 ³ When besieged,
      I'm calm as a baby.
   When all hell breaks loose,
      I'm collected and cool.

 ⁴ I'm asking God for one thing,
      only one thing:
   To live with him in his house
      my whole life long.
   I'll contemplate his beauty;
      I'll study at his feet.

 ⁵ That's the only quiet, secure place
      in a noisy world,
   The perfect getaway,
      far from the buzz of traffic.

 ⁶ God holds me head and shoulders
      above all who try to pull me down.
   I'm headed for his place to offer anthems
      that will raise the roof!
   Already I'm singing God-songs;
      I'm making music to God.

For Reflection
How far do you really trust the Lord?  Are you fearless, or do those nagging fears shake the foundations of your faith?  What hoards of vandals are nibbling away at your confidence in the Lord?  To what extent do you marshall on in the knowledge that God will provide?  Do you possess the kind of trust that allows you to step into the unknown unafraid of the consequence?

Pray
for complete trust in the Lord.  Pray for the courage to step into life with full confidence that the Lord will guide and protect you.  Pray that you smile in the face of trouble.

Teaching the Next Generation

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Listening to God's Judges

Psalm 78:1-8

The Message

Psalm 78

An Asaph Psalm

 ^1-4 Listen, dear friends, to God's truth, bend your ears to what I tell you.
   I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb;
      I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,
   Stories we heard from our fathers,
      counsel we learned at our mother's knee.
   We're not keeping this to ourselves,
      we're passing it along to the next generation—
   God's fame and fortune,
      the marvelous things he has done.

 ^5-8 He planted a witness in Jacob,
      set his Word firmly in Israel,
   Then commanded our parents
      to teach it to their children
   So the next generation would know,
      and all the generations to come—
   Know the truth and tell the stories
      so their children can trust in God,
   Never forget the works of God
      but keep his commands to the letter.
   Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,
      bullheaded and bad,
   A fickle and faithless bunch
      who never stayed true to God.

For Reflection
At Baptism we take a vow to train the child in the way.  Take stock!  How are we doing?

Pray
that we take seriously the vow we took to help bring up a child in the way.  Pray for the courage to act.

An Ignorant Generation

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Listening to God's Judges

Judges 2:1-10

The Message

Judges 2

 ^1-2God's angel went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you out of Egypt; I led you to the land that I promised to your fathers; and I said, I'll never break my covenant with you—never! And you're never to make a covenant with the people who live in this land. Tear down their altars! But you haven't obeyed me! What's this that you're doing? ³ "So now I'm telling you that I won't drive them out before you. They'll trip you up and their gods will become a trap."
 ^4-5 When God's angel had spoken these words to all the People of Israel, they cried out—oh! how they wept! They named the place Bokim (Weepers). And there they sacrificed to God.

^6-9 After Joshua had dismissed them, the People of Israel went off to claim their allotted territories and take possession of the land. The people worshiped God throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the time of the leaders who survived him, leaders who had been in on all of God's great work that he had done for Israel. Then Joshua son of Nun, the servant of God, died. He was 110 years old. They buried him in his allotted inheritance at Timnath Heres in the hills of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.
 ¹⁰ Eventually that entire generation died and was buried. Then another generation grew up that didn't know anything of God or the work he had done for Israel.

For Reflection
God will never break his covenant with Israel.  He will how ever try them.  Do you remember  time when it seemed as though you were forgotten?

Pray
that you know God is always with you. Pray for the courage to sustain your faith in the face of difficult times.

Better to Obey and Heed

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Listening to God's Judges

1 Samuel 15:17-23

The Message

 ^17-19 And Samuel told him. "When you started out in this, you were nothing— and you knew it. Then God put you at the head of Israel—made you king over Israel. Then God sent you off to do a job for him, ordering you, 'Go and put those sinners, the Amalekites, under a holy ban. Go to war against them until you have totally wiped them out.' So why did you not obey God? Why did you grab all this loot? Why, with God's eyes on you all the time, did you brazenly carry out this evil?"
 ^20-21 Saul defended himself. "What are you talking about? I did obey God. I did the job God set for me. I brought in King Agag and destroyed the Amalekites under the terms of the holy ban. So the soldiers saved back a few choice sheep and cattle from the holy ban for sacrifice to God at Gilgal—what's wrong with that?"
 ^22-23 Then Samuel said,
    Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—
      empty rituals just for show?
   He wants you to listen to him!
   Plain listening is the thing,
      not staging a lavish religious production.
   Not doing what God tells you
      is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
   Getting self-important around God
      is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
   Because you said No to God's command,
      he says No to your kingship.

For Reflection
God doesn't't want sacrifices.  God wants obedience.  When have you been disobedient?  Were there any consequences?

Pray
that you do not deviate from the letter of God's desire for you.

A Covenant of Obedience

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Listening to God's Judges

Joshua 24:19-27

The Message 

 ^19-20 Then Joshua told the people: "You can't do it; you're not able to worship God. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won't put up with your fooling around and sinning. When you leave God and take up the worship of foreign gods, he'll turn right around and come down on you hard. He'll put an end to you—and after all the good he has done for you!"
 ²¹ But the people told Joshua: "No! No! We worship God!"
 ²² And so Joshua addressed the people: "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen God for yourselves—to worship him."
    And they said, "We are witnesses."
 ²³ Joshua said, "Now get rid of all the foreign gods you have with you. Say an unqualified Yes to God, the God of Israel."
 ²⁴ The people answered Joshua, "We will worship God. What he says, we'll do."
 ^25-26 Joshua completed a Covenant for the people that day there at Shechem. He made it official, spelling it out in detail. Joshua wrote out all the directions and regulations into the Book of The Revelation of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak that was in the holy place of God.
 ²⁷ Joshua spoke to all the people: "This stone is a witness against us. It has heard every word that God has said to us. It is a standing witness against you lest you cheat on your God."

For Reflection

God has made a covenant of obedience with you.  You have chosen God  in which to place your trust.  All those around you are witnesses to your covenant. They observe our adherence's and your disobedience's.  With the very stones of the buildings which surround you as a witness you your covenant, you cannot escape. 

Pray

That you can find the strength to be obedient to God.  Pray that you can ignore the temptations forget the covenant you made with Him.

The Scare of Other Gods

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Listening to God's Judges

Exodus 23:20-33

The Message

^20-24 "Now get yourselves ready. I'm sending my Angel ahead of you to guard you in your travels, to lead you to the place that I've prepared. Pay close attention to him. Obey him. Don't go against him. He won't put up with your rebellions because he's acting on my authority. But if you obey him and do everything I tell you, I'll be an enemy to your enemies, I'll fight those who fight you. When my Angel goes ahead of you and leads you to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, I'll clear the country of them. So don't worship or serve their gods; don't do anything they do because I'm going to wipe them right off the face of the Earth and smash their sacred phallic pillars to bits.
 ^25-26 "But you—you serve your God and he'll bless your food and your water. I'll get rid of the sickness among you; there won't be any miscarriages nor barren women in your land. I'll make sure you live full and complete lives.
 ²⁷ "I'll send my Terror on ahead of you and throw those peoples you're approaching into a panic. All you'll see of your enemies is the backs of their necks.
 ^28-31 "And I'll send Despair on ahead of you. It will push the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites out of your way. I won't get rid of them all at once lest the land grow up in weeds and the wild animals take over. Little by little I'll get them out of there while you have a chance to get your crops going and make the land your own. I will make your borders stretch from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Wilderness to the Euphrates River. I'm turning everyone living in that land over to you; go ahead and drive them out.
 ^32-33 "Don't make any deals with them or their gods. They are not to stay in the same country with you lest they get you to sin by worshiping their gods. Beware. That's a huge danger."

For Reflection
Today we celebrate the founding of a society freed from the rule of Kings, a society dedicated to freedom and justice for all.  Because of the sacrifices made by our founders, and thousands of courageous Americans, we prosper.

And yet, we live in fear.  As a nation, we struggle with the meanings of justice and freedom.  Some claim that we are a nation built on Christian principles and bend a unique version of Christianity to meet that critical connection.

It seems to me that we have a long way to go to claim that we are a chosen nation.  How do we share in the promise God made to Israel?


Pray
prayers of thanksgiving to the God of the Universe for the beacon of freedom that the United States has become.  Pray for the leaders of this country, that they listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Pray that as we Americans face ever growing and complex challenges, we rely on God to prepare the path to his everlasting Kingdom.  Pray for the courage and confidence and patience to trust in God who is in control of the ultimate outcome.

Alive to God

God Instructs the People of God

God's People Learn from Prosperity:

God Reacts to Disobedience

Romans 6:1-11

The Message

When Death Becomes Life

 ^1-3So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! ^3-5That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country.
 ^6-11Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.

For Reflection
God directed the Israelites as a witness to His power and mercy.  Time after time their sinning drove them away from God.  Time after time God came to their rescue.

Sin is still punishable.  Christ died for our sins.  Christ, the advocate, lives for us.  We have a new life in grace.  If we falter there may be consequences.  But, through repentance and the grace of God we are forgiven.  It is not cart blanch for sinning. Rather, it a recognition of the promise of holy salvation.

Pray
prayers of confession knowing that your sins will be forgiven.  Pray prayers of thanksgiving for holy mercy in God's grace.  Pray for the wisdom and courage to follow God's way.