June 13, 2009
Several months ago, our church began using the Life Journal and S.O.A.P. method for personal Bible study. I have always intended to post my journals from time to time. Today I’m finally getting around to it. Here is my entry from this morning:
Title: Seek the Lord
Scripture – “He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.” 2 Chronicles 12:14
Observation – In this case, the anointed king of Israel did evil by setting up idols and following false gods. He overtly disobeyed God. In the story in 1 Kings 13, a prophet did evil because he listened to another man, rather than following the instructions he had directly received from God. He let another man lead him off his course. He failed to set his heart on seeking God. And it resulted in evil.
Application – I have a calling from God, too. Maybe not a kingly anointing, but an ordination. And beyond that, a personal call from God himself to serve and obey and lead. To not set my heart on seeking the Lord by obeying his call would be to do evil. I don’t have to overtly do evil to disobey. I simply have to take my heart off of steadfastly seeking Him. This is so easy to do. My heart is so easily pulled from seeking God to follow other things. I justify them as good things. Important things. And many of them are. But if those things lead me away from seeking God first, I am off track.
Prayer – God, forgive me for taking my focus and my intent off of you. I get hung up on words like discipline and devotion and consistency. I’m not very good at those, so I use them as an excuse. But what you area asking for is greater than all of that. You are asking for all of me. My loyalty, my allegiance, my heart. And I want to give you all of me. Help me, God. And accept me. May I never do evil by not setting my heart on seeking You. Amen.
May 23, 2009
I’ve written about Rich Mullins before. He was an amazing song writer, singer, and follower of Jesus. His music continues to impact me nearly every day.
One song that smacked me around a little the other day is called “What Trouble are Giants”. In this song, Rich tells the story of David, the “scrawny little shepherd” going out to fight the “record-breaking mammoth of a man Who was a killing machine”. The line that got me says David left Saul’s armor “by the river, where he gather five smooth stones. I guess it’s safe to say he figured, he wasn’t going out alone.”
Man, what faith! I always assumed David got the extra stones for back-up. Rich saw it a different way. He knew that David’s “back-up” was going out onto the battlefield with him. The final line of the song – David wasn’t scared “‘Cause he was smart enough to know It’s more the size of who you put your faith in Than the size of your foe.“
I put my faith in so many dumb things – as if 5 smooth stones can win any battles. Oh, how I need to learn from David: “I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel.” And from Rich: “When you’re fighting for Zion And you’re on the Lord’s side I think you’re gonna find [Giants] ain’t no trouble at all. They ain’t no trouble at all.”
What “giant” do you need to stop battling with stones and come against in the name of the LORD Almighty?
May 21, 2009
They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In our family, the tooth doesn’t fall far from the mouth. Or at least…not easily. I remember losing teeth. It was horrible. As soon as I had a barely-loose tooth, I would gather an assortment of tools – tweezers, floss, mirrors, paper towels and washcloths, flashlight, nitrous-oxide…okay, no laughing gas. But everything else. Seriously.
Tonight, Nathan had a barely-loose tooth. Not his first, but just like his daddy before him, he knew what he needed to do. After nearly an hour of prying, digging, twisting, and even tweezing, his perseverance paid off. Look at that face!
Looks like I need to go buy some ice cream. How else am I supposed to get change to stuff under his pillow?
May 12, 2009
The other day I was driving my kids somewhere and saw a license plate I thought they would like. “Hey guys. Can you see what that license plate says?” Some muttering and guessing from the back seat. Then Nathan rang out – “Simba lover”!
I continued, pointing out the frame – “I’m wild about lions!” and waxing eloquent (according to me) for a few minutes about how that person apparently liked lions and the Lion King movie, blah blah, blah. The kids grunted, feigning interest, until I concluded my talk.
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Anne mused.
“Cartoon lions. That’s sort of an odd thing to love.”
I love some pretty odd things, too. Don’t you? TV Shows? Notre Dame Football? Spaghetti? I get pretty excited about those things. I look forward to enjoying them. I carve out time so there aren’t distractions. I get emotionally involved in how they turn out. I reminisce and remember and relive the highlights. But at the end of the day, those are sort of odd things to love.
David has the right idea. “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” Psalm 119:97 (ESV)
How often do you look forward to spending time with God’s Law? Are you as disciplined at carving out time to read The Word as you are at setting up the DVR? Do you get as emotionally involved in God’s story as you do the trials and travails of your team’s season? Or your show’s storyline? Or the lives of the (pretend) people on TV?
And maybe a better question – What can we do to stop loving odd things and start loving the only thing that matters?
May 1, 2009
Reminded of some great song lyrics tonight. An oldie (okay, 1996) but a goody. The whole song is worth a read/listen, but for now, meditate for a few minutes on the chorus of “Oh, I Want to Know You More” by Steve Green:
Oh, I want to know You more!
Deep within my soul I want to know You,
Oh, I want to know You.
To feel Your Heart and know Your Mind,
looking in Your eyes stirs up within me,
cries that says I want to know You
Oh, I want to know You more.
Oh, I want to know You more.
That is my prayer tonight. I hope it is yours.
April 27, 2009
I don’t remember a terrible amout from Mrs. Huckaby’s math classes in high school. I remember she HATED it that I used erasable ink pens instead of pencil. I remember that she always had colors smeared on her hand from writing with markers on the overhead projector. I remember being the “Hammer Weilder” for Mu Alpha Theta – a job that sounds a lot more dangerous than it really is.
And I remember Inversely Proportional Relationships. Basically, in an inversely proportional relationship, as one variable increases its counterpart decreases as a given factor remains constant. Like a teeter-totter – if I go up, you go down and the middle remains constant. (Here is the Wikipedia link of you need the official refresher. I’d give you Mrs. Huckaby’s e-mail if I had it.)
I can give you a few very personal examples. If my eating remains constant, my exercise and my weight are inversely proportional. (Lately, my weight is kicking my exercise’s tail.) If my lack of sleep remains constant, my energy level and my coffee consumption are inversely proportional.
But here is the issue that is hitting my heart these days. As the craziness of life remains constant, my attitude is inversely proportional with my relationship with God. As my “quiet time” decreases, my anxiety skyrockets. As my prayer life dwindles, my impatience with my kids explodes. When I skimp on reading the Bible, I binge on ego and arrogance.
And there is one more trick with this problem: you can only change it by focusing on one variable. I can’t decide to be less anxious and therefore become closer to God. I can’t determine to be more patient with my kids and consequently suddenly have more peace.
No, the only way to decrease anxiety is to increase surrender. The only way to decrease impatience is to increase humility. The only way to decrease self is to increase Christ.
The only solution for this equation is knowing The Unchangeable Constant!
What will you do today to know Him more?
