Back to School

Well, it seems to be that time of year again. New clothes, new books, new teachers, new classmates, but same old routine. A new year of school is such a mix of starting something new, while at the same time returning to something known. And it can come with a similar mix of emotions, with excitement and anxiety in equal measure. Whether you’re starting a new year as a student, a teacher, a parent, or just someone who gets to take advantage of back-to-school sales, there is an energy that you can feel changing in the community.

This fall, let us all take the time to intentionally grow in our learning. If you put in the right effort, you might also grow in your wisdom. Learning and growing should be our main goal whenever we take on any new venture. The only alternative to growth is stagnation, and we’ve all known too many people who got stuck in one place and never changed.

As you think about the changes coming in what remains of this year, how can you embrace these words from Proverbs 1:5-7?
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

We can quickly and easily fill our heads with facts and figures. If you’ve ever crammed for a test, you’ve done this, but just as fast as you jammed those facts in, they fell right back out again. When we learn we want to learn with wisdom and understanding. We shouldn’t just memorize facts, we should learn what they mean. And when we know what they mean, we can use our wisdom to apply our knowledge.

We do this by humbly accepting that we don’t know everything. We do this by trusting God to teach us how to live.

As you head into a new year what do you hope to learn?

Haters Gonna Hate

Sometimes when you read the Bible, you come across a passage that was written some 3000 years ago, and yet it fully encapsulates the problems we are facing today. It seems like no matter how much things change, people stay the same.

Leviticus 19:15-18 says,

“15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

17 “You shall not hate your brother or sister in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of them. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

I wrote this weeks ago, and I feel like it’s a pretty safe bet that there is an argument on the news right now about an injustice happening in a court. There is an argument about someone showing partiality to the poor or the rich. You might think me some kind of oracle if this stuff wasn’t all too common.

When we see these things happening, we allow ourselves to get swept up in it. We want vengeance. We develop that grudge. We start thinking that my world would be a lot better if the group I was convinced to hate this week was “taken care of.”

This is not the person God called you to be. We’re told in 1 John 2, “Whoever says they are in the light and hates their neighbor is still in darkness.” We can’t live into our calling to be like Jesus if we are harboring hate in our hearts. You were called to be a lighthouse pointing people to the safety found in the loving arms of the father.

Who can you love. What grudge do you need to release. Who do you need to stop hating?

A Little Faith

In Matthew 8:23-27 we see an almost thrown-in story of Jesus calming a storm.

23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

The disciples were terrified of the storm. Jesus slept. A storm like this worried Jesus so little that he almost seemed a little annoyed when they woke him up. I like to picture that he walked out calmed the storm and then went directly back to sleep.

We all want this type of person in our lives. That person who says that everything is going to be okay, and you believe them. Jesus does a great wonder like calming the storm, and the disciples start to ask the important question of who Jesus really is. I’m sure this is the point where many of Jesus’s followers started. They saw something amazing and wanted to see more.

In a book about Moses, Gregory of Nyssa said, “This truly is the vision of God: never to be satisfied in the desire to see God. But we must always, by looking at what we can see, rekindle our desire to see more. Thus, no limit would interrupt growth in the ascent to God, since no limit to the Good can be found, nor is the increasing of desire for the good brought to an end because it is satisfied.”

We will never find the end of God’s goodness, but we should also never stop trying to find it. It is in the seeking that we can rekindle our faith.

An Invitation

Isaiah 55:6-9

6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

In our daily life it feels like we can bounce between having all the time in the world to no time at all. There’s something in our brains that seems unwilling to do things in a reasonable timeframe. In this passage in Isaiah, the prophet is prevailing on us to act with a sense of urgency. He is saying God is here with us now. We don’t need to waste time trying to locate him because he is here and he’s found us.

Being found by God is something we need to allow to happen. We need to turn our hearts to the saving grace that is available to us. Too many people refuse this and say, “if it’s free I don’t want it, if I didn’t EARN it, I don’t deserve to have it.” We need to fight this attitude off with every thought. And we need to leave behind the people in our lives that would try to force this kind of thinking on us.

It is a mercy and a blessing that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. It is a mercy and a blessing that God’s ways are not our ways. God doesn’t think or act like we do. We are selfish, we can’t see the big picture, and that is why we are called to trust.

We are called to seek the truth of God.

Words Matter

I like words. If I didn’t, writing these devotionals and occasional sermons would be difficult. The hard part is that I can sometimes get stuck on trying to jam in the most “perfectest” word for any given situation. The unfortunate truth is no one, me included, is ever impressed by someone who uses $10, blossoming, multi-syllabic words.

No, it rarely matters which words you actually use as long as you get your point across correctly. And that’s where we need to focus. Do the words you use accurately let people know who you are? When people hear you speak, or see you write do they get the picture of someone who claims to be a follower of Christ?

In our modern world it has become way too easy to just dump our opinions without facing any real repercussions. Mike Tyson once posted, "Social media made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it." What we do when there are few consequences matters.

Paul in Ephesians 4:29-32

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

When you feel those words bubbling up in your mind how can you redirect them? Does what you want to say contribute to people learning more about your identity in Christ? Or does it just spread more anger and hate in the world?

The world sadly seems to have plenty of that right now. We don’t need to add more. Especially not “in the name of Jesus.”

New Life

It’s hard to break bad habits. Biting your nails. Doomscrolling. Smoking. Anger. Vices that you know you should probably quit but don’t have any plans to do so, anytime soon. Some of these are things you picked up during a time of stress and never put back down. Others you started thinking they would be temporary, but they have stuck around.

No matter what it is, we all have things in our lives that we know we shouldn’t do. And yet we continue. God has given us a higher calling. Hopefully, this calling can be an inspiration for us to do the hard work of changing our minds and our habits.

Paul in Ephesians 4:25-28 says,

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

It is so easy to fire off an anonymous attack on your neighbor. We get into online arguments. We trash one neighbor to the other neighbor. All of this in lieu of actually confronting the problems that we have. God has given humanity the full breadth of emotions for us to experience the full breadth of life. But just like habits that start because we thought they might solve a problem, we can twist our emotions into a sinful place.

God always provides a path to repentance for all of us. If you lie too much start telling the truth. If you struggle with anger learn to forgive. If you steal, steal no longer. We are called to a lifechanging grace. Sometimes, that means we let the grace change our lives.

Love Thy Neighbor

If you read any of the words of Jesus, you learn that love is kind of a big deal for him. It should be one of the core tenets of anyone who desires to be a disciple of the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, when we look around, we too often see that the people who are shouting about God the most, are also showing the least love. Love for your brother or sister. Love for your neighbor. Love for strangers. Even love for your enemy.

We don’t like this message. It’s hard to live out and it asks me to do something that I never want to do. Love my enemy? If I could love them, they wouldn’t be my enemy! But that right there is why it is so important. God has given us a calling to transcend our pettiness. There is no us and them in heaven. Every human being was made in the image of God. And we must embrace that identity even when we are surrounded by people who do not.

We understand that we are the spiritual daughters and sons of the creator of the universe. So, we need to act like it. In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Paul says this, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

We can do great things and have great faith, but if we do it for personal gain, worldly acclaim, or anything that is not love we have gained nothing.

Loving other people is hard, and you were called to do hard things

Truth Test

In a few days, America will once again celebrate Independence Day, the Fourth of July. It will likely be a fun day of flipping burgers, family parties, and fireworks. However, it’s hard to ignore that the country feels more divided than ever. We see people pointing fingers and sending up accusations at who caused what, and, unfortunately some of the loudest voices in the blame game claim to be Christians.

It is hard to validate that you cling to the cross of Christ when your words and actions seem to demonstrate the opposite. Jesus told us, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Do the words of people draw you away from the love Jesus called you to show? Does your preferred news source make you act more or less like Jesus? Do the politicians you follow make you sound more or less like Jesus?

It is easier than ever to fill our minds with the thoughts of other people. There are whole industries built around keeping you distracted from your God given calling. We must fight every single day to cling to lessons we have been taught by God.

1 John 4:1-2,4 reminds us,

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God…4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Test the words you hear to see if they are from God. Don’t let yourself be drawn into the hate and division that makes up our modern society. If you are from God, you can overcome the false prophets.

Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world!

Fresh Fruit

Luke 21:29-33

29 And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

In other places I’ve lived it was very common for people to have fruit trees in their yards. It was very convenient for people to walk into their backyard and grab fresh lemons, oranges, apples, or avocados. But the trees didn’t bear fruit year-round. You always had to wait until the time was just right. As spring gave way to summer the signs of things to come were all around. You could see the leaves starting to open more fully. You could see the buds the would soon become fruit. It was a patient excitement, but an excitement, nonetheless.

When Jesus is pointing out the tree in the parable, he is encouraging his disciples to recognize the truth that is opening before them. Jesus is bringing the kingdom of God to the people of Earth. Jesus is doing all the work that had been prophesied in the Hebrew Scripture.

God is doing work all around us. Some of it is to the benefit of everyone. Some of it is to benefit you specifically. And some of it is a call for you to be a benefit to someone else. When we just keep our heads down and focus on our own things we can miss all the amazing things that God is doing in the world and trying to do in and through us.

Don’t miss the opportunity to see the world unfolding as we head into the new seasons of life.

Neighborly

People who asked Jesus follow up questions usually didn’t like the answers. I haven’t done an exhaustive study but one of the big times I can think of happens in Luke 10. An “expert in the law” asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.

Luke 10:26-29,

26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

From here, Jesus goes on to give the parable of the Good Samaritan. A man was traveling down the road, got robbed, and left for dead. People who are usually considered holy and helpful passed by and did nothing, and then the person who everyone listening would look down upon went above and beyond to help the stranger out. Jesus concludes by asking who proved to be the neighbor to the injured man. The questioner had to admit that it was the one who showed mercy.

Jesus concludes by telling him to go and do likewise. Most of the time when people in the Bible then (or us today) give Jesus these follow up questions it’s because we want Jesus to agree with us or let us off the hook for something we don’t want to do. For many aspects of our Christian-walk, the right answer is rarely the easy answer.

We only want to be neighborly to the people who are easy to love. We only want to show kindness to the people who agree with us. We only want to be welcoming to the people we already know. This is not the life Jesus called you to live. The Samaritan helped out the man who was robbed because the man who was robbed needed help. One person treated someone in need as a neighbor.

Go and do likewise.

Sum, Sum, Summertime

In just a few short days/weeks summer will be fully upon us. School will be out. The sun will be out. And for many of us, our minds will be out. Since schools started summer vacation, we have been trained to treat the summer as a time to kick back and relax. We do the least we can until fall shows up and we try to jump back up to speed.

While, yes, rest is important—and we should probably all do better about how we maintain it throughout the year—I am begging you to not forget that the ministry of Restore and the ministry of the church at large still needs people to show up during the summer. Kids need teachers. Worship needs musicians. And our bills still need to get paid through the offering.

One Christian leader described the importance of showing up during the summer this way. “It's summer. Pastors can be on vacation. Volunteers are on vacation. Teams are lean. Attention is scattered. Energy is low.

SOMEONE WHO NEEDS HOPE IS SHOWING UP THIS WEEKEND AND DOESN'T KNOW OR CARE ABOUT ANY OF THIS! Make sure everything we do this week still tells them we care, they matter, and Jesus Loves them. No matter what!”

1 Peter 1:3-5 tells us,

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

It's easy to disappear this time of year, but I hope you will find a way to show up. For God. For yourself. For the people who are starving for hope. No matter what!

Tall Trees

Psalm 92:12-15
12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;

I recently learned that the oldest living thing on the planet is a bristlecone pine tree in California that is at least 4,600 years old and is aptly named Methuselah. This thing started growing before most cultures had recorded history. It shatters any conception we might have for a long life. Though it’s growth at this point is measured in millimeters per year it stands tall and proud as a symbol of the lifetimes that came before us and the lifetimes still to come.

In this Psalm, the tree is considered as something strong and flourishing. It is something that we should be trying to mimic in our faith. It has roots buried deep in God’s teaching. It grows tall as it reaches for the heavens. It is strong because it is fed by the word of the Lord. And though it reached maturity years ago it still bears good fruit that is able to encourage or sustain the people.

We all want to have the strength and longevity of a tree like this. We want our faith to be an ever-present reminder of where we are planted and why we are growing. While everyone of us, like every tree, will eventually pass away, the legacy we leave behind can have an impact for many generations to come.

Where are your roots planted? From what soil do you pull your nutrients and sustenance? As you age and grow tall what do you reach for?

Psalm 62:5, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.”

Open to Reason

Have you ever known someone who had to be right all the time, someone who always had to get the last word, someone who believed being loud was the same as being persuasive? They are not very fun to be around. And when describing them the first words that come to mind are rarely kind. These people are hard to get along with, even when (sometimes) we are those exact people.

If you are a follower of Jesus, then your call is to do your best to imitate the life and work of Christ. Jesus embodied love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I think on my very best days I might hit two of those. Yet every day in the news, on social media, and face to face we see people—who would outwardly claim to cling to the cross of Jesus—look at those traits like a list of weaknesses.

Why is it so hard to follow the example of Jesus? Why is it so easy to look at sinful choices and call them “Christian?” Jesus called on you because he loved you and wanted you to be different. Jesus called on you because he wants you to bring his message of hope into the world.

James the brother of Jesus says it this way in James 3:13-18, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By their good conduct let them show their works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

Is the wisdom with which you interact with the world coming from above or from your own heart? It is not easy to see sometimes.

Trophies

A few weeks ago, at the Cadet’s regional Pinewood Derby, a kid won his first trophy. Not a participation certificate, not an “everyone that shows up gets something” award. A legit, he put in the work and was rewarded for his effort trophy. He was so proud, and his family was excited for him. While, yes Restore overall took home 6 of the 8 available trophies, this one stands out because he is one of our kids that might have a harder time fitting in.

Our Cadets and GEMS leaders do an amazing job of welcoming in kids that might be a little different, kids that might need a little extra patience, but like all kids (and adults) we recognize that they need to be introduced to the saving grace of Jesus. I hope you know the experience of someone taking a little extra time for you. I hope you have seen someone who had every right to be impatient with you take a breath and sit with you anyway.

The choice these leaders make to love these kids well is the same grace Jesus shows all of us. We don’t deserve any of it, in fact most of us deserve the exact opposite. Still John 1:14-17 says this,

“14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.15 (John [the Baptist] bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

We all have moments in our lives when we need more grace than we thought. We all have moments where we need to show someone else more grace than they deserve. Let us be the people who are known for showing patience and grace to people, even those who may not be deserving. Let us be the ones who are filled with Christ’s love. Let us be the ones who celebrate some kid getting his first trophy because he felt safe enough to try.

Laters

What are the last words you say to people when they depart a gathering? Or you’re leaving from a family visit? Most of the time we say something casual: see you later, love you, bye, peace out cub scout. And if you’re closing out an email it can be even shorter. In the epistles, the letters, of the New Testament the authors took this as the opportunity to bless and encourage the people who would read their letters.

Many of the letters had strong instructions or deep difficult corrections that would not be easy to hear but were ultimately necessary. And just like a good parent correcting their children the most important thing of all was for the recipient to know that they are loved. You only give your strong feelings toward people you love or people you hate. Indifference is indifferent it doesn’t care one way or the other.

Even when the instructions are harsh the authors close their letters by giving glory to God. Paul closes Ephesians (6:23-24) by saying, “23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.”

At all times, our priority is found in giving glory to God. At all times, our priority is reminding others of the love of God. At all times, we can work to show people the grace of Jesus Christ. It’s easy to forget. We rarely leave some place not knowing if we are going to see those people again, but life is unpredictable. We should do our best to share the encouragement and joy that we have with the people around us.

The next time you say good-bye, think about how you want to be remembered. Think about what is most important for the people you’re around to know (or remember) about you.

Old Ways

I walk down the stairs all by myself. I drink from a cup with NO LID and rarely spill a drop. I put teetee in the potty all by myself. All of this, and no one ever cheers for me when I do it. It’s been this way for years. But whenever a toddler, does everyone acts like they did the coolest magic trick that anyone has ever seen. Along the lines of levitating while finding your signed card inside of an orange.

I’m just trying to say maybe take it down a notch with the toddlers. Totally kidding! What I’m actually saying is that we don’t praise these things in adults because they are expected and normal for most people. Barring some medical incident, we don’t expect adults to regress to acting like a child again in how they function.

While we don’t do it with our physical lives, we seem to do it all the time with our spiritual lives. We take a bold step of faith. Then spend the next month wondering if we made the right choice. When we are making the moves that God is leading us to we don’t need to be afraid.

Paul in Romans 8:15-18 puts it this way, “15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons and daughters, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

We have been called to live a life close to God and led by Christ. Will it be easy? Maybe sometimes, but usually, not really. Will there be times when we need to move even when we are scared? Literally all the time.

God didn’t call you to be the most fearless person to ever live. God called you to be brave—be scared and move forward anyway.

Christ Is Risen

In Luke 22 Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper. It is one of the two sacraments that protestants still observe. The other being baptism. We hold on to these two because we see the instructions from Jesus to do so. Through observing the Lord’s Supper, we get to experience and be reminded of the sacrifice Christ has made on our behalf.

In Luke 22: 17-20 Jesus says, “17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

However, right after Jesus tells the disciples that everything is changing, they have the most human reaction I can think of. They start quarreling about who was the greatest. It’s like they said, “earth shattering news is cool and all, but which one of us is better than everyone else?”

We have times that we can’t just sit and enjoy the good things God has given us. We let sinful desires like being better than our neighbor creep in. And how does Jesus answer their question? By telling them, “let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.” We have enough people in the world trying to one-up and out-do everyone else.

To be truly great you must be willing to serve others. True greatness is living out the will of God the father. True leadership is showing people how we can all succeed together.

God With Us

Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

God, the good Shepherd has called us to live in faithful expectation. It is really, really hard to do. We want to live in a world where all hardship and calamity is avoided. We want to live in a world where we are happy all the time and everything comes easily. Sadly, that is not the reality in which we live. We must face a world that will have ups and downs, a world that has good times and bad times. Through it all, we can trust that goodness and mercy will be there for us.

If you examine your life and think about the hardships you’ve faced you can see the lessons that you learned along the way. We can be hardheaded, dumb little sheep sometimes that refuse to learn by any other means than the hard way. We are allowed to make mistakes because from those mistakes we learn to lean on the goodness and mercy of the Shepherd. From those mistakes we can try and save other people from falling into the same hole we did.

No matter where we go in life, we can feel the assurance of having an eternal home with God. We are given the promise of dwelling in the house of the Lord forever. In the Old Testament, to share a table created a bond of mutual loyalty and trust. God has given us a seat at his table and so much more as we are invited to be guests in his home forever. We only need to accept the invitation placed on our lives.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

The Table

Psalm 23:5 says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

Have you ever been invited to a banquet or a wedding reception where they pulled out all the stops? Tables lavishly decorated, food fit for royalty, centerpieces, place settings, and so many forks you don’t even know where to start. If done correctly it is a fun and engaging experience. This is the table that God is trying to invite us all to enjoy. He has provided for all our needs; we have all we could ever want.

However, we can be hesitant to participate at such a table. We can feel undeserving, or worse we could feel the presence of our enemies. It’s hard to eat and enjoy your food when you feel stressed out or surrounded. Soldiers on a battlefield don’t get to call a time out because someone set the table and rang the dinner bell. Any meal they eat is scarfed down quickly because they never know when they will be needed to defend the line.

Unfortunately, a lot of people live their whole lives eating in survival mode. We need to learn how to trust that God will take care of us and eat. The troubles of the world and your enemies will still be there when you’ve been fed, but you’ll be able to face them with more strength and assurance that you are on the right path.

The good Shepherd wants to provide us with so much that our cups overflow with the grace and love that he has given us. And as it overflows we can turn some of those enemies we once feared into brothers and sisters that we can love.

This verse points us to the refreshment that God wants to provide for us if we would only look towards the Shepherd and trust him.

Walk Through The Valley

Psalm 23:4 says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Have you ever gotten deeply lost in an unfamiliar area? You trusted the GPS a little too much and ended up in a part of town all the locals know not to drive through. It can be a harrowing experience. Or worse, you see the walls of the valley closing in around you emotionally; you feel alone or abandoned. What do you do?

The answer for both of those scenarios is that you keep going. If there is a path that led you to this place, there is path that leads out. Sometimes you need to backtrack and sometimes you need to forge on ahead. No matter what, there is always a way out of the valley. It takes effort, but we can remind ourselves that we are not alone because the Shepherd is always with us.

Even when we are afraid, we can look to the Shepherd to comfort us. When we look to him, we can see that he is not worried or afraid of what is to come. It may not be easy. It may not be fun. But any challenge that we face is a surmountable one because the Shepherd’s rod and staff are there to comfort me.

Most of us don’t have much use for a rod or staff in our daily lives. However, we can see these as all the tools a shepherd needs to care for his flock. The rod was likely an instrument to defend against predators. And the staff was the traditional shepherds crook you see that could be used to pull sheep back from danger or get them back on the path.

The good Shepherd has all that is necessary to keep us safe, even when we feel like we’re walking through the valley of the shadow of death.