Broken promises are worse than rain clouds that don't bring rain.
(Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.)
Let’s face it… most of us are familiar with broken promises. Some of you may feel they are a constant in your life. I don’t know a single person who enjoys being on the receiving end of a broken promise. Some are seemingly minor, like promising to show up at a party or a ballgame and not coming. Others are more serious, like promising to pay back a debt and not doing so or promising to tell the truth, then lying. The worst is promising God you will serve Him and follow His will… then living a life of sin and selfishness.
Whether a promise is “major or minor,” is not really the issue. The bottom line is that any time you promise something to someone, you have given your word. And as a Christian, your word is serious business. You are making a commitment to someone, and any failure to follow through discredits you and dishonors God. If you cannot fulfill your promise, do all you can to make things right. If you cannot make it to the party or ballgame, let your friend know. If you have trouble repaying a debt, go to the lender and work out something or at least let them know you have not forgotten you owe it. As Christians, we should always be truthful… even when the truth is unpleasant or difficult.
The GOOD NEWS is that God never breaks a promise. He has promised us Eternal Life with Him because of Jesus Christ. He has promised to always be with us and never leave our side. He has promised to meet our needs and to bless us and keep us. And that will never change. Today my prayer is that you will thank God for His promises… and the assurance that He will never break them. I also pray that you will ask God to help you keep YOUR promises… to be the faithful, obedient, truthful servant He has called you to be… and to make you a person of your word.
©2009 Debbie Robus
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October 20 ~ Matthew 6:1
When you do good deeds, don't try to show off. If you do, you won't get a reward from your Father in heaven.
(Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.)
We’re all human… and human nature often makes us vulnerable and in need of approval from others. So when we do something for someone else, human nature causes us to want recognition from others… or a pat on the back for our good deeds. The mark of a mature Christian is humility, and security in our faith that gives us the confidence that even the recipient of our good deeds doesn’t need to know we were involved. Only the approval and recognition from God matters… and God’s approval and recognition are enough! In fact, as you can see from this scripture, to report our good deeds to others effectively negates the blessing… the “star in your crown,” so to speak!
Lately, I have been asking God to give me a sense of completeness in Him. I have asked that He help me to only desire HIS approval and HIS company. Don’t misunderstand me. I love my husband, my family and friends. I enjoy their company. But I don’t want to depend on another human being to complete me. I don’t want to feel that very human need to have others around validating me. I want GOD to validate me… and I want HIM to be more than enough. And when I am obedient to His will, I want His approval to be all that I seek.
Today, I pray that this would be your desire, too. We have all that we will ever need in our relationship with God. Jesus suffered, bled and died for this privilege. He gave His very life that ours might be complete in our Heavenly Father. When we truly get this, we won’t need the recognition or approval of others for our good deeds. God will truly complete us…He will be enough.
©2009 Debbie Robus
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October 19 ~ Isaiah 38:14
I cry like a swallow; I mourn like a dove. My eyes are red from looking to you, LORD. I am terribly abused. Please come and help me.
(Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.)
My second teaching assignment was a one-year position to fill in for a kindergarten teacher who was going on maternity leave. In July before my position started in August, this teacher suffered a brain aneurysm and died within hours. She left behind a husband and a 6-year-old son. I never even got to meet her. From all I have been told, Becky was a beautiful, wonderful woman and a very good teacher. Someone cleared her things out of the classroom, and I began preparing for my school year. Once in awhile, I would find something that had been missed in the cleaning… a stray coffee cup… the umbrella hanging on the back of the closet door knob. It was a bit unsettling, but I turned these in at the office and kept working. More than once, I saw fellow teachers standing in my doorway, shaking their heads. I would hear them whisper, “Becky did it this way,” or “Becky would have a fit if she saw that!”
The worst was my next-door neighbor teacher, Vickie, who had been Becky’s best friend. I realize now that her grief overshadowed everything she said and did, but at the time, I couldn’t understand that. I was only 21, and I had never experienced such personal devastation or loss. So I internalized her digs and unkind remarks. I felt terribly abused by this woman. Nothing I said or did pleased her, and I knew she said things about me to other teachers and expressed her displeasure. I took it very personally. Over and over I prayed, “Please, God! Come and help me. Take this burden from me.”
The one-year assignment became permanent, and the following year was more of the same. Vickie was still mired in her grief… and she vented toward me! When Thanksgiving break came, she and her family traveled to Oklahoma for the holiday weekend. While there, a large dump truck roared through an intersection just as Vickie entered it and literally sliced the entire top off her car. She was killed instantly. Her mother and 7-year-old son – the same age as Becky’s son - were miraculously spared.
The next few weeks were dark ones for our school. We were now all mired in grief, and for most, it was a double whammy from losing two dear friends. I befriended the teacher who replaced my next-door neighbor, and I made a point to avoid the “Vickie did this” or “This was Vickie’s” statements that had hurt me so badly. When she found some of Vickie’s things that had been overlooked, I commiserated. I see now that God allowed me to help my new neighbor through HER transition into this classroom. I also came to realize that it didn’t matter WHO replaced these teachers… the perceived wrath and venting was really just grief that had no clear target.
I've never told anyone this, but at first I was angry with God… and I felt very guilty. “Lord, this is NOT how I meant for You to fix this!” I sometimes wished I had not prayed for help. How could God answer me in this way?! Over time I came to understand that…
- We don’t get to dictate how God answers, but we must ask for help anyway.
- God may have seen that Vickie could never recover from her grief sufficiently. More likely, God knew other things I couldn’t about her circumstances, and calling her to heaven was the best option for Vickie. There was more going on here than just my prayers for relief and rescue. It’s not always just about us!
- We waste a lot of time feeling sorry for ourselves… feeling helpless and abused… when what we really need to do is to relax, be patient and give God time to work.
My point is this… you are going to face things that seem unfair. You may even feel abused and mistreated. But GOD understands. Pray. Ask God to “come and help me.” Then let it go… let Him work... and trust His outcome.
©2009 Debbie Robus
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October 18 ~ Psalm 44:24
Why do you keep looking away? Don't forget our sufferings and all of our troubles.
(Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.)
Do you ever feel like God has just looked the other way and forgotten about you? First of all, I assure you that He has NOT! But I do understand that we can all feel this way from time to time. Recently, as I prayed, I told God, “I feel so helpless about this situation.” And in the next second, I felt God say to me, “You know better than that! You are NEVER helpless… I am always here to help you.”
In the times that we feel like God has looked away, we need to search our own heart and see where we have lost faith, if only momentarily. We need to confess our troubles to God (even though He knows them already – He wants to hear it from us!) and then GIVE them all to Him. We need to humbly admit that on our own, we are indeed helpless, but through Him, we can handle anything.
God has not forgotten our sufferings or our troubles… and He has not looked away. We have simply momentarily lost sight of how big He is and the fact that He can handle anything… and we have forgotten to let Him. Maybe today we need to give God our burdens and our cares again… and trust Him this time to handle them for us.
©2009 Debbie Robus
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October 17 ~ Psalm 119:121, 134
I did what was fair and right! Don't hand me over to those who want to mistreat me.
Verse 134: Protect me from abuse, so I can obey your laws.
(Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.)
Let’s say you are out with friends on a Friday night, and some of them start drinking. They offer you a drink, but you refuse. In fact, you refuse to ride in a car with them and try to persuade them not to drink and drive. But they insist they only had a couple of beers, and off they go. The car has an unfortunate meeting with a guard rail after the driver can’t negotiate a curve, and the driver wrecks. Thankfully no one is injured, but the car is a mess. Police and parents rush to interview anyone and everyone who might know something about this incident, and someone asks you, “Was anyone drinking?” What do you say? Do you lie and cover for your friends – and maybe protect your friendship? Or do you tell the truth, taking a chance that your friends will suffer consequences and never speak to you again?
The choice truly is a hard one. But think of it this way. Suppose you cover for your friends, and because basically all that happened was damage to the car, the friends feel invincible and drink and drive again. But this time the results are much different. Suppose someone is badly injured – or even killed. Can you live with the fact that you did not take action initially that might have prevented this? Of course, you will never know for sure whether admitting these friends were drinking would have resulted in prevention of the second event. Are you willing to take this risk?
So often we operate out of fear. If I do this… such-and-such will happen. If I don’t act, this other thing will result. If I do what is fair and right, I will lose my friends, or at the very least, they will pick on me and mistreat me. Someone will laugh - someone will criticize. I’ll lose my boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, friends or family members. I once reported a student for suspected child abuse, and the mother came to school a few days later, intending to “whip” me!
Right choices are often HARD! But hear the good news… God has our back! He will protect us when we make the hard choices. When we stand up for what is fair and right and honor Him with our choices and behavior, He will protect us. Obey God. Be fair and right in all things. Ask Him to help you make good choices, and to protect you from the consequences (and possible wrath) that ensues. Stand tall and proud in your choices, and know that God really does have your back when you do what is right.
©2009 Debbie Robus
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October 16 ~ Psalms 17:9
Don't let my brutal enemies attack from all sides and kill me.
(Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.)
What “brutal enemies” are attacking you from all sides today? Is it a test you are studying for or a class you are struggling to pass? Is it your health, a relationship, a job, or money troubles? Is your family in a crisis of some sort? Is the devil attacking you with temptations – or convincing you to choose what he says is the “fun” of sin over a relationship with God?
Whatever you are facing, God can handle it for you. But you need to ask. I’m not saying God won’t protect you anyway, but He really wants to hear from you… He wants you to come before Him and humbly ASK for His help. In a way, it’s a matter of respect and reverence. So show God the respect and honor He deserves. Acknowledge His power, and ask for His help. Don’t let Satan’s brutal enemies attack from all sides… don’t risk Spiritual death at his hands. Trust God to help – ASK Him to do so – and believe that He will!
©2009 Debbie Robus
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October 15 ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2
First of all, I ask you to pray for everyone. Ask God to help and bless them all, and tell God how thankful you are for each of them. Pray for kings and others in power, so that we may live quiet and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God.
(Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.)
Did it ever occur to you to pray for “kings and others in power?” How about Osama Bin Laden – ever prayed for him? If you get a chance to read The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, I encourage you to do so. These novels by Khaled Hosseini helped me to understand the people of Afghanistan better and “humanized” them for me. We get so self-absorbed sometimes that we forget that real people have real lives halfway around the world in a completely different culture from ours… but they are nonetheless God’s precious children. Christianity is not just for Americans!
So we should pray for world leaders – regardless of their faith. Don’t we believe in a God who is able to do all things? Can’t He change the heart of a ruthless dictator just as well as a sinful American? Do you remember the little children’s song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children?” In it, a verse says, “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.” I tell you, we do not have an exclusive on God! And we are called in scripture to pray for those in other lands – and their leaders… to thank God for them and to ask for His blessings upon them.
I guess the question today is, “How big is the God we serve?” Is He able to bring us into agreement and peaceful coexistence? Is He able to change the hearts of evil men and women? How big is your God today – and have you prayed for all of His children?
©2009 Debbie Robus
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