November 14 ~ Psalm 136:1-3
1-3 Thank God! He deserves your thanks.
His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.
(Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson.Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. For copies of The Message call (800) 366-7788.)
Recently my cousin gave me a copy of a book that some of you have already read – The Shack. If you have not read this book, get a copy soon! It is readily available at stores like Wal-Mart, or maybe even in your church library. I feel certain you may want your very own copy of this compelling book. I won’t give away the story line, but I will tell you that one of the pervading themes of this book is that God never quits. He never gives up on us… and He NEVER leaves us! Especially when things seem the worst for us – when we feel like we are totally alone in a situation, God is still there… the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit are always with us even when we can’t see them or feel their presence.
I know you may wonder sometimes about God – where He is, whether He cares, why He is allowing things to happen as they do. Read The Shack and see if you don’t find some answers there. And above all else – remember this passage, and remember that God NEVER quits on our behalf. He DOES deserve our thanks and our praise. His mercies endure forever, and that will never change.
©2008 Debbie Robus
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November 13 ~ Psalm 133
1-3 How wonderful, how beautiful,
when brothers and sisters get along!
It's like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron's beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
It's like the dew on Mount Hermon
flowing down the slopes of Zion.
Yes, that's where God commands the blessing,
ordains eternal life.
(Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson.Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. For copies of The Message call (800) 366-7788.)
Have you ever seen someone anointed with oil before prayer? Maybe you have participated in an Ash Wednesday service, where you wrote down your sins on a piece of paper, and the pastor burned them and mixed the ashes with oil. Then he/she marked the sign of the Cross on your forehead with the oily mixture. This anointing is a sign of penitence and mortality. The ash in the sign of the Cross reminds us of Christ’s forgiveness of our sins. It also reminds us we are “dust to dust” on this life. But the OIL – the oil signifies that God’s Holy Spirit has descended on the person who is anointed. Oil is very significant in the Bible. We read about anointing with oil all through the Old Testament. Who among us would not want to be blessed and protected by the Holy Spirit?! References to anointing with oil are ones of great blessing, joy – hope and promise.
In the New Testament, Lazarus’ sister Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with a very expensive bottle of aromatic oil. In John 12:3, we read that the fragrance of the oil filled the entire house. Mary’s sister Martha was busy with the work of getting a meal together to serve Jesus. Mary was more concerned with worshipping Jesus and giving Him the very best she had – and hearing what HE had to say to her – and she got rather aggravated that Martha was not only NOT helping her, but also that she was using such an extravagant bottle of oil to wash the feet of Jesus! It wasn’t that Mary was wrong – or that service to God is bad – but Mary had the focus a little skewed. It was more important to fall at Jesus’ feet and show Him how important He was than to be busy cooking His dinner!
So when this Psalm talks about people getting along in terms of the wonder of costly anointing oil, we see a picture of pleasing God – even at great cost or sacrifice. And there may be times in your life when it seems that getting along is as costly as expensive aromatic oil! It may seem like biting your tongue and “taking the high road” is almost more than you can bear to do.
The next time you are challenged in a relationship, think of the fragrant oil. Think of Aaron’s anointing in the Old Testament – and of Jesus’ anointing by Martha. Remind yourself that serving God and pleasing Him trumps our own feelings every time. It is far more important to get along, to be civil and kind toward one another. This pleases God… and it blesses us in the bargain!
©2008 Debbie Robus
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November 12 ~ Psalm 130:5-8
5-6 I pray to God—my life a prayer—
and wait for what he'll say and do.
My life's on the line before God, my Lord,
waiting and watching till morning,
waiting and watching till morning.
7-8 O Israel, wait and watch for God—
with God's arrival comes love,
with God's arrival comes generous redemption.
No doubt about it—he'll redeem Israel,
buy back Israel from captivity to sin.
(Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson.Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. For copies of The Message call (800) 366-7788.)
At one time, my husband was a Park Ranger for the U.S. Army Corps if Engineers. Early in his career, he worked a lot of nights – on patrol in the parks and/or managing the gatehouse at the park’s entry. In the wee hours of the morning, when all of the campers were asleep, he often found it hard to stay awake himself – and he anxiously awaited the light of dawn and the end of his shift. He was like a watchman “waiting and watching until morning” as verse 6 describes in the King James Version. In THIS passage, the psalmist is reminding us that when we pray, we must then WAIT for God’s response. We must wait as patiently and eagerly as a night watchman – or park ranger – waits for morning to arrive!
We all tend to be so impatient. I know I am LOUSY at waiting for so many things – especially answers to prayers. I imagine God must have quite a laugh watching me twist and turn and wring my hands and conjure up MY idea of how things should go. But I am working at getting better! I am beginning to understand the joy that comes with seeing an answer come into focus… recognizing God’s timing and how perfect it was in a given situation. The more I see God working, the more I understand how important it is to wait on HIS answer and not to try to put my own spin on things.
My life IS on the line before God, my Lord… so I am waiting and watching till morning, knowing that God’s redemptive love will arrive right on time!
©2008 Debbie Robus
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November 11 ~ Psalm 130:1-4
1-2 Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help!
Listen hard! Open your ears!
Listen to my cries for mercy.
3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,
who would stand a chance?
As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,
and that's why you're worshiped.
(Scripture from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson.Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. For copies of The Message call (800) 366-7788.)
Have you ever picked up a grocery sack and had the bottom – and all of your groceries – fall out on the floor? Do you remember how helpless you felt? You might have even been frightened at first – and then angry! Now think about your personal life and the times “the bottom falls out” and you can probably get the same collection of emotions, can’t you? When the groceries fall from the sack, we pick them up, collect any broken pieces, clean up any mess, and move on with our day. In our personal lives, who cleans up the mess, neatly rearranges everything, sets us back on course, and moves us along? Hopefully, you turn to God for this… He’s there anyway, working in the background, helping you to “git-r-done.” But so often, we want to spin out of control for awhile and try to repair the damage ourselves… and we foolishly stumble along making an even bigger mess!
I am so glad that God is always seeing after me… caring for me… helping me to right wrongs and “pull the sack of my life’s baggage” back together for me. I am equally thankful that His “bookkeeping system” includes a very big eraser! One of my cousins used to have a saying about certain people… “Once you get on his/her ‘list,’ there is no eraser.” What he meant was that there was no second chance with these folks – no forgiveness, grace and mercy. I am so blessed to know that God has all of these qualities… that forgiveness, grace and mercy are some of His strong suits! We must never take these gifts for granted… we must always be mindful of them – and grateful! Praise God today for “putting the bottom back in your sack” – and for His amazing capacity for forgiveness, grace and mercy.
©2008 Debbie Robus
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November 10 ~ Psalm 127:3-5
3-5 Don't you see that children are God's best gift?
the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?
Like a warrior's fistful of arrows
are the children of a vigorous youth.
Oh, how blessed are you parents,
with your quivers full of children!
Your enemies don't stand a chance against you;
you'll sweep them right off your doorstep.
(Scripture from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson.Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. For copies of The Message call (800) 366-7788.)
This Halloween, we had four Trick-or-Treaters come to our door, and we eagerly greeted them with bags of treats. Each was a child we knew well, and we took photographs and invited them inside and enjoyed a few minutes of admiring their costume, how they were growing and what they had learned to do since last we saw them. I have a scrapbook filled with photos of Trick-or-Treaters from years gone by – some now too old to dress up and beg for candy. It is fun to see how the children have grown through the years and to remember how adorable they were each holiday in their costumes – and to reflect on what a blessing these children are and how they have enriched our lives.
In Bible times – and even in recent generations – large families were important. You needed the extra “hands” to help with chores on the farm and around the house. You may have seen the TLC show about the Duggar family in northwest Arkansas – 17 Kids and Counting. In this family of soon-to-be twenty members, the older children help care for the younger ones. The older girls handle the laundry and cooking, while the older boys keep the vehicles running and the yard mowed, and all of the children help with loading and unloading groceries, house cleaning and more. Everyone has responsibilities to help the family as a whole run smoothly.
The Duggars like to say that they will have “as many children as God gives us.” And while it’s not for me to judge how big their family should be, I would think that 18 children was plenty! But as a couple who bore no children of their own, I can tell you that my husband and I are far from “childless.” We have enjoyed countless nieces, nephews and young friends through the years, and God has blessed us with special timse shared with each of them. We like to think we are the best “aunt” and “uncle” in the world!
Whether the children are your own, your friends’, your nieces and nephews and cousins, or children you work with at church or school, each can be a blessing – and each IS a gift from God. As such, they must be treated with love and respect – and nurtured. God does not give us children just so we have someone to care for us in our old age… and in fact, there is no guarantee that your children will do this! Children may very well be a wonderful gift from God – but they are also our responsibility. Just like our little Trick-or-Treaters, they must be showered with love. They must be taught many lessons, given discipline and guidelines. And above all, they must be shown examples of God’s love and Christian living. I believe children ARE one of God’s best gifts… and as such, they require our very best care in return. Thank God today for the children who are a part of your life.
©2008 Debbie Robus
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November 9 ~ Psalm 127:1-2
1-2 If God doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn't guard the city,
the night watchman might as well nap.
It's useless to rise early and go to bed late,
and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don't you know he enjoys
giving rest to those he loves?
(Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson.Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. For copies of The Message call (800) 366-7788.)
Anybody who knows me very well knows I probably need a 12-step program to help me with my “addiction” to the House and Garden TV shows and TLC’s programs on “flipping” houses and “Trading Spaces,” and “Moving Up” the “Property Ladder!” But one thing I have learned from watching the mistakes made by those featured on some of these shows is that in order to ensure that good work is done, you have to be there - supervising. I watched a show recently where a man bought a run-down house with “potential” and hired a crew of carpenters, plumbers and electricians to renovate. He decided that they knew what they were doing, and it was costing him gas money and time to drive to the job site each day. So he set a coded keypad on the door and gave the workers the code – and then he left.
It wasn’t very long until the workers left, too. When the owner returned, he wondered why the workers were not around – and why nothing had been done! “If God doesn’t build the house, the builders only build shacks.” If we don’t stay “on the job,” the work probably won’t get done. If we don’t keep God at the forefront of our lives and focus on Him in everything we do and say, what sort of “house” do you think we will have? What does this passage say about us – about our very well being – our very heart and soul? Do you see how important it is to make sure God is at work in us? Did you also notice that even while we sleep, God is working for us, so that we can rest and rejuvenate?
While we are being reminded to keep God first in our lives and at work as our “contractor,” notice the next passage. “It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late and work your worried fingers to the bone.” Other translations focus more on the word “worry.” Have you ever had a night when you could NOT seem to shut down your mind and get to sleep? Have worries and concerns – even “good” thoughts of something exciting or anticipatory – kept you awake? The Bible tells us to go ahead and get some sleep – God is “on the clock,” and He will handle all of our cares while we sleep and rest. WOW! Isn’t that amazing? You don’t kneed Tylenol P.M. or Lunesta – you need rest in the Lord!
Let’s meditate on the words of this passage today and give them serious consideration. We shouldn’t lock the door and walk away to leave our own heart and mind unguarded any more than a contractor should leave his/her workers to fend for themselves. We should pay close attention and be sure that God is actively working in our lives 24/7! And we should ask God to handle ALL of our worries and cares… and then we should LET him. Go ahead… rest, renew… God is “on the clock.” HE is in charge – let Him work in your life!
©2008 Debbie Robus
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November 8 ~ Psalm 122:6-9
6-9 Pray for Jerusalem's peace!
Prosperity to all you Jerusalem-lovers!
Friendly insiders, get along!
Hostile outsiders, keep your distance!
For the sake of my family and friends,
I say it again: live in peace!
For the sake of the house of our God, God,
I'll do my very best for you.
(Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson.Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. For copies of The Message call (800) 366-7788.)
Talk about a timely passage! Now is certainly a time to pray for peace – among nations, among political parties, among races, among people of all faiths. Now is the time to pray that our focus would be on God and HIS Jerusalem… HIS will. Certainly NOW is the time for us to all get along!
This passage ends with the psalmist vowing to do his very best for God. What about us? Are we doing the same? We say we want peace – that we want to live in peace at home, at school, at work, at church, as a nation and as a planet. But peace begins with each of us serving God to the best of our ability. So how is your “peace” level these days? Are you doing your very best for God?
©2008 Debbie Robus
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