Canaan's Rest

 I am reading Eugene Peterson’s book on David, and who would have thought that the youngest boy of Jesse would perk the interest of the prophet Samuel?  Samuel came to Jesse’ farm and was looking over all his sons to find God’s replacement for King Saul. But it wasn’t any of the first 7 sons, though they may have been tall and handsome, but he chose the youngest son, a shepherd boy name David. No doubt his brothers must have been shocked when Samuel anointed their young brother and passed over them. David was God’s pick and he became a man after God’s heart.
God uses us as He wills and we must not believe we have to be important or hold degrees for Him to use us. In fact, Peterson was at a dinner party and the host asked them to share about a person who had made a difference in their life and shaped them in a spiritually formative way? Not one of them chose a professional, a pastor, a missionary, or a CEO, but someone who motivated and encouraged them and gave guidance, though may not stand out in our society.
Let us not think that God can’t use us right where we are at, for He has a calling for each of us. We are successful if whatever we do we do for God and bring Him glory. He puts His desires in our hearts that will befit us and bring deep joy.

Hope you wake up ready to do some hidden actions today out of gratitude for what you have received. Today I plan to spend some time in the kitchen baking and then Women’s Bible study and this afternoon we are invited to friends for sharing and prayer.

I happened to read Delano Shefield from Fuller Seminary who writes about how our silent labor resonates. We don’t have to make a big deal in our work or deeds of kindness but let it speak in the silence, knowing the Lord sees. All that we do should be for the audience of One and that is the Lord. Delano gives the example of the suffering Christians in Thessalonica that received Paul’s message and lived it out in their lives. It was in a quiet way but spoke volumes to others. In I Thess 1:8 Paul says, “But in every place your faith in God has become known, so we have no need to speak about it.” Their faith was evident in what they did so there was no need to say anything. The Christians were doing their ordinary work in a quiet way and it spoke loudly to everyone around them. Paul had established this church on his second Missionary journey and now he was writing to encourage them. He commends them for their faith in action as they followed the teaching he gave them.

Even when our work is very hidden and no one else sees us, God does, and He is our audience! We can become the message just as the people in Thessalonica, as we live our lives for Him.

I must confess when I was without my computer for 2 weeks while it was getting fixed, I wondered what good was going to come if I couldn’t my devotionals out to you who are reading this now. But Al let me use his computer to put new daily devotions on our blog site, although I couldn’t get to those individual ones of you that depend on me to send it direct. Each day it took more time than normal and some devotionals I had to write more than once as they disappeared. But I found out that I had more time, since I didn’t surf the web or play scrabble online and was able to do more studying in some great Christian books. When I did finally get my computer back, I had a great sense of gratitude and felt I had grown through this experience.

Paul sure had a good attitude when he was writing his letters in prison. He could have complained that he was doing the Lord’s work and look how it ended up. But no, he used it as his time to write and encourage others and bless them. We might say it was his pulpit to get the Good News to others, only through the written mode. Let us learn how to stand strong in adverse circumstances and maintain a positive attitude. May we not excuse ourselves and say we can’t do anything about our thinking. We can decide that even ahead of time for the Lord can give us victory over negative thinking and actions if commit ourselves and our thinking to Him. One positive thought will lead to another. A verse I learned as a child is from II Tim 1:7, For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and love and self-discipline.” Let us discipline our thoughts to be positive and confident in the Lord.

I am reading another book by Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall, and he uses the stories of David’s life, his victories and failures, his strengths and his flaws to teach us. Although the Bible is full of prayers, sermons, genealogies, letters, poetry etc., Peterson said our scriptures are primarily written in the form of story. Jesus was full of stories and so was Moses and others and they help reveal to us who God is. The Bible is not just a book of spiritual principles or moral guidelines but reveals God to us in ways our hearts can take in. Peterson writes, “Story is the gospel way. Story isn’t imposed on our lives; it invites us into its life.” Stories tell us how primarily how to relate to God, and I never realized it before but “the David story is the most extensive narrated single story in this large story. We know more about David than any other person in Holy scripture.” David takes up a lot of space in the Bible and shows us much of dealing with God.

When we read stories of David, we see his humanness and have to admit he was not the best father or faithful husband, but we also see how he relates to God. I often find myself praying the prayers he prayed and memorizing many of them, like Psalm 5:1-2 when I have need of forgiveness. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

 It is the love of Jesus that draws people and Paul writes in Romans 12:9-10, “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other.” We are to weep with those that are in sorrow or hard situations and we are to rejoice with those who are happy and celebrating. Sometimes God wants us to love by meeting tangible needs of a person struggling, but how do we know how to do that without getting in the way of what the Lord may be working in their lives?

Before we do anything, we need to pray. Ask the Lord to show us their real need and sometimes even to check with the person, because it may not be how we see their situation. Recently a need came before Al and I and we wondered how we could help. We prayed and an idea suddenly popped into mind of how we might help in a tangible way and with it such incredible joy. We asked permission and it was granted and now we pray for more people to be aware of the need and desire to also help.

Love needs tangible ways to be expressed and let us give freely as the Lord directs.