Author: merittmusings

www.bible.com/1713/jol.2.12.csb

What keeps you from being close to the Lord? On this Sunday, we ought to be closer than usual. We ought to be reminded of our obligations to the Lord in worship and word. But, if your life has been like mine, Sunday morning worship has been a bit different. For the present, churches are still officially “closed.” Some churches are doing drive-in services, and I commend them for their inventiveness. Our church has been dong internet church since it had already been equipped with that ability long before the quarantine started. But getting up and getting ready for church has fallen out of habit. This morning I watched church in my bathrobe. I suppose robes are appropriate.

But I will tell you that Sunday doesn’t feel like Sunday any more. I miss getting up and getting out. I miss worshipping with other believers, sitting in the chairs at church and the communal feeling of being with others of like mind and faith. I miss the opportunity to talk to people who are just today making that decision to follow Jesus. I know all that can be done virtually, but it isn’t the same.

And then I miss going out after church to get dinner. I miss the Chinese buffet, but also the Cracker Barrel and the trips to a different town to try out different options there. I miss that freedom, the ability to get out of you cubby-hole and seeing how other people live. Lord willing, all of this will be rectified by the end of the month.

Until then, I must take Joel’s message to heart. At the core of his message (to Israel) is to prepare your heart for the Lord. Three things we don’t do normally: fasting, weeping and mourning, are all three designed to set up apart. Fasting obviously sets you apart from your normal habit of satisfying the flesh. Weeping sets you apart from your normal apathy about your sins and the plight of your soul. Mourning reminds you that because of our sins, we deserve death, eternal death in judgment. Happy thoughts anyone? These are not happy thoughts. These are purposefully designed to put your soul on notice. God is watching and aware of what you are doing. Be ignorant no longer.

This is usually what Sunday morning is for. It is a reminder of where you are spiritually.
And if you have been separated from your soul lately because you haven’t been in a church house, may I recommend you set apart some part of your house to get you in that particular mood?  Find a space where you can set apart, Scripture calls it a closet for prayer, where you can be separate, turn off the noise, and be holy. If you don’t have one, make one, so that you can find a sanctuary for your soul. And take the time to be alone with God.

Dear God, I know I need you. I know that every day, the longer I spend away from You, I spend to my detriment. Help me Lord Jesus to find You again, to shut off the noise of my life and listen to Your Voice. I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/psa.46.1-2.csb

One place that I’ve found to be my refuge lately is my home. I suppose many people have done some rediscovery in this regard. It seems our homes are right where we left them amidst the toil and bustle of life. We have found ourselves become more acquainted with home here of late, and in my case, reacquainted with those home repair issues that I’ve always told myself I would get to when I have time. Guess what happened.

So I found myself knee deep in my basement shower Saturday working on a clogged drain that has been clogged off and on for about seven years, basically since we put the shower in just before we moved in. I have tried a number of drain-O type cleaners on the drain, trying to remove whatever was clogging it chemically. They would work for a short time, but inevitably clog back up.

So Saturday I went out to Lowe’s and procured the ultimate weapon against clogged drains, the Snake! For those not familiar with snakes, the mechanical kind, they are long cords of steel wire with a screw end attached on the business end and some mechanism for turning that screw end on the other. After trying one more time with a chemical drain cleaner, I got to work.

I had bought a ten-foot snake, and its a good thing I did too. I found I needed all ten feet of it before I was done. I unleashed the snake into my drain, turned it dutifully, and after some revolutions pulled it out again, finding some hair matted on the end, but still clogged. Down again with the snake, once more with the turning, and pulling it back out revealed still more hair. I began to wonder if I was doing it correctly.

I repeated this process a couple more times, until finally, the light dawned, to at least, the water began to move and the shower was completely drained of it. I couldn’t believe it. I sat there with the snake in my hand, still wondering if I’d done it. After a moment I collected myself and reeled the snake back in. I considered it among the best money I’d ever spent. I even went back this morning just to check, just to make sure I hadn’t dreamed it. Still drained.

I am finding new things out about my home, or perhaps relearning them since moving in some time ago. But that’s what happens when you have time.

You also have time to reflect on just how important faith is in a time like this, with uncertainty and fear threatening all around. We have time to thank God for the shelter we have, homes to live in and improve, and families around us. I’ve found that for whatever other purpose this quarantine was supposed to serve, it has helped me remember who I am. I am a child of God, and I dwell under His protection, His refuge and strength. I hope you do to.

Heavenly Father, please be that protection for my family and myself that You word promises. May we remember this day that You are never far from us, and we should never drift away. Thank You Jesus for everything. Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/pro.21.3.csb

There are two words I want to look at today, righteousness and justice. They sound like the same idea, right? I think for the most part, they are the same idea, but they differ in application. Justice can be best understood as the “eye for an eye” kind of return on evil committed. If you hurt me, then I am just by hurting you back in equal measure. If we sin against God by breaking one of His laws, He would be just in meting out punishment for that sin. The Bible calls this God’s wrath. By rights, God has the authority to deal out judgment against sins committed because He is the Owner. He is the One who made everything, and so He has the authority over everything.

But righteousness is a little different. Righteousness is the quality of God that we ascribe His sense of right and good. God is always right, 100% right, thoroughly right in all he says and does. That’s why when He deals justice against wrongdoers, He is completely right to do it. But may I add that there are times that God allows injustice to occur to accomplish a right thing.

Case in point: Was it just for Jesus to be condemned to die on a cross? Did Jesus deserve to die as a convicted capital criminal? Was He more deserving of death than Barabbas? I think the answer here is NO. There was no more unjust conviction of anyone in history than of Jesus Christ. He Who knew no sin, had never succumbed to temptation, and was never at fault ever in anything, should never have been convicted of anything, let alone a capital crime worthy of death. And yet, As unjust as the crucifixion of Christ was, it was the right thing to do. How? Because God willed that one innocent Son of God should suffer for the sins of the world. Because God willed it, it was right. Because God knew that death would not hold Him, that His Son would overcome the grave as a result, would lead many in salvation through His Name, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, though unjust, was right.

I believe that as far as we are concerned, we ought to stick with what is both just and right, since I doubt any of us has insight enough to discern the difference for ourselves. But I might say that we suffer this same injustice every day, and it is right for us to suffer in this way, because our Lord suffered no less.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if God wills it, than for doing evil. Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, by being put to death in the flesh but by being made alive in the spirit.
(1Pe 3:17-18)

Let us do good, and and act justly, and walk humbly before our God. God bless you today!

www.bible.com/1713/isa.41.10.csb

Fear is a natural response to uncertainty. If you don’t know what lies ahead, you are uncertain, because it is not normal. We fear the abnormal, because we are used to things being done, a routine in our lives that disruptions of cause uncertainty, and idea that we don’t know what is coming, and that causes fear. We like normal. We like the usual. There may be times where we want something unexpected or surprising, but only when we are prepared for them.

We are funny that way. We don’t like to be bored, it would rather have boring and ordinary if it doesn’t require change. That’s why this month has been so incredibly stressful, because every day the rules change. Every day there is some new guideline or some new priority or some new rule that we MUST follow or else. Death has often been touted as the ultimate penalty for disobedience, as in death by COVID, but honestly, our fear of death is beginning to wane. We long for the normal, getting back to the usual. For some, not even fear of death is enough. So now it is fear of jail, fear of fines, fear of arrest. Yep. We are being told now that if we don’t follow the ever-changing rules, it’s not death we have to fear, but the police. Really? That’s the message we need to be sending?

What will be offered when fear of arrest doesn’t stop people? Will officers be told to shoot on sight? Will our property be confiscated? Why not an audit? Or forced root canals? Our desire to get back to normal will be overpowering. We call it “cabin fever” but it is a real thing. It is a stronger need for social and psychological interaction, and if not met corrodes our psyche and causes to go to unusual lengths to satisfy it. Social isolation cannot be a long-term solution because it goes against our very human and God-created nature. We will not long endure it.

Fear only lasts until it become normal. We are coming to the end of our initial fears. We have a new normal. Many are no longer afraid of COVID, just as we aren’t afraid of the flu, heart attacks, car accidents, and so many other possible ways we could die. They surface from time to time, it they only exist in the background of our minds. We don’t dwell on them because they are part of the landscape.

One thing we can be sure of is that more changes are coming. Though our world keeps changing, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His standards and rules do not change. I feel much more confidence in these that anything that comes from my governor.

Lord remind us today that each day is Yours and I have the privilege to live in it. Thank You Lord.

www.bible.com/1713/psa.56.3.csb

I find myself in the midst of a dilemma. I don’t know who to trust anymore. On the one hand, there are experts who says they know best when it comes to disease and quarantine. On the other hand are the people who are dealing with sick people every day and are finding that today’s illnesses are putting no unusual burden on the healthcare system, or that while they were bad, are bad no longer. I am getting mixed signals. And when the communication is unclear, you cannot make good decisions based on that information.

That’s why I find it a particular comfort in the words of Scripture. I don’t need to worry about agendas or power plays there. It is the voice of my Master speaking to me, and I know His voice. In Him will I trust. I have but to pull out a coin or a bill and find these words of reassurance that as a nation, “In God We Trust.”

And putting our trust in God is no light thing, as believing in an unseen and invisible God does lend itself to ridicule. But that’s ok. I can’t see disease either. (Oh, but you can see the virus when you magnify far enough! This is also true of God. When you look deep into the subatomic and the forces at work there, you will find God’s amazing power there too.)

I rest today in the knowledge that my God has not lost control of the situation. So should you.

Thank You God. In You will I put my trust. Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/pro.16.3.csb

Do you ever have trouble with commitment? Sometimes I come up with an idea and want to work on it, and then get sidetracked, often forgetting even what progress I had made to begin with. I was convicted some time ago to work on a Bible Study in Ezekiel, since I feel very much sometimes like I’m in exile. I felt that a study through the prophet of the Exile would be helpful to me. I was so committed to it I began putting together an outline. Well, the inevitable happened, and I got sidetracked. I took until last week to finally pick it back up again and begin again to do some serious study. That being said, I found some interested rabbit trails along the way, and of course I followed them. I ordered some books, and hopefully will get some more answers as I continue to put this thing together. That’s really the joy of doing this kind of research for me, finding out things I didn’t know before, digging deeper into issues with the text and how that affects our understanding of it.

With that in mind, I need to consider what this verse is saying to me today. With Ezekiel, as with many things in my life, I need to remember am I doing this thing for myself, or do I feel called to do it for the sake of others? Initially studying through Ezekiel I needed to hear a voice in the wilderness telling me it’s going to be okay. But if you know Ezekiel, he is not a reassuring voice so much as the prophetic voice of God calling us to return, to repent, and see the exile for what it is, punishment for sin. But there is a voice of hope, a new Temple and and revived Israel. There is hope for those who know where to find it.

And that is the way of commitment to the Lord. It may be a time of struggle and desperation for a while, but God rewards all these efforts in the end. Those who commit their ways unto the Lord will not be disappointed. If your will and God’s will align, you will find yourself more successful because God works to satisfy His will, both in you and in the world. So you are in good hands with your hands are working with His.

God, lead me to see Your work and will this day in all that I do. Help me to commit to those things that you have called me to, so that I don’t get sidetracked into useless frivolity. Thank You Lord for Your kindness and direction. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

With today’s upload, the audio version of Henry Anderson’s translation of Matthew’s gospel is complete. Feel free to take a look here: The Gospel of Matthew

www.bible.com/1713/deu.6.5.csb

Leave nothing out. Love with all your being. Surrender all to the Lord who is God. Purge yourself of unwanted desires. Submit to the One who is God and He will bless you, calling you His own child. Pursue the interests of the Lord and He will sustain you. Do not give in to temptation. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. Offer yourself as a pure and holy sacrifice for this is the will of God.

Understand that this first and best commandment of God encompassed all the others. Love God with all your being and you will find yourself loving all those made in His image, especially your neighbors and this who cal Him God as well. Love one another and you will satisfy Jesus’ great commandment. Wear no mask before your brother in Christ. Commit no hypocrisy with him because you need accountability and encouragement above all from him. Love your neighbor satisfies the need of the second commandment, but ought also to be our attitude to the people of the world, not it’s culture.

Place yourself at God’s mercy. Do all that He has asked you to do. Believe today that God has your best interest at heart, and wants to build you up into the person He has called you to be. Offer yourself and all that you are at His disposal, because you know, being the Master Craftsman that He is, He will bring about something beautiful with the pieces you present Him.

Pray that today God will do all this and more, for He cares for you. Know that God loves you, and loved us before we breathed, because He sent His Son to pay our penalty for us. Thank Him for the joy He brings and all the grace He has showered on you. Bless the Name of the Lord!