February 19

‘Arise, shine.’ – Isaiah 60:1

                The first step we take must be our own. This is the essence of faith. God does not mandate that we act; rather He asks that we exercise our free will in service to Him. Once, we arise of our own volition, God then supports us through His grace and mercy.

                I am constantly reminded of a scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Indy is standing at the lion’s head, facing a bottomless chasm. His instructions, based on his father’s archeological study ask him to step out over the chasm. To Indy’s limited perception, this spells certain doom. Indy must choose to take the first step in faith. Once he does so, he realizes that there is indeed a bridge, which has been camouflaged, but is visible to the audience from a different camera angle. Importantly, Indy sprinkles sand on the bridge so that others might follow where he has stepped out in faith.

                What a great allegory for our own faith. We trust in God and do the thing that we know we must do. In so doing, we have the opportunity to lead others by our example.

                Sometimes, the thing that we know we must do entails a task which we feel is below our ability or station. Chambers talks about this and uses the term ‘drudgery’ to describe it. We must remember that no task is to humble in service to God. Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, a task that could certainly be considered lowly for the Son of God!

                Inspiration mustn’t always be for the extraordinary. The commonplace tasks are just as important as the spectacular if God has led us to undertake them. We cannot begin to see, with our limited perception, the value of simple tasks in the lives of those around us as God uses them toward His greater plan. God transfigures even the most mundane tasks in glory to Him.

February 18

 ‘Rise, let us be going.’ – Matthew 26:46
Regret is the root of despair. We regret when we do not do something that we know we should have done. We regret when we do something we know we should not have done. In this way, inaction, or false action, is just as powerful a negative force as action and right action are positive.
The important thing to remember here is that once an action or an inaction has left your hand, it cannot be brought back. The moment passes, for better or worse, and we are left to deal with it. So how DO we deal with it?
If we do not give all things to God, our failures as well as our successes, we run into two very different risks rooted in one very similar fault. Failures lead us to despair (as mentioned above) and destructively inhibit our ability to proceed, likely resulting in more failures or an outright inability to act at all. Successes, when glory is not given to Him, lead us to the trappings of self-righteousness and set us up for the inevitable valley that follows the peak. Both of these maladies are caused by the selfishness found at the very heart of all sin. This egotism causes us to take great pride in our accomplishments, as though we had no providence with us at all and to take all blame for our failures.
Instead, we should be giving ALL things to God, both good and bad. When we fail, we cannot get it back. Thus, rather than despair, we are to learn why things went wrong or why we failed to act and correct the problem so that we do not repeat it. Remember that a failure is only a mistake if we do not learn a lesson from it. So, Arise! Move forward. Accept the forgiveness that has been granted through the Atonement of sins by Christ Jesus and let us be going. Move on to the next thing, allowing Christ to lead you.

February 17

‘Arise and eat.’ – 1 Kings 19:5
By nature, human-kind is prone to depression. It is a simple facet of ourselves, a result of our capacity for exaltation. When we become depressed we lose our initiative. Even the most basic of things becomes difficult for us to do. However, take solace in that God will provide a way out of depression if we only can first take action.
There is a correlation here between God’s commandment to Elijah, (Arise and eat) and current accepted views regarding treatment for depression. Elijah was told simply to arise. To take action. There was no grand vision. There was no ‘aha!’ moment. Rather God commanded him to get up and take sustenance, restoring his initiative. As mentioned, a very effective treatment for depression, right after sunlight, is activity. Here, even in our own modern lives, activity restores us.
The reasons why activity restores and sustains our initiative, staving off depression, are as varied as the reasons which cause us to languish. And, it should be noted that random activity will do little good to alleviate depression. Instead of random activity, prayer is needed to discern what inspired activity God is calling us to do. In performing for God’s sake, we are reminded that our self-worth is not tied to our perception of ourselves, but rather the love that God has given to us through Grace.
So if you are struggling with depression, then Arise and eat! Pray to God and become rejuvenated in the manna that He has provided you so that you might serve Him without shame.

February 16

‘Arise from the dead.’ – Ephesians 5:14
It is a well-recognized fact that action must be preempted by initiative. However, action does not invariably lead to success. The key is to continue to show initiative in the face of failure. I think that Thomas Edison said it best in describing his experiments. To paraphrase, he said that he never failed in an experiment; rather he simply found six thousand ways that didn’t work. That statement, tempered by the knowledge of Edison’s eventual success, is a testament to the power of initiative.
Initiative is not a new concept for mankind. It is hard-wired in our brains likely as a necessary survival skill. The hunter-gatherer, for example, who had no initiative to provide would have probably been doomed to starvation. In our present society, a common thread among successful people is that of initiative. Successful people repeatedly strive to achieve despite setbacks. Just how persistent they are determines the level of eventual success, as is the case I presented for Edison.
God asks for us to show initiative as well. Oswald Chambers notes that when he healed the man with the deformed hand, he first instructed him to hold the hand out so that it might be healed. This is where faith becomes important. God calls us to extend ourselves in order to receive healing. He asks us to first take the initiative to come to know Him.
There are key moments in our lives which test our faith, and thereby test our ability to show spiritual initiative. It is at these times that God asks us to arise from the dead. He asks that we pick ourselves up despite our stagnation and accept His inspiration. He does not pick us up, but He does help us to stand once we are on our feet.
In this day and age of perceived entitlement by so many, it becomes especially important to remember the role of initiative in our lives. As Chambers puts it, ‘God does not give us an overcoming life; He gives us life as we overcome.’ All we have to do is to keep putting one foot in front of the other, allowing God to lead us into the life of service that He has intended for us.

February 15

 ‘None of us liveth to himself.’ – Romans 14:7
What a responsibility that this verse implies! We are not put on this earth simply for our own salvation and sanctification. Rather, we are responsible for the spiritual lives of all those with whom we come into contact. When I stop to think about the awesome magnitude to which all of our lives are interwoven in respect to this fact, I am overwhelmed.
If I am responsible for the spiritual life of those around me, my own imperfections become magnified. When I lose my temper or become vain or lazy, I must realize that this does not just affect me. Rather it affects all those around me. What kind of witness do I provide during even the most cursory of exchanges with someone whom I may never meet again? Knowing this, I must realize that I am accountable not some of the time, but all of the time.
Am I willing to be such a tool for Christ? Can I devote my every action to the glorification of God? I certainly hope so, though I know also that I will fail at times. I will spend time in the shadow of God’s hand and He will use my failures to help me to grow in Him so that I might not fail again.
We cannot afford to be Sunday morning Christians. People are attracted to action. Look for example at Islam. Arguably, Islam is the fastest growing religion worldwide at the time that I write this. Why is that? It is not because of the doctrine, but rather because of the example. People see Muslims in the world right now that are living their faith and taking action through unashamed worship. Muslims protect the sanctity of their beliefs. They defend their religion from parody.
Conversely, Christians overwhelmingly do not protect their religion from parody nor worship without shame. We in the United States are indoctrinated with political correctness and acceptance to the point that we are ashamed or afraid to practice our beliefs without first making an apology. We allow Christ to be parodied in pop culture and the media. The result is that we live as nominal Christians.
I’m not saying that it is my responsibility to evangelize. I am saying that it is my responsibility to allow God to work through my example so that others might see. Will I convert anyone? Not likely by my own hand. Rather God is working to bring others to Him and He uses us as tools toward that end.

February 14

‘What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.’ – Matthew 10:27
It is in the quiet times that we must learn to listen. These times are what Matthew is referring to as ‘darkness’. These times are when God seems absent and we find ourselves overshadowed by unpleasant circumstance. Yet God is not absent. He is there all the time, if only we will stop and listen to what He is trying to tell us.
Oswald Chambers eloquently states that we are put in the shadow of God’s hand until we learn to hear Him, just as a song bird is taught to sing in the dark. What an wonderful analogy. God does not put us in the dark to cause suffering. God puts us in the dark so that we might grow and learn to sing when we are in the light. Remember that His call is constant. Those who heed it are merely those who heard it and responded.
When at last we step out of the darkness and into the light, having heard what it was that God was telling us, we do so with a sense of delight. How we could not be delighted to have recognized the voice of God speaking to our hearts seems impossible to me. Chambers cautions though that such delight should be tempered with humiliation. To be used as a tool for God’s works is certainly good for the ego, but to forget our destitution and inadequacy before Him is to stoke the selfish lie that Satan propagates through our tendency for self-righteousness.

February 13

‘Speak; for Thy servant heareth.’ – 1 Samuel 3:10

                Oswald Chambers points out that just because we have heard listened to God about one thing does not mean we have listened to Him the rest of the time. I suppose that this could best be likened to ala carte devotion.  I have listened to God when it was convenient and ignored Him when it was not. While we’re on the subject, the same could be said for prayer.  As we discussed yesterday, we do not willfully disobey God. We are prone, however to ignoring Him when it is easiest not to listen.

                In addition to listening to God, we should be learning to anticipate what He wants. We do this all the time in regard to our friends. How often have we sent a birthday card, held a hand, or invited a friend out to lunch without being asked first? Jesus said ‘Ye are my friends.’  If this is true, then shouldn’t we also treat our relationship with Him as we would with a friend?  I challenge you, and myself, to listen to God just as we would a friend.

                Perhaps the greatest impediment to listening to God is that of devotion. As Christians, we are devoted to God. However, the reality of our daily existence is that of competing devotions. We are devoted to work, family, hobbies, friends, community projects, etc. There is no way around these competing pulls on our time and attention, nor should there be. God asks us to use our gifts actively, not just sequester ourselves for His sake.

                For my part, I imagine my devotion as this: My devotion to God should be one, unbroken line on a graph. Under this line, running parallel is a series of broken lines. The unbroken line represents my devotion to God, superseding everything else as a steady constant. The broken lines represent the episodic nature of the other things that warrant my attention throughout the day. Each and every broken line deserves my attention, but it should get no more than 90% of what I am capable of giving. 10% of my attention should always be committed to the constant line, in devotion to God.

                Admittedly, this is an ideal to which I aspire but do not always achieve. I recognize my imperfection as a fallen creation and continue to strive to live as Christ lived and to always uphold God’s law.

I’ve said in the past that I feel that the meaning of life on Earth is to come to know Christ and to help others to do the same. It sounds simple on the surface, but in practice it becomes difficult. The other things in my life convolute my devotion and draw my attention away from Him. Yet, He does not leave me. He is always there, whispering in my ear as a friend would. If only I would listen.

February 12

 ‘And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear: but let not God with us, lest we die.’ – Exodus 20:19

                It has been nearly a month since I last posted on this daily devotional. I can make any number of excuses for discarding the habit of spending quiet time with God, though I think that anything I might offer may only serve to soften the selfishness that I have fallen back into as of late. Fittingly, as is often the case with Oswald Chamber’s devotions, today happens to speak directly to what I am experiencing right now.

                When I began studying ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ in late October 2010, I noticed very quickly a change in me. I learned to listen to God. I learned to trust in Him and to always aspire to keeping His law. More importantly, I came to cherish my quiet time with God in writing these analyses. The result was an effective discipleship in my own life. Professionally I yearned to incorporate Him into my daily interactions. Personally, I found a deep love and patience for my family and children in particular. I realized that the selfish nature of sin was holding me back and even eroding my relationships, as it does in any who do not keep their egos in check.

                As my new job started gaining steam, I understandably had less time to devote to this study. I distinctly remember January 22^nd, the last time that I posted. I told myself that I just didn’t have the time and that I had learned what I needed to learn to this point. Essentially, I told myself that I no longer needed to make time to work on my relationship with God. In a way that was the same as telling God that I no longer needed to listen to Him. I skewed my priorities and in short order, my perception was skewed right along with them.

                How is this pertinent to Chambers’ lesson from Exodus? The people told Moses that they wanted him to speak to them. They did not want to listen to God. Chambers points out that this is significant because we often prefer to listen to God’s followers than to have our own relationship with Him.

                We do not willfully disobey God. Or at least those whom do are few. The more likely source of our disrespect for Him comes by not listening to Him. If the Hebrews had listened to God, rather than to Moses for example, they were committing themselves to either follow God’s law, or disobey God directly. By hearing God’s law secondhand, through Moses, their disobedience could be indirect. As Chambers puts it, ‘Because we know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done of we must tell God we will not obey Him.’

                However, disobedience, whether direct or otherwise still results in shame and humiliation. There is no way around this.  I, like the Hebrews, chose to stop listening to God because I bought into the selfish lie that the ego propagates. The result is that, as I write this I am shame-filled for my behavior these past couple of weeks. I found some modicum of professional success early and I failed to give the glory to God. I bought into my own deception and strained my relationships at home. How quickly it all snowballs!

                How glorious then that all things are possible through God. I am praying for healing and I know God will grant it. Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.

                God will use this time as a lesson in me. Live with humility. Make time to be still and listen. The moment I fail in my commitment to God is the moment in which Satan, who prowls this world like a hungry lion, will exploit my own sinful nature.