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Psalm 35:5-10

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 9, 2021
Psalm 35:5,6 “May [those who seek my life] be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away; may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.”
[May you, Lord, deal with those who oppose us because we are yours. May you powerfully work to make them unsuccessful and fruitless in their pursuit of your children’s death and destruction (as seen in the picture below where a mob is attacking the homes of Christians). Send your angels to frustrate them and bring them to a realization of their error and to a vision of your righteousness, Lord Jesus, and come to know you.]
Psalm 35:7,8 “Since they hid their net for me without cause and without cause dug a pit for me, may ruin overtake them by surprise—may the net they hid entangle them, may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.”
[Yes, may they be caught in their own traps, and see the error of their ways. I praise you for how you did this years ago to the Al Quaida cell in the Middle Eastern city where we lived. They had planned to kill pastors and bomb churches in the city, and had their lists and addresses ready, their weapons prepared—but were caught just before they could carry out their plans. Thank you for your protection, Lord.]
Psalm 35:9,10 “Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation. My whole being will exclaim, ‘Who is like you, O LORD?’”
[Yes, Lord, we praise and exalt you with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, for you have given help and protection—and will continue to do so. There is no one like you, Lord God, who knows all, sees all and is able to protect from all true harm.
Sometimes you do allow hurt—believers are persecuted, beaten, driven from their homes and killed–but even in that you have a greater purpose for their lives, and deaths, in the over-arching and magnificent scheme of your plans.
You are our Salvation, our Rock, our Fortress and our high Tower in whatever may come. You are the One we can trust.]
“You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them.”
[And this you have done for us, the poor and needy, in rescuing us from the kingdom of darkness, bringing us out into the Kingdom of Light. And you rescue us every day from the schemes of sin, self and Satan, you protect us from those who oppose you.
You have also equipped us to join you in this rescue plan: “This is the victory that HAS OVERCOME the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:4b,5).
“Put on the whole armor of God that you MAY BE ABLE to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, SO THAT CHRIST’S POWER MAY REST ON ME” 2 Cor. 12:9).
Help us Lord, to join you daily in the great battle against self, sin and Satan, to cooperate with you in your plans to rescue us from evil and harm, to take up your provision of faith and armor, to obey you in what we know to be right. Rescue us from evil and harm, help us to take up your provision of faith and the armor, to obey you in what we know to be right.]
May be an image of 2 people, people standing, fire and outdoors
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More from the Add-on Eskimo

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 9, 2021
A Gift from a Far-away Land
 
In July of that year, 1909, the summer supply ship, the
North Star, anchored off the gravel spit of Sivukuk Village. The Eskimos all gathered at the shore to see what would be delivered to the village.
 
As they watched, they were surprised to see animals begin jumping off the ship into the water. Men in two boats herded the animals towards the shore and as the animals climbed up on the beach, the Eskimos exclaimed in surprise. The animals had big antlers but were different from the elk they had heard about.
“What are they?” asked one.
 
“These are reindeer from a far-away country,” the teacher, Mr. Campbell, said. “Mr. Sheldon, the superintendent, has sent them for you as a gift. Now, if there is another time of hungering, you will have second source of food.”
 
There was much nodding and approval among the villagers. The four men who got out of the boats were dressed in strange, very colorful clothing and each carried a staff.
 
“These men,” Mr. Campbell explained, “Have come from that far away country, called Lapland, to teach you how to care for the reindeer. These animals live in a climate very similar to yours and can live on lichens alone. They are very hardy, and their meat is good.
Following Mr. Campbell’s directions, the Lapland herders led the reindeer by the village and up on the small mountain behind the village towards the center of the island where there was food for them.
 
Other than polar bears, there were no natural predators to threaten the reindeer, and, as they would live inland, the bears were unlikely to find them. The reindeer also could not run off with a herd of caribou as they had done on the mainland, for there were no such animals on the Island.
 
Mr. Campbell had already selected several of his promising believing students to become herders. The Laplanders, who knew some English, began to teach these new herders how to care for the reindeer, which looked quite bewildered after their journey aboard ship and swim ashore, but the Laplanders led them confidently and they followed.
 
The central part of the island had lichens growing on rocks, as well as short tundra grass for the reindeer to feed on. The Laplanders had brought their equipment to use the reindeer as beasts of burden and loaded their supplies on them to make the trip inland.
 
Several of the budding Eskimo herders led the troop up into the center of the island to an area with several fresh-water springs. There the Laplanders set up camp.
The land was similar to the terrain in Lapland, so the reindeer quickly adjusted. By the time the supply ship made its return stop before going to Seattle, the Laplanders were ready to leave with it. The Eskimos had learned all they needed to know for the care and use of the reindeer. Other than dogs, this was the only kind of domesticated animal they had seen. And domesticated was not exactly the correct term. More like semi-wild animals.
The Eskimo reindeer herders settled in an old summer hunting camp called Savoonga, which was halfway down the north shore of the island, about 100 miles from the village of Sivukuk. This spot was closer to the grazing range of the reindeer.
 
The Eskimos soon abandoned the idea of using the reindeer for beasts of burden, as they had all the help they needed from dogs. But the herders carefully checked on their charges often and at various times, several deer were harvested, and the meat shared in both Savoonga and Sivukuk.
 
So, the missionaries added another blessing to the many they had brought to the Eskimos.
No photo description available.
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Humility?

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 7, 2021
 
Humility is a word we mention a lot, but it seldom gets defined. One viable definition is this: “Agreeing with God.” In fact, this is what the Greek word translated “confess” means. And the word translated “virtue” in 2 Peter 1:5.
Pride is the opposite–thinking that we know what is right, defining good and evil ourselves. This is what Adam did in eating the forbidden fruit. In contrast, humility is abandoning that self-centered thinking to embrace God’s opinion about everything.
In fact, that is also what it means to fear God: caring very deeply what He thinks, standing in awe of His wisdom, knowledge and power so much that we obey Him whether we feel like it or not.
The single time Moses failed in his humility was when he reacted as he wanted: instead of speaking to the rock to get water, in anger he struck it, thereby stealing honor from God.
Most of us would like to be humble, but if we are honest, we only selectively agree with what God has to say. The rest of the time we elevate our intellect and emotions above His Word. For instance, how often have I gone ahead and said something negative even after the Spirit has warned me not to! I decide that giving a zinger to someone is more important than obeying God—and thereby steal honor from God.
I want to touch on a point of humility where every one of us misses the mark: what we think of ourselves. A finer focus of the definition of humility is this: “seeing ourselves as God sees us, both in our holiness and in our depravity.”
Those of us who are proud or self-sufficient or self-absorbed, tend to focus on what a good person we are, missing the truth that we have an old nature where we are worthy only of condemnation, rejection, punishment and death.
On the other hand, most of us are dissatisfied with ourselves: our abilities, performance, looks and position. We focus on our lacks, our failures and negatives. We are down on ourselves, disappointed in ourselves and talk frequently about what we “should do;” because, in our opinion we never do enough. We don’t pray enough, read the Word enough, witness enough.
But how does God look at us? He acknowledges the fact that by nature we are depraved, evil and worthy only of condemnation. But He then focuses fully on the fact that we are created in His image, chosen, forgiven, cleansed, adopted into His family, into His Kingdom, and into His plan. He loves us richly, deeply, unconditionally and eternally. He delights in us, rejoices in us, sings over us and cherishes us.
If we are humble, we will agree with God about both of these, and will focus primarily on how He forgives us, accepts us and loves us—and do the same to ourselves! We can admit we are like the tree in this picture: like us, it started out crooked, but then turned about and grew upright into a fine tree, just as Jesus has brought us to repentance and made us into His fine children.
When we begin to understand how much we are loved, there will be an ongoing transformation in us. As we “know this love that surpasses knowledge—[we] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). And part of this fullness is viewing ourselves as He does. That is being humble!
So let us repent of our dissatisfaction with ourselves, repent of our focus on performance, possessions and looks, others’ opinions of us and instead, as a result of Christ’s sacrifice, forgive, accept and love ourselves as God loves us—and the resulting fullness will lead to a life of greater obedience (loving our neighbor as we love ourselves), as well as holiness, humility and honor for God.
May be an image of nature and tree
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Psalm 34:1-5

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 6, 2021
 
As we face problems in life, attacks by Satan through people and circumstances, failures and disappointments, we can come to you, Lord Jesus, and ask for your help, knowing that you will assist and protect us. As David said:
 
Psalm 35:1 “Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.”
 
[Whether those attacking us be ISIS, the neighbor next door, the IRS or the devil himself, they are all too strong for us to personally defeat; we desperately need your help, Lord.]
 
Psalm 35:2,3 “Take up shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid. Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me.”
 
[When David wrote this, he stood in physical danger; we more often are in spiritual danger, being attacked with temptations, problems and difficulties, which push us to act without faith. But more and more there will be actual attacks on those who follow you, Lord, as laws, government agencies and groups seek to still our voices and try to force us to conform to their worldview.]
 
Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation.’”
 
[I need this reminder daily, for it is easy to forget, in the jumble of events, that you only are my salvation, Lord Jesus. You are the mighty One, who delivered me from the dominion of darkness, from the oppression of the devil, from the deceit and destruction of this world. And you fight for us now, for we are your beloved children: you protect us from true harm, you stand with us in our troubles, you carry us through our difficulties. Praise be to you.]
 
Psalm 35:4 “May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay.”
 
[On a human level there are those who seek the lives of Christians–Jihadists for sure, and others. In the picture below is a page from the Bible, stained with the blood of martyrs killed in a bombing of a church by Jihadist Muslims in the Middle East. May they be disgraced in their wrong thinking and evil intent. May they fail, be exposed, and be chastened that they may see the error of their ways.]
 
Praise be to you, the God of Power, the Lord of glory, the King of victory for keeping us safe, for preventing in the long run Satan’s triumph and evil people’s victories. Instead, in the midst of suffering and difficulty, we are safe in you, Lord: empowered, protected, helped and sheltered. We praise you for your love demonstrated, your power displayed and your goodness proven. To you be glory and honor today. Amen.
No photo description available.
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Mission Vision

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 6, 2021
Chapter 38 Steps Towards Missions
Barbara talked a lot about her experiences in France with Operation Mobilization [a large mission group specializing in short term trips], detailing the many good things she’d learned, the difficult experiences she’d had and the vision OM had given her.
 
She was on OM’s mailing list and one day the mail brought us an invitation to a big OM conference in Detroit. We prayed about going and sent in our application.
 
At Barbara’s suggestion we began a monthly prayer meeting in our home on a Saturday night. The first hour or so was given to worship only: no requests, just focusing on giving God glory.
 
Then we would turn to intercession for the world. OM had produced a pack of cards about the spiritually neediest nations of the world. Each card gave facts about a particular nation and specific prayer requests. We would each take a card and pray for the needs of that nation.
 
This began to open my eyes to the spiritual needs of the world. Our church was very missions-minded, supporting a good number of missionaries and they all came to speak at our church at different times. So I’d had input about foreign missions, but God was about to take me to another level of worldview.
 
It was June of 1975 when we drove out to the OM conference in Detroit. Barbara was getting quite round with her pregnancy, although from the back, you wouldn’t know she was expecting; she only gained weight in the front. Overall, her pregnancy went well with very little discomfort until the end, so the trip was not a hardship for her.
 
The conference was beyond anything I’d ever been to with thousands of attendees in a large hall, seated together in a great horseshoe. There were powerful talks, clear presentations of the needs, especially of the Muslim world and opportunities to join outreaches in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. I was ready to jump right on the next plane—but Barbara’s pregnancy clearly dictated against this.
 
During one worship time near the end of the conference we were singing a song of praise when people at one end of the hall began to laugh: it was a happy, sparkling laughter. The sound moved across the room like a wind. When it came to us, we laughed too: free, joyful laughter that left us refreshed and alert as the wave passed on to others. A movement of the Spirit? I would say so: God sharing His joy from our worship.
 
On our drive back to Connecticut we talked more about going on an OM outreach the next summer and committed to pray about it.
 
We stopped at the college I’d graduated from in Gettysburg on the way home and had a good chat with one of my old psychology professor. I told him how God had worked in my life in so many ways, and how He’d answered so many prayers. “For example, I prayed for a wife, and just see what He gave me!” I concluded, putting my arm around my beautiful wife, who was glowing with the healthy bloom of pregnancy.
 
“Well, that’s certainly a good advertisement for your faith!” said the professor, smiling.
 
Picture: our harvest from Barbara’s garden that fall
May be an image of 2 people, people standing and outdoors
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Perfect God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 4, 2021
“Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.” Psalm 99:9
 
You, O Lord our God, are wholly holy: you are completely other than your creatures and creation. Unlike us, you cannot sin, which means you cannot lie, or think an evil thought, have a bad motive, have a bad attitude, speak an impatient word, gossip, slander or say too much. You cannot have evil plans or intent, you cannot be selfish, you cannot bring harm with hurtful intent, you cannot judge unfairly, you cannot have unrighteous anger, you cannot do anything wrong.
 
On the other side, this means that you always do what is right, you are always good, pure and positive; you are always loving, gracious and wise; you are always light, love and life, you are always great, gracious and good. Your plans are edifying, your intents are positive, your motives are pure, your words are helpful, your thoughts are high and healing, your utterances are always true and trustworthy.
 
You judge in full knowledge and righteousness; your anger is pure and directed correctly against evil. You are perfect, without fault, solidly balanced, unchanging, utterly faithful and eternally without inner conflict or contradiction. You are the God we can trust– continually, constantly, completely.
 
Truly it is right to exalt you, the Lord our God. You are worthy of worship, of obedience, of faith, of praise, of exaltation. Before you we bow in surrender, eagerly offering all that we are in worship, for you are the God of all creation who deserves full, wholehearted love, honor and glory.
 
Prayer: “This day, in all I do and say, may you, the great, wonderful and holy God–my God–be honored and lifted up before all the unseen hosts. To you be praise in my life both today and forever. Amen.”
May be an image of nature and cloud

 

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Watching over us

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 3, 2021
“I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.” Psalm 116:1
 
Praise be to you, Heavenly Father, the Great I Am, the Creator of all and the Director of Life. You are the glorious One, worthy of praise, worthy of honor, worthy of love, for your ear always “is open to my cry and your eye is on the righteous.”
 
There is not a second when you are not focused upon each individual in the world, especially your children. “From heaven, the Lord looks down and sees all mankind” (Psa. 33:13). No event escapes your notice, no happening comes without your permission.
 
You do not prevent every difficulty or trouble from coming to us, for in your wisdom you know that our growth comes in and through problems and hardships. And each uncomfortable, unwanted situation is another chance to honor you with faith and the sacrifice of praise.
 
It is an opportunity to dance with joy on the stage of life, clothed in grace, energized with truth, surrounded by the light of your love.
 
My response should be the same as David’s in Psalm 116:1 “I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.” Your love, O Lord, your care, your compassion for me in and through difficulty awakens in me more love for you.
 
To look away from our personal situation to the great context of your wisdom, your power and your grace frees us to reject self-pity, anger, rebellion and unbelief. As you did for Elisha’s servant, you open our eyes to see the forces of the Lord surrounding us: “The angel of the Lord camps around those who fear him and he delivers them” (Ps. 34:7).
 
When I think back in my own life, there are many examples of your surrounding me with your protection in the midst of difficulty. Such as taking a trip to Virginia in a cold, snowy February on dark narrow roads. The morning after we got home, I went out to start our aged van and the power steering hose blew off making it unusable! If that had happened on the trip it would have been a severe difficulty, but God had it happen in my yard where I could fix it myself!
 
Praise you, Lord that you are the God of hope and goodness so we can rest in your passionate love and gracious kindness. Help us to do that all through the day.
May be an image of flower and nature
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Stories from Alaska

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 2, 2021
More from the Add-on Eskimo
 
God Reaches Down
 
It was the year of 1909 and Ayit and his family were again hunting on Sivukuk. While in the village he and his father spent much time with Kalowi, absorbing what he taught them like sea sponges.
 
One day the three of them visited the home of Mr. Campbell, the teacher. As they were talking, there came a pounding on the door. Mr. Campbell opened it to find Inoniki, a shaman from a different village.
 
“May I come in?” he asked.
 
“Yes, certainly,” replied the teacher and led him to the table where the others sat.
 
Okfagit leaned over to his son and whispered, “This man is a very powerful shaman, one to be leery of! Be careful what you say.”
 
After being served tea, the shaman looked intently at the teacher. “I want to tell you what has happened to me”, he said, “and to hear what you think about it.” He looked at the floor for a moment, gathering his thoughts before continuing.
 
“I went out onto the tundra to gain more power from the spirits. I was playing my drum to call them when a man in a long white robe appeared. I knew this was the Jesus you have told us about. I tried to capture his power, playing the proper rhythm on my drum to call his spirit power to me. But Jesus did not come to possess me as our spirits did; instead he disappeared.
 
“I continued playing my drum. Then he appeared to me again. This time he called me to himself. In his hand he held the book that you use, what do you call it, the Bible? He said to me, ‘I am not the devil, you cannot use me. I am Jesus, your God. Stop following the devil and follow me. I have mercy on you and have come to you. Now come to me and I will give you freedom. Then you are to go to Sivukuk and tell them of this experience.’ And with that he reached out and hit me on each side of my face with his Bible. Then he disappeared again.” Inoniki paused and looked at Mr. Campbell. “Do you think this really was Jesus? And what does it mean?”
 
Mr. Campbell was quiet for a minute, then said, “Let us pray before we talk about this.” He prayed, “Lord Jesus, thank you for this man’s experience. Help us to know how to understand it. Amen.
 
“Well, Inoniki, if we look at the words this person spoke to you, it would be what Jesus would say, ‘I am your God.’ Jesus is God, so he spoke correctly. Then, ‘Stop following the devil’ is correct, as seeking to get power from the spirits is getting power from the devil. And you know how often the spirits do destructive and evil things.”
 
Inoniki nodded. “I cannot deny that.”
 
“But why did Jesus hit you with the Bible? That I don’t understand,” exclaimed the teacher.
 
“I know why!” Ayit interjected. “That is the way a young man is welcomed into the community as an adult. After he has achieved a big success in hunting, his father takes him to the shore and strikes him hard on each cheek. So maybe Jesus was welcoming Inoniki into the heavenly family!”
 
The teacher turned his eyes to Inoniki. “So, what do you believe about Jesus now?” he asked.
“He is God, He came to me to save me. Now I don’t have to follow the devil!”
 
“Do you believe that Jesus died for you and rose from the dead?”
 
“Jesus is powerful, far above the spirits. He can do anything, so he could rise from the dead.”
“Is there anything to keep you from
surrendering to him now?”
 
“No!” replied Inoniki. Drawing on all he had heard from his conversations with the Christians in Sivukuk, he said, “I will pray now. Jesus God, I believe in you, I believe you are the great and good God and that you came to the world and died for me, rose from the dead for me and that you forgive my sins. I will now follow you. I will give up all my amulets, my charms, my drum and ceremonies. I believe you are powerful enough to protect me from the devil and the spirits. Help me to follow you well.”
 
“Amen!” said the teacher, with Ayit, Okfagit and Kolawi, all smiling broadly.
 
Inoniki held up his hand. “One other thing,” he said seriously. “I have come in obedience to Jesus to Sivukuk to tell others what Jesus did for me. I have told you. Now I must tell the others in the village, so I want to speak in the meeting this Sunday.”
 
“Most certainly,” said the teacher. “We will look forward to that!”
 
The news of Inoniki’s becoming a Christian spread throughout the village. And when the next day a large comet with a tail appeared in the Western sky, shining like the sun, the villagers took it as a sign that Apa, God was calling to them.
On Sunday the little schoolhouse was packed, especially with older men. After sharing about his experience with Jesus on the tundra and how he had decided to leave the old way and to follow Jesus, the older men asked Inoniki many questions.
 
Okfagit and Ayit also shared how they had come to follow Christ and how He had protected and provided for them. All left the meeting wondering what would happen next.
 
What did happen was that a number of leaders, boat captains and old men also decided to leave the old way of living under the evil oppression of the spirits and to follow Jesus, the great Creator God.
 
The next week the new believers brought their amulets, magic sticks and spirit drums to the church. After listening to a sermon about King Asa destroying idols, they all burned their spirit equipment in the school’s potbellied stove.
Inoniki then returned to his own village on the other side of the island. There he continued to share about his new relationship with Jesus, led several men to faith in Christ, started a church and preached on Sundays.
 
But the old spirits did not leave him alone. They tempted him to come back to the power he had. His spirit calling drum would magically appear to him at times as he went about his work.
One day he left to go hunting but did not return. He was later found dead on the trail, shot. It was assumed that he had been killed, but no one ever found who had done it. It is highly probable that he died for his new faith in Jesus, perhaps killed by another shaman who was angry that Inoniki had abandoned the old way.
God continued working in extraordinary ways to open the eyes of the Eskimos and bring them to Himself. Another Sivukuk resident, Simdet, was especially conflicted, not sure which way he should go.
 
He became unbalanced and did strange things as he was continually agitated. His family tried to help him, taking him to one shaman after the other, but no one could help him. The last shaman told him, “It is only Jesus who can help you!”
 
One night, in his dilemma, he went outside to the beach where he walked back and forth. Suddenly a brilliant rainbow appeared in the night sky. Simdet realized this was God’s sign to him and he came down firmly on the side of Jesus. His agitation and restlessness disappeared, and he was once more in his right mind.
 
After Simdet married, his wife had a very difficult time giving birth to their first child. So, he took his Bible to the beach and prayed long and hard, promising God to dedicate this child to him. His wife finally was able to deliver the baby and both mother and daughter lived. This greatly strengthened Simdet’s faith, and he became an encourager of others.
 
Picture:Shaman leading a ceremony  from jstor
May be an image of 2 people and people standing
 
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Self pity or self control

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 1, 2021
“Take up the shield of faith with which you can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Ephesians 6:14
 
The fiery darts, the negatives of life, may come from the hand of the devil, but come with the permission of God and God intends to use them to drive us into the Word and into the arms of Jesus. We get to choose whether to take His hand and cooperate with the Lord, or to let the flesh lead us into the swamp of self-pity, anger and despair.
 
Recently I visited Rick, a fellow I’ve known from his youth, now 40 years old. Humanly speaking he is in bad shape, and has been for years. Having severe genetic diabetes (even though he is not at all overweight), he has had parts of both legs amputated, first below the knees, then above them, as well as some fingers; his kidneys have failed so he is on dialysis 3 times a week; his arms are one mass of scars from infections from plastic inserts to deal with dialysis; he has continual reflux and scaring on his esophagus, partly from severe vomiting when he was poisoned by infections in his legs; in addition, he has experienced heart attacks and insulin attacks and could die at any time.
 
My intent in visiting him was to give him some encouragement and perspective. How wrong I was! I came away so encouraged! Sitting there in his wheelchair, Rick was cheerful, upbeat and positive. He said that he is still alive because God has a purpose for his life. He believes that his job is to pray, so he intercedes about everything: what he sees on the news, what he hears from others, the people he has met in his medical world.
 
He may be handicapped humanly speaking, but he is focused spiritually on what God has for him. He has allowed these difficulties to drive him into the arms of Jesus, not into the swamp of despair and bitterness. I’m sure that he has had his times of discouragement and self-pity, but he has moved out of them into the light of God’s continual presence.
 
I thought to myself, “If I were in Rick’s place, would I think positively like that?” The answer is, humanly speaking, “No!” But if, like Rick, any one of us took up the grace of God and let these difficulties drive us into the Word and into a deeper dependence on God, we, too, could be joyfully useful in His hand.
 
Hebrews 12:15 says, “Take heed lest any man fail of the grace of God [meaning we fail to take up and use the grace that God offers], lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and many thereby be defiled.”
 
Rick is a living example of obeying this verse and principle. He takes up the grace of God every day and rejects the temptation of self-pity and selfish thinking, instead praising God in and for all. Therefore, he is not bitter, and does not spread the poison of discontent to others; instead he is sweet, bringing help and joy to all he meets. May we who have much easier lives, be and do the same.
 
Prayer: “Lord, help me to remember Rick whenever things don’t go the way I would like. Help me to reject the temptation to feel sorry for myself, to be angry, and instead help me to take up your grace, to praise you, remembering that you will use my disappointment and discomfort for good, and to give you glory in the moment and throughout the day. Amen.”
 
May be an image of flower and nature
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The answer to evil

Published by S.M. Wibberley on June 1, 2021
You, Lord, are the God of Justice and Righteousness, meaning you must judge and punish sin—which is wonderful because if you weren’t and didn’t, there would be no hope for a solution to evil. Along with being the just Judge, in your mercy you have provided the way for all human beings to avoid judgment by taking that punishment on yourself.
 
Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, for your willingness to enter the land of darkness and death, to shine your light of love on those who hate you. Thank you that you were willing to be abused, beaten, crucified and defeated in the eyes of men. You did this so that every person may have the possibility of being forgiven, of being snatched from the jaws of eternal death and translated into a child of light and love and laughter.
 
The wonder of it grows as you give me a greater grasp of where I was: under your wrath, in the kingdom of darkness, on the path to destruction, with the host of the condemned, filled with evil and controlled by rebellion. There was no reason for you to choose me, save me, adopt me, love me.
 
But you yourself are the reason you have done the marvelous, brought about the magnificent and provided a majestic salvation for all your human enemies. You are more than amazing; we must stand in awe of your strong love, your infinite grace, your deep patience, your rich goodness.
 
You are the One who should fill our vision, absorb our attention and attract our thoughts. Forgive us for being distracted by the tinsel of this world, the worthless fascinations of our hearts and the destructive temptations of our environment.
 
These all fade into the background when we turn our attention to your beautiful character, your infinite power, your unending love, your eternal goodness, your limitless grace. As we see these more and more, to you we bow, to you we give homage, honor and praise. Then we can rise up to live in the light of your presence, looking only to you, Lord Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
 
Fill us so full of your Spirit that He may overflow into the lives of all we meet today. Help us to daily run the race you have set before us with the endurance and patience you offer, that we may be a light bearer to all around us, opening the way for them to believe, to follow, to trust you, to know you in all your beauty and goodness, that there may be more worshipers in eternity.
May be an image of nature, sky, tree, twilight and lake
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