“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.” Psalm 102:25

You, O Mighty God, are the Beginner and Ender of history.

You formed the earth and hung it on nothing.

You breathed the stars, the galaxies, the clusters of galaxies, the farthest reaches of space.

They all belong to you and at the right time you will bring them to an end:

“They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.

Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded” (Ps. 102:26).

It is hard to think of this great, expansive, majestic, far flung creation ending.

Yet, it is not permanent, for it is a part of time: as it had a beginning,

so it will have an end, an end brought about by you, Lord.

The heavens and earth will come to the conclusion of their purpose and usefulness;

they will “wear out” and you will remove them. All we know is temporary. Only you, Lord God, are timeless.

In your great scheme, you have something else in store to replace them, something perfect, untainted, untwisted by sin.

You have a proposal, a plan, a purpose: a pure and pristine new Heaven and Earth,

far beyond what any man could imagine in beauty, in greatness, in perfection—incorruptible and eternal.

And, because of your plan, there is hope for

and end to sin,

justice for evil done

rewards for obedience to you.

In these we can rest, rejoice and be refreshed.

Help us to have this eternal perspective

To remember this hope we have in heaven

so that faith and love may flow from it continually.

“…when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:10b

The wisdom of God is far beyond anything we can comprehend, therefore His answers to our prayers can be very different from what a human mind would expect. Lately Ephesians 1:12 has been one of my prayers for others as well as myself: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better.” As a result, I expected to see more of God’s glory in the Word, to be more aware of His working in the world and to see more of His greatness in creation. That, however, is not what happened.

First God began to point out how much I was relying on my own goodness, my own experience, my own spiritual insight—and then how inadequate these are. It was in just simple things, like my response to a disparaging remark, triggering a sinful attitude of mine: I reacted strongly, defending myself.

At the bottom of each such incident was the same thing: failure to believe the Word of God. On one side, I was rejecting the fact of my natural depravity. And on the other side, I was not resting in the truth that I am a son of the Most High God, chosen before the foundation of the world, cleansed, accepted, assigned to significant work, and dearly loved. Why should I be upset at some mere human being’s insult, especially when it pinpoints an actual sin in my life? The problem is I can’t seem to remember these truths very well at the moment of impact!

But God is faithful to persist ins bringing us to our senses, teaching us the same thing over and over until we grasp the truth needed. I am thankful for his persistence and patince. Helping me to let go of what other’s think was just the first revelation. Step two tomorrow.

Picture: set free

“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.

When I think back in my own life, there are many examples of your surrounding me with your protection in the midst of difficulty.

• When we were traveling through Greece, an oncoming car had its left front tire blow out and was drawn into our lane, but you caused me to respond and avoid a head-on collision. The result was minimal damage, and great memories of your provision and grace.
• When we were expelled from the country, we were able to come right back and stay another 12 years.
• When I was turned in to the police by a disciple, fired from my job, put on trial, shunned by fellow workers and threatened with the loss of our apartment, you brought acquittal, a statement of greater religious freedom and protection to stay in the country—plus I no longer had to work as a teacher but could work full time to plant churches!
• In a summer of tremendous stress, you used the pressure to reveal that I needed a stent in my heart, and used the ensuing pain to bring me into contact with my doctor friend in Germany who has poured blessing after blessing over us in his generosity.

With the psalmist, I can shout, “Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live” (Ps. 116:2). You, O God, are faithful, you are good, you are wise, you are wonderful. To come into your presence is a privilege, a joy, a grace

picture: us in our late 40s.

A reminder:  Putting on the armor of God.

Help me to put on this whole armor of God every day so I might be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Help me to put on the belt of truth, remembering that all I naturally deserve is suffering, failure, punishment, pain and hell, plus eternal separation from you (Rom. 7:18; Eph. 2:1-6). But praise you for your eternal grace in which you chose me, called me, cleansed me, claimed me as your son, commissioned me for special service, and now I stand before you dearly loved, deeply cared for, doted on and delighted in (Eph. 1:1-10; Col. 3:12a).

In the same way, help me to put on the breastplate of righteousness, forgiving, accepting and loving myself as you do me. And to put on the shoes of peace, forgiving others as you have forgiven me.

In addition to all of these, help me to lift up the shield of faith by praising in and for all things so I can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

Help me to put on and keep on the helmet of salvation, remembering/believing that my salvation, significance and security all depend on and flow from you, from your character and your provision, not from my performance or others’ opinions of me and my work.

I also praise you, Lord that you have given us the sword of the Spirit: your living, powerful, transforming Word. Help me to soak in your Word, read it, to think it, pray it, live in it today. And then to pray with all prayer for all the saints continually, making intercessory prayer the foundation of all I do.

Thank you now, Lord God, for how you will answer these requests, for this is praying according to your Word and will (Eph. 6:10-18)

Prayer: “Praise you, Lord Jesus, for your presence, your power, your provision prepared for this day. May you be glorified, magnified, lifted up, exalted and honored through your working in me today. Amen.”

More insights from turning 50!

The second insight is the realization that a lot of the hard work I have done springs from the motivation of greed! I am greedy for more accomplishment, for more fulfillment, for more recognition. Understanding this is very helpful now in evaluating what the Lord would have me do or not do.

The third insight I am embarrassed to even mention, as it reveals the innate self-centeredness of my being. It is now clear that I will never accomplish or become the things I had dreamed of, such as being successful and well known as Chuck Colson or Chuck Swindoll. I have to settle for a smaller sphere of responsibility—and that is good, for it helps me focus on what the Lord has for me, rather than toying with thoughts of grandeur.

Fourth is a simple truth that my dear wife has been telling me for years: take time to recover. I have always run from one event to the next. Now I am beginning to see how I have sinned in not taking a regular Sabbath to rest and be restored. This past Sunday, after a nice afternoon of reading, I went to prepare some tea for myself and noticed that the dishes needed to be washed. I washed them and enjoyed it! Always before this activity has raised my inner tension because the goal was to get it over with and move on to more important items. Today I enjoyed the warm water and the warm feeling of doing something nice for my wife. I am amazed at how God is changing me.

What does all this mean? God is moving me towards His mindset where life is more a rhythm than a race. Take time to savor things, especially relationships; work hard when there’s work to be done, but don’t let the wrong motives of greed, self-centered fulfillment and the desire for glory dictate my decisions; take time to be refreshed and restored, like taking a walk by a brook like in the picture here. Simple, isn’t it? Too bad it took me fifty years to learn it!

I am looking forward to the next decade of walking with God, if Jesus does not rapture us first. I think it is going to be much more of His working through me in quiet ways than me accomplishing much. And that’s good because the glory needs to go to Him!

Prayer: “Lord, help me today to walk in the fear of you that I may be wise. Help me to choose to act out of godly motives, to do the work you have for me, not more. Help me to savor relationships and rest in you, for your glory. Amen.”