2020-07-21
Job 42:10 NLT
Judah faced huge destruction after the people had continually been disobedient to God. Joel wrote that ‘What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten’ (Joel 1:4 NIV). Sometimes it can feel like things in our lives have been destroyed too. It can feel like locusts have devoured our hope, our success, our joy, and our relationships. But even when everything seems like a mess, and there doesn’t seem to be any way forward, there is hope. Later in the book of Joel, God says: ‘I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…my great army that I sent among you’ (Joel 2:25 NIV). Other translations use the words ‘restore’ (ESV) or ‘give you back’ (NLT) instead of ‘repay’. God’s promising to bring goodness back to Judah again. He’s promising to restore all that was lost and destroyed. And He can bring restoration to our lives too. In the Bible, we read about a man called Job who faced immense loss. He lost his health, his wealth, and his family. But, in the last chapter of the book of Job it says, ‘The Lord restored his fortunes…The Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning’ (Job 42:10-12 NLT). Not only was Job’s life restored, but He was blessed even more. If we’re feeling like we’re broken and that our life is a mess, let’s put our trust in the One who can restore us. And let’s have hope that we’ll see God’s blessing more than we ever have before.
Acts 10-11; Luke 8:40-56; Ps 14; Prov 16:6-7
2020-07-08
Psalm 37:7 NCV
We don’t like waiting. Whether we’re waiting for a meal in a restaurant, we’re stuck in standstill traffic, or we’re waiting for our bus to come, we can find ourselves becoming impatient and frustrated. We don’t like to wait for anything, including God. But the word ‘wait’ shows up many times throughout the Bible. God doesn’t always answer our prayers or bring change in our lives immediately. Sometimes we have to wait. So what can we do in the waiting? Firstly, we need to remember that God’s working in our waiting. Jesus said, ‘My Father is always at his work’ (John 5:17 NIV). It might not look like anything’s happening, but God’s working things out for our good (have a read of Romans 8:28). God says: ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10 NIV). Sometimes we just have to hand everything over to Him and remember that He works in His own ways and in His own timing. Secondly, we need to trust God. The Bible says: ‘Wait and trust the LORD.’ Trusting can be easier said than done. We like to be in control and work everything out ourselves. Waiting and trusting can feel really uncomfortable. But the Bible teaches us to ‘trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding’ (Proverbs 3:5 NIV). While we’re waiting we shouldn’t assume the worst, worry, make demands, or take control. Instead we should keep our eyes fixed on God and expectantly wait for Him to come through for us. The psalmist wrote: ‘We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield’ (Psalm 33:20 NIV). Let’s declare those words today too.
Jer 33:1-36:26; Luke 6:1-16; Ps 137; Prov 15:15-17
2020-06-30
Matthew 14:29 NIV
Matthew records, “Then Peter got…out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” Today, ask yourself these three questions: (1) What’s my boat? It’s whatever gives you your greatest sense of security. It’s what you’re tempted to put your trust in when life gets stormy. To know what your boat is, ask yourself, “What is it that produces the most fear in me, especially when I think of leaving it behind and stepping out in faith?” (2) What’s keeping me from getting out of my boat? Fear. Fear of people, fear of failure, fear of criticism, fear of lack. In order to grow, you must go into new territory, and each time you do, you’ll experience fear. It never goes away. But each time you get out of your boat, you become a little more able to do it the next time, and you begin to realize that fear doesn’t have the power to destroy you. So when Jesus says to you, “Come,” start walking, He won’t let you drown. (3) What will I forfeit by staying in my boat? Your destiny. To achieve what you have not yet achieved, you must attempt what you have not yet attempted. Will there be risks? Yes. Baseball’s greatest hitters fail two times out of every three. But they know that if they don’t step up to the plate, they’ll never experience the joy of hitting a home run. Understand this: If you stay in your boat, you’ll eventually die there, and end up wondering what your life might have been if only you’d been willing to get out of your boat.
Soul food: Jer 10-13; Luke 3:21-38; Ps 95; Prov 14:29-33
Matthew 14:29 ESV
Comfort zones can be challenging to leave. We like things as they are; we don’t want change. It can feel risky to do something different. The Bible tells us that ‘Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.’ He took a risk and left his comfort zone. Will we do the same? Here are some questions to help us think about it: 1) What’s my boat? Our boat is whatever gives us our sense of security. It’s what we’re tempted to put our trust in when life gets stormy. If we’re not sure what our boat is, we can ask ourselves, ‘What would cause me fear if I had to leave it behind and step into something new?’ 2) What’s keeping me from getting out of my boat? The thing that often stops us is fear. That might be fear of people, fear of failure, fear of criticism, or fear of not having enough. In order to grow, we have to step out into new territory, and each time we do that, we’ll experience fear. But each time we get out of our boat, we become a little more able to do it the next time, and we begin to realise that fear doesn’t have the power to control us. 3) What will I lose by staying in my boat? If we stay in our comfort zones, we won’t reach our full potential and we won’t be able to achieve everything that God has called us to do. It might feel like a risk, but if we don’t take the risk then we might spend our lives wondering what would have happened if we’d stepped out of the boat.
Jer 10-13; Luke 3:21-38; Ps 95; Prov 14:29-33
2020-06-22
Psalm 118:5 NCV
Where do you go when you’re facing a challenging situation? The psalmist turned to God. He wrote: ‘I was in trouble, so I called to the LORD.’ God’s waiting for us to turn to Him and ask for His help. He’s ready to step in and fight on our behalf. He cares about everything that’s worrying us. The Bible says: ‘Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you’ (1 Peter 5:7 NCV). Whether our problems seem big or small, He wants us to go to Him with all of them. But sometimes we can find ourselves doubting whether God really cares or listens to us because our prayers aren’t always answered in the way we think they should be. In Psalm 118, the psalmist continues by saying, ‘The LORD answered me and set me free.’ This happens for some of us, but sometimes we can find ourselves turning to God and remaining in the situation we’re in. We might never understand why God keeps us in some tough situations, but we can trust that He does hear us, and that He’s always working. He works in ways we can’t always see or understand. Sometimes God wants to teach us something in the trial. Other times He fills us with an overwhelming sense of His peace and love, which helps us to keep walking through the things we’re facing. He can also provide us with the wisdom we need to find our way through the valley. Even if there have been times when we felt God didn’t come through for us in the way we wanted Him to, we shouldn’t let those times stop us from turning to Him again. He is good, whether He removes us from the situation or brings us closer to Him through it.
2 Kings 24-25; Luke 2:1-7; Ps 144:9-15; Prov 14:5-8
