February 14, 2018

Psalm 19:1-4

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2019%3A1-4&version=NIV;NLT

 

 

Valentine’s Day is traditionally a day to show how much you love your spouse, your children, or your significant other. Children exchange Valentine’s Day cards at school. Couples go out for dinner. Gifts are given like flowers, candy or jewelry. But this year was different.

 

On February 14, 2018, at about 2:00pm a young man walked into a Florida high school and began shooting. By the time he was done, seventeen people were dead! Where is God in this? How is God revealed through something as senseless as this?

 

David endured much tragedy in his life. He first came on the scene by killing Goliath with his sling shot. He led the armies of the nation of Israel in battle and killed his “tens of thousands”. He became a legend which eventually lead to King Saul trying to kill him by sending his army chasing David around the countryside.

 

Yes, David knew what death and destruction was like. I’m sure he personally knew men who were killed in battle; whose families mourned the loss of their loved ones. After all, war is hell. Yet in Psalm 19 he wrote about the Glory of God and how God is revealed in our world.

 

¹ The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
    The skies display his craftsmanship.
² Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.
³ They speak without a sound or word;
    their voice is never heard
⁴ Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
    and their words to all the world.          NLT

 

So how do we respond after the Valentine’s Day massacre of 2018? Do we put our hands up in the air and cry “Woe is me”? Is it hopeless? Or, like David, do we turn to our Creator and look for how He is revealed in our world?

 

Besides this past Wednesday being Valentine’s Day, it was also Ash Wednesday; the beginning of Lent. Lent quickly takes us to Good Friday and Easter. God showed His love for you and for me by sending His one and only son to die for us. He revealed Himself to us through His son.

 

Death does not have the final word. God does.

 

 

 

Can Your Smart Phone Do This?

James 1:19-27

 (Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%201%3A19-27&version=NIV;MSG

  

Think about how many different ways you use your smart phone. Most likely talking is only a small percentage. There’s social media, taking pictures/selfies, your calendar,

paying your bills, storing your airline boarding pass, texting, checking your email, checking the weather, checking Google... You get the idea.

 

For many people, their smart phone is their brain. Without it, they would be lost. With it, they are in constant contact with everything and everyone that is important to them. Your smart phone makes your life more convenient and efficient. But, and you knew that was coming, can it do this? Can it reflect on who you are?

 

This past Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, was the beginning of Lent. Lent is a time of

repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a period of forty days, not counting Sundays, set aside for self-examination and reflection.

 

James wrote about the importance of not just reflecting on God’s Word, but being transformed by it.

 

^22-24 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.          MSG

 

If there is anything that is antithetical to the norm of our culture, it is reflection. Just try it. It feels impossible sometimes to slow down the pace of life; to cut back on activity; to turn the TV, the radio or the smart phone off. In a word, to be quiet.

 

During Lent, many people have the tradition of giving up something, or even fasting. What’s important is not what you are fasting from, or giving up, but that you take this season of Lent as an opportunity to reflect. Reflect on who you are? Whose you are? And whom do you serve?

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

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