Seeing Grasshoppers

 Numbers 13:30 “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

Numbers 13:33 “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

 When God offers you a blessing that requires a step of faith to receive there are two ways you can respond: in faith or in fear.

 The people of Israel were at the doorway to the Promised Land. The exploration team came back with two reports. The minority saw a land of milk and honey, just as God had promised (verse 30). The majority saw a land filled with giants, compared to whom the Israelites were grasshoppers. (v. 33)

 The majority’s bad report grew out of fear. The minority report was built on faith in God’s promise: God will deliver us.

 Because the majority saw grasshoppers instead of the Promised Land the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the wilderness.  Choices have consequences.

 When God offers you a blessing don’t consider yourself inadequate or unworthy. Grasp it with a courageous faith in God who is greater than your challenges.

 Go up in faith and possess God’s promise to you. You certainly can do it!

"When You're Smiling"

 2 Corinthians 8:2 “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.”

 What are you smiling about?

 After 2 years of heavy blows to the world’s health,  political factionalism, economic uncertainty, and now a war that grips our senses, is there anything to smile about?

 Yes indeed! The United Nations issued The World Happiness Report and found these signs:  “’Donating to charity, helping a stranger and volunteering are all up,’ especially the help to strangers in 2021, relative to either before the pandemic or 2020, by a very large amount in all regions of the world,"  (https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-happiest-countries-2022-wellness/index.html)

 Generosity is a sign that you are, on balance, a happy person. Here’s your thought experiment for the day: Does being a happy person make your generous, or does being generous make you happy?

 If you are feeling like you have nothing to smile about in these days (years), may I suggest God’s ancient remedy to the ‘frowns? Give something away. Donate clothing; donate money; donate time. Find a way to make someone else smile.

 Be generous. Be happy. Start smiling.

 

Deliver Us From Putin's Evil

 Psalm 7:14-16

Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
    and is pregnant with mischief
    and gives birth to lies.
   He makes a pit, digging it out,
    and falls into the hole that he has made.
   His mischief returns upon his own head,
    and on his own skull his violence descends. ESV

 God of the heavens and earth, you who are holy and hate evil,

Today, as we witness the rise of evil birthed in the mind of Vladimir Putin, we implore you to destroy the evil to which he gives birth.

Stop in its tracks the violence and destruction created by this Putin’s wickedness.

We, your people, confess that our instinct is to be silent, but we have seen the result of the church remaining silent and weak in opposing pure evil: Hitler rises.

Give us the courage to use whatever tiny drop of difference we can make in the vast ocean of opinion to spur the world to persist in defeating Putin.

God of Mighty Armies, bring swift judgment on Putin’s head. Avenge the wrongs done upon the innocent people of Ukraine.

Deliver us from Putin’s evil.

For yours is the power. Show us your glory.

Amen.

(Inspired by Tish Harrison Warren, “Go Ahead. Pray for Putin’s Demise.” www.christianitytoday.com, March 8, 2022)

Tempting Shortcuts

 Luke 4:3-4 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

 Maybe you are a baker making bread today. This is not evil. Jesus loved bread and so do I.

The devil’s temptation is not about bread. It’s to solve Jesus’ problem with a shortcut instead of trusting God.

Jesus could have rationalized saying ‘yes’.  The temptation is to do something easy (for Jesus) and, in the process, prove to the wily devil that Jesus really is the Son of God.

But to do that would be to disobey God’s plan for his life. Jesus could be the chief baker for Israel but not the Savior of the world. Hence his reply: life is more than bread.

What shortcuts in life are you tempted to take? The world offers many paths to fill our hunger for money, power,  fame. But if we take those shortcuts, we frustrate God’s plan.

God has a plan for your life. Resist the temptation to follow the devil’s easier plan.

Stay true to your calling as a child of God. Don’t settle for shortcuts.