Today is St. Peter's Day, or the Feast of St. Peter. Peter is perhaps my favorite of all the apostles. He is beyond zealous, but sometimes his zealotry betrays him. For example, in today's lesson, God tells him to get up and eat, and he says "no way! My lips are clean!" We recall his interactions with Jesus where he keeps getting rebuked. 

What makes Peter such a great example is that he is not only zealous, but he is also humble. He knows what it is to sin, what it is to turn against God grievously. Despite his zealousness, he has the humility to know that not when God rebukes him he needs to turn from his original way and get back on the path God has laid out for him.

Do you have a humble zealousness? Are there things that you are chasing or doing or believing that betray the way of the Lord? If so, repent, but repent with vigor and chase after the prize of Christ. 

Good Morning Dear Morning Prayer listeners. As some of you know, I have accepted to call to be rector of a church in Arizona. I will be moving there in the next six weeks. This means that things might be a bit bumpy during that time. I will try to keep up with devotionals, but I think I will miss some days. For more information check out this post: https://reverendbeard.com/2017/06/25/the-end-of-a-chapter/

leaving everything, he rose and followed him. - Luke 5:28

The past couple of days we have read about Jesus' calling of the disciples, and we see an image of his disciples getting up, leaving everything behind. Yesterday it was Peter, James, and John, who left everything. Today it is Levi. 

What make's the calling of Levi especially interesting is that he was a tax collector before his calling. As a tax collector, he was about as low and disrespectable as they came. When the Pharisees saw that Jesus was spending time with Levi and his friends they sneered at Jesus. 

Has Jesus called you to follow him into something greater? Are you ready to leave behind those things you hold dear? If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart, but rather die to yourself and follow him. 

Hello, friends, I am busy dealing with some big changes in my life right now. I'm hoping to get a few devotionals in a week. My apologies for the inconvenience.

And the LORD shall stand by them, and save them: he shall deliver them from the ungodly, and shall save them, because they put their trust in him. ~ Psalm 37:40

This morning we finished reading the 37th Psalm. The remind to trust that in the end the righteous will be rewarded with salvation and life with God and the ungodly will get their just reward. It is not our acts that we trust but God's alone. 

We place our confidence in the Lord donning the righteousness of Christ. It is not our righteousness that we are confident in, but instead the righteousness that is freely given through Christ's sacrifice for us. 

In the last day, we will be delivered from all the pain and all the suffering that we have experienced in the here and now. Though it may seem the unjust get all they want while we struggle along, let us let us learn to trust the providence of God knowing how the story ends.  

Leave off from wrath, and let go displeasure: fret not thyself, else shalt thou be moved to do evil. ~ Psalm 37:8 

Our Psalm this morning reminds us to trust in the Lord for all things, not only our salvation and provision, which are important things to trust Him for, but also for justice. 

After we've experienced hurt we often want to seek our own form of justice or decide that we do not need to forgive those who have broken our hearts or caused us injury. So, we hold these pains close to our hearts, refusing to forgive, and letting the anger eat away at us. 

God calls us to trust Him, and scripture tells us that He will take care of the justice or give them mercy. Ultimately, as hard as it may be, we are to pray for divine mercy even upon our most hardened of enemies. Mercy is always the better road, for vengeance and anger lead to our destruction. 

“Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” ~ Numbers 22:38

This morning we read of Balak trying to pressure Balaam into telling him what he wants to hear, as though getting Balaam to change his prophecy will change what God will do. Have you ever tried to pay off God to get what you want? I know that I have. 

We often think if we're really good or pray the right prayer or make some seemingly big sacrifice God will give us what we want. So we try to pay him off with our actions. We try to pay God off with our actions or words and don't get what we want we grow frustrated with God.  We find ourselves faltering in our faith. If we do get what we want we come up with an unbiblical view of God. 

Instead, God gives us the good things we need to enhance our walk with him. It may be painful, difficult, or even a struggle. It is good and beautiful as well, but we can't pay God off by trying to placate him. We are in the process of learning to submit to Him, by the grace we find in Christ. 

Praised be the LORD; * for he hath heard the voice of my humble petitions. ~ Psalm 28:7

We live in a time and culture that respects pride over all other things, and perhaps this has been the nature of humanity for all of history. In school, we are told to have pride in our studies, at work we are reminded that we can be proud of a job well done, we are proud of our families, and all those things that we have created with our works but the Lord asks something different of us. 

We are told to come before the Lord humbly; scripture reminds us that we are to be humble servants of the Lord. Being humble is a hard change for people who are wired to be proud. How can we trust in the Lord if we are full of ourselves? 

Instead, we empty ourselves and learn to trust in Him. This challenge is a hard thing to do because we often cannot see where God will take us, and this requires not only humility but faith. God is a good father, and we can trust that. So, in humility, we come to the Lord with every need and desire and trust that he will not only hear us but give us what we need so that we will grow in His grace and Faith in Him.