The Daily Devo with Steve

With the setup yesterday, and knowing that this is really an example from Jesus of a personal prayer, designed to take place in a specific place (alone, just me and God), purpose (this is a personal prayer, not a corporate prayer), and position (on your knees, or at least in some kind of a deliberate physical position)...now we get into the prayer.  And I am going to read the words and then paraphrase how I use those words to create my own prayer, in my own words, that follows Jesus’ example:

9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Father, you are God and I am not.  It is your world and I am just living in it, and you are an awesome God...I am so thankful to be able to come to you in prayer like that, and that you know my name.

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

I know you are going to do what you are going to do...with or without me.  I know you are working a plan that is far beyond what I can see, what I can understand, or imagine.  And, I know my greatest joy in life is coming alongside of you and plugging into that plan, and living in the way you created me to live.

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

And you have always provided for me...without fail.  You always will.  Sometimes I forget that...sometimes I forget how blessed I am.  Please continue in your provision, and continue to help me see just how blessed I really am.

12 and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Your word teaches me that forgiven people forgive...that’s a bedrock teaching in your Word.  Lord, help me to accept your forgiveness of my sin.  Help me to forgive myself as you’ve forgiven me.  Help me, in turn, forgive those around me, and to live with a forgiving heart.  Help me to live free of resentment and bitterness.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

As the old Irish prayer says, please help me to have wisdom to see what’s coming along with courage to take wise action.  Help me to see temptation when it is just budding, that I can turn away before it gets full grown.  Help me deeply desire goodness.  And give me a sense that you are there with me in the in those moments.  And, father, help me release others of their burdens of guilt and shame as it relates to me...let me not hold onto wrongs against me.  Let me be a light into the world for you...let others see your face when they see me.

I don’t think prayer has to be fancy.  It just has to be real.  For me, this works.  And, when I get to this point, THIS is when I start talking through me prayer list, or my wish list, and all of that.  At this point I am really in the right frame of mind to ask God for things.  And, frankly, sometimes at this point certain things don’t even register as that important, and others have already been addressed.  But, when I use the Lord’s Prayer in this way, my experience with God is much richer and more personal than when I just lob up wishes to God.  I suppose that is why Jesus taught it...it knew what would serve us well.

For me, I was really never taught how to pray.  Or, if I was, I can’t remember it.  I do remember wondering about it though.  And, I remember being asked to memorize the Lord’s Prayer, but it was a just words for the longest time for me.  And, to make it worse, I am fairly certain that I was asked to memorize the King James version of the prayer, which makes it even less relatable.

I don’t know if you have wondered about this, but I kind of think the disciples were a little in the dark too.  Jesus seems to have thought they needed to polish up their prayer as well, as He made a point to teach them.

At a high level, before even getting into the prayer itself, context and perspective are so important.  The verses before the actual Lord’s Prayer are hugely helpful in understanding it.

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The Lord’s Prayer

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

These first 6 verses all get at this idea that our prayers are between us and God.  It isn’t about praying to be seen.  And, just to be clear, I believe Jesus is teaching about personal prayer here, about having a personal practice of prayer; I don’t think this is talking about how pastors should pray on Sunday mornings with their congregations.  But, in our personal prayer time, we should be removed so as to completely isolate ourselves and to confirm that our only real purpose for our time of prayer is communion with God.  When we remove the temptation to want to be seen, it really puts us into a frame of mind where we can be silent, and be still.  As I am reading this, I am reminded that I used to literally go into a closet and pray...and I thinking that I am about to re-install this practice.  To literally get on my knees, alone, in a position that really only has one purpose - to pray.  Think about how honoring that is to God.  Then, Jesus goes on...

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

And I love this...this is for me!  There are people’s who make me feel like I went to a tier 2 school when I hear them pray...I need Siri and Google to understand their words, I am carried away by the angelic tone of their voice, and all of that.  Prayers like that aren’t wrong or bad...in fact, someone who is a gifted communicator praying like that is just someone using their talent, and it can certainly be God-honoring.  What I am saying is that Jesus teaches us that our words don’t matter.  God wants us to talk to Him like we talk to each other.  He just wants us talking, and as we’ll see when we get into the prayer, He wants us listening as well.

For me, the take away from today is simple - a time, a place, and a position.

In reading Proverbs 4 this morning, I am reminded that I could literally do a journal entry on about every pair of verses in each Proverb...I mean, these writing are just LACED with truth, and with quotable stuff.  It is a playground for us a readers of God’s Word.

One of the lines that really jumps out at me is this the first line of verse 7: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom”.  From my study Bible, it says this:

The first line, literally is most likely translates this as a blunt way of saying: ‘What it takes is not brains or opportunity, but decision. Do you want it? Come and get it’ (‘it’ being wisdom).

That’s awesome.  One thing about wisdom is that it is almost taught to us, through subconscious messaging, that wisdom is something you get from deeply learning and understanding the Bible.  We can catch this notion that scholars are needed in order to teach and message things for us.  The Catholic Church has installed a message-getter into their entire religious system in the Pope (not picking on Catholics, just illustrating a point).  In reality, I don’t think God set it up that way...God is approachable, and God is personal.  If you go looking, you’ll generally find Him.  For instance, yesterday I wrote about needing to create margin and space in my life for God and for others, and I declared that yesterday I would leave a lot of my to do list undone for the sake of creating that margin.  It wasn’t an hour later, I got out for a nice 30 minute walk, no music, and ended up having some time for reflection.  I really did sense God in that moment, and I could hear Him saying, “See, take a few minutes, relax, create some space, I then there is room for me in your life...and here I am”.  I walked and prayed while I was walking and it was just a great little moment.  It was subtle, but it was exactly what I needed.

And that brings me to the second pair of verses that really jumped of the page at me this morning, here in v18-19:

18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

In my spiritual journey, these moments when I encounter God have been these subtle moments...like that warm sensation as the sun rises and hits your skin.  It is just a tinge of warm, just enough to feel it if you are in a place to be able to do so.  Wisdom is like that too...when I am in a good place mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, I can usually just have this sense of, “Ah, I think this is what I need to do”; I think most of us have had that.  My experience has been that this sense is like a muscle...when I ignore it several times in a row, I stop sensing it as easily.  Then I have to work to get back to it.  We need to act in order to keep that muscle sharp and sensing.

And, lastly, verses 25 through 27 are three of my favorites: 25 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. 27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

The message of this verse is so strong and so clear - look straight ahead, as there are distractions in all directions around us.  Keep your field of vision squarely out front of me, on what God has called me to...to my unique role in this world.  And watch where I step, because there are struggles, there are traps, and there are challenges.  Trouble is lurking when we start looking around.  Our bodies will follow our field of vision...let God guide that.

Today, I am talking to myself in a big way as I am thinking about this.  The message is simple today, and that is just to live in wisdom.  Why is that so hard?  Said another way, why do I know what to do and so often choose not to do it?  I would say that there are plenty of things that I have very little or no knowledge about when it comes to making a decision in my life, but far more often, a great majority of the time, I have a pretty good sense as to what I should do.  Far more times than not, it isn’t ‘what’, but ‘why’ that is my issues.

It usually isn’t that I make a bad decision because I don’t know what to do...it is just that I don’t want to do it.  I don’t think I am unique in this struggle; I think this is a a common issue for all of us.  In fact, ironically, this was THE issue for the writer of many of these Proverbs - Solomon.  This is one of the great ironies of all of this wisdom.

Two big ideas jumped into my mind this morning.

First is something that probably jumped into mind because I have been talking about it recently, and that is the utility of prayer - and it is really woven into the first 12 verses of the reading this morning; look at all of the trust language in there.  And it’s not just the little quick prayers throughout the day, but the really solid prayers in the morning when I am doing this - when I am studying and reflecting.  These are the way I can make God tangible in my life, and I can bring God along with me in my daily living.  These little mini prayers throughout the day are great little reminders of my morning prayer and are a great way to encourage the application of wisdom thorough the day.  A lot of times, just this little pause for a mini prayer is enough to get me to make the decision I ought to make rather than the decision I ‘want’ to make in the moment.  Today’s reading is just laced with this reminder to cling to truth in this way...to bind God’s teaching around my neck, to lean on him in all my ways, honor the Lord with the first fruits of my labor, do not lose sight of these, etc.  This idea is all over the book of Proverbs.

The second thing that jumps out at me and I can’t help but think about as I am reading this is one word; margin.  My days are packed with way too many things to do, and way too many decisions to make, and way too little time to just ‘go with the flow’.  I am a person that thrives when I am busy, to an extent.  The problem is, there must be an ebb and flow...it can’t just be 90 miles an hour all of the time.  I must create space and time to pause, pray, reflect, and think,  I need more time to be bored.  For me, life trends towards complexity, and the scriptures and God would lead me to a place where I would be simplifying my life so I can have the space and the time to interact with God in a meaningful way.  That is really where I can grow personally.  I can get rid of some things on my to do list and my schedule.  I can create margin for God, among other people and things.

So, that is my action for today...right now, I am going to open up my to do app and take a hatchet to it...I am going to get myself into a place where I can enjoy the rest of the day; where I can have the space and the time to experience God in various ways because I am not too busy to relax.  I guess that’s why God teaches us to take a Sabbath each week anyways...imagine that!

Perspective, it is really one of the main ingredients to understanding scripture well.  That being said, one of the best ways to get a little perspective, and what too many of us don’t do often enough as we are reading through scripture, is to read AROUND the verses we grab hold of, or that we hear quoted.

Today we see a great example of that, and it comes right back around to that beautiful and poetic section I honed in on during my read through of this book- verses 17-19.

But, now I really have the context for these couple of verses.  It also demonstrates a key element to prayer.  If you have ever heard anyone Talking about “praying through the Bible” or “praying through the scriptures”, I think this is a great example of that.  You find something that resonates with you, and then you weave your own life into it and thereby associate yourself with the life of someone in scripture.

For me, it kind of sounds like this on this, if I were re-writing the first 16 verses to reflect my own life and reflection on God’s provision in my life:

God, I am thinking back on my life, and what I know about your history with my family, and I am seeing that you ARE faithful.  You have truly blessed us as it relates to our son by giving us amazing doctors and nurses, and you have opened up new friendships were we can have a lasting impact on peoples’ lives,  people that we would otherwise never have met.  You have provided a school for my daughter and the resources to attend that school, which specializes in handling dyslexia.  It has been amazing to see how much better her life has been since we could do that.  You answered my financial prayers last year, and it was a great business year for our team, and it think it was a really a special time for my business partner especially.  During this virus, to get even closer to the now, you have blessed us by keeping us safe and you have provided the necessary resources to support ourselves in a time when many people are really hurting.  You have been faithful in more ways that I can even really list or recall.

And, in light of that truth and declaration, ...

Habakkuk 3:17–19 (ESV):

17  Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

(In other words, though it is hard right now...and knowing what I know from what I have already said...)

18  yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19  God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer’s;

he makes me tread on my high places.

(Or, God, you are God, and I am not.  You have always been faithful to me...and I am trusting that will continue while knowing exactly what that looks like.)

Now, that is a great prayer that Habakkuk demonstrates for us.  That is something to repeat on a frequent basis!

Habakkuk 2 (1:12 forward)

I love how relatable Habakkuk’s response to God is!  We have all been there.

“God, how can THAT be your plan?”

“God, why are you using them and letting ME be punished?”

This is that age old question that we all ask at some point, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Habakkuk is wrestling with an issue that is definitely a part of all of our spiritual journey.  This is an issue that we all must wrestle with and really work through if we are going to grow in our faith and trust in God.

And God’s response is classic... “...be patient”.  Then God attacks the issues head-on that Habakkuk is talking about, I think just to assure him that He has heard them.

One of the hardest things about understanding God, at least for me, is remembering how much biggest His timeline is than mine.  Patience for me is typically a few days, maybe a few weeks or a month.  I have been patient for a few things in my life for a a year or two.  Perhaps the most long-term element of time in my life that has a finite timeline was college, and that was 5 years for me.

God waited a few thousand years to bring Jesus to the earth to begin redeeming mankind.  Who knows how long this phase we are in now will last, it had already been about 2000 years.  Think about that...we are such small pieces of the puzzle.  And yet, I think one thing God communicates through Habakkuk is that personal relationship with Him is certainly possible...so, as small as we are, as insignificant as we are, we are known by Him.  That is amazing if I think about it!

This interchange really just reminds me that there is a difference between God hearing my prayers and God directly acting on them.  I think there is plenty of evidence from various parts of scripture that clearly support the idea that God not only hears our prayers, but that God can and sometimes does answer our prayers directly.  There are other times when God hears them and doesn’t seem to respond.  And, there are seasons of life where we wonder if God hears them.

I an encouraged this morning that God hears them.  I am encouraged that God sometimes does move because of prayer.  But I am also reminded that  there is a long game here...God is working on a timeline that I can’t grasp, with an amount of details and information that I can’t fathom, and I can live with the assurance that a “no” from God isn’t indicative of a lack of love for me.

It reminds me of my thought from yesterday, that continued prayer and reflection on God’s provision for my own life is the key, for me, to not becoming like Babylon.

So, in Habakkuk’s first complaint to God, he is saying that Judah (Southern Israel) is due punishment for her sin and depravity.  And I love how God essentially tells Habakkuk, “Yeah, I know...and that punishment is coming!”  He tells him that Babylon is overtaking Judah.  But I love the last thing he tells him in this first exchange, in v11

“...whose own might is their god.”

In the intro, I commented that I read a commentary that said that a takeaway from this book of the Bible is that Babylon’s sin is illustrative of every country’s sin, and even every person’s sin.  This gets right at that point - that, our tendency is to call ourselves self-sufficient, to deem ourselves “self-made”, and to assume a sense of autonomy in time, as we become more wise and more successful.  Since this is our natural, sin-fueled tendency, we must be careful to guard ourselves against ourselves.

In what ways am I working to hold this tendency towards self-sufficiency in check in my own life?

As I think about that comment about Babylon illustrating our own tendency and sin nature, I also think about their expansion across the known world.  Their insatiable desire to conquest and take over every country in site also bears resemblance to our nature.  I tend to always reach for bigger, better, etc.  Contentment is something that some people are blessed with...but I share this struggle with Babylon.

So, in addition to this question of self-sufficiency, another one would be, “In what ways am I reminding myself to be and training myself in becoming content?”

One area of my spiritual life where I tend to really be more naturally inclined is this...reading, studying, thinking, and listening to God’s word.  But, I think that the solution (or at least a big part of it) to these issues of self-sufficiency and contentment rests in the other aspect of a strong spiritual discipline where I am far more lacking - prayer.

Prayer.  It is the time when we reach out to God, we declare Him worthy of our praise, we reflect on His provision for our lives, and we communicate our need for Him.  I am going to venture to say that my contentment and my tendency towards self-sufficiency has a direct correlation with my prayer life.

So, for today, I am committing to a great time of prayer as I close out my devotional.  If just for today, I will training myself to this kind of prayer and reflection.  Perhaps in introducing this kind of time of reflection into my morning ritual on a more regular basis I can curb my tendency to be like Babylon in my own life.

This is one of the books of the Bible that I have really never spent much time with, and for whatever reason, I picked it up as my bed read.  I think the pastor mentioned it this weekend in the Sunday sermon and the book just stuck in my mind.

In studying the background and doing the full read through this morning, I bumped into a statement that really stuck with me that a commentator used to describe a major theme of Habakkuk;  he said that the five woes that make up the second half of chapter 2 aren’t unique to Babylon, that because of the human condition, most nations actually become Babylon in time.  Without God, most people do the same. This is a theme I am sure I will camp out on when I get to chapter 2.

The book also reminds me a lot of Job, as it is really more of a dialogue between Habakkuk and God rather than a judgment by Habakkuk on the people. What’s great is that because it is so short, I can dig into it and get a lot out of it without the fatigue I often feel in studying the longer prophetic books that take so long to get through, and require a lot of reminding as to context, time, place, etc. The last few verses of this book really resonated with me this morning:

3:17-19:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”

This just reminds me that God‘s presence is enough, or it should be enough. My circumstances may not be what I desire, but God is with me, God hasn’t forgotten me, and God loves me. It reminds me that God‘s provision for me and love for me isn’t defined by what’s happening around me in the moment. God is working through me and on me with a much bigger perspective than what I could possibly see or understand.

I love Proverbs - it is a playpen for type a personalities! I can’t help but think about the book of Ecclesiastes this morning though, as I am reading all of this rich wisdom here in Proverb 28.

Proverbs, taken as a whole, is really a manual for life. That is a phrase often used, incorrectly in my opinion, to describe the Bible as a whole. But, it is a great description of Proverbs. But all the wisdom of Proverbs essentially carries an asterisk by it; Ecclesiastes.  Ironically, most of both of these incredible writings likely have the same author, king Solomon.

Where is Proverbs guides us on wise living, Ecclesiastes remind us that life is full of chance, and that it doesn’t work itself out through a simple math/wisdom equation.  Living with integrity doesn’t mean that it will be easy in our lives and that we will have justice as it relates to wrongs against us. Living with love for others doesn’t mean that I will get loved back. Wise stewarding of my wealth doesn’t mean that I’ll have a lot coming back to me either.

Why then? Why live wisely? Why follow the order that God has laid out in the world?

I think Proverbs iandEcclesiastes taken together answer this for us, though in a roundabout fashion. I think there are two answers to the question, one practical and one more spiritual.

Practically speaking, if choosing between foolish living or wise living, wise living has the greatest potential to bring positive results over the long term whereas foolish living most likely leads me in the wrong direction. So, practically, it makes sense to stack the deck in my favor and to live wisely. It’s essentially a play on probability.  Said another way, you’re much more likely to be successful socking away money in your 401(k) then you are by buying a lottery ticket; one is a plan rooted in wisdom and the other is just hoping it all works out.  so, wisdom is the most practical choice.

Spiritually speaking, the real gem of Ecclesiastes, in my opinion, is that it teaches us the ultimate reward for wise living is not earthly or worldly success, but communion with God.  When we do as God says, we begin to see as God sees. And as we see as God sees, we begin to understand what he is up to in this world around us.  Think back to the garden, as soon as Adam and Eve sinned, the first thing we are told is that they head and they put on their fig leaves.  Sin leads to shame. Shame destroys intimacy. Ultimately, what we want in our hearts is the same thing that God wants, and that is to restore intimacy. Living in wisdom restores that intimacy by removing shame from our lives.  That is the real reward of wise living; reduce shame, increased intimacy with God, and ultimately a joy that is no other way attainable in our lives.

For today, where can I take a step towards wise living with the hope of greater intimacy with God?

Here’s the pair of verses that really jumped out to me this morning:

8-9: “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is 1000 years, and 1000 years as one day.  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

I love that these two verses are together, because we often make the mistake of trying to understand God‘s heart and intentions by his specific actions, and that often leads us in the wrong direction. In the moment I discipline my children, you can only see one small element of my fatherhood. In a moment I choose to let one of them struggle through a little of their work, if you swooped in and viewed that decision in isolation you might say that I am being cruel to them.  But that would miss that I am trying to help them learn and to develop into independent adults in time.  it’s the bigger goal that gives context to the smaller goal.  it is easy to judge a moment and miss a vision.

Think about looking at a piece of art. You can learn some thing about the artist often times by looking at their art. But you can’t truly know that artist from a piece of art.  we, the world we live in, and everything that is going on around us give us clues as to who God is. But there is a lot of work still to be done for each of us individually to understand God‘s vision for our lives and God himself.

Here Peter gives us a quick reminder of God‘s ultimate plan. I can be frustrated with God at his methods, and with his timing, but I must remember that his ultimate goal with his methods and timing are, as Peter says, to bring me back to him through repentance.

Today, my thought for the day draws on this idea but is not directly related to what Peter is actually addressing. My question is this:

If someone were to pull my kids aside and my kids had to convince them that I love them unconditionally, as if making a case in a court of law, what chance would they have to make that case?

Am I loving my kids, and my wife, as God loves me; unconditionally, selflessly?

Or, do I love them in a way that communicates a works-based love from me? Am I modeling what Jesus demonstrates through his example to us, a selfless love, or does my strategy with them communicate that they must earn my love and my approval?

I know my heart, I know I am trying to love them as Jesus loves me, my question is more about trying to help me think through what is being heard from me versus what is being said.