August 28, 2012
“Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life…” (Psalm 23:6 NLT)
Mercy is the unconditional love of God. This beautiful word is found three hundred and sixty-six times in the Bible. (Perhaps God wants us to know we need His unconditional love, every day of the year – and He even covers Leap Year!) Many people think we don’t hear about the mercy of God in the Bible until we get to the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. However, two hundred and eighty of these references to the mercy of God are found in the Old Testament.
My favorite Old Testament reference to the mercy of God is found in the last verse of the Twenty-third Psalm. David ends his greatest Psalm with the declaration that he is positively certain the mercy of God will follow him all the days of his life. The Hebrew word he uses here for “follow” is a word that can also be translated “pursue.” David brings the most profound and eloquent description of the relationship between God and man ever written to a conclusion by making the declaration that the unconditional love of God will pursue him all the days of his life. By application, this is true for any of us who will confess our sins.
There are so many ways to fail. When we understand the meaning of the mercy of God, however, we should realize that we cannot possibly out-fail His mercy. As I place my failures on a scale, I like to place all those times the Bible uses the word “mercy” on the scale opposite my failures. I invite you to do the same thing no matter how horrible you think your sins are.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
August 25, 2012
When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3)
The word we use most in this life is, “Why?” and the word we will use most in the next world will be, “Oh!” The Providence of God is like a Hebrew word: we have to read it backwards. By the Providence of God I mean that God is in charge and the events of our life have meaning. Sometimes it is as if we are on the inside of a woven basket. All the threads that come up on the inside of the basket represent the way we see the things that happen to us, which seem to have no meaning or pattern at all. If we could just get out of that basket, on the outside we would see beautiful woven patterns.
Job is the biblical example of a man who tried to sort out, by looking inside the basket, what appeared to be the tragic meaninglessness of his life. It was not until he looked up and saw all his tragic circumstances from God’s perspective that he was moved from asking, “Why?” to exclaiming, “Oh!” (Job 35: 1-7; 40-42)
In Psalm Eleven, verse three, the Psalmist asked a question: “If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” The NIV version of the Bible has a footnote that suggests this alternate reading: “When the foundations of your life are breaking up, what is the Righteous One doing?”
My wife and I have made that question a knee jerk reaction to the events of our life as they happen. As a result, although we’re not on the other side yet we are already saying, “Oh!”
Will you confront the challenges you encounter daily with that same question?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Divine Providence, faith, Faith in God, meaning of Life, Psalm 11:3, religion, spiritual questions, spirituality, Why God? the suffering of Job | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
August 21, 2012
“It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.” (Lamentations 3:27)
There is a lot of interest today in leadership. You can get your Ph. D. in leadership in many universities. I regret that we do not present more opportunities to young people for the rigorous and difficult training that produces leaders. I thank God for the military academies, and the Marines, along with the various kinds of Special Forces like the Seals where young people can be trained to be leaders of our military.
I can now reflect back on many decades since I became a follower of Jesus in 1949. I have come to the conclusion that God is the great Mentor of leaders and He does His most effective mentoring when things are difficult and adversarial. Scripture records God’s method for developing men into the great leaders of the people of God.
His process is described in the poem below by Dale Martin Stone:
“When God wants to drill a man
And thrill a man and skill a man
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all his heart
To create so bold a man
That the whole world will be amazed,
Watch his methods. Watch his ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay,
Which only God can understand.
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands.
How God bends, but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses
And with every purpose fuses him,
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out—
God knows what He’s about.”
Is God calling you to be a leader?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Broken for God, Dale Martin Stone, effective mentoring, Faith-based leadership, God's faithfulnes, God's leaders, Lamentations 3:27, Leadership, Trusting God | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
August 17, 2012
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29)
Communication is one of the greatest challenges we have in our life. Whether it is in our marriage or in any of the relationships we have in our work and interactions with people on a daily basis, we find ourselves challenged by communication.
It takes courage to communicate because those who communicate with us often say things we need to hear but may not want to hear. And we must say things people do not want to hear but need to hear. In many ways when we communicate we face…
A Porcupine’s Dilemma
What’s a porcupine to do,
When faced with cold weather?
When the dark clouds can be construed,
Only as bringing a storm and nothing better,
For in a world of naught but porcupines,
Who among us should be so inclined,
To choose to envelop the other in ourselves,
Despite the threat of our sharp, prickly ends,
Is warmth so inviting,
Its promise so binding,
That a dozen pricks should be a necessary step,
In finding solace once the sun sets,
You see, in the end,
The coin flips between comfort and company,
Does the porcupine seek comfort in its kin,
Only to find pain through some sadistic irony?
Such is the porcupine’s dilemma,
As the wind begins to howl,
Should he enter his kindred’s embrace and suffer,
Or isolate himself and huddle down?
(attributed to: Vishal Bala)
We can be controlled by the fear of being stuck and isolate ourselves into a lonely self imposed solitary confinement. Or, as courageous communicators, we can be controlled by the Holy Spirit and communicate very carefully—like porcupines embracing—and minister grace to our hearers.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: courageous communication, faith, faith-based relationships, healthy relationships, heart to heart communication, marriage & family, Porcupines Embracing, relationships, Relationships & communication, spirituality | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
August 14, 2012
“… every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15: 2)
My mentor Ray Stedman loved to tell the story about the famous violinist Paganini. As a brilliant violinist and a superb showman, he liked to attach a sharp razor to his wrist. At the right moment he would cut one of the strings on his violin. The string would pop and the audience would gasp, but the most famous violinist in the world would keep playing. He did this repeatedly and dramatically until he only had one string left on his violin. As a genius he would then play the entire concerto on that one string.
Ray’s application was that God sometimes likes to cut back our strings and play the concert of our life on one string. This brings great glory to Him because people can’t believe that as we are experiencing those cutbacks our concerto continues to play with an even more beautiful sound.
My precious wife has lost the use of her left arm and I have lost the use of all four limbs. But the concerto of our lives and ministry continues to be more fruitful than it has ever been which brings great glory to God who is the One playing the concerto of our lives.
The explanation of Jesus was that He is a Vine and we are branches related to Him. When we are fruitful because of that alignment He cuts us back to make us more fruitful. Is it possible that events in your life that you have considered a setback are actually the cutback of your loving Lord and Savior who wants your life to be fruitful and your reward to be great in heaven?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Faith in God, Jesus Christ, John 15:2, persevering faith, Ray Stedman, setbacks vs. cutbacks, Vine & branches | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
August 11, 2012
“My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You…” (Psalm 5:3)
What would you think of a concert violinist who played a brilliant concerto and then instead of granting an applauding audience an encore, fervently tuned his violin? Spiritual people over the centuries believed that we should not play the concert of our day and then at night tune our instrument when the concert has already been played.
Do you wake up holy in the morning? I mean, before you have had your coffee, are you spiritual? Most people do not wake up holy. I believe it is possible for spiritual people to wake up holy, but if we will be honest I believe many of us will confess there are times we do not wake up that way.
George McDonald, a mentor of C.S. Lewis, wrote: “With every morn my life afresh must break the crust of self gathered about me fresh, that Thy Wind-Spirit might rush in, shake the darkness out of me and rend the mesh the spider devils spin out of my flesh, eager to net my soul before it wake, that it may slumber us lie and listen to the snake.”
That is an eloquent and accurate description of the way I sometimes awaken. When I wake up listening to the snake I need to ask God to break the crust of self that has gathered about me fresh, shake the darkness out of me and then do something about my flesh. My flesh is my human nature, unaided by God.
Do you sometimes wake up listening to the snake? When you do, let George McDonald show you what to do about your unaided human nature.
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Posted by Dick Woodward
August 8, 2012
“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness.” (Matthew 6:22, 23 NLT)
Perspective means “to look through” to the end. I learned a helpful spiritual discipline on my faith journey when I asked God to give me His perspective of the long view and the forward look. I now find it helpful to look up and ask God to give me His perspective as I take the long view back at the events of my life. I believe it does wonders for our perspective when we regularly shake ourselves out of our introspective pity parties, look up, and ask for God’s long view perspective of our life in both directions.
Robertson McQuilken, a spiritual leader I deeply respect teaches: “It is easier to move to a consistent and problem-free extreme than to remain at the center of tension on any biblical issue, but the truth is often found at the center.”
In an interview Rick Warren was asked how he felt about his wife’s cancer. He reflected that he once thought life was a series of mountaintops and valleys, but he has now decided life is like a railroad track. The left rail represents this hard reality: there is always something bad in our life because God is more interested in our character than He is in our comfort. The right rail represents this blessing: there is always something good in our life because God is good and He does love us.
I have found that when we’re hurting we can often find truth at the center between these two rails of reality.
8 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Faith in God, faith journey, Matthew 6:22, religion, retrospective perspective, Rick Warren, Robertson McQuilken, spiritual perspective, spirituality, walking by faith | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
August 3, 2012
“… what does He receive from your hand?” (Job 35:7)
Not many devout people are disillusioned when they see wicked people suffer; however, the people of God are often faith-challenged when the godly suffer. For thousands of years devout souls have been asking God, “Why do the righteous suffer?”
The book of Job is the longest, most profound and comprehensive answer to that question in the Bible. If this is the oldest book in the Bible, then the very first truth God wanted to teach us is His answer to this primary ‘why question’ of His hurting people.
The way this ancient “Saga of Suffering” answers that question turns on a question Job asked his wife. God had given Satan permission to take every possession he had, including his ten children (Job 2:3). Then God permitted Satan to take Job’s health. When he lost his health and was suffering from a dreadful disease, his wife told him he should curse God and die. He responded to her cheerful counsel by asking, “Shall we accept good from the hand of God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10 NIV)
The essence of Job’s question was, “What should a righteous man expect God to put in his hand because he is living a righteous life?” The answer to Job’s question is found in a discourse of a young man named, Elihu. He told Job he was asking the wrong question. He should be asking, “What is He receiving from your hand?” (Job 35: 7 NIV)
If you are hurting, or when you do, ask God the right question. What have you done for Him lately? What are you putting in His hand?
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Posted by Dick Woodward
July 31, 2012
“I am the vine, you are the branches.” (John 15:5)
The apostles had been in awe of the profound words and miraculous works of Jesus. In their last retreat with Him, Jesus essentially said that the key to His preaching, teaching, and supernatural ministry is that He and the Father are one. The Word of the Father was spoken on earth and the work of the Father was accomplished on earth through Him because He is one with the Father. He then taught them that after His death and resurrection, if they would be at one with Him His Word would be spoken and His work would be done on earth through them.
While they were in a garden, He pulled down a vine, which had many branches loaded with fruit, and said: “I am the Vine and you are the branches.” In this metaphor the fruit does not grow on the vine. The fruit grows out on the branches because they are properly aligned with the Vine. The branches can bear no fruit without the Vine and the Vine can bear no fruit without the branches. If the Vine, Jesus, wants to see fruit produced, He must pass His life-giving power through the branches, the apostles.
Jesus wants to see this fruit produced far more than the apostles want to be fruitful. By this inspired metaphor, He was actually teaching two propositions: “Without Me, you can do nothing” and, “Without you, I will do nothing.”
It is the plan of God to use the power of God in the people of God to accomplish the purposes of God according to the plan of God. Jesus is a Vine looking for branches.
Are you willing to be one of His branches?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: available for God, faith, God's plans, Jesus Christ, John 15:5, religion, spiritual fruit, the Apostles, Vine & branches | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
July 26, 2012
“The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that He has revealed to us that we may obey…” (Deuteronomy 29:29 NLT)
According to Moses, there are secrets God has determined to keep secret. (Perhaps these secrets are on a need to know basis.) However, the things God wants us to do, He has made very plain through His Word, especially the Living Word, His beloved Son. But, if God has willed to remain silent about His secrets, it would be pompous arrogance for us to say we can answer all the “why” questions regarding our suffering.
Where did we ever get the idea that we should expect to understand everything that happens to us? Where did we ever get the absurd notion that God owes us an explanation for everything He has done and is doing in our world and in our lives? If God gave us an explanation for everything and the answers to all of our “why” questions, the very essence of faith and the need for faith would be eliminated.
Almighty God has willed that without faith we cannot please Him, or come to Him (Hebrews 11:6). God is pleased when we echo these words of Job: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15 NKJV). In my own words, God is pleased when we come to Him in our crucibles of suffering and cry, “If you heal me, that’s all right. But, if you don’t heal me, that’s all right, too, because You are all right!”
Can you say you are all right because He is all right? Can you leave the secret things with Him?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: "why God?", christianity, essence of faith, faith, faith & suffering, hebrews 11, Spiritual secrets, spirituality, Trusting God | Permalink
Posted by Dick Woodward
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