Out In the Deep

Archive for November, 2011|Monthly archive page


If only…

In Devotional on November 30, 2011 at 12:15 pm

“If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” (Isaiah 48:18)

Temptation says, “This will be good.” It is only after one gives into temptation that one realizes that not only was it not good but it never was good. One may argue that sin at its core is pleasurable which is why people do it. I would concede, perhaps, that one may receive a nanosecond of pleasure. But the resulting shame, loss and estrangement from the Father makes any possible pleasure pale.


Apple Of The Eye

In Devotional on November 29, 2011 at 1:21 pm

“Guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.” (Proverbs 7:2 – NIV)

If you look closely at a neighbor’s eye (at the cornea to be exact), you can see a tiny reflection of what this person is looking at. It is this part of the anatomy that is called the apple of the eye. The weight of the metaphor calls us to keep Biblical wisdom as the primary focus, not relegated off to the periphery of thought. Those who constantly look away find themselves down the street with Proverb’s seducing harlot of sin. Better to stay focused.


The Way To Peace

In Devotional on November 28, 2011 at 4:54 pm

“For He Himself is our peace.” (Ephesians 2:14)

The world is in turmoil. Alienation leads to frustration. Frustration leads to fear. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to outbursts. Christ’s work brought the Gentiles (read outcasts) together with the Jews (read chosen) into one unified house where Christ is the central authority. It may not seem so today, but this was huge. Politics never brought eternal peace. Christ’s work will.


God’s Calling

In Devotional on November 27, 2011 at 1:31 pm

“You did not choose me but I chose you.” (John 15:16)

The most natural response is, “Why? I’m not worthy of such a call.” But that is old news. The better question is, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” The first question presupposes that God was somehow, in his muddled oversight, unaware of our unworthiness yet extended His call anyway. The reality is that God knew exactly of our unworthiness but called anyway. His purposes required it. So buck up and find out what this calling and responsibility entails.


Those With a Thankful Heart

In Devotional on November 24, 2011 at 6:24 pm

“He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.” (Psalm 40:20)

One way to know that I am truly thankful is to ask where I would be had God not provided the thing I’m thankful for. The pilgrims knew first-hand those who did not survive the trip. They were intimately aware of starvation and disease, wild beasts and unfriendly races. They knew what it was like to live in a country where they couldn’t express what they believed. Talk to a person who once struggled with life-dominating sin and you will find a thankful person. In the not-too-distant memory they were inches away from jumping into a thankless pit destroying in the endeavor everything that was good and precious. Yet God somehow snatched them from the jaws of this destruction. Their thanksgiving flows from a thankful and aware heart.


Our Beloved and Friend

In Devotional on November 23, 2011 at 12:53 pm

“His mouth is full of sweetness. And he is wholly desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.” (Song of Solomon 5:16)

Ancients such as Augustine would speak to God in loving, almost sensual terms. One place this practice spring from is the church’s habit of reading this love story as one between Christ and His church. Far from being merely the God of doctrinal precepts, Jesus is the one whom we emotionally embrace, the one who stirs our deepest senses, and the one for whom our being longs to be with. In an age where much intimacy is fake and real intimacy scarce, this is an aspect of our relationship with God we must cultivate.


Help From Above

In Devotional on November 22, 2011 at 9:14 am

“He will send from heaven and save me” (Psalm 57:3)

In my comfortable setting, it is difficult for me to fully appreciate the vulnerability of David. He was exposed in the wilderness, constantly on the run, and around every corner potentially was a person determined to strike him down. His pleas to God had weight. He cried for rescue from a tangible fate. The enemy of our soul would like nothing more than to push us over the edge and crush us. Internal temptations and outward luring are very real. Yet help comes from heaven.


Following Those who have Gone Before

In Devotional on November 21, 2011 at 5:45 pm

“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)

It is easy to believe that we are all discovering spirituality anew. It is as if God waited thousands of years to wait for me in order to lead a wayward soul to life. The reality is that multitudes have gone before. The new insights I discover in my pilgrim walk is old hat to those who have trod the same path. Stand on the shoulders of those whose experiences have marked the way.


Tracing Through History

In Devotional on November 20, 2011 at 8:14 am

“He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth.” (Psalm 105:7)

In the rest of the Psalm, the singer proclaims specifically the things God had done on behalf of His people Israel. But to see this pattern, he had to continually look back and reflect upon his own history. It is easy to thing that God is distant because a miracle didn’t happen today. But as we look back, we see many points in which God’s work intersected our lives. As the hymn writer says, “I trace the rainbow through the rain.”


Who is like this?

In Devotional on November 19, 2011 at 7:49 am

“Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?” (Psalm 113:5, 6)

So which is it? Is God high and unapproachable – ready to judge unrighteousness and order the heavens? Or is he meek, lowly and attainable – ready to intervene and rescue? The shocking news is both. This is why mere personal spirituality fails us. To understand the nature of God, we have to be told and even there we don’t fully grasp.

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