Category: March

Why are they afraid?

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Joshua and Caleb are standing in front of the whole community of Israel in Numbers 14 and they are telling them not to be afraid and not to rebel against God.

They were part of a group who went to spy on the Promised Land.  All of the other spies came back talking about how great the Promised Land was but they said no one should go there.  The people were big….they were giants!  They started putting a plan together to go back to Egypt.

They wanted to go back while God was asking them to trust him and go forward.

Does this sound like us?  Do we ever just want to go back to where we were?  Back to what we know and where we thought we were comfortable?  Have you ever gone back and realized your memories have shifted from reality and the reality of going back isn’t so great?  I have.  It’s never as good the 2d time.

I’ve learned that there’s really only one direction to go – and that’s forward, trusting God for the next step because we know that he has a purpose for us and plans that will be to our benefit.

I Recognize My Rebellion

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

David is such an interesting person to study in the Bible!  He loves God and he truly wants to be a man of God.  But he strays and he sins and he does some pretty horrible things.

He always returns to God after he strays.  Psalm 51 is a great example of a repentant heart.  I love that David starts out asking God to have mercy on him ‘because of your unfailing love, because of your great compassion.”

David gets it – God’s mercy comes from love and it can’t be earned.  None of us can ever do anything to earn it.  David did a lot of good things in his life but he knows God’s mercy is his because of God’s love.  It’s a free gift.

We can often have a very hard time really accepting God’s grace.  We think we have to earn it.  So we get lost in busyness of serving God or even in the obligations of serving God.  We forget to just recognize our rebellion and call out to God asking for his mercy and compassion.  Just like David did.

Dear Father, we thank you for your free gift of grace.  We ask you to help us live in that grace every day,

Wherever

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

In Numbers 9 wer’e told that the cloud covered the Tabernacle and, when the cloud lifted from over the sacred tent, the people would break camp and follow it.  When the cloud settled, the Israelites would set up camp and they stayed there until the cloud moved.

What an awesome level of obedience!  Sometimes we get hung up on stories of the Isrealites whining and we don’t think about the huge job it was to break camp for this very large group of people with their goats and cows and babies and all of their stuff.  They would move and keep on moving until the cloud settled.

I always read the Old Testament taking into consideration that these people didn’t have the Holy Spirit living inside of them like we do.  In those days the Spirit came upon people like Moses and David and the prophets but did not dwell inside of each believer like it does now.  So they had a lot more ‘excuse’ to whine than we do.

Dear Father, we thank you for the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us, guiding us to your truth.  We ask you to grow our obedience to the level where we watch you and follow you like the Israelites did so many times.

We Know It

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

‘I wish I knew God’s will for my life’ – I used to say that pretty regularly.

Until I realized that I know about 98% of what God wants me to do with my life.  I don’t always know my next step and I definitely don’t know what’s going to happen next week.  But I know what Jesus has told all of us in Mark 12 – that we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.  We also need to love our neighbor like we love ourselves.

There is it – God’s will for my life.  As I’ve gradually grown in my ability to put God first in my life, I have begun to understand that through this relationship he makes everything else work.  If something is not going right in my life, it’s a symptom of my need to draw closer to God.  Because when I’m hanging close with God, I feel grounded and strong and the waves of ‘real life’ crash all around me but I’m steady.

And it’s this close relationship with God that enables me to love others like I should.  When I’m well-connected to him, he can love others through me.  When I’m having ‘people around me’ problems, it’s also a a symptom of my need to draw closer to God.

Through a close relationship God can guide me in my next step.  He also takes away the fear or worry about the unknown of what’s going to happen next week. 

So today, God asks me to do the part of his will that he has already told me to do – to love him with all I have and to love others.  I will trust him with the rest.

Let it Rain!

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Today we read in Leviticus that God promises to send the rains if his people will obey him.
It’s hard to understand what a huge thing that is until you are in a position where you need rain and only God is going to be able to give it to you. I grew up in a rural part of Iowa where the economy of our small town depended on the farming. If the farmers did well, the town was doing well. When the farmer’s crops didn’t do well, nobody did well.
The part of Iowa that I’m from usually received just the right amount of rain for the corn and soybeans that were growing. There was no irrigation available. So, when the rain didn’t come, the only one we had to rely on was God.
I have lots of memories of praying for rain. When the issue was critical, the churches in my small town would have prayer services at night praying for rain. This was serious business. The churches would be packed – standing room only sometimes. And we would spend hours praying for rain. Our dependence on God was crystal clear.   We called out to him in our time of need and I don’t remember an instance where he didn’t respond with rain.
Living in the city, it’s a lot harder to feel that dependence on God. We know everything we have comes from God but it FEELS like everything comes from our paychecks and the grocery store. I think it takes more discipline for us to keep aware of how dependent we are on God.
Another very good reason for us to be committed to reading his Word this year!

Just Newly Arrived

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Mark tells us about a day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them.  We get this awesome visual picture of Jesus with his hands on the heads of the small children saying blessings over their lives.   Blessings like love, hope, peace, faith and joy.

That’s one of the reasons I had such a strong pull back to the church when my son was little.   Having been brought up in a Christian home and a Christian church family, I knew firsthand the huge blessings that came with being ‘brought to Jesus’ throughout my entire childhood.  When I was a young adult, I wandered away from my relationship with Jesus but I was drawn back by the desire to give my children those same blessings I had received as a child.

In Mark 1o, Jesus tells us that we need to receive the Kingdom of God like a child.  A child is a sponge- ready to learn new things, ready to try new things, ready to believe anything is possible.  I sometimes wonder if one of the reasons little children are so open to God is because they have just recently come from God.  Do they still recognize his voice?  Do they recognize the touch of the One who formed them in their mother’s womb?

Dear Father, we ask you to open up our hearts and minds again like they were when we were little children so that we may know you better.