Our Daily Bread

Finding God In The Darkness

READ: Acts 17:24-31

The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. —Luke 19:10

When our boys were small, we played a game called "Sardines." We’d turn out all the lights in our home and I would hide in a closet or some other cramped place. The rest of the family groped about in the darkness to find my hiding place and then hide with me until we were squeezed together like sardines. Hence the name.

Our smallest family member at times became frightened in the dark, so when he came close, I would whisper to him softly: "Here I am."

"I found you, Dad!" he would announce as he snuggled against me in the darkness, not realizing that I let myself be "found."

Likewise, we have been made to search for God—to "grope for Him," as Paul put it so vividly (Acts 17:27). But here’s the good news: He is not at all hard to find, for "He is not far from each one of us." He desires to make Himself known. "There is a property in God of thirst and longing. He hath longing to have us," wrote Dame Julian of Norwich centuries ago.

Before we come to know Christ, we grope for God in the darkness. But if we search for Him in earnest, He will make Himself known, for He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6). He will call to us softly: "Here I am."

And He awaits our reply: "I found You!" —David H. Roper

Man gropes his way through life’s dark maze;
To gods unknown he often prays,
Until one day he meets God’s Son—
At last he’s found the Living One! —D. De Haan

Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. —Isaiah 55:6

The Fear of Man or Woman

A devotion from Elisabeth Elliot's book "Keep a Quiet Heart".

The majority of men have thought of women as sublime separately but horrible as a herd," noted the wise G.K. Chesterton. Alas. Are we so formidable? Robert Bly, in his best-selling Iron John, declares that men are petrified of female anger. Then there's a Time correspondent named Sam Allis who says "Women are often daunting obstacles to male peace of mind, and for all their brave talk, men remain utterly flummoxed by the situation."

"The fear of man bringeth a snare," according to God's Word. Meseemeth the fear of woman bringeth a worse one. These comments have set me thinking (again) about fear in general. If men and women were surer of their God there would be more genuine manliness, womanliness, and godliness in the world, and a whole lot less fear of each other.

Jesus told us not to fear those who can kill only the body, but rather to fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell-in other words, fear God and fear nothing else. Moses, by faith, "left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27, NIV). When Daniel learned of King Darius's decree forbidding prayer to any god or man except the king himself, he proceeded with his regular manner of worship, on his knees, windows open, "just as he had done before, and was caught in the act (Daniel 6). He feared God; therefore, he feared neither the king nor the lions. His three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, faced with the choice between two evils, worshipping a golden image or burning to a crisp in a furnace, made an instant decision (Daniel 3). Fear of God made worship of an idol unthinkable. Fear of the fire was, by comparison, thinkable. That's manliness.

Uzziah, who became king of Judah when he was sixteen, was taught by Zechariah to fear God. A child who is not taught to fear wrongdoing when he is small will have great difficulty learning to fear God when he is a man. "Freedom from fear" is what Russell Kirk calls a "silly piece of demagogic sophistry," for we all have "a natural yearning for the challenge of the dreadful."

One of the nicest things any of the listeners to my broadcast, Gateway to Joy, has written to me came from a little girl: "You make me brave." Sometimes I wonder what has happened to words like courage and endurance. What reason is there in our feel-comfortable society ever to be brave? Very little, and, when you think about it, we miss it, don't we? To be really brave is to lay oneself open to charges of hypocrisy, of being "in denial," or out of touch with one's feelings. Moses charged Joshua to be strong and very courageous. Courage is not the absence of fear but the willingness to do the thing we fear. Go straight into the furnace or the lion's den. Were those men out of touch with their feelings or with reality? No. Nor was the psalmist who said, "When I am afraid, I will trust" (Psalm 56:3, NIV). There's a big difference between feeling and willing.

In George MacDonald's Sir Gibbie the boy (Gibbie) is up in the mountains in a storm. He hears the sound of the river in flood and realizes it is headed straight for the cottage. He shoots after it. "He is not terrified. One believing like him in the perfect Love and perfect Will of a Father of men, as the fact of facts, fears nothing. Fear is faithlessness... A perfect faith would lift us absolutely above fear. It is in the cracks, crannies, and gulfy faults of our belief, the gaps that are not faith, that the snow of apprehension settles and the ice of unkindness forms."

Do you feel, in spite of all the promises of God, as helpless as a worm today? There's a special word for you too: "Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you" (Isaiah 41:14, NIV).

What Being A Woman Means To Me

A blogger friend, SelahV, has written a post about being a woman today. She has shared some excellent thoughts on her blog. I encourage everyone to go read it here.

I'm going to attempt to answer her question here on my blog. She asks: what does being a woman mean to you?

My story is much like Selah's story. I grew up confused about what it meant to be woman too. I was somewhat of a tomboy growing up. Loved to be outdoors climbing trees and playing in the mud. My mother was very feminine. I admired her feminine ways, and really wanted to be like her.

It's a bit of stretch for my memory now, but I'm pretty sure girls had to wear dresses when I was going to elementary school. I remember wearing shorts under my dress, but I don't ever remember wearing anything but dresses to grade school. I was thinking maybe that was just our family policy, but, as I think back, I remember sometime in Jr. high when they started allowing girls to wear pants to school. My parents were very against that, but the ole peer pressure won out, and my sister and I were soon allowed to wear pants to school. I also remember the next step when girls were allowed to wear blue jeans to school. Slowly but surely we were all becoming generic looking. The boys had long hair, and the girls were wearing jeans.

It seems like nothing compared to what goes on today. I was thinking just the other day how clothes for girls these days are so revealing and tight. Some of the clothes look like underclothing. And, there's the boys, they're covered from head to toe with huge baggy clothing. You can't hardly even tell there's a body in there sometimes. What is wrong with this picture? The enemy knows that men are visual. It's not that men need to be running around half naked either, but that wouldn't have near the effect on society as half naked women does.

Back to what being a woman means to me. Growing up during the women's lib movement, I was very confused about what a woman's role is. I spent many years trying to be the woman society said I should be. It wasn't until I asked the Lord what He created me to be, that I found peace.

The Lord brought me home, out of the workforce I had been in for over 20 yrs. He eventually led my husband and I to bring our son home, out of the Public School system, and teach him at home. If you had told me five years before that, that is where I'd be, I would have said you were nuts! But, when we ask the Lord what He created us to be, and we are totally serious about wanting to know, we may be surprised! I wasn't sure about coming home. I was even less sure about homeschooling our son. The only thing I was sure about is that is what God wanted me to do. I acted out of obedience. Seven years later, I can't believe I almost missed one of the most blessed journeys of my life!

I love being at home. I love being a wife and a stay at home, homeschool mom. I love the friends the Lord brings into my life. I love being a woman. The woman God created me to be.

Staying on the Path

It's winter here in Oklahoma. Really winter, not the spring-like winters we've experienced in the past. The sun is shining today though, and I wanted to go outside for a short walk. It was a bit tricky to stay on my walking path because it's covered in snow right now.

When weather permits, I like to go walking outdoors. Not only is it great exercise, I have found it to be good for my spirit too. The Lord and I have a lot of good talks on my walks, and I also pray for others while I'm walking.

A few years ago, I began walking in our large backyard instead of down our road. The walks were becoming more of a drudgery than enjoyment as our road became more like a mini highway, and traffic seemed to be moving faster and faster. Not very peaceful for walking, or for my nerves.

We have a couple of acres of land, so I would be taking my walks on the back acre, which wasn't very tame at the time. My son and I had done a lot of nature studies back there, and really enjoyed exploring there, but, I wasn't quite sure how my walking routine would work when I first began. It was a bit of an obstacle course in the beginning, but, over time, as I walked the same route each day, a path began to emerge. Most days my son would join me, and in some areas our paths began to resemble tire tracks. Almost like a four-wheeler had been making the path.

We throughly enjoyed our walks and talks. Even the dogs, sometimes the cats too, would go with us. It became a routine thing, everyone looked forward to the walks. As my son got older, and our schedules changed, he didn't join me as much on the walks. One day when we were walking together, he noticed that his path wasn't as clear anymore. Since he hadn't been following it as often, the grass was starting to grow over it in some places. That reminded me of how following the Lord can be.

As we read and study the bible, pray and spend time with the Lord, His will for us becomes clearer. But, when we neglect spending time with Him, and in His word, it becomes harder for us to see the path He's leading us on. We get off the path, and can go in directions that aren't in His will for us at all. My son and I talked about these things and how important it is for us to stay on the path.

I also had another thought as we noticed how in some areas our paths became one, and in others, they were separated a lot, usually by a large tree or pile of brush. That reminded me of how our walk with the Lord can be. The more we study His word, pray and spend time with Him, the closer our walk with Him will be. At times, we will be as one, His will becomes my will.

Being human, I know I won't be in God's will at all times, but my desire is to seek His will in everything, and to walk with Him as closely as possible. I want to stay on the path, His perfect path for me.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6