Sometimes in life we have face situations that while challenging, we can do so without too much fear, much like walking through a shallow creek. Maybe your feet will get a little wet, but you aren’t worried about being swept away by the gently flowing waters.

However, other times, you stand on the riverbank and look out at a river that has overflowed its banks, one that is rapidly flowing and not easily crossable. You wonder how you will get to the other side without getting soaked, or worse, drowning. You break out in a cold sweat while rolling up your pant legs, staring out at the raging waters.

A story in the Old Testament paints a similar picture. Moses had been leading the Israelites, but he has died. Joshua has been chosen by God to now lead the people as they prepare to cross the mighty Jordan River and enter into the Promised Land. I am sure that Joshua was feeling overwhelmed and not up to the task. His knees were likely knocking and his palms sweaty. His heartbeat was rapid and sweat rolled off his face. In his fear, he probably wanted to crawl under a rock and not be faced with this daunting situation.

Are you, right now, faced with an unknown future; one that looks like a muddy mess, one that is deep and dangerous, one you wish you could avoid? Listen to what God said to Joshua thousands of years ago as he likely trembled in his sandals. In Joshua 1:9 we read, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

What God promised to Joshua in his moment of high anxiety, He also promises to you today. God promises to be with you as you stand on the banks of your Jordan River wondering how you will ever cross it. There is no guarantee that it will be easy. But there is great comfort in knowing that God will be with you every step of the way.

So, today, if you are standing on the riverbank, fearful of the rapidly moving waters, God says to you, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Right now, ask God to be with you as you cross your Jordan River!

Have you ever wondered why technical drawings used in architecture and engineering are called blueprints? A process that was invented by a French chemist in the mid-1800s used a mix of chemicals to create a process to copy a drawing from one paper to another paper. The paper with the drawing was placed over a blank paper mixed with the chemicals. A reaction occurred that caused the black lines on the original paper to become white on the second paper and the background of the second paper to turn blue, thus the new drawing was called a blueprint. With the advance of technology, this antiquated chemical method was first replaced by a less expensive method that produced dark lines on a white background and later with drawings generated digitally by computer-aided design (CAD) and printed from large format printers or plotters.    

When we had our house built a few years ago, imagine what would have happened if the builder didn’t go by the blueprints. What if they just went from memory? The bedroom might have ended up where the kitchen was supposed to be. The improper placement of a load-bearing wall would have jeopardized the structural integrity of the house by not properly distributing the weight down to the foundation. And when cutting a hole for an 8X8 sliding glass door, what if they didn’t actually use a tape measure, but instead just eyeballed the proper length, saying, “That’s close enough.” It would have been very difficult to properly install an 8-foot door in an opening that was six inches too narrow.

Failing to read the blueprints and guessing at board lengths would have disastrous results. Not only is it important to use the correct blueprints and measuring devices, it is also important to make sure that the equipment used is in good working order. What if the saw blade was dull or the laser level was not properly calibrated, well, once again, you can imagine the results?

We too are often judged (measured) by others, and often times also judge ourselves, using many measuring sticks, but most, if not all, of those measuring devices are calibrated incorrectly. Other people are simply not good tools by which to measure our own attitudes and behaviors. On the other hand, if you allow yourself to be measured by Scripture, you will find that you come up short, but in striving to reach that perfect biblical calibration, you will soon find yourself becoming more like Jesus.

Hebrews 4:12-13 tells us that the Bible is what we are to use to calibrate, measure, and judge our thoughts and attitudes. We read, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all of creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”    

Are you allowing the Word of God to judge the intents and thoughts of your heart? It is my prayer that you and I, through the power of the Holy Spirit, allow the “perfectly calibrated” and “perfectly measured” Word of God to be the blueprint and measuring stick from which we build our own lives.    

 

I am sure that if you drink coffee you do not like it lukewarm. You like it piping hot. Why else would you pour it into an insulated mug? The same can be said if you enjoy lemonade. You don’t drink it at room temperature. Instead, you fill the glass with ice cubes, so it gets ice cold.

What about your favorite sports team? You watch the game on television, dressed from head to toe in team logo gear, your smart phone nearby so you can follow the social media chatter about the game, at times even yelling at the players or coaches, as it they can hear you. The word fan comes from the word fanatic, which means “excessive enthusiasm or intense devotion.” Doesn’t sound lukewarm does it?

If you are a follower of Jesus now think about your relationship with Him. Are you lukewarm or room temperature? Do you sometimes just casually pursue Jesus, or do you go after Him with all that is within you? We don’t like lukewarm or room temperature beverages, nor are we lukewarm about our favorite sports team, yet in the most important relationship we can ever have we are often only lukewarm.

God does not us to be lukewarm. In fact, in the last book in the Bible, we see these words written to the Church in Laodicea … “So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). 

We are called to seek after God with every ounce of energy we have. We see this very thing written in the opening verse of Psalm 63 … “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”

In Psalm 42:1, we read a similar message … “As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”

So, you see, we are not to be lukewarm followers of Jesus, but instead, we are to be piping hot in our pursuit of Him. And the good news is that if we seek Him in that manner the Bible tells us that we will find Him. In Deuteronomy 4:29 we find these words … “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Just as your coffee tastes best when hot, your relationship with Jesus “tastes” best when it too is hot. Jesus is not lukewarm about you and you should not be lukewarm about Him either!

So, today, I ask you, are you only lukewarm for Jesus? If so, right now ask Him to ignite a passion in you that turns your lukewarmness into piping hot!

We are a consumer driven society whereby our loyalty only remains as long as that person or thing to whom we are loyal is a benefit to us. We consume and we get consumed, and once nothing is left, once it seemingly has no value left, whatever it is gets disposed of. And once the last person or thing is disposed of, we move to the next person or thing, until it gets used up, and the cycle repeats.

Like the water from our faucets, our loyalty runs hot and cold.   

Does your loyalty, your allegiance, to God depend upon your circumstances? Or do you remain faithful (loyal) even when it seems God is silent? In the book of Daniel is a story of three young Jews who remained faithful to God even when the heat really got turned up, literally! The story begins when the king issues a decree that everyone must bow down and worship a gold statue made in his image or be thrown into a fiery furnace. When the three men refused to obey the king’s decree he was furious and he summoned them, giving them two choices, either bow down to the gold statue or be thrown into a blazing furnace. They refused to worship the statue.

The story continues, and in Daniel 3:16-18 we read – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Shad, Mesh, and Benny were probably wondering where God was as they were bound and thrown into the fiery furnace. This fire was so hot that several of the king’s soldiers were killed by the flames as they put the three men into the furnace. After some time, King Nebby had his advisors check on the status of the three men, no doubt convinced that they were cooked to “well done” by then. But guess what, the three men were seen walking around in the fiery furnace, unbound and unharmed. Plus, a fourth man was in there with them. The story ends with the three men being rescued by God, and because of their unwavering faith an entire province witnessed this miracle and many changed their allegiance from the king to God. Even the king himself praised this God who rescued Shad, Mesh, and Benny. (Read 3:28-4:3.)

Scripture contains few more heroic words than “But even if he does not” found in v.18.

So, today, I ask you – Do you have the unwavering “I know God can but even if He doesn’t” kind of faith or do you find your faith running hot or cold depending upon whether or not God has done what you asked of Him?

Once upon a time there was a farmer who wanted to grow strawberry plants in his garden. After he put the small plants in the ground, he prayed, “God my plants need rain to begin them growth so please let it rain.” The next morning a gentle rain shower provided water for the plants. He then prayed, “Okay God, now my plants need the warmth of the sun.” The sun shone brightly all afternoon. The farmer knew that to grow, his plants needed cool damp nights to take in carbon dioxide that is essential to convert sunlight energy into chemical energy. So, he prayed for cool nights, and the nights were cool and damp, just what the plants needed. This process went on for weeks, with the farmer praying for what he thought was necessary for the plants. But soon the strawberry plants stopped growing, and they wilted and died.

One day at down at the feed store the farmer shared his sadness with a friend, who was also a farmer. This other farmer said that he also planted strawberries, and this year’s plants were producing super sweet deep red berries, maybe the sweetest in years. The farmer whose plants wilted asked for advice. His friend answered this way: I plant my berries at the proper time and then I simply pray, “God, you know what my plants need for proper growth so please send what is needed.” I put no conditions on what God needs to do.

That story is fictitious, but it is a story of how we sometimes pray. We take our request to God and then we proceed to give Him the ways we want Him to answer. It is as if we are asking God to bless and prosper our plans rather than asking Him to reveal His plans to us. We need to entrust our lives, and yes, our plans as well, to God. It is He who knows best.

In Psalm 25:5-6 we read – “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.”  

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track” (Proverbs 3:5-6, MSG).

And, still in Proverbs, we read these words – “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purposes that prevail” (19:21).

Jesus shows us how to pray and what to pray – “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” He goes on to pray “Give us this day, our daily bread.” This daily bread reference would have been understood by Jesus’ early followers because it directly pointed back to the Old Testament in which God miraculously supplied the Israelites in the wilderness with that day’s manna from heaven. (Exodus 16, shorter version in Numbers 11:1-9)   

Do you want super sweet strawberries? Then ask God to bring sunshine, rain, and cool nights when those conditions are most needed, not when you most want them! Don’t put a lid on what God can and will do.

Life is full of highs and lows. Sometimes we find ourselves on the highest of mountaintops. Other times, in the lowest of valleys. In 1979, my college football team experienced both.

In the third game of the season, we scored 17 points in the last 75 seconds of the game to beat Kutztown 28-24, in probably the biggest comeback in school history. Then in what turned out to be the last game of the season, on our home field, with a packed to capacity stadium, in the first round of the national playoffs against Wittenberg, the #1 ranked team in the nation, we had a chance for the biggest upset in school history.

(After being upset by East Stroudsburg 12-7 in the seventh game of the year, which dropped us out of the Top Ten, we needed convincing wins in our final two games to climb back into playoff contention. We did just that, beating Cheyney 36-6 and Salisbury State 63-10. We moved up to #8 in the final poll, qualifying us for the NCAA Division III playoffs.)

With under one minute left in the game and the ball sitting on the one yard line on first down, with the best offensive line in the conference, and with one of the best running backs in the country, who would later go on to play ten years in the NFL, we had four chances to simply gain one yard and tie the game, sending it into overtime. But their defense rose to the occasion and stopped us four times, beating us 21-14, ending our dream of winning the national championship.

So, after an exhilarating high just two months earlier, we now found ourselves in the locker room with tears streaming down our faces, hurting from a painful low. And for us seniors, real sadness, knowing this was the last game we would ever play. That loss still stings, over 40 years later.

Today, do you find yourself in one of those low places? Does the valley you are in feel so deep that even if you yelled for help, nobody could hear you? Is your life spinning out of control so badly that you’ve stopped trying to re-orient and have simply put your head between your knees, bracing for impact?

I simply want to say that even in those low places, those valleys, those dark places, those spinning out of control places, God is still with you, He sees you, and He is your place of rest. Let me offer you a few verses that might provide peace and hope amid your darkness.

In John 16:33 we read these words of Jesus – “I tell you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

“The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” Psalm 145:18.

When a young unmarried servant woman with a son sat all alone in the desert, God met her right where she was. We see these words in Genesis 16:13 – “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’”

And these very comforting words of Jesus, found in Matthew 11:28 – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Will you allow the ever-present God to lift you up out of the slimy pit, the mud and mire, the pit of despair, and set your feet on solid ground (Psalm 40:2)?