Have you ever wished upon a your Thanksgiving Day turkey’s wishbone? The tradition of breaking the wishbone dates back thousands of years to the ancient Romans who pulled apart a chicken’s clavicle in hopes of achieving good fortune. This elastic bone is actually the fusion of the bird’s two clavicles at the base of its sternum. It holds and releases energy as the bird flaps its wings, thus an important part of the flight mechanism. Today, folklore says that the person who breaks off the bigger piece has their wish granted.       

When you think of the word “hope” or “wish” what comes to mind? We often use the two words interchangeably, but they really are different in meaning and usage.

Hope refers to a feeling of desire for something to happen, with a real expectation that it could happen. When you plan a day at the beach you hope for sunshine and not rain. Or maybe you’ve planned a trip to the art museum and as you get in the car you say – I sure hope it isn’t too crowded when we get there. On the other hand, statements like “I wish I could fly” or “I wish there were more hours in the day” express a desire for something that is unlikely, having no basis in reality.

The Bible has quite a lot to say about hope. But unlike the way we use the word hope in modern conversation and vernacular, biblical hope does not convey any level of doubt. Instead, it has as its foundation a confident faith in God. In the Old Testament the word hope most often comes from a Hebrew word meaning “confidence, safety, or security.” Turning to the New Testament, we read these words in Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

The word hope in that verse is the Greek word “elpizō” which means “to fully expect, count upon, place confidence in.” In other words – there is no doubt about it!   

When you have a desire of hope for good weather or an uncrowded museum, you also have a feeling of uncertainty. Biblical hope is not a feeling, it is a reality. Biblical hope is an assured confident expectation, a sure foundation upon which we can base our lives. It is looking forward to, and trusting in, all that God has promised.

Now that is more than just a wish!

Dave’s Note – As I continue to recover after suffering a stroke, I will only be writing periodically as my brain and motor skills improve. It is my goal to eventually get back to writing on a regular basis. I wish you and your family a very enjoyable Thanksgiving and start to the long holiday season.

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It is a warm sunny day. You are cruising down the smooth highway with the top down on your convertible “Little Deuce Coupe” when all of a sudden, without warning, you encounter a patch of very rough road. You slam on the brakes to slow down your car, but not before the car is rattled to its core. Your iced tea flies out of the cup holder and spills in your lap, The Beach Boys CD you were listening to skips due to the jolt, your dog in the backseat yelps, and your car’s electronic anti-skid control system kicks in to keep the car from careening totally out of control. After what seems like an eternity, you finally get the car slowed down, pull onto the shoulder of the road, and it is at that point you and your passenger look at each other and simultaneously yell, “What was that?”

Sound familiar? Not only is the highway full of potholes and speed bumps, life too is full of rough and bumpy patches. Sometimes they just cause us to tap the brake ever so gently simply to slow down, other times they are craters or mountains that cause us to slam on the brakes in order to avoid crashing. Sometimes we see the bump ahead and we can prepare, other times it comes out of nowhere and we find ourselves upside down along side the road wondering what just happened.

None of us like when life seems to spin out of control. In those moments of spinning out of control, or when you sit upside down in your car, despair and hopelessness often sets in. The confidence and peace you had as you were cruisin’ down the road have turned to fear and worry. In the blink of an eye, your dreams and plans for the future have changed.

It is in that very moment that you can turn the hopelessness to hopefulness, the fear into calm, and the insecurity to security. God tells us that He is in control and that nothing is too hard for Him. It is often hard to understand why bad things happen and even harder to understand, if not impossible, to see in advance how God is at work. But our faith is rooted in the truth that God is sovereign and in absolute control of everything. In our limited perspective, God’s ways to do not always make sense to us, but Scripture tells us that His ways are higher than our ways. In Isaiah 55:9 we read this, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

So, just when you think the road ahead looks too bumpy or the hole seems to deep too climb out of, reprogram your GPS towards God and ask Him to lead and guide you. These next words are the beginning of a prayer the prophet Jeremiah prayed when he had doubts while facing a very difficult situation. In Jeremiah 32:17 we see him cry out… “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth (see Genesis 2:1) by your great power and outstretched arm (see Jeremiah 27:5). Nothing is too hard for you (see Genesis 18:14).”

I will end with God’s reply to Jeremiah – “Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ‘I am the LORD, the God of all mankind, Is anything too hard for me?’” (32:26-27)

Dave’s Note – As I continue to recover after suffering a stroke, I will only be writing periodically over the next six weeks or so. As my brain and motor skills improve, it is my goal to get back to writing on a regular basis.

If you are encouraged by this or any of my writings, you can subscribe to be notified by email when I post something new. To subscribe, click here. Once you put in your email address you will then get an email confirming that you wish to subscribe. Thank you

In the age in which we live there is an endless supply of places to look for information. You can download apps to your smart phone and or other handheld devices that give endless sources of information. Google and other search engines provide lists of websites that match your search criteria. Bookstores are full of books that address the topics in which you are interested. Ask a question on social media and you are likely to get replies from many “experts.” Talk show hosts pontificate on a variety of subjects, some of which they actually have knowledge on. Family and friends often can be of immense help to us if we would just ask. Sometimes even if we do not ask, those same people give us their two cents.

The challenge comes not from finding enough places to look for information but from being able to know which are reliable and which are not. Is the answer based upon fact or is it just an opinion? Is there credible evidence to back up the data? What is the source of the information? Has this information been “time tested” or is it some new theory? Is it based upon current trends or something from fifty years ago? These are all questions we need to ask when trying to gain insight or knowledge of a particular topic.

With so many available sources of information, deciphering good information from bad information gets increasingly more challenging. Ask ten people and you are likely to get ten different answers. Sometimes that information changes minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.

It is true that as we grow and mature, our understanding sometimes changes, causing us to see things differently than we had in the past. That is different than what is so seemingly prevalent today – with so many so-called experts and so many agendas trying to be advanced, I sometimes find myself confused and struggling to know what to believe. It is as if I am trying to navigate the forest in complete darkness, continually bumping into trees, rubbing up against poison ivy, twisting my ankle on the uneven ground, walking in circles, never getting too far. Maybe today you feel the same way.

We do however have one source of information that is always consistent, always reliable, always dependable, and always true. This source always has your best interest in mind. That source is God. You can find the answers to living life the way it is intended to be lived both by going to God directly and by reading His Word as found in the Bible.

In Proverbs 2:6 we see this about God – “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

Psalm 119:105 says this about the Bible– “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

When we read the Bible under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit it becomes alive and active (Hebrews 4:12). The words on the page invite us in. We begin to be transformed. We begin to see life and truth as God sees them. Next time you sit down to read your Bible, ask God to open up your mind as you read, and see what happens!

Saint Ephrem of Edessa, a fourth-century Syriac Christian said this of reading the Bible for the first time – “I read the opening of this book and was filled of joy, for its verses and lines spread out their arms to welcome me; the first rushed out and kissed me, and led me to its companion; and when I reached that verse wherein is written the story of Paradise, it lifted me up and transported me from the bosom of the book to the very bosom of Paradise.”

So, I ask, are you asking Jesus for what He is ready to give? Are you allowing His Word to rush out and kiss you? Are you allowing His Word, His light, to illuminate the dark?

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Do you ever feel like you have been kicked to the curb? Maybe you have some impediment (physical, mental, emotional, etc.) that holds you down. It could be the feeling that you are on the outside looking in or that nobody sees or hears you. While the world so often lacks the personal touch we deeply long for, today we will look at a story which only appears in the Gospel of Mark. This story speaks so clearly of how Jesus meets us specifically at the point of our need.

Mark chapter 7 begins with Jesus having a dispute with the scribes and Pharisees (the moral police of that time) over clean and unclean in vv.1-22. The text then narrates Jesus healing two Gentiles, first the curing of a Canaanite woman’s daughter (vv.24-30) and then the restoration of a deaf and mute man (vv.31-37), which is my focus today.   

In v.32 we see that some people brought to Jesus a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. After taking him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh, and while looking at the man, said, “Ephphatha!” (“Be opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his speech difficulty gone, and he began to speak clearly.

The word describing the man’s speech impediment is only used once in the New Testament, right here in v.32, and in my opinion, Mark is clearly referencing the glorious benefits of Messiah’s rule and reign, as found in Isaiah 35:5-6: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”

There is so much in these verses, too much for today, but I want to share four key elements that you can cling to. First, we see the personal touch of Jesus. We know that Jesus can deal with the masses (for example, feeding 5,000) but in today’s text we see Jesus simply dealing one on one with this man. Second, we see the humanity and heart of Jesus; He reached out to touch this man and also sighed, as a compassionate response to the man’s condition. Third, we see that Jesus knew that His power source came from God. We read “he looked up to heaven.” And lastly, we see Jesus is more than a man of words, He is also a man of action. 

That phrase “be opened” is representative of entirety of Jesus’ ministry – he enables the disabled, he sets free those who are in bondage, he mends the broken, he restores the sick, he welcomes the outcasts. Those of you who have been shoved out of the way, those of you who have been forgotten, those of you who are on the fringe of life – this is the Jesus who steps into your life and meets you at your very point of need. He did not touch the man’s leg or put His hand on the man’s arm, instead He touched the man’s deaf ear and mute tongue. He also touches you right where you have a need, as if to say, “I understand.”

After seeing what Jesus had done, we read these words – “People were overwhelmed with amazement. ‘He has done everything well,’ they said. ‘He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak’” (v.37). As the people see this miracle, they recognize that when God does something in our lives, it isn’t partial, it isn’t just okay, but instead, on the contrary, He brings it to completion, and it is always excellent work. It is always very good. If you are familiar at all with the Creation Story in Genesis, then you know that as God created, He stepped back and said it was good. This is the God that does all things well.

Right now, some of you are in bondage, some of you are in despair, others of you simply feel like you are on the fringe, or you have some impediment, some blockage that is keeping you from becoming all you can be. Jesus meets you at that point of need and simply says to you, “Ephphatha.”

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Humility is not a concept often used or demonstrated these days. We live in a culture that is full of showboating, you know, that excessive and often times annoying behavior done after someone has “done something good” that is intended to bring attention to the person doing the showboating. The term “showboating” is derived from the theatrical performances produced on riverboats on the Mississippi River in the late 19th century. These riverboats became known as showboats and the verb “to showboat” comes from that origin.  

Just turn on the television and watch any sporting event. You will not have to watch too long before you see a player make a good play and after the play is over that player “showboats,” as if to say, look at me, look what I’ve done!

Sometimes showboating even becomes a craze. From 1988 to 1991 fullback Elbert “Ickey” Woods played for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals. When he scored a touchdown he performed a celebration that became famously known as the “Ickey Shuffle.” Woods would shuffle his feet to the right while holding the football out to the right, do the same moves to the left, then do three hops to the right, all before spiking the ball into the ground. This showboating led the NFL to create a rule against “Excessive Celebration” which is enforced as a penalty against that team. Click here to learn about the NFL’s most famous dancer.

Jesus describes an incident of showboating in Luke 18:9-14. In this parable, two men, a Pharisee and a tax collector, went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee thanked God that he was not a sinner like the other people, especially that lowly tax collector. Maybe this religious leader even did his own version of the “Ickey Shuffle.” The tax collector, on the other hand, would not even look up toward heaven as he beat his breast and cried out, “God have mercy on me, a sinner (v.13).”

What Jesus said next caught everyone off guard. He said that the tax collector is the one made right before God, not the Pharisee. He concludes this parable by saying, “I tell you this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (v. 14).”

We find this warning in James 4:13-16 – “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

And Solomon, in pushing back against boasting, said this – “Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2).

Celebrate your accomplishments in a way that brings honor and glory to God and not in a way that says “look at me.” And as the former longtime University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal used to say, “When you get to the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.”

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You have probably asked someone this question or maybe it has been asked of you: “Are you listening?” Many of us are good “hearers” but we are not really that good at “listening.” The dictionary defines hearing as being aware of sounds coming to the ear,implying that those sounds are not being paid attention to whereas listening is paying attention to the sounds coming to the ear by making a conscious effort to hear.

The holidays are right around the corner and families will be gathering, many for the first time in two years. Think about sitting around the dinner table with your extended family at Thanksgiving and having four conversations taking place simultaneously along with and a football game blaring from the TV. Hearing can be done without thinking, thus, it is an inactive word, whereas listening is active, you must think about what you are doing.

Our Father wants us to walk with Him. But in order to walk with Him we must first be able to not only hear His voice, but also then listen to it as well. While it is true that God very rarely “talks” to us as someone else talks to us, in an audible voice, God does speak to us. God speaks to us today in several ways; some of which are through His Word, through His Son Jesus, through nature, through other people, through music, through life circumstances and daily activities, through the Holy Spirit, and through prayer.

In order to know God’s will, we need to learn to listen to His voice. In order to digest what it is God is trying to say to us, we need to actively listen. And in order to walk with God and live out His plan for your life, you need to be a purposeful listener. In other words, listening and doing go hand in hand.

So, you might be asking, “How do I walk with God?” It starts with putting your trust in Jesus, and from there begin pursuing a continual relationship with Him and seeking to live in His presence every day, obeying God and walking in His truth, allowing the Holy Spirit to direct your path, and repenting when you sin. Maybe now you are wondering, “How then do I listen to God?” You can begin by praying, “listening” for His voice, reading the Bible, allowing it to “speak” to you, asking God to speak to you (read 1 Samuel 3:1-14, pay particular attention to v.10), being watchful of life’s circumstances, God just might be speaking to you through those circumstances, and being expectant of Him talking to you.

Now “listen” to what God’s Word says about listening to and walking with God. In James 1:22-25 we read this – Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks in the mirror, and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard – they will be blessed in what they do. 

So, I ask – Are you walking with Jesus? Are you listening? How are you responding?

If you are encouraged by this or any of my writings, you can subscribe to be notified by email when I post something new. To subscribe, click here. Once you put in your email address you will then get an email confirming that you wish to subscribe. Thank you.