We all, or at least most of us, got up this morning with some sort of idea as to what the best use of our time today will be. No matter what our season of life, we all have a plan for today. We know what we hope to get done today. Even on weekends or on vacation, we have a plan for the day. That plan might be stay in bed until noon while the snow piles up outside your window or sit under an umbrella all day on the beach with a good book, but nonetheless, it is a plan. So, let me ask – what is the best use of your time today?

I believe that the best use of your time today is seeking God’s presence. In his song of thanks found in 1 Chronicles, King David, among other things, says this – “Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!” (16:11). Jesus, in teaching on uncompromised trust in God and commitment to God and the things of God, gives his disciples (and us today) this important reminder – “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33). Jesus is saying that within such a framework of trust and commitment, to seek God first, all the necessary things of life will be provided to us. I encourage you to read the entire passage (6:25-34).   

Elsewhere, we find this – “The lions may grow weak, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.” (Psalm 34:10). To keep that verse in its context, here are verses 8 and 9 – “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who seek the LORD lack nothing.” (Fear in this context is awe and reverence, not trembling in your boots).

Will you seek Him today, above all else? Above staying in bed on a snowy winter day or sitting quietly on the beach on a sunny summer day, above the presentation you have to give at work, above the assignment due at school, above the chemo treatments, above the romantic dinner you have planned for tonight, above those fifty yard line tickets you scored for this weekend’s NFL playoff game, above that job interview you’ve been looking forward to, above your spouse or kids. Above that which is good and above that which is not so good, above it all! And by above, I do not mean instead of, but rather, seek Him first and foremost, in the midst of all you will do and say today.

God cares for your every need, no matter how big or small, and in Him you lack nothing, nothing at all! Will you embrace that today?

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Have you ever felt lost, even while in a large crowd, almost like you were invisible? There are people all around you, but still you feel lonely. Have you ever felt alone and isolated, seemingly forgotten, as if “out of sight and out of mind” was really true? Is it as if you are walking alongside the road all by yourself? You feel abandoned by the family and friends, by the world, and by maybe even abandoned by El Shaddai, Almighty God himself. Today I want to share the story of a woman from the Old Testament who felt that way, at least until she had an encounter with God.

The woman is Hagar. You probably know the story. In Genesis Chapter 15 God promised Abram that He would bless him and make him into a great nation. In fact, God promised Abram that his descendants would outnumber the stars. Ten years passed and Abram and his wife Sarai were quickly aging and still childless. So, like most of us would do, they began to have doubts and decided to take matters into their own hands. It was a custom during those times that is a man’s wife was barren, another woman could have a child in the wife’s place. 

In Chapter 16 the story continues; Sarai tells Abram to sleep with Hagar, their Egyptian maidservant, and perhaps it would be through Hagar that God would fulfill his promise of making a great nation. Abram, probably after wiping a big grin off his face, slept with Hagar. She became pregnant and as you might imagine, this eventually caused great tension and made for a complicated relationship between the three of them. Sarai began to mistreat Hagar, so the maidservant packed her bags and fled, returning through the desert to her homeland.

(It is not until Genesis Chapter 17 that God changes their names to Abraham and Sarah.)

In the ancient Middle East, women got their value through their husband. Women were not held in high esteem at all, but a married woman held more value in society than a single woman, and an unmarried pregnant maidservant would likely have value only slightly greater than the dung from donkeys that likely squished under Hagar’s feet as she walked through the desert on her way back to Shur, which was located in the Arabian Peninsula, just east of Egypt. As a side note, in the book of Exodus, we are told that the Israelites traveled through the wilderness of Shur on their way from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai (15:22).  

In Genesis 16:7, as Hagar sits near a spring in the desert, likely feeling very scared and very alone, an angel of the Lord shows up and has a conversation with her. It is in those moments that Hagar comes to the wonderful realization that she is not invisible or forgotten. Here is what we read – “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’” (16:13).  

Hagar calls God “El Roi,” translated “the God who sees.” And then in v.14 we read, “Therefore the well (the spring at which Hagar sat) was called Beer-lahai-roi,” which literally means “the well of the Living One who see me.”

So, today, whether you feel lost in a crowd of eighty thousand people, all alone in the desert, or by yourself on the road, please hear this… God loves you, and not only that, He knows you, He cares for you, and He has plans for you. And just like Hagar, regardless of your current situation or circumstances, right here, right now, El Roi says to you, “I see you!”

Imagine the joy in knowing that God sees you! You are never out of His sight, even in your most lonely of moments, even in your darkest troubles! Do you believe that today?

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Even though it is still January, as I sit here quietly looking out at the deserted and brown ninth hole fairway, it won’t be too long before warmer weather arrives, when once again the course will be green and golf balls will be finding their way into the pond that separates the golf course from our backyard. Not only will warmer weather bring green grass and golfers, warmer weather also brings thoughts of spring cleanup, including tending to the outdoor plants.  

While many people prune the many plants around their homes in the fall, generally, fall is a bad time to prune. Pruning stimulates new growth in plants and in the fall most plants are trying to go dormant, so you see the problem. According to most experts it is usually best to prune trees, shrubs and garden plants when they are in their dormant period, preceding the time of active growth so the pruning wound heals quicker. The best time to prune is generally late winter or early spring. The major exception to this rule is plants that flower in the spring from buds made the previous growing season (deciduous); winter or spring pruning would destroy the current year’s bloom, so these plants (forsythia, azaleas, lilacs, just to name a few) are typically best pruned shortly after the blossom period.

Sometimes pruning requires just minor trimming away of dead branches or stems, other times it requires cutting almost all the growth away. Wine grapes, for example, are pruned in their dormant period (between leaf drop in the fall and bud break in the spring) and involves heavy pruning, sometimes cutting away up to 90% of the old wood, helping to promote growth of new wood where the fruit is located. To the casual observer, it would look as if the grape grower is destroying the grapevine by cutting everything away, but in fact, just the opposite is true, heavy pruning provides for a greater abundance of fruit.

Pruning is done to remove the parts of the plant that are no longer useful for growth. We prune our plants for two reasons – it provides a functional purpose of improving the health and growth of the plant, and it also provides an aesthetic function of making the plant more attractive.

In John 15, Jesus teaches an important lesson about the relationship of his followers with him, using vine analogy. When I read John 15:1-8, I find three key points. First, the right kind of vine must be planted in order to ensure quality fruit. Jesus calls himself the “true vine,” thus it is of vital importance for us to be connected with him, or else the quality of our fruit will be less than it could be. Second, Jesus calls his Father (God) the gardener. Success in “vine growing” depends largely upon the skill of the gardener. And third, Jesus puts an emphasis on pruning, both the removal of dead wood and the trimming of live wood. Dead wood brings disease and decay while healthy live wood improves fruit bearing potential. Click here to read those eight verses.  

If plants could talk, I am sure they would tell us that pruning is painful. In fact, horticulturists and arborists talk of pruning wounds that need to be healed. When our Master Gardener prunes us, it is often painful as well, but also necessary for our health, growth, and beauty. Jesus wants to cut away those things in our lives that are causing rot and decay and are getting in the way of making us more like Him.

So, I ask, are you connected to the True Vine, and are you allowing the Master Gardener to prune away of those things that are not useful (and often destructive) in your life?

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Several days ago, as we were out walking, I saw an empty bird’s nest near our walking path that had fallen out of a tree, likely knocked down by the winds and winter weather. Not too many months ago, when the weather was still warm, that nest was a bustling haven, a comfortable and safe home for a mother bird and her little ones. That got me thinking. Just how does the mother bird get the little birds to ever want to leave the nest? Why leave if mom feeds you and keeps you safe, right?

The baby bird knows it needs food to survive. As the hatchling begins to mature the mother will stand farther and farther away from the nest, thus forcing the baby bird to come out of the nest in order to get its food. In the first few attempts the baby bird will likely fall down to the ground, but this repetitive process slowly becomes habit to the bird and it will soon learn that it can stop its fall by flapping its wings. If the baby bird becomes too dependent upon its mother, the mother will eventually push the baby out of the nest, forcing it to learn to fly on its own. But the mother bird is also there to catch the baby bird so it does not bounce off the ground, injuring itself.

It is in the nest that the baby birds are well protected and nurtured by their mother. It is also in the nest that the mother bird teaches the baby birds how to survive. I believe it is this nest image that helps us understand how God both protects us, teaches us how to (and when to) step out in faith, and not simply make the nest our permanent place of residence.

We read these words in Deuteronomy 32:10-11 – “In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carry them aloft.”

Elsewhere in Scripture, we see similar words – “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” Psalm 91:4. (A rampart is a protective wall around something, to protect and fortify; think of a castle.)

So, today and tomorrow, and every day after that, you can trust God to give you safety and rest under His feathers, to teach you how to fly, and when you feel like you are falling to the ground, to catch you in His wings.  

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If you have ever been involved in athletics, you have heard or said the statement, “No pain, no gain.” The premise is that hard and painful preparation is rewarded by improved performance on game day. In other words, the price paid for excellence is pain; the pain of pushing yourself to, and sometimes past, your limits. Many athletes do not reach their full potential because they are not willing to put in the long and hard hours required to achieve greater and greater results.

It is human nature to try to avoid pain. But pain is part of life. It could be the physical pain of sore muscles after an extremely hard workout or the emotional pain caused by a relationship gone sour. Maybe you just found out that your company is closing its doors at the end of the month. It might be the pain you feel each week as you write out checks to pay your bills, knowing there is barely enough money to cover them. Or, as it was for me four years ago, you hear those dreaded words, “you have cancer.” Whatever it is, pain and hardship are a part of life.

If you are a follower of Christ, when you committed your life to Him, you probably had this idea that life would suddenly become smooth sailing. But if you’ve been a Christ follower for more than ten minutes you know that is not the case. Jesus makes it clear that we will face troubles. Following the Last Supper Jesus begins what is called the Farewell Discourse, found in John chapters 14-17, in which He gives final instructions to the eleven remaining disciples. In John 16:33 Jesus says this – “I have told 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.”

So as followers of Jesus we can expect difficulties. There are many causes of the trial we face – the fallen nature of the world, satanic warfare, wrongs done to us, wrongs we have done to others. We sometimes cause our own headaches through sin, carelessness, poor decisions, etc. Other times, it is a result of nothing more than dumb luck or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Regardless of the cause of the trial, we can always be assured that God has allowed the trial and will work in it and through it.

The Bible tells us to rejoice in our hardships. “Say what?” In the first chapter of 1 Peter, we are given the reason we can rejoice in the midst of pain and suffering. We are not called to rejoice because of the hardship, but rather, we are to rejoice because of what the hardship is doing in us. We read these words in 1 Peter 1:6-7, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (in context, vv.3-9). 

These two verses tell us that not only is our suffering only temporary, it is also necessary, because through our trials we are able to sift out what is genuine in our faith. When gold is refined, impurities are removed by a fiery process.

So how are we to respond to hardship? – Trust God, persevere, and know that God allowing your suffering for a reason and will demonstrate His sustaining power through it.

I like to put it this way … a faith not tested is a faith not trusted.

(I now encourage you to read 1 Peter 4:12-19 and James 1:2-8.)

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Life in this country looks quite different back at the time of my birth (1958) and my early childhood than it does today. Cultural and societal norms have changed. I did not come home from the hospital in a car safety seat. Instead, I likely came home in my mother’s lap, as she smoked a cigarette. Child safety seats became available in the 1960s, but few parents used them, and it wasn’t until 1985 that federal child passenger safety laws were enacted, requiring children to be restrained in a safety seat. The safety seat we brought our oldest daughter home in back in 1987 looked and operated very differently than the child restraint systems in place today. You need an advanced engineering degree just to install them in your car.

Seatbelts did not become required in all designated seating areas of vehicles until 1968. In was commonplace to have passengers sit unrestrained anywhere in the vehicle. In fact, on long trips, my brothers and I used to alternate laying on the floor of our car’s back seat, using the middle hump as a pillow. This floor space also helped us avoid much of the smoke cloud that filled our car, as our parents puffed away. Today, New Hampshire is the only state without seat belt laws.

As a youngster, I remember my father and other neighborhood men taking their wives to the local Playboy Club, because it had the “best steak in town.” Right Dad, and I suppose you subscribed to Hugh Hefner’s magazine for its literary excellence. I cannot imagine getting all dressed up and taking my wife to an establishment where the hostess and servers all wear skimpy outfits or white bunny tails.

In the sexually charged 60s, if a woman decided to go braless, she was making a political and cultural statement, and was considered “liberated.” Today, going braless is often more for health or personal reasons than the freedom from patriarchal norms imposed upon women throughout history.

Clothing styles and trends come and go. Some thankfully so. Men, any of you still have a leisure suit and matching silk shirt in your closet? Not that long ago, men wore suits and ties, and women wore dresses and pearls, when going out of the house or being seen in public. For those of you old enough to remember the television show Leave It to Beaver, June Cleaver wore pearls to cook and clean the house. 

Cultural and societal norms change all the time – century to century, generation to generation, decade to decade, year to year, sometimes even week by week. What was viewed as acceptable yesterday might no longer be acceptable today. As the world around us constantly changes, we have a good, good God who never changes. James 1:17 tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from our Father of lights, with whom there is no variation of shadow due to change.” The writer of Hebrews says this, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8). God makes this promise in the opening words of Malachi 3:6, “For I the LORD do not change.”

Not only does God never change, but what He expects of those who call themselves Jesus-followers never changes either. Here is what we find in Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

So, in a world of never-ending and constant cultural and societal change, imagine the impact we could and would have if we simply remained unchanged in our desire to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our good, good Father. Now that is something to never go out of style.

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