If you are like me, when you plan out your day, what you will do and where you will go, you also plan out what clothes you will wear. You get fully and appropriately dressed for what you are doing and where you are going. My work attire is business casual, typically khakis, colorful socks, untucked shirt, comfortable shoes. Weekends find me in shorts and a t-shirt, most often barefooted, and with a ballcap on my head. Last week we were on vacation and my attire was a swimsuit and flip flops. I would have looked odd wearing my workday business casual clothes on the beach. When my wife and I go out for a special occasion, I sometimes wear a suit and tie. No matter what I am doing, I try to always be fully and appropriately dressed.

Not only should we wear appropriate clothing, oftentimes that clothing also helps to protect us. Winter coats and gloves protect us from the winter elements. Athletes wear protective gear to keep them from being injured. Flip flops on the beach help my feet not get burned when the sand is hot. And wearing clothes, versus not wearing clothes, keeps me “protected” from being arrested for public indecency.

If you are a Jesus-follower, you know that we are in a daily battle against Satan, who wants nothing more than to drive a wedge between us and God. He wants to keep you and me from being victorious in overcoming sin. And when we go into battle, we need to wear gear that keeps us well protected.

The apostle Paul gives us a list of “clothing to wear” that will help us be victorious, to be protected, regardless of Satan’s strategy. Here is what we read in Ephesians 6:10-13 – “Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.”   

In v.11 we see Paul instructing us to ”put on” (to clothe or be clothed with) a complete outfit, full armor. This armor is provided by God and is modeled after what he himself wears (Isaiah 11:5, 59:17). In v.13, the verb is slightly different than in v.11. Here we see “put on” being the idea of taking up or raising, for the purpose of standing firm even against the fiercest attacks.  

Paul then lists the various pieces of armor in vv.14-18. Click here to read those verses. I then encourage you to grab whatever scripture study materials you have available to you to see what each piece of armor represents.

So, each morning as you get appropriately dressed for the day, also ask God to clothe you in His full armor. Today, and every day, get fully dressed for battle!

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If you are like many Americans, after a long day at work or school you drag yourself home, change your clothes, and head somewhere to work out. You might focus on cardio or weight training. Maybe you use dumbbells and kettlebells or work on building core strength through yoga, Pilates, and kick boxing. And no, walking back and forth from the couch to the refrigerator or snack drawer is not considered working out.

Why do we even exercise anyway? Why do we spend time and money sweating our butts off? Because we desire to stay physically fit and either gain flexibility and strength or keep what we already have. In the Jimmy Buffett song Fruitcakes there is a lyric that goes like this – “I treat my body like a temple, you treat yours like a tent.” It is a good thing to stay in shape and take care of our physical bodies; it is the only one you will ever have.

But today I want to talk about another kind of strength; the strength that we get from our relationship with God. The strength that helps you persevere through difficult times, the strength needed to make hard decisions, the strength to keep going through life, the strength to sustain you when your heart grows weary, the strength just to sit still in times when sitting still is needed.

The Bible is full of references to this strength that does not come from physical exercise at the gym. Exodus 15:2 says, “The Lord is my strength and my defense.”

In Habakkuk 3:19 we read, “Sovereign LORD is my strength, he enables my feet to run like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”

Ephesians 3:16 tells us that God’s strength runs deep in us – “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”

The Psalms are full of strength references. Here is just one – “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

And these familiar and comforting words found in Isaiah – “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (40:29-31).

Just as you do not get physically fit by thinking about getter stronger, you also don’t gain God’s strength by just wishing for it either.

So, if you want God’s strength, then surrender to Him, ask Him for strength, spend time in His presence, and you will find that He gives you the strength needed for every situation. I will end with these words, from Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

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Rodney Dangerfield regularly said, “I don’t get no respect” in his comedy routines. Respect is something we all desire. Think of that person in your life whom you deeply respect; that someone you look up to. It could be someone you know – family member, friend, teacher, coach, pastor, or co-worker. Or maybe that person is someone afar – world leader, business leader, celebrity, or athlete. You likely respect them because of what they have accomplished or how they conduct their life. This person is not someone simply respected because of who they are, but rather, they have earned your respect. Who are those people in your life?

It is also true that respect is fleeting. Sometimes the people we respect end up “unearning” our respect, for any number of reasons, some deserved, other not so deserved. Can you think of someone like that in your own life? Maybe you were that person to someone else. We are a culture that enjoys putting people upon pedestals and sadly we also get satisfaction from watching them fall off that pedestal and shatter into pieces.

While we mostly honor people for the things they say and do, we are called to honor God simply because He is God. In teaching us how the pray, Jesus starts off his prayer like this – “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9). The word hallowed is not one we typically use in everyday language, yet most modern version of the Bible retain it. It comes from the Greek word hagiazó, and is the passive voice of the verb, meaning “to treat as holy.”

Notice that Jesus does not begin by saying something along the lines of “Our Father in heaven, because you do good things, because You are faithful, because You are trustworthy, may You be honored.” Instead, Jesus acknowledges that the Name of God is hallowed, simply because of who God is. Jesus is saying, “Let your Name be holy.” What name? God’s Divine Name, his Personal Name, the name he revealed to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3. That name is YHWH, Yahweh, or the Latinized name, Jehovah (JeHoWaH).

God’s Name is holy because God is holy, not by what He does, but instead, because of who He is. In saying “hallowed by Your name,” Jesus is not referencing God’s reputation. He is instead calling us to recognize God and His Name to be holy, and someone who we can personally address as such, without fear of it being fleeting or temporary reverence.

So, while those people we respect occasionally lose our respect and shatter into pieces, you can forever be assured that God is worthy to be praised, simply because His name is hallowed. There is none like Him. Psalm 33:8 says this, “Let all the earth fear (convey a sense of wonder and delight, not wanting to disappoint) the LORD, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!”

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There are any number of roads we can take through life. We can follow in someone’s footsteps, going where they have gone. Maybe instead, watch where others have walked, learn from them where the landmines are, and take a slightly different path. There are times when we just wander, taking path after path, looking for the right road to take. I have a t-shirt that reads, “All who are wander are not lost.”

Or, maybe, we see the masses going on the wrong path, so we go against the flow and take a completely different, sometimes lonely, path. Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, begins with the words, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both,” and ends with this, “I shall be telling this with a sigh, Somewhere ages hence and hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

Every day we stand at one crossroad or another. Sometimes the choice is nothing more than a fork in the road, and the decision is simply choosing between going left or going right. While other times, it might be a freeway junction, one with many connecting roadways, and the decision is not quite so simple.

There is another option when choosing which path to take – “Thus says the LORD: ‘Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it and find rest for your souls'” (Jeremiah 6:16a).

The context is the Israelites were being judged for their straying from the ways of the patriarchs into the ways of idolatry; i.e., they “lost their way.” They stood at a crossroads; the moment called for a clear decision. The “ancient paths” literally means “the good way.” Sadly, the end of that verse says this- “But they said, ‘We will not walk in it'” (6:16b).

Read the rest of that passage (vv.17-21). The nation rejected the ancient paths, even as prophets were sent as watchmen to warn them of impending danger.

Now that you know the context, and remembering that no biblical text can mean more to us than it meant to the original readers, how can we apply the words of 6:16 to us today – in this time of so much unrest and uncertainty, in this time when rest for our souls seems like wishful thinking, in this time when for most of us, daily rhythms are anything but rhythmic, in this time when there are potentially so many roads we can take as the world around us spins faster and faster.

Here is my stab at an answer – Every day we stand at one crossroad or another. Will we take the way of obedience or the path of selfishness (disobedience)? In His grace and through His mercy, God warns us of pending doom, pending struggle, pending frustration, by taking the wrong path. This appeal to seek the ancient paths points us to the path commanded by God, known ever since He revealed himself and his ways in the covenant at Sinai (Exodus 19-24). The ancient path is the path of obedience., the path leading to life. In Deuteronomy 30:15-16, the Lord, through Moses, set a choice before his people, prosperity or disaster. That same appeal is given to us today.

Through this meditation, I hear God saying to me, I have a choice. I can choose the ancient paths, and in doing so, not only do I find life, but also peace and rest for my soul (Matthew 11:28-29). Or, I can choose any other path.

What might Jeremiah 6:16 be saying to you?

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Do you have life under control? You have a well laid out financial plan, one that will allow you to live comfortably in old age; your marriage is rock solid; your job is stable, you find it rewarding; your kids, no matter what age they are, bring you great joy; your recent blood work showed no abnormal makers. Life is good Nothing major has sidetracked you or your family in a very long time. You look through the binoculars and it is nothing but calm seas, all thanks to you having life under control. But wait a minute! 

The Book of Proverbs is a roadmap to navigating life with wisdom, not just any kind of off the shelf wisdom, but rather through God’s wisdom. It regularly contrasts the wise and the foolish. Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, who according to Scripture is the wisest man to ever live (1 Kings 3:11-14), says this in Proverbs 12:15 – “A fool’s way is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise.” Elsewhere, staying in Proverbs, we are told that that the promise of God’s wisdom comes to those who seek it, but first it requires giving up the world’s mockery of real and lasting truth (vv.1:22-23).

God’s wisdom comes to us through the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 we find this – “However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’ – the things God has prepared for those who love him – these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

I started by asking a question. Let me end by asking that same question with a slightly different twist – Do you have life under your control or is it under God’s control. Life lived under your control leads to a never-ending back and forth between “in control” and “out of control” whereas under God’s control, while life might still be rocky, and bad stuff still happens, gives you wisdom more precious than gold and silver (Proverbs 3:13-15, 16:16) and helps to weave a peaceful path through life (Proverbs 3:17).

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Today is the official start of the 2022 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season. NOAA puts the probability that this will be an above normal season at 65%. They are predicting 14-21 named storms, meaning a storm with at least winds speeds of 39 mph. Of those storms, six to ten will become an actual hurricane (winds speeds in excess of 74 mph). And of the hurricanes, about half of them will be considered major; Category 3, 4, or 5, wind speeds above 111 mph. The first five tropical storm names will be Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl.

As weather conditions change, sometimes hour by hour, tropical storms experience ever-changing and fluctuating wind speeds, direction, and intensity. Without much notice, a Cat 1 storm can quickly turn into a major Cat 3 storm. Or vice versa. Due to the hurricane’s many eyewall replacement cycles, directional changes constantly occur, making it challenging to predict the storm’s actual landfall location. Life is often that way; we can see ourselves bouncing all over the place, with our emotions often hard to predict.

You wake up in the morning with anticipation looking forward to a new customer signing a big contract with your company, only to quickly become annoyed as you jump in the shower and find that someone has used all your body wash. After breakfast and morning devotions, you head off the work in the car, but quickly experience frustration; your insulated mug lid was not put on tight and now coffee is all over your shirt. Once you get to work, your earlier anticipation turns to sadness when you open our e-mail and find that the customer you had planned to meet with signed instead with one of your competitors. After work as you and your spouse meet old friends for dinner, you feel happy, but also find yourself distracted, thinking about that how to convince that customer to change their mind and sign with your company.   

In just the course of a few short hours you experienced a roller coaster of emotions and feelings. Throw in the state of being hungry, thirsty, tired, hot or cold, etc., and you had a full day bouncing all over the place.

While we, like the tropical storms, often change from minute to the next, God never changes. God, in His three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You’ve probably heard the saying that the only constant is change. While that is true of us and all the things around us, the opposite is true of God – He is consistent; always good, always loving, always faithful, always all-powerful. In Malachi 3:6, the Lord says this of himself, “I the LORD do not change.” Elsewhere, we find this, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). And the writer of Hebrews says this about Jesus, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8).

So, no matter how uncertain your life is, or how changing the world seems to be, you can always trust in God’s never-changing and never-ending love and faithfulness.

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