August 2011 Devotionals

August 29, 2011

 

Could You Hear God Speak?

 A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford

 

            Could you have heard God speaking in the screaming winds and floods of hurricane Irene? 

            I asked a disaster response coordinator for the Red Cross, a friend of mine, if the people she worked with after a disaster seemed to turn their hearts toward God through the tragedy.

            Usually, she said, they complained about the long lines to get ice and water, and often they didn't even say "thank you" for what was given them.   Sometimes they blamed their situation on the government, as if a human agency could stop a hurricane.  "But yes," she added, "once I saw, on a boarded-up house the spray-painted words, ‘God, I'm listening!'"

            The owner of that home, I think, did hear the God (who loves this world so much) speak to him.  God always reveals Himself to the heart who is listening.

            God probably didn't explain to that homeowner all the whys and wherefores of the tragedy-he'll have to wait for Heaven for that-but he would have learned enough to trust the God who is in control even in the hurricanes, earthquakes, drought, forest fires, and floods that plague this world, and He is speaking to us through them.

            Here's how the Psalmist responded when he realized this:

 

            Let all that I am praise the Lord!  O LORD my God, how great you are! You are robed with honor and with majesty;  you are dressed in a robe of light.

            You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens; you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.

            You make the clouds your chariots; you ride upon the wings of the wind.

            The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants.

                                                                                    Psalm 104:1-4

 

So the hurricane winds of Irene were God's messengers.  May He help us to earnestly listen for His voice!

August 22, 2011

 

God Cares Passionately about His Relationship with You

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford

 

A young woman was going through her father's effects after his sudden death.  She was trying to take care of his obligations, to honor his name by taking care of everything he wanted done.

 

Among the accumulation of papers and bills, she found a letter postmarked some three weeks before her father's death.  Inside the envelope was a letter from his childhood friend.  They'd not had a lot of contact in later years.  But in this letter, his childhood friend expressed in tender terms his love and admiration, and gratefulness for their friendship through the years.  They were words intended to seal a wonderful, lifetime relationship.

 

But the letter was never opened.  His daughter thought perhaps he'd saved it to read later, when he wasn't so busy.  But that time never came.  The unexpected heart attack took his life, and he died without the knowledge of his friend's deep love and commitment.

 

In the ten commandments, God tells us He is a jealous God.  But God's jealousy is not the egotistical emotion of a self-centered lover.  It could be translated, "God is passionate about His relationship with you."  You are deeply, individually loved, and He treasures your love for Him.

 

But how can we know about His love, His care, His deep commitment to do us good if we never even open His love letter?  It's all there in the Bible, His love letter to us that tells us how much He loves us.  But sometimes we're so busy, so absorbed in the temporary things of life we forget the eternal things.  We forget to read His love letter.  And oh, what a loss that is!

 

August 15, 2011

 

Whose Fault?

A Word of Discomfort from Elizabeth Rice Handford

            A woman once came to  for counsel.  She was sick, depressed, unable to live on her income.  She was a Christian, but nothing in her life was going well.  I listened compassionately, trying not to offer "pat" answers until I'd heard her story, asking God to give me the wisdom to help her.

            But as her story unfolded, I grew less sure I could help.

            She had been married and divorced three times, and every single one of her husbands had abused her.  They had all called her bad names: lazy, self-centered, a know-it-all.

            When she was a child, she said, she had loved the outdoors, and so she hadn't learned to do housework.  Her house was filthy, and her only child, a daughter, hated her because the home was so dirty.  But it wouldn't do any good to clean the place up, because it would just get dirty again.  Besides, some day the whole house was going to fall down because of the termites.  But why didn't her daughter love her?

            She couldn't go grocery shopping because she couldn't put the food away because she hadn't cleaned out the refrigerator.  She couldn't cook a meal because the stove top was too cluttered, and there were no clean dishes to eat off of.  She knew she was terribly overweight, but it wasn't really her fault because she didn't know how to cook.

            She had been to a number of doctors, but none of them agreed with her own diagnosis of her illness.  Worse, she said, God had promised her in the Bible that He would always heal, and He hadn't kept His promise to heal her.

            Sometimes, she said, she got really angry with God because He'd done all this to her.

            I asked, "Do you have a church home?  Have you sought counsel from a good Christian friend?"

            Yes, but she wasn't going back to that church anymore.  They were too judgmental.  They kept telling her how to clean her house and manage her money.  God had told her she should minister to single mothers, but no one would listen to her.  The church had given her money on several occasions, but now when she really needed more money, they said they couldn't help.

            I listened, but I wondered if anything I said would make any difference to her.  She was so sure she was the abused, the helpless and innocent victim.  Nothing I suggested would work, she said, because nothing was her fault.

            I promise I won't give up on her. The woman desperately needs a friend, and I am committed to helping her.

            But a Scripture came to mind as I listened to her sad story.  "People ruin their lives by their own foolishness," says Proverbs 19:3, "and then they are angry with God."

            Oh, Lord, please help me to see when I've made a foolish decision, and not blame its consequences on You.  And help me patiently endure the consequences of my foolishness while I lean on Your forgiveness and mercy.

August 8, 2011

 

Show Mercy, Yes, But with Cheerfulness?

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford

            You've often found yourself in the same kind of situation.  Someone needs help, and it's up to you to help them-but do you have to do it cheerfully, or can you grumble about it just a little bit so they'll know how inconvenient it is?

            A couple of weeks ago a granddaughter in college called to ask Grandpa Handford's advice.  She'd have phoned her father, who keeps her car running well, but her father and mother were in California with her other grandmother, who was desperately ill.

            "Grandpa, my car keeps running hot, and I have to keep putting water in the radiator every few miles.  Will I ruin the car if I keep driving it hot?"

            She really was just asking for advice, but her loving Grandfather could hear the panic in her voice.  "No, honey.  Can you get over to our house? You can use my van until your daddy gets home."

            It really wasn't such a big sacrifice.  The two of us could juggle our schedules for a couple of days so we could get by with one automobile.

            But the couple of days turned into two weeks.  There was a complication in getting the car running again.  "Grandpa, Daddy hasn't finished fixing my car.  Do you need the van?"

            Well, yes, he needed it.  But the child had to have transportation.  So it was a "given" that she could use his automobile.  The only thing is, didn't she need to know how much of an inconvenience it was?

            But Grandpa could hear a Bible verse in his mind that says,

        "He who shows mercy, do it with cheerfulness."

                                                                                                Romans 12:8

            He certainly was going to have mercy on the child.  And yes, he certainly needed to do it with cheerfulness.

            "Do you need the van yet?" she asked cautiously.

            "No, Christina," Grandpa said cheerfully, "We'll manage just fine."  And we did.

            What a joy it was to us, not to add to the burden of someone in need by weighing them down further with embarrassment and obligation!

           

August 1, 2011

 

Too Many Kids in This Family?

A Word of Encouragement from the Handfords

 

            When our son Paul was in fourth grade at Augusta Circle, he had a friend we'll call Bobby.  Bobby lived in a large and beautiful home.  Every time we happened to drive past his house, Paul always said, "That's Bobby's house.  It has an elevator."  (Forty years later, to this day, if we happen to drive by that house, Walt and I say to each other, "That's Bobby's house.  It has an elevator.")

            One evening at the supper table, Paul announced in all seriousness, "Bobby says if we didn't have so many kids in this family, I could have a new bike like his!"

            Walt responded, with apparent seriousness, "O.K., let's see: who shall we get rid of in this family?"  He looked at John, our firstborn, our steadfast, hard-working 8^th grader.  "Nope, we need John."

            Debbie, our sweet and helpful child who was always the first to notice when someone needs help?  "No," said Daddy, "we need Debbie."

            Ruth?  Our enthusiastic, ready-for-any-adventure child?  "Oh, no," said Daddy, "we need Ruth."

            He skipped over Paul, who was so sure he would be the one left with the new bicycle. 

            Margi?  Our creative and tender second-grader?  Before Daddy could say a word, Margi burst into tears.  "But I like a big family," she sobbed.

            Daddy jumped up from his chair and enveloped her in his arms.  "I like a big family, too, Margi.  We'll just have to help Paul find another way to get a new bike."

            Bill and Judy, the twins, too young to have known their home had been in jeopardy-NOT!-just kept eating contentedly.

            It's wonderful to remember that God Himself also loves kids, and wants lots of them in His house!  The night before Jesus was to die on the cross, (the Gospel of John chapter 14 tells us) He said to His disciples (and to us!) "In my Father's house are many mansions, and I'm going there to prepare them for you."  One translator says, "There's room for everybody in my Father's house."

            And that certainly is true.  Jesus told a parable about a man who invited everybody to his home for a great feast.  Too many people gave feeble excuses about why they couldn't come.  Finally the Lord said, "Go find anybody, even if they're poor, or crippled, or blind, and bring them to my house."

            The servant said, "We've done that, Lord, and still there is room."

            So the Lord said, "Go way out in the country, the slums, everywhere, and compel them to come in, so my house will be filled."  (That story is told in Luke 14:21-23).

            There was room for every single Handford child in their father's home.

            And there is room for every single person who wants to live in the Heavenly Father's house, too.  Jesus died on the cross to make it so we could live with Him, and He has gone there ahead of us to get it ready for us.  Oh, welcome home, dear child of God!