October 2008 Devotionals
October 27, 2008
If You Understand the Why . . .
A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford
At the National Joyful Woman Jubilee in Chattanooga this month—I wish you could have been there—Kay Sandberg taught us an awesome lesson about memorizing Scripture. (Kay is my sister Jessie’s daughter-in-law and a chemistry professor.) She quoted Friedrich Nietzsche:
“If you understand the Why,
The How is endurable.”
You wouldn’t agree with Nietzsche about a lot of things, but he’s right about this. So many obligations of a woman’s day are fairly humdrum (I guess a man could say the same!) Some of our tasks are so routine–get the kids up, put on the coffee, drive the kids to school and perhaps day care, pick up where you left off at the office the day before, buy the groceries, do the laundry, pick up toys, make cookies for AWANA—and they have to be done day after day, week after week, (sigh!) and year after year! If we look only at the how, we might get very discouraged. But when we remember that our task is really one that will last even into eternity, then we certainly can endure the “How.” Our contacts with people: husband, children, co-workers, the clerk in the grocery store, the teller at the bank, the difficult next-door neighbor, the discouraged woman who sits in the pew with us at church—if we always keep in mind we are God’s sweet messenger to them, then all our hard work is endurable. As we keep in mind our noble purpose, our “Why,” we will find the energy and enthusiasm to mirror Jesus to them.
Second Corinthians 3:17,18 says: Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
In other words, we are reflecting Jesus in everything we do–everything! May we reflect His holiness, His kindness, His love, accurately and winsomely.
That’s why the next verse, 2 Corinthians 4:1 says, “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” Since Jesus has given us this task of living, reflecting Him, we keep remembering the “Why” of our lives, and the “How” becomes endurable!
For more devotionals, scroll down
October 20, 2008
Some things you do just because it’s right, not because it “works.”
A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford
A woman once said to me, “I tried that Christian stuff, and it didn’t work, so I gave up.” It was almost like saying, “I took that first dose of antibiotic and I’m still sick. It’s not working, so I’m quitting taking it!”
It turned out that woman had no idea about the grace of God, who rescues us, not because we deserve it or can live it, but just because He loves us.
But let’s talk about the fact that sometimes, when we do what we ought, we see no evidence that it’s “working.” The children we nurture, the friends we try to help, the financial situation we struggle with—often there’s no visible evidence that when we earnestly tried to do right, that it really helped. If it isn’t “working,” why should we keep on trying?
Why? Because it’s right. Because God is doing some wonderful things in invisible places, in hearts, where you can’t see.
In a couple of weeks, we will be given the opportunity to vote for America’s leadership for the next four years. It’s a privilege most people around the world don’t have, and it was bought for us by the tears and sacrifices of those who came before us. It may be that, because of current polls, you think it won’t make any difference whether you vote or not.
But voting is our right. It is our duty. We ought to vote simply because we owe it to God, regardless of how it turns out.
And meanwhile, let’s pray that God in His mercy will turn the hearts of Americans toward Him.
October 6, 2008
As a Last Resort, Trust God?
A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford
Last week Walt and I were with my four sisters and their husbands in Chattanooga for a couple of days. We were quite a gaggle of gray-heads. My youngest sister is 71, and my oldest is 83. We talked about what was happening on Wall Street and Capitol Hill, and speculated on what we would live on when we got old (!) if things continued as they were going.
One of us said, “Remember what Mother said when she was 94 years old?” We certainly did. We’d all gone home because we thought she was dying. We had gathered around her where she lay on the couch in the family room, waiting to hear her final instructions.
(. . . Which final instructions turned out to be only, “Now when I’m gone, you must keep loving each other. Do you understand?” “Yes, Mother, we understand. We promise you we’ll love each other after you are gone.” And we have.)
(. . . And which, incidentally, were not her final instructions after all. She lived nearly a year and gave us a good many more “final instructions” in that time.)
But on this occasion, she surprised us by saying, “I’ve got to get well and start earning some money to live on when I get old.” We protested, of course; she brushed our assurances away with a hand. “Of course, I’ve trusted God to take care of me for 94 years. It’s a little late for me to stop trusting Him now.”
And we laughed through our tears. Are we to trust God only when every other avenue fails, when we are too sick to care for ourselves, or too old to work? That’s like the prodigal son pawing through the pig swill, trying to find something to eat, when at his Father’s home, the lowest servant banqueted daily at his Master’s table!
The God of Heaven and earth still had just as many unlimited, uncountable resources on the day the Dow fell 700 points as He did the day before. He was still God, the creator of Heaven and earth, and every precious thing in it! “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills,” God said in Psalm 50:10. Then He added, “I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the most High; and call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”
What wonderful sense it makes for us to trust our faithful, unchanging God today for our every need. He’s not our last resort. He’s our only resort!