October 2011 Devotionals
October 31, 2011
Can I Trust My Bible?
A Word of Assurance from Elizabeth Rice Handford
Recently, when I opened my Bible to read a Scripture to comfort a woman who was ill, she said, "Don't bother. If you'd watch CNN more often, you'd know the Bible is full of myths. It isn't really true."
It reminded me of a conversation I had with a young man, a chemical biologist, on a flight from Chicago years ago. We'd talked about many things during the flight. Finally he pointed to my Bible and asked, "Why do you waste your time reading that when it's so full of errors?"
"Really? Full of errors?"
"Yep, full of 'em," he answered with assurance.
"I'd really be interested to see them. Would you show me one, please?" I handed my Bible to him.
He waved it away. "It's full of them."
"But I really want to see one," I answered. "Please show me one."
"Aw, I don't know where they are, but it's full of them."
"Have you ever read the Bible, to find out for yourself?"
"No."
"Why not?" I asked.
He threw up his hands in exasperation. "You sound just like my mother!"
The Psalmist says this about God's Word:
"Righteous are you, O Lord,
and your laws are right.
The statues you have laid down are righteous,
They are full trustworthy. . .
Your promises have been thoroughly tested,
And your servant loves them.
Psalm 119:137-140
Mark Twain said it wasn't the things in the Bible he couldn't understand that troubled him; it was the things he did understand that bothered him. I think perhaps that was the problem of the young man on the plane. He hoped the Bible wasn't true, so he wouldn't have to obey it.
But God wants us to study His Word. He wants us to find out for ourselves what it says and what it means. It is God's wonderful, holy Word, without any mistakes, and we can delight in learning through it how He wants us to live.
October 24, 2011
Why We Didn't Win the Million-Dollar Lottery
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
It was bill-paying time at our house, and paying them would leave little money to feed those seven, sweet, small Handford mouths.
Walt and I decided we would pay the bills, and take God at His Word, "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). It wasn't a new idea to us-we'd seen God answer prayer again and again for our family. So we really did believe He would give us the money needed for groceries.
That day's mail brought the ideal answer to our prayer. The Reader's Digest was offering a million-dollar award, no purchase required, just fill out the form, and your name is in the pot for a million dollars.
So I did. Filled out the form. Put it in the envelope. Stamped it. Mailed it.
I had just given God a wonderful, easy way to keep His promise to supply all my needs-please, Lord, just let The Reader's Digest pull our name out of the millions of names in the pot!
An interesting passage of Scripture in Romans 8:26,27 says,
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
When Jesus heard my prayer about the lottery, I think He said to His Father, "Father, what Libby is really asking for is that her family be provided for. You and I both know if she got that million dollars, she'd depend on that instead of on our steadfast care. So I am changing her prayer to fit Your will. Please give the Handford family today what they need for today's needs."
And that's exactly what the Father did. That day, our neighbor, an avid gardener, brought over a bushel basket full of sweet corn, green beans, tomatoes, and an assortment of other nutritious vegetables, enough to feed all of us, and enough to put some in the freezer for later!
No Handford child ever went hungry. No bill was ever left unpaid, nor even paid late. God answered that prayer, as He said He would, supplying every need "according to His riches by Christ Jesus."
And that, dear child of God, is infinitely better than any old million-dollar lottery!
October 17, 011
"God, Pull Me to Jesus"
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
The other night at the supper table at the home of my sister Joanna's son Robbi, his eight-year-old asked him about the difference between Jews and Gentiles. (He'd been listening to the news.) Robbi explained, and then said, "So, Wiley, you are a Gentile."
"No," Wiley said, "I'm a Christian."
"Do you know what makes you a Christian, Wiley? We'll talk about it after supper."
So they did. Robbi explained that a Christian is someone who knows he can't get to Heaven by being good, that Jesus traded places with us, and died on the cross so we could have His goodness, and go to Heaven to be with Him.
"That's what I want," Wiley said. They knelt by the bed, and the simple prayer Wiley prayed touched his daddy's heart so deeply, he couldn't wait to write it down.
Wiley prayed, " I'm sorry for my sins, and I want you to forgive me. And God, please pull me to Jesus."
"God, please pull me to Jesus." That's what every one of us need, to be "pulled" to Jesus. So often we like our own way; we don't want to give up our bad ways. We need God to "pull us" to Jesus!
But I've realized, too, as I have grieved for Mary Lloys, our sister we Rice girls lost last week, that I needed God to "pull me" to Jesus, too, to take the comfort He yearned to give me. I wanted to crawl into a dark corner and nurse my grief, but Jesus drew me close to Him instead, so I could be comforted in His presence.
The writer of Psalm 119 prayed,
"I have wandered away like a lost sheep.
Come and find me."
"Come and find me!" "Pull me to Jesus!" How God loves to answer that prayer!
Tribute to Mary Lloys Himes
My sisters Jessie, Joanna, and Joy phoned me on Tuesday, October 4, 2011, to tell me that our oldest sister (since our sister Grace went to Heaven back in 1981) had gone to be with the Lord. I know that others can give Mary Lloys a much more eloquent tribute than anything I can say, but it will ease my heartache if I share with you the letter I wrote her during the night-and yes, I think she has read it. Elizabeth Rice Handford
October 5, 2011
Dearest Mary Lloys,
I'm glad that you and I had some premonition that you were thinking about taking off for Heaven, so that last month we got to tell each other of some of our sweet memories of each other. I told you some of that in the letters we exchanged, but tonight I feel the need express to you my deep gratitude to God for your wonderful qualities. I've spent a lot of time since that phone call last night at 6:00 telling me you'd taken off for Heaven, thinking about the ways you influenced my life.
In our younger days, I remember that it was you who always excelled in physical sports. Daddy considered you a formidable foe at tennis. I have so many visual memories of watching you serve a tennis ball, with your full skirt swinging wide as you served. I thought you were the brave one in the family, daring to do stuff I didn't have the nerve to try. (I remember watching you and Dottie Harding and Grace jump off the garage roof in Dallas-and my memory says you did it with an umbrella.) You were always the leader of our community bike rides on Sunday afternoon, with all our friends, wandering far from Franklin Street maybe all the way to West Chicago, or over to the County Farm and back.
You had a flair for clothes. I remember how you helped me pick out dresses and explained why you thought that was what I needed- not too much "showiness" so you could wear it often without getting tired of it. I know people considered Grace the fashionista, but you were the one who offered practical advice, and you helped me so much when I was getting ready for my own wedding.
You were the one who got us to James Bowie School on time-most of the time!
I remember watching you fall in love with Chuck, and how from the moment you met him, there was no other star in your firmament. My memory is that I met him while I was still in high school, even before you met him, going on extension with Wheaton college kids to the County home. I got invited because I could play the accordion. I shared your dream that you and Chuck would serve the mission field of China, or maybe Tibet. I envied you because all my life I'd wanted to be a missionary to China. Subsequent wars revealed that you could never have stayed in China because of political upheaval, and God knew better where He wanted you to be. I remember how sad you and Chuck were when the mission board told you they would not send you to China because of your frail health. You responded so well to the disappointment, believing that God knew what He was doing in your lives, even when it was a dream hard to give up, and that the "Boss" has the right to tell His servant where to serve.
I remember in those early days of your marriage that you always practiced hospitality and your gourmet quality dishes were always bragged on, but always produced with creative economy.
I remember that on one of my very first dates with Walt, we met you two coming home from Mother's house, strolling through Memorial park, and you admonished us to be sure to get in on time, because Daddy was watching the time. You were trying your best to keep me out of trouble, and I love you for it.
Then, after Walt and I were married, and we all came back to 512 for Sunday dinner, and Lloys Jean was a baby, we envied you because you "had it all; a handsome husband, a beautiful baby, and a college degree!"
Your years in the pastorate were hard, but very productive. Considering the background from which Chuck came, his being the first in the family to go to college, his not having a father to teach him and model fathering for him, his mother's inflexibility, he surely gave God all that he had, and I know that today he basks in His heavenly Father's pleasure. You two endured pitiful wages, inconsiderate parishioners, grief in the losses of your babies, often undeserved criticism, but wherever you were, you kept plugging along for Jesus and the Gospel. How many times you helped a bewildered young mother, or comforted a old woman, gave advice to a frantic teenager, ministered with your hands as well as your heart.
In the years we were publishing the Joyful Woman, I discovered you were a good writer. I appreciated your story-telling ability and Scriptural applications.
When you and Chuck were between pastorates, and working at the Sword, you gained the respect of the whole town, cheerfully meeting needs as you sensed them, serving at the church in non-prestige but needed places.
You took such pride and joy in your children (and you had a right to!) You were so glad for their productivity and smarts and usefulness. And they have blessed the world.
And you were always so diligent and effective as a Bible teacher, not just during your years as a pastor's wife but even as a widow, you sought opportunities to teach the Word of God. I remember asking you, just last month, what I should counsel a woman having a difficult time getting rid of bad thought patterns, and you said immediately, "Read the Word! Read the Bible!"
But your most endearing trait probably was the way you took every opportunity to talk to people about Jesus, and you nudged open so many doors to give the Gospel to those who didn't even realize that was what they had been searching for! Whether you were selling encyclopedias or taking census for the government or buying groceries, you found hungry hearts, and led them to Jesus.
I'm going to miss you, dear sister. I'm going to miss having a big sister I can call when I need corroboration on a memory, or having somebody that senses how I'm feeling and makes me feel better! I don't like being the oldest sister in the family, expected to have wisdom and clear memory and keeper of the flame. But I guess I'll try. You left a big empty hole that no one is going to be able to fill.
With all my love. Libby
October 3, 2011
Virtual Reality Is Not Reality
A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
Our whole family sat entranced at the television one evening during the Christmas season in 1960, watching Peter Pan (well, it was really Mary Martin!) fly into John and Wendy Darling's bedroom to teach them how to fly. We were absorbed in the story.
When the program ended, our 4-year-old Ruthie said wistfully, "I wish I could fly like that."
Big brother John, two years older, said to her, "Oh, Ruthie, it's easy! Look! I'll show you how. You just spread out your arms, like this. . . . Now stand on your tiptoes. . . Then jump." John demonstrated. He spread out his arms, stood on tiptoe, gave a fine leap into the air, and landed flatfooted on the carpet. The bewilderment on his face was too painful for us to laugh.
"I can't understand it," he wailed. "It looked so easy for Peter Pan."
Welcome, dear son, to the world of virtual reality, which isn't reality at all.
Advertisers of diet plans, wrinkle creams, dance studios, and arthritis medicines count on your not being able to distinguish between what's really true and what's illusion as they peddle their wares.
Even our arch enemy Satan dangles virtual reality before our eyes, disguising falsehood as truth, and hoping we'll not notice the difference. Money will make you happy. It's your life; do what you want to do. You're different; you can get by with things other people can't. Your way. Your stuff. Your life. This life is all there is, so make the most of it.
But God reminds us of a wonderful truth in 2 Corinthians 4:18 and 5:1:
We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
If you can see it, touch it, taste it, it's temporary. But God has promised us the wonderful reality of Heaven, eternal joy, eternal contentment, fellowship with the Savior who died for us so He could give it all to us.
Understanding this can make such a difference in our lives. God placed us on this earth to prepare us for the reality of the joys of Heaven. We can cope with disappointment, with failure, with loss now, because Heaven is real. Jesus is there, preparing a place for every single person who wants to come to Him. That's reality.