September 2008 Devotionals
September 29, 2008
Worrying About the Financial Crisis
A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford
Hearing the financial news these days makes cold sweat trickle down our spines. Politicians blame lack of regulation. Working people blame greedy and corrupt executives. Executives blame the people who default on house loans because they lost their jobs. And jobless people cry, “I can’t pay my bills if I can’t get a job.” And all us say, “Somebody’s got to do something!”
The causes of the crisis may lie much deeper than we realize. Basically, there has been a lack of integrity, a dreadful lack of character, in too many people. Time magazine says, “The fault lies on Main Street as well as Wall Street.” And these flaws in character existed long before the crisis.
Integrity is the foundation, and character is built on it one choice at a time, block by block, built in every decision, every promise, every evaluation. It doesn’t happen in the glare of fame; that only exposes it. It’s the promise we make to God and to those who depend on us, that we will make every decision, large or small, solely on what’s right and honest.
Psalm 15 is a good definition of integrity:
Who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly,
and worketh righteousness,
and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that backbiteth not with his tongue,
nor doeth evil to his neighbour,
nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
In whose eyes a vile person is contemned;
but he honoureth them that fear the LORD.
He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
He that putteth not out his money to usury [excessive interest]
nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be moved.
(Such people will stand firm forever.)
Psalm 15:1-5, a Psalm of David
But in this time of uncertainty and fear, let’s not lose sight of the bed-rock integrity and faithfulness of God, who has promised to take care of His children. Here’s His promise:
“ And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! And don't worry about food—what to eat and drink. Don't worry whether God will provide it for you. These things dominate the thoughts of most people, but your Father already knows your needs. He will give you all you need from day to day if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.”
Luke 12:28-31
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September 22, 2008
In God’s Waiting Room, Waiting
A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford
(In the waiting room of a local hospital!)
When us “Type A” folks make a phone call, we don’t like to be put on hold. (Come to think of it, “Type B” folks don’t like to be put on hold, either!) We cringe when we hear the, “Please hold,” and then have to listen to the repeated assurances, “the next available agent will be with you soon,” or the classical music, or commercials while we fidget.
It’s frustrating when it’s just a phone call, but it’s agonizing when it’s something really important. Walt and I have had to do a lot of waiting in God’s waiting room in our years together . . .
waiting to hear from the adoption agency that they would give us a child (they did, four years later);
waiting in the hospital for the results of tests that would determine if our child had leukemia (she didn’t);
waiting for the house we wanted God to give us (He did, six months later);
watching with yearning the road from the far country for the prodigal son to come home (he came after seven years, thank God!).
In those times we heard God say, “Wait. . . Trust Me.” That’s what King David reminds us:
“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” Psalm37:7
The God who loves us, the God who willingly gave up His beloved Son to give us life, that God sometimes puts us in a position where we can do nothing but wait for Him to act. And that’s not a bad place to be, because He loves us passionately; He knows what we need; and He is powerful enough to do exactly what is needed.
“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37:4,5
Come to think of it, when we’ve been forced to wait in God’s waiting room, we’ve learned some most precious truths about Him. We’ve decided we’d rather wait for Him, than to go through life never knowing how much we needed Him.
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September 15, 2008
Remembered Kindnesses
A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford
Can you remember a time when someone, perhaps a stranger, did you an unexpected kindness, and the memory of it brings a smile to your face even today?
I can remember a stormy night somewhere in the hills of Kentucky. I was driving, with our seven small children, from Chicago down to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to see Daddy and Mother. (This was in the days before the interstates.) I’d had a flat tire on the way, and a stranger mercifully stopped to change it for me. Late that afternoon we ran into really bad weather, and traffic slowed to a crawl. By 7:00 that evening, I realized I couldn’t possibly make it to Tennessee that night, so I called Walt, and checked into a motel. I was feeling very vulnerable when I took the kids into the small motel restaurant. They were frightened by all the thunder and lightening, all very tired and hungry, and I was exhausted.
When I started to pay the bill, the waitress said, “A man sitting near you saw you pray before you ate, and he noticed how well the children behaved. He was touched. He paid your bill, and gave me a tip for it, too.”
I can’t tell you how the memory of that kindness warms me even today, 44 years later!
What a gift each of us can give to someone else . . . a word . . . a smile. . . a door held open. . . an expression of thoughtfulness. . . perhaps little in themselves. But there’s no way you can measure what a small kindness you do for even a stranger will accomplish. You are giving a gift that cannot be taken away.
Suppose you went beyond the expectations of others, and no one noticed, no one thanked you?
Well, the Bible tells us God Himself always remembers when we’ve done a kindness. “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love you have done in His name,” Hebrews 6:10 says.
Bottom line? Let’s keep on going the extra mile, exceeding expectations, being kind in every opportunity! Ecclesiastes 11:6 says, “Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” We cannot guess, when we go out of our way to help someone, what the result will be. We don’t have to know just how it all will turn out, because God Himself is the grand score-keeper who remembers we honor Him when we serve others!
Your contact welcome.
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September 8, 2008
The GPS Was Wrong?
A Conversation with Elizabeth Rice Handford
On my way to see a patient (I’m a chaplain for Interim HealthCare in Greenville) . . . clear directions on the referral. . . besides, I had the GPS turned on, locked in, and showing me exactly where to go. . . I had it made, didn’t I?
Forty-five minutes later, I’m calling my patient. “I’ll be there soon. I’m having trouble finding you.”
“Can you see Walmart?” Walmart? Well, no. “The police station?” No, no police station. “What can you see?” A field with a cow standing under a tree.
How did I get in that mess? Too easily! I had read the printed instructions on the referral, so I thought I knew about where the street was. The GPS had offered me two locations, and I felt pretty sure I had picked the right one. But when it told me to turn left at a certain road, I thought, “It’s going to make me meander through all those little towns. I’ll go straight north to the highway and it will be faster.” So I did. But when I got to the critical junction, where the printed instructions said “straight ahead,” the GPS said “Turn left,” I turned right. I was still sure I knew about where the patient’s home was.
Eight miles out of the way, and twenty minutes late to my appointment, I arrived at the home exactly where the GPS had been telling me all along. Now how am I going to explain those extra miles to my boss?
I know global positioning systems may not always show the best route. But I should have listened. I really should have listened.
In our journey here on earth, you and I have access to an infallible guidance system that is absolutely trustworthy. Wouldn’t our lives be infinitely better if we knew the right thing to do, whatever the situation? Psalm 32:8 says, “I [God] will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”
But then God adds, (and this is what I should have already learned!): “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” This must be the secret of hearing God tell us what to do, that we are listening, really listening for His voice.
King David said, “Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory” (Psalm 74:23,24)
Oh, may I always be listening for His voice, and expect His guiding touch!
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September 1, 2008
Underneath You Are the Everlasting Arms
A Conversation with Elizabeth Handford
No matter how old you get, sometimes you are jarred by a sudden unkindness, a sharp jab of pain, a sense of the world pressing in on you. You find yourself longing, like a child, for a mother’s tender words and a band aid on the scratch, or a father who stoops down to cradle you in his strong arms when you’ve fallen.
My husband Walt and I are chaplains with a home health agency here in Greenville, and we often go into our patients’ homes to talk with them about the Lord. One of our patients was feeling very needy of spiritual comfort when I visited her several weeks ago. “I’m having surgery next week,” she said. “I so wish you would come to the hospital with me and pray for me.” She was a devout Christian, but uneasy about the surgery ahead, and needing comfort. “I’ll be there if I possibly can,” I promised.
As it turned out, the morning our patient was scheduled for surgery, I couldn’t go because I had an urgent obligation elsewhere. But our patient felt she knew Walt well, because she had seen him on television many years ago when our church services were being televised. So he went to the hospital to pray with her before they took her for surgery.
“I can’t go into that operating room with you,” Walt said. “But there’s Someone who will go with you. Do you remember, when you were a child and hurt yourself, that your Daddy would pick you up and hold you?”
“Oh, yes,” she said. “He was a good Daddy.”
“God says He is your Heavenly Father.” (He could say that because he knew she was a Christian.) “God is going to be with you through the whole ordeal. The Bible says, ‘The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are His everlasting arms.’ Just like your Daddy picked you up when you were hurt, God’s arms will be underneath you. He is all you need.”
And He was. The surgery was successful, and our patient was conscious of God’s loving care through it all.
God wants to be your Father as well. Being born into His family is so very simple. It isn’t a matter of your promising to be good, nor finding excuses for why you can’t be good, nor giving money. It’s simply telling Him you need a Savior, and that you want His tender forgiveness. You can experience the refuge of His everlasting arms underneath you, forever!