Tuesday, March 7, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Settling into obedience
Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord. Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow.
Lore Ferguson Wilbert wrote a book about the power of touch in our lives. It came out in February 2020, and a few weeks later everyone was told, “Don’t touch each other!” No more hugs, masks on all the time, family gatherings prohibited – we ran headlong into the covid catastrophe. Touch suddenly became a forbidden topic. Stay six feet apart!
“I was crushed,” she wrote. “I threw one of those books across the couch. This is what happens when I try to do anything good in the world!”
Lore was thinking about Jonah, and how much alike they were.
I’ve read the end of the story; I know who wins in this great battle between good and evil. I know it’s not me, not exactly, not as I am today. I know who the King is and who the game-master is. And until his kingdom is established in its fullness on earth, I would rather do anything but mess around with this mess. The hull of a ship, the inside of a fish’s belly, the bottom of the sea – all of that seems safer to me than what God might have me do while he puts all things to rights in the world. Being used by God in the work of putting the world to rights feels terrifying to me because I don’t know exactly what that will require of me.
So … that’s me too. And when I fall into this train of thought I want to live quietly, unobtrusively, unnoticed, especially unnoticed by God. But God always notices (that’s what he does).
If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken!
And it’s true – never been my job to come up with a list of things to save the world. But God has given me my “one thing.” And I know that one thing, Jesus says, in the depths of my will, as I settle into obedience.
Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called “Master;” you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant.
We’re heading north tomorrow. We’ll visit Margaret’s family in Evansville, where her mother Dorothy is in hospice at home. We’ll have a meeting with my brother and sister, and our farm financial advisor, moving toward settling our mother’s affairs. We’ll see our sons, Marc and Chris, and our grandkids Jack and Aly. Jack is the captain of his school’s scholastic bowl team, and we’ll see one of his meets.
Perhaps we’ll do a little work on our taxes, continue working on a book of these devotions, and write something every day. Read, too. And spend some time with friends and clients. We have all these plans. Do they alight on us from above? Are we listening for and following our One Thing?
I know more when I settle into obedience. And I do that as I spend time in silence, listening, to God, discerning his voice occasionally, waiting for it.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
 (Isaiah 1, Psalm 50, Ezekiel 18, Matthew 23)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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