pathoflifedevotions Devotions, February

February 5, 2013, Clarity

Clarity

A heavy fog is a dangerous impediment to orderly travel.

Some drivers ignore the fog and continue to drive at their normal above-the-speed-limit speeds, a practice that is very hard to understand.

  • Fogs turn the presumed safety of multilane highways into a blinding menace. In the fog brakes scream and smoke, crashes, unseen but clearly heard, fill the thick air and lives slide and crash as our suppressed terrors become real though still unseen.
  • Daylight brings the horror into view, cars and trucks frozen at odd angles up and down, often merged into mangled sculptures of meetings missed, promises broken, lives interrupted, ended or hanging by a thread, and the occasional miracle of someone simply walking away unscratched.

Even on a clear sunny day, life can become a fogbound journey.

The way ahead is obscured by clouds hanging low to the ground, even to our shoe tops and we cannot see which step to take next.

We need clarity.

We need a fresh wind of the Spirit of God to blow our way, clearing the path before us.

Jesus told us the Holy Spirit moved like the wind in ways beyond our understanding but obvious in their effect in our journey. Like a morning fog, the warmth of the Word and the soft breezes of the Spirit can clear the air for us at the beginning of each day.

Why do we choose the fog over the sweet clarity of the Word of God?

It is not as though all our questions are answered.

  • Mysterious remain, things about God or life that lie just beyond our ability to understand.
  • But mysteries never form a fogbank. They are high flying clouds that momentarily hide the sun only to see it reemerge in light and warmth.

Mysteries cast only fleeting shadows on the path before us. The light behind them is constant and clear.

Of course, we must not be a fogbank to others.

In prayer ask the Lord to show you if your witness has clarity. Let the wind of the Holy Spirit breathe away any fog in your way of living that diffuses the light He has put in you.

Clarity from Him and clarity in witness to Him are ministries of the Holy Spirit.

Scriptures:

John 3:7-8

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Job 28:23-28

God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it. And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord-that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'”

Job 37:21-24

Now no one can look at the sun, bright as it is in the skies after the wind has swept them clean. Out of the north he comes in golden splendor; God comes in awesome majesty. The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. Therefore, men revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?”

Ps 68:1-3

May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him. As smoke is blown away by the wind, may you blow them away; as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God. But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.

Ps 135:6-7

The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Jer 51:15-16

“He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Acts 2:1

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting…

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You are my constant source of light.  When clouds of circumstance hide Your light from me, it is only for a little while.  The Bible clearly states that nothing has and nothing ever will extinguish Your light.  If today should be one that is overcast, send the refreshing winds of Your Spirit to blow away the cloud cover.  And Lord, help me today that I will not cloud the vision of anyone else; not a seeker desperately seeking Your light or a fellow believer looking to me for help.  Keep us all safe on the dangerous roads we must travel even when the fog rolls in.  Safe in You, Lord Jesus. Safe in You!  Amen.

Song:

Open My Eyes

Words and Music: Clara H. Scott

1. Open my eyes, that I may see

glimpses of truth thou hast for me.
Place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes; illumine me,
Spirit divine!

2. Open my ears, that I may hear

voices of truth thou sendest clear.
And while the wave notes fall on my ear,
everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears; illumine me,
Spirit divine!

3. Open my mouth, and let me bear

gladly the warm truth everywhere.
Open my heart, and let me prepare
love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my heart; illumine me,
Spirit divine!

Semper Reformanda!

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 29

Calvary

The wrinkled face of the earth offers many hills, from smooth, worn, grassy mounds to rugged, sharp, barren crags. The most prominent hills are given names so references to them are clearly set forth. Mt. Calvary was such a hill—the Place of the Skull. It must have reminded onlookers of death—a wicked apparition possessing the broken rocks like a doomed soul tortured by demons.

Calvary was chosen for executions by the Roman authorities and thus it was the workplace of the Roman soldiers. Like flies drawn to a dung heap the scavenger birds circled above the Place of the Skull, riding the thermals that boiled upward from the sun-heated rocks at the pinnacle.

It was all so routine. There were so many crimes against the state; the people in this corner of the Empire were a rebellious lot. They returned any kindness offered by a professional soldier with sneers and curses.

But today the duty on the ugly mountain of death would prove anything but routine. Three criminals, three crosses, and a crowd of onlookers climbed the hill today. Some of the people mourned—unusual for rebels and thieves—and other jeered, hurling insults at one of the victims. They put Him, the object of both the grief and the derision, on the center cross.

None of the men put up any kind of resistance. They were exhausted from the ordeal of getting to and up the hill bound to the crosspiece upon which He would die. It was a nasty business, but the soldiers had seen all there was to see many times before. They made quick work of the hammers and the nails and the raising of the crosses.

The Man on the center cross said things—that was unusual—and the things He said were even more strange:

  • something about forgiveness,
  • a prayer to His father,
  • something about His mother, and strangest of all—
  • “It is finished!”

The last thing He said was a shout—how could a man that weak have the strength, even as He breathed His last?

Wind and clouds and lightning and crashing thunder followed as the day grew as dark as the watch in the middle of the night. The earth trembled in protest to this execution and even as the tremors ran like sea waves through the rocks and sands on the hill, Jesus slumped in death.

It was finished, at least for now.

Scripture:
Mark 15:25-26 NKJV
Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, on this day, I stop the contemplate Calvary. Before I rush into the day, I pause to remember. Oh, I wasn’t really there but, as the old song said, “I’ve been to Calvary. I can say I’ve seen the Lord. I’ve been to Calvary through the witness of His Word.” Thank You for going only where You could go. Thank You for doing what only You could do. Thank You loving people so much—for loving me so much. Thank You for finishing the work of redemption, for it is finished—salvation is here! Your Kingdom has come in our hearts! The sin barrier is down so people and God can talk again. Into Calvary-cleansed hearts the Holy Spirit has come to abide—to live in us! Today we remember that horrendous hill, the Place of the Skull, the domain of death as the place where live begins again. For the glory of the Father!
Amen.

Song:
Calvary Isn’t just another Hill
Words and Music: J.D. and Steve Phifer

1. Oh how true the story told of Calvary,
Where with pain and blood Christ purchased you and me.
And no matter how the world at large may feel,
Calv’ry isn’t just another hill.

Refrain:
Calv’ry isn’t just another hill.
It’s the place of submission to God’s will.
Dying there Jesus stamped redemption’s seal.
Calv’ry isn’t just another hill.

2. Now each day I make my way to Calvary.
There a crimson stream is flowing full and free.
That can cleanse your soul, your mind and body heal.
Calv’ry isn’t just another hill.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

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