Author: Christine Wyrtzen

I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.  As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied their heart became proud; therefore, they forgot Me.  Hosea 13:5-6

The quality of our relationship with God can be determined by how much we think we need Him.  If we perceive the need to be great, we draw close.  If things are going well, it’s easy to retreat into a default stance of emotional distance.  Our response to green pastures numb us out to the One who saved us.

Why is this?

1. We don’t like being in need.  Neediness put us out of our comfort zone but when things are tough, we don’t have a choice.  We bite the bullet and run home, believing subconsciously that our need is only temporary.  As soon as things turn around, we can go back to a form of self-sufficiency that feels far more dignified.

2. Intimacy scares us and admitting our need strips us of all pretense.  We know God is seeing each of us as we really are.

3. I don’t like powerlessness.  The wilderness is unforgiving and reminds us that we do not have control over any of its elements.  We are forced into a position of acknowledging that we need someone more powerful to survive.

None of us like to feel used; people only come to us when they need something.  Their flattery is a means to an end.  Could God feel like this when His children only warm up when the fires are hot?  At that point, I may as well say that God is utilitarian – the ‘fixer’ when I’m in a tough spot.  Getting older begins to teach a lot valuable lessons.  One that has surprised me is this ~ My best times with God are when I set out to enjoy him on a good day.

I used to run to You as a beggar child.  You invite me in all kinds of weather.  I celebrate our union.  Amen

So that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.  Romans 15:32

The word ‘refresh’ is found 17 times in scripture.  In most of them, the spirit of one person is being refreshed in the company of another.  This got me thinking.  What really happens when I am refreshed?  Who is it that refreshes me? And most importantly, am I a person who refreshes others?  Do I leave them feeling stronger or weaker?

I jotted down names of people who refresh me when I’m in desperate need of it.  What is it about each one?  Each is:

• Someone who is deeply at rest in the Lord.
• Someone who is permanently unshaken by life.
• Someone who has had their needs met in Christ and can listen well without self-distraction.
• Someone whose heart is full of the scriptures and it comes out of their mouth at just the right time.
• Someone who inspires faith, not blind optimism.
• Someone who whispers courage based on God’s presence and promises.
• Someone who prays for me, by name, with intuition and discernment.

I know it’s possible to be refreshed by someone who is kind and positive.  Perhaps they’re not even a believer but their personality and attitude toward life are contagious.  But, when I need more than a pep-talk and someone to speak God’s words into my life for perspective and strength, I won’t get it from them.  Without Christ, there is no foundation to their strength.  Their encouragement has no substance even though their personal fortitude is admirable.

Paul knew that if He went to Rome to be with the Roman believers, he would be refreshed.  Weariness and discouragement would be replaced by hope and renewal.  If I don’t have others in my life who refresh me, I need to ask God why and possibly make changes about those with whom I fellowship.  Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs ~ so important was the spiritual refreshment that happens between two people who love Jesus.

Make me more like the ones on my list, Jesus.   Amen

Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.  Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.  Genesis 6:114

God’s children are not destined for wrath but eternal life.  God’s wrath was about to destroy the earth with a flood but God proclaimed a different outcome for Noah. When the world would groan under the weight of God’s judgment, His child would safely nestle in God’s care.

This is not the last time an ark is mentioned.  When the male children of the Hebrews were being slain by Egyptians, God had one mother make a nesting place for her baby amidst the bulrushes of the Nile.  The same words for ‘an ark made with pitch’ are used again as she made a ‘floating box made with pitch’ to save her baby, Moses.

God’s purposes, written before time, will always prevail.  Even though it may appear that evil has snuffed out God’s promises, His covenant is unshakeable. The end of the story has already been written and God does not have to labor to make it all work out in the end.

What floodwaters are threatening to undo you today?  When trouble rushes in like a flood, I can feel that my life is at stake emotionally, even physically.  Noah heard the roar of the storm, felt the fury of the wind on his ark, but rode out the storm with confidence.  Today, Jesus is my ark, my hiding place .

David said, “The children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”  When in danger for my life, I run to Him.  Like a child who flees to a parent’s room to hide in their embrace during a storm, I run to Christ.  Under His wing, I hear His assurances.  “Shh, don’t be afraid.  I’m here.”  Under His wing, He even serves me a banquet in the presence of my enemies.   Each morsel holds the most poignant revelation.

I must not listen to voice of my enemy today.  He would assure me that I’ve failed, tempt me with many ways to self-preserve, suggest that I defend myself against accusers, goad me to self-comfort in ways that are not good for me, and encourage me to force circumstances to work in my favor.  All the time, God’s arms are open, He’s stooped down to beckon to the scared small child.  “Come!”

Jesus, my ark of safety.  Sealed by Your Spirit.  I run to You at the sign of the first threat on my life.  Amen

For Christ’s love compels us.  2 Corinthians 5:14

The Old Testament heroes of the faith had so little to fuel their journey.  All they had were the words God spoke to them.  They had no church to fan the flame of faith.  No bible.  No bible studies.  No fellow believers.  They were virtually alone and the only ones in their world to hear God’s voice.  They clung to His words in a vacuum.

Sometimes, we feel alone.  We’re so outnumbered humanly speaking.  God calls us to Himself and calls us to live against the grain of our culture.  Because the world hated Jesus, we were warned that they will hate us as well.  We must go against the tide of society.  The cost is steep but the rewards more than compensate.

Today, perhaps we stand in faithfulness in the vacuum of the workplace.  We’re the only ones who won’t manipulate, won’t engage in dishonesty, won’t use others for advancement.  What should cause others to respect us can quickly turn to scorn.  Consider the county clerk in Kentucky!

We stand in faithfulness in the vacuum of our families.  We are aware that Jesus could come at any moment.  We are focused and live ready to meet Him.  This hope has divided families as unbelievers question the sanity of those who share their last name.  We are labeled ‘brainwashed’ and ‘gullible’ as we speak of end times.

The love of God, expressed in Christ, constrains us to live out our faith despite the prospect of great suffering.   What gives me the courage today to stay the course is only one thing ~ my love for Jesus.  No feelings of guilt or obligation can motivate me to spend my life.  And, I can’t live off of someone else’s faith either.  There isn’t enough inspirational rhetoric in the Christian community to impart courage in the face of discrimination, even martyrdom.  Only a love affair with Jesus makes it worth it.

You gave Your life for me when I hated You.  I give my life for You when all You’ve ever done is love me.  In Jesus name, Amen

 

Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt. Genesis 50:25-26

Life does not begin and end with me. Live begins and ends with God. Though I may lie in a grave, life associated with me is far from over if I’m God’s child. My faith, and all the promises of God that I embrace for myself and my family, live on. Fulfillment of God’s covenantal blessing over my people will unfold long after I’m gone.

The promises God made to Jacob and his descendants, realized through Joseph and his descendants, are still coming to pass today. Thousands of years later, Joseph’s life and the choices he made matter. He is not only a teacher when I review his story, but he is also a catalyst for the coming redemption of Israel. His coffin hold the remains of his mortal body but heaven and earth feel the present effects of spiritual activity associated with Joseph’s faith.

Genesis reveals the narrative themes of scripture. Creation. The Fall. Redemption. Restoration. Not only are these revealed in the overall storyline of the book, they are evident in the individual stories of God’s chosen leaders. I can see this pattern in my own life, can you?

I am praying for you as I finish writing today. You are meant to see redemption in every area of your life ~ then restoration. To see God create, only to be defiled from sin, is to live bitter. Despair results from living in a story line that is unfinished. Like Joseph, we are to wait for God to redeem what is broken. We wait for God to promote us on the other side of captivity. Yes, we faint under the ‘waiting’, but God will give us the grace to be tenacious in our faith. Just like Joseph. They bruised Joseph’s feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true. Psalm 105:17-19 Captivity never has the last Word for anyone determined to prevail in the promises of God.

To You, God of Joseph, be all the glory. To You, my God, be all honor and praise. In Jesus name, Amen

AM I HELD CAPTIVE BY MY NAME?

And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.  Genesis 4:2

When Eve gave birth to her second child, he was named Abel. The meaning of his name fit his destiny.  ‘Abel’ means ‘breath or vapor’.  As the story of his life unfolds, his life is short, just a vapor.  He is to be the first martyr for the Christian faith and will be remembered in the great hall of faith chapter in Hebrews.

Names are interesting things.  Oftentimes, the meaning of someone’s name holds great spiritual meaning.  It’s something we can grow into.  I believe God often handpicks names though parents think they made the decision.  Names so often seem to fit the child.

In a loving and stable home, a girl named ‘Joy’ will be a bubbly child, full of sunshine.  A boy whose name means ‘man of faith’ will grow up to have spiritual grit.  He will go on to surmount daunting challenges.  But, let the home be a wasteland, full of pain and destruction, and Satan will make sure that the child grows up to believe the exact opposite of his name.  The girl named ‘Joy’ will be visited by depression.  The boy whose name means ‘full of faith’ will experience affliction that causes him to live fearful.

Can God change our story, our nature and our name?  Consider Naomi.  Her name meant ‘pleasant and agreeable’ and for a while she probably was.  Then her husband took her, and their two sons, to Moab.  She watched all three of them die.  Her story took on bitter elements so that she renamed herself Mara, ‘bitter’.  God redeemed her name as well as her story.  He used a Moabite woman, from a godless race, to rehabilitate her mother in law.  Ruth made one righteous decision after another and ended up marrying a holy man, saving Naomi, and filling her senior years with joyful laughter.

God is a God of new names.  He wisely, and perhaps playfully, bestows a new identity on one who is willing to follow Him to the land of blessing.  It’s not an easy journey, as it will involve the complete shift of a former mindset.  It will require grit and faith.  But deep joy and profound significance will follow any who is willing to believe God for.

He’s still doing it for me.  I thought I was stupid.  For 40 years I was afflicted with deep insecurity about my intellectual capacity.  God healed me.  And interestingly enough, He used the meaning of my middle name to confirm the truth.  ‘Eloise’, the name I disliked and hid, is a French name that means ‘smart’.  I think I heard God chuckle.

I am praying for a girl right now whose name means ‘place of stones’.  I am inserting her name into Ezekiel 26:36.  Her God can give her a heart of flesh to replace her heart of stone.  I think her story is a sad one but there is a Father who sees her, and offers her abundant life.  Her ‘place of stones’ will become an altar of worship.

You are a redemptive Father.  You can redeem anything and everything.  Anything unholy and tragic associated with my name can be transformed into something holy, prosperous, and full of joyful singing.  Amen