Author: Christine Wyrtzen

No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.  Romans 4:20-21

It’s impossible to believe that God is faithful if distrust plaugues my world view.  Satan knows the power of a negative mindset and, very early, introduces pain and betrayal into our stories.  In response, we close off our hearts, live in fear and never fully trust people again.  The enemy knows what will be next; distrust of God.

Abraham would not allow any distrust to make him waver concerning God’s promises.  What were the areas of distrust he could have wallowed in?  His age and ability to father a child.  Sarah’s old womb.  Ridicule from those around him.  Abram’s name meant ‘father of many’.  He was, at that time, father of none.  God renamed him “Abraham” which meant ‘father of a multitude.’  Is this the promise of a twisted God?  A cynical man could have laughed and refused to own the name.  Instead, Abram announced his new name and probably sustained many jokes. 

Abraham made a choice to believe that God is faithful.  So must I.  The more pain I have suffered in my life, especially as a child, the more difficult it will be to trust His character.  I must push through all the internal objections to the perceived feasibility of God’s faithfulness to His promises! 

Faith begins with a choice to believe the One who is faithful.  It has a chance to grow when the Word penetrates my heart and exposes distrust.  At every fork in the road, one way marked “Disbelief” and the other marked “Belief”, I choose the one that believes God.  Then I feed myself the spiritual food necessary to stay on the hard path one more day.

For all of you whose faith walk is tenuous, Jesus, the faithful One, is praying for you.

Thank you for the stories of faith.  Abraham is my brother in Christ and his choice

For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness you shall establish in the very heavens. Psalm 89:2

God speaks and planets appear out of nowhere. God pushes galaxies around with the tip of His finger. It’s a good thing because without His faithfulness, things would be catastrophic.

For instance, the speed of the Earth’s orbit and the Sun’s gravitational pull are perfectly balanced, preventing the Earth from either flying away or crashing into the Sun. If Earth’s speed were slower, it would fall into the Sun; if it were faster, it would escape the solar system altogether. 

God not only preserves our Earth but is also the creator and caretaker of the entire ‘heaven of heavens’. He resides in the farthest reaches of space and also in the spirits of His children. He speaks stars and galaxies into existence, but also calls to the lost sinner who wanders aimlessly until he answers the call and finds his way home. Power and strength belong to our God but undergirding all that He does, and can do, is His faithful character. Collectively, and individually, we are held securely in our Father’s hand.

I’m not safe because You’re powerful. I’m safe because You’re faithful. Thank you! Amen

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your judgments like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.  Psalm 36:6  

Did you know that the concept of our faithful God, El Emunah, is present throughout the Old Testatament? It is showcased powerfully in today’s scripture. The preservation of man until the end is only due to God’s faithfulness to the ones He created and saved for His glory. This is comforting when our lives take an unwelcome turn and our immediate future is uncertain.  God knows the nature of our exiles and deliverances.  The names of those who will shape our future are already pre-chosen. All is on schedule to lead us to glory.  

God has foreknowledge of every detail that constitutes our lives.  He spoke our name long before we existed, called us by name at the moment of our spiritual adoption, and will speak our name again when He welcomes us home.  Not one step (though uncertain as it may seem for us) causes Him to worry about us.  

He is the God who dismantles and the God who rebuilds.  He is the God who wounds and the God who comforts.  He is the God of the faithful and the God of the exiles.  These days, when anger and fear make up our global emotional climate, we trust a Father who whispers, “Don’t be afraid.”  Our life does not begin and end with deliberate, even erratic actions, of influential people.  Our life began with God, long before our first breath, and it will continue – without end – in His presence.

You preserve and sustain with unwavering faithfulness. You are a good, good Father. Amen

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God (ElEmunah), keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Deuteronomy 7:9

I lived many days where prayers were casual. “Bless our family today and help us love and serve you more!” I even prayed this while driving, filing papers, or eating my morning yogurt. But I learned in my thirties that there are other kinds of prayer. There’s the ‘911’ kind that Jacob prayed before Esau came to meet him with 400 armed men. Don’t we also fall to our knees when we’re fighting for our lives?

The door jam in our house that borders our guest room has been gripped and wet with tears on many, many occasions. Getting up in the night to pray, I have laid my head against it, held on to the frame, and pleaded with God to remember His covenant with our family. Urgency has been the backdrop of these prayers. They are respectful prayers but not necessarily polite, with perfectly crafted language. Desperate prayers spill out of desperation, and they can be incoherent. That’s okay.

It is not arrogant to come humbly before God and remind Him of His promises, to take hold of the hem of His garment and plead for your life. It is often the equivalent of a child saying to his father, “But you said!”  My relationship with Him is one where I may wrestle over my Canaan. I’m usually trying to get to the bottom of my own angst and inaccurate perceptions of His character. But even in the midst of messy emotions, I know that God is a Covenant Maker and does not make promises begrudgingly.

You delight in Your covenant relationship with me. I am in awe. Amen

Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book. Jeremiah 30:2

Where would we be today if people hadn’t taken the time to write out the Scriptures? Where would we be today if our favorite Christian authors hadn’t taken the time to meditate, study, and then capture their findings on paper?

And what would I have missed if I hadn’t journaled over these many years? While I haven’t been perfectly disciplined, I do have journal books that are stored by date. Each entry reminds me of what I struggled with at the time and the way God spoke to me about it through scripture and prayer. I expressed that day’s experience on paper and by reviewing it down the road, I was able to enter into the strength and beauty all over again. God’s voice was heard again in my spirit and it benefitted me yet again.

I should journal before I forget it. As I write down my meditation experience, I may have questions as well. I should make note of them and commit them to prayer. Meditations are rarely just for one day. The mystery of God and His ways are unwrapped over time.

How can I review if I don’t capture the memory? Help me make the most of your personalized instruction. Amen

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103

Years ago, someone I considered a mentor made a comment to me about what faith is like. Her description consisted only of four words and they have lived with me for over thirty years. Words, especially wisdom from God, have a life of their own and live forever.

How does God feel about His own Word? Can you even imagine? When I feel numb and casual about a scripture, God is anything but that. How is the gap bridged between how I may feel about it and how He feels? How does ‘casual’ meet ‘passionate’? How can ‘casual’ become ‘passionate’? There is a way.

The Spirit of God lives inside each of His children. When I read the scriptures, the Holy Spirit is aware of it and is feeling something. He is willing and eager to communicate that to me if I ask.

I can ask God to help me feel what He feels about that passage. When I’m reading an Old Testament story, God remembers it all in vivid detail like it was yesterday. He remembers the sin of the people and the victories of the saints. Excitement is in His memory. When I’m reading a warning about the consequences of sin, God feels the high stakes. He’s praying I’ll believe what I’m reading and avoid the painful consequences. When I’m reading verses of comfort and promises He’s made, He’s feeling passionately about my encouragement. He’s hoping I’m latching on to His words as lifelines.

I have experienced feeling little one moment while meditating on a scripture, but then asking God to help me feel what He feels about it. Words that failed to move me will often end up causing me to weep over their beauty. What made the difference? Asking the Spirit to stir my heart emotionally and make me as alive to the content as He is alive to it. If I’m not experience God in His very words, there is a real disconnect.

You are never numb. I am often numb. Help me move out of stoicism into experiential unity with You. Amen

All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with their whole heart and had sought Him earnestly, and He let them find Him. So the LORD gave them rest on every side. II Chronicles 15:15

When I receive an important letter, I don’t read it just once. I read it over and over again to make sure I am reading between the lines. The more precious the letter, the higher the number of readings.

I remember receiving love letters from Ron when we were dating. He attended a boarding school in Florida and I was in New York. He wrote once a week and it was always on light blue stationery. Once I found the letter in the mailbox, it never made it to the house before opening it. I read it again while eating my after-school snack. I took it upstairs to my bedroom and read it several more times before dinner. I wanted to make sure I found every nuance to tuck it away in my heart.

If human words have many layers, it’s no surprise that God’s Word does too. Human words are finite but Scripture is a ‘manna’ that only gets deeper at every reading. It’s multi-layered and with each intake, there’s a new golden nugget. If the book of John were all I had available to me as a believer, it would have enough spiritual food for a lifetime. In fact, one chapter would be enough. If I can’t plumb the depths of God, why would I believe that I can plumb the depths of His Words?

To meditate well, I must take time to read your passage over and over again.

Many of our church fathers practiced a spiritual discipline called lectio divina. They were made up of Reformers, Puritans, Revivalists, and others. They read scripture repeatedly to discern, through the work of the Spirit of God, the full meaning of a passage. Martin Luther urged meditation and used the Lord’s prayer as a model to teach it to those he taught.

How about this quote from Charles Spurgeon ~ “The more you read the Bible; and the more you meditate on it, the more you will be astonished with it.”

Astonish each one who will open your Word today, and who then settles in on it to read Your words like a love letter. Amen

“I am writing these things to you so that . . .” I John

If I went and grabbed an old journal and decided to share a page with you, you might ask these questions. “When did you write this? And what was happening in your life at the time?” You’d ask because context is everything.

While the whole bible is inspired and infallible, God used the pens of men to compose it. They are from different places, different times, and possess different personalities and stories. To fully appreciate and connect with what they are writing, it helps to know the authors better. This research accompanies meditation.

Was the author a type-A personality or a contemplative? Was he in a good period of his life or under great duress? Was he young or old? Knowing the answers (if they are available) means that I can feel comforted when I am experiencing the same circumstances as the author. His words will mean more because of shared experiences ~ even though we are many centuries apart. I won’t consider the Bible just a history book. The authors can be embraced as spiritual family members. Their lives and stories are my personal history.

Oftentimes, hints are given in the very passage I’m reading. John, in his epistles, tells his readers why he is writing. I get an instant picture of motive, of passion, and why he felt the words were imperative. Application is much simpler when intent is revealed and love is the driving force.

Truth is always meant to be a heart thing. Meditation feeds the mind but fortifies the heart. Over time, I feel a bond with the one who wrote the words. When reading the Psalms, for example, I often ask God to tell David how grateful I am for his songs and laments.

Scripture is not abstract poetry and historical storytelling. Personalize it with the breath of Your Spirit. Amen

And I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you. Ephesians 1:18

Last week, I wrote five devotionals on Jesus’ name ~ Bread of Life. While understanding the meaning of that name is important, even more so is knowing how to consume the Bread. It would be wrong to move on and leave things in the abstract. So let’s talk about meditation. This is the way we eat and drink Bread and Water.

Before setting out to saturate myself with a verse or two, I must admit that I am blind without the Spirit’s help. I must ask Him for supernatural vision. I consider King Solomon who, at the beginning of his reign, recognized his inability to rule wisely. He said to Yahweh, “And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in.” I Kings 3:7

Revelation, insight, wisdom, spiritual understanding ~ these things are given to me. I should not be impressed with how much I understand about the heart of the scriptures because whatever I grasp is a gift.

Whether I meditate on a few verses from the Psalms, the book of John, or a heavyweight passage from Hebrews, the process must always start the same way. It begins with this prayer ~

“Lord, I come humbly and acknowledge that I will know nothing apart from what You will show me. Open the eyes of my heart. Let me see Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.”  John 6:35

Jesus speaks clearly when He says that He is the bread. He does not say that He is like bread or like water, which could lead to confusion and arguments. For those who are hungry, this is excellent news. They draw closer and ask, “Then will You feed me?”

There is a fundamental trust in the character of Jesus that underpins His claims. If He said it, it must be true. Understanding and application will surely follow because He is the kind Rabbi/Teacher who takes pleasure in making disciples.

Spurgeon expands this beautifully.

We cannot sit down to table but what the piece of bread speaks to us.  Jesus has come down from heaven to keep you from absolute starvation; he has come down to be bread and water to you. As you take up that loaf and think of the processes through which it has passed before it has become bread, it preaches a thousand sermons to you concerning the sowing of Jesus as a grain of wheat in the earth, his grinding between the millstones of divine wrath, his passing through the fiery oven. We see the sufferings of Jesus in every crumb we put into our mouths.  

For those of us willing to trust, Jesus being referred to as the “Bread” fills our hearts with countless profound implications. When we prayerfully meditate on this beautiful truth, the warmth of our connection with Him deepens. However, for those who are resistant and seek to undermine the words of our Lord, Jesus’ claim may seem increasingly absurd. Arguments do not disappear over time; rather, they tend to grow. There’s a reason for that.

Just as the Holy Spirit nurtures the seeds of truth, allowing them to grow and fulfill their purpose, the Deceiver cultivates the seeds of apostasy. These seeds also grow but serve to satisfy pride and stubbornness. Truth has the power to either draw people in or push them away. The Gospel, in its simplicity, challenges those who hear it, separating those whom Jesus calls from those who consistently choose darkness over Light.

You feed the hungry.  We are Your sheep and eat from Your hand.  Amen