Author: Christine Wyrtzen

NOT ONE INCH TOO MUCH

The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. Genesis 7:20

         If God decides to cover the entire earth with water, thousands and thousands of feet of water, enough to cover the likes of Mt. Everest, what does a few inches matter?  Apparently a lot.  God knew exactly how much water He would allow and no more.

         Once the water reached the mountaintops, twenty-two and a half feet more were allowed, just enough to make sure the ark didn’t collide with something underwater.  Just enough to keep it from grounding.  This is not a meaningless detail.  I serve a God of precision, a God who orders all things well in my life, down to increments of inches.  He controls the floods down to the last water drop.  He controls disease on a cellular level.  He holds the king’s heart in his hands and can bend his will without effort.

         Life is one series of temptations.  I will face periods where it feels like I’m going to drown in the floodwaters.  Temptations to fear, to distrust God, to chuck my faith, to quit waiting on God and just embrace the counterfeit, these will appeal to me.  But God knows how much pressure to allow in order to grow my faith.  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.  1 Cor. 10:13

         Floodwaters make a man’s heart faint.  But God created me and knows the exact breaking point of my faith.  He knows how far it will bend before it snaps.  The One who covered the mountains with twenty-two inches of water is also micro-managing my life with a power to save, preserve, and cause me to triumph in the love of God.

Don’t let me forget that though I hear the sound of floodwaters, I’m in You, Jesus, my Ark of safety.  You are taking me safely home.  Amen

A WILD AND WONDERFUL GOD

..on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened, and rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.  Genesis 7:11-12

         On whatever day God choses, He can display a power that I can’t fathom.  His power is at work, even today, as I view the heavens and, simultaneously, watch the unfolding of a flower or the birth of a newborn baby.  On this day in the Genesis account, God returned the waters of the earth to their original places.  Water covered the surface of the earth and water was also the canopy of the earth.  (Genesis 1:6)

         The waters, relegated to a subterranean place at creation, were released from their deep place to once again cover the face of the earth.  Whether a volcano did it or God just ripped the earth to release them, I do not know.  But the point is that none of this was impossible with God.  God also caused the water canopy above the earth to descend, causing unending torrential rains.

         Isaiah stresses that God is the one who can easily open the windows of heaven and also make the foundations of the earth tremble.  (Isaiah 24:18)  God is not tame by man’s whim.  It is foolishness to conceive of him as an old man who loves and blesses outside of strict parameters.  His power and might should cause me to fall to my knees and cry for mercy.

         During my lifetime, I have enjoyed the stability God has granted the earth.  This is only ‘for now.’  I breathe the oxygen here and I rely on the rains as if they were a self-sustaining cycle.  I rely on the arrival of spring and the gentle warming of the earth to grow our food supply.  I rely on just the right amount of winter.  Snow and ice won’t cover the earth and the temperatures won’t go much below zero.  Who controls all that?  Is it not the mercy of God that grants it?  Why does our planet sustain life while all others are hostile?  God created them all, after all!

           The same power it took for God to speak the re-arrangement of the earth in place for the flood was displayed again as He chose to atone for His creation through the unjust death of His Son, Jesus.  My reaction to both should be the same.  Awe, humility, and trembling that One so great and holy could also love me tenderly.  One day, we will see God destroy the earth again, then rebuild it.  He is wild and glorious but also so trustworthy that the most fragile life can choose to exist in the palm of His hand.

How come it took me so long to trust You completely? 

         SEVEN DAYS OF GRACE

For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”  Genesis 7:4

         Why, when death stares mankind in the face, do they still embrace their freedom to deny the truth?  To play it safe, wouldn’t a rational person do something different at the end of his life?  History says no.

         After 120 years of labor, the ark was finished.  Final preparations were being carried out.  Everyone except Noah’s family had ridiculed but now they could see pairs of animals entering the ark; coming from every direction, without being herded. Didn’t this unnatural occurrence and bizarre animal behavior make them wonder?  It should have.

         As over 70,000 species entered the ark, it should have been obvious that something was about to happen.  Yet, not one more person from that civilization approached Noah to inquire about salvation.  Not one.

          Those who have been reckless with their lives are usually reckless with their deaths.  While the end of life should be sobering, spiritually, it is not.  What causes such blindness?  Deception.  A lifetime of sin takes its toll on a person.  With sin comes spiritual blindness and a hardened heart.  Without the Spirit of God’s intervention, it is impossible for an unregenerate heart to become humble enough to see truth.

         What should I do if someone I love is approaching the latter years of their life and there is no sign that they will turn to Christ, their ark of safety?  I should concede that I cannot argue them into the kingdom.  Though some love the sport of debate, no one embraces Christ through apologetic wrangling.  The only tool I in my hands that will break the heart of stone is the Word of God.  “Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”  Jeremiah 23:29

         The Spirit of God, in scripture, is what breaks through the wall of unbelief.  I hold it in my hands, look at it for what it is, tremble, and ask God to direct me to the right scriptures to pray over the unbeliever.  I stand my ground for the long haul.  I put their name in the scriptures I’m led to.  I pray them, recite them, and share them with the person directly.  Each time I do, if that person is destined to believe, the Word will have its effect.  Like strategically placed dynamite, it will slowly implode the crusty exterior of a sin-affected, deceived, hardened heart.

When am I going to really understand the power of Your Word?  When I finally get it, I will turn to it first as my only resource.  Amen

INVESTED IN YOU AND YOUR HOUSEHOLD

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.  Genesis 6:18

         Is God just interested in calling out women, not men, unto Himself?  How about men, not women?  How about parents but not children?  Is He interested in blessing the entire family?  Is His heart engaged with the ones you love, the ones you serve everyday under your own roof?

         In our discouragement over marriages and the spiritual state of children, we can despair and wonder if God cares as much as we do.  The good news is, he does!  His very first covenant is with Noah and it encompasses his entire family.  Most every covenant with His people involves saving someone ‘and their household.’  While that doesn’t mean that every family member will choose God, you can know that God’s heart is invested.  He is wooing them even as I write this.  Our part is to speak wisely and with holy restraint, live our faith with humility, use our authority against the forces of darkness who are obscuring the beauty of Jesus, and ask the Spirit of God to open the eyes of their heart.

         In every way I am discouraged about the spiritual condition of a parent, a child, a spouse, a sister or brother, I can rest in the knowledge that God is even more engaged emotionally.  After all, it is Him they are rejecting.

         How many strangers have told me in passing, “Pray for my dad, he’s not a believer.”  I hear their story, feel something, but several days later the conversation can be a distant memory.  Not so with God.  When someone I love is constantly on my mind, causing my heart to ache, I can know that God is with me.  His heart aches, too.

         God instituted the family structure.  It’s no surprise to me, as I sit here thinking about all this, that He would desire to bless entire families.  We, and our descendants, are alive in the heart of a God whose heart beats with passion for their salvation.

You are a God who remembers, whose love never wavers.  My tears are safe with You because I know Your heart aches like mine.  Amen

IT REALLY IS FOR ME

But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.  Genesis 6:18

         Once God makes a promise, a covenant, it is irrevocable.  The one upon whom God places His favor cannot ‘un-earn’ it.

         “But God, didn’t you know that on the other side of the flood, Noah and his family would sin greatly? Didn’t you know that his descendants would bow down to other gods?  Didn’t you know that they would throw their own children in the fire for sacrifices?  Didn’t you know they would hear You calling and choose to turn their backs on you after all You’d done for them?”

         Yes, He knew.  And He chose to save His people anyway though Noah and all his descendants would mess up badly.  Their faults would not be glossed over in scripture.  Their mistakes would be made public ~ giving all of us hope that if God can restore and redeem their sins, He can do the same with ours.

         While praying for you this morning, God showed me that some of you are reading devotionals like this with the eyes of your heart closed. The impact is lost because you don’t dare believe this kind of love is for you.  No promise this glorious could possibly apply to you.  You believe you’ve erred too badly, offending God beyond what a relationship can withstand.

         Not true!  Our sin is not the point.  The power of Jesus’ death over sin is everything.  Our faithlessness is not the point.  The power of God’s faithfulness in keeping His covenant is unshakeable.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

        He is a covenant keeping God.  Always has been.  Always will be.

People punish me by withdrawing their love.  Yours stands no matter what.  Amen

WALKING WITH GOD

Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.  Noah walked with God.  Genesis 6:9

         Noah did it.  Enoch did it.  Am I doing it?

         God is going in a certain direction.  I can’t walk with Him unless I’m going where He’s going.  He walks with His back toward sin and His face towards righteousness.  If I’m traveling alongside Him, I will also treat sin with hostility.

         God is moving in situations; in people I love, in churches I visit or attend, in strangers I encounter.  To walk with God is to discern where and how He’s working and then add my part to its progression.  I confirm what God is doing by noticing it within someone, giving words to what might be tenuous, and then encouraging that person to travel further in God’s direction.

         The work of God can be confusing for someone when it’s in its infant stages.  Like all of us, they wonder if it is God they heard.  They took a baby step and are timid to take the next one.  If I have God eyes and ears for that person, I can verbally pinpoint their fear and applaud how far they’ve come.  My engagement with them will give them the courage to take the next step.  I love the spiritual definition of friendship.  ‘To call out of the deep what is unknown to another.’

         To walk with God means we’re not hostile, God and me.  “Do two walk together unless they have agree to do so?”Amos 3:3 God goes where it’s messy.  Am I willing to get involved in issues that will take great wisdom to navigate?  God knows the power of His Word.  Do I?  Am I willing to stick my neck out when my only security for success depends on a word from scripture?

         I must be building where God is building; not tearing down what He wants to construct.  I must be willing to demolish what He hates; not continually patching up what He wants put to death.  I must love what He loves; not ridiculing what is dear to Him.  I must hate what He hates; not secretly embracing what is repelling to Him.

         To believe that I walk with God because one day in 1974 I became a Christian, is foolishness.  Walking involves one step at a time.  Every 10 seconds, a step is taken either physically or mentally.  Was it one God took?

Forgive me when I’m selfish, protecting what is good for me but out of step with You.  I do want to go where You go, always.  Amen

TWO QUESTIONS!

And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.  Genesis 6:6

God is unchangeable. He called His creation of man ‘good’ in the garden but later expressed that he was sorry He made him. Question #1.) Does God change His mind? If so, maybe I should be worried about my sin causing God to change His mind about me.

         The expression “I’m sorry!” means several things. I can apologize for doing something I knew was wrong, wish I could take it back and make the choice all over again. But the expression of being sorry can also mean something else. “I’m sorry you have cancer,” doesn’t imply that I did something to cause your cancer. It is an expression of regret that you are hurting.

         God is expressing sorrow over the way sin has destroyed the ones He loves.

         Question #2.) If God knew people were going to sin and break His heart, why did He go ahead and create them? In His omniscience, He knew this moment was coming.

         I think about being a mother. I wanted children. I grew up in the church and knew that babies are born with Adam’s fallen nature. I knew they would disobey, get into trouble, have difficult teen years, but the joy of our potential relationship outweighed the risk.

         God knew the ones He created would use their moral choice to sin greatly. Yet, He loved us from before the foundation of the world and considered the relationship He would have with His chosen ones worth it. In advance of our sin, He planned for Jesus to be the Lamb that would be slain to redeem us back to Him. The joy He would experience with us prevailed.

         I realize this morning that everything gets back to the cross. God made me. I sinned and He was sorrowful. But He provided Jesus. When I sin, I repent, and the relationship God values is restored.

Your love for me prevails.  It prevailed the day Jesus died and it prevails today with unbounding grace.  Oh my God, You are a gracious Father.  Amen

OUT OF NOWHERE?  NOT REALLY!

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  Genesis 6:5

         A husband and father of three flips out, packs his bags, and leaves for good.  Not seeing it coming, his family and friends say that it came out of nowhere.

         A young man in his thirties, raised in the best of Christian families, announces that he is homosexual and wishes to marry a new lover.  The family is heartbroken and just didn’t see it coming.  They also say that this came out of nowhere.

         Did Cain kill Abel out of nowhere?  Probably Adam and Eve would have testified that this was so.  Do all shocking sins, and less noticeable grievances against God, originate spontaneously?  God says no!

         Every evil deed originates from the heart.  Inside of each of us is a world of simmering thoughts.  Millions a day.  We each have our pet topics, the things we choose to think about more often.  Cain’s murder of his brother began long before the day he struck him.  Jealousy, rage, disgust, these are the longtime breeding grounds for the taking of a life.  A father or mother who packs their bags and leave their family didn’t do it on the spur of a moment.  Long-time unrest of the soul was the focus of this person’s thought life.  Daydreaming of life elsewhere had been their pastime.

         God saw the demonic fornication prior to the flood and declared it evil.  His condemnation was of things outward.  Then God commented on the hearts of the people and declared them evil as well.  That was of things inward. My actions and words today are the summation of my thoughts.  Jesus said so.  “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies.”  Matt. 15:18-19

         I can pray continually for someone’s behavior to change.  That doesn’t hit the mark for where the real sin exists.  I need to pray for their heart change, for their internal world that simmers with evil thoughts.  Man sees the outside but God sees the heart.  It’s the heart that needs transformation.  Change a man’s heart and his behavior will follow.

If I don’t like what I do, all my bad habits, take me to their source.  Show me my heart.  Amen

DEMONIC FATHERS

The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them.  Genesis 6:2,4

         I’ve been praying for a while this morning so as not to write about this from some need to be sensational.  How does God feel about this part of our history?

The phrase ‘sons of God’ is found other places in scripture and most agree that it refers to the fallen angels who were cast to earth along with Satan, the leader of their rebellion.  These fallen angels saw the beauty of the women of that time and desired them.  Perhaps Satan wanted to pollute the gene pool to prevent the coming of the Messiah?

Angels always appeared as men so it should not surprise us that the angelic realm could disrupt God’s order of things and choose to engage sexually with mankind.  (We encounter angels unaware too, sent by God.  Angels can still take on human form.)

The Nephilim were the children of these unholy unions between demonic beings and human women and they were giants.  No wonder judgment was coming.  Mankind was no longer mankind but a strange mutation of the intermingling of two worlds.

Any of us who were raised in the church can be naïve and shudder at the thought that such a thing could be. But Jude said, “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire.

Unless I take my head out of the sand and know, to what extent, Satan loves to take something holy and pervert it, I will be of little use when it comes time to take the Gospel to situations where profound evil exists.  It is possible for me to be holy while still being street smart.  Jesus was never shocked by evil but saw it in all its ugliness and dealt directly with it.  He didn’t relegate Himself to synagogue life.  I can assure you that kids in school see more evil than we are even aware of.

God is long-suffering, not wishing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance.  While He waits and longs for new disciples of His Son, I must be engaged to passionately spread the news of the Gospel to those who are enslaved.

Do I feel like You feel as You look at my world today?  If not, wake me up.  Infuse my heart with Your emotions.  Amen

WHEN YOU’D SWEAR IT’S OVER!

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah.  Genesis 5:28-29

         At four different points in my life, I’ve faced utter hopelessness.  It appeared at each that life was simply over.  Too much wrong.  Too much tragedy.  Too much evidence that a resurrection of any kind was impossible.  I swore it was the end.

         It is an awful thing for a human being to witness the degeneration of anything.  A marriage, a child’s future, someone’s health, failing business.  All self-efforts to save can amount to nothing.  The end seems inevitable.  And if one witnesses this slow death over a long period, God can appear powerless as His seeming absence reinforces the lie that He’s not going to do anything to rescue.

         God is never out of options.  Never.  God is never stewing, wondering how He will pull off a resurrection.  Never.  God never withholds to be cruel.  Never. God’s plan is never made at the last minute, in haste.  Never.

         The birth of Noah is proof of God’s faithfulness.  When the world was sinking into evil and lawlessness, how would God’s promise to Adam and Eve ever be fulfilled?  How would a Savior arise out of a world that God was going to destroy?  Certainly, it appeared that God was nullifying what He had guaranteed back in the Garden.  If we had lived in the days of Noah, watching evil reign on the earth, we would have doubted the ancient whispers of a God who spoke to our forefathers.

         In some cave or primitive dwelling place, a baby was born.  He was named Noah.  The meaning of this baby’s name was “comfort.”  God brought a baby to the scene, not a Red Sea deliverance.  God brought a nine-pound bundle of joy instead of a spirit of repentance to the whole of society.  God’s plan of redemption was ushered in without fanfare and the power of this tiny life would not be seen for hundreds of years.  Yet, God’s saving plan was in place.

         God is never inactive.  Never.  God is working on my behalf.  Always.  When I can’t conceive of a salvation to all that is wrong, He’s already planned it.  When I’m looking for an earthquake to prove His power, He often brings the answer in a baby’s cry.

In every place someone is fainting today, let them declare that You are the God of beginnings.  Amen