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Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. … When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.  Galatians 3:13

A wee little baby was born with a purpose that defied understanding.  He wasn’t born to be a teacher, or to tell stories about God, or to perform miracles, or to be king of Israel.  He was born to reverse the curse that was pronounced in the Garden of Eden.  

The curse came upon Adam and Eve when they failed to believe God about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Turning their back on belief, and then sealing it with an act of disobedience, ushered in immense consequences for them and every one of their descendants.  Is it any wonder that Jesus would grow up to say, “Whoever believes in me, though He dies, yet shall He live.”  Unbelief brought the curse.  Belief in Jesus would free us from it.  

The sin of unbelief was committed in a garden.  Thirty-three years after little Jesus was born, He would enter another garden to deal with the weight of our curse and to give up His life to reverse it.  

Every one of us who has embraced this little Savior and believed in Him is no longer cursed ~ but blessed.  The theme of our life is not ‘paradise lost’ but ‘paradise restored.’  Barren landscapes, once brown and decayed by sin, are now lush and green.  The likes of Psalm 23 are where we live.  There is an expanse of green in every direction.  We dare walk barefoot in tender grass without the fear of cutting our feet.  We dare drink water from any pond or water source without fear of contamination.  This is paradise and this little Savior, asleep in hay, shook our world with love and sacrifice.  Futility and hopelessness were instantly banished with His words, “It is finished.”  

I still believe and choose to act on it.  Thank you, baby Jesus.  Amen

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God, which he promised before hand through the prophets in the holy scriptures. Romans 1:2

Nearly every time Paul gave a defense for the Gospel, he didn’t start with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.  Since most of his accusers were Jewish leaders, he was intent on showing them that Jesus was connected to their scriptures, the fulfillment of their law.  The Torah, which they embraced and knew front to back, had predicted his coming.  God was not only the Alpha and Omega, but the God of the in-between.  Nothing was random, nothing was haphazard, but each event in history was a meticulously conceived plan according to the wisdom of a Sovereign God.

Why was this important to the Jews?  Because it’s hard for any of us to completely leave everything familiar and embark on something new.  And it wasn’t necessary where the Jews were concerned though it might have felt like that.  They held the Torah in their hands, the writings of the prophets, the revelation of Jesus Christ.  To believe on Him was to complete their faith, to be as Abraham looking ahead for the Lamb of God and finding Him in Jesus.

God is the consummate storyteller.  The revelation of Jesus in Bethlehem was connected to the plot line in Eden when Adam and Eve sinned.  Everything in between followed God’s storyline.  May I not be like the Jews who failed to recognize Jesus when He stood in front of them.  As He orders the events of my day, I ask for the eyesight to see His fingerprints.

In God’s plotline, there is no such thing as wasted.  Not even our mistakes.  Our lives, like those of our heroes in scripture, are messy and unpredictable.  Though we know the end of their stories, the redemptive twists and turns still take us by surprise.  We are encouraged that God was there in their victories but also still there in the parts of their stories that were less than stellar.  No dark thread is rejected for the finished tapestry.

After all these years, I am beginning to love my storyline because it is woven into Yours.  Amen

But who can endure the day of his coming? He will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.  Malachi 3:2

‘Refiner’s fire and launderer’s soap’ is a line right out of Handel’s Messiah. It’s not exactly poetic to put to music and yet, how magnificently George Frederick Handel did it. With Christmas coming, you’ll probably hear these words again if you listen to the entire Messiah.

Refining fires will be experienced by everyone. Now, it’s the saints who are being purified through suffering. When others behold the lives we live, they see Jesus. Without the fire, the image is never developed. But one day, the unsaved will also face the fire of His holiness. While we are now drawn to the One who is holy, they will stand in dread of Him on judgement day. Same God ~ two opposing reactions because of the relationship or the lack thereof.

If you are God’s child, the thought of standing in the vicinity of the glory of God is thrilling. If you want nothing to do with God, you are either nonchalant as you think about it or simply terrified. It depends on who He is to you, Savior or enemy.

If you are God’s child, you are thrilled by what happened on the mount of transfiguration. The thought of Jesus taking on His full glory, dressed in dazzling white, makes you long to have seen it for yourself. If you don’t care about Jesus, the mere idea is bizarre and repelling. It depends on who He is to you, Lord of glory or good teacher.

If you are God’s child, you long to be holy. You long for God’s glory to purify the earth and wash away all remnants of the Fall. If you don’t care about Jesus, you are content in Babylon and see no need for change. It depends on who He is to you, Righteous Restorer of paradise, or a characterization of a religious myth.

Malachi’s pen must have trembled in his hands as he pictured the words the Spirit birthed.

Make sure my reaction is related to His, Lord. Amen

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6

Ask a college student why they are eager to go home on Spring Break and all kinds of answers emerge.  Sleep in. See their dog. Eat their favorite foods.  Go to their favorite local places with friends.  What might be far down on the list is spending time with their parents. 

But heaven?  My Father is the center of my joy and the source of all other pleasures.  The feasting, prepared by God’s own hands, is depicted earlier in this Psalm.  Oil that runs abundantly over His child’s head is also described.  All of this portrays lavish hospitality in the Near Eastern culture.  This is a Father who satiates His children with unfathomable abundance. David says elsewhere, in his prayer to God, that he feasts on the abundance of God’s house and basks in the rivers of His delights.  

The word ‘delights’ is built from the same root word for Eden! Paradise restored, indeed.  Our ending is only a new beginning.  I shouldn’t be calling death the ‘end of life stage.’  It is the ‘embryo for new-life-stage.’  

It doesn’t feel good to go home and be treated like a guest; limits and a certain formality prevail.  I’m not free to roam and fully relax. I can’t get a drink or fix myself a meal without it being offered.  Or, I know I have to ask for it.  I will not be a guest in the house of the Lord.  I will be home.  God’s lavish hospitality is poured out on sons and daughters.

Someone once said, “As I travel along in this world, I’m in awe of many things, like the colors I see in autumn or the flowers that bloom in spring.  To me, there is no kind of awesome apart from what home can bring, like returning to wake in my old bed to hear the birds sweetly sing.”   We might assume that to experience nostalgia, we have to have known it from previous experience.  Ah, but that is the grand mystery of heaven.  We are going home and although we’ve never been there, it will feel familiar.  All along, this eternity was put in our hearts.  

I can’t wait, God.  Amen

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Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.  Psalm 23:6

Stephen Lawson of Ligonier Ministries tells this story regarding goodness and mercy.  

Dwight L. Moody, a famous evangelist of the nineteenth century, was once approached by a woman who needed counseling. Two men, she claimed, were following her. Whenever she stepped onto the city trolley, they stepped onto it behind her. When she stepped off, they stepped off. With a nervous twitch in her neck, she insisted that she had even been followed to his office by these very two men.

Moody could easily detect that this precious woman was suffering from a mental delusion. There was no one following her. But to put her at ease, he told her: “Those two men following you are David’s men. Their names are Goodness and Mercy.” He turned in the Bible to today’s scripture and showed her, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.” She was relieved and exclaimed: “That is wonderful. I have always wondered what their names are.” The woman left that day with peace of mind, comforted to know that it was goodness and mercy that were following her.

Is this reasonable to think that this is true?  If I look at ‘follow’ in Hebrew, the word if jirdepuni, meaning ‘to pursue.’The intent of God to bless us is so strong that it does pursue us.  Warmed to the core of my spirit, I think of this from Psalm 139.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

I can run from God, or try to, but I am pursued because I am His and He loves me.  His desire to bless me is what moves Him to go wherever I go.  He is not a stalker; a menacing presence.  He is the Shepherd who never, not even once, loses track of one of His sheep.  

God is Good.  God is Mercy.  Surely ‘Goodness and Mercy’ shall follow me.  Some of God’s children proclaim that they feel cursed, that trouble follows them.  Although there are times we are out of His will, we are never out of His care.

I will never be lost because You will never lose sight of me.  Love is my shadow.  Amen

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You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  Psalm 23:5

There are two stunningly beautiful things about this verse.  

1. There is a table that is being set for me, prepared by God Himself.
2. It’s on display for my enemies.  

God prepares sumptuous meals no matter the season.  When I’m resting, it’s green grass to nibble on and enjoy.  When I’m working, it’s fuel for my labors.  When I’m with kindred spirits, it’s the fodder for rich conversation.  And when I’m with enemies, it’s my life-source for strength.  Nothing else will sustain me. 

The thing is ~ it’s the same Word ~ with the same power ~ from the same Father ~ all the time.  What changes is my need and my application.   The more dire the circumstances, the more life-giving the spiritual meal. 

It is humbling enough that God prepares the feast.  Even if He didn’t customize what’s on the table, I would be in awe that He called my name to come and dine.  But considering that He has anticipated my circumstances ahead of time and discovering that the table spread out before me reveals delicacies fit for royalty, I am arrested in place by this kind of love.  Who does this?  Once in a lifetime would be enough but this banquet table is there any time I want to go partake of it.  

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  I John 3:1

Do my enemies discern that such a spiritual meal exists?  Oh yes, and it confounds them.  They wonder why I don’t give up, why I still trust God, why I’m not bitter, why I’ve not conceded in the battle, and why I have the strength to keep going until the end.  They may not see the awe-inspiring spread on God’s banquet table up close, but they know it’s there.  They see its effects.  

As God is preparing and serving your feast, he makes your enemies sit on the outer fringe of the scene and watch everything unfold. They see the Lord himself spreading your table with food, escorting you to your seat and waiting on you. Then they watch as you fill up your soul with heaven’s delightful fare. I tell you, no demon power, including the devil himself, could ever comprehend this kind of love, mercy and grace.             From David Wilkerson

Lord, I smell the bread baking and hear the wine being poured.  I’m coming.  Amen

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He leads me in paths of righteousness . . . Psalm 23:4a

The beauty of walking slowly through a passage is being able to look at every little thing as if it were a new gift to unwrap.  As someone well-seasoned in Bible study, I can just assume (especially if I can recite the 23’rd Psalm from memory) that I understand a phrase like ‘paths of righteousness.’  I don’t and I’m still learning.   

I have often asked, and perhaps you also voice these questions ~ “Why does God make it so hard?  Since He promises to lead, and since He tells me that I am a sheep who cannot find my way on my own, why not speak louder so that the path is unmistakable?”

God is all about growing me up into the stature and maturity of His Son.  If I can take God by the hand and not have to think for myself at all, isn’t this the stuff of toddlerhood? Infant faith begins with this kind of baby steps but mature faith encompasses the ability to engage my intellectual faculties to the glory of God. 

“Those who are skittish when it comes to rigorous study, deep thinking, and theological precision have wanted us to believe that our problem is the mind, when in fact it’s the flesh.”  Sam Storms

I must learn to train my mind, to know how to build precept upon precept, in the artful ways of wisdom.  Sound decisions are, more often than not, made by a student of the Word who has set out to learn the mind of God, through Scripture, with abject humility.  

Yes, great knowledge presents a temptation to be proud but it is not knowledge that is the enemy.  It is my pride.  Paths of righteousness are ever before me.  God makes them clear for every level of spiritual development.  Milk for the babes; meat for the mature.  And, in that light, I can know that God will grant me the humility to listen, the grace to obey, but He also encourages every intellectual pursuit to be harnessed to the truth of the Scriptures.

I can be lazy and want to be led like a baby.  Forgive me.  Amen

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The Lord is my shepherd. Psalm 23:1

In the daytime, sheep are put out to pasture.  They graze, nap in the sun, even play.  At nighttime, they go back into the sheepfold to sleep in safety. Day after day, and night after night, their way of life is unchanged.  Their familiar routine offers security, abundance, and relationship.

The rhythm of a Christian’s life, the person who knows Jesus, should also be one of resting, grazing, and working.

• When threatened by wild animals, I run back to my shepherd, and to the safety of the fold.  My heart may be beating wildly but nothing can hurt me outside of His will if I stick close to Him.  Restorative rest is a promise He gives me.
• When following the Shepherd, I enjoy abundant spiritual food.  The Word of God is a pasture, always green.  It must surely resemble the lush green landscapes of New Zealand, the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen.  Take a back country road and what you see around every turn is another pasture of sheep.  Each view is a postcard.  The food Jesus provides for me, meditatively and instructively, is the likings of the finest pastures.
• When I have eaten sufficiently, work awaits.  The work is not abusive.  It is not laden with high expectations without the foundation of proper nourishment and proper equipping.  The shepherd has given me both.  He has fed me, He has tutored me, and He has trained me.  My work is the culmination of His promise.  “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Work in the context of a relationship is the key to a joyous calling.

When this rhythm exists, the rest of the Psalm makes sense.

Your pastures are so green and satisfying, Jesus.  I have rested, I have eaten, and now I will work.  In Jesus name, Amen

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For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  Roman 8:14

Isn’t everyone who lives on planet earth God’s child?  Many think so and refer to the human race as children of God.  It is a warm, fuzzy concept but untrue.  Everyone who lives on planet earth is God’s creation but not necessarily His child.  The dividing line is what each one does with Jesus.

In John 8, Jesus told a few Jewish people, including its leaders, that the only ones who were really disciples were the ones who followed Him.  Those who didn’t accept Him as the Messiah and follow His teaching were slaves of sin.  The Jews were indignant, insisting that they were related to Abraham and were not slaves to anyone.  Had they forgotten that they had been slaves of many nations during their long history?  And even while they were saying this to Jesus, they were under the domination and authority of the Roman Empire?  Pride does obscure the naked truth!

It is not possible to be led by the Spirit of God if I have not embraced Christ. Why? Because the Spirit of God will lead me to think and act like Jesus. His Words and His actions will challenge my own thoughts and actions most every moment I am alive. His Spirit will call me to do what is against my old nature. Submitting to the steep climb will not be possible without loving the One I follow. It will be too hard to sustain the pace without the fuel of love propelling me upward.

Another paraphrase of today’s scripture is this, from Jesus’ teaching.  All who love Jesus will prove it by listening to and obeying His Spirit. Deferring as a way of life defines sons and daughters of God.

Even now, the thought of following you in the hard things makes me feel alive. There is an ache to walk the path of Your Spirit.  Amen