Devotional Books to Follow an Israel Trip

If you have enjoyed the past few days' posts of my trip to Israel, you might enjoy my two devotional books that relate to the land of Israel. 

Below is a taste of each one, plus links to previews. Just click on the book to order. 

Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus:
A Journey through the Lands and Lessons of Christ

Now available in a Kindle Edition and even in Korean!

Imagine following Jesus along the road, listening in on His conversations, and gleaning the lessons He taught in the holy places He traveled. This book takes such a journey.

Written in an easy, devotional style, Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus mingles an engaging and enjoyable travelogue with the practical lessons gleaned from walking the Holy Land.

“I thought Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus would be an interesting read, but I found it to be absolutely captivating! Wayne is a great storyteller, but he is also a very careful Bible scholar. That is a very lethal combination—lethal in the sense that it will destroy any inclination that you have to drift off into boredom. . . . This travelogue is a first-class seat in an air-conditioned Mercedes bus, just like the ones that you’ll find in Israel. I know you’re going to enjoy the ride.”
—Steve Farrar, bestselling author and founder of Men’s Leadership Ministries

Click here to look inside the book!


Going Places With God:
A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible

This book finds its roots in places God chose—literally. The lands of the Bible offer more than a backdrop for the stories of the Bible. These places played an integral role in shaping the lives of those who lived there. God designed it so. And for us, understanding how the land shaped its inhabitants gives us tremendous insight into understanding Scripture. Even more, it provides us with a glimpse as to why God has placed us where we live today.

Ninety devotional readings, each based on a specific place in the lands of the Bible, invite you to embark on your own spiritual journey.

Click here to look inside the book!

Available in a Kindle Edition.

The book has even been translated into Korean.

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The City of David—the Original Jerusalem

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 10

When people picture the city of Jerusalem, they usually think of the historic Western Wall, or the Old City, or the Temple Mount crowned with the Golden Dome of the Rock. But people on our tour were surprised to learn that the original city of Jerusalem lay just south of the Temple Mount on a small spur of land that encompassed about only ten acres.

Crammed with houses and punctured with archaeological digs, the original area of Jerusalem looks much different today than it did three thousand years ago when King David conquered it.

Today, this part of Jerusalem retains the name, “The City of David,” and offers a number of archeological interests that relate to the monarch. The best way to view the area is to ascend the stairs just inside the entrance to the Visitor's Center and stand atop the observation platform.

Flanked on two sides by steep valleys, the ancient City of David enjoyed a tremendous military advantage—making it relatively easy to defend. At the summit, a stepped-stone structure represents one of the largest Iron Age constructions ever excavated, dating from the 12th Century BC. Many archeologists believe it likely supported the palace of King David, the ruins of which are partially visible after descending some stairs.

From the vantage on the platform, it’s plain to see how David could easily have looked down over the homes built on the slope below him and seen Bathsheba bathing that fateful evening. The modern-day village of Silwan, just across the Kidron Valley from the City of David, has its homes constructed in a similar way.

Two relatively recent finds are nothing short of thrilling. In 2004 Reich and Shukrun found the first-century Pool of Siloam (known as the lower pool). They also recently discovered a road that led from this major water source up to the Temple Mount. First-century Jews would have used this road during their pilgrim feasts—most notably during Succot. Both the road and the drainage system are available for visitors to view.

Not surprisingly, a number of archaeologists today express their doubts that the entire City of David ever was included in the original Jerusalem. But the conspicuous location of the Gihon Spring seems a hard fact to sidestep. Moreover, the discovery of Warren’s Shaft by Charles Warren in 1867 and the fortifications around the nearby Spring House reveal that the locals clearly made use of the spring in David’s day. It seems far more likely that this small area of land was the same place David conquered.

Of course, the city expanded to the north during David’s time when he purchased the hill that would become the Temple Mount under Solomon’s rule. This area the Bible identifies as Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham bound his son Isaac in order to offer him to the Lord (Genesis 22:2; 2 Chronicles 3:1). During the time of Hezekiah, the city enlarged again to encompass the Western Hill in order to house and protect fleeing refugees from the northern tribes after their kingdom fell to Assyria.

The walls of Jerusalem have expanded and contracted through the centuries like the breathing of a living being. Arguably the most important city in history had its infancy in an area that today hardly reflects its grandeur.

Jesus was like that. So are we.

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The Jordan River—A Place of Transition

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 9

Although two days ago we drove beside the Jordan River, today we got up close. And what better place than where Jesus was baptized?

Other rivers have more beauty. Many are longer. Most are cleaner. But none has garnered as much affection as the Jordan River.

It wasn’t the beauty of the Jordan River that has inspired centuries of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to include it in their verses. Its significance began as a simple geographic barrier, which—practically speaking—represented a border (Joshua 22:18-25). The river’s presence on Israel’s eastern edge stood as an enduring metaphor of transitions. Significant transitions, in fact.

Crossing the river for Joshua meant entering the Promised Land and leaving the leadership of Moses. When the priests of God left the Jordan’s eastern banks and stepped into its current, the river stopped flowing upstream at a site called Adam. After the nation crossed, Joshua made a fundamental comparison: “For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed” (Joshua 4:23). Joshua connected their powerful redemption as a nation to the same power of God that helped them enter the Promised Land. They erected stones to commemorate the event.

Another significant transition occurred in the same location on the Jordan. Elijah transferred the prophetic mantel to Elisha just before Elijah ascended to heaven. And as the Jordan had done in the shift from Moses to Joshua, it parted for Elijah and Elisha, who crossed on dry ground (2 Kings 2:8).

It’s no wonder John the Baptist chose this same area to baptize. Because the Jordan represented a place of transition—in fact, of new beginnings—it became the place where John baptized Jesus. But instead of the waters parting, the heavens did (Mark 1:10).

Although there are proponents with different views, it seems most likely that John baptized Jesus across from Jericho, in the same area of the previous significant transitions. Recent improvements allowed us to visit this area with permission from the Israel Defense Force.

The Jordan as a place of transition remains an enduring symbol. The transitions that occurred there were sometimes national—as with Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, and John and Jesus. But the area also had its personal transitions—even conversions—as in the cases of Rahab, Naaman, Zaccheus, and Bartimaeus. Be they national or personal—or both—any new beginning also requires an ending. It requires leaving one shore and crossing the river for another.

Entering the Promised Land by fording the Jordan remains a timeless metaphor for crossing over from death to spiritual life (see Hebrews 4:1-10). As Joshua pointed out after crossing the Jordan, the same grace of God that redeemed them was the grace that led them home (Joshua 4:23).

I think the same is true of us.

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An Underground Journey To Century-One Jerusalem

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 8

Here’s a question: What major site in Jerusalem can a visitor see without wasting daylight but that still requires men to wear a hat?

(Okay, so you could wear a yarmulke instead of a hat. And really, most men remove the hat after ten minutes anyway.)

Answer: The Western Wall tunnel. Our group absolutely loved walking through this place! We toured the tunnel after the sun went down.

When you say the words “Western Wall,” most folks think of the Western Wall plaza, the place where bar- and bat-mitzvahs regularly occur and where soldiers are inducted. It’s the spot where ultra- and orthodox Jews come to pray—as well as many tourists—and the place of national prayer gatherings. It’s Judaism’s most sacred site.

Solomon built the original temple, and the Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BC. After the Jews’ return from exile, Zerubbabel helped rebuild the temple. Herod the Great greatly expanded it in the first century BC—though the construction continued into the first century—decades after Herod’s death. The stones visible in the tunnel tour date from Herod’s time and represent the western section of the massive retaining wall that supported the base of the Second Temple. But these treasures weren’t always visible.

Nineteenth century scholars struggled to understand the dimensions of the Western Wall. Between 1864 and 1870, British explorers Charles Wilson and Charles Warren discovered the area just north of today’s prayer plaza; an arch and a gate were named after each of them, respectively. Wilson’s Arch looms twenty-five feet above the ground—though the original height was closer to seventy-five feet. The arch covers a large room where Jewish men can study and pray beside the Western Wall.

As our group made its way in the Tunnel Tour, along the full length of the Wall—a total of 1500 feet—we observed bits of archaeology from the first century. Descending some steps we came to a massive stone that represents part of the “master course” of stones. One of these stones measures forty-four feet long, ten feet high, and more than twelve feet deep. Weighing in at 570 tons, it remains the largest of its kind in the Middle East. Every first-timer’s jaw drops when he or she sees it. Mine still drops.

A brief video presentation explained how first-century workers maneuvered the massive stones into place through a system of pulleys. Simply a marvel of engineering.

Traveling parallel with the Western Wall, hands rubbed the stones that bore Herod’s signature relief along its edges. Plexiglas flooring allowed us a peek at the aqueduct that ran underground, with the ceiling of the tunnel now high above us. The tour dead-ended at the Strouthian Pool, beneath the site of the Antonia Fortress. The pool’s name means “lark,” because, like the tiny bird, the pool(s) represented the smallest public pools in Jerusalem at that time.

I can’t imagine a better use of time after the sun goes down.

Echoes from the Place of Trumpeting

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 7

When we visited the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, I walked to the southwest corner of the Temple Mount. There, excavations have uncovered a portion of the first-century street that stretched north along the original Western Wall.

One hundred meters north of the corner, the Kotel represents a portion of the Western Wall for Jews and tourists to pray. Beneath the ground of the Kotel, Jerusalem’s Central Valley has been filled in with the rubble of the Second Temple’s destruction in A.D. 70. As a result, the beautiful modern plaza stands about nine meters above the first-century street uncovered at the southwestern corner.

The excavations near the corner include a ten-meter wide street that was laid with stone slabs, some a foot thick. Standing on the street today, it isn’t hard to imagine the Romans hurling the massive temple stones from above, literally crushing and pressing the pavement blocks into the ground. Archaeologists have removed most of the rubble, but they left one pile of stones just as they found them—the street still depressed from the force of the impact. This fulfills Jesus’s promise that the temple would be destroyed with “not one stone here will be left upon another” (Matthew 24:2).

One of the main reasons I love this corner of the Temple Mount is because of one particular stone that lies on the street far below where it originally stood. Shaped as a corner, the stone bears the Hebrew inscription: “To the place of trumpeting.”

This stone represented the pinnacle of the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, the place where priests would stand and overlook Jerusalem as they blew trumpets to announce the Sabbath and the start of festival days. The Feast of Trumpets especially relates to this act: “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD’” (Leviticus 23:24–25; see also Numbers 29:1–6).

The Feast of Trumpets prepares the way for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. The trumpets originally were intended to call God's people together in preparation for the fall festival of Yom Kippur—where the LORD would forgive sins on the basis of shed blood. “Blow the trumpet at the new moon,” Asaph wrote, “At the full moon, on our feast day” (Psalm 81:3).

When I visited a Jerusalem shop, I saw a long, beautiful shophar—the horn from a ram. The merchant pressed it to his lips and released a long blast followed by a half-dozen short ones. Nothing sounds like the shophar—especially when blown in Jerusalem. It sounded marvelous!

Hearing the shophar echo across Jerusalem takes my mind in several directions. I think of the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount and the opening line from the song, “Yerushalaim Shel Zahav,” which says, “A shophar calls out on the Temple Mount in the Old City . . .” I try to imagine the priests of old standing at the pinnacle of the temple, calling God’s people to worship at the High Holidays. I also think about the renewal and rededication the holidays required. Moreover, I consider the grace that the shophar’s call represents—urging worshippers to come before the LORD who forgives sins on the basis of the sacrifice God required (Leviticus 16:30).

Jesus, the final sacrifice for our sins, will call His church to Himself one day with the trumpet call of God. Today in Jerusalem would be a perfect time to do that!

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Jesus Walked these Steps

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 6

We had church this morning on the steps of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. How great is that?

Fewer places give the sense of the time of Jesus like the Southern Steps excavations. In fact, because it is forbidden to dig on the Temple Mount itself, this area immediately south of the mount offers important archaeology to help unpack the history of the Temple Mount during the first century.

We sat on the 200-foot wide flight of stairs that represent both original and restored steps from the Second Temple period. Millions of sandals shuffled up these steps in antiquity, as Jewish pilgrims came from all Israel to worship the Lord for the annual feasts. Three times a year worshipers would enter the Temple from these steps, after a customary cleansing in the nearby ritual baths, or mikvot.

That means Jesus walked these steps. These steps!

These pilgrimages were required by God, as written by the hand of Moses: “Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed” (Deuteronomy 16:16).

At the top of the Southern Steps, at the far east of the stairway, stands a triple gate—today closed with stones. This gate served as a primary entrance into a subterranean tunnel that ascended into the Temple Courts. At the far west of the broad staircase, a double gate stood—today only a portion of this gate and its lintel can been seen. This gate represented an exit, and the stairway below it—with their alternating wide and narrow steps—offered a place for teaching, for visiting, or for a simple descent.

I like to ponder the psalms that the pilgrims of old would recite from memory. These Psalms of Ascents (Psalms 120-134) stirred up critical reminders of basic themes in a believer’s life. Reminders of faith, forgiveness, family, children, peace, hope, brotherhood, sacrifice, and right attitudes toward God and people. Indeed we need to hear these themes often.

Built into the first-century Jewish culture was the necessity of reminders and repetition—the need of rehearsing truth when the Roman world around them countered God’s Word at every step.

We need those reminders as well.

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A Place for Happy Explorers

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 5

Today at Beth-shan, we saw the largest, and some of the best-preserved ruins in all of Israel.

In 1896, George Adam Smith wrote of Tel Beth-shan: “There are few sites which promise richer spoil beneath their rubbish to the first happy explorer with permission to excavate.” A century later, the happy explorers proved Smith correct. From 1989 to 1996, archaeologists partially excavated the ruins below the tell. As a result, walking among the ruins today felt like stepping back in time.

Tel Beth-shan appears as a huge hill, bulging eighty meters high (260 feet) from the eastern end of the Harod Valley, with over a dozen layers of occupation beneath its topsoil. The steep climb to the top of the tell offers an impressive panorama of the Roman-Byzantine city, as well as the Jordan Valley to the east, and the Harod Valley and Mount Gilboa to the west.

The most impressive ruins discovered in Beth-shan come from the Roman and Byzantine times. The colonnade along the original Byzantine street is nothing short of spectacular. Archeologists have discovered, among many finds, an amphitheater where gladiators fought, a public bathhouse—the largest discovered in Israel—and a theater that could seat between 6,500 and 7,000 people.

During the reign of King Saul, the Philistines controlled Beth-shan. The army of Israel fought the Philistines on nearby Mount Gilboa, and King Saul and his sons were killed. Their bodies hung in effigy on the walls of nearby Beth-shan until Hebrews from Jabesh-gilead recovered them (1 Samuel 31).

As our entire tour group sat in the theater, Reg Grant portrayed one of these brave Hebrews who reclaimed Saul’s body from the wall. Chuck Swindoll gave a message on King Saul, which challenged each of us to evaluate our lives for spiritual erosion.

Standing the shadow of the place where Saul died reminded me that God alone provides the necessary strength for overwhelming situations—even in circumstances as crushing as death.

Walking among the ruins of Beth-shan is simply stunning. It allows any visitor to be, in George Adam Smith’s words, a “happy explorer.” As many times as I come here, I always look forward to returning.

Tomorrow . . . Jerusalem!

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Providential Ironies at Tel Dan

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 4

Sometimes Israel’s archaeology offers marvelous vindications to its history. Tel Dan offers a great example.

Today, our tour group followed the gravel pathways of the ancient site of Tel Dan to a large, rock wall—a city gate that dates from the time of Solomon’s temple. Likely built by King Ahab in the ninth century BC, this Iron Age entrance helped to fortify the city of Dan.

And for good reason. The ninth and early-eighth centuries saw many battles between the kingdom of Israel and the expanding kingdom of Aram.

In the courtyard of Dan’s gate complex, archaeologists unearthed sections of a large engraved stone—an ancient basalt stele. Its Aramaic text reveals the boasting of an Aramean king who erected the stele to commemorate his military victory at Dan. No doubt, a later Israelite king smashed the stele and buried it outside the gate where archaeologists dug it up it in 1993 and 1994.

The celebrated Dan Stele (we’ve affectionately dubbed it “Steely Dan”) specifically mentions a triumph over the “House of David.” Today, I saw where it was found. This phrase represents the only mention of King David’s dynasty outside of the Bible. The stele—which dates to about one hundred years after David’s death—remains problematic for scholars who deny that David ever existed. But here is proof.

Prior to the stele’s composition, King Jeroboam of Israel’s northern kingdom attempted to dissuade his fellow Israelites from returning to worship in Jerusalem by building an alternative place of worship in Dan.

But here’s the irony: Tel Dan actually served to validate the existence and importance of the “House of David” through the inscription discovered there. An additional paradox arises when we realize that an enemy of the Hebrews inscribed the stone!

In other words, the site that Jeroboam intended to minimize David’s dynasty eventually ended up vindicating it.

What providential irony. Isn’t that just like God?

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Seeing Beauty that Illustrates Truth

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 3

The picturesque view from the Mount of Beatitudes offers visitors more than simply something to see.

Our bus tugged up the incline toward the “mount” and took a few hairpin turns that snaked back and forth. Once on top, the road curved east and rewarded us with a marvelous view of a church that gazed out over thirteen miles across the Sea of Galilee.

The beautiful chapel supports a cross with a stained dome that towers over its structure made of gray cinder blocks. The building’s eight sides commemorate the eight “beatitudes” that began Jesus’ celebrated sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:3-10). The Mount of Beatitudes marks the traditional location of the sermon.

Thick Saint Augustine grass spread out below numerous palm trees and surrounded colorful flowerbeds. Tidy gardens descended to a small, covered, semicircular sitting area that overlooks the lake.

Here Chuck Swindoll gave a message on the Beatitudes and we sang songs of praise to God. It’s a great place to sit, read, pray—or just enjoy the view.

And the view? Stunning. In fact, Jesus drew upon the splendor of the verdant slopes to illustrate a point in his sermon:

“Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you?” (Matthew 6:28–31).

The view from the Mount of Beatitudes provides a beautiful portrait of the Sea of Galilee. But it offered even more. The lovely surroundings afforded each of us a tranquil place to meditate on the truths that Jesus taught there. Away from the noise of traffic and the distractions of everyday life, there is still the beauty that illustrates truth.

More than simply a picturesque view of the lake, the place offers a perspective on living. That’s seeing a lot further than thirteen miles.

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Caesarea, Mount Carmel, and a Great Question

Insight for Living Tour of Israel — Day 2

Today, we officially began our tour with some very sleepy pilgrims (America is 7-10 hours off!).

Yesterday we saw Israel’s Old Testament port, Joppa, and today we visited Caesarea—the port used in the time of Jesus and the Apostles.

In the first century, Caesarea enjoyed a constant flow of people with money to burn (sort of like today, I guess). The bustling seaport featured all the usual touches of Roman culture—including a vast entertainment industry for the masses that frequented the city.

We sat in the ancient, massive theater built for 3500 spectators and overlooked the ocean. Chuck Swindoll spoke to us here about the Apostle Paul’s trials. Reg Grant portrayed King Herod Agrippa I. According to the historian Josephus, Agrippa stood to address the throng that gathered there and that hailed him as a god, and the Lord struck him down because he did not give glory to God (see Acts 12:20-23 and (see Josephus, Antiquities 19.8.2). Thankfully, all of us on the tour left the theater alive.

Our next stop found us atop Mount Carmel beholding a stunning view of the surrounding area. When I stood on the balcony of the monastery of Muhraqa, a glance below the balcony revealed the traditional area from which Muhraqa gets its name—“the place of burning.”

The slope of trees and rocks gave stage to the Prophet Elijah’s showdown against the prophets of Baal, as recorded in 1 Kings 18. In a dazzling display of authority and vindication, fire fell from heaven and licked up Elijah’s sacrifice—as well as the altar and its surrounding trenches of water! Not surprisingly, the people then turned to God.

The question Elijah asked here still moves me: “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21).

Great question.

Tomorrow . . . the Sea of Galilee!

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Joppa and the Long Highway

Insight for Living Tour of Israel -- Day 1

It’s hard to believe just yesterday I was in America.

Today’s transportation system requires little more than a basic understanding of road signs and airline gates (which I somehow still seem to miss). That’s why most of us failed geography. Who needs it?

But in ancient Israel geography was critical. Today I saw one reason why.

Our hotel in Tel Aviv sits right next to ancient Joppa (think Jonah and Peter). In fact, a short walk down the beach took us there.

The Egyptians’ ancient rubble in Joppa reminded me of why foreign powers all wanted to control Israel. The land of Israel sat in an amazingly strategic position as the only intercontinental land bridge between the superpowers of the ancient world. The strategic International Highway—sometimes called the Great Trunk Road or the Via Maris (“Way of the Sea”)—ran the full length of the land of Israel.

This vast artery of transport stretched from the Fertile Crescent all the way to Egypt. Israel stood at the crossroads of three continents—Asia, Africa, and Europe—and the surrounding seas and desert forced all who traveled to Egypt by land to traverse Israel. In addition to Egypt, the armies of Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome all invaded Israel in order to control its International Highway. Israel remained for millennia the crossroads for international imperialism, war, and trade.

The ancient port of Joppa

Even today, Israel serves as the overland passageway for large, high-flying birds that prefer not to migrate over the seas. Literally hundreds of thousands of black and white storks, steppe and spotted eagles, black kites, steppe and honey buzzards, and Levant sparrow hawks soar over the Holy Land in their biannual migrations to and from east Africa. No wonder bird watching remains a popular activity in Israel.

When foreigners traveled through Israel during biblical days, God’s people would either influence them or be swayed by them. Because of this influence, Israel’s central position among the nations proved to be a double-edged sword.

God lamented that Jerusalem’s general placement as “the center of the nations,” had borne no fruit of obedience (Ezekiel 5:5). Ironically, God’s people had been swayed by the very nations He intended them to influence.

What a great reminder that we have to guard the critical points of entry into our lives.

Starting with our hearts.

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Headed to Israel

In just a few days, Cathy and I will help lead another trip to Israel with Insight for Living.

I'll be blogging daily along our journey. To get daily posts and pictures, follow me on Twitter or subscribe to this blog.

After going to Israel so many times, I have to be honest . . . it never gets old.

Why? Because seeing the places where biblical events occurred helps me understand the words of Scripture like little else can.

For many who will join us on our tour with Insight for Living, this trip will be their first to Israel. What a treasure awaits them!

My request of you? Please pray for us.

Specifically, for:

• Good health and adequate rest
• Safe travel . . . alert bus drivers . . . agreeable Israeli guides
• Excellent weather
• Opportunities to share Christ with those who may not know Him
• God’s grace for Chuck Swindoll as well as for those of us who will be teaching at various sites. (I’ll be serving as the Bible teacher on Bus 2.)

In addition to following the daily posts on my blog, you can also subscribe to Insight for Living’s Video Blog. There you will see posts and/or video from each day’s touring . . . as well as candid interviews and photos of folks taking the journey with us.

Shalom . . . and thank you for praying! 

Nothing More than Feelings?

Feelings alone. How often they lead us!  

I don’t feel good about this. Am I comfortable with this direction? I don’t have a peace about this decision.  

True, the Spirit of God can guide through somewhat subjective means—but never in contradiction to biblical principles.

Although our feelings are real, they may not represent reality. And even if what we feel does have some connection to reality, it is never all of reality.

We see life from a limited perspective, so we need to resist the assumption that because we feel something strongly, it’s true. Don’t confuse true feelings for truth.

When the Father spun the earth into orbit millennia ago, He knew we would need a guide to lead us through the deceptions of Satan and the maze of our feelings. Obedience is that guide.

If we could see life from God’s perspective, we would realize that the obedient way is the best way—not just the moral way, but the best way (the two are always the same, but it still helps to say so). The obedient path is the life we want because it always follows the big picture God sees.

I echo Paul’s concern when he wrote, “I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).

Always ask yourself, What does the Bible say about this decision? What is the obedient way?
Make it a habit to evaluate your feelings through the grid of God’s Word.

And when there is a contradiction, betray your feelings. Don’t follow your heart. Don’t lean on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). Maintain a “pure and simple devotion to Christ.” Even when it means humbling yourself. Even when you have to stand alone to do it. Even when it requires you facing your most morbid fear.

Do it.

Remember that following your feelings can lead you into places that will make you feel much, much worse.

Images by John Beal [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons and by David Wood (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The Life We’re Looking For

Most people live for dreams. It’s a quest, really.

Clinging to ideals of how life could and should be, they chase those dreams like a carrot on a stick. Always within reach, but never gotten.

I guess we’re all wired to pursue the ideal. The world calls it following “your heart,” and we Christians refer to it as “the will of God.” But in truth, we generally settle for nothing less than our version of how life ought to be.

Any search for the ideal needs only to look at Eden to see the futility of that pursuit. Adam and Eve lived in paradise—literally. Think about it. They had an unspoiled environment, the perfect spouse, a great occupation, plenty of food, and an easy decision of what to wear each day—nothing! They lived without a care in the world—with no sin to mar their motives. It was ideal in every sense of the word.

But along with everything idyllic, deep within their hearts resided the possibility of discontent. Understand, this possibility wasn’t sin—but it represented a necessary potential in their relationship with God. Because they could sin, it meant their worship of God originated from their wills—not from their reflexes. They chose to obey—or not.

In other words, an ideal life had nothing to do with what went wrong. In the midst of perfection, they chose to sin. Their circumstances were irrelevant.

That’s important to remember as we follow God’s plan for our lives. Even in the midst of His will for us, there will be snakes. Temptation will come. Finding the ideal doesn’t mean finding utopia. Our career won’t make life all we want it to be. Neither will a husband, or a family, or a house, or a church. That’s the lie of the devil echoing from Eden.

That’s the futility of chasing the ideal.

The ideal life we’re searching for is really not what we want. That is, if we could see the big picture. God sees all. God has all wisdom. God’s will for us stems from His love for us. That’s why He gives us the life we get, not the life we want.

As in Eden, our circumstances are secondary to our wills. Our challenge is to cling to what God says even when everything within us feels tempted to run the other way.

Although it seldom feels so, obedience is the ideal life we’re seeking.


Images by Nevit Dilmen and Buch-t via Wikimedia Commons.

Does the Devil Make You Do It?

More than thirty years ago Flip Wilson kept America in stitches with his television characters “Reverend Leroy,” the friendly, pompous pastor of the “Church of What’s Happening Now,” and “Geraldine Jones,” the sassy African-American woman in a miniskirt.

Whenever Geraldine would impulsively buy a dress—or do anything she shouldn’t—she excused her urge by blurting the line she made famous, “The Devil made me do it!”

America laughed at Geraldine for her obviously lame excuse. In fact, to say, “The Devil made me do it,” became the rage all over the country.

A widespread theology exists that seems to be a strange mix between Reverend Leroy and Geraldine. We find ministries with leaders who point to the Devil and his imps for the sins that plague us. For example, one very radical ministry told a Christian woman who visited them that her problems came from a “legion” of demons within her, and in order to get rid of them, she needed to vomit them out right there in church! Others are told they have a “spirit of divorce,” a “spirit of lust,” “neglect,” or “procrastination.” These spirits are blamed for people’s sins, and the solution to these sins then becomes casting out the spirit causing them. Geraldine would be proud.

Frequently the Bible uses the word “spirit” to refer to a demon, often attaching a descriptive word or phrase such as “unclean spirit” (Mark 1:23), “evil spirit” (Acts 19:12-13), “spirit of infirmity” (Luke 13:11), and “deaf and mute spirit” (Mark 9:25). Words such as “unclean” and “evil” describe the nature of the spirit itself. But phrases like “spirit of infirmity” and “deaf and mute spirit” describe the particular affliction the spirits cause.

Unfortunately, many people launch from these verses into theological error when they confuse affliction with transgression, naming a demon after their sin.

The Bible never describes the work of demons in the lives of believers directly in terms of immorality. In other words, to say a believer has a “spirit of lust”—as if his real problem is a demon—assumes something the Bible never teaches. The demonic realm can influence a believer’s morality. However, God’s Word describes demonic influence in a believer’s life not as “possession”—or even “oppression”—but primarily as temptation.

So, how should we respond to temptation? We must know and hold fast to the Word of God. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, the Devil again tried to muddle God’s Word, as he did with the woman in the garden. But Jesus not only knew the Scripture, He clung to it—and sent the Devil packing (Matthew 4:1-11).

The best way to counter temptation’s tug is to choose to do what’s right. James 4:7 gives the strategy, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” A number of other great verses include: Ephesians 6:10-18; 1 John 4:4; Matthew 6:13; Matthew 26:41; Romans 6:1-14; Galatians 5:16; 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Mark it down as a fact: We will always struggle with temptation in this life. But God has not left us alone in the struggle. We cannot cast out temptation. But we can resist.

We have a great opportunity to glorify Christ by responding with faithfulness in the face of every evil enticement.


Taken from Wayne Stiles, “The Devil Made Me Do It?” Insights (July 2005): 1-2. Copyright © 2005 by Insight for Living. All rights reserved worldwide. Snake photo by Ltshears. "The Temptation of Christ" painting by Ary Scheffer, 1854. Public domain. 

Blame-Shifting our Blunders

I love the scene in the movie Jaws where two snorkeling boys with a cardboard fin scared the bejeebers out of a bunch of bathers.

“It’s not my fault!” one boy confessed to the police. Then he pointed to his friend, “He made me do it!”

Finger pointing is hard-wired into our hearts. In fact, it started early in human history. Like, really early.

In the Garden of Eden, God confronted the first man and woman after they sinned, and their reaction set the course for an entire race of blame-shifters.

The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12-13).

So . . . the devil made her do it?

Adam blamed his wife (and God). The woman blamed the serpent. It’s always easier to point the finger at someone or something else when we sin. We even add influences like genetics and environment (“Genetics made me do it!”) to our arsenal of excuses.

While these may play a part in influencing us—along with demons—the final decision to sin lies squarely on our shoulders. In spite of the Devil’s initiative, God held Adam and Eve responsible for their own sins. The Devil enticed them, without a doubt, but he did not make them do it.

God’s solution to their sin did not come by blaming Satan. Instead God elicited a confession from the sinners, “I ate,” and provided a sacrificial death on their behalf, removing their shame (Gen. 3:21).

Nothing has changed.

God’s plan for removing our guilt involves removing the sin that caused it—not removing some “spirit of (insert your sin here).”

In other words, when we recognize our sin and receive God’s provision through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, we have the forgiveness we craved when we used to blame-shift to somebody else.


Taken from Wayne Stiles, “The Devil Made Me Do It?” Insights (July 2005): 1-2. Copyright © 2005 by Insight for Living. All rights reserved worldwide. Eve picture by Deror avi.

Truths as Lasting as their Settings

At the base of Mount Gilboa in Israel, a spring still flows today as it has for millennia. Green grass, a swimming pool, and beautiful picnic spots surround the spring that takes its name from the valley that spreads before it.

Ein Harod, or sometimes called, “Gideon’s Spring,” represents the place where Gideon selected his three hundred men to fight the armies of Midian. (I always remember Gideon fought Midian because their names rhyme.)

Not surprisingly, the Lord gave Israel a great victory—and strengthened Gideon’s faith.

Years later, a fearful King Saul failed to learn the lesson Gideon had acquired in the same area. On the northern side of the Hill of Moreh, the city of Endor had a resident medium that Saul visited in a frantic attempt for supernatural information. Surprising even the medium, God revealed through the Prophet Samuel that Saul would die the next day (1 Samuel 28).

The army of Israel fought the Philistines on Mount Gilboa, and King Saul and his sons were killed. Their bodies hung in effigy on the walls of nearby Beth-shan until Hebrews from Jabesh-gilead recovered them (1 Samuel 31).

Centuries later, the southern side of the Hill of Moreh saw the Prophet Elisha raise the dead son of a woman from Shunem (2 Kings 4).

In the first century, Jesus raised a widow’s son on the north side of the hill in a town called Nain (Luke 7:11-17). (I keep the location of the sites around the Hill of Moreh straight by remembering a simple alliteration: Nain-north and Shunem-south.)

How interesting that two sets of desperate situations occurred in the same area. For Gideon and Saul, it was tremendous odds in battle at Gilboa. For Elisha and Jesus, it was the death of a mother’s son beside the Hill of Moreh.

In every instance, the lessons pointed to the same principle: God alone provides the necessary strength for overwhelming situations—even in circumstances as crushing as death.

The Harod Valley, the Hill of Moreh, and Mount Gilboa seem as beautiful and ageless today as in the days of the Bible. Geography doesn’t change.

I find it fascinating how the lessons taught in these places offer truths as enduring as the beautiful settings in which they occurred.

Images courtesy of Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com.

Waiting in a Weary Land

One of my favorite places to visit in Israel is the Judean Wilderness.

Because this wasteland sits almost completely unchanged from biblical days, I found it easy—even eerie—to gaze across the landscape and ponder that men such as Joshua, David, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus saw these hills almost exactly as I was seeing them.

During one of the most desperate times of David’s life, the one who was the anointed future king of Israel found himself running as a renegade in the very land over which he would one day rule.

Pursued by the jealousy of King Saul, David took refuge in the Wilderness of Judah. Here David prayed, “My flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

David wasn’t kidding about the land. It consisted of endless piles of rocks, steep hills, no trees, meager vegetation, little water, slight shade, and lizards. As far as my eye could see, it was empty, dry, and depressing.

But, the remoteness of the Judean wilderness offered an ideal hideaway. Throughout the Scriptures, this wilderness is often described as a place both of escape and of spiritual solitude. Why? Because no one would want to follow you there!

The “dry and weary land” served as a backdrop for David’s own weariness. And the lack of water around him illustrated an even deeper thirst he felt: 

“My soul thirsts for You” (Psalm 63:1). 

At the height of his emotional and physical distress, David sought refuge in his spiritual life. He yearned for God.

During the many years that David fled from Saul, God also used this wilderness to shape David’s character through the discipline of waiting on Him.

The Lord does the same in our lives, doesn’t He? God often allows the weary circumstances to compel us finally to do what we should have done at the beginning: surrender all control to God.

The unchanging landscape of the Judean Wilderness reminds me of God’s unchanging commitment to shape our lives as believers to resemble the life of His Son.

With that as our goal, isn’t the weary wilderness He leads us through worth it?





Adapted from Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, Calif.: Regal Books, 2006); and from Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus: A Journey through the Lands and Lessons of Christ (Ventura, Calif.: Regal Books, 2008). Used by permission.

Most of Life is Gaps

The Bible doesn’t tell us everything. Not even close.

Oh, to be sure, it tells us all we need to know. But it leaves out most of the details that scratch our curious itches. What did Jesus look like? Was Nehemiah bowlegged? Did Martha have a sidesplitting laugh? Was David more handsome than Brad Pitt?

We’ll never know.

That’s because when we read the Scriptures, we see selected events. Even in the cases of individuals whose births and deaths are recorded—like Samuel or Samson or even Jesus—we read only of certain incidents. The Bible never shows the entire life of anybody.

Think about when someone asks you your own life story. What do you tell? No one has the time—and honestly, no one cares—to hear all the details of your Jr. High School experience. When asked, you give just the highlights. Most likely, that’s all you remember anyway.

Occasionally, though, we encounter individuals who do remember the details. All of them. They drivel on about the color of the tablecloth, and the fact that Uncle Bob is related to Holly’s cousin by marriage, and the day and time Junior lost his tooth, etcetera, and so on. During these insufferable eternities of listening, we find ourselves alternating between squirming in our seats, checking our watches, or praying for a fire drill. It would be a great time for the Rapture.

Because time and especially patience are limited, most people really appreciate the bottom line. Frankly, I’m grateful the Bible gives it.

But that can pose a problem for us. Because the biblical narratives usually only reflect the turning points, we tend to see biblical lives as nothing but non-stop action. One only has to read the book of Ruth or the life of Paul to see God’s providence very involved in their lives. It’s exciting stuff.

Our lives, by comparison, seem, well—dull. We’ll go for years without a significant event!

We’ll think, God, why aren’t you working in my life like you did in biblical days? As result, we may assume God is angry with us, or that He sees us as insignificant, or we may even doubt our salvation.

We need to remember that between significant biblical events lay large gaps of time—weeks, months, years, and sometimes, even centuries.

Even though the Bible omits the gaps, most of life is lived in the gaps between great moments. The peaks in life seem to surface after miles and miles of valleys.

While the Bible reveals its characters in terms of their high points, we, on the other hand, tend to evaluate our lives by the lousy week we just slogged through. We read the Bible intellectually, but we evaluate our lives emotionally.

Sometimes that disconnect seems huge.

Remembering the gaps remains essential if we hope to maintain a life of faith, as well as to discern God’s hand in our lives.

Gaps are normal. Even Jesus’ life had gaps—huge ones. We need to accept the gaps as God’s will.

Most of life is gaps.


Image of bored hand by Emiichann. 

Finding God's Will This Year

There is only one way you’ll know God's will for you this year.

Read your Bible.

But more important than knowing God’s will is choosing to walk in it. A tough assignment.

From the first verse of Scripture, God revealed how the Earth set the stage for the divine drama of history to take place (see Gen. 1:1). From its formless, void beginning, the Lord fashioned the Earth with intent in its details. From this ground, God made physical man a spiritual being in His image (see Genesis 1–2).

The Lord planted two trees in the Garden of Eden (see Gen. 2:8–9). Adam’s physical need required him to make a spiritual choice: From which tree would he eat? Would he obey God’s command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

God originally inspired the book of Genesis for a people about to enter yet another land God prepared. That land would hold the direst of geographical conditions, placing them in a situation similar to Adam’s. Would they obey God’s commands? “I have set before you life and death,” God would tell them, “So choose life” (Deut. 30:19).

Centuries later, Jesus also found Himself facing the same temptation in this barren land—and He clung to God’s Word (see Matt. 4:1–10).

Either the Bible will keep you away from sin, or sin will keep you away from the Bible. —C. S. Lewis

Whether in Eden or Canaan or California, our decision remains the same. The land where we live—be it lush or desolate—is the stage on which we display God’s glory. Regardless of our location or influences, God gives us a choice each day from which tree to eat. In every case, life or death comes from our response to God’s Word.

As you commit to spending time in the Bible, commit also to obeying what your Creator reveals each day: “For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life” (Deut. 32:47).

A prayer for reflection:

My Creator, whatever place I find myself this year, my duty remains the same: to choose life by obedience to whatever You teach me in Your Word and thus display Your image wherever You take me in Your world. I devote to You this year . . . and this day. Be glorified in it, O God.

Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), p. 23. Used by permission.

Dealing with Holiday Loneliness

It’s true. For many people, the holidays draw up painful memories.

Sore spots from childhood or the loss of loved ones hit them hard during this sentimental season. While many people celebrate the joys of Christmastime, others suffer its loneliness.

During one of the most desperate times of David’s life, the anointed future king of Israel found himself running from two separate enemies—hardly a time to celebrate.

With the Philistines to the west and King Saul to the east, a distressed David sought refuge in the cave of Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1–2).

From all human perspectives, David was alone.

He expressed how he felt in the form of a prayer:

For there is no one who regards me. . . .
No one cares for my soul. (Psalm 142:4)

But David also said,

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
You knew my path." (Psalm 142:3)

In Hebrew, the word You stands emphatic, meaning only God truly understood David’s pain. From the depths of this cave, David cried aloud, “You are my refuge” (Psalm 142:5).

David’s words illustrate the tension between anguish of soul and dependence on God. Desperate aloneness often feels like a prison—as it did to David. Desperate thoughts and actions often follow.

But when we feel overwhelmed and lonely, we can remember that the Lord is present and is “intimately acquainted with all [our] ways” (Psalm 139:3). Regardless how we feel, God’s Word promises this is true.

He has not left us alone.

David models for us that the lonely seasons are the times to seek refuge in God through prayer. They’re not the times to seek the world’s solutions. The Lord often teaches us during these struggles by removing everything but Himself—a truth David affirmed: “You are all I really want in life” (Psalm 142:5 NLT).

So when we feel alone—and I mean really, really alone—we must cling to the Lord’s promises that He will never abandon us . . . never fail us . . . and never forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8; Matthew 28:20; John 14:18).

Loneliness is God’s call for us to draw near to Him.
 

Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), 131. Used by permission. Picture by Roger Gilbertson.

Red Light, Green Light

A few Decembers ago, my jaw dropped as I calculated how much I had spent on tolls that year. This painful revelation forced me to reexamine my commute. I decided to take the access road to work each morning instead of the highway.

But I discovered I pay either way. I pay in time or in money. In angst or in cash. Unfortunately, I seem to have more of time.

I pay my time at stoplights.

After two years of navigating stoplights and memorizing their patterns, I have concluded that someone, somewhere, is laughing at me behind some camera.

As I sit at the empty intersection (with no cross-traffic), I observe all these cameras and sensors with enough technology to catch me when I run the light, but not enough know-how to help me through the light in a timely manner.

The worst is when the stale green light turns yellow and then stops me with no one coming the other way. It seems the technicians who installed the street sensors cross-wired the lights so that my stoplight changes to RED when I drive up. “Here comes Wayne; let’s make him wait!”

So I stop. I have stopped just to stop. Dead silent. No cross-traffic. No one around. It’s just me and this long red light—and seven cameras pointing my direction, daring me to cross the line. I imagine some officer somewhere observing me through the camera, laughing at the poor idiot sitting at the light for no reason.

But there has to be a reason, I reason. Maybe I’m stopped at this light because on the other side of town somewhere a light is green and someone else is cruising through. Maybe my light is red so that their light can be green. I have to believe that there is a reason for the red light. A good reason, that is.

As I sit there morning after morning (saving money, remember), I have lots of time to think.

I realize how my morning routine at the stoplights feels like my morning quiet times with God. Most of the time, all I see are the systems in place to catch me running the light, but I recognize very few signals that God is helping me move forward. It’s like that game we played as kids—Red Light Green Light. As soon as we start to inch forward, God spins around and shouts, “Red Light!”

But because I trust God, I have to believe that waiting in the dark with no cross traffic serves a purpose. I can see no reason not to move forward—except for this light. So I wait.

Waiting on God usually means hanging on until He changes our circumstances—be they relational, financial, physical, or even spiritual. But God seldom seems in a hurry.

At all.

What. So. Ever.

Instead, He often allows the circumstances to stay the same—or even to worsen—while He waits on us to change.

So . . . both God and we are in a waiting game, idling in neutral until someone moves first. We want God to change situations. God wants us to change in them. We want relief. God wants repentance. We want happiness. God wants holiness. We want pleasure. God wants piety. God always wins in this game.

In the end, if we really knew the big picture, we too would want what God wants for us—and in the exact way He wants it to occur. Our pain often blinds us to that reality. We only see the red light. God sees the purpose—His good and loving purpose—for the delay.

And although we cannot understand why the light is there, we do know what the red light means.

It means to wait. For now, that’s all we need to understand.


Picture by Jacklee and Oden.

A Smarting Pain . . . and Change

Not long ago, my body gave me a little gift. I awoke suddenly one night with a smarting pain in my lower back. No matter how I fidgeted and adjusted, the hurt only intensified.

The best way I can describe the discomfort compares to having a doctor insert a three-inch hypodermic needle just to the left of the spine, exactly where the kidney sits. Occasionally, just for fun, the doc then twists the needle in a slow, clockwise motion. The pain literally nauseated me.

Never before had I experienced such an inescapable ache. The most frightful part was I had no idea what was happening.

As I described the symptoms to a doctor friend of mine the following day, he said it sounded like a kidney stone. It’s probably just a kidney infection, I thought, not a kidney stone.

As a boy, I had watched my father struggle to pass a kidney stone, and it wasn’t pretty. From my perspective at that time, I thought his kidney stone was just part of being old. And since I wasn’t old . . . I was safe. Perfectly logical.

A couple of days later, I sat in the urologist’s office, staring at the educational posters on his walls that scare patients into healthy living. He came in, shook my hand, and announced in a ho-hum manner, “You have a kidney stone.”

Holding up my x-ray, he pointed to a small, delta-shaped blip between my kidney and my bladder. It looked to me like lint on the x-ray, so I asked if he was sure. He just looked at me for a moment. “Yes, and it’s as large as a raisin.”

Suddenly, I felt really old.

As he proceeded to describe my options for removing the stone, I felt like King David having to choose his method of punishment from God after David’s impetuous census (2 Samuel 24:13-14). NONE of the options sounded good. I decided, as David had, rather than placing myself in the hand of man I would fall upon the mercies of God—and see if the stone would pass on its own.

As it turns out, God’s mercies take their sweet time.

Dealing with chronic pain day after day, sometimes minute by minute, can challenge a belief in the goodness of God. Waiting for that little darling to pass made me rethink my theology of Purgatory.

After three weeks, the little monster finally was exorcised from my body.

“You need to drink more water,” the doctor told me on my follow-up visit. Uh, yes—I am convinced. “Converted” might be a better word.

The kidney stone wasn’t my problem. It only revealed it. My problem was dehydration.

Sometimes the pain we experience—be it physical, emotional, or spiritual—is just part of living in a fallen world.

But very often, pain also serves as a warning that something in our lives needs to change.


Pictures by Roger McLassus and Li-sung.

Why Problems Linger

Problems never just go away or take care of themselves, especially when God allows them in order to shape our character.

The Lord will patiently wait and permit the circumstances to compel us to do what we should have done at the beginning: surrender all control to God.

Remember Jacob? Before his sons could purchase any more grain for the famine, he was required to bring the very person Jacob had refused to release into God’s control—his youngest son, Benjamin. In Jacob’s own words, “My son shall not go down with you” (Gen. 42:38).

However, like straws loaded on a camel’s back, day after parched day of the famine finally took their toll. “If it must be so,” Jacob conceded, “take your brother also, and arise, return to the man” (Gen. 43:11-13).

The circumstances literally forced him to do what he had refused to do otherwise: trust God with his sons.

Judah reminded Jacob that they could have gone to Egypt and returned twice in the time it was taking Jacob to surrender Benjamin. Two round trips from Hebron to Egypt amounted to about 1,000 miles—or seven weeks hard travel. Jacob wasted seven weeks, only to find himself facing the same issue as he faced in the beginning.

Problems don’t just go away.

We should hold nothing as dear to us as trust in God—not money, not a position, not even a child. Ultimately, comfort cannot come from a hope that God will protect us (or our children) from pain.

Our comfort can only come from trusting that God remains in complete control for His good purposes—even in what seems the worst of circumstances.

From the example of Jacob let us learn patient endurance, should the Lord often compel us, by pressure of circumstances, to do many things contrary to the inclination of our own minds. —John Calvin

Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), 51. Used by permission. Grain photo by Fir0002 in Wikimedia. 

We Never Stay the Same

Tough circumstances of life always change our minds about God. They either force us to doubt what He’s promised, or they draw us closer to Him in faith. But we never stay the same.

Despite his difficult years spent in Egypt, Joseph gave his sons Hebrew names, which revealed his continued faith in God. In naming his firstborn “Manasseh,” Joseph gave God credit as the One who had made him forget the toil and the pain his family had brought him (Gen. 41:51). Joseph’s second son he called “Ephraim,” meaning “fruitfulness,” for Joseph said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Gen. 41:52).

But Egypt would become a land of affliction for more than just Joseph. The dreams that Joseph had interpreted for Pharaoh revealed that God intended to follow seven years of plenty in the land with seven years of famine on the land—a disaster the Nile’s generous water supply could not rise above.

Just as God earlier used natural elements to bring Joseph to Egypt, so the Lord would use the same to bring all nations to Joseph. The famine spread to Canaan, and in order to get food, Joseph’s brothers had to travel the same highway to Egypt by which they had sent Joseph 22 years earlier. God purposed to make the brothers fruitful (like Joseph) in a land of suffering, but not before He first developed faithfulness in them such as Joseph had displayed.

Just as the thread of sovereignty continued to weave through the family of Joseph, so God loops His needle through our lives and draws us close to Him. We must remember in our struggles that our duty lies outside of trying to understand God’s plan. He never asks that of us. Instead, He wants to see our trust in Him, through simple daily obedience, even in a land of affliction and confusion.

Both pain and prosperity require that we bow before God in humility, trust and dependence. Our hearts should long for faithfulness more than certain circumstances.

Faithfulness in carrying out present duties is the best preparation for the future. —Francis Fenelon

Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), 50. Used by permission. Photos courtesy of BiblePlaces.com. 

People, Pigs, and Priorities

On one occasion, two individuals approached Jesus and declared they would follow Him wherever He went.

But Jesus’ response to them indicated that their hearts were more devoted to comfort and family than to Him (Matt. 8:19-22). After Jesus and His disciples sailed east across the Sea of Galilee, they landed at modern Kursi in “the country of the Gadarenes” (Matt. 8:28).

Mark and Luke use a more general location in describing the place, citing “the country of the Gerasenes” (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26), referring to the city of Gerasa (modern Jerash), a large, Greco-Roman city some miles away from the eastern shore.

After landing in this Gentile territory, Jesus immediately encountered two men possessed by a legion of demons and cast them out of the men and into a herd of swine. When the pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned, the entire town “implored Him to leave their region” (Matt. 8:34).

The people felt more concern over the loss of their livelihood than the restoration of the men who were possessed. Like the Jews across the lake, these Gentiles held other things as more important than following Jesus.

While we probably would never admit to having a higher priority in pigs than in people, our commitments to comfort and even to our family often betray a devotion that sinks to the same level (see Luke 14:26).

To love the Lord with all our hearts means that Christ should have no rivals in our life. So as we follow Christ today, let us commit to nothing before our devotion to Him— whether creature comforts, livelihood, fear, or even family ties.

Discipleship is anything that causes what is believed in the heart to have demonstrable consequences in our daily life. —Eugene Peterson

Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), 37. Used by permission. Photos courtesy of BiblePlaces.com.