Author: Kerry

When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him. . . Some people came from the house . . . “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
Mark 5:22-24,35,36

Trust Through the Tears

He lies in the dirt, clutching Jesus’ feet. Tears stream down his cheeks. “Please, Lord. It’s my daughter. I don’t want to lose her.” Jesus takes him by the hand and helps him up. “Let’s go.” But they don’t make it in time. Some of his friends meet them along the way: “It’s too late. She didn’t make it.”

Does your heart break with his? Have you been there? Overcome with pain, desperate for help. With the pain come the questions: Why? Why do I hurt so much? Why do I have to suffer? And where is God in all this?

Notice how Jesus answers that last question here. When this desperate man comes looking for help, Jesus goes with him. There is no “I don’t have time right now.” There is no questioning to see how deserving the man might be or what he has already done to try to help his daughter. Jesus just goes.

We don’t have to wonder where God is in our pain. When we come to Jesus with tears in our eyes and pains in our hearts, he gives us his undivided attention and care every single time. He shares our pain, and he cares deeply.

Now, some might think it’s foolish to ask Jesus for help. Do we sometimes even think that? He’s too busy. It’s no use. He won’t be able to do anything about it.

That’s what the messengers from that father’s house suggest. But Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Don’t fear that I can’t help. Don’t fear that I don’t care. Don’t fear that you’ve wasted your time. Trust me. Rely on me.

And Jesus goes to his house and raises his daughter from the dead. His trust was in the right place—in the only one who saves.

When life is filled with tears, trust him. You won’t be disappointed.

Prayer:
Dearest Jesus, help me to trust you in life and in death. Amen.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed . . . we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.
2 Corinthians 4:8,9,14

The Freedom that Brings Life

On July 4, 1776, the American Declaration of Independence was signed. In its prologue were these words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

American politics is full of debates and arguments about the best ways to preserve those so-called unalienable rights. But governments and politicians can’t prevent death, nor can they make us truly free or create a path to uninhibited happiness.

Today’s Bible verse describes a life that doesn’t sound very happy: “hard pressed… perplexed… persecuted… struck down.” As he writes about the Christian life, the author doesn’t promise that life will be easy and carefree—exactly the opposite. But he does seem to give some hope. He writes that, even though all those things are true, we aren’t “crushed… in despair… abandoned… destroyed.”

It may sound like a never-say-die attitude. “Don’t give up. Look on the bright side. Make the best of it.” But our confidence doesn’t come from our own determination or efforts to fight back against what threatens us and overthrow our enemies.

It comes from knowing the one who has already done that for us. “The one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus.” Jesus fought for freedom from death itself. He won that fight by overturning the cause of death—mankind’s disobedience of God’s perfect laws. By living a perfect life and dying an innocent death, he paid the price for our sins once and for all. His rising from the dead was proof that death’s claim on us was ended because our guilt was gone.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, so will we. He gives us life that never ends, liberty from guilt and the grave, and perfect happiness that lasts forever.

Prayer:
Thank you, Jesus, for all who fight for human freedoms. But most of all, thank you for fighting to set me free from death. Amen.

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
2 Corinthians 4:7

Treasure in Jars of Clay

Clay jars were very common in Bible times. They were also fragile. If they were dropped or knocked over, they would break, chip, or crack. There was no super glue, so the only thing to do with broken pottery was to throw it away.

Today’s Bible verse compares Christians to jars of clay. By ourselves, we are nothing special. We don’t live squeaky-clean lives. We have our faults and weaknesses, just like everyone else. We crack or break under pressure.

When the Bible describes us this way, here’s the point: It’s not about us. It’s not about our strength or success. It’s not about how good we look before other people. It’s what’s in the clay jars that matters, not the jars themselves.

What’s in us is a priceless treasure—the beautiful, powerful message called the gospel, the message of Jesus Christ as Lord, the message of light shattering the darkness of sin and life overcoming death because Jesus died and rose again for us sinners.

That amazing treasure makes clay jars anything but ordinary. The message of God’s forgiveness through Jesus repairs our cracks and chips and retouches our blemishes. In the treasure of Baptism, we are scrubbed clean inside and out. In the treasure of Holy Communion, we are filled with the body and blood of Jesus, along with the forgiveness that God promises that we receive with them. We, jars of clay, now stand perfect and beautiful before the heavenly potter who has formed us, lumps of clay, into works of art for his purposes.

Sometimes, people hide valuable things in plain cardboard boxes because no one would think to look there. But that’s not what God wants to happen with the treasure we have. He poured his precious message of life and love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ into clay pots like us so that we can pour it out into the lives of others. We hold the treasure, but we don’t hide it. We value the treasure, but we don’t keep it to ourselves. As ordinary as we are, we have an extraordinary purpose.

Prayer:
Jesus, pour out the treasure of your grace in me and through me. Amen.

It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:26

Worth Waiting For

Waiting is hard. In a world in which everything moves faster and faster, we expect everything to come to us quickly. It is hard to wait. What if you know what you are waiting for is worth the wait? Does that make it easier? That wedding date you’ve had circled on your calendar for over a year. That vacation you’ve planned and saved up for. That visit from loved ones you haven’t seen for a long time.

Israel’s history was a history of waiting. When Adam and Eve sinned, God promised to send his Son to crush the devil’s head. But he wouldn’t come in their lifetime. They had to wait. From Abraham to David to Jeremiah and beyond, for centuries, the people waited and waited.

We live in a time of waiting, too. Waiting for Jesus to come back and be delivered from our sorrows and suffering once and for all. When will that day come? We don’t know. Since the day Jesus ascended into heaven, God’s people have been waiting and praying, “Deliver us from evil.”

But that waiting is hard.

You know how hard it is if your health is failing, your body is weakening, and you simply want to see your Savior. “Lord, deliver me.”

You know how hard it is if you’ve had to spend another night in a hospital bed or another day struggling to make ends meet. “Lord, deliver me.”

You know how hard it is if you’ve been mocked or bullied for confessing Christ at school or work. “Lord, deliver me.”

While we wait for the Lord’s deliverance, we are tempted to grow impatient, discouraged, frustrated, and even angry with him.

But the Bible says, “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” We can come before God in humility, saying, “Lord, I don’t have the answers to life’s problems. You do. I don’t need to be in control because you are. I don’t have to worry because you love me. Lord, forgive my fears and frustration, my impatience and anger. I wait in hope for you. Because you love me and are coming to deliver me, I know you are worth waiting for.”

Prayer:
Lord, help me wait patiently for your deliverance. Amen.

Because of the LORD’S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning.
Lamentations 3:22,23

Unfailing Compassion

In an abandoned city, Jeremiah the prophet can only stare in horror at what he sees. Ruin, destruction, death, and desolation. Nothing is left. Tears well up in his eyes. A numbness settles over his heart.

They deserved it. The people of Israel turned away from the Lord. They made their heathen neighbors their allies and worshiped their gods. God’s prophets warned them, but they didn’t listen. The Babylonian army attacked Jerusalem, broke down its walls, burned down its temple, and hauled many of its citizens off to Babylon.

But, staring at the judgment that he knows he and his people deserve, Jeremiah finds hope. His confession is so beautiful. He says: “Because of the LORD‘s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” The Lord has not given up on them. His love for them is that great.

When everything around us is destroyed, the Lord’s great love is not destroyed. Even when our rebellion comes between us and the Lord, the Lord’s great love is not destroyed. Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not destroyed. His love is a shield and refuge for us in life and death.

And his compassions never fail. Just as you can count on the sun coming up every day, so can you count on God’s love and compassion day after day. God’s compassion is new for you every morning. New to heal the new wounds in your heart and life that each day brings. New to remove the new guilt that burdens your soul. New to soothe the new pains as well as those aches that just won’t go away.

Jeremiah’s mindset was not just a glass-half-full attitude that said, “It could be worse.” It was joy-filled confidence that rejoiced in a living and loving God. In his great love and unfailing compassion, God uses every trouble and tragedy to draw us back to him so that he can calm our hearts, dry our tears, and restore our relationship with him. And because God loved us enough to die for us, he has even overcome death so that we will experience his great love forever.

Prayer:
Lord, thank you for your great love and your unfailing compassion. Amen.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
2 Corinthians 4:6,7

Don’t Judge a Package by Its Cover

Have you ever given someone a present in plain paper wrapping? Why did you do it? Was it to surprise them? Did it work? To surprise someone with a special gift that they are not expecting can give an extra lift to the receiver.

Paul described a gift from God in plain paper wrapping (jars of clay) in our Bible passage. The gift was a treasure, the gospel, God’s plan of salvation for sinful mankind, which includes you and me. Ever since sin separated Adam and Eve from God, that separation has continued in all their descendants. And we can do nothing to bridge the gap between God and us. But God could, and he did! He sent his Son to live a perfect life, and then suffer and die in our place. Jesus has taken all our sins and paid for them, rising victoriously from the grave and defeating Satan for all time. This message is that treasure, the gospel, where God spells it all out for us.

And the plain paper wrapping, the jars of clay, as Paul described them? Paul was describing himself as a sinful, unworthy human, in need of the same salvation he was preaching. And that is true today. God still tells us the story of our salvation through sinful humans using the everyday language that we understand. That treasure is as powerful today as it was in Bible times. You and I have the same assurance of salvation as those who listened to Paul.

Don’t underestimate the power of what God has given us—our salvation through his Son, Jesus.

Prayer:
Thank you for gifting me the forgiveness of sins through my Savior, Jesus. Amen.

That day when evening came, [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. . . A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
Mark 4:35-41

Is Jesus Sleeping in Your Boat?

The disciples supposed that Jesus did not care if they drowned. They did not trust his love for them, nor did they have faith in his power to control wind and wave. Jesus exposed their lack of faith asking, “Why are you so afraid?”

Jesus exposes our lack of faith with the same question, “Why are we so afraid?” Do we think he is sleeping through the problems and troubles of our lives and doesn’t care? Do we think he cannot stand up in the middle of danger and disaster and say, “Be calm and be still!”

Yet there he is with his disciples in that boat on the lake in the middle of the storm. Sleeping on a pillow in back of the boat and believing God would take care of them. He spoke words filled with such power that the sea became calm and the winds stopped howling. Perfect calm.

This miracle helped the disciples learn the answer to the question, “Who is this Jesus?” “Even the wind and waves obey him.” This miracle displayed Jesus’ infinite power and teaches us how to respond to Jesus. We join the wind and waves in obeying his every word.

But this miracle also rebukes us when our weak faith wonders, “Does Jesus care?” This miracle demonstrates the boundless, limitless, and infinite love of Jesus. The quieted winds and the calmed waves testify, “Yes, he cares for you!”

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, help me wait patiently when you seem to sleep. Help me worship joyfully when you rise to save. Amen.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
Psalm 42:1

Thirst Quencher

This pastoral passage doesn’t depict a deer drinking deeply from a meandering stream in a peaceful forest. Picture, rather, an antelope wandering aimlessly in the wilderness during a time of drought. There is nothing to ease its thirst, just the hope of the slow trickle of a desert stream. Nothing else will do.

This is not a peaceful image. As we read these words, we should feel the desperation and determination of this dear animal. It is the same desperation and determination we experience during difficult days.

Just as only water will do when we are dehydrated, so only God will do when we are desperate. Why? Because God created us for himself, so only a relationship with our source of life can satisfy us.

Are you looking for love? Are you longing for a relationship? Are you doubting your worth? Are you searching for a purpose? Are you lacking contentment? The Lord, your Shepherd, supplies all you need.

He satisfies your hunger. He quenches your thirst. He gives rest to the weary. He leads the lost. He defends those in danger. He laid down his life for you to save you from your greatest enemies. And he lives to lead you to waters that well up to eternal life.

Imagine if all your needs could be taken care of with one solution. Imagine if, in all our needs, we always desired God. Think of the freedom we would have. The joy. The peace. The energy. The enthusiasm. The excitement. That’s what God provides all the time. Because in him, we have forgiveness. In him, we are family. In him, we are cared for, provided for, and protected for time and eternity.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, my soul thirsts for you. Satisfy my desires with good things. Amen.

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
Mark 4:38

Don’t You Care?

“Don’t you care?”

Jesus had spent all day caring for the needs of others. The disciples had watched him heal people who were diseased or demon-possessed. Even as night fell, people were still bringing their sicknesses to Jesus. Exhausted, Jesus told his disciples to take him across the lake where he could get some rest.

As they made their way across, a furious storm kicked up. In an instant, waves were threatening to capsize the boat. The situation was so bad that even the disciples, who were expert fishermen, feared for their lives. Jesus, however, was fast asleep.

Frantic, the disciples woke Jesus and asked, “Don’t you care about us? Save us.” They knew he could save them, but they wondered why he wasn’t.

It’s a question we easily ask, especially when we experience some sudden, unexplainable, seemingly insurmountable situation. We’ve seen others overcome similar circumstances. We expect that if God is good, he should be good to all in equal ways. But when relief doesn’t come, the frightened questions do. “God, don’t you care?”

Of course, he does. The Bible is filled, from the first page to the last, with examples of God’s loving heart and powerful hands. But nowhere is his care more evident than on the cross. Because Jesus is God, the Father counted Jesus’ death as the full payment for our sins. Jesus died to save us from death. Because he lives, he gives eternal life to all who believe in him. Just because bad things happen doesn’t mean God doesn’t care.

If God didn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself for us, is there anything he wouldn’t do for us? He will do anything to spend forever with us in the paradise he is preparing for his people. Whether in good times or bad, in plenty or want, healthy or sick, storms or calm, we are always in God’s constant, loving care. There is nothing to fear.

Prayer:
Dearest Jesus, I believe you saved me from death, help me believe that you will always care for me in life. Amen.

So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.
Acts 27:25

Take Courage

Water is powerful. With enough mass and momentum, water topples buildings.

Water is persistent. A little water over a length of time erodes rock and rusts metal.

Water is petrifying. Although our bodies are waterproof, we can drown in one inch of water.

Combine power, persistence, and petrifying in the form of a storm, and even the most experienced sailors will be terrified.

That’s the situation Paul found himself in. He was on a ship bound for Rome. A fierce wind kicked up a terrible storm. The waves were so powerful the sailors were afraid they were going to sink. The clouds were so thick they couldn’t navigate by the sun or stars. For two weeks, they were driven along by the whim of the wind. The sailors were terrified, tired, and hungry.

Despite the odds, Paul told the crew, “Keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed” (Acts 27:22). How could Paul know? What gave him such confidence? One of God’s angels told him.

When life’s trials weigh us down, it is easy to lose hope and stop trusting God. But because of what Paul experienced in the storm, he could write, “In all things God works good to them that love him who have been called according to his purpose.”

God called Paul to proclaim the message of Jesus to the pagan world. He had promised that Paul would take the gospel to Rome. And he did. For two years, Paul proclaimed the kingdom of God. And many listened and believed.

God calls each of us for the same purpose. He gives each of us the same promise. He will never leave or forsake us. Because of Jesus’ saving work, nothing can separate us from God’s love. No one will snatch you out of his hands. Even in the most trying times, God will work good for you and through you.

So, keep up your courage.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, stay with me always, especially when I’m having a bad day. Give me courage, confidence, and good cheer because you are leading me safely through life’s challenges. Amen.