December 31 – In Pursuit of Truth (Proverbs 23:22-25)

“Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.”(Proverbs 23:23)

IN WORD:
The world is full of counsel. People offer advice openly, sometimes wanted, sometimes not. Firms pay thousands — even millions, in some cases — for consultations with experts in their particular field. And it is all about predicting the future. Some circles call it “risk management.” We want to base our decisions on what is likely to happen next. Whether we are seeking a greater income, a different work, a new relationship, or any other future endeavor, we plan to succeed. We want to hedge our bets and set ourselves in security.
The problem with our plans is that they rarely get us very far. The benefits of human reasoning will not always set us on the right path. Why? Because when it comes right down to it, none of us knows what will happen in the future. We may plan and save according to all conventional counsel and yet fall flat on our faces in the end. We do not hold the future in our hands. We do not hold the will of God in our hearts. And we do not hold His wisdom in our minds. At least not at first.
That’s why we must live our lives by feeding on God’s daily bread. His Word must come to us regularly, frequently, and repeatedly. It must be driven into our minds and embraced by our hearts. At all costs, at any sacrifice, we must “buy the truth” and not sell it. The counsel of Solomon is on target. There is nothing more valuable than being able to make decisions based on the knowledge of the Omniscient.

IN DEED:
Many a movie or TV show has featured someone who got a glimpse of a future newspaper, a prophecy, or a vision. The usual plot is of thwarting disaster or becoming wealthy with such knowledge. But God does not usually reveal to us our tomorrows. He only reveals to us what we need to know to live them well.
We can’t know the future, but we can have the wisdom of the One who does. That’s just as good. It requires faith, not sight, to walk in such wisdom, but that’s the whole point. We are drawn into a living, daily relationship with the only wise God. Buy His truth, and never let it go.

“What is offered to man’s apprehension . . . Is not truth concerning God, but the living God Himself.” -William Temple-

December 30 – Majestic Wisdom (Psalm 139)

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”(Psalm 139:17)

IN WORD:
We’re amazed at the planning put into a successful event or a work of art. We can’t comprehend the talent required to write or perform a musical master piece or to dazzle spectators with precise acrobatic leaps. We’re mystified by scientific insights and the human ingenuity that has gotten us far out of our own atmosphere. We’re legitimately but easily impressed.
Yet, we rarely appreciate our Creator as much as we appreciate human accomplishment. Perhaps we’re caught up in some lie about a universe of randomness. Or maybe we’re just too overwhelmed to begin to comprehend the Creation. But dwell on the complexity of our world. Think about the amazingly intricate relationships between plant & animal, cell & atom, or galaxy & space. The complexity between all the elements in our universe is utterly staggering. The development of even one human brain — much less billions — is beyond our understanding. The mathematical regularities of creation are inexplicable to human reasoning. The codings of our DNA, our Scriptures, and our cultures all point to a dazzling, brilliant, unfathomable Intelligence. God is a Master of design.
Think about that. Our God is the Creator both of macro-majesties and micro-marvels. Scientists tell us tell us that all matter in the known universe at one time was pressed into one tiny ball of unimaginable density. The Bible tells us that God spoke, and that matter was formed and distributed by His word. It’s more than we can ever take in.

IN DEED:
But there’s more to the Creator’s purposes than this sense of awe we feel. This marvelous, master Craftsman wove us together and ordained our days. He didn’t just throw this world into being; He breathed his creativity into us. Every one of us. Individually.
Knowing that, doesn’t His every thought become our holy passion? Don’t we need to treasure His ways? Could there ever be any greater pursuit than the wisdom of God?

“The whole science of the saints consists in finding out and following God’s will.” -Isidore of Seville-

December 29 – An Intellectual Assault (Romans 9:20)

“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.” (Proverbs 21:30)

IN WORD:
Intellectual pride has been dressed up and presented charmingly throughout all generations. From the philosophies of Ancient Greece to the sophistry of modern academics, men & women have speculated about who God ought to be. There is a fine line between making honest, intellectual inquiry and raising human reasoning to be infallible, and we have crossed it often. We tag our intellectual ears with names like “The Age of Reason,” “The Enlightenment,” and other such misnomers. All the while, we forget how limited are our senses and how unreliable are our thoughts.
The assumption underlying much religious philosophy is that revelation is a myth, and if we are to know anything at all, it must be from our own investigation. That approach resigns the human race to a long, twisted path to truth that may lead us there on some occasions but will lead us far away on others. In short, it gives up on the knowable God.
The sophisticates of our age seem to think they are an intellectual match for God, challenging — even rejecting — His wisdom at nearly every point. Biblical morality? Outdated and irrelevant. The nature of God? Unbalanced and far too harsh. The identity of the church? A gross overestimation. These are the biases that have been thoroughly integrated into our culture, influencing our media and dominating our universities.

IN DEED:
Do you want to be wise? Take everything your hear with a grain of salt and cling to divine revelation. The human mind is given by its Creator to learn from Him, not to overthrow Him. Surely we must know deep within that we are ill equipped to discover truth. But the Word of god — there’s the living Truth. It is powerful and exalting. Breathe it, eat it, drink it, sleep on it, hold it tight. There is nothing deeper, nothing more reliable to be found.

“Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason.” -Thomas Aquinas-

December 28 – The Intimidation of Unbelief (Psalm 14)

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ “ (Psalm 14:1)

IN WORD:
It’s easy to be intimidated by a secular culture. Many of our most highly educated elites are skeptics. They look with condescension at those who maintain faith in divine revelations. Their skepticism has permeated our society, and many of the people we run into daily have swallowed their unbelief. Their hyper-rationalism inhibits the sharing of our supernatural faith.
We are often accused of being ignorant of all mankind’s amazing scientific, philosophical, and ideological discoveries. But have you considered the atheist and agnostic’s self limitations? They have embraced a broader ignorance than have the people of faith. They have said, in effect, that anything beyond our observation is unknowable. They accept only the knowledge that unreliable senses, variable consciences, and finite little brains can learn. That’s a pretty narrow view of reality.
We know our limitations. That’s why we depend on a revelation from above. We don’t accept it naively, and we use our brains to interpret it and apply it. But we must be humble enough to realize we didn’t come up with it. God’s Word is an act of God. We would not have known Him in any coherent detail unless He had revealed Himself. And what a revelation! It makes marvelous sense to those who embrace it by faith.

IN DEED:
Don’t be intimidated by your agnostic friends. The biblical witness is clear: Unbelieving minds are usually masks that hide a desire to disobey God. They are an easy excuse for immorality and rebellion. But they are foolishness. They turn their back on divine mysteries in order to cling to a feeble and faulty human wisdom. There is nothing reliable or eternal about their frame of reference. It will end in disaster.
Rather than be intimidated, live your life of faith in front of your agnostic friends. The fruit of the Spirit has a way of refuting hostile beliefs. It is clearly from above. Let your life always point in that direction.

“All unbelief is the belief of a lie.” -Horatius Bonar-

December 27 – A Zealous Voice (Revelation 1:9-18)

“His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.”(Revelation 1:14-15)

IN WORD:
What was Jesus like? Many envision Him as a guru of peace who never said a harsh word. Others envision Him as a mellow mystic who could not relate to our humanity. There is no shortage of opinions, but few are entirely consistent with Scripture.
The misty-eyed, airy-voiced, peace-marching Jesus of modern films, wishful imaginations, and popular theology never existed. He has been crafted by those who have either never read the four Gospels or have never really believed them. The real Jesus was the Incarnation of the Jealous God (Exodus 34:14), the Warrior God (Exodus 15:3), the One who dwells in mystery and majesty. There was fire in His eyes and passion in His voice. And according to Revelation 1, there still is.
Jesus still speaks. Is the Hollywood Jesus the one you expect to hear? Don’t be swayed by false characterizations. Read the Gospels and see the anger at hypocrisy and the anguish of the Cross. Hear the violence in His prayers and the divisiveness of His words. Know that His coming was a crisis event, the turning point for the whole human race.

IN DEED:
The fiery, zealous Jesus may speak to us with a still, small voice, but do not rule out the roaring voice of thunder & lightning. He doesn’t always nudge us; sometimes He jolts us. The Jesus who offered comfort, healing, and peace to the troubled and outcast also blasted the legalisms and the proud. The Jesus who drew calmly in the sand and urged the meek to persist in their meekness, also made a scene at the Temple with His violent outburst. The Man of Sorrows is also a man of action. The Lamb of God is also the Lion of Judah. Make no assumptions about His voice. Just be open to it. Have ears that hear. When He speaks, it will be powerful enough to change your life.

“The voice of God, having once fully penetrated the heart, becomes strong as the tempest and loud as the thunder.”
-Ignatius of Loyola-

December 26 – God’s Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)

“. . . Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
(1 Corinthians 1:24)

IN WORD:
Contemplating the Incarnation can teach us much about the wisdom of God. In the plan of the ages, the plan that cultivated a nation and sent a Messiah into its culture, God demonstrated His patience, His thoroughness, His righteousness, His mercy, and His love. He did not opt for expediency. He was not rash. His anger was pure and His holiness relentless. There were no depths to which He would not go for His love. There were no limits to His grace. There were no enemies that could thwart his intentions or sway His heart. He let us know what He is like.
The biblical purpose of God’s wisdom is never simply to display it. Though it is beautiful and awe inspiring, it is not just a show for His glory. It is to be emulated. We are to become wise like Him, drinking our fill of His plan and knowing intimately His ways. If He is patient, we are to be patient. If His anger is pure, our anger is to be pure. If His holiness is relentless, so must ours be. In His righteousness, His mercy, His love, His peace and calm, His passions and purposes, and His thorough approach to separating and conforming a people to Himself, we are to find our calling. The wisdom of God is not just for our admiration; it is for us. We are to internalize it.

IN DEED:
Do you appreciate the wisdom of God? There is always a need to contemplate it more deeply. It is unsearchable, yet we must continue to search it. We will never exhaust its lessons, but we have to try. The wisdom of God created us, had mercy on us, and redeemed us. The wisdom of God built the universe we live in. It is not just an extra benefit to knowing Him; it is the Architect’s plan that preceded our world and our lives.
We try to get wisdom by reading and asking God to speak to us. Let His wisdom speak more deeply. Consider the Incarnation. Meditate on His ways and contemplate His eternal plan. You will find yourself beginning to think like Him. There is no greater source of wisdom than that.

“His wisdom’s vast, and knows no bounds, a deep where all our thoughts are drowned.” -Isaac Watts-

Week #1 – Authentic Experiences

Invocation
Eternal God, You have been the hope and joy of many generations, and who in all ages has given men the power to seek You and in seeking to find You, grant me, I pray You, a clearer vision of Your truth, a greater faith in Your power, and a more confident assurance of Your love. Amen.
-John Baillie in A Diary of Private Prayer-

Read Psalm 46

Daily Scripture
Monday 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Tuesday Genesis 32:22-31
Wednesday Philippians 3:7-12
Thursday John 4:1-26
Friday 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Saturday Jeremiah 17:5-10
Sunday Job 42:1-6

Selections for Meditation

Personal Meditation

Prayer
Let your praying this week be for a true sense of being heard. Do not particularly pray for feeling or for specific answers. Rather pray for the quiet confidence that you are in conversation with your Heavenly Father.

Hymn “I Know Whom I Have Believed”
by D. W. Whittle

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known;
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart.

I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I’ll walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.

But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.

Benediction
Heavenly Father: Let me see Your glory, if it must be from the shelter of the cleft of the rock and from beneath the protection of Your covering hand, whatever the cost to me in loss of friends or goods or length of days, let me know You as You are, that I may adore You as I should. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
-A.W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy-

December 25 – God’s Purpose (Romans 8:1-4)

“For what the law was powerless to do . . . God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.”
(Romans 8:3)

IN WORD:
Have you ever really pondered the meaning of Christmas? Was it just God’s attempt to give us a good example to show us the way to live? Was it simply the birth of a great teacher? Did that innocent little bundle of flesh and blood in the manger really hold the answer for us all?
We can never fully understand the depths of all of God’s mysteries, but we can understand a lot. He has revealed His purposes to us, so we know why Jesus was sent to this broken planet. As much as our proud society hates the idea of an atoning sacrifice, Jesus was ent into this world to die. Like the cattle around Him in the stable, the baby of Bethlehem was born for slaughter. He bore the brunt of a fallen world so we could escape its tragic direction. He descended deep so we could ascend high. He gave us a way out of the horrible implications of our rebellion.
God demonstrated for centuries that the human condition could not be fixed by humans. It could not even be repaired by an external work of God. No, there had to be a sacrifice to pay the price; there had to be a person to live the life; and it had to be perfect on both counts. Only God could do that. He clothed Himself in flesh to die, He was raised to live, and He put His Spirit within us. He doesn’t just give us life; He IS our life.

IN DEED:
Long ago, we were created in the image of God. We didn’t know exactly what that meant; the image shattered and we weren’t able to see clearly. But in Jesus, we now see the Spirit of God dwelling in the image of God, and we know: We were made for glory. The glory we see in Jesus is offered to us freely — in Him. The earthen vessels that once walked with God in the Garden are now filled with the very god who made them.
Christmas is our assurance: Jesus came in our likeness to die our death, and He came in God’s likeness to live our life. In Him, the image of God and the image of man meet. And now He lets them meet in us.

“Christmas is the day that holds all time together.”
-Bishop Fulton John Sheen-

December 24 – God’s Ruler (Micah 5:1-4)

“He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord.”(Micah 5:4)

IN WORD:
What kind of Savior do you know? Many suppose that He is nothing but gentle, always overlooking sin and letting His sheep roam as freely as they want to. Others suppose that His fences are confining and His rod is ready for action. In the context of the Incarnation, neither image makes sense. Why would God send Jesus into this world to be either one of those saviors?
No, if Jesus had come only to enforce the Law, there would be no point in His coming. Others were already enforcing it. They had a distorted interpretation of it, but they did not lack for discipline. There was no shortage of attempted law-keepers in Jesus’ day.
And there also would have been no point in Jesus coming only to declare the Law irrelevant. If it were irrelevant, Israel had it wrong and the rest of the world had it right. Most cultures today would still have it right; in modern civilization, moral lawlessness rules. Many societies today are aware of no need for salvation, only for “enlightenment.” They are not looking for any kind of savior, much less a shepherd.
We need a shepherd. God has known that from the foundation of the world, and many of us come to that conclusion after years of futility. But what kind? The harsh, whip-carrying shepherd? Or the passive, anything-goes shepherd? One readies his rod with vigilance; the other plays his flute under the distant tree. Neither knows much about sheep.

IN DEED:
Do you know Jesus as a harsh master? A permissive pushover? Know why the Shepherd came into this world? He came because there were stray sheep in a land of fierce predators. He came to rule and to forgive. The shepherd of religious imaginations does one or the other. That shepherd will do us no good, while the Shepherd god sent us will do us no wrong. We need Him. We need both His rod and His staff, His guidance and His mercy. Get to know this good Shepherd well. He brings us to God.

“The fact of Jesus’ coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares.” -William Barclays-

December 23 – God’s Timing (Galatians 4:4-7)

“When the time had fully come, God sent his Son.”
(Galatians 4:4)

IN WORD:
Good plans require patience; they cannot be done hastily. When it comes to our salvation and God’s will for our lives, we would like to push the Eternal to act a little more quickly. We may wonder why He waited thousands of years before the Messiah came. We may also wonder why He waits years before saving us from a difficult situation or even saving our souls from eternal death. The answer in every case of God’s timing is the same: preparation.
We don’t know exactly why centuries of dry judgment prevailed before grace rained freely on all. We don’t know why some cultures remain in nearly complete darkness today. We don’t know why the chosen people’s history required such long periods of obedience, apostasy, and then judgment. And we don’t know why God doesn’t solve every problem the moment we pray, or why our Savior waits with veiled grace sometimes before opening our eyes to it. Perhaps the human race needed to exhaust its resources before God’s offer of providence became meaningful. Perhaps the world had to be subjected to utter frustration before it could even accept a Savior. Perhaps so do we.
What we do know, however, is that God is thorough. His plans are lengthy but well conceived. His artistry is slow, but His colors are rich, His layers of meaning are many, and His purposes are completely pure. We can trust His timing.

IN DEED:
The patience of the eternal God and the temperament of impulsive human beings often stand in stark contrast. A thousand years is as a day to the Lord, but not to us. We’re much too impatient for that. We think God’s plan for future generations might unnecessarily leave current generations shortchanged. We think a full revelation of His gospel was essential the first day after Eden.
But in His plan, a nation was cultivated, a law was given, human nature was exposed, prophets spoke, and creation waited. Then the Savior came. We were prepared for salvation, and we now celebrate the fullness of time.

“The coming of Jesus into the world is the most stupendous event in human history.” -Malcolm Muggeridge-