No One will Die

Bible:

Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island.” Acts 27:21-26 ESV

In love [God] predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:4a-6 ESV

Reflection:

Samantha was an orphan, but she lived with an aunt and uncle who were very rich and loved her very much. But Samantha’s best friend was Nellie, another orphan who lived in an orphanage with her two sisters where they were not treated kindly and didn’t have enough to eat. Nellie found out that she was going to be put on an orphan train and separated from her sisters, so Samantha helped the three girls to hide in the attic of her aunt and uncle’s house. Soon Samantha’s aunt and uncle discovered the three girls, and for Samantha’s sake gave all three of the sisters a home with Samantha in their house.

Something a little like this happened to Paul. While the ship he was in was driven over the waves by a terrible storm and all the people on the ship thought they were going to die, and angel came and comforted Paul. The angel said that God still intended for Paul to go to Rome and speak the truth about Jesus in front of the emperor. Then he said that for Paul’s sake, no one on the ship would die in the storm. “God has granted you all those who sail with you,” were the angel’s words. It seems that Paul had not only been praying for himself, but for everyone who was sailing with him. So Paul told this good news to all the people. He said that they would lose the ship and end up on some island, but that no one would die.

In Jesus, God has given us all life forever. Jesus came to die on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven, and for his sake God has made us his children. Everyone who believes in Jesus becomes his brother or sister, and God saves us from the storms of life and the troubles of sin and death to bring us into his heavenly kingdom. We don’t ever have to be afraid, because God loves us forever in Jesus.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us and making us your children for Jesus’ sake. In His Name, Amen.

Source:

Tripp, Valerie Changes for Samantha: a winter story Middleton, Wisconson: Pleasant Company, 1988.

Better Than They Expected

Bible:

And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” And Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. But now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ This is a light thing in the sight of theLord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.” II Kings 3:13-19 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV

Reflection:

Samantha’s friend Nellie lived in an orphanage with her sisters Jenny and Bridget. The orphanage was very strict with the girls, made them work hard, and didn’t give them enough to eat. Nellie was going to be put on an orphan train and separated from her sisters, and she was terribly upset about this. So Samantha snuck them into the attic of her home, where she lived with her uncle and aunt. Nellie went out during the day to try to find work, and her little sisters stayed quietly upstairs. Samantha stole food from the kitchen to feed the girls. But after a few days they were caught, and Samantha’s uncle and aunt had to decide what to do with them. Even though she had been wrong to sneak and steal, Samantha hoped the girls might be able to stay in the home a little longer until Nellie could find a job to support her sisters. But her aunt and uncle gave them something better than they could have expected. They gave the three girls a forever home with them so that they could be cared for and grow up as Samantha’s sisters!

When the three kings talked to the prophet Elisha about their thirsty armies, they hoped the Lord would save their men and animals by giving them water. Elisha didn’t give them much hope. He spoke sternly to Jehoram, the king of Israel, about the way he hadn’t been faithful to the true God. How could he expect God’s help when he worshiped false gods? But God gave these three kings more than they could have expected or hoped for. God spoke through Elisha and promised that there would be water for their thirsty armies and animals. And God would do even more than that. He would give them victory over the people of Moab in battle.

We also rebel against God and fall into sin, and we have no right to expect anything from him. But God loves us, and he continues to help us and care for us even though we are sinful. He gives us homes and food and and families and many wonderful gifts. We don’t deserve any of these things God gives us, but he gives us even more than that. He sent Jesus, his own Son, to die on the cross for us. Because of Jesus, we have God’s forgiveness and love every day, and life with him now and forever. That’s more than we could ever expect or hope for!

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for everything you give us every day, and especially for Jesus, our Savior. In His Name, Amen.

Source:

Tripp, Valerie Changes for Samantha: a winter story Middleton, Wisconsin: Pleasant Company, 1988.

The Heavenly Father

Bible:

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.

Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord! Psalm 27:7-14 ESV

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:25-33 ESV

Reflection:

Marianne and her mother were very poor, and finally her mother took her to an orphanage in New York City and left her there. Her mother promised that she would go west and make a new life for herself, and then come back and get Marianne, but several years went by, and Marianne’s mother never came back for her. Finally Marianne was put on an orphan train with a group of other orphans. They traveled west to find homes and families, and Marianne looked for her mother at every stop. At each stop, some of the children found new families who wanted them, but no one seemed to want Marianne. Finally she was the only child left, and her mother hadn’t met her at any stop, and she felt terribly alone and unwanted. But at the last stop a kind couple named the Books took her in and made her a part of their family.

The writer of Psalm 27 said that his mother and father had forsaken him, but that the Lord would take him in. Most parents love their children very much and would never abandon them, but perhaps the psalmist’s parents had died. That’s probably what had happened to Marianne’s mother, too.  The psalmist knew that he could count on God to take care of him and help him even if no one else in the world was on his side or able to do anything for him. He knew he should seek God’s face, and no one else’s, for the help he needed.

Little children think that their parents can do anything, but when they grow up a little they start to see that there are things their parents can’t do. They can’t stop sickness or accidents or war or disasters or death. There are things that our parents can’t help us with, but God is always ready to do whatever is best for us, and we can look to God for help. There’s one thing that no one else except God can do, and that is to forgive our sins and free us from death. Jesus died and rose again so that we could be free from sin and death forever. We look to Jesus for his righteousness and know that our heavenly Father will give us everything we need and take us into his kingdom now and forever.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us Jesus, our Savior. Please take care of us and help us with all our problems in life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Source:

Bunting, Eve Train to Somewhere New York: Clarion Books, 1996.

No Excuse for Disobedience

Bible:

The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said,

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.” I Samuel 15:10-23 ESV

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:6-8 ESV

Reflection:

The Kelly family lived in New York City. The father was dead, and they were very poor. The older children all had to work, but the little money they and their mother could make kept them poor and hungry. Mike, the oldest boy, secretly became a copper stealer. He was good at picking the pockets of rich people and taking their money to help the family. Even though he had been taught that stealing was wrong, he thought it was okay to be a copper stealer in order to help get food, buy his mother new shoes, and otherwise help his family. But his stealing got him into trouble. The police caught him, and then his mother put the whole family on the orphan train going west. His stealing had caused the family to be broken apart from their mother and from each other as well.

Saul might have thought he was doing a good thing by saving the best of the animals to sacrifice to God, but that wasn’t what God had asked him to do. Saul might have also just used it an excuse to try to get out of trouble when Samuel scolded him sternly for what he had done. Either way, Saul’s behavior was so displeasing to God that God no longer wanted him to be king of his people. Just like Mike’s stealing, Saul’s disobedience had serious consequences for him and his family. When Samuel spoke to Saul, Saul didn’t admit to sinning against God. No sacrifices could take away his sin if he wouldn’t admit to sinning. Saul’s excuses said that he didn’t think he needed any help from God.

We also sin against God every day, and sometimes we want to make excuses for our sins. We think what we did wasn’t so very wrong, or that there was a good reason for it. But God sends us his Holy Spirit to help us understand our sins so that we know we are wrong and that we need God’s forgiveness and help. God is always ready to forgive and help us because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jesus’ death was the one sacrifice that can truly take away our sins and give us new life with God. We never have to worry that God doesn’t love us or won’t forgive us, and we don’t have to try to make excuses. God helps us humbly confess our sins and freely forgives us every day for Jesus’ sake.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your love and forgiveness and for sending Jesus to win that forgiveness for us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Source:

Nixon, Joan Lowery A Family Apart New York: Bantam Books, 1987.