My Daily Pause

The Jews that could get back from the exile were ready to work and ready to build. They were following Nehemiah’s instructions to get the wall patched up and kept meeting resistance from their neighbors. So much so that the workers had to work with their swords close by. (Nehemiah 4)

Trying to do the right thing is easy until you add other people into the mix. If you try to do your best work, someone is close by to tell you why you will fail. Much like Nehemiah, you can even face outright aggression when you try to build something up.

Look what Peter and John did in Acts 4:23ff. They had healed a lame man and got jailed and beaten for their trouble. They went back to the others and told them what happened. The group went together in prayer, but didn’t ask to be delivered from the aggression. They asked for the boldness to face it and the strength to survive it.

I hope I can always fight the good fight like they did. I want to win the race like Paul. (2 Timothy 4:7)

Part of the message that Paul needed to tell the Gentiles in Rome was that they weren’t included in the Kingdom because of anything they did, but by God’s good grace. He will deal properly with those that fall and those that live in his image. His explanation from Romans 11:11-24 produced this timeless thought:

… remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. – Romans 11:18

So many ideas among the denominations are ones that this verse speaks to. God is told how he will be worshiped  God is told who is worthy of salvation. God is told what actions are sin. God, the root and supplier of life has told us, the branches, what is needed for life with him.

Are your daily decisions based on what God wants…

or something else?

An extreme measure had to be taken with the sinful children of Israel. The very thing that got them dropped from God’s good grace – the thing that got them captured – the thing that was going to get them destroyed once and for all had to be dealt with.

As soon as they got back to their own land they began to intermarry with the idolaters that lived nearby.

Ezra took care of it by having them put away those wives. It was expressly forbidden to intermarry if one was a Jew. (Ezra 10)

In the same way the God’s chosen people were to be different, we Christians are to be a peculiar people or a chosen people. We are to influence and be leaders. This is the savor in the salt that Jesus was talking about (Matthew 5:13) When we join with the world, we lose that ability.

God is Great,
God is Good,
Let us thank Him for our food.
By His hands we all are fed,
Give us Lord our Daily Bread.

Adults tend to forget the simplicity and core truth of this children’s mealtime prayer.

Like the author of Psalm 73, we might question the prosperity of the ungodly. Many stumble completely away from God because of the question.

The writer wants us to remember that this life is not about this life. It is ALL about the next life and the preparation to get there. If we remember the prosperity enjoyed by many in this is temporary, we can focus on the real reward waiting for us after the judgment.

Just like the lovely ending of the Psalm says, (Psalm 73:28) our time here is to tell others about him:

But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Paul said a lot of loving things to the addressee of his letters. I wish we were all ready with the words to comfort those facing difficulties like Paul was.

The closing of Romans 8 (Romans 8:38-39) may be some of his best work:

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.