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Posts Tagged ‘faith building’

From Seeing to Worship

Posted in Beautiful Places, God Stories, Travel, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , on October 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

It’s been a full week. A week of travel, of teaching and work, and also of time with family, beautiful places, and a lot of pictures. Today the outside is gray, windy, and rainy. There isn’t much to do outdoors. So I’m sitting beside my wife, resting in God’s grace and thinking back over the week. As I do, my mind keeps returning to one idea: the path things travel from our eyes, into our minds, and down into our hearts.

The Heart Behind the Eyes

By heart, I don’t mean the muscle that pumps blood. I mean the center of our being, the place where our true self lives. Scripture treats the heart that way, as the seat of what we think, love, and choose.

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” — Proverbs 4:23 (ESV)

What reaches the heart usually comes in first through the eyes. Jesus made that point with startling force in the Sermon on the Mount:

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.” — Matthew 5:29 (ESV)

He was using hyperbole, of course. The truth underneath it is real, though. What we let into our minds through our eyes affects us and changes us. A little later in the same sermon He said it another way:

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” — Matthew 6:22–23 (ESV)

So what is the path from the eye to the heart? As I’ve reflected on it, I see a progression.

Recognition and Awareness

It begins with recognition. We see something and recognize it for what it is: beauty, value, worth. Recognition is the door. Nothing gets to the heart without first passing through it.

Close behind recognition comes awareness. Here we start weighing and judging what we’re taking in. Is this good? Is this true? Is this worth holding onto? Paul gives us a filter for exactly this moment:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” — Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

Appreciation and Gratitude

Once we are aware of what is good, appreciation follows quickly. These are the things that register in us as lovely and valuable, the things we like.

This week gave me plenty to appreciate. Driving through Canada, the fall foliage was stunning, and the deep blue of Lake Superior stopped me in my tracks. But the smiles, the laughter, and the kind words we shared while gathered with family in Gaylord, Michigan were just as beautiful. So was a visit to Boyne Mountain. And then many hours of travel where my friend Red and I talked about the Lord and the life lessons He has taught us along the way.

From appreciation, it isn’t a big step to gratitude. Once we value something, we become thankful that we were able to see it, perceive it, and enjoy it at all. And this week, gratitude was flowing.

Where Gratitude Leads

Gratitude is a platform. From it, we can go one more step, if we recognize the One who is the source of every good thing.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” — James 1:17 (ESV)

That last step is not automatic. Paul describes people who saw God’s handiwork in creation and still stopped short:

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” — Romans 1:21 (ESV)

They had recognition but no gratitude, and so no worship. Their path ended in darkness instead of light. That’s Jesus’ warning about the eye, seen from the other side.

When we do recognize the Giver behind the gift, gratitude becomes worship. Worship is the highest level of recognition. It flows through appreciation and gratitude and turns back to the One who made the beauty, who made the people we spend time with, who made the ones who add value to our lives and make life worth living.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” — Psalm 19:1 (ESV)

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” — Psalm 100:4 (ESV)

Thanksgiving is the gate, and praise is the court. Gratitude walks us right up to worship.

A Gray Day, a Grateful Heart

I find it fitting that I’m writing this on a day with no blue sky and no bright leaves outside my window. The beauty of this week doesn’t depend on today’s weather. I can look back over it, recognize it, appreciate it, and give thanks. And as I do, I’m moved to worship.

“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” — Psalm 118:24 (ESV)

That includes the gray, rainy ones.

Looking back over your own week, what beauty did you recognize? And did it make it all the way from your eyes to your heart, through gratitude, and into worship of the One who gave it?

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Built on the Rock

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, Church, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Priorities, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Today’s devotional is on Matthew 5–7, known as the Sermon on the Mount. I have to admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to glean a key thought from what is arguably the most important sermon ever preached. What began as covenants God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses in the Old Testament finds its ultimate exposition in Jesus’ talk with a crowd gathered on a Galilean hillside 2,000 years ago. I think I will mostly let Jesus’ words speak for themselves and just speak to how today’s reading struck me.

I’ve read the Sermon on the Mount many, many times. Sometimes I take a piece of it and chew on it for days. Other times, like this morning, I read straight through and simply feel both the weight and the joy in it. What can feel in the Old Testament like a harsh checklist of dos and don’ts, Jesus boils down to the heart.

This morning, it was the final section that stopped me:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24–25, ESV)

The timing is not lost on me. As I write this, a hurricane that came ashore in the middle of the night, 400 to 450 miles from here, is still reaching us. We’re expecting driving rain and 30 to 40 mile-an-hour winds all day long. Storms like this have a way of revealing how well a house is built. Whatever was hidden in the framing and the foundation comes to light when the wind starts to blow.

The same is true of our lives. There are plenty of foundations on offer: success, reputation, comfort, our own good behavior. None of them hold when the storm comes. Jesus himself is the rock. As Paul wrote, “no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). He is what makes us whole and moves us toward the completeness and purposes God designed for us.

What struck me most this morning is how the sermon begins and ends. It opens with “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Recognizing that we are spiritually bankrupt without Jesus is where the right foundation begins. And it closes with building on the rock: on Jesus, on what he accomplished in our place at the cross, and on what he continues to do through his Holy Spirit living in us, drawing us close to the Father. That intimacy with God was his plan from the very beginning in the garden.

From there, the building goes on. As we keep reading, applying, and living out his Word, God brings about the spiritual maturity that lets the house stand. Notice that both builders in Jesus’ story heard the same words. The difference was that one of them did what he heard.

What storm in your life right now is revealing what your house is built on, and what would it look like to hear and do Jesus’ words this week?

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Jesus Saw Him

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, God, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Spiritual Growth, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , on October 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Reflections on John 5

Yesterday was a heavy travel day. I read John 5 in the early morning, and then the day got away from me. But the chapter didn’t let go. This morning, in that in-between space where you’re not quite asleep and not quite awake, I found myself back beside the pool of Bethesda, thinking about one man.

Living Next to Hope

John tells us, “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years” (John 5:5 ESV). Thirty-eight years. That’s longer than many people in that day lived. It’s a whole adult life spent on a mat.

He spent it at Bethesda, a pool surrounded by colonnades and crowded with “a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed” (5:3). The belief was that when the water was stirred, the first one in would be healed. That was the secret, the one thing everyone was waiting for.

So this man lived right next to hope and could never reach it. Every time the water moved, someone faster got there first. I picture people rushing past him, stepping over him, bumping into him on their way to the water, and no one stopping. He was present every single day, and almost no one saw him.

I think, more than anything, he felt unseen. Unnoticed. Unwanted. The things that give us reason to keep going in this world (being known, being needed, being loved) he had very few of. After thirty-eight years, I’m not sure he had much hope left. He just stayed where hope was supposed to be.

When Jesus Saw Him

Then comes one of the most tender lines in John’s Gospel:

“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’” (5:6)

When Jesus saw him. In a crowd of the sick and desperate, Jesus saw this man. More than that, He knew him. He knew how long he’d been lying there. Nobody had to tell Him.

Now look at how the man answers. Jesus asks a yes-or-no question, and the man never says yes:

“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” (5:7)

He gives his reason instead. I have no one. Underneath it I hear: No one sees me. No one helps me. No one stops. He’s explaining why the only hope he knows has never worked for him.

Jesus doesn’t argue with him or correct his theology about the water. He simply says, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And “at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked” (5:8–9).

The man had been looking to the pool. Jesus didn’t need the pool. Jesus was the healing.

Missing the Miracle

Then John adds a short phrase that changes everything: “Now that day was the Sabbath” (5:9).

The religious leaders see the man walking and say, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed” (5:10). A man who had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years is standing in front of them, and what they see is a mat.

God’s law called His people to keep the Sabbath holy and rest from their work. Over time, though, the religious leaders had built a fence of detailed rules around that command, defining exactly what counted as work and what counted as a forbidden burden. A sleeping mat made their list. Their rule became the law, God was cast as the enforcer, and they were so busy guarding the fence that they missed the God of the Sabbath standing right in front of them.

That was so much of the conflict Jesus ran into. Rules meant to protect God’s command ended up making it harder for people to come to God. It’s a warning worth taking to heart in our own churches: it’s possible to be zealous for our traditions and completely miss what Jesus is doing.

Jesus Found Him Again

I love what happens next: “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you’” (5:14).

The man ended up in the temple, the place of worship. Jesus didn’t heal him and walk away. He found him again. The One who saw him at the pool went looking for him and spoke to him about the rest of his life. It’s a gentle but serious word: You’ve got your feet under you now. Walk in a way that honors God.

Jesus cared about more than his legs. He cared about his whole life.

He Sees You Too

For one forgotten man at Bethesda:

  • Jesus saw him.
  • Jesus approached him.
  • Jesus spoke to him.
  • Jesus healed him.

And the same is true for every one of us. Jesus sees us, even when the crowd rushes past. Jesus knows us, including how long we’ve been waiting. Jesus speaks to us. And Jesus heals us.

The New Testament often uses a single Greek word, sōzō, for both “save” and “heal” (when Jesus tells a woman, “your faith has made you well,” that’s sōzō). The healing of the body and the saving of the soul are not two separate projects for Jesus. He makes whole people whole. He saves us, He heals us, and He brings us home.

Maybe you’ve been lying beside your own pool for a long time, waiting for a hope that never quite reaches you, feeling stepped over and unseen. Hear this: Jesus sees you lying there. He knows how long it’s been. And He’s still asking the question.

Where do you feel unseen right now, and will you let Jesus meet you there?

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Consistency, Not Perfection

Posted in Beautiful Places, Bible Study, Prayer, Priorities, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on September 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Areliablefaith Reflection

A few days ago, on a beach in Marina di Ragusa, Sicily, I found myself staring at a McDonald’s. Not because I wanted a hamburger, but because of where it was sitting — right on the water, in about as prime a location as you could ask for, surrounded by genuine, family-run trattorias that had clearly been there for generations. It struck me as strange. How does an American fast-food chain end up on a stretch of coastline like this? And more than that — would it even survive next to businesses built on real family history and craft?

That question sat with me for a couple of days, and it pulled up a memory from a book I read a long time ago: Tom Peters’ In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. McDonald’s was one of the companies Peters studied, and one line from it has stuck with me for years. He observed that McDonald’s never set out to make the single best-tasting hamburger in the world. What they pursued instead was consistency — a hamburger that tasted the same whether you bought it in the U.S., in Canada, in Japan, or, apparently, on a beach in Sicily.

Lisa and I ended up going back to that same McDonald’s — not for the burgers, but for a cappuccino and, of all things, a croissant, which is not exactly a McDonald’s staple back home. And as I drank that cappuccino, I realized it tasted exactly like the one I’d had in Michigan a few months earlier, and the one I’d had in South Carolina before that. Different continent, different culture, same cup. That’s not an accident. That’s the entire business model.

It got me thinking about my own walk with God.

God isn’t asking me to be the spiritual equivalent of the “best-tasting hamburger” — spectacular, polished, impressive from day one. What He seems to be after isn’t perfection out of the gate. It’s surrender, and it’s consistency — showing up again and again, letting Him shape the heart a little more each time.

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 1:6

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” — Philippians 3:12

But here’s where I have to be honest with myself, because I’ve recently caught myself twisting that very idea. I’ve been using YouVersion to read the Bible daily, and somewhere along the way, “consistency” quietly turned into “streak.” I started feeling real stress about keeping a number going, rather than about actually meeting God in the text. The goal was never a badge or a counter. The goal was to see Him in His Word and let it inform my heart. Somewhere along the way, the tracking became the target.

It’s not a new problem. It’s the same thing Jesus called out in Matthew 23 — people who were relentlessly consistent in the letter of practice while neglecting “the weightier matters.” Or Isaiah 29:13 — a people whose lips were near God while their hearts stayed far away. Discipline is not the same thing as devotion. It’s possible to be perfectly consistent and still miss the point entirely.

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” — Isaiah 29:13

The consistency worth pursuing isn’t the visible, countable kind — the streak, the box checked, the record kept. It’s the invisible kind: returning to Him, again and again, not because a number depends on it, but because that’s where life actually is.

A Question to Sit With

Where in your walk with God has faithfulness quietly turned into a performance metric — and what would it look like this week to return to the relationship instead of the record?

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Choose, Cling, Witness

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, God, Holy Week, Jesus Christ, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Trials, worldview, Worship, tagged , , , , , , on March 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Joshua 22-24, The progression here is the plan for every believer and follower of Jesus. We are to choose the Lord. This is not a one-time activity. It is a recurring choice we get to make over and over. This is the essence of faith, choosing the Lord and following Him every day until it is the only thing we know to do.

Now choosing Him is easy when life is good. Life isn’t always good. In fact, there are many times when life is hard. It is in hard times when it is essential that we cling tightly to the LORD. When our children were little, a game they loved to play was to sit on my foot and wrap their arms around my leg while I walked. I remember their giggles and squeals as I would walk around asking my wife if she liked my new shoes. If they did not cling tightly though, they would fall off. This picture comes to mind when I think of clinging. There is such a close personal nature to clinging when I think of this. God is a good, good Father who desires that we hold onto Him, hold onto His promises, hold onto His way of living such that the third word comes into play.

The reality is our lives will be a witness to something. The question is what do we bear witness to? Do we just blend in with the world and its brokenness… its misplaced faith… its fears… its corruption? Or do we bear witness to the living God who is at work transforming our lives day by day, well-made choice by well-made choice. As we choose and as we cling, our lives will reflect the love and goodness of God more and more.

Today is Palm Sunday. Jesus rode into Jerusalem to lots of external fanfare, yet He knew what lie before Him. He saw the cross looming on the near horizon. Living in Roman occupied territory, Jesus had certainly seen the gruesome displays of Roman justice, so He had no illusions about what was coming. Yet He chose to obey. He chose to ride into the coming maelstrom. And He did so clinging to the Father, trusting His plan, trusting His heart. And today, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are the central point of all history, a glorious witness of God’s love and desire that ALL mankind might choose, cling, and bear witness to Him.

Blessed LORD, we choose you today. We cling to you today. LORD, make our lives a faithful witness to your love and goodness to each and every person we meet today. In Jesus’ Name!

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Promises, Promises – God the Promise Keeper

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, God, Holy Spirit, Holy Week, Jesus Christ, Prayers, The Father, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , on March 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Joshua 19-21. It was drilled into me at a young age that a person’s word was their bond. A promise was sacred and could not be broken. As I grew and experienced the world I came to realize that such a belief was not all that widely held. Lawyers proliferate partly to try and hold people to their promises and partly to try and get people out of their promises. Joshua 21:45 says, “Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” God is a promise maker. God is a promise keeper!

We are about a quarter of the way into reading the Bible in a year. It was way back in the early part of Genesis that God made the promise to Abram that He would give to his descendants the land of Canaan. That was about 600 or so years prior to today’s reading. Needless to say, some of God’s promises have a long timeline. Fortunately, they also do not have an expiration date. We most often think in terms of days, weeks, and years. The LORD, who exists outside of time, but created time for our sake, moves on a grander and more spectacular scale when time is concerned. There is a term used for Jesus’ birth that captures God’s use of time… “in the fullness of time”. When all the conditions had been met, it was time for God’s ultimate promise to be met.  Jesus… God in the flesh… God walking among humanity… God demonstrating how to live… and how to die… Jesus our redeemer kinsman… Jesus, our Lord and our God! Jesus, the ultimate promise keeper. The ultimate promise kept.

As we enter Holy Week, I will deviate from posting about the daily reading through the Bible to look at Jesus and Holy Week. This week is the annual remembrance of the penultimate week in all of history. From Genesis 3:15 through the last verses of Malachi in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was inspiring the writers to point to Jesus and this week that occurred some 2000 years ago. And since that time, all of history has been shifted because of the resurrection and the reality that death has been conquered, the Holy Spirit has been given to the Church, and Satan’s domination of humanity has been broken. Many of the LORD’s great promises have been fulfilled. And we rest in the sure and certain knowledge that those that remain are coming. For it is true… not one word of all the good promises that the LORD has made will fail to come to pass. God is a promise maker. God is a promise keeper.

Come Lord Jesus. Use us to keep your promises. Inspire our words and actions to perfectly align with you and your good work in the world. Transform hearts, minds, and lives through your Holy Spirit and your people walking in a living faith. Jesus, it is in your Name that we pray!  

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Crossed Arms

Posted in Bible Study, Genesis, God, God Stories, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , on February 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Genesis 48-50, Crossed Arms. Throughout Genesis we see the “expected way” to be upended. The Law of primogenitor stated that the inheritance, birthright, and double portion of blessing belong to the firstborn male in the family. It was the accepted rule in the time of the Patriarchs and still exists today in many societies. Yet in Genesis, we see this “law” broken in almost every case. The list of firstborn sons who did NOT receive this place of preeminence is longer than those who do. Cain, Ishmael, Esau, Reuben, and today Manasseh are all passed over and a younger sibling is given the leading role.

Jacob is old and almost blind when he “adopts” Joseph’s two oldest sons – Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob is a younger brother to his twin Esau. We remember that Jacob used deception to steal his father’s blessing for the oldest son. Today in pronouncing blessing upon the two boys Jacob crosses his arms to intentionally bless Ephraim, the second son, with the blessing reserved for the older.

Two things struck me. First, the LORD has blessed me far greater than I deserve. The relationship He has drawn me into with Himself is truly life-giving and joy-inducing. Yet so many of God’s answers to my prayers have been different from what I expected. My prayers early in my walk included a good bit of instruction to God on how to meet the need I was praying about. God would answer, yet the path to His blessing was completely different than what I expected. And it was always better because of this. Second, the Bible refers to Jesus as our older brother, the firstborn from the dead. We know He truly exists in preeminence. Yet He passes on blessings to us, His younger siblings, in portions far beyond our merit. Grace, God’s unmerited favor, rests upon us because of Jesus’ death, resurrection and life.

Father, thank you for blessing us richly. You are no respecter of persons in the sense of entitlement. But you are the Lover of our souls, and you are at work wooing, training, and surprising us with grace upon grace. May we live to pass on your blessing to the people you bring into our lives… family, friends, and even the stranger we meet as we go through life.

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The Greater Blesses the Lesser

Posted in Bible Study, Genesis, God, God Stories, Responsibility, Service, tagged , , , , , , on February 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Genesis 46-47, The Greater Blesses the Lesser. When Jacob and his family arrive in Egypt, Joseph brings his father in to meet Pharoah. Pharoah is the king of Egypt, the highest office in the land. While he has elevated Joseph to the highest administrative role in all the land, ultimate authority still rests with Pharoah. Yet when Jacob enters into Pharoah’s presence it is Jacob who blesses Pharoah… twice. From our perspective millennia later, we know that the relationship between Israel and Egypt has been a tumultuous one with slavery, genocide, war and general distrust, but in this case honor and blessing are given. It seems incongruous that Jacob is the one doing the blessing in the context of Israel needing deliverance from the famine and Egypt being the place of that rescue.

But in the bigger picture, God is already at work implementing His amazing act of cosmic deliverance. Through the cruel acts of Israel’s sons, Joseph was sent to Egypt to prepare for the famine. Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams and his wise accumulation of resources prior to the famine saved Egypt and Israel. God was working through Jacob’s family to deliver the Pharoah and his people. And God, who had wrestled with Jacob many years prior, spoke to Jacob at Beersheba, He was directing him to settle in Egypt in preparation for His next cosmic move. We know God’s work through Abraham’s descendants was just getting started but already we see worldly powers recognizing and submitting to God’s blessing through His people.

We are called to continue God’s blessing into the world we live in. We are not called to be uninvolved observers, but rather active participants in God’s redeeming work today. And we do that from the place of staying close to the Father and following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

LORD, you have blessed us richly by drawing us into relationship with you. Teach us and lead us into divine conversations where you bless through our words and actions. May your mercy, grace, truth and love flow from our lives in such a way that others come to know you. Jesus, be lifted up. Jesus, be exalted. Jesus, be glorified in us and through us today.  

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Time and Waiting

Posted in Bible Study, Genesis, tagged , , , , , , , on February 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Genesis 41-42, Time and Waiting. Being a person inclined to activity, I have not always appreciated waiting. In fact, choosing between waiting quietly or finding something TO DO while I am forced to wait is not really a choice. The term “killing time” was invented for people like me. Yet, I recognize that I have not exactly aligned with God’s best in this. While God exists outside of time, He was intentional in placing us into the context of time. Much of what God desires to do in us is framed by time. In fact, much of His most consequential work is a product of His grace experienced over time. In today’s reading we see God’s use of time in the lives of Joseph, his brother’s, and even for the people in the ancient near East in Joseph’s day.

If God had not given the dream to Pharoah, had Joseph interpret the dream, and given seven years of abundance to prepare for the seven years of famine, the entire region would have suffered. As it was, there was grain enough for Egypt and the surrounding areas because the seven years of abundance was wisely used thanks to Joseph. This theme of using time wisely is subtle but important in Joseph’s story.  Joseph had been separated from his birth family for at least 20 years by the time his brothers came seeking to buy grain. In that time God had raised and blessed Joseph to the second highest official in the land of Egypt. We must remember that for 13 years of that time he was either a slave or a prisoner. That would be waiting of a rather mean and challenging sort. But God’s work in the intervening years also did a work in Joseph’s brothers. There seems to be real remorse on their part for what they did to their brother.

As I ponder and pray this morning, my mind goes to many wonderful things God has done in my life over time. Thankfulness flows naturally. Then I consider the things I am still waiting for. Joseph’s story helps me to recognize that God is at work even when I don’t see immediate results. He is there in the midst of my waiting. He is ever present and He is at work. My faith is stretched in waiting. Knowing He has heard my prayers and met my needs before, I know I can trust Him with those that are still to be seen. And for this, I can wait.

Thank you, faithful LORD. We wait on you today.

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Wisdom to Stay Silent

Posted in Genesis, Holy Spirit, Prayer, tagged , , , , , , on February 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Genesis 35-37, The Wisdom to Stay Silent. I have come to realize, through painful lessons of opening my mouth when it would have been best left shut, that there is great wisdom to staying silent and only speaking when it is appropriate. Mark Twain is credited with the saying, “best to be quiet and thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” There are a few times when this might have applied for me, but I am speaking of something a bit different. Having walked with the LORD for many years now and having experienced His grace and gifts in some pretty amazing ways, I have not always been as wise in talking and sharing about those gifts as I should. In fact, God’s blessings are wonderful to receive, but they do not all fall on us equally or at the same time. There is common grace which is available to every living being. But God will bless us beyond common grace, and it is often gifting to support our calling. The problem is that God’s gifts are received by us while we are still in the process of being sanctified. I don’t know about everyone else, but I know that I still have areas where pride, impatience, and greed have somewhat of a hold. And like Joseph, sometimes we can talk about things in a way or at a time that is not the wisest choice.

God gives Joseph two prophetic dreams. As the next to youngest son, he is very low in the pecking order of a house full of boys. Yet his dreams suggest superiority over his brothers (and even his parents!) Right there is when the alarm bells of pride should go off, and silence and contemplative prayer would be a good response. Instead, Joseph blurts out his dreams in the middle of the family meal (okay, I added the family meal part, but he makes sure everyone knows how special he is). His dad had already made Joseph a bit of a pariah among the boys by treating him with special affection. By bragging about his dream, Joseph unwittingly sets the stage for a being kidnapped and trafficked by his brothers. God, being sovereign and outside of time, knows all this is going down and He will work through it to bring those prophetic dreams to pass. I can’t help but think that silence and waiting on God’s timing would have resulted in a much less painful ascension for Joseph.

Father, our prayer is simple today. Help us to be silent when that is called for. Help us to speak when that is appropriate. And LORD, give us the wisdom to know the difference between the two.

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