EmmDev 2024-09-20 [All Things New] Who God can use...

Who God can use...

They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire." When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah1:3-4)

Solomon's reign led to a split nation. The faction in the North (Israel) were destroyed by the Assyrians in 721BC and the faction in the South (Judah) suffered defeat at the hands of the Babylonians in 586BC and were dragged off into exile. After 70 years the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians who let the Israelites return to Jerusalem.

But Jerusalem just didn't get going again. The people were depleted, deflated, depressed. They didn't rebuild the temple or the city walls until God sent people who would RE-START them.

Nehemiah is the hero who united them to rebuild the city walls. It's important to note that Jerusalem was a formidable city when the walls were intact (it took the Babylonians 18 months to get into the city and in 70 AD the Romans had a similar struggle.)

What kind of person was Nehemiah to bring about such a wonderful RE-START of the nation?
Our two verses give us a clue:
Nehemiah cared deeply and Nehemiah prayed passionately.

Nehemiah was cupbearer to the Persian King. His future in Persia looked rosy. Why should he care about a burnt-out has-been people in a defenceless wreck of an old defeated city? But he did. He was the one who made the inquiry in the first place and the reply broke his heart.

He turned to God in hungry and passionate prayer (not only physically hungry because he was fasting 😉 but because his soul longed for God!)

--> Lord, you can bring powerful RE-STARTS with passionate and prayerful people - change my heart O God!!!

---

EmmDev 2024-09-19 [All Things New] A wise man's tragedy

A wise man's tragedy

So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" (1Kings3:9)

Solomon started so well - he asked for wisdom instead of riches. God gave him both.

The early years were wonderful:
- Solomon rightly handling the two women with the dead baby
- Solomon building the temple
- Solomon being visited by the Queen of Sheba because he was so wise

But it didn't last...

• Solomon added wife after wife for political alliances
• He built and expanded his personal wealth until even the stables for his horses were bigger and more impressive than the temple.
• He was taxing his people more and more
• His heart went to other gods and idols.

After his death the kingdom was torn in two - and it was his leadership that laid the foundation for that disaster.

Great wisdom and intellectual "smarts" can sometimes be our worst enemy. When we're gifted in the intellectual department, we often think that the basic common sense rules of life don't apply to us...

Solomon didn't plan to lose his way but he broke three important rules:
- He wasn't careful about the company he kept
- He was sucked in by possession obsession and his own self-importance
- He didn't guard his heart and his relationship with God.

--> Dear Lord
Help me to stay humble and to keep my eyes fixed on You. Help me to choose my friendships carefully and not to be owned by my stuff or my need to be liked and respected. Keep me safe from the wise-man's tragedy so that I can finish strong.

---

EmmDev 2024-09-18 [All Things New] An unexpected beginning

An unexpected beginning

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease ... For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah29:4-13)

When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and subjugated the Israelites, they dragged off the ruling and elite classes into exile in Babylon where they would indoctrinate them with Babylonian belief, custom, culture and religion.

One would therefore have thought that the future of Israel lay in the remnant that remained behind in Jerusalem... BUT God's plan was to show the Israelites that they did not need the temple or Jerusalem to be the people of God. He wanted the exiles to see that they could grow wherever they were planted. They could prosper in enemy territory. They could flourish wherever they found themselves.

Sometimes we look at our own lives and ask ourselves
"What could God do in the this mess?"
"How could God possibly use me in these circumstances?"
Or we say to ourselves:
"When I have my degree - then I'll serve the Lord fully"
"When I've paid off the bond, or secured that promotion, then I'll serve God"

But God can start new things in the most unlikely places.
You don't have to work in a church to serve God - You can serve God as a banker, a teacher, a housewife, a student, a scholar.

Even if your circumstances are the result of a bad choice, God can turn them around! (The Israelites were in exile because they had sinned against God - but God's grace and love are bigger than our failure - and His purposes are not thwarted by our mistakes.)

God has a plan - and it's a good one - we need to be ready to grow where we are planted and seek God's plan with all our hearts.

--> Teach me O Lord that You can do amazing things in strange circumstances. Give me an ear to hear and a heart that is brave to grow where I am planted.

---

EmmDev 2024-09-17 [All Things New] I'm only a ...

I'm only a ...

God came to Jeremiah with a new beginning...
Let's see how that went....

The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." (Jeremiah1:4-10) (Jeremiah1:4-10)

Very often God's word comes to us and we're tempted to answer with a "But..."
- "But I'm only a child..."
- "But I'm already retired..."
- "But I'm only a housewife..."
- "But I'm only a young Christian - I don't know the Bible..."
- "But I've made so many mistakes..."
- "But the challenge is so big and I'm so afraid..."
- "But I'm so tired..."

God has had his eye on Jeremiah since before he was born.
And He answers Jeremiah's "but" with a command to be brave and an assurance that he is not alone.

When we look at his commission it's clear that Jeremiah needed a strong sense of call - he was asked to "uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." Jeremiah was going to have to re-shape the Israelites' thoughts and perceptions about God. It would make him unwelcome and unpopular, but he would also be able to explain and unpack the glory of the new covenant and reveal God's plan for His people to prosper (more on this tomorrow...)

What are the "But's" that we have in our hearts?
What are the excuses we are making?
Maybe it's time to get off our "But's" (Pun intended!)

After all, He's been watching us before we were born - he knows us better than we know ourselves and he knows what we can handle.

And He's promised to be with us and rescue us!

--> Lord, with Your love and mercy it is never to late to start doing what You have been asking us to do. Help us to step and trust You.

---

EmmDev 2024-09-13 [All Things New] The best place for a new start...

The best place for a new start...

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (Isaiah6:1)

Where is the best place to have a new beginning?
What thoughts need to be foremost in our minds?
(If you have time go and read Isaiah 6 slowly and thoughtfully... Isaiah is about to be called to be a prophet...)

The king has died, the future looks uncertain and Isaiah does an unusual thing: he goes to the temple.
Was he frightened and needing solace from God?
Did he have have political aspirations and wanted God's blessing?
We don't know.
But there in the temple Isaiah is met by God and called to be a prophet.
This was to be his life's work: tough, challenging, but glorious.

But how does this calling start?
How does God open the discussion?
What is the foundation of Isaiah's call?
---> The glory and majesty of the sovereign almighty God.

That's the starting point!
- not Isaiah's wishes or his great talent
- not the immensity of the need
- not Isaiah's qualifications or experience
---> But God on the throne: Holy and Majestic

Isaiah's calling is rooted in God's greatness.
More of God less of Isaiah.
After seeing God's great glory Isaiah will say "Woe is me I am undone!"
John the Baptist will say "He must become greater and I must become less"
Peter will hear Jesus speak of the Kingdom and say "Go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man"

When we see God's glory so clearly that our own brokenness is apparent, then we are ready to be used by God.
--------
Going to church on a Sunday morning may seem like a quaint routine.
These days many consider it an outdated cultural relic.
We know God is everywhere. Isaiah knew that too.
We know He can talk to us in the forest, the car and the shower.
BUT there is something about going to a place of worship to worship the One true God.
It is not a quaint routine or an outdated cultural relic.
It is a powerful statement of our belief in God and our desire to worship Him no matter what.
This is what Isaiah does in the midst of crisis.
And God meets him there!

See you in church on Sunday!

---

EmmDev 2024-09-12 [All Things New] Re-establishing Identity

Re-establishing Identity

Joshua and the Israelites have just crossed the Jordan River -- a miraculous sign that they were entering the Promised Land. But before facing their first battle, God surprises Joshua with an unusual command...

At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again." (Joshua5:2)

It's important to understand circumcision as practiced by the Israelites. The surrounding nations performed circumcision at puberty as a rite of passage into manhood. But when God commanded Abraham to circumcise boys at eight days old, it marked a significant shift. Circumcision was no longer about entering manhood but about belonging to God's covenant people from the very start of life.

Imagine a group of young boys (Hittites, Perizites and Israelites) all swimming in a local waterhole. There's no swimming costumes. The boys from the other nations ask "Why have you already been cut?" The Israelite boys would answer "Because we belong to God!!"

During the Exodus through the desert, they had not performed any circumcisions. There was a whole generation of boys, who were now men, who weren't marked as belonging to God.

God re-establishes the practice of circumcision - a reminder that we belong to God. A reminder that tiny infants are included in the people of God long before they can reach out to Him. A reminder that even if we neglect this truth (as the Israelites did in the desert), the truth remains the same - we belong to Him!

Strategically, this was a risky move. Circumcision was far easier for infants than for grown men, and by incapacitating his army for a few days, Joshua put them at a disadvantage. Yet, it was a bold act of trust. The men had to humble themselves and undergo the flint-knife snip snip, trusting that God's protection was greater than their military readiness.

But what a powerful statement of grace! What an incredible gesture of love! God's message to them was clear: "You may have neglected the practice, but for Me, the truth remains the same -- you belong to Me." Just before the battle for the land begins, the army receives a tangible reminder of their identity and security: they belong to God.

==> Sometimes, we forget who we are. We lose sight of our identity as children of the King. But like the Israelites, we must return to that core truth. Coming back to this identity often requires humility and letting go of distractions. Yet God is always there, waiting to remind us: "You belong to Me!"

---

EmmDev 2024-09-11 [All Things New] Making it happen

Making it happen

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel36:26-28)

One of the toughest things about new beginnings is making them actually happen - taking the first step. Although we know we need a new beginning - we find that the "spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." And sometimes even our spirit is not so willing!!!

Ezekiel is writing to God's people in exile, promising that God would be at work in His people. (He is also anticipating the coming of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit.)

Bear in mind that this is the chapter just before the beautiful picture of the valley of dry bones brought to life by the power of the Word and the Spirit.

When it comes to new beginnings, we think that we have to do it all on our own. We think that we have to impress God and prove our worth to Him -- as if God is impressed by the height, depth or width of our devotion and service!

But Ezekiel teaches us something different:
God will not merely try to teach our dead hearts new tricks - He will totally transform our hearts and put His Spirit in us.

Look at these powerful transformations:
From "heart of stone" to "heart of flesh"
From struggling to obey to being "moved to follow His decrees."
From being far from God to being "my people."

It's God who takes this initiative.
It's His Spirit who transforms us.
It's God who makes us new.

We don't make it happen.
God is the one who makes it happen!
Hallelujah!

---

EmmDev 2024-09-10 [All Things New] Courage in New Beginnings

Courage in New Beginnings

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." (Ruth1:16-17)

The account of Ruth documents one of the most challenging personal new beginnings we find in the Bible. Ruth was a Moabite. Traditionally Israelites and Moabites disliked, mistrusted and even hated each other.

Elimelech, an Israelite, had come to Moab because of a famine in Israel. Ruth fell in love with Mahlon, one of Elimelech's sons. But marrying into this family of foreign refugees would not have been a popular move among her own people...

Then tragedy struck! All the men in Elimelech's family died, leaving only his wife, Naomi, and his sons' widows, Orpah and Ruth. One can imagine the townspeople saying: "Hmmm that's what you get for marrying into a family of foreign heathens!" But Ruth has encountered the God of Israel in Naomi's example and she has begun to believe...

When Naomi hears that the famine is over, she prepares to go back and tries to persuade her Moabite daughters-in-law to remain in Moab. But Ruth is determined to go with Naomi. She says:
"Don't urge me to leave or turn back..." (I don't even want to contemplate it, so don't keep nagging me about it because I'm so scared)
"Where you go..." (I'm willing to go into the unknown and stay outside my comfort zone)
"Your people will be my people" (I'll start from scratch and reinvent myself)
"Your God will be my God" (This is what it is all about)
"Where you die... Be buried" (this is a lifelong commitment)
"May The Lord deal with me..." (She seals it with a vow)

Ruth leaves behind all she knows and all she is - all because she encountered the living God in Naomi's life - even in the midst of a triple bereavement and great uncertainty.

The story of Ruth is a powerful new beginning.
She, a scorned Moabitess, becomes the great great granny to king David and features in the genealogy of Christ.

This is what God can do with new beginnings.
But these new beginnings will ask for great courage and great commitment.
May we emulate Ruth's courage and may we live attractive lives like Naomi so that others find a new beginning through us.

---

EmmDev 2024-09-06 [All Things New] New Creation

New Creation

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2Corinthians5:16-17)

I'm a blood donor. In order to donate blood, I have to be healthy. There are certain medications I can't take in the ten days before donating so that those chemicals aren't in the blood I donate. I remember donating as a student when another student arrived to donate, but he had imbibed heavily of "Dutch Courage" in order to face the needles. The nurse turned him away commenting that there was too little blood in his alcohol stream!

But if I'm illness free and banned-drugs free, I can donate. When I've been exercising and am nice and fit, I always like to donate, imagining my blood to be full of healthy red oxygen cells, white soldier cells, strong platelets and good plasma and I like to imagine that blood being transfused into an ill patient and that blood bringing life. My blood type is O-positive which is the almost universal blood type - I can give blood to almost anyone except O-negs.

In some ways, Jesus' death on the cross for us all makes Him a universal donor. His blood was without defect and so by His resurrection He can "transfuse" life into me and His blood will unleash new "cells" in me that will rebuild my broken life from the inside out.

I am a new creation - you can still see parts of the old - but the new is happening! Just watch this space..... ;-)

---

EmmDev 2024-09-05 [All Things New] The Cost of New Beginnings

The Cost of New Beginnings

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (Genesis3:21)

The first new beginning in the Bible is in Genesis 3 after Adam and Eve had sinned against God.

Creation was still very young when Adam and Eve wrecked it through their disobedience. In choosing what they desired and what their ambitions dictated, they alienated themselves from God.

Their disobedience wrecked four relationships:
With God: - They hid from Him
With themselves: - They were ashamed of their nakedness
With each other: - They blamed each other for their failure
With creation: - They were destined to struggle to till the earth

The picture is terribly sad: When God walks in the garden to be with them, they're hiding and trying to cover themselves with sewn together fig leaves. They've lost the first beginning.

But God gives them a new beginning: God makes garments of skin for them. By implication an animal dies. A sacrifice is made.

The sacrifice of the animal points toward Jesus' ultimate sacrifice. In Rev 7:9-14 we read about how we are clothed in robes that have been "washed in the blood of the Lamb."

This first "new" beginning already shows us something very important about new beginnings - they are not free, but Jesus is willing to pay.

What a comfort to know that we are so loved by God that He gives us new beginnings even when it cost Jesus His life.

---

EmmDev 2024-09-04 [All Things New] I am doing a new thing!

I am doing a new thing!

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah43:19)

The prophet Isaiah announced the coming of the Messiah. He foresaw that God would do a "new thing" in the hearts of His people. As with many of the promises of Scripture, this "new thing" plays out in many ways:
- It had to do with the Israelites returning from exile in Babylon
- It spoke ultimately about the coming of Jesus into our world
- It speaks of the powerful working of God's Spirit in our hearts

In this Spring season we think of the new life that God gives us.
If you're up North, Autumn is preparation for the Winter time of waiting.
To some degree, Isaiah's prophecies, some 450 years before Christ, were Autumn announcements before the so-called "400 silent years" before the coming of the Spring of incarnation...

There are multiple Springs: The Spring of Incarnation, the Spring of Pentecost, the Spring of our Conversion and the potential Spiritual Spring after Spiritual Winter.

Maybe you have been in a Spiritual Winter...
Maybe you have been in the desert...

My longing hope is that our hearts will be prepared and "strangely warmed" as we journey through our devotions for the next few weeks. My prayer is that there will be a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland - A journey to rejuvenation.

This journey to rejuvenation starts with a recognition of the desert we find ourselves in. Our desert is our busy-ness, our broken-ness, our stubborn-ness, our wasteful-ness, our prideful-ness - our SIN-full-ness... And so we recognise our deep need for God.

Isaiah points out three important aspects of this Spring:

1. It's a new thing. It's not a sentimental going back to the past. It will be an authentic "here and now" work in you and me.
2. We can miss it. Isaiah asks: "Do you not perceive it?" The whispers of God can be subtle and gentle, we need to keep our eyes open lest we miss it.
3. He will bring clarity and sustenance (a WAY in the desert and STREAMS in the wasteland.) Again, don't miss this.

"Dear Lord, please rejuvenate us. Please help us perceive Your new way in us. Open our eyes to the abundant life only you can bring. Shake us, wake us, heal us, forgive us, breathe life into our souls, renew us and fill us. Amen."

---

EmmDev 2024-09-03 [All Things New] Every Morning

Every Morning

As it is Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, I'm going to be spending some time thinking about how God "makes all things new." We'll be looking at various promises and examples of how God is a God who renews, restores, re-creates and gives new beginnings.
====================================
The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah in aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. It is a gut-wrenching exploration of pain. It consists of five poems that have been composed with each stanza starting with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

The poem explores the terribly sad circumstances as thoroughly as possible. It is as though Jeremiah needed to document the horror of what had happened. It is in the middle poem, where there are three stanzas for each alphabet letter that we find the bottom line: God's love cannot be defeated by pain.

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." (Lamentations3:22-24)

There is no denying the reality of the pain. The thorough "documentation" of this pain in Lamentations means that pain and loss are not downplayed, belittled or handled in a trite way, but Jeremiah is also sure that pain does not have the last say.

God's love is stronger than pain - our problems don't disappear, but we are carried through our loss and sustained in our struggle, we are nurtured in our journey even if we can't see the end of the shadowy valley.

The powerful image he connects to is that of a new morning. Sometimes the new morning comes with a stunning sunrise, sometimes it comes in a fairly bland way, other times we can't even see it behind the mist and the rain - but it always always always comes!

In the midst of our pain and loss, let us wait for the Lord!

---