One of the reasons why I love listening to the Bible (rather than only reading it) is because it can result in some pretty cool wordplay.

Case in point: this week, my devotional reading (listening) has taken me and The B99 through the story of Hagar and her trials at the hands of Sarai. You can catch the whole thing in the 16th and 21st chapters of Genesis, but to make sure we’re all on the same page for this post, let me sum it up for you…

• Sarai can’t have children
• Sarai has a mistress named Hagar
• Hagar can have children
• Sarai persuades her husband, Abram, to sleep with Hagar so that Sarai can have a child
• Hagar gets pregnant
• Sarai gets angry
• Abram gets confused
• Hagar gets abused by Sarai
• Hagar runs away from Sarai carrying the child who came from Sarai’s plan
• Hagar needs long-term counseling

If you ever wondered whether the Bible is relevant to today’s culture, the fact that this story sounds like a modern drama should convince you that it is. God doesn’t hide the ridiculously messy situations that we find ourselves in, even messes created by his people.

You can imagine how Hagar’s head must have been spinning as she fled from Abram and Sarai, which is what made the devotional’s wordplay so powerful. It began in verse seven, and I heard it as soon as it began.

Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. (Genesis‬ ‭16‬:‭7, emphasis mine)

The woman who had been used, abused, and rejected was on her way to Shur, which is pronounced exactly like “sure.” When I heard it, I thought, “Of course she was, and aren’t we all from time to time?”

Relationships change. Companies downsize. Promises are broken, and people are left broken as a result.

So often, life can leave us dazed and confused, and like Hagar, we don’t know where we’re going. We know where we’ve come from, but we’re not quite all the way to sure, and we can feel stuck. Ever been there?

Continue reading

When I opened my laptop to write this morning, my software alerted me to an update that was ready to be installed for the app that I use for my writing. When I clicked the alert, it opened a different app that handles the updates, and then that app told me that I wasn’t registered and needed to buy a plan that would allow me to proceed.

It’s confusing, I know, but hang in there a bit longer — I’m going somewhere.

The problem is that I already have a plan, and when I entered my account information, it still didn’t recognize it in the app even though it did on the website for that app.

All of this work to get into an app that I already have access to has left me a little frustrated. And yet, what a beautiful reminder of the access that we’ve been given in Christ! Eugene Peterson worded it beautifully in his paraphrase, The Message:

Continue reading

As of this writing, 37 states in the country have active orders for their citizens to Stay at Home. I’m sure that the other 13 can’t be far behind, and so that means that there is a very real possibility that our entire nation will soon find itself under orders to stay at home, or shelter in place.

But what if I told you that there has always been a shelter in place? Look at the words of King David in Psalm 27:5:

“For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.”

While the large majority of Americans are trying to figure out a new normal of being in the home more than being out of the home, I think now would be the perfect time to remind each of us what David knew thousands of years ago: God has a shelter in place that can keep us safe at home.

[Tweet “God has a shelter in place that can keep us safe at home.”]

How do we find that shelter in place while we’re all sheltering in place? By doing the same 3 things that David did when he was under attack.

Focus on what you know more than what you don’t

Just like you and me, David had some questions that he didn’t have answers to. He didn’t know who exactly was going to be attacking him or what could happen when they did, but he didn’t waste time or energy on that. Instead, he focused on what he knew more than what he didn’t. Actually, he focused on WHO he knew. David realized that knowing God now was greater than not knowing what might happen later because God would protect him no matter what (verse 2 makes that clear).

[Tweet “Knowing God now is greater than not knowing what might happen later.”]

Allow your one thing to determine everything

Focus is powerful, and David knew it. Sometimes, in the middle of a whole lot of distraction and white noise, the best thing we can do to cut through it and find clarity is by recapturing what matters most. David only had one thing on his to-do list: be with God. How will you and I find shelter during the shelter in place? By remembering and focusing on the most important things. Family, friends, faith. None of us are quarantined away from those, and if we really focus on them, we’ll find that this time could be more rewarding than we ever dreamed possible.

[Tweet “Allow your one thing to determine everything.”]

Never lose hope

I love the closing words of David in this Psalm. They literally drip with hope and optimism in the middle of the unknown!!

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27:13‬

Please don’t miss this. David didn’t write this later as he sipped sweet tea and reflected on all he had learned during a 30-day lockdown! In the middle of the mess, David remained confident and declared, “I will see…!” He wasn’t sure that future generations would see God’s goodness even though he wouldn’t. He was rock-solid, stone-faced immovable on the issue of the goodness of God and he knew that God’s goodness would become more and more evident the longer the questions surrounding him remained.

As Bill Johnson has said, “Anchor your soul in the goodness of God.” That’s some solid advice in a time when it feels like the waves are winning, and it will change your perspective if you’ll place yourself in the shelter that’s always been in place as you shelter in place.

[Tweet “Anchor your soul in the goodness of God. @billjohnsonBJM”]