Waist Deep 2018 - A Daily Dip in the Bible

Isaiah 40: 31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (NIV) The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting.* The phrase “soaring on wings like eagles” could more properly be rendered, “put forth fresh feathers,” implying renewal – which goes right along with the previous thought of renewing our strength. How could we not soar with a fresh set of wings and renewed strength?  Whichever way the verse is worded, I think of how it applies to those people who have dedicated their lives to Kingdom work. They work hard for the Lord – and he energizes them. He seems to give them “strength for action beyond ordinary human expectation.” *   Clearly, their hope is in the Lord as they seem to soar above the rest of us! But, the rest of us should be reminded that an effective life doesn’t have to ...

Isaiah 26: 3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. (NIV) Trust starts with prayer.* God will keep us in perfect peace if our mind is steadfast. Our mind is steadfast because we trust in him. We trust in him because he keeps us in perfect peace. A trusting relationship with God is like jumping into a circle – once you are in it, there is no beginning and no end. In Hebrew, the phrase that is translated as “perfect peace” is, “shalom shalom.” That’s “peace peace.” Or “double peace.” God’s peace is so much more than the world’s peace. It is exactly what Paul refers to in Philippians 4: 6 and 7: “Do not be anxious about anything . . . present your re-quests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  To attain a steadfast mind, we must bring every thought into captivity. Paul addresses this also in Philippians chapter 4. In verse 8, he...

Isaiah 25: 4 You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. (NIV) When all hell breaks loose, all heaven draws near.* I live in Florida so I have had some real-life experience with storms and heat. During Hurricane Charley, we took refuge in our house and learned first-hand what it’s like to be in a strong shelter during a storm.  After the hurricane had passed, we saw the destruction all around us but our house was practically untouched. Oh, our fence blew down and we lost some shingles from our roof and there were so many tree limbs in the yard that we couldn’t open the front door but we were safe and dry. And shade from the heat? I can relate to that from an opposite viewpoint. Sometimes in the summer in Florida, there is no relief from the heat even in the shade. But we crave that cool sensation – like we crave God’s presence blocking the heat from the sun of our daily live...

Song of Solomon 8: 7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. (NIV) Romance was so complicated that it must take a genius to figure it out.* Anyone who has ever been through a divorce knows that this verse isn’t universally true. Love, especially romantic love, is sometimes wishy-washy and unreliable. My love for my children is a better example of unquenchable love because there is nothing that could make me stop loving them. The Song of Solomon is a somewhat confusing love song. And love songs are not the most reliable source of information about true love outside of the realm of romance. We generally refer to chapter 13 of I Corinthians as the final authority on what love is. But I think we still don’t get it. In the words of Max Lucado: “When it comes to love, feelings rule the day. Emotions guide the ship. Goose bumps call the shots. But should they? Can feelings be trusted? Can a relationship feel right but be wrong?”*    ...

Ecclesiastes 12: 13, 14 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusions of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (NIV) Human nature easily deceives itself into thinking it has gotten away with something.* The Old Testament contains the Ten Commandments and is full of other laws and regulations. But Jesus condensed all of those down to just two commandments: Love God and love your neighbor (Mark 12: 29–31). If we kept these two commandments, the rest of them might well be unnecessary, as would a great deal of the New Testament. Here at the end of his observations about life, Solomon says that it is the whole duty of man to fear God and keep his commandments. The Anchor Bible translates the phrase, “whole duty of man” as, “this applies to everything.” You can’t segregate areas of your life from God’s commandments. The rule...

Ecclesiastes 7: 21, 22 Do not pay attention to every word people say or you may hear your servant cursing you – for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others. (NIV) God is helping me develop a thick skin while maintaining a soft heart.* This verse “just happened” to be the theme for my devotional one night after a particularly grueling experience. I had listened to lies, innuendos, and accusations about myself and I struggled with the temptation to “return the favor.” While I am not proud of how I handled the situation – I would like to have been gracious, instead I was defensive – I did manage not to sink to the other person’s level.   When I was in high school, I bought a new dress that I thought looked amazing on me. I was so excited to wear it to school, but when I got there, a boy who meant nothing to me said I looked like a fruit salad and I never wore the dress again. Why should I have cared what he thought? There are...

Ecclesiastes 7: 14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. (NIV) Difficult times are an opportunity for people of faith to shine.* Solomon has pragmatic advice for how to look at life: Good or bad, we know that God is in control so what are we going to do about it? We can’t understand the meaning of the complex events of life but we can at least enjoy the good that comes to us.* It is good advice – enjoy the good times . But, do we need to be reminded that the good times don’t last forever? In Job 1: 21, we are prompted to remember that God gives and God takes away (but, may the name of the Lord be praised!). Since we can’t know whether tomorrow is going to be a good day or a bad one, perhaps we should just expect the best. If you are in a valley, think of it as a “divine assignment from God.”* Look for God’s purpose in your circumstances – how you can grow from them; how others might b...

Ecclesiastes 7: 13 Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? (NIV) The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing.* Usually, when I consider what God has done, I am thinking in terms of creation or miracles, but here Solomon is asking us to think about how God moves in the world. Solomon, while having a pessimistic outlook, still believes in God and his providence.* There are occurrences in nature which to us seem like bad things: hurricanes, floods, volcanoes, diseases; and if we were in charge, we would eliminate them. There are evil people in the world who inflict unspeakable cruelty upon their fellowman. We would do something about them, too. In other words, we believe we can improve on what God has set in motion.  While we believe that the prayer of a righteous man is “powerful and effective” (James 5: 16), we really can’t improve on what God has “determined shall be.”*   Look at what God has done and ...

Ecclesiastes 5: 10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. (NIV) When we make something other than God an absolute priority – even something good – we have made an idol.* Not everyone who is wealthy got that way because he loves money. Some people inherit, some are good at something that pays well, some are just lucky. But the man who seeks after money for its own sake – a collector, if you will – never has enough. For some, the more they get, the more they love it. I’ve also heard that no one is more obsessed with money than someone who doesn’t have any. Poverty and prosperity each comes with its own set of temptations. I have read that 15 percent of everything Jesus said relates to money and possessions – supposedly more than his teaching on heaven and hell combined.* Jesus doesn’t condemn the possession of money. Many rich people touched his life and were members of the church. Solomon, the ...

Ecclesiastes 5: 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. (NIV) The sensual nature of man is stimulated by the sins of the tongue.* This verse is referring to unfulfilled oaths but it could apply to any other sin that we commit with our mouths. In Scripture there are plenty of references to the bad things we can do with our mouths, so I wondered:  what good things can come out of our mouths? A quick scan of a concordance finds that from the mouth can come laughter, wisdom, praise, graciousness, confession. With our mouths we can make his faithfulness known; extol him; speak what is true; and glorify him. Add to these the references to lips and tongue and we find that there is plenty to keep our mouths too busy for false oaths, lies, gossip, and every other sin that our mouths can lead us into. It is possible to honor God with your lips while your heart is not engaged (see Matthew 15: 8 and 9, where Jesus quotes Isaiah), but James tells us, in chapter 3, verse 1...