Waist Deep 2018 - A Daily Dip in the Bible

Micah 6: 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (NIV) You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth.* In this verse, Micah is addressing people who have been going through the motions of religion. They were offering extravagant sacrifices but weren’t leading lives of obedience – like people today who attend church and tithe while they also cheat - on their income taxes, on their wives, at their jobs. Instead of being valuable, their offerings had become “odious to God.”* So what does God want from them – and from us? What is good, Micah says, is to act justly. But that’s not enough. We must also love mercy – which speaks to a whole other level of commitment. Justice may be carried out in the absence of emotional involvement, but loving mercy produces justice without regret, resentment, or coercion. Walking with God involves action – obedie...

Jonah 4: 10, 11 “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people . . . Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (NIV) If you want to be used by God, you must care about what God cares about; what he cares about most is the redemption of the people he made.* I went to a lot of trouble to deliver a dog to my son and daughter-in-law only to have them decide the next day that they couldn’t keep him. I had only “known” the dog for a week but that day as I made the 8-hour drive back home alone, I cried for the poor homeless pooch that no one wanted. (He went to a rescue shelter and then to a good home but . . .) Turns out, I’m not so different from Jonah who was angry over the loss of a weed. (At least my concern was for something that could show affection!) But where is my concern for orphans and the homeless and the lost...

Obadiah 15 “As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your head.” (NIV) Although he’s extremely patient with us, one day he will hold us accountable for how we’ve lived.* Verse one of Obadiah clearly states that he is reporting God’s message to Edom – not to me or you. But, as in verse 15, when we find the same principle in the New Testament, the message may also apply to us.  When you read this verse, do you automatically give it a negative spin? When you consider being paid in kind for what you have done and having your deeds return upon your head, do you think of them as neutral terms, neither good nor bad? II Corinthians 5: 10, Paul lets us in on a secret: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad .” (Emphasis added.) If we have not lived a righteous life, God’s words to Obadiah – and even Paul’s words - c...

Amos 5: 24 “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (NIV) Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it.* We know people who always do what they should. No more. No less. Maybe you are one of those people. Sometimes I’m that person. It can’t be said that we aren’t dutiful and responsible – but that’s not really enough, is it? So how should we define what is enough?  God’s law isn’t just a list of “dos and don’ts.” It’s about the attitude of your heart. Jesus introduced the concept of “going the extra mile” in Matthew 5: 41. When we do what we have to do, we are certainly obeying the letter of the law. But when we perform more than just the bare minimum requirement, we are demonstrating that we have made a better choice – and it is likely that our hearts are more deeply involved in the action. This is the attitude that God wants us to have in our treatment of others. Treating people justly may d...

Joel 2: 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. (NIV) The outward expressions of sorrow must spring from within.* Many of us have experienced such great sorrow for our sins that we have demonstrated it in dramatic ways. Tearing our clothes, loud weeping, and even self-mutilation are examples of outward signs of being sorry for sin. Without some external sign of repentance, who would know that you have repented? But acting like we’re sorry can be – well . . . just an act. God knows your heart and you can’t fool him by putting on a good show. But did you realize that your repentance can cause God to repent? According to Joel, if God’s people returned to him, he would relent from his plans for them. This should cause us to repent, not out of fear of his judgment, but because of God’s compassion and willingness to relent. A...

Hosea 9: 10 When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved. (NIV) We become good or bad according to what we admire.* Have you ever known a sweet, adorable child who grew up into a despicable adult? You wonder whatever happened to all that goodness. Is that child still in there somewhere or has he been totally replaced by another being? Hosea reports a similar sentiment in God’s words about his people. They went from being refreshing and juicy in a place where they were “most needed” and “least expected”* to being perverted and disgusting before the holiness of God. How easy it is for Satan to lead us down this same path to degeneracy. One compromise after another until what we used to consider vile is now perfectly acceptable. You think it ha...

Daniel 6: 10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the window opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (NIV) Integrity is the ability to choose faithfulness while resisting compromise.* Daniel’s jealous Babylonian colleagues knew that the only way to trap Daniel was through his religion. They appealed to the king’s vanity and persuaded him to pass a law that for the next 30 days, anyone who prayed to anyone or anything other than the king would be tossed to the lions. Because of his status in the government, Daniel probably was one of the first to hear of the decree, allowing him time to start scheming a way out. Daniel could have tried to use his political clout to expose the agenda of the officials; he could have prayed in secret for the next month; but Daniel did not compromise. He was not required by the L...

Daniel 3: 17, 18 “If we are thrown into the . . . furnace, the God we serve is able to save us . . . But even if he does not, . . . we will not serve your gods .” (NIV) I want to shine like gold, but I don’t like the fire.* This passage has been one of my favorites for many years, ever since I heard a sermon based on it.  One line that the preacher kept repeating spoke powerfully to me: “I am expecting God to do great things.  But what if he doesn’t?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were sure that God could save them from the fire. They also knew that he might choose not to; even so, they would not bow to false gods. God used these verses to speak to me at a time when every day seemed a little worse than the one before. He helped me to determine in my heart that I would not bow down and worship the god of defeat. I knew that he was able to deliver me from my personal fiery furnace but I also learned that he could be glorified in my defeat if I was strong...

Ezekiel 22: 30 “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” (NIV) Intercessory prayer is . . . the one way that a single believer, limited to one place and one moment of time can affect ministries around the globe.* What gap was Ezekiel referring to here? According to one commentator, it was in the “moral wall that protected Judah from judgment.”* He was looking for someone who was willing to stand in the weak place in the wall to keep sin out; but no one was willing. Whose job is it to guard the moral wall today? Remember the recycling slogan: “Think globally; act locally”? It works that way in the Kingdom of God, as well. While we keep the big picture in mind, each of us does what we can where we can, trying to make a difference within our own sphere of influence. Some are called to ministry beyond their corner of the world but most of us...

Ezekiel 13: 10 “They lead my people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, . . . and when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash.” (NIV) Are we going to preach a biblical message or a popular message?* A coat of whitewash might improve the appearance of a wall but it doesn’t add to its strength. Likewise, we think we are being nice when we tell people what they want to hear. While there is nothing wrong with being sensitive to another’s feelings, lying to them is inexcusable. One of God’s least favorite things is prophesying falsely. False prophets wanted to make everyone happy and to be liked, while true prophets told it like it was going to be, regardless of how they may have dreaded their audience’s reaction. Watering down the message to make it more palatable wasn’t going to change their fate. Do all false prophets know that they are leading people astray? Perhaps not always. But teachers and preachers beware! Paul says in Galatian...