Author: Stephanie Wolfe

During the year of 2021, I had the opportunity to be still. A Lot. In the beginning of the year I broke my hand. Many things were put on hold as I was unable to use my dominant hand for 4 months. After my hand healed I endured a few months of an infected tooth and lots of lying around as I felt horrible.  And finally, when I felt like I might be crawling out of my cocoon, I fell and broke my ankle. This led to 6 weeks of sitting around. A Lot.

Being still was hard. I felt very unproductive and lazy. But, over the course of the year I learned some invaluable lessons about what God thought of me. If I had not been forced through injury and sickness to be still, I would have missed learning what God had for me during that time.

Today, as we read Psalms 46, we read this very well known verse,

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalms 46:10 (American Standard Version)

To be still, does not just mean to sit in a chair and stair out the window. Although, I did lots of that when I could not put any weight on my foot for 2 weeks. The Hebrew word for “still” used in the verse above is raphah, meaning to sink down, relax, and let go, cease striving, or withdraw. In the Christian Standard Version of this same verse, it begins with, “Stop fighting, and know that I am God.” There is a sense that this chapter of Psalms was written during a time of conflict of war. So, God is calling them to stop fighting. He wants them to stop the frantic activity, to let go and put down their weapons of war.

God commands them to do this because He wants them to stop, to take the time to realize that He is in control. When we are frantically running around and trying to find answers or solutions to our problems we loose sight of God. We forget about the power that God has.

We can see how powerful God is when we look at earlier verses in Psalms 46.

God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its water roars and foams and the mountains quake with its turmoil.
Psalms 46:2-3 (CSB)

Psalms 46:10 is a deep reminder to us that “even though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its water roars and foams and the mountains quake,” God is in control. We are called to be still and remember who He is. To be still does not mean to sit and do nothing, but to stop fearing, to stop fighting. We are to be still and acknowledge the greatness and power of God.

The beginning of each month, a new week and a new day brings me the task of making a new list. Each morning I break down my monthly or weekly list into what is required of me for the day. Of course on the top of today’s list was to write this Bible Journal Post. On the days that I do not make my list I am way less productive. I flounder about and procrastinate because I do not require anything of myself. I will be honest and say that I have more days of floundering than I would like. When I know the requirements of my day I am much more productive and in turn have a profound sense of accomplishment when I lay my head on my pillow at night.

Today in Micah 6 we read about the requirements that God gives to His people. A small list of 3 things He wants from them.

Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

This chapter begins with God getting the Israelites attention. He wants them to listen. We have seen in the previous 5 chapters that Micah speaks of all of the sins of Israel…fraud, theft, greed, debauchery, oppression, hypocrisy, heresy, injustice, extortion, lying, murder and many others. The Israelites had turned away from God and forgot about their personal relationship with Him.

We see in verses 6 and 7 that the people may actually be listening so they focus on what they can offer to God as offerings for their sin against him.

What should I bring before the Lord when I come to bow before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the offspring of my body for my own sin?
Micah 6:6-7

Micah responds to this in verse 8 (above), “He has told each of you what is good and what it is that the Lord requires of you.” God did not want their offerings, he wanted their hearts. So he gave them His 3 requirements:

1) To act justly – this means to live with a sense of right and wrong, to live a life of integrity. God wanted them to remove unjust thoughts and actions in their lives. He urges them to help the poor and those who have been attacked by injustice.

2) Love mercy – to freely and willingly show kindness to others. To give freely without expecting anything in return. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice of God’s mercy.

3) Walk humbly with Him – God wants to walk with us. He wants to be in constant communication with us. To be connected to Him we have to be in His Word, praying to Him and worshipping Him continuously.

Are we any different than the Israelites? Our sins may look different in today’s times, but they are the same sins as days of the past…fraud, theft, greed, debauchery, oppression, hypocrisy, heresy, injustice, extortion, lying, murder and many others. Micah’s message is just as relevant to us. God wants our hearts more than he wants our gifts or offerings.

Perhaps I need to add these three requirements to the top of my daily lists. Actually, I DO need to be daily reminded of what the Lord requires of me above all else. He wants my heart. He wants me to act justly. He wants me to love mercy. And He wants me to walk humbly with Him.

A few days ago I read through my assigned Bible Journal Post for today, Micah chapter 3. To say I had no idea what I would write about is an understatement. Just look at how the chapter begins:

You hate good and love evil. You tear off people’s skin and strip their flesh from their bones. You eat the flesh of my people after you strip their skin from them and break their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”
Micah 3:2-3

In these first verses Micah (a prophet of the Lord) uses very graphic language to describe the destruction that Israel’s leaders have caused on God’s people. Micah uses terms that describe cannibalism, although he is not saying these people were cannibals. They treated the people so unfairly that they destroyed them in a similar way. These leaders practiced injustice in their leadership, and betrayed the trust put into them to lead the people. Micah states that these leaders, “hate good and love evil.”

God gave Micah the job of telling the prophets of the day what God really thought of them.

This is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who proclaim peace when they have food to sink their teeth into but declare war against the one who puts nothing in their mouths.
Micah 3:5

Micah goes on to speak to the nation’s leaders.

Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert everything that is right, who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice. Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment, and her prophets practice divination for silver. Yet they lean on the Lord, saying, “Isn’t the Lord among us? No disaster will overtake us.”
Micah 3:9-11

These leaders were disobeying God with their actions, but they still say that “no disaster will overtake us.” Sin had become so common among them that they assumed God would be ok with it too. They believed that at the end of the day they would be ok.

But Micah is bold in his statement in verse 12. His message would have sounded outrageous to all who heard him speak.

Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the temple’s mountain will be a high thicket.
Micah 3:12

What does it mean that “Zion would be plowed like a field?” Zion would be cut up and broken apart. Micah proclaims to them that because of their sin, destruction wiould come.

The Holy Spirit empowered Micah to speak the truth.

As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the Lord, with justice and courage, to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.
Micah 3:8

Micah was bold enough to follow through and speak up. We have to remember that we have the gift of the same Holy Spirit that Micah had. We need to speak the truth in love and be bold like Micah was. God wants us to proclaim His truth to the people we encounter.

Will we be as bold as Micah?

 

Who you are is often confused with what you do. Your job often gives you meaning and defines who you are. We look at people with high-powered, influential jobs and think maybe they are more important. I recently met a woman in her mid 60’s and she proudly proclaimed that she has been a stay-at-home mom since day 1 and she wouldn’t change a thing! I loved her confidence in what she said. Others may look down on her for not “working” a 9-5 job. But, she knew what God called her to do and did it well.

Sometimes we think that God will only use the best and the brightest among us. The ones that seem super spiritual and are really involved in Church activities and community issues. He might use the people who have authority and influence. In our reading today we see this is not the case.

The words of Amos, who was one of the sheep breeders from Tekoa – what he saw regarding Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash, ing of Israel, tow years before the earthquake.
Amos 1:1

Amos was a sheep breeder of Tekoa. He had no formal training in theology or prophetic ministry. Amos was a simple man, a farmer. He was a man taking care of his sheep, but God called him to ministry.

The name Amos means “burden” or “burden bearer.” In this first chapter of Amos we see that Amos prophecies about the coming judgement. Because of what he has to speak, he carries a heavy burden.

God uses this simple man and gives him great job to do. Amos was a prophet to the 10 norther tribes in the kingdom of Israel. These days were filled with one wicked king after another. But, God called this simple sheep breeder to preach to the nation that had forgotten who God was.

No matter what you do for a living, God can use you in mighty ways just as He did Amos. God uses unlikely people to do what He wants done, just as He used Jesus, a simple carpenter.

Who are you and how can God use you?

I’m sure you have seen the viral video of the little boy saying, “Linda, Linda, listen to me Linda.” When I hear someone say “listen to me”, I immediately hear this little boy saying this to his mother. He did not want to listen to the punishment that his Mom was calling him out on. Here is the link to the video if you have not seen it:) https://youtu.be/aFYsJYPye94

Isaiah 34 begins with Isaiah declaring to all nations to listen.

You nations, come here and listen; you peoples, pay attention! Let the earth and all that fills it hear, the world and all that comes from it.
Isaiah 34:1

This book is about the final judgment at the end of time. Isaiah describes everything burning with never ending fire, and animals being destroyed. He gives a dire warning of things to come for the people.

Isaiah is calling all the people of the nations to LISTEN! The end is coming. Thankfully, we have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of our sins. Outside of Christ, we are enemies of God and have no chance of a future. Now is the time to turn, repent, and know Jesus as Savior.

The above is a cute video about getting someone to Listen. But, today’s reading is as serious as one can get. Are you going to listen? We do not know what tomorrow holds. We are to be ready.

This is why you are also to be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.                            Matthew 24:44

 

 

Do you have a guard dog? We have a dog, but she is not a guard dog.  She loves to greet you at our door and jump all over you. But, as she has aged she is very jumpy. Every time someone enters a door, or pops around a corner she gives a loud high pitched bark. Just one bark, more like an alert, watch out, someone is here. Even if you walk out of the room for a minute and come back she will give her alert bark. Maybe she thinks she is keeping us safe by letting us know when anything in her environment changes.

When something is important to us we guard it. When I take off my wedding ring, I put it in a safe place. When I leave my house or park my car I lock them. And when I am in the grocery store, I guard my purse as it sits in the seat of the grocery cart. One cannot be too safe anymore.

In today’s reading we are encouraged to guard our hearts above all else.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23

This means that guarding our heart should be our priority. Just like we guard our important possessions.

So what does it look like to guard your heart?

We guard our physical heart by eating healthy and exercising. Everything we eat affects how our heart works throughout our body. But, we also have our spiritual heart that King Solomon speaks of in the verse above. Our spiritual heart produces our spiritual life.

The heart is the center of our spiritual being, where all our emotions are ready to be brought forth. The problem is, our heart can be deceitful, we cannot trust every emotion that flows from the heart. We guard our heart by guarding our mind. We guard our mind and what we think about by being cautious as to what our eyes see and what our ears hear. Reading God’s Word is the key to getting the Truth to soak into our heart.

My son, pay attention to what i say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and heath to one’s whole body.
Proverbs 4:20-22

Just as we physically exercise our heart to keep it healthy we need to spiritually exercise our heart by continually being in God’s Word, worshipping Him, serving Him and talking to Him. This will guard our heart from all the evil that surrounds us.

I know summer is over and fall is here when I have to dump all of my flower pots and dispose the dead flowers. All of the pretty colorful flowers and green leaves have withered and turned brown. It happens every summer. But, after 3 months of watering I am ready for them to be gone.

In our reading today, David writes about green plants that will die away. He relates them to those who do evil. Those who do evil will also wither and die away.

Do no fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither; like green plants they will soon die away.
Psalms 37:1-2

Do you ever find yourself “fretting” because of those who are evil? There are so many things we can and do “fret” over in our world today. I don’t even need to list them. You know why you had trouble falling asleep last night or why your heart sped up when you heard certain news today. Our minds can get caught up in all the reasons we have to “fret.”

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines fret as
1- to eat or gnaw into: corrode
2- to cause to suffer emotional strain

David again says to not fret in verse 7:

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Psalms 37:7

When we fret, we turn our focus from God to ourselves. We think of all the ways we can change things or circumstances. We lie awake at night thinking about all the “what-ifs.”   David is telling us in Psalm 37 to STOP!

David calls us to trust in the Lord, find our delight in Him, commit our ways to the Lord, rest in the Lord, and to wait patiently for Him.

We are not to fret because ultimately God will pour out His justice. The evil doers will wither, just alike our summer flowers. When we find our mind beginning to fret, we need to delight in Him instead.

How do we delight in the Lord?

Psalm 37:3 tells us to: Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Psalm 37:5 tells us to: Commit our way to the Lord, Just also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.

Psalm 37:7 tells us to: Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.

When your mind is fretting and turning to all the evil around you, turn to Psalms 37 and read these verses. Delight in the Lord and He will hold you up.

The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
Psalms 37:23-24

We have a favorite meat shop in Peoria, IL. Special events and celebrations are comemorated with a stop at the meat shop to purchase something to grill for dinner. Many comments are made on how it is the best tasting dinner we have ever had. But, if the griller (my husband) forgot the salt or didn’t put enough on the meat, no matter the quality, it would not taste as good. This has happened a couple of times, the meat was not flavored enough with salt so we have to bring the salt shaker to the table and add more to the individual pieces. Salt makes all the difference!

We read about salt in our text today.

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.”
Luke 14:34-35

The variety of salt and season salts one can buy today is incredible. If you stand in the spice isle at the local grocery you will have quite a choice of salts. Back in Jesus’ day salt was not the same.

In Jesus’ day salt was gathered up from salt deposits on the Mediterranean Sea or the Dead Sea. The deposits were then broke into large or small chunks depending on what it would be used for. The salt vendors would grind it up to be used just as we use it today, but it wasn’t as pure and bright white like we see salt today.

The salt that was gathered from the deposits in the sea was mixed with many other minerals. The salt was sold in blocks and was not a bright white color because it was not pure salt. If the block stayed out in the weather and got damp, the salt would leach out of the block and lose its saltiness. Over time, the salty flavor would disappear and only the other minerals would be left. Until it was tasted, one would never know that the salt was gone.

Just as salt flavors our food, we as followers of Jesus are to bring a flavor to those around us. As salt has a positive result in flavoring our food, we are to have a positive influence on the people we encounter daily.

Jesus is warning us in this passage to not lose our saltiness. How do we do this? By staying in His Word, by praising and worshiping Him, by being in community with other believers. We cannot keep our saltiness by only being in Church on Sundays or watching a sermon online. It is a daily habit to remain in fellowship with Jesus that aids us in keeping our salt salty.

They say that opposites attract. Well, this is definitely the case with my husband and I. My husband is a DOER!! If there is something that needs to be done he wants it done ASAP. It doesn’t matter how or what the result will be, it is just a matter of getting it done.  I, on the other hand am more of a procrastinator. I get it done, but in my own time. We have learned to lean into these differences and realize that neither is the perfect way, but there are advantages to both.

Today I am thankful that God gives us time and grants us another day. God has mercy and grants us another day, another hour, another breath. But, reality is that His patience will come to an end. We read about this today in Luke 13:1-17. God commands the people to repent.

I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
Luke 13:3

Jesus then goes on to tell a parable about a fig tree that should be producing fruit but it is not. Luke shows us in this text the difference between one who has repented and is producing fruit and one who remains hard hearted and continues to sin.

“A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years not I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it us up the soil?’ “ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ “
Luke 13:6-9

The three year period is significant in this parable because for three years John the Baptist and Jesus had been preaching the message of repentance throughout all of Israel. But, the fruits of repentance were not showing.

Thankfully, the gardener in this story pleads for more time. The gardener pleads for more time to water and fertilize the fruitless tree. And the God of mercy responds with patience.

The lesson for us is that we have a limited amount of time. God has granted us this day, this hour and our next breath, but our time is not eternal here on earth. Our day will come when we have to stand in front of Jesus and account for our lives we have lived. If there is no fruit in our life, no repentance, He sill cut us down.

I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
Luke 13:3

Being a DOER as my husband is would be very practical in this matter. Why wait till tomorrow when Jesus is waiting right now for us to repent and follow Him?

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Isaiah 55:6-7

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of
Luke 6:45

Words often reveal the condition of our hearts. However, there are also times when words can conceal how we truly feel. There are times when I am not honest with a friend about how I am truly feeling. There is always that friend that asks me how I am doing and I respond, “fine.” When I know in my heart that I am not really fine.

We can conceal our real feelings in our heart from both people and from God. In our reading today, Isaiah 29:15-24, the prophet Isaiah reveals the truth about the people of this day. And it seems they are no different from us today. They were religious people who were good at going through the motions of worship. They said all of the right things. But, their words were not in line with the true condition of their hearts. To most people, it seemed that they were very devout people, but in reality, their hearts were far from God.

Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who see us? Who will know?”
Isaiah 29:15

God is most concerned about the condition of our hearts. We must continually seek to grow in our love for the Lord. If we do not we may end up just like the people of Isaiah’s day and find ourselves going through the motions. We may seem like we have a close relationship with Jesus, but in our hearts we are far from God. God looks at and knows our heart. We can not fool him. Draw near to Him today.