Michele Huey's Blog: God, Me, and a Cup of Tea, page 5
February 8, 2024
Sinner Saved By Grace
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. –Matthew 5:8 NIV
Just call me “Messy Michele.” Not that I live in disorder and clutter, because I cannot function well, if at all, if my immediate environs are disorganized. It’s because I rarely can eat or drink anything without spilling or splattering something on me.
I can don a white sweater before I leave the house, but by the time I arrive at my destination, you can bet that coffee stains have added themselves to the design. One time I took spaghetti for lunch to heat in the microwave at school. Of course, that morning, without thinking of what I’d planned for lunch, I put on a white blouse.
But I was careful. I covered the front of my blouse with two or three paper towels, held the dish next to my mouth and gingerly forked in small portions. I thought I’d emerged unscathed until I looked in the mirror. There, on the shoulder of my white blouse, was a small red splotch of spaghetti sauce!
It’s hopeless. No matter how careful I try to be, somehow I attract the splotches, splatters, and spills like a magnet attracts iron. I’ve learned to carry a roll of paper towels in my vehicle and keep a stain removal chart in the laundry room, along with a bottle of liquid stain remover.
Even with all the laundry boosters, though, some stains don’t come out. But I’ve found that if I hang the laundered-but-still-stained garment on the line outside on a sunny day, the sun’s rays will bleach out the stain.
So it is with my spirit. I cannot emerge from living in this world unscathed by the sin that surrounds me daily. Most days I struggle with my humanness, and I fail to live up to my Lord’s command to be perfect and pure (Matthew 5:48, 1 Timothy 5:22).
I can’t be a saint. I’m too much of a sinner. I face the quandary St. Paul found himself in: “It seems a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?” (Romans 7:21–24)
How can God expect us as Christians to be perfect and pure? When our spirits are so willing, and our flesh is so weak? How can He expect sinners to be saints?
Perhaps the key is understanding what a saint really is. In many of his letters to the churches, Paul called the believers “saints.” Not sinners. In Romans 1:7, Paul addressed the letter “to all in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be saints.” We are called to be saints, to live pure, perfect, holy lives.
Impossible? Yes, if we try to do it in our own human power. But there is a supernatural power available to live holy lives: God’s Holy Spirit. We allow ourselves to be controlled not by our sinful, human nature, with which we war every day, but by the Holy Spirit, who indwells every believer at the moment of salvation (Romans 8:5–11).
Why, then, if I have the Holy Spirit living in me, do I still fail? Because my human nature, although no longer in control, still resides within me. Personal holiness is not instantaneous. It’s a lifetime process, acquired through many failures, trials, tribulations, and sorrows; watered with both storms and showers of human tears; and cleansed by the rays of the Son.
While I live on this earth, in this “body of death,” as Paul called it (Romans 7:24), I am going to fail. But, praise God, “there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” While I stand at the foot of Calvary’s cross, where the Son’s rays bleach out my sin-stain, God sees not Michele the sinner, but Michele the saint.
That’s what a saint really is: a sinner—saved by grace!
Thank You, Father, for giving me what I need to live a life pleasing to You. Amen.
Read and reflect on Romans 7:7–8:17.
From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea, Vol. 3 © 2019 Michele Huey. All rights reserved.
February 3, 2024
Danger: Apathy at Work
Read and reflect on John 2:13–17.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. – Matthew 5:6 (NIV)
It must have been quite a scene. If there had been newspapers in the first century, the headlines would have announced: “PROPHET FROM NAZARETH GOES BERSERK: MERCHANTS CLEAN UP AFTER MIRACLE MAN TRASHES TEMPLE COURTS.”
It’s hard to imagine gentle Jesus – the One who, on trial for His life, said not a word in His own defense; who healed, consoled and preached peaceful living – brandishing a handmade whip, driving out cattle and sheep, overturning tables, and flinging coins in anger. Temper tantrum? Hardly. Jesus Himself gave the reason for His actions and wrath: “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it ‘a den of robbers’” (Luke 19:46).
The apostle John adds to the account: “His disciples remembered that it is written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me’” (John 2:17).
On another occasion, the Son of God delivered a scathing chastisement to the Pharisees for their hardened hearts and hypocritical lifestyle, and for preventing people from believing in Him and entering the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 23:1–39). Few instances of Jesus’ anger are recorded in the Gospels, but each time His anger was for a just cause.
While the Bible warns us against the dangers of harboring anger and allowing it to control us, we should get angry when we see the innocent suffer because of the guilty. Righteous anger – anger for a just cause – differs from selfish anger – anger born of thinking only of ourselves and wanting our own way.
Righteous anger spurs us into action. Corruption spurred Martin Luther to nail his 95 Theses to a German church door. Prejudice spurred Martin Luther King to dream of a society in which all people of every race and color would enjoy the same privileges and respect given to the whites. Spiritual apathy spurred Jonathan Edwards to pen his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and John Wesley to launch a spiritual revival in eighteenth century England.
More recently, outrage against euthanasia and a belief in the sanctity of life spurred an outcry against removing Terry Schiavo’s feeding tubes.
Look around. Declining moral standards and spiritual apathy abound. Greed, corruption and selfishness run rampant. Prime time television spews filth that corrupts the minds of small children. Blatant profanity and lewdness lace the lyrics of popular music. It’s okay to use God’s name in vain in public, but don’t you dare pray in public. It’s okay to wear T-shirts and display bumper stickers that offend others with obscenities, but you’d better cover up the Ten Commandments.
Schools are closing because of declining enrollment. The Social Security system is in danger because there are fewer workers in the work force to support the retiring baby boomers. Yet in 1973, the Supreme Court said it was okay to take the lives of unborn children. If those babies had been allowed to be born, would we have the crises we have today?
This is nothing new. The writer of Judges noted that “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). What Isaiah wrote centuries ago still applies to us today: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each one of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).
There’s a story about a young man who traveled a far and dangerous route to ask a sage, reputed to be the wisest man on earth, how he could attain such wisdom. He found the sage, who led the young man to a stream then held his head under the running water until the young man, after a struggle, broke free.
“Why did you do that?” the young man gasped. “All I wanted to know was how to become as wise as you!”
“When you desire wisdom as much as you needed that breath of air,” the sage replied, “you’ll find it.”
When we want righteousness as much as we need the next breath, we, too, will allow righteous anger to spur us to speak out against the wrongs around us and point the way to the only hope we have: God.
Place in me a righteous anger, O God, so that it will spur me to make a difference for You in my world. Amen.
From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea, Vol. 3 © 2019 Michele Huey. All rights reserved.
January 27, 2024
Meek Is Macho
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. – Matthew 5:5 NIV
A. W. Tozer once said that if you take the Beatitudes and turn them wrong side out, you have a pretty good picture of the human race. We humans tend to nurture the exact opposite of the traits Jesus defined as characteristics of His followers.
Take meekness, for instance. You don’t have to look far to see that we as a society do not look upon this godly characteristic with favor. The attitude of pop culture is, if you’re meek, you’re weak. Our heroes are the Rambo-type tough guys, the macho men who are strong, smart, rich, witty, and suave. The meek guy is the sissy, the wimp, the nerd, the comic character we laugh at.
Yet Jesus said that the meek, not the macho, are the ones who are blessed, who are truly happy. (The word used, makarioi, translates “happy.”)
Look up “meekness” in a dictionary, and you get anything from “weak, unassuming, servile, and timid” to “peaceful, gentle, humble, and patient.”
God’s Word, however, defines meekness not with words but with examples. Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, and Jesus Himself, are all examples of meekness, which I have come to define as “power and strength under control.”
Abraham, to whom God promised land as far as his eye could see, didn’t lord his relationship with the Creator over his nephew Lot, but rather allowed the immature, grasping, greedy, selfish younger man to chose the best part of the land. Moses, who confronted the most powerful man on earth, led a nation of stubborn, whining people out of slavery and across a Mid-Eastern desert (with Pharoah’s army hot on their heels at one point), was “very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3).
David, God’s man who was promised the throne of Israel, had more than one chance to kill his enemy King Saul but refused, allowing God determine the course of events (1 Samuel 24, 26). And when he was on the run from his throne-usurping son, he refused to retaliate when cursed (2 Samuel 16:9–12).
Paul, who was responsible for practically single-handedly spreading Christianity in the first century world, was another example of meekness. In spite of the beatings, floggings, stonings, shipwrecks, and imprisonments (2 Corinthians 11:23–30), in spite of being chased from town to town by his enemies, he still persevered in his mission, and encouraged others to “always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
And Jesus Himself is the prime example of meekness: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden,” He says. “For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28–30).
So what does this mean for me today? It means not retaliating, in word or deed; accepting what is out of my control and making the best of it, believing that God is in control (Romans 8:28). It means I’m not a braggart or showy person, grasping the best for myself. It means I shut up when provoked because it takes more strength to walk away that to fight back. It means I take God at His word and practice meekness with a conscious effort, because it is not a natural trait.
In The Pursuit of God, Tozer wrote, “The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God’s estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto.”
If you think meekness is weakness, try being meek for a week.
Dear God, help me to be meek. Amen.
Read and reflect on Genesis 13.
From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea, Vol. 3 © 2019 Michele Huey. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Photo courtesy of iStock Getty Images
January 20, 2024
A Time to Weep
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. – Matthew 5:4 (NIV)
I experienced grief for the first time when my father died. I was 20 years old and in college. I learned firsthand what personal loss meant. There were no grief counselors to walk me through the long nights. I had to step into the future without the man who was my hero.
Following my father’s death, my mother’s health declined. For the next 15 years, until her death, Alzheimer’s disease robbed me of the mother I needed more now that I had children. I’d stand at the card racks every Mother’s Day and weep. I grieved my mother for the 15 years I slowly lost her. When she died, I was comforted, for her spirit – vibrant personality and generous love – finally soared free.
My beloved Aunt Betty passed away twenty years ago. It was to her, my godmother, my idol, that I dedicated my first book. From the time I took my first breath, she was a golden ray of sunshine, warming, welcoming, loving me as I was, guiding and encouraging me to become what she knew I could be.
Then, four months later, my sister was suddenly taken from us. We were supposed to commiserate growing old together. I sat, shivering, trembling, sobbing, for days. I reread her last email over and over until my computer crashed and I lost it.
We grieve when we lose something precious to us. We mourn because what we lost can never be replaced. There is a void in our lives, a hole in our hearts that nothing can fill. But we learn to go on.
This is the kind of grief God wants us to feel for sin – our own, personal sin and the sin in the world around us. This is the mourning Jesus meant when He said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Why are we to mourn sin? Because sin has robbed us of something precious and vital – a relationship with a holy God who created us for Himself. Without God, there is a hole in our spiritual hearts, a void in our lives nothing but He can fill. We try to go on but something is missing.
The first three chapters of Genesis tell the whole sad story. Ever since then, man has been running from the One who hasn’t given up on him. With our sin, we cannot stand in His holy presence (Isaiah 6:1–7). We cannot remove our sin ourselves. Only the blood of a perfect substitute for us can do that. And God sent His own Son to be that substitute. When Jesus died on that cross, He took my punishment (Romans 6:23). His shed blood removes my sin so that I can enter God’s presence (1 John 1:9; 5:11–12) and spend eternity there. But we have to accept His gift. Some don’t.
The Greek word for “blessed” in these verses (makarioi) is an adjective that means “happy.” How can we be happy and sad at the same time?
We can be sad for the sin that creates a barrier between us and the God who wants us with Him forever – and we can be happy for the way He has provided for us to His home in Heaven.
But we aren’t to keep this good news to ourselves – we are to feel grief at the sin in the world around us so deeply that we are to mourn, and our mourning will drive us to spread the Word.
When you mourn, the nights are long. But mourning is over when the Son rises. And then His rays will warm, welcome, love, guide and encourage you until that day you finally arrive home.
Father, I don’t mourn enough. Give me a heart for the hurting, a love for the lost, and a sorrow for the sin in the world around me. Open my eyes to the opportunities to tell others of Your love. Amen.
Read and reflect on Ezekiel 9:1–6 and Psalm 51.
From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea, Vol. 3 © 2019 Michele Huey. All rights reserved.
January 13, 2024
Feeling the Need
Image by jcomp on FreepikBlessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:3 NIV
When I was about ten years old, my father was laid off from his job at the steel mill. In the years that followed, we learned the difference between want and need. I remember when I was in high school and went to a fast food restaurant after practice with a carload of majorettes and not ordering anything. “I’m not hungry,” I’d say. But I was.
At home meatless meals were the standard fare, and a roll of toilet paper took the place of a box of tissues.
“What’s this?” my sister’s boyfriend wisecracked when he spied the roll on top of a kitchen cabinet. “Johnson’s Poverty Program?”
In today’s world, poverty is seen as a negative. What does it mean to be poor? It means you don’t have the income to provide adequately the necessities of life: food, clothing, and shelter.
That’s why it’s hard to understand what Jesus meant when He said that the poor in spirit are blessed. Poverty and blessings usually don’t go together. When you’re poor, you don’t feel blessed. When you’re poor, feel your neediness, your hunger, your thirst, your want for better things. Hopelessness and despair worm their way into your heart and mind, and devour your dreams. You battle envy, embarrassment, and shame.
So what exactly did Jesus mean when He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”?
Perhaps it has to do with that little word, need.
God doesn’t condemn being poor. Throughout His Word, He commands us to look after those who are in need (Matthew 25:31–46), to help them, not mistreat them.
He does, however, caution against trusting in riches. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal … No one can serve two masters … You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:19–24).
So does that mean He wants us to be poor? In a sense, yes.
Through the Apostle John, He told the wealthy Laodicean church that they were really poor: “You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich” (Revelation 3:17–18).
Starving people reach a point where they no longer feel hunger, where they no longer feel the need for food. These Laodicieans were starving spiritually, but they had reached the point where they no longer felt their need for spiritual food. Material riches were the empty fillers that deadened their spiritual hunger. They did not feel the need for anything, neither material nor spiritual. They were spiritually poor, and they didn’t even know it.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit who feel and understand their need,” Jesus is saying in Matthew 5:3. They are blessed because they aren’t trusting in material riches, they aren’t puffed up with spiritual pride, thinking involvement in kingdom affairs and tithing and giving to the needy are sufficient.
They are blessed because they feel a constant need for God Himself. As a deer pants for streams of water, so their souls long for God (Psalm 42:1). They understand that “in him (God) we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
They hunger and thirst after Him. They long for a personal relationship with Him through His Son. They hunger after His Word and thirst for time with Him. They understand their need—and it is for God only.
Dear God, sometimes I ease my spiritual hunger with empty fillers, such as my Christian activities, instead of the spiritual food that comes from seeking You alone. Forgive me. Amen.
Read and reflect on Revelation 3:17–18.
From God, Me, & a Cup of Tea, Vol. 3 © 2019 Michele Huey. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
January 5, 2024
Clinging to Faith
To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. – Hebrews 11:1 GNT
When the phone rings at four o’clock in the morning, it’s seldom good news. Some things change your life forever.
Such was the case on December 3, 2022, when our daughter called to tell us her oldest son, our 21-year-old grandson, Alex, had taken his life the night before.
Sometimes things happen that make you question your faith.
One of my first thoughts was, I didn’t pray enough. Questions filled my heart and mind, the main one being, Why?
So the past year has been a faith-clinging time, a time to learn to live with questions that may never be answered this side of heaven.
Early in this season of grief, I learned to use Scripture to replace the awful thoughts and images that would flood my mind at day’s end, when the lights were out and my head hit the pillow.
Here are a few verses of Scripture that I let flow through my mind at the end of the day:
Romans 8:28 — And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
This one is a hard one. “How, Lord,” I prayed, “can good ever come from this?” That’s where faith comes in. The Bible is the Word of God, filled with His instructions and promises. I choose whether or not to believe it. I choose to believe. I release my doubts and wait to see how God will fulfill this promise.
Isaiah 26:3 — You will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
The key word for me here is “stayed.” The New Living Translation uses the word “fixed.” Keeping my mind —my thoughts—on God, on His goodness, on His sovereignty, on His love, truly does give me peace. Someone might ask, “How could God, in His goodness, if He truly is in control and loves each one of us, how could He allow this to happen?”
The only answer I have for that is that He has given us freedom of choice. I don’t understand why this happened when I pray for protection for all my grandchildren, but I choose to release the doubt and fix my mind on all the good He has worked in my life and in the lives of those I love and pray for.
Philippians 4:6–7 —Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The key to peace, that for which we all long, is prayer, which includes giving thanks. I look for things in Alex’s life to be thankful for. I thank God for the good He is working out despite the circumstances. Once again, I choose to trust God. Peace will guard my heart and mind, keeping me from dwelling on the bad. Not that I ignore all the pain this has caused, but that I give that pain to God. I know that we hurt because we loved, and I’m thankful for the love, for the years we had with him.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. … And the God of peace will be with you.
Once again, I choose what to fill my mind with. Contemplating on all I can praise God for and be glad about will edge out the sadness. Yes, replace sadness with gladness. Once again, I’m not ignoring the grief with which I live, but I’ve learned that grief can exist with joy.
And finally, Psalm 23. I envision lying down in green pastures, beside calming waters, and allowing my Shepherd to refresh my soul. And when it’s time to move on, I know He will go with me. And that puts to rest any worry about what may lie ahead on this journey of life.
Thank You, Lord, for the Scripture that guides me and gives me peace when life is anything but peaceful . Amen.
Read and reflect on 2 Corinthians 4:7–5:5.
PS. Today, January 6, 2024, would have been Alex’s 23rd birthday.
© 2024 Michele Huey. All rights reserved.
December 30, 2023
Rest Stops
Image courtesy of Pixabay
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water. – Exodus 15:22
Since our daughter settled in South Carolina, six hundred miles away, my husband and I try to make the ten-hour drive to visit with her and her family at least once a year. At our age, long trips are easier to take if we make frequent stops to rest and avoid road weariness.
Thousands of years ago, the Israelites also had a long trip to make. One million men, women, and children left the bondage of Egyptian slavery and trekked across a barren wilderness where there was little to eat or drink, and where they were exposed to rain, wind, sun, and storms, headed for a land flowing with milk and honey. Along the way, they got tired, thirsty, hungry, and discouraged.
But they were on a faith-growing journey, and the One who led them had many lessons to teach them. They failed test after test. Just when they were in the deepest despair and discouragement, hope dwindling and faith faltering, God intervened—with manna from heaven, water from desert rocks, and an oasis with twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees.
I’m sure the weary travelers would have loved to pitch their tents and stay at that oasis the rest of their lives. But eventually they had to move on. The oasis wasn’t their destination.
The Israelites’ journey through the wilderness is a picture of our journey through life. Once the shackles of our bondage to sin are broken, we begin our journey to the Promised Land – Heaven. We, too, struggle through the wilderness, which, just like the Israelites’ journey so long ago, takes up most of the trip. And we, too, encounter oases sprinkled along the way. But we cannot abide in the rest stops. They are there to provide a temporary respite from the difficulties of life, refresh our minds and spirits, and renew our strength.
Sometimes I’d like to find an oasis and move in permanently. But God calls me to venture into the wilderness on a faith-growing journey. And, just like with the Israelites, He will be with me every step of the way.
Thank You, Lord, for the wilderness that stretches my faith and the oases that refresh me and give me the strength to journey on. Amen.
Read and reflect on Exodus 15:22–16:1
From God, Me & a Cup of Tea: 101 devotional readings to savor during your time with God © 2017 Michele Huey.
December 21, 2023
O Christmas Tree
God has given us eternal life, and this life is in is Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. – I John 5:11–12 (NIV)
Have you ever had a Christmas without a Christmas tree? I haven’t, although a couple of times I came close.
When my father lost his job in the steel mill and my mother told us that we couldn’t afford a tree that year, my teenage brother shoveled snow from driveways and I from sidewalks to earn money for a tree. Decades later, I gave my own children the same sad news. My youngest son, then in elementary school, chopped one down from the woods on our property. It was as skinny as he was, but had plenty of holes for decorations.
How did an evergreen tree become one of the most visual and must-have symbols of Christmas?
The tradition of the Christmas tree as we know it today evolved over the centuries. Many are the stories: Ancient Egyptians hung palm rushes in their homes on the winter solstice to celebrate the sun god’s recovery from her yearly illness. The evergreens reminded them that the sun would grow stronger, that spring and summer would come, and green plants would grow again. In addition, they believed the evergreen boughs would protect them from evil and illness.
As with all traditions, the practice of hanging evergreens at the winter solstice spread and changed with time and culture. By medieval times, morality plays were used to teach the common folk, who couldn’t read, the lessons of the Bible. One of the plays, “The Paradise Tree,” depicted Adam and Eve’s fall from grace. Performers brought real fruit trees onstage to represent the tree in the center of the Garden of Eden whose fruit Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat. But performing the play in Europe during winter posed a problem: All the trees were bare—except the evergreen trees. So they hung apples from a pine, spruce or fir tree. In time, people were bringing evergreen trees into their homes and decorating them to celebrate Christmas.
In the sixteenth century, lights were added to the trees. According to the story, Martin Luther was walking home one winter evening and was captivated by the stars sparkling through the evergreen boughs. He went home and added lighted candles to their Christmas tree.
It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the Christmas tree tradition arrived in America. Now, from Thanksgiving to after the New Year, you see all kinds of trees: green, white silver, real, artificial, lighted, unlighted—not only in homes, but also in the mall, social rooms and lobbies, businesses, churches, community parks, town squares. Some communities have tree-lighting ceremonies.
The Christmas tree can go where no nativity scene or cross can go—and it means the same thing: protection from evil and hope for better times. The boughs of evergreen symbolize eternal life—a life we find only through one source: Jesus Christ, God’s Son, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas Day.
When I look at a Christmas tree, Lord God, may I always be reminded of Your love for me—and for all humanity—a love so great it sent Your own Son from heaven to earth to make a way to You. Thank you! Amen.
Read and reflect on Revelation 21:1–7; 22: 1–5.
December 16, 2023
Zealous God: A God with Gusto
He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. –Isaiah 59:17 ESV
His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” –John 2:17 ESV
Zeal. What, exactly, is it?
One online dictionary defines it as “great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective.” Synonyms include passion, fervor, and gusto.
You don’t hear the word zeal used too much today. I wonder if the intensity of the word and its meaning cause people to back off. I mean, another synonym is committedness, root word commit. When you commit yourself to something or someone, you determine to see it through to the end, come what may.
Take marriage, for instance. When you pledge to become one until “death do us part,” you make a commitment to your spouse that you’ll work together to stay together come what may—sickness and health, poverty and prosperity, good times and bad times—you vow to love and cherish your mate for better or worse for the rest of your lives.
Promises made are only as good as promises kept. Life happens, people change, and love wanes, and we don’t fight for it. Like tending a garden, in order to survive the droughts, the storms, the scorching temperatures, the freezing ones, the bugs, the blights, the bunnies and other critters, you must be diligent at consistently nurturing and cultivating it.
That’s where zeal comes in.
I use marriage here as an example, but other pursuits in life also thrive on zeal. Such as rearing children, getting an education, learning a new skill, pursuing a career, developing God-given talents, helping others.
What does this have to do with God?
The Bible describes Him as a zealous God. Some translations use the word jealous, but that word has too many negative connotations.
God is zealous for His children—for you, for me. He is committed to us with a love that is unconditional, meaning it doesn’t depend on what we say or do or how we feel. We can run as far away from Him as we want (well, we can try), but we will never outrun His presence, His provision, His protection, and His love.
We are the cause, the objective He pursues with passion, fervor, and gusto. Why?
Simply this: He loves us.
He loves us so much that He gave us a free will to decide for ourselves whether we want to return that love or reject it. He loves us so much that He hates the sin that separates us from Him. He loves us so much that He sent His own Son to take the punishment for that sin so that we can be with Him forever in the place He’s prepared for us.
Imagine a father standing over the crib of his sleeping child. That’s God standing over us. In the words of the prophet Zephaniah, “The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV).
No matter what. Come what may.
He is zealous for you.
My mind just can’t wrap around that kind of love, O God. But I am so thankful for it. Indeed, I can’t exist without it. As Your child, may I inherit a portion of Your zeal, so that I may reflect You to the world around me. Amen.
Read and reflect on Zephaniah 3:17.
LOOKING FOR WINTER READING?Check out my books on Amazon:MEDITATION:God, Me, and a Cup of Tea, Vol. 1
God, Me, and a Cup of Tea for the Seasons
God, Me, and a Cup of Tea, Vol. 3
CHRISTIAN FICTION:
December 14, 2023
Y – YHWH, LORD of All
Dear Readers,
As I put together the third volume of these meditations to release this month, I realized I never finished the series “The ABC’s of knowing God better.” So I wrote the final two meditations based on the letters Y and Z. In today’s blog we explore the meaning of YHWH, the names of God. Next week we’ll finish the series with a meditation on what word beginning with the letter Z describes God.
Y–YHWH THE MANY NAMES OF GODRead and reflect on Exodus 3:13–15.
God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: Yahweh, the God of your fathers … has sent me to you. This is My name forever.” –Exodus 3:15 HCSB
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua, [which means ‘Adonai saves,’] because he will save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21 CJB
MY MOTHER WANTED TO name me Teresa, but my dad disagreed. “Her name is Michele,” he said.
And so it was. That is, until someone came along and called me Mickey.
“Don’t call her that. It might stick.”
And so it did.
I don’t know who said what in giving me my nickname, but until high school only family members called me Mickey. In school I was Michele. One l. Please.
When I got to high school, I determined Michele wasn’t cool enough, but so I changed the spelling of my nickname to Mikki. Which I thought was cool.
So my high school peers still call me Mikki.
On to college. Mikki just wasn’t sophisticated enough, so I went back to Michele. One l. Please.
And stayed with it.
When I started teaching, I was Miss Maddock. Halfway through my second year I became Mrs. Huey.
A few years later I became Mommy. I was already Aunt Michele.
Then twenty years ago another name was added—Grandma.
I wear my names with pride. Each one indicates not only who I am and who I belong to, it conveys relationship and position.
God’s names, too, indicate relationship and position, as well as His divine attributes.
It would take a tome to discuss all God’s names and what they mean, but I’d like to focus on a few that have a personal meaning to me.
First and foremost, God is YHWH. The divine name He gave to Moses when Moses asked Him what should he tell the Israelites when they asked, “What is His name?” (Exodus 3:13).
“I AM WHO I AM,” God replied. Which translates Yahweh, or YHWH, since the Israelites considered God’s name to be too holy to say aloud.
Yahweh is a form of the verb “to be,” which is translated in this verse I AM.
The English rendering of YHWH is LORD and is found over seven thousand times in Scripture. It means “Self-existence or Eternal One,” “The One who exists because of who He is, and speaks of His holiness, justice and hatred of sin. (“Names of God,” Children’s Ministry Resource Bible, p. 914)
Other names of God that have a personal meaning to me include:
El Shaddai – “Almighty God.” Strength, lifegiver, the bountiful supplier of all blessings also are included in the meaning of El Shaddai. He gives me life, strength and abundant blessings.
YHWH Yireh – “The-LORD-will-provide.” He provides for all my needs.
YHWH Shalom – “The-LORD-Is-Peace.” Only God can give me inner peace.
YHWH Rophe – “The-LORD-Who-Heals.” God restores, strengthens and heals me.
YHWH Roii – “The LORD Our Shepherd.” With tenderness, God cares for, guides and protects me, like a shepherd cares for his flock.
My personal favorite is the name Hagar gave to God when He met her in the wilderness after she fled the abusive Sarah: Lahai Roi, “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees.” To God she was more than a slave, a servant, a foreigner. She was a person He cared for enough to meet her at her lowest point and meet her deepest need. To Him, she was not invisible. (Genesis 16)
And then there’s Yeshua, more commonly Jesus—“The LORD is salvation,” or “ADONAI saves.”
Which of God’s names have a personal meaning for you? Why?
Thank You, YHWH, for all that You are to me. Amen.
NOTE: The names for God and their meanings were taken from the Children’s Ministry Resource Bible © 1993 by Child Evangelism Fellowship, Inc.
Look for God, Me, & a Cup of Tea, Vol. 3 to be released later this month. It will be available on Amazon both in Kindle and print versions. If you prefer a personally autographed copy, you can order one by emailing me at michelethuey@gmail.com . The print version is $15, but you can order two books for $25, a savings of $5. If you like fiction, I’ll be releasing Ghost Mountain, Book 2 in the PennWoods Mystery series, this month, too. Order one of each for $25. No shipping charges on prepaid orders. Be blessed!
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