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    Ray Noah

    Founder and President of the Petros Network, a church planting and humanitarian non-profit working in the developing world.

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    The Power Of Playing Second Fiddle

    Reflect:
    I Samuel 23:7-24:22

    “And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.’” ~I Samuel 23:16-17

    Though Jonathan was King Saul’s son and heir to the throne, he stripped himself of every symbol of royalty to show favor and friendship to one who was his rival—David. Instead of jealousy, which would have been natural, he gave David strength. Instead of protecting his own interests, Jonathan promoted David’s welfare. Instead of siding with his father, he defended David, even risking his own life. Instead of minimizing the damage his father was trying to inflict upon David, Jonathan openly and honestly admitted the king’s wrong. Instead of abandoning David, Jonathan became a source of encouragement.

    David’s was at the point of breaking. I’m sure he thought about giving up. If he had, he would have ceased to be Jonathan’s rival, and Jonathan knew that. Yet Jonathan went to David and strengthened him in the Lord anyway. Jonathan was content to be second fiddle if he could help advance David to first chair. Was that because Jonathon viewed himself as unworthy or somehow lesser than David? Was there some self-loathing at play here? Not at all; Jonathan is simply responding to what he saw God doing in David’s life.

    How rare does a friend put himself or herself in the background for the sake of another’s God-ordained advancement. Jonathan’s relationship with David was truly an altruistic friendship. It was not based on what he could get from his friend, but what he could give. That is truly a sacrificial friendship—and it is what God values, expects and blesses.

    Which leads to a very important, and challenging application: Normally at this point we would think about how we might acquire a Jonathan-type friend in our lives. Perhaps the more important thing would be to ask ourselves how we could be a Jonathan-like friend to someone in our relational sphere.

    The truth is, if you want to have the kind of friendship Jonathan offered David, you need to be that kind of friend. The best vitamin for that kind of loyal, life-giving friendship: B-1! Each of us desires someone like Jonathan in our lives—and it’s appropriate to pray that way. But more than that, each of us should pray that God will make us a Jonathan to some David.

    “Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” ~Aristotle

    Reflect and Apply: Someone has said that Jonathan’s friendship bracketed and contained Saul’s evil, and his friendship entered David’s soul in a way Saul’s hatred never did. That’s the power of a Jonathan-like friendship. To whom can you offer that level of friendship? Why not start today?

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    If Past Performance Is Any Indicator…

    Essential 100—Read:
    I Samuel 16:1-18:16

    “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” ~I Samuel 17:37

    Do you ever wonder where David got his courage to fight Goliath? Was he just a naturally brave warrior, experienced in battle, confident in his hand-to-hand technique and just spoiling for a fight with an oversized blowhard, or was there something else?

    There was something else! David, though he was just a young man, had walked with God in an unusually intimate way. Prior to facing the Philistine giant, David had spent countless hours in the quiet and solitude of the wilderness watching over his father’s sheep. Hour after monotonous hour of herding sheep, passing the time by plinking Coke bottles with his slingshot—well, maybe he had other targets—writing songs of worship and talking to God, were interspersed with moments of sheer danger when wild animals would attack the flock. In those heart-pounding moments, the only thing standing between the vicious animals and the decimation of his father’s livelihood was David—and God!

    David’s time as a shepherd turned out to be a critical period of preparation for what was to come, because it was then that David had come to experience the continual presence and faithfulness of God. In those moments of distress and danger, the strong help of the Almighty had never failed; time and again, God stood by David, helped him, saved him, and the young shepherd had come to know in the depth of his being that the One who walked with him was a covenantly faithful God.

    So why was David so courageous when he stood before Goliath? He was simply drawing upon the reservoir of God-confidence that had piled up in his heart. He just knew that he knew that the same God who delivered him from every past danger would deliver him from this present and present one. God’s past performance was a surefire indicator of what was about to happen. How could it be any other way?

    So, have you got a Goliath in your life? I’ll bet you do—a big, hairy, intimidating problem breathing down you neck! You see, Goliath is still around, though he comes in a variety of forms: an impossible financial situation, a nasty boss or a threatening co-worker, a rebellious child and or belligerent spouse, a physical problem or a helpless sick loved one. All of us face Goliaths, and the natural thing to do is what the Israelites did: shrink back in depression, cower in fear and run from the battle.

    But that would be to live way beneath the level of confidence, joy and victory that God has willed for his people. So learn a lesson from David—Goliath may still be around, but so is God. He hasn’t changed. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And he is still a covenantly faithful God—he can’t help himself.

    Has he helped you in the past? Has he provided for you? Healed you? Protected and delivered you? Has he brought you this far? Why would he not do today, and tomorrow, what he has done in the past?

    He will! So put your confidence in him. Get your eye off Goliath and on to God, because the One who delivered you from the paw of the lion and the bear will deliver you from that nasty old Philistine. It’s just what God does!

    “He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.” ~Matthew Henry

    Reflect and Apply: What is your current Goliath? Spend a moment reflecting how God has taken care of your past giants. Then…go find five smooth stones!

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    Sufficient Grace

    Reflect:
    II Corinthians 12:9-10

    “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

    Do you ever wonder why God allows you to struggle with certain things? Perhaps there is a physical limitation from which you have asked God time and again to heal you, but to no avail. Maybe there is a limitation in your ability to learn or speak or a lack of confidence in interacting with others that holds you back vocationally or relationally, and you have desperately sought for God to give you victory over it, but to no avail. Perhaps there has been a struggle with a particular sin over the years, and you have agonized in prayer that God would remove it, but your prayers seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

    The Apostle Paul had something like that going on in his life, too. He called it a “thorn in my flesh”. He saw it as a direct assault from Satan. And he prayed intensely that God would deliver him from whatever it was. There has been speculation as to what the thorn in the flesh actually was. Many think it was a physical malady. Tradition tells us that Paul had plenty of physical limitations. Some think the “thorn” was a person who was opposing Paul and his work. Then there are a few who surmise that it was a temptation to which Paul was particularly susceptible. Who knows for sure, but what we do know is that it was really bugging Paul—to the point that he felt frustrated enough to get really serious before God about it.

    One of the things I appreciate about Paul is his ability to gain an eternal perspective on things. He was able to re-theologize the negative circumstances in his life to where he could see the mighty hand of God aligning things for his benefit. Such was the case here. If God saw fit to leave this pesky thorn in Paul’s side, then God must have a purpose. And the purpose in this case, he finally figured out, was to keep him from conceit, since throughout his ministry he had been given so many unusual experiences in the supernatural dimension that it would have been easy to become spiritually prideful. Paul needed a little humility, and God gave him a thorn to keep him weak, and therefore humble, in a particular area.

    But it wasn’t just humility for humility’s sake that Paul needed, God wanted Paul to come into a much more important understanding of how the Kingdom of God works. God wanted Paul to have a firsthand experience of grace. Paul was the Apostle of grace, so through this experience where all he could do to survive was depend on God’s unmerited favor, he learned to hang on to grace for dear life. Paul learned one of the most important lessons a Christian can ever learn:

    Through grace, our weaknesses are parlayed into God’s supernatural strength, which enables us to achieve kingdom success that result in all the credit going to God.

    That is why Paul could be grateful for his weakness. That is why he could tolerate his thorn. That is why he could turn his disadvantage into an advantage. Satan afflicted him with a thorn, but God watered it with grace and it budded into a rose. Charles Spurgeon wrote,

    “Soar back through all your own experiences. Think of how the Lord has led you in the wilderness and has fed and clothed you every day. How God has borne with your ill manners, and put up with all your murmurings and all your longings after the ‘sensual pleasures of Egypt!’ Think of how the Lord’s grace has been sufficient for you in all your troubles.”

    God’s grace is sufficient—always. It was sufficient for Paul. And because God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and because he loves you just as much as he did Paul, God’s grace will be sufficient for you! Start looking at your thorn from a different perspective. It might hurt a little—or a lot—but God is going to use your present struggle to achieve an eternal glory that will far outweigh any discomfort you feel in the present.

    In that sense, go ahead and glory in your weakness, for when you are weak, God is strong.

    “Never pray for an easier life—pray to be a stronger person. Never pray for task equal to your power—pray for power equal to your tasks. Then doing your work will be no miracle—you will be the miracle.” ~Phillip Brooks

    Reflect & Apply: Offer this prayer, “Lord, thank you that in my weakness, I receive your strength! Thorns may pierce me, but they drive me to you, and into a deeper experience of your grace than I would have known without them. In my weakness your sufficient grace is revealed, and I am strengthened to overcome. You bring victory out of defeat in such a way that all the credit goes to you. Therefore I will boast all the more that in my weakness, I am strong in your strength.”

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    Resurrection Monday

    Reflect:
    John 11:25-26

    “Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’”

    The story is told of Martin Luther, who once spent three days in a deep depression over something that had gone wrong. On the third day his wife, Katie, came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes. Luther asked, “Who’s dead?”

    She replied, “God!”

    Luther was offended, “What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die.”

    Kate replied, “Well, the way you’ve been acting I was sure He had!”

    That was a wake-up call to the great reformer. Luther snapped out of his funk. And Jesus’ claim to being the resurrection and the life ought to snap us out of our funk, too. Jesus is alive, and because he lives, we will live—forever. This business of resurrection isn’t just for Easter Sunday, it is for Easter Monday and every other day of the week as well. The resurrection is our living hope (I Peter 1:3)—Sunday through Saturday—and that’s all that matters. I love how historian Jaroslav Pelikan put it,

    “If Christ is risen—nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.”

    What difference does resurrection make? When you take resurrection reality and power out of the church on Sunday and into your world on Monday, transforming faith, unshakeable hope and radical love will be released into your life. Count Bismarck said, “Without the hope of eternal life, this life is not worth the effort of getting dressed in the morning.” But the Bible promises that Jesus’ resurrection is God’s guarantee of your resurrection one day, and that’s something worth celebrating today—even on a proverbial Monday morning!

    Apparently in the Greek Orthodox tradition, the day after Easter is devoted to telling jokes. Why? They believe they’re imitating the cosmic joke God pulled on Satan in the resurrection. Satan thought he’d won, that he’d gotten the last word, or so he thought. But God raised Jesus from the dead, and salvation and eternal life became the last word.

    When you make the resurrection the foundation of your faith, claim the Risen Savior as the basis of your hope, and invite the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead to be your overflowing source of radical love, come Monday you can laugh in Satan’s face when he throws all kinds of garbage at you. You see, no matter what he does, you win! That is the last word. You are living in the power of the resurrection and the hope of eternity!

    Even on Monday morning!

    “Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, ‘Christ is risen,’ but ‘I shall rise.’” ~Phillips Brooks

    Reflect & Apply: Charles Wesley wrote what is arguable the greatest resurrection hymn of all, “Christ The Lord Is Risen Today“. If you know it, sing it every morning this week before you head out for the day. If you don’t know it, it would be a great one to memorize (look it up on your Internet search engine) along with the memory verse.

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    Blessed Barrenness

    Reflect:
    I Samuel 1:1-3:21

    “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD….‘[do] not forget your servant but give her a son…’” ~I Samuel 1:10-11

    Nobody really understands the pain of desiring children but not being able to have any like the barren. Hannah was a childless woman in a culture where children meant everything—a woman’s worth and desirability to her husband, her bragging rights at family gatherings, the admiration of the other women at the market, her husband’s ammunition for one-upping the other guys hanging out at the city gates, as well as a whole host of other cultural notches on the proverbial belt that came with having kids.

    There was one other benefit to having children that had an even more significant meaning to married couples in Israel: perpetual life. You see, through posterity, the family DNA, the family name, the family’s unending future would be carried forth in perpetuity.

    In light of all that, Hannah’s grief over having no children is more than most of us could ever begin to understand—unless, of course, you have suffered the disappointment of barrenness yourself. Even her husband, Elkanah, didn’t get it:

    “Why are you crying, Hannah?” Elkanah would ask. “Why aren’t you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?” (I Samuel 1:8, NLT)

    Either he was a complete dolt or an insensitive brute—or perhaps both. But Elkannah wasn’t alone in this matter: Even Hannah’s pastor wouldn’t have placed in a Mr. Sensitive contest. He accused her of being drunk as she silently poured out her heart to the Lord:

    “Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. ‘Must you come here drunk?’ he demanded. ‘Throw away your wine!’” (I Samuel 1:13-14, NLT)

    Hannah was alone in her grief, and even worse, she had no hope that things would be any different in the future; she was destined to a life of barrenness. So what’s a misunderstood, hopeless, devastated, childless woman to do? Here’s what Hannah did: She worshiped.

    You will notice in the story that Hannah went before the Lord year after year—she persisted. She poured out her heart, time and time again—she trusted. She faithfully presented herself in sacrificial worship before the Lord not only with her husband, but also with his other wife, a mean-spirited rival named Penninah (I Samuel 1:7)—she pressed into God.

    As difficult as her situation was, Hannah worshiped the One who had her life, including all its details, big and small, in his good hands. And finally, in timing understood only by God, he granted her request and Hannah bore Samuel, who grew up to be the greatest of Israel’s prophets.

    Hannah worshiped! That’s what you and I must learn to do, too, until worship becomes our first and best response to not only the delightful, but to the devastating things in life. If you are a childless woman whose pain and disappointment is understood only by God—worship him. He is your only hope and the One who knows his plans for your life—plans that are always good, even when you don’t particularly like them. And if you are suffering other kinds of barrenness—in your relationships, your finances, your career, your ministry or whatever—offer him your worship. He knows your way, and he knows his plans for you. (Jeremiah 29:11)

    As tough as it may be to offer your worship to the Lord when things aren’t going your way, it’s the best and only thing that will set your heart right.

    “To be grateful for an unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of interior desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of the marvels, cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a doxology in darkness.” ~ Brennan Manning

    Reflect and Apply: Reflect on Manning’s statement. If we dare, offer a prayer of gratitude, in sincerity and by faith, for whatever unanswered prayer is on your prayer list.

     

     

     

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    Remember

    Reflect:
    Hebrews 13:6 & 8

    “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? …Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

    If you are going to walk faithfully with God over the course of your life, you will have to get good at remembering. In fact, God himself calls you to practice remembering: Remember the trustworthiness of his character, the certainty of his promises and the track record of his faithful activity in your life. Failure to remember God’s unimpeachable ways in the past will lead to fear and faithlessness when you hit rough roads in the journey ahead.

    God calls us to remember so that we don’t forget. That is why he has gone on record time and again in his Word that he will indeed keep his commitments—all of them. God wants us to know that it is his nature to be faithful. God keeps every one of his promises! He just can’t help himself. That is why Hebrews 10:23 urges us to,

    “Hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful!”

    Not only does God want us not to forget him, he wants us to know he will never forget us. God knows who we are, where we are and what we need. He remembers us, he remembers his promises to us and he graciously acts on our behalf at the proper time. And just about the time we think he has forgotten, he invades our dark days and interrupts our desperate realities with the light of his loving plan—because God remembers! Isaiah 49:15-16 beautifully reminds us,

    “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

    Furthermore, God wants us to know that he will never forget our tenacious faithfulness to him. When it looks like God is absent, or that he doesn’t care, and we ruthlessly cling to our trust in the goodness of his character and fidelity of his promise, God’s heart is moved—and he rewards. Isaiah 40:31 says,

    “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

    God wants you to practice remembering that he will never fail you, that you will never be alone, that he will always keep his promises and he will always reward your faithfulness! God’s promise to you is that you will never be forgotten, no matter what!

    In the 1980’s, Tom Sutherland was taken hostage by radicals in Lebanon and held in captivity for 4 years, mostly in solitary confinement. He existed in deep darkness during that long ordeal. Sometimes he could hear is captor’s radio when they tuned it to the BBC, and Tom would listen intently hoping and praying to hear his name mentioned on a newscast. But he never heard it, so he figured that people at home didn’t even know he was alive, much less imprisoned.

    Finally, Tom was released. He flew back to the US and landed in San Francisco, and he was amazed as he got off the plane to see a huge crowd, people waving signs, cameras, reporters, and TV lights. He turned to his wife and said, “There must have been a famous person on this plane with us. See if you can spot him.” And she said, “Tom, they’re all here for you!” Tom broke down and cried like a baby. And he finally said, “I thought everybody had forgotten me…I felt abandoned…I didn’t think anybody cared. Thank God I was wrong.”

    If you’re feeling forgotten at this moment, thank God you’re wrong! God remembers you and will fulfill every single one of his promises at the proper time.

    So remember not to forget that!

    “I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain.” ~John Henry Newman

    Reflect & Apply: Use your Bible concordance to search God’s promises to remember his people. Find seven verses, one for each day this week, and reflect on them. That is what one of the ways you can practice remembering.

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    Heart Transplant

    Reflect:
    I Samuel 8:1-10:27

    “As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying.” ~I Samuel 10:9-10

    That’s exactly what I need—a change of heart. It is not something I can produce on my own; at least not in a way that fundamentally changes who I am, how I perceive the world, how I behave, or how I respond to God. Don’t get me wrong; I have an important part to play if my heart is ever going to get changed. I have to be willing, I need to surrender, and I must daily yield to the Great Heart Surgeon.

    The kind of heart-change I that need can only come from God. That’s what happened to Saul. God had great plans for Saul, and Saul was totally unaware, unsuited (at least in his own mind) and unprepared for what God had in mind—to be the very first king of God’s chosen people, Israel. So when the prophet Samuel revealed God’s plan to Saul, this handsome, young Benjamite demurred.

    Yet there was something special about Saul that God saw—a pliable heart, a humble spirit, an innate leadership quality that, with some mentoring, seasoning and Spirit-filling, could rally the Israelites. There was also in Saul a willingness to accept God’s plan, even if Saul’s first inclination was to shy away from such a lofty call. So the moment Samuel’s revelation was finished, God’s Spirit took away Saul’s heart and replaced it with one that was equal to the task of leading a leaderless people in a time of national crisis. Of course, I am not talking about a literal heart transplant, but there was certainly a spiritual heart transplant that day.

    That’s exactly what I need—and want. How about you? We may not be called to lead a nation during a time of crisis, but we have been called to carry out God’s plan in a sphere of influence over which he has given us stewardship. He has called us to beat back the kingdom of darkness and proclaim freedom to those held captive to sin, to heal the sick, to cast out demons, to deliver the addicted, to love the unlovely, to restore the broken, to bring back fractured families from the brink—well, you get the picture. That’s a pretty tall order isn’t it? Now you get a sense of what Saul must have felt at that moment!

    So how exactly are you going to do all of that when you can barely manage your own life? Well, managing your own life plus capturing your sphere of influence for the Lord can and will happen when you invite the Great Heart Surgeon to take away your weak heart and transplant it with one that is equal to the task that he has placed before you.

    I get the feeling you have your doubts about what I am suggesting. Well, join the club. But if God can do it for Saul, can’t he do it for you, too? Why not go to him right now and ask him for a heart transplant!

    If you accept the belief that baptism incorporates us in the mystical body of Christ, into the divine DNA, then you might say that the Holy Spirit is present in each of us, and thus we have the capacity for the fullness of redemption, of transformation.” ~Thomas Keating

    Reflect and Apply: Perhaps you are thinking that praying for a Saul-like heart transplant is a real stretch. But let me encourage you with this thought: It was God who led you to read this devotional piece today, and he did so for a purpose. He wants to do in you what he did for Saul. So go ahead and ask for a new heart—you’re only asking for what God already desires for you! As C.S. Lewis said, “Our prayers are really His prayers; He speaks to himself through us.”