April 1

“Let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him” (2 Samuel 15:26b). What faith this takes. God’s will has become ours when we can accept divine providence as our confidence of His divine love, as well. The yoke that presses on our neck becomes lined with down. We can say with Job, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10b). In everything we are to give thanks. In mourning we are not to judge God’s character, for He is judging ours. He asks–but He does not demand–us to accept His permissive providences without murmuring, so that His love and glory may be seen by all.

April 2

We appreciate people of few but wise words. Calvin Coolidge was such a man and, because of his terseness, he earned the nickname “Silent Cal.” One evening at a dinner party one of the ladies present said to him, “Mr. President, I bet my husband five dollars that I could get you to say three words to me this evening.” The President turned to her and, with a twinkle in his eyes, said, “You lose.” “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36,37).

April 3

“List my tears on your scroll – are they not in your record?” (Psalm 56:8). To think that our majestic God takes notice even of our tears and saves them as jewels! He promises that those who sowed in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 126:5). Our Father will turn our tears into pearls, precious gems for God. And He has already posted them in His book of remembrance, for He will not forget our anguish. “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…” (Isaiah 53:3,4). The shortest and most poignant verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Dear grieving friend, He weeps with us as we weep.

April 4

Luther Burbank set out to prove that weeds are flowers. “It is my theory that there are no outcasts in nature; everything has a use, and everything in nature is beautiful if we are eager to ennoble it. Every weed is a possible flower.” God harvests the weeds of earth, too: “The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:2,3). God did not create human weeds. God created Lucifer and Lucifer made Satan. God created Judas, but Judas made Judas what he became. If we become a weed, that is our doing and undoing; God makes flowers and rescues the flowers who become weeds. What a wondrous thought!
April 5

“It’s God’s will,” friends told the parents at the funeral home. No, it is not God’s will that these little ones should perish (Matthew 18:14). It is God’s will that we live for Him. God does not ask us if life is worth living, He makes it worth living for us. “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone…” (Ezekiel 18:32). He came and died Himself that we might live and have this grand life more abundantly (John 10:10) so let us not charge God with the deaths of our loved ones. What a distortion of the Heart of Love Who holds us and weeps with us as we bend over the grave in such sorrow that we could die ourselves.

April 6

“So Jacob was left alone…” (Genesis 32:24). Are we alone or lonely? Some yearn for rest and some are restless spirits, having to be on the go constantly, as if they can’t stand their own company. Now we have phones everywhere to make sure we don’t have to be alone with our thoughts. Jesus set us an example by praying to His Father alone and He had a purpose behind the command, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6). Aloneness is a temporary separation; loneliness is isolation. God asks us to spend time alone with Him because He doesn’t want us to be isolated from Him for eternity.

April 7

“I know that my Redeemer lives…Yet from my flesh I shall see God,” said Job, in the face of facts that seemed to belie it all (Job 19:25,26). What an exclamation of faith! Here he foretells the resurrection of his Redeemer and Savior, his Kinsman and his Hope. Beyond all reason of the day, he proclaims that his Redeemer will at last take His stand on the earth, and Job will see him in the flesh. This is faith born not of desperation but of assurance received from something outside himself. I know that my Redeemer lives, and because He is raised from the dead, then I, too, will be raised from dust and ashes.

April 8

“Did no one condemn you?” Jesus asked the woman. “No one, Lord.” “Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more.” (John 8:10,11). “If God is for us, who can be against us?…Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” (Romans 8:31,33). Mary became one of God’s elect because Jesus showed mercy rather than condemnation. Should we not follow His example and show forbearance to others? We are sinners, too, so why should we point out the tiny speck when we carry a beam of sin ourselves? “Love covers all transgressions,” (Proverbs 10:12b NAS) so let us rather love one another than condemn without the facts.

April 9

“Can you drink the cup I drink?” Jesus asked James and John (Mark 10:38). They had asked Him if they could sit on His right and left sides, not realizing what price would be asked of them. They wanted a crown without knowing that a cross comes with it. Jesus told them they knew not what they asked. Great petitions with small motives can overwhelm us; great petitions with great motivation for God’s grace will be granted, but not to our glory and many times not in a way we expect. True honor is not lightly won, either on earth or in heaven, and we must be ready to pay the price in love, time, hope, sacrifice and trial.

April 10

A princely promise in the Word is Isaiah 61:3: “Giving them…the oil of gladness instead of mourning…” Oil was considered one of the necessities of life in biblical times, and the most frequent uses of oil mentioned are those of anointing and healing. We are anointed with the comfort of the Holy Spirit who baptizes us with the strength and hope we need. “The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well…” (James 5:15) and that surely includes the disabled of mind and heart, as well. He says to all of us blinded in pain of whatever kind, “…Your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (Luke 8:48).

April 11

Instead of Psalm 23 we put on our son’s funeral card the following: “God hath not promised/Skies always blue,/Flower-strewn pathways/All our lives through;/God hath not promised/Sun without rain,/Joy without sorrow,/Peace without pain./But God hath promised/Strength for the day,/Rest for the labor,/Light for the way,/Grace for all trials,/Help from above,/Unfailing sympathy,/Undying love” (Annie Johnson Flint). “But He said to me, `My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness'” (2 Corinthians 12:9a). By His grace are we saved from that which would destroy the holy quality of our life. He drapes His mantle of love over our depressed spirit and lifts us to His heart (Isaiah 40:11).

April 12

“Could you…not keep watch with Me for one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). What a tender and sorrowful rebuke to His beloved friends who He found asleep in His intense need of their nurture. O! the grief and the great drops of blood He shed for us there, even before He carried His cross; innocent blood of One betrayed by the man who He called friend, even as Judas came to disclose His sacred place of prayer. O watchman, what of the night of this My anguish–how far gone is the night of My grief and sorrow! Forgive our indifference, Lord!

April 13

A proud heart breeds an inflexible mind and knees. Job tagged and ragged his friends who came to comfort him: “Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!” (Job 12:2). The one on the sidelines of another’s misery can offer all kinds of bylines. Job’s friends were so ready to tell him of his sins that brought him to his knees and what he should do about the horror that made him temporarily mindless. The most arrogant aspect of pride is our knowing that we have the solution to another’s problem when we have not even begun to walk in that grieving person’s shoes! How vain we are.

April 14

The next time we read in the paper about an “Act of God,” let us think about the true acts of God: His compassions that are new every morning; His faithfulness; His gifts to us of our friends; His touching of our hearts that we may know Him and His communion with us through prayer and sacrament. The list is as long as God’s mercies are endless. “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints…” (Ephesians 1:18). We have our Acts of God and our signs. We need to “see” them with the eyes of our heart.

April 15

“But the wisdom from above is…gentle…” (James 3:17 NAS). Dr. Alexander Maclaren describes the power of gentleness: “Morning by morning God’s great mercy of sunshine steals upon a darkened world…and the light which has a force that has carried it across gulfs of space…falls so gently that it does not move the petals of the sleeping flowers, nor hurt the lids of an infant’s eyes…So should we live and work, clothing all our power in tenderness, doing our work in quietness, disturbing nothing but the darkness, and with silent increase of beneficent power filling and flooding the dark earth with healing beams.”

April 16

“But the wisdom from above is…peaceable …” (James 3:17). If we firmly believe that God is just, then we can live in harmony with others. If we don’t impute evil motives to others and our own heart is free of malicious intent, then we can live in peace. If not, then our world will be in pieces. To be at peace means to be at rest. We cannot make wise decisions when we are in turmoil or if we are questioning God’s dealings with us. Peace is the only legacy our serene Brother left us: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

April 17

Jesus asked the blind man, “What do you want Me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51). King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, “What is your petition? It will be given you” (Esther 7:2). We need to express our desires. Solomon prayed for an understanding heart to discern between good and evil, and “The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this” (1 Kings 3:10). “But [the disciples]…were afraid to ask Him about it” (Mark 9:32). “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). God wants us to persevere in our requests.

April 18

The Bible is filled with poetry, the utterance and dream of the longing soul. We read in Genesis 1:2c, “The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” The imagery sparks our vision and we see the drama of life and beauty unfolding as the breath of God, the Rauch Elohim, hovers over the chaos and brings forth light and life and order. Until we experience a whispered breath of the Holy Spirit in our hearts we, too, shall have a disordered and chaotic existence. Our genesis, our birth, our dawn, begins when we allow the Holy Spirit to breathe life into our dead selves. Let us pray for a Pentecost of a fresh atmosphere.

April 19

“Arise and go to the street called Straight …” (Acts 9:11 NAS). How easy it is to cut corners and to jaywalk on the streets of life. Paths to the right and to the left beckon us to explore, to satiate curiosity, and finally to lose our way. Christ told Paul, and us, to go to the street called Straight. First we must arise–awaken–out of our spiritual stupor, take the initiative to get on with life, and step into what God has planned for us. But first we go to the street where live the honest, kind, loyal, hopeful members of God’s family so we may then prepare ourselves to don the armor of the Holy Spirit.

April 20

Rules to observe on accepting our fellowmen and women: 1) I will mind my own business. What we don’t know perhaps can’t hurt us, but what we do know can hurt others, especially if we pass it on; 2) I am not infallible. I cannot possibly know others’ motives and circumstances; 3) I will value personal differences. After all, I want the same courtesy from others; 4) I will do my own thinking and form my own opinions. Unfortunately we sometimes assemble our impressions from others’ disassemblies! We can’t always avoid hearing gossip, but we can refuse to allow it to influence us. Let’s accept others on their terms, not on our conditions.

April 21

Resentment is an insidious poison that contaminates our spirit before we realize what has happened. The bitter person is too quick to sit in judgment and too reluctant to overlook the so-called sins of others; he or she tends mentally if not verbally to impose an unfair debt on the transgressor that must be paid before the person can again be restored to friendship and acceptance. Resentment is a subtle, cruel and unjust form of emotional slavery, and it hurts the one doing it the most. The honeybee, when it stings, brings pain to its victim but death to itself. That’s what happens to the resentful and unforgiving person. Let’s not throw our wormwood into another’s waters!

April 22

In his Letters & Papers From Prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a wedding sermon from his prison cell in which he included the following advice: 1) God is guiding; 2) God makes the union indissoluble; 3) God establishes a rule of life by which you can live together; 4) God lays on marriage both blessing (the promise of children) and burden (caring and providing for the family); 5) Christ is the foundation of a marriage. Perhaps there would be fewer divorces if we heeded this advice.

April 23

The encyclopedia tells of the survivorship curve, a term for charts showing the number of individuals in a population that can be expected to survive to any specific age. We can thank our God that He has no such chart to check each day; that He has never sanctioned such a rule as survival of the fittest, for He has said that in our weakness is His strength. Man cannot properly judge who is fittest to survive, for the heart and the intellect, that which raises us above animal life, can rise above the body’s physical limitations and leave mind-prints on the sands of time that will enable others to survive their special storms.

April 24

There is a story of an ignorant farmer who complained to his minister about lack of money and room in his house. So the minister told him to bring in the goat. The man told him the next day that there was no place for him to sleep, even. So the minister told him to bring in the chickens. The puzzled man did as he was told, but went back to the minister the next day and said he could not stand another day of it. The minister told him to get rid of the animals. Later the farmer came back and told him how grateful he was, that he had saved his family. This is a ludicrous story, but something to think about when we complain.

April 25

Books, books, books! We are saturated with the printed word. In the rather cynical book of Ecclesiastes, the author writes, “Be warned: the writing of many books is endless…” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). And this was before the printing press and computers! Setting aside the spiritual implications of this explosion of reading matter and implosion of moral values from bad reading matter, we have been warned that this is also one of the signs of the end: “…Knowledge (it didn’t say wisdom) will increase” (Daniel 12:4c). Unfortunately even worthwhile books now compete with the television for our time and thought. Rather, let us read God’s Book.

April 26

God is not concerned with outward adornment as much as He is with our inward finery. 1 Peter 3:4 NAS counsels us: “Let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.” This is our soul and social clothing, hidden yet not hidden, for who does not finally notice the loving and restful and considerate person who goes about his or her life without fanfare and yet is like the soothing stream poured over troubled waters? This adornment is priceless to our Father. The sole cost to us is our faith in Him and love for Him.

April 27

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20). Why won’t you let Me in? I can hear you chasing and searching frantically, but you don’t even know what for. Let Me come in and help you find what it is you are looking for. Let Me help you regain your reason in a world gone mad in its endless pursuit of–what? That is what tears at My heart, My friend. You who I love so much seem so lost and defenseless when it need not be. In your quest for Nirvana you are running away from Me, your one hope and shield against the outrage you so dread: the loss of your being. I’m knocking, My child; please! let Me in now.

April 28

“A little seed lay on the ground/And soon began to sprout;/’Now, which of all the flowers around,’/It mused, ‘shall I come out?/The lily’s face is fair and proud,/But just a trifle cold;/The rose, I think is rather loud,/And then, its fashion’s old./The violet is all very well,/But not a flower I’d choose;/Nor yet the Canterbury bell–/I never cared for blues.’/And so it criticized each flower,/This supercilious seed,/Until it woke one summer morn,/And found itself–a weed” (The Critic, Author Unknown). “Do not complain, brethren, against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged…” (James 5:9a).

April 29

“God intended it for good…” (Genesis 50:20). So many times another’s intended bane can become our unintentional boon. Joseph had no way of knowing, when his brothers threw him into the pit, that one day he would be their literal salvation. It is amazing–no, it is God’s amazing grace–that Joseph could face these envious brothers when he was at the peak of his powers and say to them, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result…” What a sublime example for us of rising above and beyond meanness to walk in God’s footsteps and to be an instrument of good for Him.

April 30

We all sin and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). This is not an excuse for our sins. It is simply but divinely this: we sinners are declared to be free from the guilt and consequences of our sin through our new relation to Christ who willingly died for us. It is an act of God from a trinity of perspectives: 1) an act in the process of completion, as a continuing work of Christ (Romans 4:25; 5:18); 2) an act already accomplished in the finished work of Christ (Romans 5:16-18, 1 Timothy 3:16); 3) a state in Christ to which the justified sinner is raised (Romans 8:10 and 1 Corinthians 1:30). Thank You, Father, for Your Sacrifice, too!