Author: Dave Dishman (Page 211 of 474)

When you visit certain theme parks and pay extra, you receive a pass that lets you skip the lines. We call ahead to a busy restaurant, making a reservation and ensuring a table waits for us when we arrive. In busy stores I connive to move to the front of the line. I prefer a favored status, a fast-pass through Walmart.

God started to change Peter’s misconceptions of favorites through dreams. After meeting believers in the house of Cornelius, a godly Roman centurion, Peter exclaimed: I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

No favored status exists with the Lord, but no outsider status exists either. A godly lineage is awesome, but what have you decided for yourself? Raised by scoundrels? The Lord welcomes you with open arms. We each choose on our own.

It matters not your nationality or your ethnicity. In heaven we’ll meet people from every tribe, tongue, people and nation—every ethnos.

What matters is that we fear the Lord and do what is right. A good prescription for living in this world, and for joining the heavenly throng to come.

Acts 10 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Madeleine Maguire

In his parting speech to the nation he led for many years, Samuel made an intriguing statement about prayer:

Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.

As Samuel stepped aside for Israel’s first king, he choose to underscore prayer as his key contribution to the nation’s flourishing. Not his years of hard-earned wisdom, or a pledge of all his worldly goods. Rather, intensive prayer on their behalf.

Samuel held himself accountable. To fail put him wrong before the Lord. Samuel walked in a most intimate way with God for years and years, and possessed unusual insight into divine workings. Thanks to his experiences Samuel understood the vital power and significance of prayer.

Samuel’s words remind me that prayer is more than a good idea as I also attempt to walk with God. Focused prayer unlocks doors to deeper, richer faith, even if I only scratch the surface in my feeble attempts.

But feeble is fine when the object of our prayers in the Lord. He multiplies whatever we offer. I only junk the process by refusing to pray. Lean into praying for family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and the world around us. Perhaps the Lord waits for us to move our prayer life from advisable to vital.

I Samuel 12 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Silas Köhler

In the economy of the Lord, wealth and status and size really don’t matter. Take as an example the calling of Saul as the first king of Israel. Approached by Samuel the prophet, Saul responded:

But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of Benjamin?

The smallest and the least. That’s where the Lord goes to work. Bigger, stronger brothers overshadowed David. Servants pulled Moses from the waters. A teenager gave birth to the Savior. Faith the size of a tiny mustard seed moves mountains.

The Lord upends conventional thinking. Slow beginnings mean nothing. Smallest and least doesn’t bother the Lord at all. Keep that in mind, then take courage and keep the faith.

1 Samuel 9 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Brigitta Baranyi

Hannah suffered a common fate. Married to a good man, she desired a child, but none came. After much begging and weeping and pleading, a son arrived. Hannah’s prayer of thankfulness reminds me of the source of all things that make life wonderful.

My heart rejoices in the Lord…it is not by strength that one prevails…He will guard the feet of his faithful servants.

Brute force rarely opens marvelous doors. The Lord blessed Hannah with a baby at a time when all she could do was wait for a pregnancy. No other treatments existed. No amount of strength would force that door.

I notice the best doors in my life open gradually. For instance, good relationships come slowly, with understanding and kindness and forgiveness, not force. A fine meal arrives to the table thanks to the skill of the chef, not her strength. No power is required to enjoy a quiet stroll in the woods.

Hannah’s prayer points me to God. Through the Lord barren women bear children, and through the Lord I may prevail.

Thank you Lord, that I’m not dependent on my strength, but on you.

1 Samuel 2 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Jennifer Griffin