DayBreaks for 3/28/24 – The Fatal Fantasy

The Fatal Fantasy The following is from Christianity Today’s Easter in the Everyday series dated 3/27/24. It was written by Eniola Abioye: “We may note . . . that [Jesus] was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three effects— Hatred—Terror—Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.” – C. S . LEWIS, GOD IN THE DOCK We don’t get to pick the version of Jesus we will worship. We love him as he is. Anything else is idolatry. Anything else is fantasy. Anything else is less than what Jesus died for us to have. A man once followed Jesus, counted as one of his disciples. He was released to do works only Jesus could empower, and tasked with guarding the resources of their assignment. However, at some point on his three-year journey with the Messiah, he succumbed to the sickness of disenchantment. His life, which ended at Akeldama, or “the field of blood” (Acts 1:19) reveals both the limitations of our human perspective and Jesus’ invitation to complete trust. But let’s take a step back from the famous fatality of his story and observe the climate that seemed to surround him. How could life in proximity to the Source of all hope, all beauty, all joy, end with such anguish and despair? Could the poison of comparison have embittered his heart? Was his imagination captivated by a fantasy of a heroic monarch who would topple an oppressive empire? Did he see a disorienting contradiction in Jesus’ gracious response to Mary of Bethany pouring out precious oil to anoint his feet? Fantasy tethers a person to a false vision. It takes up the space faith and hope should fill. When things don’t go as expected, spirals of disillusionment and disappointment unfurl. Someone is to blame. Although it’s tempting to blame God for not bringing about the good we imagined, if we catch a glimpse of reality in the mirror, it turns out we are the ones yielding to the seductive call of illusion. When faced with the reality of Jesus, Judas’s allegiance to his own aims ended up blinding him, and he missed the story that he could have lived. Jesus stays away from our pigeon holes and boxes. He continually shatters our expectations. His kingship is established in truth and grace, not in meeting our expectations. He has an intention, a goal, a gravity in his every step and every decision. Grief, pain, confusion, unmet expectations, and unanswered prayers tend to reveal the depths of our hearts—do we love Jesus for who he truly is, or the fantasy we’ve created? Jesus was the King who toppled an oppressive empire, but contrary to Judas’s expectations that empire was not Rome, but sin, hatred, and, ultimately death. Jesus is not disappointing. He is the King who blasts our most exciting dreams to pieces and reveals a story rich with possibility, faith, and joy. In the story of Judas, we grieve the false promise of the flesh and our desire for worldly gain. We also lift our eyes from the fantasy we built for ourselves, toward the One whose life provokes us to desire things that are more profound, more beautiful, more authentic, and more enduring than our minds can conceive. When our fantasies shatter and we feel exposed, we can turn away in disappointment, or turn vulnerably toward Jesus and let his everlasting nature swallow up the make-believe and be our living, breathing, and resurrected hope. REFLECT: Identify truths about Jesus that you’ve found challenging to agree with or accept. What aspects of his nature have you wrestled with? Envision the impact on your life if you wholeheartedly loved Jesus for who he is. How would embracing and loving him authentically shape your daily experiences and overall perspective? PRAYER: Jesus, thank you for toppling the empire of death and sin. Help us to have clear minds and not fall for the fatal fantasies Satan throws our way. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Copyright 2024 by Galen C. Dalrymple. The Fatal Fantasy The following is from Christianity Today’s Easter in the Everyday series dated 3/27/24. It was written by Eniola Abioye: “We may note . . . that [Jesus] was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three effects— Hatred—Terror—Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.” – C. S . LEWIS, GOD IN THE DOCK We don’t get to pick the version of Jesus we will worship. We love him as he is. Anything else is idolatry. Anything else is fantasy. Anything else is less than what Jesus died for us to have. A man once followed Jesus, counted as one of his disciples. He was released to do works only Jesus could empower, and tasked with guarding the resources of their assignment. However, at some point on his three-year journey with the Messiah, he succumbed to the sickness of disenchantment. His life, which ended at Akeldama, or “the field of blood” (Acts 1:19) reveals both the limitations of our human perspective and Jesus’ invitation to complete trust. But let’s take a step back from the famous fatality of his story and observe the climate that seemed to surround him. How could life in proximity to the Source of all hope, all beauty, all joy, end with such anguish and despair? Could the poison of comparison have embittered his heart? Was his imagination captivated by a fantasy of a heroic monarch who would topple an oppressive empire? Did he see a disorienting contradiction in Jesus’ gracious response to Mary of Bethany pouring out precious oil to anoint his feet? Fantasy tethers a person to a false vision. It takes up the space faith and hope should fill. When things don’t go as expected, spirals of disillusionment and disappointment unfurl. Someone is to blame. Although it’s tempting to blame God for not bringing about the good we imagined, if we catch a glimpse of reality in the mirror, it turns out we are the ones yielding to the seductive call of illusion. When faced with the reality of Jesus, Judas’s allegiance to his own aims ended up blinding him, and he missed the story that he could have lived. Jesus stays away from our pigeon holes and boxes. He continually shatters our expectations. His kingship is established in truth and grace, not in meeting our expectations. He has an intention, a goal, a gravity in his every step and every decision. Grief, pain, confusion, unmet expectations, and unanswered prayers tend to reveal the depths of our hearts—do we love Jesus for who he truly is, or the fantasy we’ve created? Jesus was the King who toppled an oppressive empire, but contrary to Judas’s expectations that empire was not Rome, but sin, hatred, and, ultimately death. Jesus is not disappointing. He is the King who blasts our most exciting dreams to pieces and reveals a story rich with possibility, faith, and joy. In the story of Judas, we grieve the false promise of the flesh and our desire for worldly gain. We also lift our eyes from the fantasy we built for ourselves, toward the One whose life provokes us to desire things that are more profound, more beautiful, more authentic, and more enduring than our minds can conceive. When our fantasies shatter and we feel exposed, we can turn away in disappointment, or turn vulnerably toward Jesus and let his everlasting nature swallow up the make-believe and be our living, breathing, and resurrected hope. REFLECT: Identify truths about Jesus that you’ve found challenging to agree with or accept. What aspects of his nature have you wrestled with? Envision the impact on your life if you wholeheartedly loved Jesus for who he is. How would embracing and loving him authentically shape your daily experiences and overall perspective? PRAYER: Jesus, thank you for toppling the empire of death and sin. Help us to have clear minds and not fall for the fatal fantasies Satan throws our way. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Copyright 2024 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 8/07/23: Triumph Comes Disguised

John 11:50 (NIV) – You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.

John 19:30 (NIV) – When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Sometimes it is hard to recognize a victory when it stares you right straight in the face.  It is often much easier to see defeat than to recognize victory. 

Such was the case with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  When he was killed, it wasn’t clear what would happen to the civil rights movement.  Would it hold together or fall apart?  Would violence flare up and consume the country? 

At his funeral service, many people spoke out about Dr. King, but the most moving of them all was James Bevel.  He got up to the podium, heavy and stern-faced, and in a voice that grew and rose like a hurricane wind coming ashore, he said, “There is a false rumor going around that our leader is dead.  Our leader is not dead.  Martin Luther King is not our leader.”  He paused and let the words sink in, shocking as they were, for a funeral service for the slain leader.  Some wondered if he was using the moment to try to garner support for himself as the next leader, but then he went on:

“Our leader is the Man who led Moses out of Israel.  Our leader is the Man who went with Daniel into the lion’s den!  Our leader is the man who walked out of the grave on Easter morning.  Our leader neither sleeps nor slumbers.  He cannot be put in jail.  He has never lost a war yet.  Our leader is still on the case.  Our leader is not dead.  One of His children died.  We will not stop because of that.”

Powerful stuff.  He realized what many there perhaps had not realized: triumph is often disguised as failure.  As an end.  A conclusion.  When in reality it may just be the beginning of something new and better than we could possibly dream of.

In Jesus’ case, the leaders wanted him dead in order to protect the nation.  They feared what Rome might do because of the furor that Jesus’ stirred up with his preaching and teaching – that his followers may get out of hand and a disaster would result.  So they killed him.  It looked like a disaster, but it was a victory.  It looked like the end, but it was the beginning.

Our leader is not dead.  You may be facing what looks to be a defeat in your life.  Give it to God.  Let Him make it into a victory in His own way.  Our leader is not dead.  He will not leave you abandoned or broken.  Triumph, like joy, comes in the morning!

PRAYER: When we tend to withdraw from the struggle and fear failure, remind us, Lord, that You are our Leader and that You will never be vanquished!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 7/2/23 – Hold On, God’s Got This

There once was a little girl who was asked by her daddy to pick up her toys. Her father told her that he’d give her a nickel if she completed the task. The girl rushed off to put away her toys and after she told her dad she was finished he looked at the job she’d done and praised her for doing it so well!

“I want my nickel now,” the little girl said.

The father reached into his pocket and to his dismay, he didn’t have a nickel. All he had was a $20 bill.

“I’m sorry, baby girl,” he told her. “All I have is this $20 bill” and he reached out to hand it to her.

“No,” she said, “I want my nickel.”

“Baby girl, I don’t have a nickel, just this $20 bill.”

“No!” she replied, growing upset. “I want my nickel!”

“But this is worth 40 nickels. It’s a lot more money!” he said.

“No! I want my nickel!”

Our preacher told this story yesterday in a sermon about the storms in our lives and how they upset our own plans. Someone leaves us, we lose a job, we get a diagnosis, we get embarrassed – and our plan is turned upside down. We had a vision for how our lives would be – how they’d go, and we don’t want a deviation from our plan. Yet God in Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that his plan for us is good. It is to give us peace in the middle of our exile and know that he will come to us and that the plan he’s got is the right one.

That plan doesn’t promise the lack of hardship or fire or storm. God just looks at our lives and the mess they are and says, “I can use that” – and then he makes something beautiful.

The pastor also reflected on his favorite food – cheesecake apparently – and how it includes sugar, butter, cheese, and vanilla extract. If I were to hand you a stick of butter and say, “Eat it!”, you’d think I’d lost it! Or if I handed you a bunch of vanilla extract and said “drink it” you wouldn’t like it.

Our lives and what goes into them are like that cheesecake. The ingredients are not attractive all that appealing by themselves, but in the hands of a practiced chef the outcome, after mixing it all together and seemingly making a mess of things, is delicious.

So it is with the events of our lives – the divorce, abandonment, disease, disappointments, suffering and pain, loss of loved ones or loved things – none are attractive by themselves, but God looks at all the things that happen to us and said, “I can use that to make something beautiful and to give you peace as part of MY plan for your life.”
The question is, do we trust him? Do we believe Jeremiah 29:11? Really? As a friend said to our pastor, “We stink at trust.” We also stink at perseverance, methinks.

If you are in the fire today, hold on – God’s got this!

PRAYER: Lord, we need your help with trust and perseverance. Come to our aid quickly and let us rest in your good plan for ou r lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple, ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for the Week of 4/02/23 – The Master’s Week

Matthew 21:8-11 (NLT) – Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Praise God in highest heaven!” The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked. And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

This week is the Masters.  Sure, it’s the golf tournament, but that’s not the Masters I’m talking about, for this week is the week that in a special way belongs to THE Master, for during this week the most earth-shattering events of all history played out in the city of Jerusalem.

I recently heard this illustration and thought it apt for the start of the Master’s week:

“At a pre-concert lecture, the conductor of a symphony orchestra was telling the audience about the major work that the orchestra would be performing at that evening’s concert. The conductor told the people that if they listened carefully to the music, they would discover that it was both surprising and inevitable. On the one hand, the musical score would take a fair number of rather jarring and unexpected twists. There would be points in the concert when the blare of the trumpet or the sudden rolling of the timpani would seem to come from out of nowhere in a surprising fashion. On the other hand, however, the conductor noted that in the long run, these surprises would themselves become part of a larger coherence. Once listeners heard the entire piece from start to finish, they would find in the music an air of inevitability–how could it ever have been written any differently?

“Surprising and inevitable. Palm Sunday and the events of Holy Week are both surprising and inevitable. The truth is that we are not completely sure what to make of Palm Sunday.”

What do you make of Palm Sunday?  Do you see it as a triumphant moment in the life of Christ?  Do you see it as the “beginning of the end”?  Do you see yourself in the faces lining the streets of the city as the rabbi rode into town on a donkey?  Can you hear your voice shouting praises and singing with delight for the One who has come in the name of the Lord?

Or, would you be hanging back, worried about what others might think of you, perhaps knowing that those who held the religious power couldn’t have been too happy about the goings on, and even if they were ambivalent, the Romans certainly wouldn’t be? 

For me, as much as I enjoyed the worship today (Sunday), I have to say that Palm Sunday has always been a struggle for me because I think it was a real struggle for Jesus.  He knew that the story of that particular week wasn’t going to end with praises but with hammers and nails.  He knew that the ones cheering for him would be jeering at him as he was stripped naked and crucified at week’s end.  He knew that the good feelings would change and be overwhelmed with darkness in the garden and while he hung on the cross. 

Whatever else we might “make” of Palm Sunday, this much is certain: Jesus rode into the city knowing what lay ahead – and he never blinked.  Why?  Love – that’s why.  This was nearly the peak of his ministry – so much lay behind and yet so much lay ahead. 

It was time to finish that for which he’d come.  Let the week begin…

PRAYER: Jesus, for this week, help us focus on You more clearly than ever before, to have your mind, know your thoughts, feel your love throughout this week!  Let us remember you well! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple, all rights reserved.

DayBreaks for the Week of 2/19/23: Disappointment – Struggling With Prayer

1 John 5:14-15: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.

Do those verses describe your own personal experience with prayer? Do you have faith? Have you received everything you prayed for? Of course not. I’m asking silly questions, aren’t I? Yet the experience of having prayed – and not received – is real and troubling when we wrestle with life. Eugene Peterson once noted: Most of the people we meet, inside and outside the church, think prayers are harmless but necessary starting pistols that shoot blanks and get things going.

Was John wrong? I don’t think so. John had a confidence born of an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus. It wasn’t so much a conviction about the power of God (though that is implied and a given), but a confidence rooted in knowing God is listening. 

In Jesus’ teaching on faith and prayer, he said faith the size of a mustard seed could move mountains, that the size of the faith didn’t need to match the size of the request before God would act. We often act as if we can only get more people to pray that God will have to pay attention, so we recruit “prayer warriors” to smash down the doorway to God’s throne room. We read, we meditate, we try so hard to increase our faith. But Jesus never said for us to increase our faith. The problem is that we don’t rely or act on even the smallest amount of faith. God doesn’t require great faith – a small one will do just fine, thank you! If we are like the disciples (people of “little faith”), chances are we have enough.

Faith isn’t the same as confidence. The disciples, if anything, were too confident – thinking they had been successful before, so surely they could be successful again – trusting in their own ability to cast out demons. That’s not biblical faith. Biblical faith isn’t confidence as much as it is a dependence – not blind, but justifiable dependence. Faith may be smaller than its object, but the effect of faith cannot be any greater than its object. Or, said differently, that mustard seed of faith is sufficient when I pray not because my faith is stronger than my need, but because God is more powerful than my faith. 

As John Koessler said: Prayer’s greatest demand may be that it requires that we restrain our tendency toward activism and wait for God. But this gets to the crux of our disappointment with prayer: we address Him but get no answer, so we think He is unmoved. But have we forgotten that silence is also the mark of a good listener? Isaiah 65:24 says he listens so well that he knows what we’ll say before we speak.

Another possibility: we may be waiting for God to speak when we should be talking to ourselves. We may have focused so much on hearing from God that we have neglected to address ourselves in response. It is popular to think of prayer as a two-way conversation (and in my experience, sometimes it is), but if the Psalms are models of prayer then prayer isn’t a two-way conversation but a one-way conversation that moves in two directions – 1) we speak to God; 2) we speak to ourselves. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said “..you have to take yourself in hand…to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.“

Prayer can be frustrating and disappointing when we don’t receive what we prayed for or “hear” from Him. No, it’s not easy, but it is simple. Koessler: It is as simple as the infant’s cry or the beggar’s reach. The power of prayer does not lie in the rigor of its method or the beauty of its vocabulary. Its strength is not in the supplicant’s posture or the prayer’s length. The essence of prayer is in the asking. Prayer is fundamentally an expression of our need…We cannot impress Him with our language. We will not shock Him with our bluntness.

When you are next frustrated with prayer, ask yourself: 1) Is God perhaps just being a good listener, waiting for me to come to the point I pray in accordance with His will? 2) Am I preaching to myself (as David so often did) after addressing God? It was often in addressing God that David came to realize what was real and what was really his need…and then he preached to himself. For the most part, God has already given us the answers in His Word. We just don’t want to have to wrestle with how to apply it to our lives and we think prayer may be an easier way out. God doesn’t do things the easy way or He’d not have sent His Son. He won’t let us off easily, either, for struggle is the pathway to growth and maturity.

Don’t let disappointment with prayer/God dissuade you. Pour it out. Then, address yourself with what He has already told us. That is what worked for David, and I suspect it will work for us, too.

PRAYER: Father, forgive us for thinking You don’t hear and don’t care! Thank You for being the best listener and Father possible! Help us in our weakness to apply Your truth to every situation, to discern where the Word has already spoken answers and revealed truth about who You are and what You are like. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple, all rights reserved.

DayBreaks for the Week of 8/22/22 – Not My Shame

From the DayBreaks archive: I took my wife out for lunch yesterday and as we were sitting there at Boudin bakery (we love their sourdough bread bowls), I was watching people come in and out.  People come in such a huge variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.  And as I watched them, I was struck (for about the millionth time in my life) by the fact that they all carry around their own consciousness all day long and no one else can see it.  They carry concerns and joys, pains and relief, despair and hope, love and hate – to name just a few emotions and thoughts. 

Not one of us can see inside their heads or hearts to know what is going on there.  And, if they hide what is there, we cannot tell.  There may be some who have studied human behavior and could make an educated guess based on little tell-tale signs, but for the most part, we’re clueless about what is going on with others.

Maybe we need close friends with whom we can be vulnerable…yet safe.  Someone that we can share what’s happening between our ears and the beats of our hearts.  We need fellow humans who can help us navigate the rapids and falls of life’s river that flows inexorably onward toward a common end. 

More than that, though, we need One who knows ALL about us.  One who will judge us by our hearts and not our shortcomings – just as He did with David long ago. 

There is a song by Fernando Ortega (possibly my favorite Christian musician) called Shame that has these words in it (excerpted):

Though I am weak
Sometimes weary
In times of trial
I hide my face
In the balance
Judge me wholly
Please don’t judge me
By my shame

I have tried to
Live life humbly
Not a coward
Not in vain
When my weakness
Overcomes me
Remember me
Not my shame
Not my shame

I am weak
Sometimes weary
Sometimes small
I hide away
When my hours
Are all accounted
Please don’t bind me
To my shame.

What a blessing it is to know that Christ has borne our shame, that He knows our innermost hearts, hears the unspoken words and thoughts that zing around inside our craniums…and loves us the same!

PRAYER: Lord, we can consume ourselves with our thoughts of failure, guilt and shame!  Remind us when we do that You have lifted that off us past, present and future because you are our closest friend! In Your name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 8/7/22 – Of Hagar and Humanity

Pieter Thijs: Hagar in the desert , circa 1674

Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your hands; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her. The Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.” Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment.”  The Angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.” … So, she called the Lord who spoke to her: The God Who Sees, for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the One who sees me?” – Genesis 16

This is such a heartbreaking, but beautiful, story! Hagar, through no fault of her own, was in a country that wasn’t hers and as a servant, was dependent on Abraham and Sarah for her existence. Yet, Sarah grew jealous and kicked her out into the barren wilderness…to die. Not a very gracious act by Sarah.

And there by a spring where she was waiting to die, she was found. This confused, rejected, kicked-out mother to one of the children of the father of the faithful was seen by God.

You may not realize it, but Hagar is the first person recorded in the Hebrew scriptures to name God, calling him “the One who sees”.

Humans should take comfort in knowing that there is a God who sees. He sees the brokenhearted, the rejected, the outcast, the despised…and he comes to them in their greatest need.

Perhaps you are feeling rejected right now. Perhaps a spouse has abandoned you, or your children have walked away not only from what you taught them but from you as well. Perhaps you were passed over for that promotion and feel worthless.

Remember the Egyptian who was in the foreign land that named God. I encourage you to remember his name: The God Who Sees. He sees you. He comes to you. He will never leave you or forsake you though everyone and everything else does. Why? Because he is God…and he let himself be seen by the rejected Hagar and he will let you see him, too. Hagar is the perfect representative of humanity, seen by the one who became human so we could see him.

PRAYER: Thank you for seeing us in our rejected brokenness and for caring that our emotions are shattered. Help us remember that you are the One who sees and wants to reveal himself to us! In your name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 6/13/22 – What God Does in Caves

From the DayBreaks archive (Galen is on vacation):

FROM the DayBreaks Archive and Word for Today, 5/14/2003, copyright by Bob Gass (used by permission):

 “ …YOU ARE MY ONLY PLACE OF REFUGE…”  PSALM 142:5 (TLB)

“When David told God, ‘…You are my only place of refuge…’, he’d no way of knowing there was a crown in his future or that he wasn’t going to die in hiding. For all he knew, the cave he was in right then might be as good as it would get. When you’re in a situation you can’t sort out, can’t heal, and can’t escape, you have to learn to trust God.

That’s not easy, because it means becoming so immersed in God’s Word, so convinced of His goodness, so submitted to His lordship, that wherever you are is fine – so long as He’s there!

Jesus knows all about caves; He suffered too. His life was in constant danger. He lost His position as a leader, His status as a teacher, and even His friends. Then things seemed to get worse; He went to a cross and died. With Him, the dreams He’d inspired in others seemed to die too. What started as a shining success appeared to end up a shameful failure.

Jesus understands your feelings of isolation and loneliness better than anybody because nobody else ever descended into death the way He did. But His enemies made the mistake of putting Him in a cave. They didn’t know that that’s where God resurrects dead things – like dead hopes, dreams, marriages, ministries, and relationships. They didn’t realize that He does some of His best work in caves! If you’re in one today, be encouraged:

Jesus came out victorious – and His plan is to bring you out, too!”

Galen’s Thoughts: Have you ever been in a deep, dark cave when they turned out the lights and there was no ray of light anywhere and you couldn’t see your hand when it touched your nose?  I have.  I hate the thought of being trapped in a cave like that.  My thoughts go back to the miners who were trapped in the coal mine in Pennsylvania about a year ago and their dramatic rescue.  The darkness would have consumed me.  I don’t think I could have gotten out alive.

I would imagine that David felt the same way from time to time.  Brother Gass makes a great point, though, about caves.  God does great work in caves!  He brought David from the throne of a boulder in a cave to the throne in Jerusalem, he brought Jesus from the cave of burial to the throne of heaven.  God likes to work in the dark.  He’s not afraid of it.  And when we know that we will never be alone in the dark we need not fear it either. 

There are days when you may feel that you’ll never be freed from the cave you are in.  But Jesus does have a plan for you, that you WILL come out victorious someday.  I can’t tell you how, I can’t tell you when, just that it will be so because he’s given his word on it.

PRAYER: For those in caves of despair and darkness right now, Lord, we pray for deliverance and freedom.  Let the light shine into our lives!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 5/15/22: A Mountain of Mercy

On a recent Sunday as we were singing, I looked around the auditorium and spotted one of our teens.  She wasn’t singing.  It caught my attention because she is usually quite animated and energized by the worship and the music.  She looked troubled.  I watched her for a moment and soon found myself transported back a number of years to when I was her age.  I remembered how there were times at church when I, too, was quiet.  The reason: I was deeply troubled by some sin in my life. 

I remember being deeply convicted by some sin in my life, a sin that haunted me, a sin that made me feel as if I couldn’t qualify for God’s forgiveness, that never again would I be able to run to Him and call Him “Father”.  And as the invitation was offered, I found myself (on many occasions) “going forward”, desperately seeking His forgiveness, a sense of cleansing and release from the guilt that I felt.  And inevitably, I found it. 

As I think back now about those times of deep conviction, and as I looked at this young lady in our worship service (not knowing what was going on in her heart or life), I couldn’t help but feel that she was struggling with guilt much as I had done long ago.  In looking back at my life now, those were times of great value.  I was right: I could never qualify for God’s forgiveness by working at it harder, by being more righteous.  I could only claim His promise of love for me, of the forgiveness He extended to me through the blood of His Son. 

But I find myself today in a different state of life in terms of my walk with Christ.  When I was young, I felt the weight of my sin very deeply.  Do I still feel it today?  Yes, but in a different way.  At that time in my life, I was focused on MY sin, on MY guilt, on MY despair and failure, on MY determination to try harder to try to prove myself worthy, to gain His favor.  Now, I’ve lived long enough to know that those early spiritual failures were just the beginning.  I’ve lived long enough now that I’ve committed a mountain of sins.  They are ugly and offensive to God.  They are,   but there is a mountain of mercy that I’ve experienced as a result of understanding Romans 9:14-16 –For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

My standing before God is not based on anything I can do or say to gain his favor.  My standing is based on Christ’s sacrifice, and on God’s mercy.  My desire to serve Him can be as great as anyone’s desire to serve Him.  My effort can be huge – but that won’t earn me His mercy.  The mountain of His mercy looms over all my sin.

If there is a message I’d like to share with that young woman, it would be this: Yes, sin is awful and ugly.  But there is a mountain of mercy, a rock of refuge to Whom we can run.  He awaits us there!

PRAYER: Father, teach us to run to you for refuge, filled with confident hope! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the week of 3/21/22: In the Darkest Night

I’ve often said that if I had a superpower, I would choose to be able to remove pain. Suffering breaks my heart.

As I write this, I have relatives fighting to recover from strokes (and as of today, you can add a COVID diagnosis to that particular struggle), another writhes in agony from cancer. I have dear friends who are dying or have died, and their spouses are left to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives. And let’s not forget the people of the Ukraine and elsewhere who are suffering deprivation, destruction, death, and terror.

What can I do about it? Very little, really. I can send prayers skyward, money outward, but I can’t make any of it go away. I feel helpless primarily because I am. I don’t have the superpower I wish I had.

Ann Voskamp has released a new book, WayMaker, where she shares some of her own valleys of pain and grief. She explores the depths of suffering much as Job did millenia prior. I think she has some things that are good for us to contemplate as we try to futilely to make sense out of the horrors that surround us.

“How would understanding the reason for suffering matter more

than knowing God Himself stands with us in it?

“You do not have to understand the ways of God, you only need know that the Way stands with you — and He can’t stop making a way, because that is who the Way is.

“The Way is Who He is — and the Way is what He does.

“As long as you have the WayMaker — you always have a Way.” – Ann Voskamp

I am the truth, the life, and the WAY…Jesus.

PRAYER: Jesus, there are many today who desperately need a way but even more who need the WayMaker to be with them. Let them see the Way even in the darkest night, in the bomb shelters, in the hospital wards and in their own homes. Be the ever-present Way to them, please! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.