DayBreaks for the Week of 8/27/23: Of Dead Ducks and Hurting Believers

Bob Hodges, a Presbyterian minister in Rogersville, Tennessee, tells about duck hunting with a friend of his on Cherokee Lake in east Tennessee. His friend, Riley, who had just recently become a believer, started asking some serious questions about his Christian experience. Riley’s old friends were making it very difficult for him to remain consistent in his obedience and commitment to Christ. They seemed to delight in trying to get him to fall back into the old patterns of life. They ridiculed him for spending so much time with “the preacher.” Riley asked, “Why is it that I’m having more trouble since I became a Christian than I ever did when I was lost? Everything seems to go wrong. I’m having such a struggle!”

Bob Hodges spoke up, “I’ll tell you why, Riley. A couple of ducks fly over and you shoot. You kill one and injure the other. They both fall into the lake. What do you do? You have to get out of the boat and go pick up the ducks, but which one do you go after first?”

“Well,” Riley drawled, “that’s easy. I go after the injured one first. The dead one ain’t goin’ nowhere!”

Hodges said, “And that’s the way it is with the devil. He goes after injured Christians. He’s not going to bother with the man dead in his sin. But the minute you give your life to Christ, you’d better get ready; the devil is going to come after you. He is going to chase you; he’s going to make it hard on you.”

If you find your Christian walk to be very difficult, if Satan isn’t giving you a moment’s worth of peace, perhaps this is why.  Satan is not a fool.  He won’t go after “dead” believers, but he recognizes wounded ones easily and goes after them with a vengeance. 

Knowing how he operates won’t necessarily make it easier, but it may help you understand the reason the journey is so difficult.

PRAYER: We need strength, Lord, for all the times that Satan attacks us!  We are weak and we pray that in the times of our great weakness that Your Spirit will come speedily to our aid!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 8/20/23 – The Lure of the Easy Way

There is a story about a young man, eager to make it to the top, who went to a well-known millionaire businessman and asked him the first reason for his success. The businessman answered without hesitation, “Hard work.” After a lengthy pause, the young man asked, “What is the SECOND reason?”

Matthew 16:21-25 (NLT) From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”

Today, I want to think about the lure of the easy way. Jesus and His disciples were at Caesarea Philippi. Their ministry to this point had been a stunning success. Crowds pressed in on them everywhere they went. People eagerly reached out to touch this attractive young teacher from Nazareth. The disciples themselves were caught up in the excitement of it all. Jesus asked them, “Who do you say I am?” and Simon Peter answered enthusiastically, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” It was one of the most dramatic moments in the disciples’ pilgrimage with Jesus.

Then Jesus abruptly changed the subject. He began to tell them that the crowds would soon turn against Him; He would be crucified, on the third day he would be raised. The disciples didn’t know what to make of all this. Simon Peter took Jesus aside: “Forbid it, Lord, that these things should happen to you.” Jesus’ response to Simon Peter is as harsh as any words in the New Testament: Get behind me, Satan! You are not on the side of God but of man.

Perhaps Jesus called Simon Peter ‘Satan’ because of Jesus’ experience in the wilderness immediately after His baptism by John. In today’s parlance, it was there that Satan revealed to Jesus the way to “make a million dollars in three easy steps”: turn stones to bread, leap off the pinnacle of the temple, and “Bow down and worship me!” I see Satan not as a red-caped figure with a pitchfork but dressed in a $1000 suit and offering in a glib and polished tongue instant success, instant glamour, instant gratification. We can see Satan almost anywhere today. Jesus encountered him this time in Simon Peter: Forbid it, Lord, that you should have to suffer and die.

If there is any doubt that Jesus is resisting the lure of the easy way, listen to the words that follow: If any man would be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

What way are you pursuing in your life?  How can you change today?

PRAYER: Jesus, I know that I almost always seek the easy way, and that the easy way is very seldom Your way.  May I be more like You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 7/23/23: What God Was Looking for in Eden

Genesis 3:8-13 (NLT) – Toward evening they heard the Lord God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees. The Lord God called to Adam, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”  “Yes,” Adam admitted, “but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God asked the woman, “How could you do such a thing?”  “The serpent tricked me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”

What do you suppose it sounds like when God walks?  My first reaction is to think of the Jurassic Park movies – and I imagine that God’s footsteps must sound like the mighty cinematic beasts created by the movie makers.  But I doubt that’s what it would really sound like.  I would imagine that it was more like the sound of the wind in the trees, but that’s not the point.

God comes walking in the garden – and He knows something has changed.  Something is different.  And He knows exactly what it is.  Yet, as He comes, his first question is “Where are you?” 

Why do you think that God asked such a question?  There can be no doubt that God knew exactly where Adam and Eve were hiding.  Adam said he was hiding because he was naked.  I don’t think that his literal nakedness is why he was hiding from God.  He knew that God has already seen him naked.  But now he knew that his “clothing” of innocence had been taken away, and the shame of his spiritual nakedness before God was more than he wanted to reveal, so he tried to hide.

What was it that God wanted when He came into the garden that evening?  I believe we get a hint from the third question that God asks: “Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”  What God was really doing with this question was giving Adam and Eve a chance to confess to Him what they’d done.  And, to their credit, they do – well, sort of.

Adam admitted his wrong and Eve didn’t deny it, either.  But was this true confession?  No.  It wasn’t even close.  Adam admitted he ate the fruit, but took no responsibility for his actions, instead blaming them on his bride.  And Eve, following the pattern of Adam, passed the buck along to the serpent. 

Admitting that we’ve done something wrong is only the very first part of confession – the real heart of confession is taking the blame squarely on our shoulders – not trying to blame society, our spouse, our co-worker, the nasty lady at the bank, the too-spicy tamales that we ate last night, the media or anything or anyone other than ourselves for what we’ve done.  That is the heart of confession.  That is what God was looking for in Eden – confession – and instead He got a blame game.

Isn’t that like most of us?  “Yes, you caught me with my hand in the cookie jar again, God, but…”.  “Yes, Lord, I’ve been thinking of cheating on my spouse, but it’s her/his fault, because…”.  “Yes, Lord, I know it’s wrong to steal, but if you hadn’t caused my car to break down I’d have had the money I needed and I wouldn’t have had to do this.”

God stills walks this earth, calling out to us: “Where are you?  Have you don’t the thing I commanded you not to do?”   He wants our heart-felt confession.  Will you give Him yours?

PRAYER: Father, we have so many sins to confess! Help us to see you as the One who is eager to hear our confession…and to forgive!  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 5/14/23: Tests and Testimonies

When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. He saw them being battered as they rowed, because the wind was against them. Around three in the morning He came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them. When they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw Him and were terrified. – Mark 6:47-50a

Isn’t it interesting how you can know a bible story from the time you were a child and only when you’re old do you notice something new?

If you missed it when you read through the passage above, read it again.

The disciples are in a boat, fighting against a fierce storm. They are on a mission that Jesus told them to undertake: to get to the other side of the sea of Galilee. They weren’t doing this on their own, but by the command of the lord of sea and sky. You might be tempted to think that if you’re on a mission commanded by God that it would go easy. Don’t be on it. In fact, count on it being difficult. But that’s not what struck me.

It says that Jesus saw them “and wanted to pass by”. What?!?!? Jesus was intending to pass them by and leave them in the storm! How did Mark know that? It can only be because Jesus at some point told the disciples about his intentions.

Why would Jesus do that? Why wouldn’t he make the journey easy for them? I think there’s a very good reason: before there can be a testimony of the power, love, and goodness of Jesus, there must first be a test. No test, no testimony. If Jesus had just kept walking across the water their testimony could never have included this incredible testimony to his power.

But there’s more good news: when they called out to in their terror, he changed his plan, spoke to them, got in the boat and the storm calmed immediately. That’s what the presence of Jesus does, even when we’re in the middle of the test. All we have to do is call out and we will find him beside us.

PRAYER: Jesus, when we are in the storm we ask you to remind us we are never alone and that in the storm you have a good, good purpose. In your name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 3/26/23 – Of God, Dogs and Leashes

This Sunday, the preacher talked about repentance. What does that have to do with dogs and leashes? Good question! Let me explain.

He spoke about three types of repentance: initial repentance where we decide to turn from death to life through Christ, in-course repentance as we go through life and find ourselves wandering off from God’s way into our own, and a final stage which is mature repentance. He illustrated it this way:

He has a 55-pound dog named Jake that was as willful as could be when they got him. He was always pulling on the leash hard – even to the point that he once pulled the preacher’s wife right off her feet. Jake had no repentance!

Later, however, Jake learned through time, to walk with his master rather than fighting against him for control all the time. The result was that the leash was no longer taut, but slack.

Here’s the point: we are much like Jake initially. We are head-strong and willful and easily get distracted by every new scent, sound, and sight, and we pull like the dickens to wander off the pathway into a detour, not knowing if the detour will be good or not – in fact, we often don’t even stop to think about the possible outcomes – we are driven by our senses, not rationality.

It is so easy to pull against the Lord! To want to pursue what we want to pursue, to go where we want to go, not where he wants to take us. But as Jacob and later Jonah discovered, it is pointless to do so.

But in time, the tugging and fighting against the leash declines, and there are times when we walk side by side – but we still need restraining and correction from time to time. We all still rebel occasionally, following our own desires rather than God’s desires for us.

In late life, though, I have discovered that there is much more mature repentance (don’t get me wrong, I’m still FAR from perfect), but at least I’ve walked with God long enough now to have a track record that says “He is good all the time. He is smarter than me, all the time. He has always cared for me faithfully and I trust he will always do so. He has never been untrue or broken a promise. He knows the direction and path I should take and I don’t. So, I’ll trust him and not fight him any longer.”

Maybe that kind of mature repentance is a consolation blessing for growing older, but now I’m ready to walk with God on a loose leash, not pulling and fighting him all the time. It takes so much less energy and walking with Him is its own great reward!

PRAYER: Thank you for your patience in “leash training” me, Father! Help me to always have a repentant heart that is eager to follow your way and not my own, and forgive me for the times when I still want my own way! In Jesus’ name, Amen

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

DayBreaks for the Week of 10/30/22 – What Price Integrity?

Romans 12:17 (NLT) – Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.

“It is well known that hospitals charge for medical supplies far in excess of what the products would cost at drug stores, but an August New York Times investigation of “saline drips” vividly demonstrated the disconnect. Though Medicare reimburses $1.07 for a 1-liter plastic bag of salt water (supplied by a subsidiary of Morton Salt), White Plains (N.Y.) Hospital charged patients’ insurance companies like Aetna and United Healthcare $91 per bag.  Other hospitals decline to charge per bag, listing only “IV therapy” of, for example, $393.50 for hooking up the drip.” [New York Times, 8-27-2013]

I worked in the high-tech business world for a long time.  I understand that businesses need to make a profit to survive and provide living wages to employees so they can feed their families.  And I also understand that unless someone has seen the inner workings of a business from the financial standpoint, that most people don’t realize all the hidden costs that companies must cover, and as a result, many people think that companies are ripping people off no matter what they charge.

And some are, as is clear from the quote above. 

What’s this about?  It’s not about castigating medical companies or businesses, churches, or non-profits.  God will judge each and every one someday.  It is about us personally.  At what price are we willing to sell our integrity?

People have been asked questions such as: “How much money would it take for you to mislead someone about your product?”, or “How much money would it take for you to be unfaithful to  your spouse?”, or something along those lines.  And as it turns out, rather shockingly, people seem to be willing to compromise their integrity for a lot less than one might expect. 

What has happened to us?  What has happened to me?  When did our integrity get put on the market for money?  Sometimes it isn’t even money – just a bit of undeserved recognition because we’ve not been fully honest, a bit of praise or fame.  Even just a bit of attention! 

Integrity ought not to have a price tag.  What we give up to gain a few dollars isn’t worth it.  Don’t give up your integrity in order to sign that deal, to make a few extra bucks, or to create a false image of yourself.  Let your integrity be inviolable.  If you lose your integrity by shady dealing, it will come home to roost and you will be left in shame. 

PRAYER: Jesus, You never compromised in the slightest in order to gain some advantage.  Help us to believe that maintaining our integrity is always the best pathway to choose, no matter what we are offered in exchange! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022, Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 5/29/22: Tireless Sin, Tireless Grace

From the DayBreaks archive (Galen is on vacation):

World magazine included an article by Andree Seu on March 30, 2002, in which she described a situation common to all of us: the lure of temptation and how we give in to it.  Let me share part of that article with you:

“My usual way with temptation is to succumb and then repent.  I once devoured, in one frenzied gulp, the remaining torso of my son’s solid chocolate bunny, so that it would stop tempting me from its green fiberfill next on the kitchen counter.  Immediately there was much relief and not a little guilt.  A Pyrrhic victory.

“All this is a workable enough arrangement much of the time – you know: my tireless sin, God’s tireless grace.  But every now and then (notably on the occasions that I am the bitten rather than the biter) I get discouraged and cynical about the reality of this thing we call the Christian life.  Has the emperor any clothes?

“We believe in forgiveness – until there’s someone to forgive.  We subscribe to the unity of the saints – until the least little things ruffles it.  We possess faith – until some garden variety challenge calls for it.  We extol patience – but woe to the person who crosses us twice.  We have basically two settings in relationships: flattery or disdain, hardly any middle ground.  We do a hundred “good deeds”, then refuse the one that goes against our natural inclination.  We keep a tight rein on our tongues until the first feeble tug of gossip pries it loose.

“What opportunity is lost when I fail to avail myself of the one thing that temptation is good for!  For in God’s way of alchemizing Satan’s curses to our blessing, is not temptation the crucible in which suffering undergoes the heat and calcinations that yields that rare and precious commodity, courage?”

There is a lot of truth in Ms. Seu’s observations of our behavior.  Our sinful tendencies are tireless – they knock on the door of our imaginations and tempt us with tasty, yet devilish, delicacies.  And how about my willingness to forgive?  It’s easy to say that I’m willing to forgive – until someone really hurts ME instead of someone I don’t care about.  But when it gets personal, well, then it becomes an entirely different ballgame. 

I’ve learned that sin is tireless sin my life.  Satan never seems to get tired of tempting me.  If Satan gets joy out of my sinning, he must be a very happy being.   That is, until the grace of God enters the picture.  Because God’s grace is tireless, too.  God is the most forgiving “Being” that has ever existed.  It is good to remember God’s wrath, anger and hatred for sin – but never let us overlook the magnitude of His grace that extends towards us!

PRAYER: Lord, help me to love others and not to seek to be loved. Teach me to love as you do! 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.

DayBreaks for the week of 2/28/22 – Deserts, Words and the Holy of Holies

NOTE TO READERS: Instead of stopping DayBreaks entirely, I’ll post an single entry on Sundays for the following week.

Recent weeks have seen and heard the sounds of war shatter our illusions of peace, and we might well ask “Why”? If God is sovereign over the affairs of men as we believe him to be, what is he doing? Why is he allowing the suffering? And even if the war hadn’t come, the suffering is ever present in this broken and shattered world. I’m not smart enough to know all the answers but let me share something I learned the day after the Ukrainian invasion.

The bombs fall and we fall to our knees. People get a diagnosis of either chronic suffering or terminal illness…and we fall to our knees. A child – any loved one dies – and we fall to our knees. Pain carries us to prayer and our years of collective loss howl from our throats in a long lament. At these times we often feel alone in a scorching desert. Lost, uncertain of which way to head, doubting in the coming of a new and better day.

Ann Voskamp recently noted that there is a fascinating connection in the Hebrew between three words, the first being desert. Deserts are not typically places people choose to live. The Sahara is parched, with places receiving only 2/100ths of an inch of water a year. Life in the desert is hard and the heat assails us. But something else happens in the desert. In 2016 on a trip to Israel, our tour group was bused out into the wilderness, the desert, of Judah and we were dropped off to wander in the desert as Jesus did. The most amazing thing to me was how quiet things were in the desert, yet how well you could hear. You could hear the sounds of shepherds and their flocks from far distant hills and valleys even though you couldn’t see them. And I came to understand why Jesus would withdraw to the desert – so he could hear the voice of God without the clamor of the world interfering.

And that brings us to the second word, which is the word for word. It comes from the same root word as desert. What’s the point? It is perhaps as simple as the connection between the desert and the ability to hear and specifically to hear from God. When the bombs and bullets and missiles fly, we are drawn from the marketplace into the desert where we can once again turn our thoughts and ears heavenward to hear the message God wants to communicate to us, to set our priorities back on track again, to stir our hearts to pray with the apostle John, “Even so, come Lord Jesus!” and to ask what God wants us to do in the midst of the chaos of this world’s war.

This brings us to the third word, or phrase, which comes from the same Hebrew root. In the temple was the court of the Gentiles, the holy place and the holy of holies – the inner sanctum where God made his dwelling on earth among the Israelites. What is translated “holy of holies” comes from the same Hebrew word as desert and word. It was in the holy of holies that the high priest would pour out special sacrifices and it was where Zachariah heard the promise of the coming of the forerunner of Christ, the one who would prepare the way for the Messiah.

What does this imply? That the deserts of our lives are the places where we can hear the word of God and be in the very presence of the one who made the holy of holies what it was. In the silence of the desert, we can be still and know that He is God. We can hear his voice whispering to us even as it did to Elijah after fleeing from Jezebel after the contest with the prophets of Baal. It says that God wasn’t in the earthquake or the fire, but in a still small voice – the word used for the sound of falling snow. One cannot hear the sound of falling snow unless you are very quiet and very, very focused.

The events of our lives that we consider tragic, that take us to the barren places in our hearts and minds, are the very events that focus us and drive us to our knees in the holy of holies – the presence of God – so that we can hear, and then choose to respond, to his words.

In his tender love and respect for us as his image bearers, he gives us the choice to stop and listen or not. He gives us the choice to withdraw from him or draw closer to him. The trials are intended to nudge us to his holy presence, to let us hear him speak to us. They are part of the plan he has for us – a good plan, not to destroy but for good and to prosper us.

As we struggle with decisions and relationships, with all the warring in our hearts and souls, let’s not miss the God-given desert and the blessings we can find there.

PRAYER: Lead us to the desert when we need to hear you and be in your presence, o Holy One! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>