DayBreaks for the Week of 11/06/23: Where God Resurrects Dead Things

From the DayBreaks archive: Once again, confession time.  But first, a caveat: I’m going to tell you about something I’ve not done for a long, long time.  Are you ready?  I used to read Stephen King’s books.  I was a fan of his writing.  I loved the suspense and strange twists that he’d bring into play.  I also loved the cartoon strip, “The Far Side” and “Calvin and Hobbs”, and I still love “Dilbert”.  They are all a bit off the wall, and helped to take me to unexpected places – some of which were healthier than others.  But one of my all-time favorite Stephen King books was “Pet Sematary” (yes, that’s how it was spelled).  It was about a strange place out in a twisted wood behind a farm where dead things would come back to life once they were buried there – in a little pet cemetery.  I very seldom read any book more than once – but I did that one.  Of course, in true Stephen King style, the pets that came back weren’t quite like they had been previously – they were changed, and not for the better.  I won’t tell you the rest of the story…let your imagination work on it, if you wish.  

But the concept was intriguing.  As many of you know, it’s been just over 10 months since my dog, Ramses, died.  How I wish that there were a real pet cemetery where we could have taken him and gotten him back in a few hours – breathing, twisting, wagging, and playing as he had before.  But I don’t know of a pet cemetery like that.  Just last night as I was on a retreat, I told a fellow pastor about my father’s passing over 6 years ago – and I cried.  I miss him.

It is interesting that many times in scripture, we find things that were dead coming back to life.  It may have been hope that died, faith that died, trust that died, or it may have been someone that died.  Several times in the Bible, when something dies and it is going to be brought back to life, a cave is involved.  Elijah, after his trust and faith died, ran to the cave on Mt. Horeb where his hope was reborn.  David, running from Saul in fear, feeling like a failure after having been anointed, only to be chased for years by Saul who still sat on the throne, spent years in a cave regaining his hope and having God grow his trust.  Lazarus went into the cave.  Jesus went into the cave.  But none of them stayed there.  Why?  Because caves are the place where God resurrects dead things.

Not every cave is made out of rock.  Some are made out of the shambles of our hollowed-out spirits, marriages, families, and collapsed dreams.  Some are made of the demons of guilt, shame, or abuse.  Sometimes it seems as if the entry to the cave through which we entered has been sealed off by all the debris of our lives, and that we will die – alone and cold – in the hard, rocky darkness.  But then something happens.  A voice from the other side of the cave or the other side of the collapsed tangle of trees calls out to us, “Galen!  Come forth!”  And that which was dead breathes again by the grace and miraculous power of God. 

Life can, and is, a very, very long, hard, cold cave.  I know people who have lived in a cave of some kind of suffering and despair virtually every minute of their lives.  I don’t know how they do it.  But I do know that God spoke to Elijah in a cave, He led David out of the cave to the throne of Israel, He called Lazarus out of the clammy darkness, and He brought Jesus forth gloriously – never to die again. 

If you’re in a cave right now, rejoice.  You may be about to see and hear God speak life into you again.  And you’re in VERY good company.

John 11:38-44 – Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’”

PRAYER: I am so grateful that you are a God who does amazing, impossible things – even in the darkest of times in our lives!  Glory to You now and forever! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 8/13/23: Tightrope or Citadel?

I don’t know about you, but I grew up in a very legalistic type of church. There were rules about everything – not too unlike the Pharisees of old who took the commands of God and then created all sorts of additional rules intended to keep them on the right track.

What was the end result of that style of church/religion? It was guilt beyond compare! For decades of my life I despised myself and I was quite sure that God despised (perhaps even hated) me because I was such a weakling who sinned so much. It was a horrible way to go through life, smelling (at least in my mind) the brimstone of hell close behind me. There was even a debate among my young believing friends about whether or not one could be saved if they had sinned and died before they could pray to ask forgiveness.

Then, through the grace of God, I learned about grace. I learned that Jesus had already paid the price for my sins – past, present, and future. I learned that his grace is greater than all my sin, that he loved me in spite of my sins, not because I was sinless. And through a couple of people and the writing of some authors, my soul was set free.

I still have times when I’m not sure if God still loves me because I am still a sinner at my age (and I’m getting up there)! I can appreciate passion for holiness and purity. I know that grace is not an excuse to sin and keep on sinning. But I also believe now that God knows my heart and he loves me and through some incredible work on his part, will take me home to be with him forever.

But for many, the Christian life is one guilt trip after another, one moment of shame piled on top of another until we convince ourselves that the pile has gotten so high that nothing can be done about it. And that’s just plain wrong. I have to stop at moments like that and remind me that all those sins – every single one – was paid for on the cross.

We can view our position with God either as a tightrope (as I was raised) and that our identify as a saved believer teeters from one side to another and that we’re always in peril of falling off the rope into the abyss, or as a citadel where we are surrounded by the impregnable walls of the blood of Jesus and the grace and mercy and love of God. (This comparison of a tightrope or citadel comes from Eugene Peterson’s book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.)

And now, as I near the end of my life, after living on a perceived tightrope for decades, I now believe the citadel is the right image of the Christian’s relationship to Jesus.

My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish — ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one. – John 10:28-30

PRAYER: Thank you, Jesus, for holding us in your hand! Thank you, Father, for wrapping your Almighty hands around the hands of Jesus to ensure us that we are in the Citadel of the Almighty as we live life! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 2/26/23 – Struggling in the Storm(s)

Luke 8:23-25 (NLT) – As they sailed across, Jesus settled down for a nap. But soon a fierce storm came down on the lake. The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. The storm stopped and all was calm! Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?” The disciples were terrified and amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!”

Thus ends the story of Jesus and his disciples in the midst of a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus, intriguingly, is sleeping. The disciples are not – they’re frantic. They are about to write their own epitaphs. And, they are clearly upset with Jesus. In Mark’s version, their question is a bit more pointed: “Don’t you care if we drown?!” Jesus woke, spoke a few words, and the storm was still. At least the storm on the sea. But the storm in their hearts was a storm of another kind.

Think about this a minute. Why were the disciples so surprised? And secondly, if they didn’t think he could do something to help, why did they awaken him? Why not let him go to the bottom in peaceful slumber?

I think John Koessler nailed it when he said he thinks these questions are the map of the landscape of our spiritual lives and our struggle with doubt. Jesus’ response: Where is your faith? is not easy to understand. Was he upset for being awakened? Probably not. He was used to interruptions, and even seemed to welcome them. Maybe he felt they were over-reacting. Most likely not, though, because these were men who knew these waters and knew how to survive in the storms that often swept up the lake. And Luke says the boat was being swamped. This was not faux danger…it was real, a life-and-death situation.

The disciples had demonstrated faith in Jesus by waking him. They clearly thought he’d do something. So what can Jesus’ statement mean: Where is your faith? Koessler suggests that perhaps what Jesus meant was Where is your faith in yourselves? In other words, Jesus may have been chiding them for not taking action, urging them to stop crying about the situation when they already had the skills they needed to tend the sails, man the oars, bail out the water. Could Jesus have been urging them to do all that they could before they came running to him?

God seems often to not do things except through the ordinary means of people and their own effort first. Jesus could have created fish and chips on the mountainside without any human involvement, but he used a boy with his own lunch to work the miracle.

Still, in this case, I think Jesus wasn’t talking about faith in their own efforts.  With several of them being professional sailors/fishermen, they seem to have done what they could and were at the end of their proverbial rope. They’d reached the end of what they could do, and the boat was still being swamped, swallowed up by the storm.

But, get this, because it relates to our own struggles with faith and disappointment: to understand Jesus’ question about their faith, we need to take into account their exclamation after he stills the storm: Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him! What does that tell us: that their cry in the storm was an expression of their need, but not of faith.

Bear in mind that it was Jesus who was responsible for their predicament: he’d set the plan in motion (at his request) to go across the lake to the other side to start with.  Much like the Israelites who complained to Moses in Exodus 14:11 about their predicament in the wilderness, the disciples’ statement was really a criticism of Jesus’ plan.

But Jesus’ statement explains the rebuke when seen in this light. He wasn’t upset because he’d been awakened, or was he upset with them seeking his help. He was disappointed with their lack of faith.  As Koessler said: Jesus was asleep in the boat, but He was not asleep at the wheel.

We know from the story what Jesus did for the disciples. But our uncertainty is whether or not He will do something for us. Not everyone who ever cried out to Jesus on the sea has survived. He doesn’t always speak to the wind and flying water and make it quiet. Sometimes, the ship goes down.

What are we to make of such things, especially when it involves those we love? I confess that I’m not sure, but this I cling to: he loves me with an eternal love, and his plan – no matter how I may struggle to grasp it in the middle of storm – is for my good and not my harm.

PRAYER: I can’t help but wonder, Lord, how many times you’ve looked at me and wondered, “Where is your faith?” I thank you for the reminder that you are always open to being awakened by my cries and that you do respond as you see fit. Thank you for the comfort of knowing that at the times I think you may be sleeping, you are not asleep at the wheel that directs my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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

DayBreaks for 12/31/21 – God Loves Water

Psalm 124:2-5 (NLT) – What if the LORD had not been on our side when people attacked us? They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger.  The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us. Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives.

I once heard a preacher speak on Psalm 124.  Chances are, it’s not one of your favorites, and it certainly isn’t one of the most beloved Psalms.  But it is RICH in content!

One of the points the pastor made was about how troubles are frequently pictured in Scripture as manifestations of water: floods, raging rivers, torrents that would sweep us away.  It’s easy to see why, isn’t it?  When we are in the deep water of trouble, we feel as if we will vanish beneath the waves forever. 

He then went on to point out that God isn’t afraid of water.  In fact, He seems to love it!  Consider:

1. The great flood of Genesis was under His control;
2. The parting of the Red Sea;
3. The crossing of the Jordan in a miraculous way;
4. Elijah and the contest on Mt. Carmel where the offering and altar were soaked in water before God consumed them with fire;
5. The storm on the sea that Jesus’ calmed by rebuking the waves;
6. Another storm on the same body of water where Jesus came walking on the top of the liquid stuff.

You see, God isn’t afraid of a little (or lot!) of water, nor is he afraid of our troubles.  In fact, over and over again, God does much of his greatest work either in the midst of the raging waters of life, or in the darkness where it is hard to perceive. 

As you look at the coming year, what do you see?  There is plenty of potential darkness: will the ‘fiscal cliff’ be avoided (and should it be?)  What is your work situation – is it gloomy and frightening?  What about your marriage and relationships?  Are you in legal trouble?  Financial difficulties swimming all around you? The pandemic? Health challenges?

The water may look deep, but God can touch the bottom and bring you out of the swirling flood of troubles that you may have. 

Of one thing we can be absolutely sure: there will be nothing that happens this year, either in our individual lives as Christians, or our corporate existence as humanity, that will be too big or too hard for God to handle.  You see, God has already seen every single thing that will happen this coming year and knows precisely how to handle it. 

Isn’t it great to belong to such a great God?!?!?!

PRAYER: Lord, I often am very afraid when I’m in deep water and it threatens the things I value and hold dear.  Remind us as we begin this new year that You love water…and love saving Your people from the flood that would overwhelm us if possible.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 8/24/21 – I Wish I Could Die

Luke 9:24 – For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

Chances are at some time in your life, you’ve said, “I wish I could die!”  You may have meant it facetiously (as when you have done something really dumb and you are greatly embarrassed), but at other times you may have really meant it.  It may have been when you were suffering through some great emotional or spiritual or physical pain.  It may have even come when you found yourself, yet again, struggling with why you failed spiritually.

The great writer, O. Henry, wrote in one of his stories about such a situation involving a young man who was brought up in a small village.  Throughout his school years, he used to sit next to a girl and they were very fond of one another.  After completing school, he went to the city and his life fell into tatters as he ran with the wrong crowd and became wrapped up in evil ways.  He became a pickpocket and petty thief to survive.  One day, he grabbed an old lady’s purse – and got away with it.  He felt very clever and proud of himself.  And then, he looked down the street and saw the girl whom he used to know years earlier in the little village, walking towards him, still with a radiance of innocence.  It caused him, for the first time, to see himself for the vile thing that he had become.  Consumed with shame, he leaned his head against the cool iron of a lamp stand and said, “God, I wish I could die.” 

One of the beautiful things about Christ is that he enables us to see ourselves as we really are – and then offers us something that we could never be without him – to be a child of God. 

God wants us to die – to the sinful ways that have polluted our lives.  At the same time, he offers us the chance to really, truly find life.  Dying to ourselves is hard.  But isn’t it worth it?

Perhaps that hardest question for us is this: do I really want to die to my sins?

PRAYER: Jesus, you know our hearts and the truth before we admit it.  Give us hearts that truly want to die to our love for sin and its fleeting and passing pleasure and exchange it for the beauty of Your holiness!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 8/02/21 – When Your Hut Burns Down

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. “God, how could you do this to me!” he cried. Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. “How did you know I was here?” asked the weary man of his rescuers. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.
It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn’t lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground – it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God. For all the negative things we have to say to ourselves, God has a positive answer for it.  (Source unknown)

Psalm 88:15 – 89:2 show us the range of human emotions we experience: “From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death; I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.  Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me.  All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me.  You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend. I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.  I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.”

PRAYER: Hear us when we cry to You in our terrors and despair!  Be not far from us and reassure us of Your unending love and goodness!  In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Copyright 2021, Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 6/07/21 – The Awesome Grounding of Hope

Romans 5:3-10 (NIV) – Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Some folks seem to have a hard time accepting hope as a good thing.  Take, for instance, these two quotes:

#1: “He who had never hoped can never despair.” – George Bernard Shaw 

Now, I can understand where he’s coming from, can’t you?  I’ve written before about disappointment, and how if we truly don’t expect something good and it happens, we’re joyful, but if we have high hopes/expectations that go unfulfilled then we are deeply disappointed.  But what would life be like without any hope?  We may not “despair” as per the quote, but neither, I suspect, would our lives be very joyful and our faces would be long consistently.  We’d mope and drag ourselves around, just waiting for the next hammer to fall on us.

#2: “Hope is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.” – Nietzsche  

I must say that I find Mr. Nietzsche to be one of the most depressing and tragic figures in history.  Talk about nihilism!  This guy had it in spades…and he seems to have been chronically dismal, trusting nothing, hoping for nothing, finding life devoid of meaning.  Why was life devoid of meaning to Nietzsche?  Partly because he dared not hope for anything.  Apparently, he was bitterly disappointed by the hopes he had once held which were shattered.

Contrast those views with the message about hope in Romans 5:3-10, that concludes in verse 5 that “hope does not disappoint us”.  Why?  Because God has poured out his love into our hearts.  And what has that love got to do with anything?  We were powerless, enemies, yet Christ died not for the godly (there were none!), but for the ungodly and has justified us by his blood.  The conclusion about this Christian hope: we will be saved from God’s wrath through Christ!  We were reconciled to God through Christ’s death!  We shall be saved through Christ’s on-going life and power!  THAT’S WHAT THE CHRISTIAN HOPE IS ABOUT…hope that forms the anchor for our souls.  Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say “Hope is the greatest of all blessings because it relieves the torments of man.” Our hope is grounded, not in what another human might do for us, but in what Christ HAS DONE for us already!

PRAYER: Let our hopes soar into the heavenlies with the confidence that our hope will not disappoint, either now or through ceaseless ages to come!  In Jesus’ name, Amen. Copyright 2021, Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 4/28/21 – The Worst Things Are Not the Last Things

From the DayBreaks archive, April 2012:

Winston Churchill had planned his funeral, which took place in Saint Paul’s Cathedral. He included many of the great hymns of the church, and used the eloquent Anglican liturgy. At his direction, a bugler, positioned high in the dome of Saint Paul’s, intoned, after the benediction, the sound of Taps, the universal signal that says the day is over. But then came the most dramatic turn: As Churchill instructed, as soon as Taps was finished, another bugler, placed on the other side of the great dome, played the notes of Reveille – “It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up in the morning.” That was Churchill’s testimony that at the end of history, the last note will not be Taps; it will be Reveille. The worst things are never the last things.

It’s not yet the end of the week…and I don’t now about you, but to me it’s been a long week.  You may be worn out.  You may be despairing.  You may not see hope for the future.  I urge you: hang in there! Just remember: the worst things are never the last things, for we will “get up in the morning” of glory!

PRAYER: For the hope that never dies, for the expectation of the coming morning of glory, we rejoice and give you our praise!  In Jesus’ name, Amen. ><}}}”>

Copyright 2021, Galen C. Dalrymple. All rights reserved.

DayBreaks for 8/20/20 – A Lot Can Change in One Day

Time is an interesting thing. First, it’s an earthly construct because there is no such thing in eternity. It is said that God lives in the eternal present, perhaps that’s why he gives his name to Moses as “I Am”.

But for us mortals, time is important. Each tick of the clock marks the passage of our life from its beginning to its mortal end. Time matters to us as people – and it should.

We sometimes grow weary of time, or more accurately, of how long things take. It can lead to discouragement and despair, a loss of faith and hope that things will change.

I think the Bible has a lot to say to us about time if we just read a bit between the lines. Consider the events of the crucifixion week. One day Jesus enters as a triumphant hero. A few days later he’s despised and rejected. One day he is acclaimed and lauded and the next he’s spit upon and mocked. If that was all there was to the story it would be utterly depressing leading us to think that only bad things happen with the passing of time, but that would be wrong.

On Saturday of that week the talk of the town must have been the Nazarene’s crucifixion and the way the sky grew dark, the earth shook, the temple curtain tore from top to bottom and how those previously buried popped up out of the ground and walked around. For those who’d hoped in him it was a day of dark despair. But it was about to change.

On Sunday the stories changed. In the span of just one day things went from utter dejection to incredulous wonder and joy as stories of his appearing and the empty tomb wound their way through the streets.

What’s the point? Maybe you are despairing, thinking it is useless to even try anymore to hold on to hope. You may be thinking of cashing in all your chips and saying goodbye to this world. Please don’t! A lot can change in a day – from death to life, from unemployed to employed, from weeping to joyful laughter. A lot can change in a day and you have the promise from the Almighty Father that his plans for you are good ones so that you might prosper if you just hang in there.

Today may be a mess for you, but don’t give up hope. A new day is coming and it just MIGHT be the day it all turns around for you! Wouldn’t it be a shame to miss it?

PRAYER: Father, for those despairing today I pray you will give them hope again. Remind them of your love and your good plan even when it is too dark for them to see it. Let us never forget that one single day can make an eternity’s worth of difference! In Jesus’ name, Amen.Copyright by 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 1/24/20 – Marks of Clarity

From the DayBreaks Archive, January 2010:

There are times in my walk with God when things seem very clear.  But then again, there are times when I long for even the slightest inkling of clarity.  At times my relationship with the Lord is so real and palpable that I can’t help but be overwhelmed with the wonder of it all.  But then again, there are times (if I am to be honest with God, you and myself) when it all seems very unreal and like a sham.  And I find myself pondering from time to time: which is real?  Which reflects the real me and my relationship with God?  Am I only fooling myself when I feel so close to Him that I weep? 

William Cowper was a Christian songwriter of years gone by.  He wrote some of the favorite songs of the church, including the hymns O For a Closer Walk with God, God Moves in a Mysterious Way His wonders to Perform, and There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood.  For a period of time, he lived in a house with John Newton, a converted slave-trader and author of Amazing Grace.  It is interesting how little grace Cowper actually experienced.  For long years he feared that he had committed the unpardonable sin and was hounded by false rumors of an illicit affair.  As a result, Cowper suffered a nervous breakdown, tried several times to kill himself, and was kept for some of his life in a straightjacket in an insane asylum for his own protection.  During the last quarter of his life, he avoided church entirely.

He wrote these word: “Where is the blessedness I knew, When first I sought the Lord?  Where is the soul-refreshing dew Of Jesus and His Word?  What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!  How sweet their memory still!  But they have left an aching void The world can never fill.  Return, O Holy Dove, return Sweet messenger of rest!  I hate the sins that made Thee mourn And drove Thee from my breast.”

There are many who might consider Cowper a prime candidate for the title of Christian hypocrite for his struggles, a man who wrote beautifully and convincingly about things he found hard, if not impossible, to put into practice.  I prefer to think of his hymns as being the real marks of clarity in a very troubled life.  He was the one who wrote: “Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die.”  Perhaps I am naïve, but I see in Cowper’s struggle my own struggles and in his struggling faith, a reflection of my own.

PRAYER: Father, thank You for redeeming love that loves a wretch like me!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>