Not Much to Look At

“All those who were in distress or in debt or

discontented gathered around him, and

he became their leader. About four

hundred men were with him.”

I Samuel 22:2 (NIV)

Going to a Christian concert to hear a favorite group can be a fantastic blessing but imagine hearing not one but six Christian groups at one concert! That’s what I got to do several years ago.

            Each group’s performance seemed to build the momentum for the next one. The music was spirit-filled and beautiful. The crowd was more than pleased as one group after another took the stage. My friends and I couldn’t help but critique the outfits each group wore.

At that time it was the “in” thing to perform with the same costumes so everyone had color-coordinated outfits. One group even had very similar hair styles. We would watch as each group took its turn setting up the stage with guitars, drums and a piano in preparation for their performance.

They had the “look” of professionals and applause would break out even before they began to sing. Anticipation grew as the last group came on stage to perform.

But acknowledgement from the audience came in the form of gasps followed by whispers.  This last group didn’t have color-coordinated outfits or hair styles with each hair perfectly in place.

Instead they had long unruly hair and jeans and wrinkled shirts with rolled up sleeves. Some had t-shirts that weren’t even tucked in! And they had on loafers and tennis shoes with no socks! What in the world was going on?

“Just how good can they be?” one person asked. “They look like a bunch of guys who just met outside and decided to form a group at the last minute. Probably not much to listen to” said another.

In today’s Scripture we read about another group of men who seemed to be thrown together. David became in charge of 400 men who did not appear on the surface to “fit in” with the norm of the day - men who, at first glance, seemed to have nothing going for them except a mountain of problems.

But David looked beyond their appearance, beyond their problems and beneath the surface and made them into what they COULD be: tremendous fighting warriors and a huge reason why David was so successful in the battles he led as Israel’s king.  

Tell me something: have you ever felt like those 400 men must have felt? Perhaps no one has taken the time to invest in who you really are and the woman that you desire to become as a child of God.

 Maybe they have skimmed the surface and haven’t bothered to see your heart, dismissing you as “not much to look at.”

May I suggest that you ask God to use you in a powerful way for His glory? He delights in His children asking Him for guidance and leadership in their lives and He will answer above and beyond anything you can imagine because He loves you deeply!

Oh, and that last group that performed? The five previous groups together did not compare to the strength and beauty of their combined voices as they praised the Lord in jeans, t-shirts, long hair, tennis shoes and no socks.  

R.A.P. it up . . .

Father, please mold me into the Godly woman that you want me to be. Thank you for looking into my heart and desiring to use me for your kingdom. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Reflect

• Have you ever been treated as though you had nothing to offer the Lord by other Christians?

• If so, has this caused you to feel like you have no skills or talents that the Lord can use?

Application

• Journal the talents and abilities that you believe you have that the Lord can use.

• Spend time in prayer, asking the Lord to guide you to what He wants you to do for Him and listen for His answer.

Power Verses

• I Samuel 22:2 (NIV) “All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.”

• I Samuel 16:7 (NIV) “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

• II Corinthians 10:7 (NIV) “You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he.”

He Understands My Prayer

“Praise be to God, who has not rejected my

prayer or withheld his love from me!”

Psalm 66:20 (NIV)

Everyone takes turn praying at mealtime in my daughter’s home. And that includes the youngest – but only after he declared one day that he was “old nuf” to pray. So with all heads bowed, two-year old Jude put his hands together and took a deep breath:

“Loh-dur-lawd-hop-yur-ha-da-gur-da. Amen.”

He opened his eyes and smiled in triumph at his first prayer attempt and everyone smiled back. But no one understood a word he said. Except Jude. He knew exactly what he had prayed.

A few days later before supper it was Jude’s turn again. Excitedly he bowed his head and closed his eyes as, once again, he lifted up his prayer: “Loh-dur-lawd-hop-yur-ha-da-gur-da. Amen.”

This went on for several days with no resolution as to what Jude was saying. Finally his dad could not resist any longer. “I couldn’t quite understand what you said, Son,” he told Jude. “Could you slow your prayer down just a little so I can hear it better?” Jude was happy to oblige: “Hello there, Lord, hope you had a good day.”

Can I get an amen?

Even though Jude’s family couldn’t understand him, I am sure God knew exactly what he had said and His day was made better by that heartfelt prayer.

I wonder if the Psalmist who wrote today’s Scripture had offered more than one prayer up to the Lord but felt like it just didn’t make any sense or that he hadn’t uttered the right words? And, more importantly, have you ever felt that way?

On any given day I search for words and lose my train of thought and fumble and mumble as I talk to the Lord. I pray with anger and resentment and a judgmental attitude hidden in a corner of my heart (or at least I think it’s hidden) and have to repent and start over.

I cannot count the number of times that I have brought a list of “wants” into my prayer closet and never even stopped to listen to God the Father sharing His love and will with me.

And, please forgive me, but I have prayed in a group and wondered if my words would be accepted by those with me.

And yet, according to Psalm 66:20, God doesn’t reject our prayers or stop loving us just because what we say is not picture perfect or acceptable to those around us. If God heard and answered prayers based on words being “perfect” we would all be in a lot of trouble.

Today, this very minute, let us all praise God for loving us as we are and for listening to our prayers lifted to Him. He understands us, even when we don’t understand ourselves. And I’m with Jude: “Hello there, Lord, hope you had a good day.”

Father, I praise you for hearing my sometimes feeble attempts at prayer and for loving me, even when I struggle with my words. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

• Have you ever felt like your prayers weren’t “good enough” for God?

• Have you thought that if you prayed “perfectly,” that God would love you more?

Application

• Begin your prayer time with praise to the Lord for His unconditional love and mercy.

• Pray your words from your heart; then be still and listen for His answer to you.

Power Verses

• Psalm 66:20 (NIV) “Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!” 

• Ecclesiastes 5:2 (NIV) “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”

• Romans 8:26 (NIV) “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

No Patches, Please

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on

an old garment, for the patch will pull

away from the garment,

making the tear worse.”

Matthew 9:16 (NIV)

Growing up in a family of five kids, new tennis shoes were a rare and priceless gift. One pair of shoes was expected to last an entire school year plus one summer. We really didn’t mind; we knew that it was hard for our parents to raise a family whose income depended on farming. Hand me down clothes and shoes were the norm. The oldest sibling really had it the best.

For example, she got the new pair of tennis shoes and as she outgrew them, the next one in line inherited them – no matter what shape they were in. That didn’t keep us from dreaming about having a new pair of shoes – or at least a different pair minus the holes.

One day my sister Patty and I were sitting on the porch step, looking at our wiggling toes poking through the holes in our tennis shoes. Surely there was something we could do, we reasoned, to fix our problem. Suddenly Patty thought of a great plan: why not patch the holes in our worn out tennis shoes?

She excitedly told me that the day before she had found some material that had never been used, tucked away in a basket. Why not cut little squares from it, she said, and sew them over the holes in the shoes?

We were so excited at her stroke of genius! We cut several squares from the new material to cover all the holes and tears. We didn’t wash it first because we wanted the shoes to look as if they had been purchased with bright new patches on them. We found needles and thread and within an hour, we had – what appeared to us – new tennis shoes!

We proudly wore them to school the next day and the reaction was amazing. Kids liked them so much that they immediately went home after school to sew patches on their brand new tennis shoes, just so they would be “in” with what they thought was the latest fad.

 Life was great . . . until the shoes got dirty . . . and we needed to wash them. We had not realized that when we washed the old tennis shoes, the patches made of new material would shrink. And when they shrank, they pulled away from the shoe, leaving us with worse holes than before.

In today’s Scripture, Jesus is explaining to His disciples that His new gift of grace could not be covered with the old law of Moses, just as a new cloth could not be sewn to an old one to replace a tear.

Jesus came to give us brand new life in Him! He will never “patch over” the rough stuff in our lives and hope that it holds; instead He brings us new life!

 

Jesus did not come as an addition to what we believe. He IS what we need to believe! Yes, He came to fulfill the Old Testament but He also came to free us from the old and to cover us with the new: a life of love, mercy, forgiveness and grace that can only be found in Him.

`Do you long for a life without old holes and tears from the past? That is what Jesus offers you right this minute. No patches needed.

Father, I thank you that you have replaced my “old” life with a “new” one with Jesus that does not need to be patched. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

• Do you have things in your past that you don’t think can be covered by the grace of Jesus?

• Why do you believe that He will not extend you His mercy and grace?

Application

• Make a list of the parts of your old self that come up from time to time in your life.

• Beside each item, write a Scripture that tells you Truth from Jesus and His mercy, forgiveness and love.

Power Verses

• Matthew 9:16 (NIV) “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.”

• John 3:5, 7 (NIV) “Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’”

• II Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”