Hope And Courage
SUNDAY, June 21
2 Kings 11:1-3
“Keep your head down.” “Don’t stick your neck out.” “Look out for number one.” Fear warns us that it is too dangerous to act boldly in service to God. Despair insists that evil is sure to win, so it isn’t worth the effort. These voices rang loudly in Jehosheba’s ears, and she had every reason to heed them.
As a woman she was not in line to inherit the throne, so she did not pose a legitimate threat to the usurper Athaliah (her aunt, and Joash’s grandmother). Jehosheba could escape the bloodbath unscathed by standing by passively. But if she was caught thwarting the coup, the queen would kill her in a heartbeat, despite their close familial relationship. After all, Athaliah was slaughtering her own grandsons!
However, hope helps to overcome fear, vanquish despair, and courageously love God and our neighbors by doing justice, loving mercy, and walking in humility. Hope equipped Jehosheba to save Joash from death in the moment of danger, and she continued to protect him for the next six years as she and her husband concealed him in the temple.
Jehosheba could not have grasped the full implications of her actions. Her hope was simple: to save one child, and with him the legitimate Davidic line. The Lord worked through her to fulfill an even greater hope: the coming of the Messiah, for Jesus is the promised “shoot…from the stump of Jesse” and the “Branch” “from his roots” (Isaiah 11:1, NIV).
Prayer
God who is, we cannot always see how our actions contribute to your great purposes. Renew our hope in you so that we may live in love and walk by faith. Help us to persevere in doing your will day after day, so that we will be quick to act when the stakes are high. Amen.
Trust Evokes Revelation
Monday, June 22
John 2:1-11
Running out of wine at a wedding feast was a humiliating failure in this tightly knit village with its shame-based culture. Some sources contend that it could have been considered sufficient grounds for a lawsuit against the groom by the bride’s family.
When Mary became aware of the problem, she turned to Jesus, saying, “They have no more wine” (v. 3, NIV). Did she expect him to perform a miraculous sign? Not necessarily, as he had never before exercised wonder-working power. But she certainly expected her son to step in and make the situation better. She knew she could rely on Jesus to be wise, helpful, and resourceful.
His response seems ambivalent and abrupt. Jesus’s recent baptism by John and the Holy Spirit marked a shift in priority from family life to public ministry. He could no longer put his mother’s needs first, although he would continue to honor her as commanded in the law. But Mary was not deterred. Like the Canaanite woman who exhibited great faith by pleading for help even after Jesus rebuked her (Matthew 15:21–28), Mary persevered. She boldly told the servants to follow his instructions.
Apparently Jesus recognized his Father’s hand at work in Mary’s tenacity. He acquiesced, transforming a large volume of water into wine of the finest quality. Mary’s trust aligned with God’s timing, turning Christ’s obedience into an occasion of divine revelation.
Prayer
God who is, thank you for revealing your power and generosity in surprising and sometimes playful ways! Help us to trust you even when you are seemingly slow to respond. May others see your Son Jesus revealed in our obedience to you. Amen.
Unseen Partners In God’s Work
Tuesday, June 23
Esther 4:15-16
“And if I perish, I perish” (v. 16). Esther was not being dramatic. Appearing before the Persian king in the inner court without a royal summons meant certain death unless he extended his royal scepter as a gesture of mercy (4:11).
Esther was chosen to be queen through what amounted to a glorified beauty pageant, and King Xerxes found her to be the most beautiful. However, by the time the events of chapter 4 transpired, he seems to have lost interest in her. She probably could not help but think of her predecessor Vashti whom Xerxes had banished (perhaps executed!) for refusing to parade before his leering, drunken guests as his prized possession.
Now Haman, Xerxes’s second-in-command, had plans to commit genocide against the Jews. Mordecai urged Esther to intervene to save their people. To quote biblical scholar Debra Reid, “Esther is assuming responsibility for the Jewish people at this moment of their greatest crisis….Hope for the hopeless has emerged in the form of a courageous and sensible young woman.”
But the queen did not take on this crucial mission alone. Esther instructed Mordecai to assemble all the Jews in the capital to fast and pray for three days while she and her attendants did the same.
What were her attendants’ names? How many were there? We are not told. We do know they weren’t Jewish, so they probably knew little of Esther’s God (she had concealed her Jewish identity). Yet these anonymous women came alongside their queen and provided essential support when she needed it most. Like her, they had come to their positions “for such a time as this” (4:14).
Prayer
God who is, you have placed us in communities of care, for we are better together. Help us to work well together for justice and deliverance, to the glory of God and the good of people. Amen.
Faith And Grief
Wednesday, June 24
John 11:17-27
What does faith look like amid hardship, struggle, and loss? Is it blind belief? Is it freedom from all doubt? Is it the absence of questions or complaints?
Lazarus’s death was a formidable test of faith for Martha and Mary. In addition to their personal grief and loss, Mary and Martha, as women in a patriarchal society, were dependent on men for legal and financial security. Without a male guardian to handle their legal and financial affairs, the sisters faced an uncertain future. Women in their position were often exploited by unscrupulous men.
In verse 20, Martha gets up to go looking for the Lord. Grief can immobilize us or even cause us to turn away from God, but faith has the power to provoke us into seeking Jesus in our time of need. Martha’s greeting to Jesus sounds accusatory, but it does not expose disbelief. To the contrary, her bluntness reveals trust in Jesus’s compassion and understanding. True faith does not require us to put up a front; it emboldens us to be ourselves with God.
Martha believed in the Lord’s miraculous power, but she did not presume upon his kindness. When Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again,” she answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (v. 24). People of faith put their confidence in God, not in their ideas about what he should do. When Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection,” and promised eternal life to all who trust in him (vv. 25–26), Martha replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world” (v. 27). Steadfast faith strengthens us to testify that Jesus gives us life even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Prayer
God who is, in this world we will suffer pain and be afflicted by various troubles. Fill us with confidence in you even when our understanding is elusive. Help us to be strong and stand firm as we press into Jesus. Amen.
God Weeps With Us
Thursday, June 25
John 11:28-37
What an interesting pair Martha and Mary make! The scenes here and in Luke 10 highlight the differences between them, yet both of them loved the Lord and put their ultimate hope in him.
Whereas Martha went out to meet Jesus before he arrived, Mary stayed in the house and waited; but when he called for her, she “got up quickly and went to him” (v. 29). On some occasions faith moves us to take the initiative with the Lord; at other times it inspires us to wait for him to make his presence known.
In Luke 10 Mary sits at Jesus’s feet as a disciple to learn from him. In John 12 she bows at his feet as a worshiper to anoint them. Here, she falls at his feet as a mourner to express her heartache to the one she relied upon most. Mary repeats the first part of Martha’s greeting: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 32). Yet unlike her sister, she does not add, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask” (v. 21). Perhaps she dared not verbalize her hope, as if the desperation in her voice might jeopardize the possibility of a miraculous resolution. Or perhaps she was simply too emotional to speak.
But Jesus understood Mary. When he saw her weeping, he was indignant at the pain inflicted by death. He personally felt sad at the loss of his close friend (v. 33). When he was invited to “Come and see” where the body was laid, Jesus wept. “Tears are the words the heart can’t express,” Gerard Way wrote. That was true for the Messiah as it is for us. Mary’s tears drew forth the compassion of Christ, in whom dwells the fullness of the Deity (Colossians 1:19), revealing God’s heart that weeps for and with us.
Prayer
God who is, tears can blind the eyes of our heart to your sustaining presence. Grant us a vision of your powerful love and goodness in the midst of loss and uncertainty. Where sight fails, help us to walk by faith. Amen.
Woven Into God’s Story
Friday, June 26
Matthew 1:1-16
Genealogies are not my favorite literary genre in the Bible. They can be tedious reading. Yet Jesus’s genealogy in Matthew is fascinating. While genealogies within Judaism typically follow a father-to-son lineage, this one includes five women. The first is Tamar, the mother of Perez (v. 3). When her father-in-law, Judah, refused to provide her with a husband, she had little choice but to trick him into giving her a child. Judah ordered her execution, but she proved her righteousness and was vindicated. Tamar was a direct ancestor of King David.
The second is Rahab, the mother of Boaz (v. 5). She hid two Israelite spies because she believed that the God of Israel was the only true deity. In return she and her family were spared when Jericho was taken. She married Salmon and became David’s great-great-grandmother.
The third is the Moabite Ruth, the mother of Obed (v. 5). Her people had a history of conspicuous hostility toward Israel. Yet her devoted care for her mother-in-law, Naomi, opened the way for her to marry Boaz, who was good and righteous. She was David’s great-grandmother.
The fourth is Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba (v. 6). While Bathsheba’s husband was at war, the king assaulted her (she lacked agency in these traumatic events), and she became pregnant. David had Uriah killed and took Bathsheba as his wife. After their first child died, she later gave birth to Solomon, who continued David’s line.
The fifth woman is Mary, the mother of Jesus (v. 17). Although Elizabeth called her “blessed among women” (Luke 1:42), the community rejected her as a sinner. But Mary served with courage and resolve her whole life.
Prayer
God who is, you weave “small” people into your story of redemption—the silenced, the violated, and the rejected. Forgive us for dismissing the people through whom you choose to work for your good purposes. Amen.
God’s Purpose Will Stand
Saturday, June 27
Isaiah 46:10
God’s victory over death is not always evident to us, living as we do between Christ’s resurrection and second coming. Though we can glimpse signs of his reign, the old order persists. The kingdom of this world has not become the kingdom of our Lord. Does God have a plan for creation? If so, will it ever come to fruition?
Judah was spiritually complacent in Isaiah’s time. The economy was booming, the army was strong, and a religious revival was sweeping the nation. When the mighty Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem, an angel destroyed them. Surely the Lord of hosts was on their side and always would be.
To their dismay, however, Isaiah warned that the sovereign One would allow a new empire to smash their defenses, demolish the temple, and forcibly march thousands of them into exile. A century and a half later, his dire prediction came to pass. His prophecy would have justified unmitigated despair had it ended on that dark note. But through Isaiah, the Lord promised to save Israel, judge their oppressors, and bring the exiles home. Better yet, Judah’s restoration would foreshadow the far greater work of salvation of the world through a Messiah from David’s line. Today’s verse holds as much power for us as for the ancient Jews. Our texts this week remind us that nothing can prevent God from accomplishing his righteous will—not our weakness, entrenched injustice, political structures, not even death itself!
Prayer
God who is, we long for the day when your perfect plans will be fully accomplished. We surrender ourselves to you. Make our hearts, minds, and bodies fitting instruments for your service. Amen.
