Welcome back to Ten Minutes With God! We took a break from this Bible study format to do the daily Advent devotionals called "Christmas Presence. " Now we enter the last week of this infamous year that everyone is anxious to leave behind.
Having said that, I would urge you not to be in a rush to say goodbye to 2020. Instead, let’s end this year with hearts that are tuned to His grace and mercy as we "Reflect and Respond." It's been said that we do not fully learn from an experience - we learn from REFLECTION on the experience. This year has given us much to be grateful for and from which we can learn and grow. This is true even on the hardest days of the hardest years. The question before us is this: will we try to shove the year out the door in frustration or will we lift praise to the One who is giving us the very breath in our lungs each moment?
This year will be analyzed again and again, by psychology experts, historians and critics of all kinds. Surely God’s own children can take a close look at it, too, realizing anew just how worthy He is of all our worship and praise. 2020 may not be our favorite year to look back on, and it is entirely appropriate and healthy to acknowledge and grieve losses. Pastor Adam pointed out there is a big difference between complaining TO God and complaining ABOUT God. Lament (grieving TO God) is found throughout scripture. But never let it be said that 2020 was a year in which we didn’t acknowledge and receive the goodness, mercy, and kindness of the Lord. God has been good. Can you see it?
Many people take time at year end to have a "retreat" of sorts in order to do exactly what we did in the online service this Sunday and will invite you to continue this week: Reflect & Respond. This week's study might be thought of as personal retreat time to be with God in prayer and in Scripture as you reflect and respond. You will be invited to wonder, ponder and pray. We will help you reflect and walk through this past year, as well as give time and space to respond to God and look into 2021, using Psalm 23 as a guide. It is trendy these days to come up with a "word" or "theme" for the year, and if you feel that God gives you one through this process, that is great. However, don't feel obligated or forced to come up with a word or theme for moving into 2021. Simply focus on being in the presence of the God who created you and loves you. Purpose in your heart to abide IN Him and WITH Him this week as opposed to partaking of a "fast food Jesus." Listen. Watch. Wait. Wonder. Notice.
INVITATION: In Sunday's service, Pastor Adam used verses 1-3 for reflection and I (Jan Hassler) used verses 4-6 for responding. In this week's study, we will invite you to reflect and respond on all the verses. You might consider journaling or writing as you go through this retreat. Perhaps one question to consider going into this week's Bible study retreat experience: Are you looking for relief or are you looking for healing?
MONDAY: Psalm 23:1: You are in the care of someone else. You are not the one in charge. Have you taken your "kingdom" and surrendered it to God? Are you willing to consider doing that? Do you feel you lived a "with God" life in 2020 - abiding in him? What follows from this "with God" life is a life that does not lack anything, i.e. "you shall not want." It is easy to focus on all the things wrong with 2020. Can you do a paradigm shift with God's help and try to see how 2020 might have, in fact, been lacking nothing? Jesus teaches: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness..." (Matt. 6:33). As you reflect on 2020, can you reframe some of what you saw as "lack" and perhaps see God's grace and love in it? How might you pray for your 2020 experiences - good and bad - to increase your faith journey as you move into 2021? How could you let go of more and give Him more this coming year? Abide is a word often used. How might you abide IN CHRIST more in 2021 and truly know and be known on a more intimate level? How might letting go of the need to control have been more helpful for you in 2020 and the way it unfolded? CS Lewis said: "Look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else." How can you seek and pursue more of Christ and less of you this year?
TUESDAY: Psalm 23:2: What type of sheep lies down in a green pasture? A sheep that has eaten its fill. How have you had enough in this last year? There is also a future aspect to this verse. Jesus said in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” I shall be satisfied only when God is my Shepherd and his will is my desire. The same is true for you. There are “times of refreshing,” as Peter says in Acts 3:19, from the presence and promise of the Lord now—but a full feast of satisfaction will occur in his eternal kingdom. What are you wanting these days, or in 2021, where you think Jesus might not be enough? Can you confess that and turn it over to the "Good Shepherd?"
When David wrote about being led "beside still waters" he was giving us a rich image upon which we can reflect. Imagine walking with Jesus. There may seem to be storms all around you, but the loving, wise and sovereign presence of God is your promise of still waters. Christ alone is the "fountain of living waters" (Jer. 2:13). Psalm 36:8 says of those in Christ's kingdom, "They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights." Imagine walking by the still river of delight with Jesus. What do you want to say to Him? What does He say to you?
WEDNESDAY: Psalm 23:3: There was a lot of brokenness in 2020. The broken depths of my soul and your soul are healed and reintegrated in a life in union with God--walking and abiding with Jesus Christ on a daily basis. The "with God" life. What are you grieving from this past year? How can you bring that into the presence of Jesus Christ today? What can you celebrate from this past year? The effect of this reintegration and union with God is that you will willingly walk in paths of righteousness as a natural expression of your renewed inner self that connects to the deep love of Jesus. How can you surrender and commit your 2021 to Christ in prayer today? What specific help do you wish to ask Him for? The "with God" abundant life isn't a behavior modification program or some list of rules. It is a loving and trusting relationship. How might you be invited to pray for healing and reintegration and union with God as you move into 2021? Express your deepest desires to God today.
THURSDAY: Psalm 23:4: What was your "valley of the shadow of death" this past year? Was it an actual death of someone? Was it the death of a dream or an event? Have you taken that grief into the presence of Jesus? Pastor Adam taught about hope vs. fear a few weeks ago. The psalmist clearly knows about life's dangers, but he can still say, "I will fear no evil." Why? Because GOD IS WITH HIM. God is also with you. Immanuel. God with me and God with you. That can lead to hope over fear. How can you take this assurance into 2021 in new ways? One of the Advent devotionals spoke of "training" vs. "trying." What type of spiritual training might God be inviting you into as you move into 2021? Trying harder each year is basically a behavior modification program vs. a love relationship. It can contribute to fear and anxiety and a "fast food" type of Christianity that simply sprinkles a little bit of Jesus on top of everything. Are you willing to go into training with God and quit the "trying harder" type of Christianity that leads to exhaustion and discouragement? Ask Jesus how you might "train" with Him in 2021. How might you pray that this leads to less fear in your life?
In the service this Sunday, I spoke about the rod and the staff being the tools of the shepherd. They help guide the sheep, change their direction, and protect them. Sometimes the sheep try to fight the help of the shepherd and his tools of the trade. Are you resisting God and perhaps fighting against his guidance and help in your life? Is there an invitation to you from God to lean on Him more? To surrender and trust in the "good shepherd" - the one who chooses to live amongst his sheep and care for them? Be honest with God about your areas of resistance. What is God saying to you about them?
FRIDAY: Psalm 23:5: God prepares a table for you in the presence of enemies and honors you in such special ways that your "cup overflows." What has God placed on your table today? What might he be placing on your table for 2021? How does it make you feel to have your enemies around as God prepares this table? Since we are commanded to "love our enemies" (Matt. 5:43-47), how might you love them with what God has placed on your table?
SATURDAY: Psalm 23:6: This is a description of the eternal life available to us NOW....the abundant "with God" life that comes from following the Good Shepherd, where we dwell and abide with God in the fullness of life with Him leading and guiding. This is a life in which all the promises of Christ's gospel are fully realized. THIS is why we "fear no evil" and have no reason to be anxious (Phil. 4:6-7). The world is a safe place for us to be when God is leading our life. As you look back on 2020, how did you see God's guidance in your life? How did you see yourself resisting the "rod and the staff" of the Good Shepherd? How might you pray about moving into 2021 and your desire for this "fullness of life" living in the house of the Lord forever.....even in the right now?