Kerygma Devotions Don McKim January 30, 2002 1. My servant Moses is dead.

Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites (Joshua 1:2). The death of leaders in a nation or the church can leave us shocked and numbed. We wonder who will ever or can ever take their place? When Moses died, the wandering people of Israel must have wondered the same things. Moses was the great spirit among them who had led them to freedom. But immediately, after recognizing Moses departure, God commands: Now proceed to cross the Jordan God calls the people to carry on in faithfulness. And God raised up Joshua to lead the people in this new phase of their obedience. So too, God calls us to acknowledge our losses, but to rise up and follow where God directs, and to trust Gods guidance through those God chooses to lead us onward. 2. The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps (Proverbs 16:9). One of the tensions we live with is the relation between our human actions and Gods divine plan. We believe both: We as humans have the freedom to make decisions; and our Lord God also works out sovereign, loving purposes for us and for the world. How can both aspects co-exist? We dont know. But we praise God for each. Our human mind in all its fullness of thought, emotion, passion, and judgment plans the way. We are not puppets, we freely make choices. But the Lord directs the steps. God leads and guides where God wants us to go. In gracious mystery, we acknowledge both human freedom and divine direction. What a joy to trust that our plans and decisions will be used to direct us in Gods ways! 3. Great is your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to your justice (Psalm 119:156). In 1602, the great Puritan theologian William Perkins was on his deathbed. When he raised his arm and those attending him asked what he wanted, he replied, Nothing but mercy. We have the same desire. Gods mercy toward usin life and in deathis our only hope, our only ultimate comfort. The psalmist praised

Gods great mercy and knew that it brings life. Each day mercy is extended to us. We receive it gratefully so we may liveboth now and forever. 4. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lords (Rom. 14:8). We all seek security in many ways: family, financial, professional, physical. Each is important and helps texture the fabric of our lives. But at the end of the day, we know where our ultimate security lies. It rests in God. The apostle Paul knew this through all the triumphs and sufferings of his ministries. He knew his life rested in God, whether he was preaching or teaching, in shipwrecks, being beaten, or languishing as a Roman prisoner. Our lives every day are lived secure in God. In death our belonging to God takes its final form. But living or dying, we are the Lords. This is a security that nothing can shake, forever! 5. Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matt. 6:26). Birds flying overhead is a common occurrence for most of us. We take them for granted, perhaps hardly noticing. Yet Jesus used birds as a model of how God cares for us. Though birds make no provisions for themselves, God feeds them and cares for them. If so, will God not also do the sameand morefor us? Every time we see birds flying or hear them singing, lets stop to remember this saying of Jesus. Lets stop and pray, thanking God for an abundant care that provides for our nurture in ways of which we are unaware. And let us pray for others that God will nurture and care for them as well, just as God provides for the birds around us. 6. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, He is the Son of God (Acts 9:19, 20). Pauls dramatic conversion revolutionized his life. When his blindness left him, he spent time with the disciples in Damascus and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues. The amazing message of Jesus tumbled from his lips as Paul witnessed to Jesus true identity: He is the Son of God. This christological conviction is ours as well. We should use all opportunities to proclaim Jesus as the Christin both word and deed. Let us be open to those occasions God provides to share the kerygmathe message of Christ with others. Our lives and our lips can proclaim Jesus, every day!