Quiet Devotions Has Moved!

Quiet Devotions can now be found at www.QuietPublications.com.  Please update your bookmarks, and I hope to see you over there!

Quiet Publications is an independent publishing house that will continue to publish the free online daily devotions that began on this site.  It will also offer other devotional resources, worship resources, bible studies, and books on religion and theology.

Year B, Pentecost 3, Friday

Inspired by Hebrews 11:4-7

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  Hebrews 11:6

Oh, to be rewarded by God!  Such is the objective of many well-intentioned Christians.  To be blessed by him, receive favor from him, and to know the satisfaction of having pleased the God of heaven and earth.  What can one do to achieve such a thing?

The first step is to know that we can do nothing.  The second step is to disregard all hope for specific rewards.

Without faith it is impossible to please God.  Whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.  We don’t have to find him first.  We don’t have to know all the right answers or do all the right things.  All we have to do is seek him.  Our act of searching for him will please him, and we will know that he is pleased when he reveals himself to us, and affirms his relationship with us, and assures us of his love for us.

All this is made possible by faith, which is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  We have not seen God, but we seek him nonetheless.  And why do we seek him?  Because he has given us the faith to do so.

God has given us the means by which we may please him and be rewarded by him.  The first move was his; he gave us our faith, and that has opened up a world of possibilities for us.

Let us pray.  Lord of all, you planted within us the desire to know you.  Nurture that desire and increase our faith, that we may seek you and be pleasing in your sight.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Year B, Pentecost 3, Thursday

Inspired by Genesis 3:14-24

“Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.  He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.”  Genesis 3:23-24

Most of us can look back on a time when things seemed better or easier.  We do it as individuals, we do it as a culture, and we do it as a society.  We long for the glory days of old when everything worked the way it was supposed to, and things were good.

Frequently our ideas about how good things were ‘back then’ are faulty, and what we’re longing for is not days gone by, but a fictitious reality that never actually existed.  Sometimes, however, things really were better or easier once upon a time, and we work hard to get back there.

But we were never meant to go back.  Adam and Eve had it ‘good’ in the garden of Eden, but God drove them out with a purpose to fulfill and a life to live elsewhere.  He moved them forward, and guarded the way back with a flaming sword, preventing them from ever returning.  Going back was not an option; they could sit and pine away for what was lost, or they could try to make something good out of their current reality.

We have the same choice.  Whatever circumstances existed to enable our glory days gone by have since changed, and we can never go back.  God continues to move us forward, and all we have to work with is the reality we’re in now.  We can use it to help determine the future, but we can never reclaim the past.

When God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden, he went with them, and helped them to shape their new reality.  God is our past, our present, and our future hope.  Let us be grateful for the past even as we look ahead to the future, and live the lives we have been given right now.

Let us pray.  Eternal God, the whole history of the earth is known to you, including the parts we haven’t lived yet.  Help us to look forward to what you have in store for us, that we may continue on with sure and certain hope in your presence and your love.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Year B, Pentecost 2, Wednesday

Inspired by Luke 11:14-28

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  Luke 11:23

In these days of relativism, it is tempting to sit on the sidelines and not take a stand for anything.  We don’t want to offend anyone, or minimize someone else’s beliefs or opinions by coming out strongly for our own.  So we minimize the importance of our own truths while affirming everyone else’s, and in the end we stand for nothing.

But standing up for what we believe in doesn’t necessarily minimize someone else’s beliefs.  Tolerance is a worthy goal, but it means supporting someone else’s right to their own opinion.  It doesn’t mean having to give up your own for their sake.  You respect their right to believe and practice as they choose; you also have the right to expect the same tolerance for your own beliefs and practices.  And if you don’t respect your own beliefs enough to stand up for them, why should anyone else respect them?

Jesus came with a mission: to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.  He worked to demonstrate what that kingdom is like: a place where justice and mercy reign hand in hand, where the poor and downtrodden are cared for, and where all people are treated with dignity and grace, because all people were created in the image of God.  He calls all Christians to stand with him in his mission, and to live according to the values of the kingdom of God.  Standing on the sidelines means not proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, and standing on the sidelines means not working against systems of injustice and exploitation.  Neutrality is not an option; you stand with him or you stand against him.

Let us pray.  God of justice, you sent your Son to save all humanity from our sins.  Help us to actively work to bring about your kingdom, that all people may experience your grace and love.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Year B, Pentecost 2, Tuesday

Inspired by 1 Kings 18:17-40

“So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, ‘O Baal, answer us!’  But there was no voice, and no answer.  They limped about the altar that they had made.  At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, ‘Cry aloud!  Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.’  Then they cried aloud and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them.  As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response.”  1 Kings 18:26-29

False gods are frequently more comfortable to deal with than the God of Christianity.  False gods don’t expect much of us, are conveniently absent when we want them to be, and affirm and justify everything about us.  They fit perfectly into the god-box we’ve fashioned for them, perfectly match the job description we’ve created for them, and are very pliable when it comes to changing the rules to fit our changing circumstances and preferences.

Unfortunately, they never seem to be there when we really need them.  And for some reason, that actually surprises us.

We like our idea of what God should be so much that we manage to convince ourselves that the god of our imaginings is the God of reality.  But the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit does not bow to our will, does not abide by our rules, and keeps his own council regarding expectations.

But the one true God is also more powerful than we can imagine, more just than we can imagine, and more merciful than we can imagine.  The one true God is not limited by our imaginations, and does not carry the human flaws that all our false gods are prone to.  The one true God is the only God worthy of our trust and our worship.

Let us pray.  God of truth, you alone are God.  Open our eyes to the many falsehoods that we worship, that we may know the truth of your grace.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Quiet Devotions Has a New Home!

Quiet Devotions has moved to www.QuietPublications.com.  Quiet Publications will continue publishing these daily devotions under the Quiet Devotions tab, and will also offer bible studies, worship resources, other devotional resources, and religious and theological books as time goes on.

This site will publish the daily devotions concurrently with Quiet Publications through Friday, June 15, 2012.  After that this site will remain static, with a link to the new site.

If you have an e-mail subscription to this devotion, your subscription will automatically transfer to Quiet Publications.  You will receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your new subscription.  Once you do, your subscription will transfer, and you'll continue to receive the daily devotion in your in-box each morning.  That's all you have to do!  If you're just finding this site and would like to subscribe to the new one, there is a subscription box at the bottom of the sidebar at www.QuietPublications.com. 

I have not sold Quiet Devotions, and these daily devotions will continue to be written by me.  Quiet Publications is an expansion of my writing endeavors, and will enable to me offer resources in addition to these daily devotions.

Thank you for your support, and I look forward to seeing you at Quiet Publications!

Sincerely,
Karen Goltz

Year B, Pentecost 2, Monday

Inspired by Psalm 74

“They set your sanctuary on fire; they desecrated the dwelling place of your name, bringing it to the ground.  They said to themselves, ‘We will utterly subdue them’; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.”  Psalm 74:7-8

There have been many wars fought in the world, and many strategies were used to claim victory.  Those who wanted to conquer a land but keep it intact allowed a number of liberties for the conquered inhabitants and made relatively few changes to their society, minimizing their desire to fight against their new rulers.  But those who wanted to utterly destroy their enemy didn’t stop at killing their bodies; they killed their families, they killed their way of life, they killed their beliefs, they even tried to kill their god.

But our God cannot be killed, and our belief in him does not depend on physical structures.  An enemy can burn down every house of worship, desecrate and destroy every bible, but God our King is from of old, working salvation in the earth, and his Spirit is with us, showing us his ways, guiding us in his truths, and no enemy can ever conquer that.  Our bodies might be killed, but we are more than our bodies, and once our bodies are dead our souls are beyond the reach of our enemies, and in the presence of the One who will ultimately triumph.

Human beings are capable of terrible destruction, but our God created the world out of nothing, and he can rebuild whatever humanity tears down.  Whatever calamity befalls you, whatever evils you must stand against, know that your Redeemer lives, and that his love can overcome all the world’s hatred.

Let us pray.  Eternal Lord, you were before the beginning, and you will endure through the end.  Comfort us in our trials, that we may be strengthened by the knowledge that neither death nor life nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from your love.  Through Christ our Lord, Amen.