Month: March 2025

“To Daniel the King said, “Truly your God is the God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries; that is why you were able to reveal this mystery.”

Daniel 2:47 (NAB)

It was 605 B.C., when Daniel and his three companions, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were forced from their homes in Jerusalem, and taken as captives to Babylon. They were young men, but never saw their families again, being forced to adapt to a new land, culture, laws and people who did not share their faith, much less their dietary laws. This new life was thrust upon the four of them, causing them to adjust to a new phase, which I refer to as plan B.

The four of them prayed together, and had many spiritual gifts, especially Daniel, who had an extraordinary gift of prophesy. It eventually caused the Babylonians to take notice of them, and they were added to a special advisory group called “Wise men of the King”. It was a group mostly made up of astrologers, sorcerers, magicians and self proclaimed prophets. 

Though they didn’t practice the magic arts of their colleagues, Daniel and his friends were fervent in observing their own faith in one true God. They prayed three times a day and avoided the foods which were forbidden according to their faith customs. The royal court approved of their request to receive a diet of vegetables only, and yet they still had little control over their own lives. While trying to adjust to captivity in Babylon, they missed the carefree days of plan A, their life in Jerusalem. 

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had an impulsive and volatile personality. One day, he awoke from a disturbing dream and summoned his own Chaldean prophets and seers, to obtain the interpretation. The tricky part is that he demanded that they first tell him what he dreamed. When no one could tell him what he dreamed, he lost his temper and ordered all the wise men to be executed. 

The eccentric King caused a widespread panic among the wise men who tried reasoning with him. Despite their pleading, an execution was set in place for every wise man, prophet and seer in the kingdom, unless someone could tell the King what he dreamed. 

Daniel and his companions began praying. They implored God’s mercy to reveal the King’s dream to them. That night Daniel received a vision from God, describing every detail of the King’s dream, which included prophecies of future kingdoms to come. To make a long story shorter, Daniel presented the exact dream in detail, to the King, including its meaning. The King was amazed at Daniel’s gifts and abilities, and he cancelled the mass execution. He proclaimed the God of Daniel to be the “God of gods, Lord of kings, and the revealer of mysteries.” 

God revealed the dream to Daniel, and saved the lives of all the wise men. Daniel had gifts of prophesy and wisdom, and yet the greatest gift God gave him was three faithful prayer partners. He and his friends found their purpose in plan B, and they became an influence for good, shining light on the one true God who they served.

Life leads us through so many twists and turns, some being situations that are difficult, unfamiliar, and lonely, which we gave no consent to and had no control over. Plan A may fall apart when things don’t happen as we hoped and planned. We long for our carefree days in Jerusalem, while trying to adjust to plan B in Babylon. The God of gods is still with us, and this story reveals that there’s a beautiful mystery hidden in plan B. 

The Lords sends us the gift of prayer partners, as a sign of His support in our darkest moments. As we follow Daniel’s example to pray and implore His mercy, God reveals Himself to us through people that He brings into our lives, who are sent for the right support at the right moment. He also uses us right where we are, in plan B, to shine God’s light to others. We learn how our gifts can help others in new ways in Babylon. It becomes a place of new opportunities, and new hope as God is reworking everything for the good of each soul and for His glory. 

Lord, give us the grace to live out our plan B, trusting in the divine purpose you have for us, and help us to shine where we are, and reveal to others your love, peace and joy. Amen

…”as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

2 Corinthians 6:10 (RSV)

Archeologists fully excavated a magnificent public building which  dates back 2,000 years, during the time of Jesus. A photo is attached that shows the ancient building that was dedicated to the shops where lambs, turtle doves and all things related to temple offerings, were once sold. 

In 2021 this site was open to tourists after being fully excavated. I heard someone who visited this site, share his story, about his Jewish tour guide who told him, “If you are a Christian, you will want to remove your shoes because this is holy ground for you, since your Messiah was brought here 2,000 years ago.”

The building is situated next to the famous western wall, the remains of the great temple in Jerusalem. Archeologists believe that these shops were where Joseph and Mary bought a pair of turtle doves, for the presentation of Jesus in the temple, when He turned forty days old. 

Scripture describes the custom:

“When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,

and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves.” (Luke 2:22-24)

Mosaic law declares every firstborn male to be brought to the temple on their 40th day of life, where the parents symbolically “buy back” their consecrated son with the offering of either a one year old unblemished lamb, or two turtle doves, depending on what the family could afford.  (Leviticus 12:8) 

Mary and Joseph were too poor to afford a lamb to sacrifice, so instead, they offered a pair of turtledoves, purchased at the shop in the attached photo. They didn’t fully understand yet, that their poverty would make many rich, and while having nothing, they possessed everything, within the bundle of humanity held in their arms. 

When the Lord of the universe gave this law of dedication to Moses on a mountain, it thundered with smoke and lightning. That same Lord was later incarnated as Mary’s infant son, who was brought into His own temple, in fulfillment of His own commandments, on His sacred 40th day of human life. 

Forty days has always been a special number of fulfillment and of God’s intervention. It’s a number repeated throughout scripture, since God is very intentional regarding numbers. Noah and his family were saved while the earth was flooded for forty days. Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai, receiving the commandments in God’s holy presence. Jesus spent forty days fasting and praying in the desert before starting His ministry. 

Today, we enter a forty day period of lent, culminating on resurrection Sunday, where we celebrate the generous offering made by our Father in heaven for us. He bought us back, redeeming us with the precious blood and perfect offering, of Jesus, our unblemished lamb of God. 

As we recall the sacrifice of Jesus, it makes us sorrowful, but it also gives us cause to greatly rejoice. Though He was rich before coming into this world, yet for our sake He became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

God removes our spiritual poverty and adopts us into the family of God. We have been given the riches of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of His son. 

Lord, in entering these forty days, we are speechless and in awe, standing on the holy ground of your truth. Thank you for offering your very best for us and making us a part of your family forever. Amen

“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?”

”Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it?”

”But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”

Luke 15:4, 8, 32 (NAB)

The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost prodigal son, were all told in the same chapter. The Holy Spirit wanted to impact all readers by guiding Luke, the writer of that gospel, to put all three parables into one section.

Jesus repeatedly speaks about something or someone which was lost, but later found. Scripture is truly inexhaustible. Even though I’ve read these parables many times, I keep finding new meaning each time I read it. As we read each parable, we can imagine ourselves or a loved one in each story. 

Jesus teaches us through these stories that it only takes losing “one” of something to stir God’s compassion. The good shepherd in the parable, is protective over his entire flock, and yet every individual sheep is precious to him. He instantly left the ninety nine to run after the one lost sheep, and bring it back.

Jesus, the good shepherd, wants us to know how valuable we or our loved ones are to Him. He seeks out every wandering sheep, even if it takes all the days of their life, until they are returned to the flock. Once he finally finds the one who was lost, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy, and celebrates.

Next, Jesus tells us the parable of the woman who searched her home for one lost coin. That lost coin is a Greek drachma, according to the commentaries and had a value of one week’s wage. It was just a coin, but it had great value to the one who owned it, just as each human soul has great value to the Lord God,  who created them.

The last parable is the prodigal son, who estranged himself from his entire family. Although he once scorned and abandoned his father, and squandered his inheritance in careless living, the father still longed to see his son return. The father of the prodigal loved his son more than his own rules, because it was all about a relationship, not rules. 

So it is with God. Jesus reminds us in this parable, that God is our Heavenly Father, who also loves us more than His rules, and wants every son and daughter to return to Him. 

As Jesus told these three parables, He emphasized the intense joy in heaven over that one that is found. It only takes one, to spark a huge celebration in heaven. 

Last week there was a news story about an Ohio school bus that for some unknown reason, suddenly burst into flames. The bus driver evacuated all fifteen middle school students off the bus safely, while that fire raged. Witnesses heard two loud booms as it exploded. 

I happened to catch an early news interview on TV with that bus driver. In that brief interview, he told the reporter that he prays every morning before going to work, and he was thankful to God for helping him to act quickly, and get each child off the bus. 

Many others were also thankful that the driver’s reflexes led him to react as he did in saving those fifteen students, and the city honored him as a hero. He was like the shepherd of that bus, and those students were the sheep in his caring hands. 

Stories like that bring new relevance to the parables of Jesus. As we continue to hear contemporary versions of good shepherds, or someone finding their lost item of value, or a true story of a prodigal son or daughter returning home, we are reminded that God is the Lord of the lost and found.

Jesus revealed His Father’s heart toward all of us, in describing the father of the prodigal, who stood outside, watching and waiting with hope, looking in the distance for that lost son to one day appear. If God so anticipates the celebration over a prodigal’s return, then we should as well. 

Lord, we lift up in prayer and believe for the repentance and return of every prodigal. Help us to follow your example and see the value in every soul, and to keep praying for all to be found. Amen

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit.”  

1 Corinthians 12:7-9 (RSV)

Paul lists many amazing gifts given by the Holy Spirit, in his letter to the Corinthians. After mentioning each of those gifts in the 12th chapter, he begins the first sentence in chapter 13, by saying, even if we possess all of these gifts, but do not have love, we are nothing. 

It’s sobering to realize that love and compassion can override all the gifts of the Spirit, which include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues.

In the 12th chapter, we learn that the spiritual gifts are distributed by the Holy Spirit, to each individual person as He desires. So the gifts of the Spirit are just that-Gifts, given to us according to God’s will.

The gifts are given according to the His choice, but love and compassion are choices we make. The love of God and love of our neighbor, are the two greatest commandments, given to us directly from the mouth of Jesus. He expects us to choose to obey and pursue those two greatest commandments. He doesn’t zap us and instantly turn us into loving, compassionate human beings, but rather it’s something we are meant to pursue and seek after. 

Wisdom, like any other gift of the Spirit, seems to work better when combined with compassion. A gift of wisdom without compassion, comes across as self-righteous or heartless, while compassion without wisdom becomes foolish and naive. To have one without the other can leave a person spiritually undeveloped and immature. The Spirit gives us gifts, but we are expected to abide in the commandments to love, and to add compassion to those gifts. There is no doubt that we would have a much better world if a dose of compassion was added to every gift.

Adding compassion to wisdom transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. We were all created in God’s image, and born to imitate our Father, in Heaven. His Spirit has given us many gifts, but to follow Jesus’ two greatest commandments, and abide in Him, is something we must choose. Jesus made it clear that we are judged not by how much we know, but by how much we love.

When I find myself struggling to have compassion, the epistle of James encourages me, since he tells us that if we lack something, it might be because we have not asked for it. He tells us to pray and ask God for what we are lacking.  (James 4:2)

Jesus intended for us to combine  compassion with wisdom, saying “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”   (Matthew 10:16)  

He wants us to be wise as a shrewd serpent, but have the compassion of a gentle dove. It seems like a dichotomy to be both, but it’s God’s prescription, which is possible only by the power of His Spirit who dwells in us.

Wisdom is a valuable gift when a dose of compassion is added to it.

It gives us understanding and changes our perspective in how we see problems and people. I always used to pray for wisdom, but I realize how much I need compassion with that wisdom. We only need to look at the anger and division in the present world, to know that we desperately need both. 

When wisdom is partnered with compassion, it enables us to see beyond our differing ideologies or opinions, and to see people from the heart. It leads us to seek what unites us rather than what divides us, and is a pathway to peace. The Spirit’s wisdom diffuses anger in the heart, before it manifests into harsh words. Compassion helps us to speak to one another with healing words. When we combine compassion with wisdom, it changes lives, and changed lives can change the world.

Lord, help us to choose compassion and love to be added to our wisdom, that we might show mercy before we judge, and seek the love that sees others from your perspective, instead of our own. Amen