Bless the Lord at All Times
In these uncertain times, we need the Lord most of all. But we also need each other. Yes, our ability to be physically together may be limited because of the coronavirus. But we mustn’t let this stand in the way of our relational interaction. Maybe we can figure out how to be in the same space with appropriate social distancing. Maybe we can use digital technology to bridge the relationship gap. Maybe we can rely on old standbys, like telephones and even letters. However we do it, let’s take advantage of the freedom we have to share with each other our struggles and victories, our sorrows and joys. As we do, may we bless the Lord in all of the times of life.
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Your Times Are in God’s Hand
Oh, I can sometimes pretend as if I’m the boss of my time. But then something comes along to jar my consciousness—something like a pandemic, for example. All of a sudden what I had been expecting to do with my time is turned upside down. And, in spite of how much I read about the coronavirus and its implications, I really don’t know what’s coming next . . . and neither do you.
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Trust in God at All Times
What does it mean to trust God? The Hebrew verb translated here as “trust” (batach) means “trust, feel safe, be confident, rely upon.” I’m reminded of how I felt as a young boy when my dad would carry on his shoulders.
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Prayers for Workers:
Learning to Lament
If we believe that God wants to teach us to pray through the Psalms, then it’s clear God wants us to learn to lament. Though the biblical psalms reflect a wide variety of themes and genres, you can’t read these inspired prayers without encountering lament after lament after lament. The psalm writers felt freedom before God to be honest about all they thought and felt. At times they would rejoice with an abandon that few of us experience. Yet, at other times, the psalmists would pour out their sadness before the Lord, sharing freely their grief, their impatience, and even their anger.
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The Myth of Certain Times
For those of us whose worldview is shaped by Scripture, the myth of earthly certainty should not bewitch us. In Psalm 46:2-3, for example, we read: “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.” This psalm assumes the inconstant nature of the world in which we live. Moreover, we rightly infer that the continually changing nature of the physical world reflects what is also true in our cultural world. Things are in flux. Things are unstable. In such a world, certainty is a myth.
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Prayers for Workers:
When Your Leadership is Thriving
As good things happen in your work, rejoice in God’s blessings, recognizing his grace at work in your life.
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Prayers for Workers:
When You’re Afraid You Might Lose Your Job
God’s grace is rich beyond measure. God’s grace is there for you in every circumstance. God’s grace is there for you right now.
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Leadership Praise – Psalm 145: Recovering Goodness
If we aren’t careful, goodness can easily be distorted into a short moral checklist. Depending on our cultural context and political persuasion, the checklists may differ. Still, we each have one. And, it’s easy to confuse our list with what it means to be “good.” Today’s psalm helps us to recover a biblical understanding of goodness. It does so, not by talking about goodness as an idea, but by describing the ways in which God is good.
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Leadership Praise – Psalm 145: Reimagining Greatness
One of the dangers of great leadership responsibility is that we live in our own echo chamber. Many around us, sometimes out of deference and respect, tell us how great we are, and are reluctant to point out our limitations or weaknesses. Learning to cultivate a healthy awe for God’s greatness is a helpful antidote to a preoccupation with our own.
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Leading in a Crisis: Let Go and Know God
Being still includes but isn’t only a matter of quietness. Yes, it’s slowing down our rushing minds. It’s calming our racing hearts. It’s listening rather than chattering. It’s praying rather than pontificating. But it is also entrusting to God that which is God’s and doing only that which God entrusts to us. Even then, “being still” is making ourselves available to the Spirit of God at work in and through us. It’s surrendering our will as we seek the will of God.
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Leading in a Crisis: God’s Astounding Desolations
Thus, Psalm 46 reminds us that disease, including the COVID-19 pandemic, is not what God ultimately intends for our world. The future peace of God includes both health and flourishing. We who lead should at all times be strengthened and moved by a vision of God’s kingdom. During a crisis, we need this vision even more than usual because it’s so easy to become focused only on our challenges, disappointments, griefs, and fears. We can lose sight of what God is doing and will do in the world. Yet, when we keep this vision in mind and heart, when it animates our leadership, then we’ll be able to lead both wisely and resiliently.
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Reflections from the Epicenter
We pride ourselves on being resourceful, intelligent, and self-sufficient people. But if there’s one thing that’s become clear through this pandemic, it’s how vulnerable and dependent we are as human beings and as a human society. Despite our desire to be (or at least appear to be) invulnerable and independent, we are clearly otherwise.
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Leading in a Crisis: Don’t Panic . . . Trust God
Certain leaders, those in the military, law enforcement, public health, or medicine, may sometimes face actual life or death leadership challenges. Most of us will not. But we might still feel deathly panic when things entrusted to us go terribly wrong or when we’re faced with genuine dangers, like the coronavirus. When this happens, we need to catch ourselves and cry out to God for help. We need to remember God’s faithfulness and trust to him both our situations and ourselves.
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Leading in a Crisis: But Shouldn’t We Be Afraid?
When the Bible says “Do not fear” it does not mean “Never take seriously any danger” or “Dismiss any threat without concern.” There are many instances in Scripture of people acting wisely and decisively in response to a threat.
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Leading in a Crisis: The Difference God Makes
So, in today’s Life for Leaders devotion, and in several more to come, I want to reflect with you, not on the facts of the COVID-19 crisis, but rather on the difference God can make for those of us who are leading in this crisis. No matter the context of your leadership, I expect you feel the heaviness of the responsibility entrusted to you. You want to lead well, to make right decisions, to care wisely for the people and organizations entrusted to your care.
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