Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Category: Where the Bush is Burning

All The People

All The People

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Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery…. 

John 8:2-3 

What did all the people who witnessed the exchange between Christ, the woman and her accusers see on that day? It is most important that we understand this because we are the inheritors of their experience. We are observers as they were. They saw a woman who was guilty, shamed, embarrassed and terrified. Perhaps some of them identified with her because they also were guilty and had their sin been exposed as hers was, they would have been just as terrified. They also saw self-righteousness and hypocrisy in all its’ ugly reality, devoid of compassion and full of venom. They saw Christ’s response to that self-righteousness. From His response they would have learned His attitude toward the moral aristocracy. They also would have seen the ever-loving, overwhelming compassion of Christ Himself. Everything about Him was attractive. He was an utterly winsome, engaging character. The exchange between Him and the woman was tender and kind. Here is a Christ worth knowing. Here is a Person worth imitating.  

Our Good and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You continue to show us Christ. 
We praise You that as we observe Him, 
we learn to follow Him.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Be Anxious For Nothing

Be Anxious For Nothing

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Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  

Philippians 4:6-7  

How should we understand the tenor of this statement? From the mouths of some it has all the comfort of a swinging baseball bat. It is very much like having someone scream, ‘I love you!’ with a rage-contorted face, only inches from yours. By contrast, if God is our Father, and by His Holy Spirit He is speaking in this verse, is that how He communicates this phrase? Consider this scenario: A father carries his small girl up to bed. He tucks her in, gives her, her favorite stuffed toy, and makes his way to the door.  As he turns out the light, the wee child says, ‘Daddy, I’m scared.’ He responds, ‘What are you afraid of, Baby Girl?’ She says, ‘I’m afraid of the dark.’ He says, ‘I understand, so I will pull up a chair and sit with you.’ She says, ‘but I’m afraid of the monsters.’ He says, ‘I will deal with the monsters. I won’t leave you alone. Don’t worry about anything.’ What did the father say? He said, ‘Be anxious for nothing, don’t worry about anything.’ These are words of genuine comfort from the mouth of a loving father. They carry with them a real peace which comes from the Giver of peace.  

Our Gracious God and our Heavenly Father,  
we rejoice in Your words of comfort and encouragement   
to Your anxious people.  
We praise You that we receive these words   
as children from a loving Father. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Finding Our Voice

Finding Our Voice

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Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  

Philippians 4:6-7  

Does God want to hear about the things that make us anxious? When it comes to articulating our anxiety, one of the great difficulties which many of us have is finding our voice. Perhaps we have survived trauma, suffer from the effects of someone else’s sin on our mind and body, and find ourselves with a host of fears. The latent threat of the recurrence of those incidents, or of something like them makes us wary, hyper-vigilant, and anxious. We hear the first portion of our text over and over again in the hands of counselors who claim to be biblical and they effectively bludgeon us into silence. Does Christ want to hear about what makes me anxious? Our text indicates He does. This is not the only place we find examples of it. The Psalmist says in Psalm 94, ‘in the multitude of my anxieties within me your comforts delight my soul.’ This is very encouraging because it means that Christ does want to hear. Having someone who is willing to listen very often gives the anxious soul a voice. In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, we can let our requests be made known to God. In the place of prayer we find our voice.  

Our Good and Gracious God,  
we rejoice that You delight to hear us when we pray.  
We praise You that You are willing to listen,  
as we express all our fears. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Which Passes All Understanding

Which Passes All Understanding

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Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  

Philippians 4:6-7  

Why does the peace of God surpass all understanding? There are several parts to the answer. One part  is that the peace of God comes from Him and is therefore greater than we can adequately comprehend with finite minds. Another part is that the peace of God is stronger than anything else which by existence or design would disturb it. Still another part of the answer is that the peace of God is supernatural. Disturbance, upset, anxiety, and turmoil are all natural. The peace of God by origin and existence is not earthly. Another part of the answer is that the peace of God comes by Christ, therefore knowing Christ is the key to it. The peace of God is the peculiar experience of the person who has a relationship with Christ and therefore has a relationship with God. This is a spiritual relationship which surpasses human understanding and is foreign to the natural mind. Thus, when we come to speak of the peace of God, we should expect that our experience of it will be quite unlike some of our other, more easily explainable experiences. It is the peace that surpasses all understanding.  

Our Kind and Loving God,  
We rejoice that You want us to have peace.  
We praise You that the peace that You provide us,  
is greater than what we can adequately understand. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

When We Pray

When We Pray

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And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses. 

Mark 11:25-26 

How does the matter of forgiveness relate to prayer? Christ has some specific remarks upon this subject. In our text, He addresses this by saying that if we come to prayer and have not forgiven someone who has wronged us, we should address that first before we would seek forgiveness from God. Implicit in the discussion is that we, in coming to God in prayer are going to be seeking forgiveness from Him. If we are going to seek forgiveness from Him, we should forgive someone who has sought forgiveness. This points to an inclination which occurs quite often where someone who has done wrong to another, has repented, sought forgiveness, and experienced rejection. This means the wronged person has refused to forgive when the offender has sought forgiveness. Christ teaches us that, just as He forgives us when we seek it from Him, so we should forgive when others seek it from us. This enables us to approach the Throne of Grace without the hindrance of such an unresolved matter. Thus we learn to forgive as He does.  

Our Holy and Wise God, 
we rejoice that You forgive our sins. 
We praise You that You teach us  
how to forgive others. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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