Caribbean Moravian Devotions

Two years before becoming America’s first president of African descent, the then Senator Barack Obama wrote the book ‘The Audacity of HOPE’. In his first run for the presidency in 2008 his campaign slogan was ‘Yes We Can’. A big part of his successful run for the presidency then was igniting among the voters a renewed HOPE for America’s future. But for some people the HOPE they had in 2008 evaporated over the next four years and so they found it difficult to vote for him this year. Yet President Obama’s message of HOPE was obviously not totally LOST because a few weeks ago he was re-elected for a second term under the slogan ‘Forward’. For those who were not convinced of his message this time around they may be guilty of today’s FF which is DON’T LOSE HOPE!

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You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. Deuteronomy 5:32

Moses is instructing the Children of Israel prior to their crossing the Jordan into the promised land. He will not lead them there, so he takes the time to prepare them for the journey and the land prior to his departure. His exhortation to them is for them to be steadfast in their observance of the commandments. They were not to turn away or even glance. The commandments provided for them all they needed to do in order to live lives pleasing to God. Moses commands the people to ‘be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left.’ The phrase is expressive of a strict and close attention to the word of God, without deviating from it in the least; for every sin, which is a transgression of some command of God or another, is a moving away from the path commanded by God. Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30:21. God will guide us along the path, once we trust in God.

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HereÂ’s a portion of 1 Kings: 22 (from The Message)

2-3 In the third year, Jehoshaphat king of Judah had a meeting with the king of Israel. Israel’s king remarked to his aides, “Do you realize that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us, and we’re sitting around on our hands instead of taking it back from the king of Aram?” 4-5 He turned to Jehoshaphat and said, “Will you join me in fighting for Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat said, “You bet. I’m with you all the way—my troops are your troops, my horses are your horses.” He then continued, “But before you do anything, ASK GOD for guidance.”
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Do as the occasion demands; for God is with you. 1 Samuel 10:7 (NKJV)

Life has many crossroads and everyone must at times approach them. What we do there, how we proceed through these crossroads is very important to our faith journey. In this chapter, Samuel anoints Saul as king over Israel and gives him instructions on good governance. Part of this is good decision making. Saul is encouraged to follow the leading of his heart in making decisions of governance. This he can do without worrying because God is with him. He had just received the signs from Samuel that would assure him of GodÂ’s hand upon him, and all had gone just as Samuel had said. The fact is that things will always go according to GodÂ’s word. We just have to learn to trust God. We trust God by moving forward or pressing on in faith, knowing that because God is our guide, we will be kept on the right path.

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Sometimes we attempt some things and in the end the results were even better than expected. When that happens we feel a sense of pride and can rightfully boast that what we accomplished was all because of our hard work. Our efforts paid off big time. We can stand up and take a bow and excitedly declare, “Yea, we DID IT!” But there are some other things that even though we applied ourselves and gave IT our best shot, there was still a part of us that felt uncertain and not that self-confident. And so while we anxiously waited for the end results, we expected failure, not success, defeat and not victory. And then, surprise! The opposite of what we were anticipating happened. After the initial shock we are besides ourselves when realize that in spite of the shortcomings of our best efforts, we still tasted success. We cannot help then but acknowledge this truth that GOD DID IT! That’s today’s FF – GOD DID IT!

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For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

Today the Moravian Church celebrates Christ as Chief Elder of our church. This was a decision that was made over 270 years ago. Prior to this, the Bishops of the unity would elect one from among themselves as the Chief Elder. This individual had the responsibility of spiritual oversight for the Unity. Leonard Dober occupied this position in 1740 but was so busy with mission activities that he felt he was not doing justice to the position. As a result he announced his resignation from the position. The Senate [council of Bishops] met in September 1741 and tried in vain to elect a replacement for Dober. Somehow none of the Bishops were elected after many sessions of voting. It was then that the suggestion was made by one of the Bishops to add Jesus Christ to the list of Bishops being voted for. The consensus of the Bishops seemed to be that none of them was worthy to hold such a position which rightly seemed to belong to Christ.

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For as long as I can remember I have never seen my mother follow a recipe or use PRECISE measurements when cooking. Yet whatever is being cooked or baked comes out just right. Cooking by estimation remains her way of doing things. And yet even though it seems as though there’s no PRECISE quantities, the amount of the missing ingredient when added is exactly the right amount and at the right time. There are so many Caribbean women and men who like my mother cook a ‘wikked pot’ without following the PRECISE measurements of recipes. Yet still what we see as a guesstimate ends up being PRECISELY what is needed. Today I invite us then to focus on GOD’S PRECISE PROVISION. That’s our FF for today – GOD’S PRECISE PROVISION!

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We have heard with our ears, O God, our ancestors have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old. Psalm 44:1

Today’s text is the beginning of a Psalm of lament to God for help. Israel’s enemy has defeated them and as they regroup, they call out for God to do for them what had been done for their ancestors. God had brought their ancestors out of Egypt with a mighty hand and they had grown up on this story. They knew God’s capabilities and power from the stories of their fore parents. The cry was for God to do it again. The Deuteronomic principle was being carried out. ‘…and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the LORD." Ex 10: 2. The children were learning of God’s might on behalf of God’s people. They had heard it with their own ears. What a way to transmit the message. They had heard it for themselves. What do you tell?

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Years ago one of my colleagues gave some wise counsel that I’ve never forgotten. He said every experience in life should teach you two lessons – either what to do or not to do. How true! And with each day that we LIVE each experience that we have still teaches us both of those lessons. But the truth is that sometimes we don’t always LEARN from experiences. It’s bad enough not to LEARN but other people’s experiences. But it’s even worse when we fail to LEARN from our own experiences. And so as we begin this month of November, the FF for today asks us to gain wisdom each day as we LIVE AND LEARN.

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