Day Three: Isaiah 58:6-12

Last year during my Daniel Fast, I led a much smaller group of people through the book of Daniel since many wanted to learn more about the namesake of what they were doing. If you want to do that, you can read those posts from the Daniel Fast link on the right. But midway, I turned to this chapter and spent two days on it, just like today. Even though I like looking back and reading where I was then, I marvel at the changes God has made in me since that time. 


When I read this passage again today, I am just brought to tears seeing the fabulous ways God has led me through 2009 because of starting my year off with a focused time of fasting. This closing paragraph from last year is not only what I still pray to see God do in my life this year, but also a testament to what I've seen Him do already in 2009: 


Do we want our righteousness to go before us in a powerful, protective way? Do we want to know God's glory's got our back? Do we want to hear His clear answer when we call? Then we must do what it takes. Not just fast and go on about our own lives. We've got to pour out our lives as an offering to Him and do what He did when He walked the earth. Reach out to the poor, the sick, the suffering, the outcasts.


Today I will pray that God leads each and every one of us to the specific works God has prepared for us to do to care for the poor. As we experience physical hunger and discomfort, I ask that God will use it to permanently alter how we see those in the world that are lost and broken. I pray that God will use this time to empty us of all that is "us," and fill us with all that is Him.

Day Two: Isaiah 58:1-5

I'd like you to stop and read Isaiah 58. It's my very favorite passage about fasting and we'll take two days to talk about it. This is a message from God through the prophet Isaiah to God's people of Israel who were frustrated with God's lack of response to their fasting. we can learn a lot from God's rant about what fasting's really about. 


This chapter confronts a wrong mindset about fasting that I had to shake. If fasting is a religious act of piety to get God to do what we want, that's really just a passive aggressive hunger strike. We are not on a hunger strike. We are worshiping God. So we must worship Him on His terms. This chapter lays out what worshiping God through fasting should look like.


I think it's easy for us in such a food-centered society (face it, it's true) to quickly allow this time to become all about what we're not eating. There's no point in fasting as far as God is concerned if it's all about food. Unless it's all about God, you might as well not bother. That's not to say that we aren't all getting great health benefits from what we're doing. I mean, I don't know anyone who's fasting from veggies and fruit and healthy stuff. We're all fasting from less healthy stuff. But that's all really secondary to the real, powerful, supernatural, true fasting this chapter is talking about.

So let's commit to our fast with a true picture of what a fasting heart should look like. Let's make it a part of our worship to also lay aside the crankiness, the arguing, the strife, the temper, the self-centeredness, and any of the other behaviors that dishonor God. Let's make our fasting an act of pure worship on God's terms.


Today I will pray that God shows you clearly what HIS plans are for your fast, which may be different than your own goals.  I pray that we will all be able to turn our focus away from what we're not eating and drinking and toward the next steps God will call us to take during this time.

Isaiah 42

See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare;
before they spring into being I announce them to you.

Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth...

I love how excited God is to announce the new things He is planning. Here He is getting all riled up about sending Jesus. And all of this is hundreds of years still before His birth. But to God of course, that's all just a blink of an eye. I actually think it's not just that time passes differently for Him because He's eternal, I think time is a mental construct that we experience because He created us to be a part of a physical finite existence. We can't process existence outside of time. But of course He can. He's who made it.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about what to do next writing-wise. Last year at this time, I feel like God led me to start this blog. Not for you really (although I hope a few people have enjoyed it) but for me. I've never really journaled about the Bible for any decent amount of time. I tended to just blaze through the One Year Bible haphazardly and without really ever taking time to process and learn from what I was reading. So I started this blog as a dialog with God really about what He was saying to me through His Word. And instead of trying to read through the whole thing in order, I decided to just commit to read one chapter a day and really meditate on it. So that's what Metacognician has become. But now, in just about six weeks from now, it will be over.

So here's what I believe God is leading me to do now. I still plan on reading and meditating on the Bible every day. That would be silly to say I would quit. It would be paramount to saying I was going to forget to eat most of the time. Which has never happened I assure you. But what I'm going to do is use a new Twitter account I set up called Metacognician to send not more than 140 characters (the Twitter limit) to micro-blog about what I read. I'll tweet a link to what I'm reading via the YouVersion.com online Bible and then a quick statement or something about what God's saying to me through it. And that will be that. I won't close this blog, and I may come back to it occasionally, but it seemed the wrong thing to do to turn this blog into something different.

So for the something different. I am currently seeking God about some really serious direction about the overall teaching methodology and content development of the curriculum that my team creates. It's sort of my role to guide that part of the process and I see lots of value in trying to invite people in to the mental (and spiritual) process that God is leading me through in all of the various areas. There are amazing people I've met and many people who serve on our campuses in either staff or volunteer roles who I think would not only love to get an inside peek at where things are headed but would also be an invaluable source of input and feedback and guidance and even prayer support. Many of these people are ones I rarely get a chance to really spend quality time just dreaming and planning and thinking and learning. So although I am very much going to continue to realize my calling to be the metacognician God has created me to be, I am going to put my time writing to a more immediately practical use to the specific part I play in His big story.

So I am letting you know now, that you are going to get "in on the ground floor" of all of this. I have already registered another blog name and will start putting the framework together for it, but I will not switch over to it until January 1st. I will sing to the Lord a new song. And I can't hardly wait!

Isaiah 50

I once heard Francis Chan say, "You are never nearer to God than when you are rescuing." Although I haven't thought about that enough to determine if it's an absolute, I know that it gripped my heart. Each on of us has called out to the Lord. He has heard us. He has answered us. And He came to our rescue. This video is about a young man who was rescued through the Compassion of another. But really, when I think about it, I think maybe many people will be rescued because of this story and others like it.

Who do you have within your sights that you can rescue? Who is in need of compassion and kindness and mercy. It may be a needy child on the othr side of the planet. It may be a black sheep in your family. It may be a friend who doesn't have a family. It may be a lost and lonely someone on your street. Reach down, and be a part of their story. Offer them the hope you've found in Christ. After all, that's what He did for each of us.

Isaiah 40

Verse 26 is one of my favorite verses about God. I talk to my kids sometimes about the stars. It's hard to imagine when I sit inside with electric lighting bow much more intimate I would be with God's creative majesty spread across the heavens if it weren't for our modern conveniences. But He is still there.

He calls forth the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Scientists long ago resorted to numbering the tiny fraction of a percentage we've even charted and identified.

Because of Him, not one of them is missing. We wouldn't even know if a million disappeared right as we were looking.

He is the everlasting God. He is everything this chapter describes and yet it ends with a reminder that He lovingly helps the weak and weary. Wow. That amazing Creator loves me. I hope you feel His love today.

Isaiah 60

God sent the first verse of this chapter to me via email from a friend. I immediately wrote it on the white board wall right above my monitor so it was in my peripheral vision. That's what I feel God calling me to do right now. Arise. Shine. God has shown up big so boldly allow the glory of God to shine through me. Allow God's character to shine through me like a beacon. Love and grace and power and mercy and patience and humility.

I can't personalize this passage too much though. Because it wasn't written to me alone. It's to Zion. In the OT that literally means Jerusalem. But in the NT is figuratively means the Church. The body of Christ. It summons us all to rise up together and shine forth God's glory. So although God has said to me today to arise, that's what He really calls the whole Church to do as a whole. Shine.

Another piece that speaks to me is the end where it talks about how this light will outshine the sun and moon. To me I think this means an end to the ups and downs of emotional highs and lows. Recently, I've felt God's presence so clearly that even when faced with adversity or setbacks, it really doesn't faze my faith in God's sovereignty so I stay sunshiny no matter what. I don't really think this is necessarily situational for me but more about a personal closeness to His will.

Read this chapter and see what God has to say to you in it. If nothing else, it's at least a nice detour from Hosea.

Isaiah 9

It seems a weird thing to say in July, but I'm thinking about Christmas. Not just the meaning of it then, but that it means something very personal to each of us. I am putting together my thoughts for the Christmas series for our elementary kids at church (which just takes 4 months to produce evidently!) and I keep thinking of the words "When Jesus Came."

When Jesus came, He didn't just come to Mary or to the shepherds of wise men or even the whole of first century Judea. He came to us. All of us. For unto US a child was born. Unto US a son is given. We, not just the Jews of that day, were walking in darkness and have seen a great light. Day has dawned upon US.

I want this Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace to come to me. When Jesus came into my life, what changed? What is different? What is better? How should I respond? What should my attitudes and actions reflect this priceless gift?

I want kids (and all mankind really) to hear the personal stories of when Jesus came. Not just Christmas ones, but life-change moments that occurred as a result of Jesus coming unto all of us. Do you have a story? Tell about how you responded to when Jesus came to you.

Isaiah 35

I don't know that my life demonstrates the appropriate level of gladness that I should have for being redeemed. Everlasting joy should be upon my head. What does that look like? I think I've met these kind of people before and thought they were kind of sappy. They came with joyful shouting just like the last verse says, but I thought they were just being disingenuous. Well, I want my sorrow and sighing to stop now. And I don't want it to be based on emotion either.

But not only is God good, He is good to me. He has redeemed me. He has ransomed me. I want to live my life in an attitude of joy and exuberance for the life I've been given. I want my life to be characterized by gladness. I think I would have certainly have different wrinkles than I do now.

Isaiah 64

This is such a great prayer. A call for God to show up big. A call for Him to forgive. A call for Him to save. God has saved in the Person of Jesus Christ. And God has forgiven once and for all at the Cross. So now, I summon His power. I want to see Him move with unexpected aweseomeness. I want the kindling to catch fire and blaze up. I want our nation and every other one on earth to see His glory. To hear of His fame. To know of His love for us. This prayer isn't kidding around. Go through it and pray it aloud. Pick a few verses of it that particularly fire you up and shout them out loud to our Father. Rend the heavens and come down!

Jeremiah 1

I love this conversation of God calling Jeremiah to be a prophet. Today I am meeting with a big group of people that I really admire about a topic that I am really passionate about. But I don't want to say a single word from Kendra. I want God's words to be in my mouth.

I pray that the Lord will touch my lips and anoint me to only speak His wisdom, His message, and His words. I don't want to be intimidated by who I'm talking to or what God leads me to say. I just want to remember Him looking on lovingly as my body formed before I was born, thinking forward to this time and this day, and remembering my future and the many other wonderful things He has in store for me.

Isaiah 45

"This is God's universe. He does things His way. You may have a better way. But you don't have a universe." J. Vernon McGee

This month my church and over 1,700 others are studying who God is as a part of One Prayer. My kids are learning about it too. This chapter, which Francis Chan read from in today's message, is such a great place to go because this is God Himself telling who He is. He is alone in His class. There is no other. He made everything, so everything is in a different category than God. We are all the created. His creation. We cannot know what is right or fair or just or good outside of Him telling us. We cannot experience peace, joy, love, or forgiveness except through Him.

Regardless of how much people mock Him or run from Him or judge Him, He has already sworn by Himself what will happen to each and every one of us. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall swear allegiance. There is no other God. He is it. There is nothing in the universe outside of His control.

No matter how much people may like to live as if He doesn't exist, their verdict has already been handed down. They will still bow before Him. No matter how much our pride convinces us of science's grand manifestos, every one of their voices will one day pledge allegiance to the God they once denied.

It's easy to look at this as applying to those other people who defy His Lordship, but this was God speaking to His own people. The people whom He had chosen to call by His name. And although that means the Hebrews in the Old Testament, today that means us. How do we live as if God is not on the throne? What attitudes do we cling to that offend His Lordship? How do our words of doubt defame His sovereignty.

The Lord, He is God. There is no other.

Jeremiah 32

Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you.

This is one of my favorite verses. But the story surrounding it in this chapter isn't one we like to think about. Jerusalem was under siege and was about to be completely sacked by the Babylonians. Jeremiah was under arrest. But God told him that one day, everything bad would be overturned and God would restore the nation. Jeremiah believed him enough to bet a fortune on it. Jeremiah bought some land and had the deed saved in a safe place. One day, it would be worth something again. One day, it would be free land again, a safe place to plant crops and live on again.

I believe in God's goodness today. But would I believe as whole-heartedly if God had not answered my prayers and instead told me I was about to enter another time of adversity? God is good. That is true. But God is sovereign. That is the God who is powerful and awesome and can do anything. He can do what I want Him to do. He is able. But He will do what He wants to do whether or not it's what I want. I want to praise God because He is sovereign, not just because He is good. That's what Jeremiah was doing here. Praising God in adversity, through adversity, and even for adversity. Because that's when true faith is refined. Thank you God for answering my prayers this week.

Isaiah 43

But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

I love this chapter. Especially the first passage because it is the lyrics to a song I learned long ago. I love how God sings this over His faithless children still loving them and calling them forward into something better that they can't even imagine. The whole thing is lovely but this one verse called me here.

I don't really don't follow sports at all and golf stands out to me as an especially boring one to watch. But one thing about Tiger Woods really impresses me above all of his accomplishments. He intentionally broke his swing. At the pinnacle of his career, he and his coach decided to change his swing to another one they decided was better. That's some nerve.

This week, I watched my leader begin what I believe is the same process. God has shown him that He is doing a new thing. He told our staff that what our church is called to is beyond what we can see now. And I think part of the path there will require him to learn a new speaking swing. If you didn't notice it this weekend, wait until next week.

I would like to openly and publicly invite God to break my swing.

Lord, whatever rhythms I've fallen into that are dulling my perception or weakening my effectiveness, I want it called out. I want to find what's working and break it and let You build it back even better. Lord, I invite you to do a new thing in me.

Isaiah 53

From before the creation of the earth, it was appointed for Jesus to come to us. From the moment of the first sin, before Adam and Eve were ejected from the garden, the plan was already set into motion for Christ to restore us to God.

I saw a clip from The Passion of the Christ tonight. Sitting next to my son Kenny while Mary watched her first-born son suffer and die was rough. I can't imagine the horror of that loss. God knew it was going to happen all along, but to actually see it happen? No wonder He turned His back on Jesus at the cross. What unimaginable pain both God the Father and God the Son endured at that moment so that God the Spirit could come live inside me.

No wonder so many people dismiss the gospel message at first glance. This kind of love seems too good to be true. The Creator of heaven and earth did that for us. It's impossible to personalize and internalize it all without absolute and complete surrender to the power of that love. That's what this day commemorates for me.

I'm all in.

Isaiah 53

A young lady that I love dearly has gone astray. Brittney is lost and is in desperate need of rescue. I would jump in my car right now and go get her if I thought I could get away with it legally. I am in such despair over her situation. Please pray for her with me.

Also though, I read this chapter and am reminded of what God planned to do for her, long before she was ever born. I look at the prophetic detail about our sweet loving Savior and can't imagine the heartbreak of a Father who sent His own Son to His death. Who knew for centuries what His fate would be. When I think of how heartbroken I feel over a girl I only spent one precious summer with, I can't even comprehend our God who gave His only Son to rescue each of us. Each of us wayward, wandering, stupid, lost sheep.

Lord, please reach out and draw Brittney's heart towards you. Show her how dearly You love her. Send people into her path to share the power of your grace with her. I speak to the Word planted as a seed inside of her so many summers ago. Take root and grow inside of her. Do in her what was started in her childhood. Rescue her from this path of destruction. Break the bonds of sin in her life. Release her to become the beautiful woman of God you have created her to be.

Isaiah 49

Almost everywhere my daughter Evangeline goes, she comes back with a stamp on her hand. At church, at school, at ballet, she loves it. She sometimes even carefully avoids washing them in the tub to make them last longer. Evidently that's a really effective way to keep her connected with those activities even when she's not there.

This chapter is written to God's people of Israel, but it's not about them. It's about us: the whole "Gentile" world. I love how detailed Isaiah is about God's intentions to bring all of us into His family and the price He already knows will have to be paid.

In verse 16, God draws an amazing illustration of how dearly He loves us. He has engraved us on His hand. Because I can see it in Evie, that's such a tender precious picture to me. That the God that dwells outside time and space and is so big we can't see Him even though He's everywhere, knows me like the back of His hand and thinks of me often.

Meditate today on the promise this chapter holds. Such an amazing plan. Such a miraculous rescue. Such a priceless ransom. Thank you, Lord, for cherishing me far more than Evie does her little stamps.

Isaiah 55

This passage is lovely, almost poetic. Isaiah is like high-brow literature. So much imagery and beauty in the language. Let's look at it in chunks. (Chunks is kind of a weird word to use for Isaiah. Maybe sections? Pieces? Bits? Hmm. Nothing sounds graceful enough.)


Verses 1-5 are so tender and compassionate. I love to be reminded of that side of God. Even though it shows how quick we are to turn to things of this world to satisfy us, it still focuses on God's lovingkindness. Why do we spend our labor and money on that stuff? Why, when we have the Maker of the universe as our friend, do we go looking for what we can only get from Him. I wish I knew so I could stop. I think what I'm quickest to turn to is myself. Trying to make things happen. Things I know God will bring about in His timing but I'm to antsy to wait.

Verses 6-9 is one of the best reminders in the whole Bible about who God is. So much higher. So much greater. So much bigger. So much more than we can comprehend. As someone overly obsessed with thoughts (being a metacognician and all), I tend to think my own thoughts aren't too shabby. But that's not what this says. Whatever mine are, His are not. Or really, it's the other way around. Whatever my thoughts are not, His are. It's that vast perspective that I want to tap into. I don't want to even bother with my own ways or my own thoughts any more. Only His are worth thinking about.

Verses 10-11 are probably my fave. I need to hear this again and again and again and again. The words that He has spoken to me over my life about His purpose for me and His plan for my life have already left His mouth and traveled to my heart. Therefore, they will accomplish what they set out to do. As sure as rain.

The end is quotable, too. You will go out with joy and be led forth with peace. That's really good to know. I'm walking out into something pretty intimidating tomorrow and I want to go with joy and peace. So that's it then. It's settled. That's the way I'm playing it. Joy and peace all the way, baby. So, if you run into me, you can remind me if I don't look particularly joyful or peaceful. But expect to be reminded right back.

Lamentations 3

So many things have drawn me towards Lamentations today. The immense angst that he faced comes and goes in my psyche, too. Of course my life isn't facing the horrible gruesome war Jeremiah faced when he wrote this. But sometimes siege feels like just the right word. Sometimes chewing on gravel sounds pretty familiar. Read the whole thing if you haven't already. Pretty dark at first glance, huh?

A neat fact is that the entire book of Lamentations is a collection of alphabetic acrostics meaning that each verse starts with each letter of the alphabet in sequence. Each chapter goes through the alphabet twice. The cool thing about that to me is even in the worst kind of personal persecution, the beauty of methodical poetry came from Jeremiah's writing. Sometimes I can feel my own creativity wilt under the stress of my world. But it reminds me that when I allow God's words to flow through me, like Jeremiah promised to allow when he was first called, glorious ideas can still flow from the most perilous times.

But enough about the lamenting stuff. Let's look at the silver lining verses.

Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline: Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands. Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last. Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies. For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.

Can you dare to put your hope in Christ when you feel surrounded by misunderstanding, mistrust, miscommunication, misfortune, and any other bad mis-es? (I struggle to.)

Can you wake up each morning with a fresh faith in His unending mercies? (It's not daily for me yet.)

Can you wait patiently for Him like for a promised future inheritance? (Barely.)

Can you wait quietly on His timing for His plan to rescue you? (Put me down as a "no.")

Can you carry His yoke of discipline and learn through the pain to depend on Him even more? (It's such a relief when I do.)

Can you turn the other cheek knowing His compassion will not leave you abandoned in shame? (I know I must.)

If you don't relate to this chapter, stop right now and praise God for His goodness. You are in a wonderful place. But, here's the tough part. If you do relate to this chapter, stop right now and praise God for His goodness. God is good. All the time. It's not just a catchy phrase.

fast day twenty-one: Ezekiel 47

The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple...
As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep.
He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep.
He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist.
He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross.
He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"

We've made a big commitment to start off your year. Many of us have already accomplished things we've never attempted before. Some of us have come closer to God than we ever have before. But God is whispering. He's beckoning us to follow Him deeper still.

Ezekiel lived in the same time Daniel did, but his prophecies were from a different perspective. He saw the doom and gloom back in Jerusalem. He saw the vacant Temple. But in the last part of his book God showed Him a vision of a new Temple. One restored to a more glorious state than ever before. And the Glory of the Spirit of God was gushing from it like an unstoppable river.

No matter how deep you think you are now, let's all wade in deeper. Don't worry about what's going to get wet. Don't stop at the point where you can keep your feet underneath you. Get swept away. What are you holding on to? What are your hesitations to living a Spirit-led life of faith? What illusion of control are you clinging to? Money, possessions, family, comfort, convenience, food, career, each of us can add our hang-up to the list. But I'm done. I want to go all in. And I want my friends in with me. So let's just dive in.

Come on in, the water's fine!

fast day eighteen: Daniel 12

You can read this over and over and read a thousand commentaries about it but you may never feel sure you really understand it. Daniel didn't. But there are some key parts that show us which group we want to be a part of.

...those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

How can we be wise? Not coincidentally, James 1 told us. Ask God. He gives it out freely. He wants to actually. The second part is pretty evident. Full circle evangelism. Not just introducing people to Jesus, but turning them towards righteousness and away from their sinful past.

Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.

Not all of the Christians I know work hard to purify themselves. Most people are satisfied with a nice shade of gray instead of white. I think about women long ago who struggled to do laundry by hand. Laundry is a big enough pain with our own washer and dryer and modern chemicals, but imagine doing it way back when. In Daniel's time I imagine there was a pretty high premium on something perfectly pure and white.

I want to be that His beautiful bride in white. But that's not my place. It's our place. The church. We are His collective bride. We are to purify ourselves and make ourselves white and refined. So, in addition to cleaning up our own act, we need to do what that first verse said too and "turn people to righteousness." Not just flagrant heathens but the believer at your elbow during worship. I'd really like us to meditate on the wildness and mysteriousness of this chapter and allow it to motivate us to get white.