Cody F. Miller

A Quiet Morning

Cody F. Miller — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:41:34 +0000

It was just one of those mornings. Joseph had the day off work and Jesus was sleeping later than usual. Mary’s been awake for an hour. She just likes to watch them. As much as her world’s been shaken, watching them breathe up and down, up and down, brings her comfort. Somehow it’s gonna be alright. What she’s experienced is really true, and as history tells her, God always has something up His sleeve. Mary slips out a tired smile before she drifts off again.

Tabitha’s Gift

Cody F. Miller — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:57:07 +0000

Tabitha was a woman from Joppa known for befriending and helping the poor. God raised her from the dead through the Apostle Peter. Very little is known about her life, which makes it easy to pass right by her. In a message my pastor gave many years ago he reminded us that the kingdom of God is primarily made up of people like Tabitha–individuals who passionately serve others yet only want people to see Jesus, individuals who spend their lives for someone bigger than themselves. I am forever grateful for the amazing people God has put in my life. Their quiet, humble, selfless, funny, powerfully articulate love for me continually leaves me dumbfounded. May we be such giants to others.

The Match

Cody F. Miller — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:15:39 +0000

There are many messages woven through God’s redemptive story. One of them the is continually brought through His megaphone is “Remember! Remember! Remember!” The Israelites were quick to forget God’s faithfulness and spendthrift grace to them over the years. Elijah was opposed to the accepted standards of the day, a time when the belief in many gods was normal. Finally Elijah said, “Enough already,” and staged a challenge against the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah at Mount Carmel. The rules were simple: each side would offer sacrifices to their God without building a fire. The igniting of the fire was left to the strongest God, who would thereby reveal Himself as the true God. The 850 went first. They tried everything under the sun to get their gods’ attention—screaming yelling, cutting themselves, and whistling “Sweet Home Alabama” but in the end, no fire. When it was Elijah’s turn he drenched the altar with water to emphasize the point. When the God of Israel consumed the sacrifice with fire from above, He followed that up by sending rain to end a three-year drought.

That night when the Israelites went to bed the day’s events went with them. As Tom Waits once said, “Their memory’s like a train: you can see it getting smaller as it pulls away, and the things you can’t remember tell the things you can’t forget, that history puts a saint in every dream.”

Sojourners

Cody F. Miller — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:22:39 +0000

In Psalm 84 it speaks of the sojourner going through the Valley of Baca. This was a place near Jerusalem. The traditional rendering of the words is “Valley of Weeping.” Some scholars suggest the valley might have been called so because it was lined with tombs. This Valley is one we all must go through and at times the darkness seems beyond description. It is precisely there where God whispers, “I’m here and I love you.” Then He asks us to squint our eyes and see the light just around the corner—a place where the Lord God is a sun and shield, where the Lord gives grace and glory (verses 11, 12). He beckons us to Himself where all things are made new, love’s purest joys restored.

Seventy

Cody F. Miller — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 21:10:12 +0000

Jeremiah’s 40 years of speaking God’s mind was primarily one of judgment. This never sat right with the people; he was regarded as a meddler and a traitor and just about everyone and his uncle wanted to see him put to death. He prophesied that Judah would be captured by Babylon and taken away from their home. When it actually happened false prophets came out of the woodwork and said the whole thing will pass in a few years which was a hard but workable end in sight for the people. Jeremiah told them to put their seat belts on because it’s going to be 70 years. During that time God spoke through his prophet and said to the exiles, “Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce. Marry and have many children, and seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile.” As bleak as any situation can be God used Jeremiah to help us squint our eyes to see what God is really doing. In a fast food culture it’s so hard to take God at His Word and follow Him when we want to say “I’ve got this,” and run ahead to where I have no idea.

Thomas Merton said it well what God was doing with the Israelites during those 70 years, and what He wishes us to experience: “God uses everything that happens as a means to lead me into solitude. Every creature that enters my life, every instant of my days, will be designed to wound me with the realization of the world’s insufficiency, until I become so detached that I will be able to find God alone in everything. Only then will all things bring me joy.”

The Red Dragon

Cody F. Miller — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:07:22 +0000

Revelation 12 speaks of a woman clothed with the sun and moon under her feet giving birth to a small boy who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. There waiting was a red dragon waiting to devour the child. A war breaks out in heaven pitting Michael and his angels against the dragon. When the battle comes to an end a loud voice from heaven was heard saying, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”

This scripture gives us a glimpse of what our true struggle is against. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) It also gives us a glimpse of God’s power even when the odds seem stacked in the enemies’ favor. In Him all things hold together. He will finish the work He started.

Jeremiah’s One Man Band

Cody F. Miller — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 21:00:17 +0000

During the 40 years of Jeremiah’s ministry he had few friends–Ahikam, Gedaliah, Ebed Melech, and his closest friend and secretary Baruch. Other than these men he was utterly alone. The people, nobles and kings all tried to put him to death. This was a low point in Judah’s history. After being captured and sent into exile by Babylon, Jeremiah continued to be God’s one man band. He played a tune no one wanted to hear, as a good deal of it was wrung with judgment, but he also sang a promise of restoration like no other (chapters 30-33). Jeremiah left no rock unturned. And so it is if we dare to let God make Himself completely at home in our lives. It’s a completely upside-down kingdom.

Elijah being fed by the Ravens II

Cody F. Miller — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:01:31 +0000

The land was in a great drought, due to the Israelites’ stubborn insistence on seeing Baal the god of fertility promoted by King Ahab. The Lord pushed His judgment more to the point by isolating them from God’s Word and blessings through the prophet Elijah by having him hide in the Kerith Ravine east of the Jordan. The Lord then let Elijah know that he could drink from the brook and that ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening.
That Elijah was sustained apart from living among his own people demonstrated that the Word of God was not dependent on the people but the people were dependent on the Word of God.
I’ve been amazed to see over the years how God often works in ways completely off my radar screen. How He always has a card in His deck we know nothing about. To steal a book title from C.S. Lewis, I have been “Surprised by Joy” in the most original awe-inspiring manner and I don’t have to look close to see God’s fingerprints all over it. It’s the hardest thing to let God be Himself in our lives, to not reduce Him to something more manageable, more tame. Put your seatbelt on if you let Him have His way with you, no strings attached. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

Pilgrimage

Cody F. Miller — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 05:08:47 +0000

In 2009 my pastor Rich Nathan gave a message on the challenge of death. He said death is three things to us: a teacher, an enemy, and gain. It is a teacher because it is the great editor in our lives, helping us to see truly what is most important in this life. It is an enemy because it is a result of our broken relationship with God. We are a wounded broken planet; death is a cancerous sore that breaks God’s heart. It is gain because through the death and resurrection of Jesus death does not have the final say in the matter. When we trust Jesus we see clearly that His love is stronger than death. We will be able to sing with tears in our eyes:
“Be still, my soul, the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul, when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.”
Go sit in a quiet room for 10 minutes, close your eyes, and meditate on your own death. What relationships do you need to reconcile? To whom do you need to say “I love you,” or “I forgive you?” What do you need to get right with God?
After such meditation, this woman has just opened her eyes and written hundreds of letters, folded into little boats. Held together by God’s spendthrift grace, they will find their way home.

A New Heart

Cody F. Miller — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:55:01 +0000

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)