July 31, 2022
Psalms 42:5 “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance”
It might seem that the men God used to write His Word to be handed down through history would be ones whose faith was so strong, so filled with the Holy Spirit that they walked every step of their life’s journey in perfect peace. But today’s verse reminds us that all believers, no matter how spiritual they are and how much they love the Lord and trust Him have times when they are hit with discouragement, doubt, and fear. If we listen to the words of this verse, it says David’s soul is cast down meaning bowed low, sinking, depressed, and in despair. To make matters worse, he says he was disquieted meaning he was in an inward commotion, turmoil, and an uproar that is as if there is moaning and crying within him. Let’s not forget this was the giant-killing, Bible writing, enemy destroying, and fearless warrior-king that was known to take off his kingly clothes, dress like a common man, and dance in praise before the Lord and in front of the people. He was the God-honoring saint that gave us Psalm 23 yet here he is groaning within himself in a time of despair and discouragement. It sounds like another Bible writer, the Apostle Paul, a powerhouse for the Lord that gave us God’s Word that we are more than conquerors yet in 2Corinthians 7:5 he says, “For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears”. At its strongest, our faith is imperfect and we don’t see immediate relief and answers from the troubling things we deal with. We place our trust in God’s promises and our minds keep working and thinking about the problems. Our bodies feel the stress and anxiety and the enemy builds a cloud of hopelessness, trying to block our view of the Lord and His faithfulness to us. David’s answer is to talk to himself, to his soul, and remind himself to anchor his trust in the Lord while praising God for His help. He mentions God’s countenance, meaning the comforting and approving face of the Lord, as a parent showing assurance to his child that everything is going to be ok. We are not cast aside to fend for ourselves, forgotten while the Lord moves on to more important things but the face of God is towards us, His eyes see our situations, and His ears are listening to our cries. The Psalmist is not wringing his hands and begging the world for its help but he is reminding himself that his deliverance is in the Lord alone. Let’s speak the truth to ourselves and over our lives and the situations in our homes. Our children need to hear that God is not only able, but He is willing and ready to help us. And when the circumstances seem too great against us, God is with us, for us, and working in His perfect ways to bring us out.
July 30, 2022
Proverbs 27:20 “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied”
Everyone passes from this life into eternity either to be with the Lord or separated from Him. The body deteriorates back into the elements from which it was formed but the soul is a different aspect and now, after the resurrection of Jesus, those who are redeemed go to rest with the Lord Jesus awaiting with Him for His return to this earth (2 Corinthians 5:8). The unsaved souls go to a holding place where they remain until the final judgment. This afterworld is referred to in the scriptures as hell, sometimes alluding to the grave, and through the centuries, the world has blurred the distinction between hell, the temporary place for the unsaved until the judgment, and the lake of fire which is the final destination for all evil, including the devil and his angels, after the white throne judgment. Today’s verse, written before the time of Jesus, says the grave and the afterlife will continue endlessly as long as this world continues. The word “destruction” here is from the Hebrew word “abaddown” which means a total destroyer and is the root for the name of the angel in Revelation 9:11, “the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon”. To parallel this thought of endless humanity entering eternity is the phrase “so the eyes of man are never satisfied”. This is the substance of Adam and Eve’s sin for they had everything they needed to make them happy and complete. But they saw the forbidden tree and they wanted it also. King Ahab had all he could desire at his command but he wanted the vineyard of Naboth and queen Jezebel had Naboth murdered so Ahab could claim the vineyard. No matter how much we have, we are always looking for something new, something different, something better and in this, we can never be satisfied. The Lord’s solution for it is that by the Holy Spirit and God’s wisdom, we can bring these desires under control. There are so many things available, so many choices and options, and so much within our grasp or credit limit that the entire world is one of merchandising and business. We are consumers and seldom remember that means we endlessly devour and consume as an identity. It is striking that one of the Bible prophesies of the end time destruction of the world system says in Revelation 18:11, “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore”. It’s not that we should feel guilty about having possessions, only if they become our obsessions or priority but today’s verse is a reminder, that we need the Lord’s help to bring our nature and desires under control. God’s will for us is described in 1Timothy 6:6, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out”. We can reach a balance where we enjoy what we have without allowing the desire for more to be our life’s driving force.
July 29, 2022
Luke 15:17-18 “And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee”
This was a critical point in the story of the prodigal son. The words “when he came to himself”, carry the meaning that he had been in a state of lunacy or madness and returned to his senses as to how he got where he was and how he had ended up in the muck of the field of swine. It’s something we would like to see for much of the world, that they would come to themselves and realize the mess they are in because only then can people resolve to do something about their situation. For the prodigal son, it was a place of repentance where he realized he was headed in a bad direction, he stopped in his tracks, and made a choice to go where he knew he should be: to his home and family. Repentance is a wonderful thing because it is the means by which we break from what we’re doing or how we’re living and are given a fresh new start. It’s too bad that repentance has come to carry such negative tones because it is through repentance we are delivered from mindsets and bondages that hold us captive. And it is by repentance we can see new hope, have new purpose, and can see a better future. The prodigal left his home, lured by the desire to experience the pleasures offered by the world but his fantasy of freedom and good times came to a screeching halt when he ended up broke, hungry, and smelling like swine. The honor and prestige he had enjoyed as the son of a successful family disappeared and he was just another homeless bum until he came to his senses and began to plan his return to his father. The enemy tries to destroy our hope, our ambitions, and our sense of self-worth and he wants us to ignore the beauty of repentance because once we see there is hope and a way out, his hold on us is broken. This is not just about us looking to Jesus and turning away from sin to salvation, a Godly repentance that is a part of the Lord’s redemption for us, it is also about any time we are stuck in a place that is not God’s will for us. It might be an addiction that’s holding us back, a friendship that’s pushing us in the wrong direction, a lifestyle that is not God’s will for us, or anything that’s keeping us from being the best we can be for ourselves, our family, and the glory of God. When we come to our senses, as the prodigal, we begin to see there are better ways, better paths, and by God’s grace, great opportunities to get out of where we are and into a better place. Hope is renewed and the Lord gives us the will to turn around and go in a different direction.
July 28, 2022
Galatians 3:10 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them”
Those who believe and teach that we must obey all or any parts of the law or live under a system of rules and keep commandments are believing such things are the way to please God. Even if it is not the law of Moses, they hold to but to those which could be called “Christian commandments”, it’s all a system of beliefs that tell us unless we follow a list of do’s and don’ts that God is not pleased with us. It’s believing that following the law(s) either Levitical or Christian means we are blessed and not doing so will bring punishment. But today’s verse tells us that the path of law-keeping is really a place of a curse. Once we fail at some point to keep all the rules, we fall under the list of cursed people in Deuteronomy 27, specifically verse 26, “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them”. Sadly, there are entire denominations, religious organizations, and local churches that have this underlying belief system as the way they guide people to understand their standing with God, and rather than arriving in a place of blessing, they continue on a path that continually leaves them in the place of the curse. This was the way of the Pharisees, who held so carefully to their regimented behaviors and rules that they believed themselves in right standing with God and those around them saw them that way because of their outward appearance. Yet Jesus called them hypocrites, self-righteous, and blind. The victory from this curse is found in Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” and refers to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;)”. The law was never God’s final plan for us to please him but Jesus, upon His death, was the only person to ever completely keep the law, and thereby He is the only person that ever lived and died completely righteous. Taking our place on the tree, the cross, in a transfer that God planned and purposed, our sin was placed on Him and His righteousness was placed on us, and the curse was removed from us forever. Just as one man, Adam, brought the curse on us all, one man Jesus removed it. These devotions are not teaching against good deeds, clean living, and our accountability to follow ways that are honest, upstanding, and pure just that the doing of those things does not make us righteous.
July 27, 2022
Isaiah 9:2 “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined”
We’ve always known about Jesus and it’s hard to imagine what it would have been like to live in the thousands of years in the past with no knowledge of Him. Multiplied millions of people were born, lived out their days, and then passed into eternity with no knowledge of the hope we have in Christ. For a few, there was knowledge of God but even then, there was no clear understanding of how to approach Him and there was no plan revealed for eternal redemption. All the nations of the world practiced idolatry and left behind their records in their art, writings, and artifacts that show they looked heavenward to “higher powers” but they had no connection to the one true and living God. Some, like the indigenous Americans, had the beliefs of the eternal Spirit of God but without the revelation of His nature and person. Today’s verse speaks to Israel first and then to the rest of humanity that people were walking in spiritual darkness, in the land of the shadow of death. Just as natural darkness prevents our perception of the world around us, keeps us from seeing where we are walking, and obscures both beauty and danger, spiritual darkness keeps us from seeing the dungeon of sin in which we are stuck, the path to God and deliverance, and the future the Lord has prepared for us if we will only believe His promises. Natural darkness hides beautiful scenery, the precious faces of our children and loved ones, and also keeps us from seeing pitfalls and poisonous snakes that are ready to strike us. Jesus entered the world as God’s light and for the first time, people could see they were sinners and that God loved them more than they could imagine. In their darkness, they had no hope for joy in this life and no hope for a future with God after this life was over. Jesus changed all that and brought love, joy, peace, and hope. He brought new life, the assurance we can live forever with Him, and loaded us with untold blessings and favor. He fulfilled the prophecy of today’s verse when He appeared on the earthly scene as recorded in Matthew 4:16, “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up”. It’s sad that although God’s light now shines through Jesus, most of the world is still in darkness and even here in America where there are more than 380,000 churches, people are in the darkness of unbelief, trapped in despair with no purpose. Darkness and depression go hand in hand and there is an epidemic of depression and mental illnesses many of which are a result of unfulfilled lives, hopelessness, loneliness, anxiety, despair, and sadness. The Bible says in 1 John 2:8, “the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” telling us the light is here, it is now available to all who will turn to the Lord Jesus, the true light.
July 26, 2022
1 Corinthians 6:11 “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God”
When we have an honest view of ourselves from our limited perspective, we see the nature of our sin-prone flesh and we know our track record is far from perfect. We resign to confessing we are sinners and that we are saved only by God’s grace. Grace becomes the bedrock package of who we are as believers and includes the blood of Christ that covers our sin, the mercy of God that turns away His instant destructive wrath, and the Fatherhood of God that adopts us to Himself as His children. When these things are firmly in place in our hearts and minds and form the substance of our faith, they become our identity and give us the assurance we have everlasting life. But all these are our views of looking at ourselves and then looking heavenward with gratitude that we are, as the often-used mantra states, “sinners saved by grace”. There is another reality of who we are that is from God’s view extending from heaven to earth and that is expressed in a condensed form in today’s verse. We are washed, sanctified, and justified. We may see our sin and sinfulness but God sees us without sin. We may remember what we’ve done, the sins we’ve committed, and that past speaks against our being righteous especially when the enemy is always trying to remind us that we are unworthy of eternal life. But God has willfully forgotten our past and no record of our sin can be found in heaven. First, we have been washed meaning all that was dirty and unclean has been removed by the washing of water, by the Word of God (Ephesians 5:26). The same Word that created all things spoke and declared us clean as Jesus said in John 15:3, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you”. Then we were sanctified because God set us apart for Himself, consecrating us and declaring us holy. This was a deliberate act of purpose on His part and is a positioning where He removes us from the kingdom of darkness and sets us in His kingdom of light. Finally, we are justified where, because the Lord has removed all our sin, we are accounted before Him as innocent, as though we had never sinned. This places us in a right standing with God where He not only makes us righteous by removing all sin and then removing its record, but He also pronounces and declares us righteous in His presence and before all creation and for eternity. The result of what the Lord has done is that we are perfect before Him. When we start to understand what He has done for us in saving us, that He didn’t just rescue us from destruction but made us completely new creations, we can begin to walk in the newness of life, come boldly to the throne of grace, and stop being held captive to our past.
July 25, 2022
Galatians 4:15-16 “Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”
Several years before the letter to the Galatians was written, Paul had visited the area during a period when he was suffering some physical malady. It is not clear what was wrong and there have been many theories but the Bible doesn’t give us an answer only that the Galatian people received him with joy despite his problem and it was a time of blessedness for them. But after he left Galatia, the church there was infiltrated by legalists and they used twisted doctrines to corrupt the people’s minds, teaching them that although they believed in Jesus, they must also keep certain rules of the Levitical Law. Today’s verse says that the same people that first embraced Paul and would have done anything they could do to assist him as the exaggerated example used here suggests that they would have given their own eyeballs to him if he needed them, now were opposed to him because he was warning them against lapsing back into legalism. In Galatians 4:11, “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain”, Paul goes as far as to say he was concerned he might have wasted his time and hard work preaching to them. People can be our friends one day, pledging their support and before the sun comes up the next day they can become our enemies, despising us and hoping for our destruction. According to verse 17, the false teachers in Galatia wanted the people’s allegiance and appeared to be devoted to them but it was a ploy to keep them from associating with Paul, all coming down to religious factions who want to control others for nefarious purposes. Jesus had many followers turn away from Him at different times and the ultimate example of betrayal by a friend, Judas, serves as a lasting reminder that even those in our inner circle can quickly transition from friend to foe. In Paul’s case, it came down to whether they would identify with the message of truth by Paul or the web of lies taught by the deceivers and Paul rebuked them in Galatians 3:1 saying, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth”. In all this, we can rest in the truth of the faithfulness of our Lord. Through the centuries, believers have taken comfort in Proverbs 18:24, “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother”, referring to the bond between us and our Lord, one that assures us there will never come a time that He will leave us or turn away. Just as Jesus is our faithful friend, may we also become that kind of friend to others and purpose to remain steadfast in our devotion to them in every situation.
July 24, 2022
Hebrews 10:36 “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise”
Waiting is hard for most of us. Whether it’s waiting in a car line, waiting for someone who is running late, standing in line at a checkout, or being put on hold with horrible music playing and being told there are six callers ahead of us, our impatience can be tormenting. Sometimes the desire for immediate gratification can cause us to toss aside the good sense of waiting and make some horrible decisions. The prodigal son comes to mind when he wanted a life in the fast lane and demanded his inheritance in the moment rather than waiting until he was more mature and wiser. Today’s verse speaks to our need for patience as we trust the Lord to bring to pass what He has promised us. In the context of this chapter, the Hebrew believers were in times of persecution and hardships and the Lord is encouraging them to stand firm in their faith with the confidence that they will be delivered in due time because they can trust God’s promises. It is our nature to want to escape pain and suffering and move into a more comfortable situation and it goes against all that is in us to wait patiently for the Lord to move in our favor especially when it seems it takes God so long to do things. But although God’s hands move slowly by our estimation, they move surely and according to His perfect will. We can be confident that He will never forget us, never allow a situation to get out of His control, and He will bring us to exactly where He has purposed us to be. Our faith that the Lord will do for us exactly what He has promised rests on the foundation of such assurances as Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”. In every situation, our reasoning and the reasoning of those around us can formulate many different plans and fabricate multiple scenarios to get us out of where we are. And in our impatience to help God along, we can try or attempt to try some or all of them. But the fail-proof path is the one where we re-examine what the Lord promised us, put our impatience in check, and wait on the Lord to do what He said He would do. It is not a coincidence that in Psalms 27:14, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” the Bible tells us twice in twenty words to “wait”. It’s sort of like us talking to an impatient child, repeating our words to them to “stop, stop” or “don’t, don’t”. God is fully aware of our lives and the scope of time within which we live. He knows our frame of mind and how we feel when we want our situations to move along and get to a better place. He knows we are impatient for answers, solutions, and deliverance and He is always with us, assuring us that He is fully in control and has our good and best as His goal.
July 23, 2022
1 Peter 5:8-9 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world”
The devil is not a roaring lion but today’s verse describes him “as” a roaring lion with that word meaning “in the manner of” and is a word picture of the aggressiveness he has and the manner he is intent on destroying people. In Revelation 5:5, Jesus is called the Lion of the tribe of Juda and as always, the devil tries to imitate the Lord in some demented, evil, and false antithesis. But the concept that the devil is roaming the earth looking for people to bring into bondage is hinted at in the conversation between God and Satan in Job 1:7, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it”. Believers know the devil is real and that he makes a lot of racket just as the roar of a male lion can be heard up to five miles away, terrifying the other inhabitants of the jungle. But we know his power over us has been broken by our Savior and we can resist him in the faith as we are instructed in today’s passage. James 4:7 is very similar to this, saying, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”. We stand firm against the enemy using the Word of the Lord as did our Savior when He withstood him in the temptation. The enemy is like Sanballat and Tobias, a pair of loud-mouthed distracters that tried to discourage Nehemiah and the men that were rebuilding the great wall around Jerusalem. They stood on the sidelines criticizing the builders, threatening them, and mocking them. But all their roaring did not stop the work because Nehemiah and his crew stood firm in their faith and concentrated on their task. The enemy may roar at us, “It’s hopeless, there’s no way out, you might as well quit” but the Word of the Lord declares God is always for us and He will always make a way for our escape. The devil may roar suggestions of unbelief, alleged contradictions, negative personal memories from our past, and so on in an attempt to get us discouraged but the Word of God restores our faith, shines the light of truth, and reminds us God forgave and removed our sins and will never remember them. The enemy is continually screaming into his megaphone as if he is the boss and knows everything but the prophecies have been fulfilled: Jesus stepped on his head, declared him defeated, and it’s just a matter of time until God casts him into the lake of fire for eternity. While we are not ourselves a match for the devil, that’s not a problem because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit reign over him omnipotently and we are authorized to withstand him with the Word of God and in the name of Jesus.
July 22, 2022
1 Peter 4:18 “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
If we do not rightly divide this verse or take it out of context, it seems to contradict the free gift of salvation. At a glance, it seems to picture God’s children barely hanging on to salvation and squeezing into heaven on a wing and a prayer. A few years ago, a local radio preacher made this statement in a rant against the absolute security of believers that “heaven will be a wonderful place if we’re lucky enough to get there”. This precarious view of saving grace is in direct contradiction with scriptures of assurance such as Hebrews 7:25, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” where the word “uttermost” means completely, thoroughly, and to a definite conclusion”. The words of Jesus in John 10:28, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” remind us that the Lord’s plan, offer to us, and the gift of salvation is steadfast and eternal. So, we must look again at today’s verse and identify the meaning of what it says that we are scarcely saved. We see it from the perspective that salvation comes to us in a specific way because God offers it only through one door, one way, and one method” by grace, through faith, and in Christ alone. And the Lord brings it to us by Himself while all the time we are pushing it away, doubting its sufficiency, trying to add something to it, and then acting as if it’s no big thing. Today’s verse is speaking of the jaw-dropping wonder that God would even offer salvation to us to begin with when we’ve shoved aside the things of the Lord and continually chosen sin over His free gift. It’s amazing that He would allow His Son to suffer on our behalf and die in our place. It’s an unfathomable miracle that the Lord would love us while we were sinners, choose us when we didn’t want Him, and keep pressing His gift on us while we all act like morons, shaking our fists of defiance in His face. Then, when our sin overflowed like a tsunami, God’s grace prevailed on an even grander scale and drew us to Him, convicted our hearts, caused us to fully rely on His Word, and saved us despite our depravity. God did it all, Jesus paid it all, and we received it all without any works on our part to obtain it. From that view, it’s a miracle that we are saved and from that view, we are scarcely saved because we are saved despite our resistance to the Lord and His love for us. Another way of saying it is that if it were up to us and left up to us to continue, we would die in our sins, eternally lost. And this is the gist of the last part of this verse, that if salvation is only by such a miracle, outside of this there is no hope at all for unbelievers.
July 21, 2022
1 Kings 14:26-27 “And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And king Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields”
In the reign of King Solomon, Israel was at its zenith of splendor, power, and wealth. The nations around them marveled at the glorious temple and Solomon’s palace. The Bible tells the story of the Queen of Sheba, the ruler of a distant land somewhere on the continent of Africa, that had heard about the wealth and wisdom of Solomon and traveled to Israel to see if the stories were true. She saw the magnificence of it all, heard the wisdom of Solomon, and remarked to Solomon in 1Kings 10:6, “It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard”. But when Solomon died, his son Rehoboam took the throne, the nation was divided in a civil war, and the Bible says of Rehoboam in 2Chronicles 12:14, “And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD”. The result was Israel’s quick fall from glory to chaos. In Solomon’s time, he had 500 golden shields made, worth millions of dollars, made to beautify the palace. Today’s verse tells us that in an attempt to bribe the Egyptians from attacking Israel, Rehoboam surrendered these golden shields and replaced them with ones made of bronze. The wealth and glory of the great Solomonic kingdom were replaced by substitute ornamentation. Even though the bronze shields may have had their own particular luster, they were a cheap imitation of what they replaced. This is symbolic of lives, families, churches, and so on that concede what the Lord wants us to have in exchange for the imitation power and glory offered by the world. The power of the Holy Spirit is counterfeited by our displays of emotion, fleshly prowess, and technologies. The glory of the preaching of the gospel in the demonstration of the Spirit is replaced by crafted lectures and motivational speeches of human reasoning sprinkled with a few Bible verses in an attempt to authenticate the message. The majesty of the family has been hijacked by the culture that has substituted with an ever-changing definition and practice of messes they now call “the family”. The unconditional love taught by our Lord is substituted with worn-out words and phrases that do not have the substance of the real thing. We polish, shine, and refine our religious displays and cultural ideologies like Rehoboam did the bronze shields and after a while, we may even forget that pure gold once stood where the imitations are standing. When we read about the downfall of Israel under Rehoboam, in only five years Rehoboam squandered the wealth, glory, and power that his dad Solomon had spent a lifetime building.
July 20, 2022
Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him”
When the Lord allowed Job to be tested, He allowed Satan to take away everything Job had but Job’s faith remained firm. Then Satan asked permission to afflict Job physically and the Bible gives God’s chilling response in Job 2:6, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life”. At that point, Job had misery and anguish heaped on him and had nothing left except his life. But there is a resolution of faith in today’s verse that gives us a hint of how this man made it through his trial and came out in great victory on the other side. The depth of his faith is seen in his words, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him” and stripped bare of all his possessions, having lost his family, his friends scorning and accusing him falsely, and in agonizing physical pain, Job utters the words that tell us that he refused to surrender his trust in the Lord. This foreshadows the agony of Jesus in the last phases of His earthly life when all the disciples ran away, He was falsely accused, betrayed by a friend, and then suffered unspeakable torture yet He did not take His eyes off His Father and completely submitted Himself into His Father’s hands. It is the depth of Stephen’s faith when the stones of an angry mob crushed his life from him the Bible says in Acts 7:55, “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God”. Not every believer’s depth of faith is tested in such ways but everyone that follows the Lord will have seasons of hardships when they will declare that no matter what happens, no matter the outcome, they will not relinquish their faith. The second part of today’s verse tells us that even though Job will not turn away from his trust in God, he will maintain his ways before him. The word “maintain” here means to reason, to defend, and to ask for proof and he is saying that although he will not stop trusting the Lord, he will ask for understanding of why he is being tried and will speak on his own behalf in God’s presence. I have heard people say it is a sin to ask “why?” of the Lord but as long as the question is not asked in an accusatory manner but asked to gain understanding, we are doing the same as Job: bringing our situation before the Lord to come clean with our deeds and get clarity on why the Almighty has allowed or purposed our situation. But in the end, it all comes to the question as to whether we will trust the Lord no matter how dire the circumstances and no matter how we might come out of it all. When we know He is our creator, our life, our source of all goodness, and the only hope we have here and in eternity, we will also say that no matter what comes, we will trust Him.
July 19, 2022
Revelation 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”
After 66 books, 1,189 chapters, and over 780,000 words, the Bible extends a plea to all people in today’s verse, one of the scripture’s final verses. It does not say to strive for perfection, don’t make any mistakes, or remain faithful. It is a simple invitation that three times says “come” and then invites anyone to receive the water of life freely. It points us back to the words of Jesus when he was talking to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:14, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. And the same Jesus gave us the words of Revelation 21:6, “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely”. The invitation to come to Him is the same one given by our Lord in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. Denominations and religions have spent years and even centuries hammering out their specific formulas to convince people they have the exclusive method of salvation but the call of Jesus is simply “come and receive”. It is, after all, the loving call of a Father with outstretched arms to a child He dearly loves and wants to be with forever. Yes, He is Holy, spotless, and there are no words to declare His perfections and glory but He does not bar us from His presence because of our humanness, weaknesses, or elemental sinfulness. But He calls us to Him through His Son Jesus and when we look to Him, the Savior of whosoever will, Jesus Christ is the door to the Father and whatever we are lacking in holiness, goodness, and sinlessness is provided to us completely and freely by the miracle of the new birth. We do not have to continually mend our robes of righteousness, wash away our sins by good works, or measure up to some finite standard of purity to remain His child. If that were the case, not a single person, except Jesus, would enter heaven. All are invited and welcome. The parable of the great supper in Luke 14:16 shows us those who first received the call to come were the Jews but they rebuffed the invitation. God then opened wide the gates of heaven to anyone and everyone that will believe the validity of His call and promise of eternal life through Jesus. This is our wonderful hope and the hope of our families. After the Lord told us a lot of things in His Bible, revealed some of His purpose and plans, and explained some of the histories of how He worked from the beginning to save His fallen creation, He then closes it all, wraps it up by this uncomplicated urging for all of us to take the step of faith in what He said and come to Him.
July 18, 2022
1 Kings 19:18 “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him”
During Elijah’s time, Israel suffered from widespread idolatry, and from King Ahab and his court down to the most common inhabitant the nation had abandoned Jehovah and His Word. When Elijah confronted the evil prophets of Baal in a showdown on Mount Carmel, he stood alone against the 450 demonic leaders of the cult Israel was following. And when he challenged the people as to who they would follow, Jehovah or Baal, the Bible said the people didn’t speak a word in response. Elijah felt all alone and he said so as he spoke to the Lord in 1 Kings 19:14, “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away”. The Lord responded to Him with the words of today’s verse, assuring him that he was not alone but that the Lord had reserved to Himself 7,000 people throughout Israel that remained faithful to Jehovah. This group was completely faithful in that they had never turned towards Baal in any way. This group of believers was an example of the Bible mystery of a remnant, people who are completely set apart for the Lord whenever things are so overrun with evil that there doesn’t appear to be any Godly people left. At the time of the flood, the whole world was covered with rebellion against God except for Noah and his family who were a remnant of faith against the darkness of that age. In the city of Sodom, lawlessness and sin called to the Lord for judgment against the entire area but Lot was called a righteous man in 2 Peter 2:8 and he was the remanent God saved out of the city. When Israel was in bondage in Egypt and the knowledge of God seemed non-existent, Hebrews 11:23 tells us Moses’ parents acted in faith and kept baby Moses alive when Pharoah commanded all male babies to be murdered. They formed a remanent of faithfulness in a time of immense wickedness. Our world is steeped in sin and unbelief is the norm from world leaders to the poorest and least esteemed of people. A symbol of this is that although all American paper money has the phrase “In God We Trust” printed on it, 90% and sometimes as high as 95% of all paper currency has traces of cocaine (acs.org). And there is no need to remind us that everywhere we look and listen the streets and airways, internet, and printed literature is filled with immorality and we do not turn away from it but completely parallel the condition of Job 15:16,” How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?”. Yet as in every generation and time before us when it seemed unrighteousness would prevail, there is a remanent of faithful people who represent the Lord in the face of unspeakable unbelief. The name of the Lord is honored, His Word is revered, and there will never be a moment until time is replaced by eternity when God will not have a witness on this planet. May we give thanks to the Lord and His grace that we are able to stand firm in the faith during these times, looking to Him, trusting His Word, and awaiting His return.
July 17, 2022
Hebrews 10:22 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water”
The Jewish people’s first face-to-face encounter with God was at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. God manifested Himself on the mountain with fire, smoke, thunder, lightning, earth quaking, and very loud trumpet blasts. The Bible says in Exodus 19:17, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount”. But the law didn’t provide a means for intimate, personal communion with the Lord and while He dwelt in their midst over the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant, He remained separated from His people by the heavy veil or curtain that blocked access to the little chamber in the tabernacle and later in the temple, called the Holy of Holies. The high priest only was permitted on one day each year to enter that place and meet with God on behalf of the people. Before He went into the presence of God, he washed in water and put on a garment only worn when entering the Holy Place. When he went behind the veil and stood before the ark of the covenant, he would dip his finger in the cup containing the blood of the sacrificial animal and then sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat lid of the ark, confessing his own sin and the sin of all the people. Today’s verse is part of the scriptures that tell us that Jesus became our high priest, He entered into the presence of God, and with His own blood, He took away our sin. Because God sees us in Christ, we have received the sprinkling and washing necessary to approach the Lord and we are invited to come near to Him believing we are fully welcome in His presence because the way has been provided through our Lord Jesus. Some teach the washing referred to here is baptism and that to be “pure water” it must be consecrated to make it somehow holy. But as a symbol, literal baptism points us to Ephesians 5:26, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” where the baptism Christ gives is when we are washed clean by His Word declared by Jesus in John 15:3, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you”. Baptismal regeneration is a doctrine of unbelief for it erroneously substitutes the outward symbol of water baptism for the spiritual reality of the work of Christ Jesus our eternal High Priest. Our salvation does not rest on faith in water baptism but faith in the baptism we receive when we believe the Word of God concerning the gift of God’s grace. When we are baptized after we believe, we are doing so as an outward sign and symbol of what Jesus has already done within us. In Christ, we are washed, the blood has been sprinkled on our behalf, the veil between us and God no longer exists, and we are invited by a loving, merciful God to come into His presence. Not to stand at a distance from Him, but to come close and know Him face-to-face.
July 16, 2022
Jeremiah 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings”
Today’s verse is about our motives, the reasons why we do what we do. Law enforcement and the courts try to understand motives when investigating a crime and motives play a part in passing judgement for offenses. Juries like to understand motives when determining guilt or innocence and the lack of clear motives cast doubts especially on circumstantial evidence. The Lord sees what we do but He isn’t just looking at our actions, He’s looking deep within us to know what causes us to make our choices and carry them out. He says He searches the heart and tries the reins and a close look at the two words translated heart and reins helps us understand what God is searching and testing. The heart is from the Hebrew word “leb” and refers to our mind, conscience, knowledge, understanding, thinking, and will. The reins is from the Hebrew word Kilyah and is the word for kidneys in its literal sense but when referring to emotional and spiritual aspects, it is the depth of how we feel about something. It is the place of our greatest love and compassion and also our deepest hate and rage. The Lord is telling us He knows and judges our motives that cause us to act the way we do, speak the way we do, and follow our decisions the way we do. He knows when our motives are contaminated with self-will, pride, revenge, jealousy, and any of the other driving forces of the flesh. He also knows when we are acting out of compassion, mercy, forgivness, kindness, and grace. The troubling thing is that we don’t always know our own motives because the Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” and this is compounded with Proverbs 21:2, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes”. By our nature we most often do not want to admit when we are wrong, when our opinions are wrong, and that we are acting foolishly. But the Holy Spirit stands ready to reveal what God sees within us and He is ready to help us correct our thoughts and motives. He wants to direct our path and He wants us to act from a place of honest and true motives. Jesus alludes to this in Luke 8:15, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience”. David prayed this prayer in Psalms 139:23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”. We want to not only follow the way of the Lord but we want to do it for the right reasons.
July 15, 2022
1 Kings 18:30 “And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down”
When Elijah came on the scene Israel was ruled by King Ahab of whom the Bible says in 1Kings 16:30, “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him”. The king and his wicked wife Jezebel led Israel into a time of idolatry and the nation turned their hearts away from the Lord and worshiped demonic Canaanite gods. God led Elijah to the top of Mt Carmel to confront the false prophets that had risen in Israel as a result of the apostasy and we know the details of this encounter for the Almighty God showed His power that day. He answered Elijah’s call to Him by sending fire down from heaven in the sight of all the people and the prophets of Baal were completely defeated and destroyed. Every detail of this miracle is important and today’s verse reveals some points sometimes not mentioned. There had previously been an altar to the Lord on top of the mountain perhaps dating back hundreds of years to the time of the Judges. Several ancient historians, including Tacitus and Suetonius, mention this altar and the pagans in the area knew the spot was a place where the Holy God of Israel was venerated and worshiped. But as it is with humans and their depravity, over time Israel moved away from the old paths and ways of God, and the altar was forsaken, left to deteriorate into just another pile of stones in their antiquity. No one went there to honor God, to worship His name and the sacred place fell out of favor in place of newer religious practices and was forgotten until the day Elijah showed up in the power of the Holy Spirit. He took 12 stones from the ancient altar, representing the entire nation of Israel, and “repaired” the altar of the Lord. The Holy Spirit directed the Hebrew Word “Rapha” to be used here for repair and Rapha is one of the names of God, Jehovah Rapha, meaning “the God Who Heals,” and Rapha translates to “completely make whole, to thoroughly mend and repair”. The Lord was calling His people back to the old paths of faith in Him, the honor of His name, and the reverence for His Word. Like the days of Elijah, we are in a time of apostasy where few voices are calling for a return to God as declared in Jeremiah 6:16, “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls”. It is the call of Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon”. May we look to the Lord for help to see what has been torn down, forsaken, and pushed aside concerning Him, and may we return to that which honors His name and His Word and repair those old ways.
July 14, 2022
Proverbs 4:18 “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”
In Genesis 1:1, all creation began as a state of chaos and darkness until God said “Let there be light”. Then, throughout the scriptures, darkness and light became the metaphors and symbols representing good and evil where the devil is the epitome of darkness and Jesus is the Light. Today’s verse is from a passage that contrasts the ways of wickedness and death with those of righteousness and life. The way of wickedness is called a path of darkness as in verse 19, “The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble” while today’s verse says the path of those that follow the Lord is as a path of shining light. The difference in the two paths can be found in Psalms 119:130, “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple”. No matter what the world claims concerning knowledge, wisdom, truth, human reason, and progress it is categorized in 1 John 5:19, “the whole world lieth in wickedness” and wickedness is always darkness. Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the light of the world and the Bible says in John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. Apart from Christ, every person in the world walks their path of life in the darkness of uncertainty, confusion, deception, and reaping the wages of sin which is death. They are shrouded in the clouds of the curse, enslaved to their flesh, and they have no hope for eternity. They deal with sorrow, sickness, heartache, and death without the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And like an automobile plunging down a dark, dangerous highway without headlights, they stumble towards their destination unable to see what lies ahead. The life of the Apostle Paul is a great example of these two paths. Before he became a Christian, he was ultra-religious, well educated, respected in his community, and headed for a life of honor and wealth. But by his own testimony, he was walking his path of life in unbelief and therefore in darkness. But he described his encounter with Jesus and his conversion in Acts 26:13, “At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me”. He said in verse 18, the Lord told him his mission was to tell others about Christ to, “open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God”. The path we walk with God gives us the hope and assurance that no matter how uncertain and dark the world around us, the Lord is holding our hand, guiding our steps, protecting us from evil, and will safely lead us home. When darkness covered Egypt during the plagues, a time of horrible darkness where the Egyptians couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces, the Bible says there was light in the houses of God’s people. And the darkness all around us is real. It can be terrifying to those who do not have the light of the Lord but not only do we walk in the path of light, but we are also the light of the world. May our prayer be that we can shine more and more as a witness of His glory and grace.
July 13, 2022
Matthew 24:12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold”
People give a bunch of explanations for the overriding mystery of what human existence is all about. Most scientists view it as just survival. The species that are the strongest and most well suited to adaptation are likely the ones that will survive and the proponents of this view believe humans could become extinct before long. One has only to do an internet search for “human extinction” and find such statements as: “Human extinction, many experts believe, is not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’. And some think it will come sooner rather than later. In 2010, eminent Australian virologist Frank Fenner claimed that humans will probably be extinct in the next century thanks to overpopulation, environmental destruction, and climate change” (sciencefocus.com). For others, it’s all about pleasure and experiences and they judge the meaning and quality of life by how much entertainment, fun, and excitement they can find. Then there are those whose sole view of reality is about wealth, power, possessions, control, and the acquiescence of whatever they desire. Most people’s view of life is a mixture of some or all of the above and they live their days centered around the food they eat, the hobbies and pleasures they pursue, the work they’re committed to, and the stuff they own or hope to own. All of it is the view of humans apart from the truth of God’s Word which shows us it’s all about love. From the point in eternity when God chose to create all things and planned and purposed the entire thing including the foreknowledge of the fall of humans and the will to redeem them, it all emanates from God’s love. It’s not about holiness, righteousness, or our ability to achieve some level of acceptance before Him, or anything else we have woven into our religions and theories of life. Except for the first couple of chapters in Genesis that tell us God made everything, the rest of human history is about God’s plans and desire to reveal His love, goodness, and grace in His plan of salvation to salvage what we threw away. And what do people do with God’s love and His Word that we should also love each other as He has taught us by His examples? We pursue and embrace iniquity, sin, and lawlessness and the very thing that was God’s plan and purpose for us gets pushed away, distorted by our selfishness, and as seen in today’s verse, gets cold: the product of hardened and self-serving hearts. We talk about love, sing about it, and act as if we know what it is. We declare it to each other, whisper it in times of intimacy, and pretend we love by its power but it’s mostly a sham of words without substance. Love is of God and those who do not follow Him and live in His Word know nothing of the love He intended for His creation. We have accepted and promoted a cheap and unsatisfying counterfeit and may the Lord turn our hearts back to His ways and His love.
July 12, 2022
Matthew 27:13-14 “Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly”
There may be times when we should take our own defense into hand and answer the attacks and accusations against us. We can read Paul’s eloquent defenses in Acts 23-26 when he returned to Jerusalem and was confronted by those who opposed him and the gospel of Christ. Yet also note that none of his words caused Paul to be set free of his bonds but set the stage for him to be sent to Rome where, sometime later, he was killed by the wicked Caesar Nero, along with many other Christians. Jesus gives us insight into God’s will for us when we are put in a position where we must declare our situation in Matthew 5:37, “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” Simply replying yes or no when questioned keeps us from the tangled descriptions and attempts to explain our innocence and puts God in charge of our defense. In the time of today’s verse, Jesus knew what people were saying against Him and He knew it was all false. Maybe Pilate was used to hearing prisoners try to win his favor with accounts of their innocence and charges against their accusers but Jesus didn’t utter a word. He stood silent, reserved, and majestic. We can waste a lot of time and energy concerned about what people think and say about us and we can obsess with trying to set the record straight and exonerate ourselves. It can be discouraging when they gang up, burn up social media with gossip, and shut you out as though you are public enemy number one. But the Lord is faithful in His friendship and care for us and He will take up our cause. If there is any correction needed, He will do it in love and for our benefit. But in the face of lies, accusations, and unkind treatment, He will take our defense and vindicate us. These are times when we should stand still, shut up, and let the Lord fight our battles because He knows every heart, hears every word, sees all the traps laid against us, and knows how to both deliver us and disarm and remove our enemies. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4:12-13, “being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat (respond with kind words)”. Jesus had a mission, a work to do that was of far greater importance than to allow the hecklers and nay-sayers surrounding Him to turn His efforts from pleasing His Father to defending Himself against His enemies. When we give our minds and energy to the process of defending ourselves against people who talk bad about us, don’t like us, and hiss and boo at us, we’re wasting precious resources we could be using to be a blessing to our families, look for open doors of opportunity, and keep moving forward. The Lord will not forget about us or fail us and He will not step aside and leave us vulnerable and exposed when the world raises its ire against us.
July 11, 2022
Isaiah 3:10 “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings”
Some people place a lot of emphasis on what others and the world at large are doing wrong. Their gospel is primarily a finger pointing to all the evil and what’s going to happen to people that walk in evil ways. No matter where they start in their discourse, they quickly make a bee-line to the expanded and enhanced subject matter of the wages of sin being death and there they remain. There’s little to no encouragement to the folks that are remaining faithful, making good choices, raising their families, and honoring the Lord. Today’s verse gives us a message of encouragement to share with God’s people that have been made righteous by the sacrifice of Jesus: It will be well with them. Since Adam fell from his innocence by willful disobedience, the sin issue has been the problem of humanity and the fruit of sin, what people think, say, and do, is produced by every living person on earth. But Jesus changed all of that and now we are accepted before God through faith in Him, justified, made righteous as though we had never sinned and because of Christ, we have the blessings and favor of God toward us, on us, and within us. It will not be bad for us, but it will be well. And the fruit of what we do will come to us as a reward of God’s goodness and mercy which follow us all the days of our lives. Any shame or guilt because of sin was taken away by the sufferings and death of our Lord and when people want to abuse the gospel of grace by trying to rub our noses in something that no longer exists in God’s sight, theirs is not a message of hope and freedom. Jesus sets us free and takes away the danger of the wrath of God. Romans 5:9, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him”. How are we made just, that is regarded as righteous or innocent? By our deeds, efforts, or attempts at sinlessness? No! It is by the blood of Jesus. A detailed declaration of this is found in Romans 3:24-26, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus”. Because of this, it will be well for us. We can encourage ourselves and each other in this unshakable truth that God is for us and no one or nothing can prevail over us. We do not have to continually judge sin, it has already been judged and Jesus declared in John 12:47, “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world”. Should we warn that the wages of sin is death? Certainly, but let’s move forward and follow up with “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus”. Like the angels that announced the birth of Jesus, we have the wonderful news and good tidings of great joy. It is well, it is well, with my soul.
July 10, 2022
Acts 8:5-6 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did”
After Jesus ascended back to heaven, the church began in Jerusalem with a great revival. The Holy Spirit came, three thousand people were saved, and miracles happened. But it was only a short time until great persecution began and opposition to the gospel caused people to rise against Christians in violence. They stoned Stephen to death in Acts 7 and Saul began going door to door arresting believers, killing some, and putting others in prison. The church at Jerusalem was scattered, fleeing the violence and it looked like what had started with great power and victory was ending in defeat. Perhaps the Christians were confused, wondering why the Lord was allowing the enemy to push them away from the place where they had first received the Holy Spirit and entered into the joy of the communion of believers. But today’s verse shows us what was happening. God was beginning the spread of the gospel in fulfillment of the words Jesus spoke to them before He went back to heaven: Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”. God was allowing them to be forced out of their starting place at Jerusalem so they would carry the message of Jesus throughout the area. What looked like a terrible thing was really the providence of the Lord, taking them to greater blessings. Philip might have been discouraged when he had to leave Jerusalem where there had been a great revival and fellowship with others but that was soon replaced with joy when he began carrying the news of Christ into Samaria, a place that for centuries had been condemned by the Jews as idolatrous and heathen, and he saw the Samaritans turn to the Lord. It may be painful and confusing to us when God allows us to be pushed out of a place or something that seemed like a blessed spot where we were going to stay all our lives. But we belong to Him and He has a purpose for us that’s planned to use our talents and abilities to further His work and take us where we need to be. Joseph was happy and content at home in his multicolored coat and with his parents who loved and adored him. But God’s plan involved some years of hardship followed by a purpose in Egypt that would be a part of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Joseph was thrust out of his happy place into what seemed years of chaos and pain until the day the Lord exalted Him as a ruler over Egypt. When we are forced out of our comfort zones may we look to God, realizing He is always in control, and may we say as Isaiah, “Here am I, send me”.
July 9, 2022
Psalms 63:1 “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee”
When Elijah faced off with the 450 false prophets on Mt Carmel, he confronted the people of Israel, demanding that they settle the matter as to who is God. He said in 1Kings 18:21, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him”. What is implied is that if we believe God exists and that He is who He says He is, then we should prove it by following Him. Today’s verse addresses that issue by declaring “O God, thou art my God” and this is not just a theological confirmation of the reality of God, it means God is known on an intimate, personal level: He is MY God. Is that statement true for You? Not just an affirmation like some people say as a part of their religious ritualistic creed but having the indwelling presence of the Lord, a relationship with Him, and bound to Him by grace through faith. Then follows the next part of the sentence: “early will I seek thee”. The primary meaning of the word translated early, is at the crack of dawn, before we start the coffee, before we take care of any morning business, and before we dress for work. The first moments of our day begin by looking heavenward to the Almighty Creator and King. This is not given as a command here because we can start the day without directing a conscious thought toward God and that would not diminish His love towards us or block His unfailing mercy. But it is a lifestyle causing us, when we first awake to a new day, to acknowledge the Lord as our life-giver, sustainer, and the source of all that is good, true, and worthy of praise. It is the essence of Acts 17:28, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being”. It is a determination that since He is God, our God, every moment begins with Him and ends with Him. But the roots of the Hebrew word here carry also the meaning that we seek him before we begin any venture or make any plans. We look to the Lord because any success we have in what we plan and do depends on His favor and wisdom. Before we start it on our own and find ourselves in a disheveled dilemma, we seek God early in the process, at its “dawning”, to ask for wisdom, understanding, and blessings. This covers everything from cooking an egg to building an atom-smasher, from choosing a job to marrying a spouse. The Lord takes interest in the details of our lives, so much that He knows the number of hairs on our heads and it follows that He wants to be a part of our decision-making and plans. And then, early also refers to our youth and stands as advice to follow the teaching of Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth”. Following the Lord’s ways earlier in our lives can protect us from many of the wounds and scars caused by youthful bad decisions. Most of us, if we have any regrets about the past, might say we wish we had served the Lord more faithfully and the younger we started the better. But despite any regrets and failures on our part in any of these matters, praise the Lord for His patience, goodness, kindness, and mercy that resonates from the hymn, Amazing Grace: “Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home”.
July 8, 2022
Psalms 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all”
The prophet Samuel showed up at Jesse’s house with a container of oil to anoint the next King of Israel. The surprise of this event was when Samuel passed over all Jesse’s grown sons and proclaimed God’s choice was David, the youngest and still just a boy. We might think from that day on, David would live every day in victory and the Lord would fence him in with divine providence in such a way he would never deal with adversity. But as a grown man, David is the one that wrote the words of today’s verse saying that “many are the afflictions of the righteous” and he was especially referring here to a period of his life when he was on the run for his safety from King Saul who was intent on killing him. Saul on one hand and the Philistines on the other had robbed him of peace and comfort despite that he had been anointed years before as Israel’s king. Job, a righteous man who followed the Lord with all his heart said while in the throes of afflictions, that our days are few and filled with trouble (Job 14:1). If the account ended on this note, a cloud of hopelessness would hang over us and there wouldn’t be any sense in trusting the Lord because no matter how strong our faith, all we could look forward to is afflictions followed by more afflictions. But the promise rings loudly in our hearts that “the Lord delivereth them out of them all”. We speak often, and by Biblical example, how we sometimes must be in a furnace of fire, locked in a den of lions, face Goliaths, and be deserted and betrayed by even our friends. We are attacked by the enemy, deal with illnesses, see times of need, and war against discouragement caused by our families, jobs, and times of weakness. But just as David came through his trials and afflictions and took the throne as he was anointed to do, we also have God’s promise that He will completely deliver us, and note that is exactly what the scripture says, He will deliver us out of them all. When I look back on the hundreds of devotions I’ve posted, this seems to be a common theme and perhaps it is because now at 66 years old, I can testify of many, many afflictions and troubles through the years but can say the lord remained faithful in every one and brought me out. Are you going through a trial or has some affliction come against you right now? Are you praying and trusting the Lord for a way of escape? Like me, I know the Lord has been true and faithful to you in past situations and He will not let you down now. His Word of promise to you is infallible. Heaven and earth may pass away but His Word will remain eternal. We look back on the life of David and retell his victory over the giant, his succession to the throne, and the fact he was the greatest King of Israel. But let’s not forget he wrote today’s verse and went through his own share of troubles, experienced his own heartbreaks, and suffered through all that we do but the Lord kept His promise to him and delivered him out of them all.
July 7, 2022
I’m 66 today, July 7, and I’m still counting the milestones one by one. When I was trimming up my beard this morning and looking at the face in the mirror looking back at me, I remembered the words of the fellow that said, “I didn’t mean to get old, it just happened”. And that’s the way it is: our age just sneaks up on us while we’re going through our day-by-day stuff. The funny thing is, I remember turning 30, seems like just a few years back, and people gave me a birthday cake with black icing in jest, suggesting the best years were over but what happened is that my best years are happening now. Even with this breathing hole in my neck from cancer surgery, the grace of the Lord is more real, and fuller to me than at any time I can remember. All my memories of the ups and downs of the journey, the successes, and flat-out face-plants only point me to the truth that my Savior is faithful, kind, merciful, and true. Where I stand now, heaven is more of a reality than ever yet the possibilities of walking with the Lord here and now until He calls me home are overwhelming. The words of “what A Friend We Have in Jesus” keep running through my mind when I remember that there has never been a moment when He wasn’t there, never a situation He didn’t foresee and already had a way of escape. There was never a dumb choice I made that He didn’t help me through the consequences, never a dark night of uncertainty that He didn’t appear as my light and hope, never a point of weakness when I thought I couldn’t go another step but He came to my rescue. And for all the times’ my earthly friends turned away and wrote me off as if there was no help for me in God, He came with comfort, unconditional love, and proved to be a friend that’s closer than a brother. I can look around and see that there are people who seem to be running the race better and faster but that’s not the point because we’re all just a testimony that only grace is leading us on. I will repeat what I said last year because it’s just as true for me now as then. On my birthday, this I know: my precious wife that the Lord has blessed me with will be with me, by my side and sharing the joys of this journey. My friends and family will always love me and pray for me, my enemies, who know nothing of the grace of God, will continually wonder why the Lord hasn’t already killed me, and the God of Heaven and Earth, who bought me with the blood of Jesus, will be faithful, kind, and compassionate to me because that’s who He is.
July 6, 2022
Psalm 94:11 “The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity”
What we think about matters and the extent to which we channel our thoughts towards the things of the Lord makes a difference in our state of mind and how we live. Today’s verse points out that in our natural state, our thoughts are a mess and this is amplified in the call to repentance of Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon”. Most people’s thoughts jump from one thing to another and when sin is our driving nature, our thoughts are as the Lord described in Matthew 15:19, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies”. Thoughts become imaginations and then our hearts are pushed in some direction, either for good, evil, or general nonsense. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to reveal our thoughts as shown in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. What we think is much of the battle we fight to stay focused and purposed to follow God’s ways. God’s will for us is given in 2Corinthians 10:5, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”. Thoughts, thought patterns, and our imagination are the sources of much of our anxiety, stress, and discouragement. The reality is that the Lord is working all things for our good, He is standing with us in our situations, and will never leave or forsake us. But our thoughts lead us to fear, doubt, and worry and by the time we’re finished thinking about what might happen, what could happen, and where we might end up, we’re a wreck. The Word of God, combined with the Holy Spirit’s power, gives us the way to win the battle of what we think and as we bring more and more of the Word into us, meditating on its truth, the Word begins to be our thought source instead of the way we were programed by our flesh and the world. Some people are raised by negative, deceptive people and by the time they are adults their view of the world is pessimistic and contaminated with expectations of failure. They do not believe God’s good promises are to them because they can not break the thoughts of expecting the worst to happen and that they are always being set-up by life to fail. We must pick up the Bible, eat its words like food, and keep doing it until the Word begins to reform the way we think. This is the meaning of Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord”. The renewed mind is the mind of Christ and the thoughts He brings are ones of peace, faith, hope, and joy.
July 5, 2022
Luke 5:5 “And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net”
Simon Peter was a fisherman. Fishing was how he had been raised by his dad, it was what he knew, and as a grown man, it was what he was going to do for the rest of his life. Fishing in those days was hard work for it involved maneuvering boats and repeatedly casting heavy, wet nets and pulling them back to the boat. On this particular occasion, he and James and John his brothers, and perhaps some other fishing pals had fished all night using all their fishing knowledge and skills but had caught nothing. Jesus, who was a carpenter and not a fisherman, told Peter to take his boat back out into deep water and let down the nets for a big haul of fish. Peter didn’t think this was a good idea and told the Lord they had fished all night and implying it must not be a good time or place for catching fish but he said “at thy word I will let down the net”. What followed his obedience was a catch of fish so great the weight of them almost sank two boats. That day was a turning point in these men’s lives because they walked away from their life-long occupation of fishing and followed Jesus as His disciples. There are a lot of lessons in this story about Jesus knowing everything, people not always succeeding despite all their skills and knowledge, and so on but the most important one is that the Word of the Lord is the factor that makes the difference when we do what He says. The miracle in this story was to reveal that against all odds, against all circumstances, against all human reasoning, the Word of the Lord will always perform what God has purposed it to do and nothing can stop Him. And he “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). The enemy continually fights us to keep us from knowing and obeying the Word of God. He knows what happens when we allow the Word to become embedded in us and begin making every decision, every step of our journey, and every outlook for our future in the light of God’s Word. Our unbelieving flesh and our carnal minds try to substitute anything and everything in place of the time and effort we could spend anchoring ourselves in the Word. We can spend a lifetime wrestling with our boats, casting our nets, and wearing ourselves out doing our life our way but remember Peter’s words. “Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net” and remember the difference the word made. In their own power and abilities, Peter and the others went out empty and came home empty. But guided by the power of Jesus’ word, they went out empty and came home with overflow.
July 4, 2022
John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”
Jesus told the Pharisees, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. To which the Pharisees responded that they were never in bondage to anyone and didn’t believe they needed to be set free. This was an arrogant, false, and nutty statement because, throughout their history, the Jews had been in bondage to Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Syria, and at the time they were back-talking the Lord, they were under the control of Rome and Roman soldiers were patrolling the city. It is crazy how humans, attempting to push aside the Word of God, will speak and act in utter stupidity. Here we are, little specks of dirt in the vast universe, sticking our fingers towards the sky screaming “You don’t exist, You didn’t make us, and we don’t have to listen to You”. We are sinful, depraved creatures in the terrible chains of sin’s power and try to argue back that we’re free, don’t need Jesus, and we’re good on our own. This Fourth of July is all about remembering there was a time when there was no America with our flag waving over us and the proclamation of freedom everywhere. It is a time of remembering that for centuries, families were under the thumb of monarchs, oppressive governments, and evil rulers and there was no land and property ownership, personal liberties, or hope of speaking out about what you think and believe. There was no freedom to worship God as you choose or not worship if you didn’t believe in Him. Children had no hope of a better future and there were no opportunities to advance, walk in independence, and rise above the status quo. Praise God for America and the freedom we enjoy! But real freedom, which Jesus in today’s verse calls “free indeed” exists when we know the Lord as our Savior and live in the freedom that comes when He breaks the chains of sin off us, destroys the lists of charges against us, and clears our sin-record so completely we are made just and righteous as though we had never sinned. The freedom of Jesus Christ exists within us and brings us into the presence of Almighty God as clean, sinless persons with no more charges of offenses against us. Even if we were locked in an earthly prison, like Paul and Silas in Acts 16, the freedom of the Lord would still be ours and any confinement of our bodies would not take that away. Around the world at this moment, there are Christians in prison for their faith but their hearts and consciences are free. There are believers that are not free to openly worship the Lord but they are free indeed. The irony of this Fourth of July is that people will celebrate their freedom in America but because they are not believers in Jesus, they are in bondage they can never escape without faith in the Lord. When Jesus, the Son of God sets us free, we are truly free.
July 3, 2022
Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage”
This weekend is a celebration of freedom in America and we look back 246 years to July 4, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was adopted. I’m not sure the collective consciousness of this nation cherishes our freedom as much as it did in previous generations. While we are free from tyranny and have many personal and national freedoms, we are also a nation of addictions, enslaved to sundry sins on a level that can be called an epidemic in many ways. The text of Galatians from which today’s verse comes is about Jesus setting us free from the law which is called here the yoke of bondage and has as a reference Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth”. The book is really a warning that once we have been set free, it is a foolish and sad thing to return to the bondage and domination from which we have been delivered. The people of Galatia were influenced by false teaching that they needed to return to the legalism of Judaism and amazingly, they were turning away from their freedom in Christ and placing themselves back under the demands of the law. It is what the enemy wants for everyone: to be stripped of freedom and locked in slavery to something that steals their joy, destroys their hope, stops their increase, and ultimately brings death. And while this verse is about the freedom of trusting Jesus for full salvation and being free in that faith and grace, it is also about standing fast in any freedom the Lord has given us and refusing to be captured by any enemies whose sole purpose is to entangle us in bondage. Whether it is personal addictions, lifestyles, or behaviors from which God has set us free or national freedoms that have been granted to us by the Lord and paid for by the lives of people that believed freedom was worth fighting and dying for, freedom is more precious than we understand until it is taken away. World history shows freedom is not the norm for societies and the level of liberty we enjoy in America is unique on the historical timeline. But even our short history of a couple of hundred years is marred by episodes where freedom was withheld or taken away. American slavery, the plight of the indigenous Americans, and the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans in World War 2 are a few examples. Yet despite our errors, we still stand as a lighthouse of hope for all the world. Our very concept of freedom is founded on the influence of the liberty of the Lord as declared in our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. They are echoed in the pledge to the flag generations have crossed their hearts and said, “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.
July 2, 2022
1 Peter 1:4 “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you”
One of the final promises to us in the Bible is in Revelation 21:7, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son”. We are usually so absorbed running in the circles of everyday life this verse has little meaning or impact on us. But when we step back and look at the big picture, the brevity of life, and the fact that all we see and know will someday soon end, we start to understand the depth of the promise of a heavenly inheritance. All the things that God made, all that exists in His creation were first made for His pleasure and then promised to us as an incorruptible package. Throughout the endless eternity, it will remain uncontaminated by sin and decay, free from anything that would change or alter its perfection, and it will never diminish in its beauty and glory. Sometimes we’ve misunderstood what we will receive as a reward for our good works but such rewards will be from the evaluation at the judgment seat of Christ where any crowns given there will be in honor of our Lord Jesus to whom all glory is due for anything we’ve done for His honor and will be the measure by which we will serve Him in the millennium. The new heavens and new earth and all that will be a part of them is an inheritance not based on our works but because we are the adopted children of God. One of many verses that reveal this relates to Abraham, the father of faith in Galatians 3:18, “For if the inheritance be of the law, (that is any efforts on our part to obey and thereby achieve anything from God) it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. It’s sad that heaven does not seem real to many people and they can not look forward with joy to when we come into the treasures the Lord has purposed and provided for us. Even the words of Jesus in St John 14:2, “I go to prepare a place for you” are not meant just to comfort us at the graveside of a loved one but they are the reality, the substance of what everything from the beginning of time through eternity is all about. God chose to create us so that we can inherit all things. It all lies beyond Calvary, beyond the empty tomb, beyond all our ideas of religion, and all our obsessions with the here and now which will soon pass away. We have eternal life, a glorious new heaven and earth, and a permanent city of residence so spectacular and glorious there are no words to fully describe it. There will be singing, and happiness, and forever we will be with the God that purposed us, created us, redeemed us, and made us His heirs.
July 1, 2022
Jeremiah 17:2 “Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills”
Faith in God and His Word is something the Lord wanted to be handed down from parents to their children and so on. He spoke to Moses in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up”. The children would remember these things and the truth of the Lord would become their foundation upon which they would raise their children. Yet the Jews did not follow the Lord, forsook His ways, and worshiped false gods. This is the meaning of today’s verse, revealing that when the children looked back on their childhood, they did not remember their dads and moms bowing to Jehovah God, walking in His ways, and honoring Him. Instead, they remembered being taken to the altars and the worship spots of the demonic gods of Israel’s apostasy. Likewise, most children of our generation are not being raised in God’s house by Spirit-filled parents who visibly, and in the children’s presence, have a personal, consistent relationship with Jesus Christ. Prayer is non-existent in the homes and Bible study never occurs. Parents do not live by God’s principles, and the things of the Lord are not the foundation of the families. Children learn by example to lie, cheat, slander, curse, show disrespect, argue, fight, and ignore Almighty God unless it’s to take His name in vain. If there is any church attendance, it is just an exercise in religion where the whole family can’t wait until it’s over so they can run back to their godless routines. Many dads are immersed in pornography, sports, and craft beer. Moms are driven by careers and wine while children are taught and raised by whatever is streaming on their TVs and phones. And when these children look back on their childhood, what they will remember has nothing to do with God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and honor for the Word of God. When we try to lure this bunch to the Lord with today’s churches and their watered-down pseudo-psychological religious chirping, modeled after whatever church models seem to be attracting the biggest numbers and offerings, these carnally minded pleasure seekers are bored, unfaithful, and uncommitted. They don’t want a church in their lives, it’s just an umbrella insurance policy in case they need a few more points to enter heaven’s gates. Church is just like some costume people put on every once in a while, to pretend they’re something they’re not. Just like in Israel’s days, the ways of the Lord have already been explained away, pushed aside in favor of more entertaining ventures, and rendered non-essential for daily life. There will be no memories of dad and mom honoring the Bible and praying together with the family. They will not have a memory of their parents or grandparents kneeling and praying beside their bed, crying out to God for the souls of their children and grandchildren. No memories will exist of times when the wind of the Holy Spirit moved family members to repentance and the Lord miraculously saved and changed them to walk in the newness of life. Children will not know the joy of the peace, unity, respect, and love Jesus can bring to homes. And worst of all, judgment will take them all by surprise because no one ever told them it was coming. Or if they’d heard it, they refused to believe it.