Weekly Walking

August 1, 2011 (Judges 15; Acts 19; Jeremiah 28; Mark 14)

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In Jeremiah 28 in get a glimpse into what Jeremiah thinks should lie at the heart of a prophetic ministry. In this chapter we have Jeremiah squaring off with on of the most prominent false prophets of his day, Hananiah. Hananiah had a very successful ministry of prophesying that which would tickle the ears of his audience. His message was basically (my paraphrase of course) ‘God loves us too much to allow us to suffer. We will certainly prosper!’ It was an old version of what is still around today – a classic ‘prosperity gospel.’ Jeremiah says that this kind of preaching is making God’s people trust in a lie (v.15).

Jeremiah, on the other hand is busy preaching “war, famine, and pestilence against many…” (v.8) Some might regard such preaching like they regard a sour, wet blanket. Why always such the frowning face, Jerry?

The reason Jeremiah preaches thusly is not because he does not want his people to prosper. Indeed he profusely “Amens” the sermon of Hananiah (v.5-9). He really hopes that what the false prophet says will come true. He just knows that it will not, because Holy God has said that it will not. And Holy God has said it will not because His people have become a profoundly unholy people. And whenever unholy people are trying to come to Holy God real prophets proclaim the gross reality of sin and its horrible consequences. They implore such sinners to flee the wrath to come.

So, having said all of that perhaps we should ask ourselves what kind of flavor does our “proclaiming” have to it. Can the people we share the gospel with not only sense the compassion in our voice but also the urgency we feel for their souls? Or do we present the gospel as one other alternative amongst an host of numerous options? “Why not trying Jesus if nothing else works for you?” Beyond this thought, what kind of preaching do we gravitate towards? Do we want to be entertained and have our ears tickled and leave with warm fuzzies knowing that our future is okay no matter what our lifestyle demonstrates? Or do we really welcome the rebukes of the word, realizing those rebukes are the very means God Almighty desires to use to keep us close to Him and faithful to the end?

August 2, 2011 (Judges 16; Acts 20; Jeremiah 29; Mark 15)

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I think it is instructive to read the letter that Jeremiah penned to the Babylonian exiles (Jer.29) while thinking through the New Testament reality that those who have chosen to align themselves with Jesus really are exiles in this world. We are exiled aliens. This world is not our home; it is not our final destination. We are just passing through (ex: Heb.11:8-11; Phil.3:20; 1 Pet.2:11). We should not live in this world as if this world were our all. Our attachment and allegiance to this world should not be what anchors us in this life. Indeed quite the opposite should be true of us. We should be so heavenly-minded that it effects all we say, think, and do here and now.

Having said all of this, what then should be our relationship to the current land in which we are exiled? Should we all quit our jobs and go join a monastery or go climb and tree and wait for the Lord to snatch us up? Or should we belittle our country and neglect service to it since we do not ultimately belong to it? I think the obvious answer to all of these questions is “No”! Listen to Jeremiah:

[4] “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: [5] Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. [6] Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. [7] But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Live normal life and serve the country where you live and while your marrying and raising and family and engaging in employment and serving your country should not take the primary place in your life, they should nevertheless find a prominent place.

August 3, 2011 (Judges 17, Acts 21, Jeremiah 30-31; Mark 16)

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So in Acts 21 Paul is on his way to Jerusalem feeling compelled by the Holy Spirit to go. On his way he makes a pit stop at Phillip the Evangelist’s house. While here a prophet named Agabus comes to Paul, wraps him up with his belt and tells Paul that this is what the Jewish people will do to him once he arrives there.

Now ask yourself what you would have done in that situation. I probably would have said something like, “Thank you Lord that you have sent your servant to warn me from walking into harms way. I thought I heard you, but obviously I did not because I know that you would never want me to walk into danger. Although you have already spoken clearly, decidedly, and finally about what you want me to do I guess I heard wrong. So, I will just sit here and wait for another plan to formulate.” This is not what Paul says. He says:

I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus (v.13).

We will probably not have the same direct revelation that Paul has had about going to Jerusalem. God does still speak thusly (i.e. in dreams and visions, etc.) but this is not the normal way He chooses to lead especially since His written revelation has been completed. We will always need to weigh the wisdom and counsel of other godly men and women as we decide our next move. When we, however, arrive at a certain degree of confidence, as to what that move is that the Lord desires let us pursue it with all we have! And if it appears to be a path laden with risk and danger let us dismiss it outright. Indeed this is often an indication that it certainly is from the Lord! Let us pursue His will with reckless abandon and leave the consequence to Him. It may be dangerous to follow Him, but it is more dangerous not to. (Reflect on the passage in 1 Kings 13 about the disobedient prophet, especially v.24)

August 4, 2011 (Judges 18; Acts 22; Jeremiah 32; Psalms 1-2)

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It is interesting to note that in Psalm 1 the “righteous” person is first described by what he does not do. He does not “walk”, “stand”, or “sit” with the wicked. Notice the downward progression. This is the perpetual motion that sin always leads its captors in. First we are casually walking in the advice of the wicked world. We start listening to how this world says we should plan for the future and live in the present. We listen so long that one day we find that our relationship with the world is no mere casual acquaintance but now we are “standing” in the very ways of sinners. Whereas before we merely listened to the world’s advice, now we do exactly what they do so much that our lives are indistinguishable. Eventually the inevitable happens to such a person, namely, he begins to reside (sit) with those who openly mock and ridicule God and his people and his ways.

I often say that I want to be more known for what I am for than for what I am against. This Psalm, however, cautions me to make sure I am known for what I am against. Both should be evident in the life of a Christ follower. Are they evident in you?

August 5, 2011 (Judges 19; Acts 23; Jeremiah 33; Psalms 3-4)

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In Jeremiah 33 the prophet is proclaiming a message of eventually restoration for God’s people. In this proclamation many truths deserve our attention today, but I would like to focus on just one. Feel free to go beyond this in your own meditation!

We must remember that Jeremiah’s original audience was on the brink of total destruction. In just a few more chapters we will read the account of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and most of its residents. As Jeremiah writes this (and preaches it) the people’s exile is all but inevitable. And yet, Jeremiah preaches … Hope. Hope to a people who are about to face the most trying ordeal that they have ever heard about? That is correct. God wants Jeremiah and his people to look beyond the impending disaster to the promises that await them in the future. These promises are as sure to come to pass as the sun rising (v.19-21) and culminate in the ‘Branch’ of David (v.15). Judgment is certainly coming. But judgment is never God’s last word to His people; mercy always is. Contemplating this, especially in the face of tragedy, is a large component of what it means to walk by faith.

August 6, 2011 (Judges 20; Acts 24; Jeremiah 34; Psalms 5-6)

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Fox-Hole Faith – That is the best summary description of Jeremiah 34.

In this chapter the king of Babylon has finally reached the gates of Jerusalem and has begun the arduous yet inevitable process of besieging a city. King Zedekiah and the rest of Jerusalem’s inhabitants are terrified! Jeremiah the prophet comes and delivers a message that basically says, “Repent, and prove your repentance by the good deed of setting all of your slaves at liberty.” King Zed and the rest of the folks obey the word from Jeremiah and release their slaves. Yeah, God’s people experienced genuine repentance and respond to His word with obedience… sort of.

Until the King of Babylon leaves the siege in order to go fight on another border. Then the people (v.11) take back their slaves! The pressure abates and the people rescind their promises of repentance and obedience. It is a clear example of Fox-Hole Faith. It is a tragedy and we are not immune. All of us are tempted to vow oaths that we think will please God if he will just “get us out of this mess.” Once, however, we are rescued from the “mess” we easily forget what we vowed. May we be characterized as a people whose repentance is not motivated by what mercy we can squeeze out of God, but rather by the mercy he has already lavished on us in Jesus Christ. If He never does another act of mercy for us for all eternity besides the Cross, than that is enough to wish like the hymn writer for “a thousand tongues to sing” our Great Redeemer’s Praise!

August 7, 2011 (Judges 21; Acts 25; Jeremiah 35; Psalms 7-8)

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Judges 17-21 serve as sort of an epilogue to the entire book. If in Joshua we see God’s faithfulness to his people in giving them promise land then in Judges we see the faithlessness of his people in possessing the land. Indeed, the children of Israel came into the land of Canaan to possess it and tragically Canaan ended up possessing them!

In these last 5 chapters we read a few horrific illustrations of this general truth. Some of the most “R” rated material found in the bible is found here. There is a reason why these 5 chapters are never featured in a VBS with each day of the week highlighting a different chapter. It is a tragic depiction of a people who have lost their spiritual moorings. What is the reason for all this?

It is hard to read these last chapters and not pick up on the constant refrain, indeed it is the statement that closes the book, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25 see also 17:6;18:1;19:1) This nation is in desperate need of a King on a throne full of power who will be able to govern the hearts of the people to fear the Lord always. Come to think of it, we are in desperate need of this as well. All of us, left to ourselves, do only what is right in our own eyes. We need someone to rule our souls and rule rightly. We need a King! The book of Judges closes with the reader longing for that king. The king was not found in Saul, and only in picture form was he found in David. The True King did not come until the entire Old Testament came to a close. Do you know His Name? Better yet, do you know His rule?

August 8, 2011 (Ruth 1; Acts 26; Jeremiah 36, 45; Psalm 9)

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Jeremiah 45 is a very short chapter with a very big message. In this chapter Baruch, the assistant to Jeremiah is lamenting what the impending judgment on Jerusalem means for him personally (v.3). The Lord answers his lament with this word:

[4] Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. [5] And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.

“Do you seek great things for yourself?” That is a rebuke that many of us living in our individualistic society need to take to heart (especially the one typing this). The whole nation is about to be destroyed and are you thinking about your little boat (or whatever else is appropriate) that will be confiscated?

Let us not labor to seek great things for ourselves. Let us labor to lay everything we have down to seek great things for His kingdom (c.f. Matt.6:33) and may the Lord give us grace to cause our hearts to be moved on behalf of our nation and countrymen on whom the Lord is preparing to pour His wrath!

August 9, 2011 (Ruth 2; Acts 27; Jeremiah 37; Psalm 10)

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So here is the situation in Acts 27. After being wrongly and unjustly accused of sedition Paul is arrested in the temple and beaten almost to death (Acts 21:27-36). He is then made a prisoner in a Roman jail and forced to stand before various government officials and counsels to defend his innocence (Acts 22-26). During this time Paul is mocked for his belief in a resurrected Messiah, wrongly held as prisoner in the hopes that someone might ransom him, and is the subject of a death plot that he just nearly escapes. So now he is bound on his way to Rome to appear before wicked Caesar to give an account of his innocence. The boat he is on goes through a violent storm (in which he advised them to wait before they set sail. His advice was not taken) and all the crewmembers fear that death is imminent.

As all this is happening Paul sees a vision from God and is told that he and all who were with him will make it to land alive and well.(v.22-24) Now here is the really amazing thing, namely, Paul’s response:

“So take heart men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.” (v.25)

What a basic definition of faith. Faith is really just believing what God tells you. It is taking Him at His word. And this simple faith in God works itself out in love towards others. Notice how Paul encourages the crew and helps them in their fears. True faith working itself out in real love. That is Christianity and it is what the world desperately needs to see.

August 10, 2011 (Ruth 3-4; Acts 28; Jeremiah 38; Psalms 11-12)

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Psalm 12 provides us with an excellent memory verse for today in our meditation:

“The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” (v.6)

August 11, 2011 (1 Samuel 1; Romans 1; Jeremiah 39; Psalm 13-14)

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Two of the passages interrelate in a way that is worthy of mention today. Psalm 14:1 says that “The Fool says in his heart that there is no god.” The Hebrew word behind what we render in the English as “fool” is much stronger than its English counterpart. The word does not signify only stupidity and ignorance but also moral perverseness. This is what Paul has in mind when he writes Romans 1:18-32. “Claiming to be wise they became fools” (v.22) and exchanged the obvious truth about God for lies of their own inventions. Atheists are fundamentally atheists because they have a moral problem, not an intellectual problem. When the truth is suppressed long enough and hard enough (v.18) it must be replaced by something else. And on God’s part when man is happy to indulge in such replacement He “gives them over to do so” (v.24,26,28). This is the most profound expression of God’s wrath (v.18) that is now being revealed. In light of this would it be more precise to say that God’s wrath is coming to our country, or has already come?

August 12, 2011 (1 Samuel 2; Romans 2; Jeremiah 40; Psalms 15-16)

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Romans 2:14-15 is often misinterpreted. Here is the text:

14] For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. [15] They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Some take this to mean that the proverbial man on the island or “noble savage” who has never heard the gospel or the name of Jesus may somehow be saved possibly. They assume this because Paul says that they “by nature do what the law requires.”, and their consciences defend them. This is not what Paul means. Listen to D.A. Carson on this point:

Paul is not arguing that there is a subset of Gentiles who are so good that their consciences are always clean, and therefore they will be saved. Rather, he is arguing that Gentiles everywhere have some knowledge of right and wrong, even though they do not have the law, and that this is demonstrated in the fact that they sometimes do things in line with the law, and have consciences that sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them. His argument is not that some are good enough to be saved, but that all display, by their intuitive grasp of right and wrong, an awareness of such moral standards… that they too have enough knowledge to be accountable.”

Paul will make explicitly clear later in this letter (10:17) that it is only faith in Jesus that saves. General revelation and our conscience is enough to condemn but not enough to bring about faith. So then, those of us who know this Jesus, what kind of attitude should that birth in us for those who have still not heard?

August 13, 2011 (1 Samuel 3; Romans 3; Jeremiah 41; Psalm 17)

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Romans 3:21-26 is one of the most beautiful descriptions of how the gospel works for us. After describing in chapters 1 and 2 how all (Jew and Gentile) are utterly hopeless before holy God Paul gives us this paragraph. Because of what God has done in sending His Son to bear the wrath for us we can now freely receive life and righteousness from Him. All we do is believe. This is why Paul then in v.27 rhetorically asks what place human boasting can now have. The answer is no place. Below are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs that elucidate this glorious truth. I boast no more by Caedmon’s Call. If you know it sing it this day, if not read the words and glorify God for His mercy!

No More My God, I boast no more

Of all the duties I have done

I quit the hopes I held before,

To trust the merits of Thy Son

No more my God 

I boast no more

Now, for the loss I bear his name, 

What was my gain I count my loss

 My former pride I call my shame

 And nail my glory to His cross

Yes, and I must, I will esteem All things but loss for Jesus' sake O may my soul be found in Him And of His righteousness partake Amen, amen

The best obedience of my hands 

Dares not appear before Thy throne 

But faith can answer Thy demands

 By pleading what my Lord has done

August 14, 2011 (1 Samuel 4; Romans 4; Jeremiah 42; Psalm 18)

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By 1 Samuel 4 God’s people are in a mess, nationally and spiritually. Nationally the fearsome Philistines are threatening invasion. Morally, the priesthood has been corrupted by Eli’s wicked sons, Hophni and Phinehas. What is the most deplorable thing, however, is the people’s view of God. It has become so distorted that they see God as nothing more than an oversized good luck charm meant to do their bidding when beckoned.

This is what is behind the Israelites decision to bring the ark of God into the battle with the Philistines (v.1-9). They think they can use God like a rabbits foot while they live any way they please. Well, God allows his ark (the symbol of His presence) to be captured, and allows the two wicked priests to be killed, and allows the High Priest Eli to die upon hearing the news. All this prompts the daughter in law of Eli to go into labor. Upon giving birth she names her child Ichabod.

When we read Ichabod we normally think of headless horsemen and sleepy hallow, but the word really means, “Where is the glory?” or “The glory has departed.” With all that had transpired, especially with the capturing of the ark of God it was as if His glory (His abiding and manifest presence) had left.

I wander how many churches in America today should be called “Ichabod Baptist”. Do we have a sense of God’s glory and presence when we meet or is it mere ritual? The answer to that question will depend, in large part, to how we view God. Indeed our view of God is the most important thing about us. Is our image of God nonsense or Biblical?

August 15, 2011 (1 Samuel 5-6; Romans 5; Jeremiah 43; Psalm 19)

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This meditation will build off yesterdays. Lest anyone think that the sacking of the ark of God means God’s defeat the author of Samuel gives us 1 Samuel 5-6. In these two chapters we have a description of how God decides to work by Himself for His own sake. God does not need His people to bring glory to His name. He is quite capable of winning glory to His name all by Himself. Indeed if we read our Bibles rightly we will understand that this is exactly God’s goal in all He does. We, God’s people, however have the privilege of being instruments in His hands. If, however, those instruments prove themselves worthless God is not obligated to use them.

Both with the pagans and with His own people God takes pains to cause His Name to be revered. The question asked in 6:20 is the main point of these two chapters, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this Holy God?” What is unfortunate is that those who ask this question do not intend to learn the ways of holiness and thus dwell with this Holy God. Rather, they ask this question as the preamble to getting rid of this holy God (the exact thing that the pagan Philistines did).

God will not be treated with contempt. It is sad however, when God tries to teach His people this truth and they respond by running farther away from Him. Are you being taught any hard lessons by the Lord right now? If so, is the “hardness” driving you toward Him or away from Him? (chew on Proverbs 3:11-12)

August 16, 2011 (1 Samuel 7-8; Romans 6; Jeremiah 44; Psalms 20-21)

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Why people ask for something is at least as important as what they ask for. It is not wrong in and of itself to ask for a rifle for Christmas (any ‘Amens’ from card-carrying NRA folks?). If the reason, however, one wants the rifle is to go to the local shopping center and start picking folks off as they get out of their vehicles then obviously this is wrong.

Such is the case in 1 Samuel 8 with the requests of the Israelites for a king. Indeed one of the things we saw at the end of the book of Judges was that the lack of a king was one of the major problems that led to the moral decadence in the land (see meditation for August 7). Moses himself even writes favorably about a time in which the Israelites will have a king (see Deut. 17:14-18). So why does the request by the Israelites for a king elicit the displeasure of Samuel and the Lord (v.6-9)?

The answer to that question is simple: Motive. It was not the request that was the problem but the reason for the request that displeased God and His prophet. Read the request again from the people:

“…appoint for us a king do judge us like all the nations.” (v.5-emphasis mine)

The reason the request was displeasing to God is because the people wanted to be like the world. They did not want a king to govern their hearts into more faithful obedience to Yahweh. They just saw the “stability” of what other nations had and they lusted after it. They desired worldly status more than privileged position as God’s special people.

I sure am glad that kind of silly praying was only for the Old Testament times…wait a minute, was it?

August 17, 2011 (1 Samuel 9; Romans 7; Jeremiah 46; Psalm 22)

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A “sinning Christian” is almost an oxymoron. Almost. I think one of the main truths we have to keep repeating to ourselves when it comes to our relationship with sin is that “while sin no longer reigns, it nevertheless remains”. Sin will remain with every believer until his final breath is expired on this earth. He (sin) no longer has mastery. He has been knocked off his throne and confined to the dungeons of our heart. Christ has broken his power over our lives, but he crawls around in those dungeons trying to regain strength and recapture the throne. For a true believer this sin prisoner will never finally succeed but he will make some vicious attempts that, at times, might rock us a bit.

This is the struggle that Paul is describing in Romans 7:13-25. Some do not think that this is referring to believers but it seems that the bulk of textual evidence would lead us to think that Paul is indeed referring to believers. Here are a few clues that lead us to that conclusion

· Paul shifts to the present tense here (and he is presently a believer when he writes)

· Unbelievers do not so intensely desire to keep God’s law (v.21) Believers do.

· There is distinction made between “I” and “the flesh” (v.18)

· Deliverance from the sinful body is though future, yet certain (v.24)

· The tension of v.25 coheres with experience.

· This best fits the Biblical “already/not yet” pattern.

We have already been delivered from the penalty of sin. We will one day be delivered from the presence of sin. Now, though we are being saved from the power of sin. It is a struggle. We are promised victory, and it will not come without our effort, but we are promised a certain victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Thanks be to Him (v.25)!

August 18, 2011 (1 Samuel 10; Romans 8; Jeremiah 47; Psalms 23-24)

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I love the comments that D.A. Carson has on Romans 8. Particularly he asks us to consider what we think Paul means when he calls us “more than conquerors” (v.37). Does this refer to a certain subset of Christian folks who are powerful in the confrontation of temptation, extremely faithful and victorious in their prayer lives, and mature in their walk with God and relationships with others? In short does this refer to “super-Christians”? No, he says. Instead of thinking that this phrase refers to an elite branch of Christianity we must remind ourselves that the passage refers to ALL believers in Christ. And the evidence that a person is one of these ordinary more than conquerors is that person persevering until the end. As Carson says:

“They persevere regardless of all opposition. That opposition may take the form of horrible persecution, of the kind that Scripture describes (v.35-38). It may be some other hardship, all the way to famine. The glories of life will not finally seduce them; the terrors of death will not finally sway them; neither the pressures of the present nor the frustrations of the future will destroy them (v.38). Neither human powers nor anything else in all creation, not even all the powers of hell unleashed, can ‘separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’”

Let us marinate in that truth today!

August 19, 2011 (1 Samuel 11; Romans 9; Jeremiah 48; Psalm 25)

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It is perhaps instructive at this point in our journey through the book of Jeremiah to summarize what Jeremiah is doing in chapters 46-51. One of the main points that Jeremiah is trying to make in his book is that Yahweh is the only God and He is sovereign over not just Israel, but all nations (see 27:1-15). Because of His singularity and His sovereignty He has the authority to judge all nations and He most certainly will do so. Chapters 46-51 is a smattering of this global judgment being prophesied.

Here in Jeremiah 48 the particular nation in question is Moab. The relationship of Moab with Israel dates back quite a ways. Moab began with the lewd episode of Lot and his daughters (Gen.19:30-38). In Moses’ day Moab opposed Israel when they attempted to pass through their territory (Numbers 22-25). In the days of David Moab served Israel (2 Sam.8:2), and in Zedekiah’s day Moab plotted with Judah in an attempt to resist Babylon (Jer. 27:3). Here in this chapter Jeremiah proclaims that God will judge Moab for its arrogance and idolatry (v.1-10), make Moab ashamed of its god (v.11-20), silence her boasting (v.21-44) and ….someday RESTORE her (v.45-47)!

Let us, then, remind ourselves of a few glorious truths.

First, our God is the only God. There is none besides Him. Second, He will hold the nations accountable to how they respond to the offer of His gospel. Third, His heartbeat towards this world is mercy. He longs to restore and bring the nations to Himself.

If these things are so how then are we reflecting His mercy? Are we extending it to those nations that need to hear of it?

August 20, 2011 (1 Samuel 12; Romans 10; Jeremiah 49; Psalms 26-27)

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Psalm 27:1 has been the subject of various hymns and choruses and rightly so. It is a very good reminder of how our hearts should feel when in trouble.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Light is a powerful symbol for almost everything good: truth, knowledge, joy, purity, etc. This “light” is linked with “salvation”. The light is the security. Every child knows how comforting it is to have a light on in the midst of a very dark room. In that sense the Lord is our eternal Night-Light. He is our great security! Lean on Him today.

August 21, 2011 (1 Samuel 13; Romans 11; Jeremiah 50; Psalms 28-29)

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It is difficult to know exactly how Saul was in the wrong in 1 Samuel 13:8-15. Some interpreters of the Bible think that this act of “not waiting” on Samuel is the same command that Samuel gave to Saul back in 10:8. Others think that the 10:8 statement occurred several years earlier and this command in chapter 12, though similar, is a separate command. In that case some contend that what Saul transgressed was the command for only priests to offer sacrifices (Num.18:7). Still some say that Saul disobeyed the general command to wait for God’s will to be expressed through His prophet. It is hard to tell.

What is clear, however, is that Saul disobeyed something. He knows it. Samuel knows it. And the author wants us to know it. We know he has disobeyed not only because the text explicitly says so (v.13) but also because he immediately starts making excuses. “The people are leaving, the enemy is growing stronger, I have not performed my religious duty, so let me get it over with.” Saul actually says that he “forced” himself to offer the sacrifice. (v.12)

What Saul is really doing is displaying the false nature of his belief in Yahweh. Notice how he is swayed by circumstances. Notice also how he tries to rely on some religious ritual in order to curry God’s favor (much like the Israelites from chapter 4 who thought of God as a big rabbits foot).

True belief in God does not try to manipulate God to get him to do our bidding. Nor does true belief in God allow one’s self to be shaken by the daunting circumstances that surround. True belief in God says, “I believe you are who you say you are. No giant can stand in my way if you are on my side. Here I am use me for your glory.” I think we might encounter a little shepherd boy pretty soon that talks this way.

August 22, 2011 (1 Samuel 14; Romans 12; Jeremiah 51; Psalm 30)

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The book of Romans is the weightiest tome of theology ever compressed into one letter. It has been instrumental at many stages of church history in realigning the Church’s thoughts on God. Time and time again the theology found here has brought the followers of Christ back to a orthodox understanding of the Gospel. And the first 11 chapters are pure, logical, theological arguments. But then we get to chapter 12.

In Romans 12 there is a turning point. From here until the rest of the book Paul leaves his theological discoursing and speaks very practically. In other words, he begins to show how a proper understanding of theology should work itself out into the lives of Christians. Indeed if our Theology (study of God) does not find expression in Doxology (worship) then all the former will do is puff us up in pride.

That is why Paul begins the chapter the way he does, namely, by saying that because of the beautiful mercy displayed by God on our behalf (v.1) we should now offer our bodies as living sacrifices! The rest of the chapter and book will flesh out what this means . The question I want to pose to us today is, “Will our Bible reading today usher me into worship (both with my lips and life)?” If not we are not where Paul (and Jesus) wants us.

August 23, 2011 (1 Samuel 15; Romans 13; Jeremiah 52; Psalm 31)

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1 Samuel 15:22 deserves to be memorized today if you do not have it already.

“Has the Lord as great delight in burn offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”

This is a drum we beat often and rightly so. When will we understand that even the best forms of sacrifice (see 1 Cor.13:1-3) without obedience working through love gains us nothing? Ritualistic observance to external expectations and commands is not what the Lord is after. He wants internal passion for Him fueling the outward actions of piety in such a way that others are blessed and He is honored. Let us be diligent in praying for God to make our worship (corporate and private) to mirror this attitude!

August 24, 2011 (1 Samuel 16; Romans 14; Lamentations 1; Psalm 32)

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Not everything is “black and white” in the Christian life. There are many “Gray” issues when it comes to walking in the liberty that Christ has purchased for us. What movies should believers watch? What type of clothes should they wear? What should they eat and drink? And we could go on and on. Romans 14:13-23 is one place that addresses those issues, or rather gives us the principles whereby we may evaluate any “gray” issue that may come up. There are a couple of things to keep in mind.

First, if I think something is gray and the word says that it is black and white, then I am wrong and I am sinning to participate in the activity. Even if I am unaware of the prohibition against stealing it is still sinful for me to steal. Often times what Christians call “gray” is really “black and white”. They just do not know their Bibles well enough to recognize it.

Second, on the truly “gray” issues if I “think” it is wrong to do it then it is wrong for me (v.23). It is never safe to go against conscience. If my little Jimminy Cricket is telling me that what I am about to do is a “no no” and I go ahead any way then I have just sinned. I have not acted in “faith”. Now, my conscience may need to be instructed. It may still be weak and not know the degree of Christian liberty like it should. Until it learns the lesson, though, the deed is wrong. It is not until my conscience can say “go for it” can I go for it.

Third, even if the Word does not condemn a certain action, and my conscience does not condemn a certain action the certain action may nevertheless still be sin for me IF by my participation in the action I cause another fellow believer to stumble (v.15-16, 20-22). Grant it, this stumbling brother may need to have his conscience instructed by the word, but until it is I must refrain so as not to cause him to sin. Just as v.7 states, we are all connected. What I do will affect my brothers and sisters.

Finally, the goal in all of actions should be to do that which will build up our brothers and sisters the most (v.19).

August 25, 2011 (1 Sameul 17; Romans 15; Lamentations 3; Psalm 33)

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This meditation will build off of August 22^nd’s. We said there that our Theology (study of God) should issue forth into doxology (worship). If it does not then something is wrong. But doxology is not the final stop. Once our Theology is enflamed into Doxology it should launch us out into missiology (doing missions)! In other words, if we are thinking rightly about GOD it will lead us to worshiping God and to a desire to want as many others to worship Him as we can get to worship Him.

Indeed this is the reason why Paul says he is writing to the Romans (15:22-29). Paul wants this theological treatise to cause hearts of worship that spill out into mission (specifically in this case – to Spain). So will what you read in the word today motivate you to share it with others? If not you (I) are missing the point of the Bible!

August 26, 2011 (1 Samuel 18; Romans 16; Lamentations 3; Psalm 34)

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The book of Lamentations is a book of poetical descriptions of disparity. 5 laments. 5 dirges with powerful images that reinforce a small number of burning truths. This books deals with the calamity that rightly befell a guilty nation before Holy God. The people of God were disobedient, so God punished them, and they not only deserve it but know that they deserve it. Yet there are a few glimmers of joy and hope sprinkled throughout the book. One comes today in chapter 3:22-27. Here Jeremiah remarks that it is a sheer mercy that they even still exist. They deserve to be totally annihilated. But the Lord’s mercies are new every morning and His faithfulness is great (even when His people’s faithfulness is not). This is a good word for our hearts today.

August 27, 2011 (1 Samuel 19; 1 Corinthians 1; Lamentations 4; Ps. 35)

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Here is a good memory passage for today:

1 Corinthians 1:26-31:

[26] For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. [27] But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; [28] God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. [30] And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, [31] so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

August 28, 2011 (1 Samuel 20; 1 Corinthians 2; Lamentations 5; Psalm 36)

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It is easy to read Lamentations 5 and think something to the effect, “We already know this.” We read this chapter right after reading Jeremiah and we hear the same themes: sin is in the camp of God’s people, consequently judgment is threatened, and then finally because the people do not repent judgment is enacted. This chapter is just saying what so many other portions of Old Testament revelation seem to be saying. At least that is what we think (come on, I know I’m not the only one). And we scan it as quickly as possible hoping that Ezekiel will give us some relief. Listen to how one scholar sums up this attitude of ours:

That is part of the problem, isn’t it? Read this chapter again, slowly, thoughtfully. Of course, it is tied to Israel six centuries before Christ, to the destruction of her cities and land and temple, to the onset of the exile. But listen to the depth and persistence of the pleas, the repentance, the personal engagement with God, the cultural awareness, the acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and justice, the profound recognition that the people must be restored to God himself if return to the land is to be possible, let alone meaningful (v.21). Then compare this with the brands of Christian confessionalism with which you are most familiar. In days of cultural declension, moral degradation, and large-scale ecclesiastical frittering, is our praying like that of Lamentations 5? Have the themes of the Major Prophets so burned into our minds and hearts that our passion is to be restored to the living God? Or have we ourselves become so caught up in the spirit of this age that we are content to be rich in information and impoverished in wisdom and godliness?

August 29, 2011 (1 Samuel 21-22; 1 Cor. 3; Ezekiel 1; Ps.37)

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One of the most abused verses in all the Bible is Psalm 37:4

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Some take this to mean that if they just delight in God then He will give them a nice new Cadillac or something like that. Nothing could be further from what this verse is speaking towards. What this Psalm is saying is that once we truly start delighting in the Lord properly He will give us all our hearts desires. And the reason He will give us all our heart desires is because our hearts will be desiring what God wants us to desire.

So we worry not about getting our desires. We worry about finding our delight in God. The great part about this is that once we truly delight in God then we can be confident that what our hearts desire is from Him. He shapes our desires when we feast on Him.

August 30, 2011 (1 Samuel 23; 1 Cor.4; Ezekiel 2; Psalm 38)

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1 Corinthians 4:7b is a good verse for prosperous folks to remember: “what do you have that you did not receive? If then you did receive it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

August 31, 2011 (1 Samuel 24; 1 Cor.5; Ezekiel 3; Psalm 39)

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1 Corinthians 5 is instructive on the oft quoted axiom: “We are to be in the world and not of the world.” This is our motto and this chapter shows that we are to hold each other accountable to maintaining this balance!

April 1, 2011 (Lev. 4; Psalms 1-2; Prov. 19; Col. 2)

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Psalm 2 is what some people call a royal or a Messianic Psalm. It is called this because it speaks about God’s chosen Messiah who will one day rule and reign over all the nations. We know this to be none other than Jesus Christ. In light of the fact that He will reign the Psalm encourages all of us to some particular actions. Verses 10-12 outline the actions that the Psalmist is encouraging us to take. There are basically three actions: serve Him with fear, rejoice with trembling, and Kiss the Son. The Kiss that he speaks of is a kiss of homage. What the Psalmist is calling us to do is what the ‘rulers’ in this Psalm refuse to do, namely, bow before Christ and honor Him as He is.

To Kiss the Son means that we bow before Him and give Him adoration as our rightful king. Rebellious man will not do this. I pray that you will not be found to be in that rebellious number. Remember that the hands that Jesus holds out for you to kiss in homage are nail pierced hands that bled for you. One day He is coming to crush in His wrath all those who rebel against Him, but today is a day of His grace. Do not despise it! “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” (v.12)

April 2, 2011 (Leviticus 5; Psalms 3-4; Proverbs 20; Colossians 3)

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The first part of Colossians 3:16 is worthy of our memorization this week, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” What does this mean? Here is what one N.T. scholar says about this verse:“[It means that the word of Christ] is to fill our memories, occupy our horizons, constitute our priorities. We are to reflect on it, as we turn it over in our minds and learn how it applies in every area of our lives, that, far from occupying a little religious corner of our experience, it will dwell in us richly.” (D.A. Carson) Well said.

April 3, 2011 (Lev. 6; Ps. 5-6; Prov.21; Col. 4)

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In running a race it is always good to have a good kick, a good ending. It really doesn’t matter how a person starts a race. What is important is how a person finishes the race. Much of this can be applied to our spiritual lives. Already in Colossians Paul has told us that faithfulness to the end is essential in the Christian life. He told the Colossians, “you, who once were alienated…[Christ] has now reconciled…IF indeed you continue in the faith.” (2:21-23) The fact that we stay the course to the end is proof that our faith is genuine.

There are many who start the race and never finish. Jesus had His Judas and even Paul has some with him who make a good show initially but who fall away before the race is over. Such is the case of one of Paul’s traveling companions, Demas. In Colossians 4:14 Paul tells the church that this man greets them. If this man is greeting them by the pen of Paul it means that he is in step with what Paul stands for, it means he is a professing follower of Christ. If this were all we knew about this man this meditation would be pointless. Sadly, however, the New Testament tells us that this same Demas later fell in love with the world and deserted both Paul and the Christian faith he once stood for. (See 2 Timothy 4:10)

What should we glean from this? We should first of all realize that not all who make professions of faith are genuinely converted. It is the one who endures to the end that will, in Jesus’ words, be saved (Mark 13:13). So, does this mean we should go around doubting other’s salvation? No, not unless they give evidence to the fact that they have indeed abandoned the faith. Even Paul did not know that Demas was a phony until his love for the world was manifested. It means we should constantly hold our brothers and sisters accountably as they do us to stay close to Jesus. It means we must never think so highly of ourselves that we forget that the Vine holds us up and not the other way around. It means we must constantly have our eyes on Jesus from start to finish of this race called life. Look to Him today!

April 4, 2011 (Lev. 7; Ps. 7-8; Prov. 22; 1 Thessalonians 1)

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Proverbs don’t have footnotes. A footnote is a note of explanation that alerts a reader to some additional information that might help clarify what has just been read. Proverbs don’t offer these, and therefore we need to be aware of some basic “Proverbs rules” when reading this book. Perhaps the most helpful of these rules is that the Proverbs tell us in generalities how God has wired the universe to work. It does not offer to us the exceptions to these general rules. The book gives us principles to help us conform to God’s ways. It does not give us a “tit-for-tat” set of statements that apply universally in every situation.

Proverbs 22:6 is perhaps the most famous example of what I am talking about. This verse says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” This means that when children go wrong very often one can find issues in their upbringing that played a part in their wayward life. Very often some, if not much blame can be laid at the door of the parents of rebellious children for the conduct of those children. Some rebellious children, however, came from great, Godly stock. What are we to do in these situations? What we are to do is not to treat this as a promise that fails some of the time. What we are to do is to treat this like….well, like a Proverb. It is a general principle of how God has structured life. This is the norm. It is not universal, but it is the default. This is typically how families work. With a proper understanding of this verse how do you think those families that you know of with rebellious children should look at the situation?

April 5, 2011 (Lev. 8; Ps. 9; Prov. 23; 1 Thess. 2)

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Proverbs 23:17-18 is an excellent passage to chew on today. “Let not your heart envy sinners.” In other words, “Do not let Hollywood charm you.” The passage continues with, “continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.” Make pleasing the Lord your top priority. Why? Because, “surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” Make fearing the Lord your top priority because the reality is that this vapor like life is going to be over very, very soon. And when this life is over one’s eternal destiny will be determined by how much value he or she placed on following in the fear of the Lord!

April 6, 2011 (Lev. 9; Ps. 10; Prov. 24; 1 Thess. 3)

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Many of the Psalms, like Psalms 10, are prayers and should be used as guides for us in our communion with the Father. Much of this Psalm, however, sounds like someone groaning about how much the wicked are prospering and how much they are suffering. Are we to pray that way? In a word, Yes. This is called a lament.

A lament is simply an expression of grief offered up to God. It is simply the reflex of the broken heart and God loves to hear His children crying out to Him when their hearts have been broken. This does not mean that He loves to hear His children writhe in pain. Not at all! What He loves is when His children, even in their pain, cry out to Him in hope! (see v.16-18)

April 7, 2011 (Lev. 10; Ps. 11 - 12; Prov. 25; 1 Thess. 4)

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Sometimes we are guilty of worshiping the right God the wrong way. God does not like when we do this because it mars His holy character. It does not show Him the proper respect that is due Him. This is what is happening in Leviticus 10:1-3. In this passage Aaron’s two oldest sons offered “unauthorized [or strange] fire” before the Lord. For this action the Lord struck them down and they died. What!! Is this not a bit extreme? I mean were they not just trying to spice up the worship service a little bit?

There are many reasons why this is not extreme. Perhaps the main reason is that God had repeatedly said that everything connected with the tabernacle worship must be done exactly according to the pattern that was provided for Moses on the mountain. God expects to be obeyed. God expects to have no rivals. God expects this because he is God. This, ultimately, is what is at stake here. Is God really God?

Moses and Aaron realize this. This is why Aaron does not mourn, publically at least, the deaths because, “by those who come near to me I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people I must be glorified.”(v.3) How do you think we might be able to regard God as holy today?

April 8, 2011 (Lev. 11 - 12; Ps. 13 - 14; Prov. 26; 1 Thess. 5)

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“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thess. 5:28)

This is how Paul ends most of his letters. I find it very encouraging. It is not just some formal benediction that Paul thought he needed to tack on to the end of all his letters just to have a good ending. It is rather a prayer that God would continue to meet the believers with grace to face the challenges of the days ahead. Paul knew that he could not cover everything there was to cover about the Christian life in 5 chapters! He knew that these Thessalonians, and we, would face challenges and be put in situations in which no direct Bible verse speaks to. What are we to do in these situations? We are to rely on the grace that God supplies to discern, according to biblical principals, what is the most God-honoring action in each specific situation.

God is the one who has created us and redeemed us and He is the one who will sustain us, by His grace, in all the unknowns of today and all the rest of our “todays” for as long as we shall live.

April 9, 2011 (Leviticus 13; Psalm 15-16; Proverbs 27; 2 Thess. 1)

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Leviticus 13 and14 focus on the issue of leprosy and how to deal with those who are afflicted by this horrible disease. What must be understood when reading this chapter is that Leprosy in bible times is not the same disease that we call leprosy today. Leprosy today (Hansen’s disease) was unknown to the readers of Leviticus. This disease has to do with the impairment of one’s nerve endings. The leprosy of the bible, on the other hand, was some form of skin disease. A person having leprosy was “unclean” (v.8) and was forced to live “alone and outside the camp.” (v.46) These lepers were required to go around with their heads uncovered, cover their mouths, and cry out “unclean, unclean” (v.4) which were all signs of mourning in the Old Testament. This conduct was to show that Lepers were symbolically dead and needed to be isolated from the “living” community. Chapter 14 tells how cleansing is needed to restore such a person to that “living” community.

What a rich picture of how each of us are in our sinful states. We are dead and isolated from those that are truly alive. We stand in need of cleansing, of something that can wash away our disease for good. Praise God that Jesus touches lepers (see Mark 1:41) and by His blood, brings us the cleansing that we so desperately need.

April 10, 2011 (Lev. 14; Ps. 17; Prov. 28; 2 Thess. 2)

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The word, “Trinity” is not in the bible, but the truth of the Trinity is all over it! The doctrine of the Trinity states that there is One God who makes Himself known in Three persons: the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. In simple terms we can say that God is One “what” and Three “whos”. He is the great three in One! Our minds might not be able to comprehend how this is true, but this is what the bible reveals about the nature of God and we should be content to let the mystery of it remain mystery.

Even though we can not fully comprehend and explain how our One God can and does exist in Three persons we can be sure that this is true. The reason for our confidence comes as we read about the nature and work of each person of the God-head in the Holy Scriptures. For instance, look at 2 Thessalonians 2:13. In this verse Paul is giving thanks to God for the faith of the Thessalonians. He says, “we give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit, and belief in the truth.”

Each person of the God-head plays a role in our salvation. The Father chooses us, the Son loves us, and the Spirit makes us holy! Chew on that truth today and see if it does not enhance the way you think about God.

April 11, 2011 (Lev. 15; Ps. 18; Prov. 29; 2 Thess. 3)

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“God bless our missionaries.” We hear this a lot when we have prayer for those who have felt a call to cross cultures with the goal of spreading the gospel. They go and we stay home and pray for them, and usually the above prayer is about all we ever offer on their behalf. Surely there is a more fruitful way of praying for those who stand in desperate need of our prayers! Indeed, the Bible offers us many guidelines that we can and should use as models to help us pray in a God-honoring way especially when it relates to our prayers on behalf of those who have gone.

One such guideline can be found in 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2. Here Paul, a missionary of the gospel, asks for prayer from the Thessalonian church. He asks for prayer and then tells them how to specifically pray. He says, “pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored…and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.” Paul’s first priority is for the gospel. He wants it to go forth with no hindrances. He wants it to be acknowledged as true and embraced by those who hear it. Paul knows that when one hears the truth that person will either accept it or reject it. He is asking for prayer that people will accept it. He is also asking that when people reject it and become hostile to it that Paul and his buddies will be kept safe from their hostility.

“O Father, please use our missionaries on the field. Use them to spread your gospel message with truth and integrity. Help them learn the languages and cultures they need to learn so that they might be better equipped to proclaim your truth and may that truth be embraced by all who hear! And Lord we know that they are going to face hostility. We know they will be opposed. We ask that you would protect them from those people inspired by the evil. Keep them from the wicked plans of those who do not embrace Christ, and use their safety as a means to the end of further gospel saturation all over this globe. We ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.”

April 12, 2011 (Lev. 16; Ps. 19; Prov. 30; 1 Timothy 1 )

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If God did not choose to communicate with us there would be no way that we could ever find out information about Him. This would be horrible! Thankfully God has chosen to communicate to us. He has chosen to reveal Himself to us. He does this in two ways. We often refer to these two ways as General Revelation and Special Revelation. Psalm 19 is a beautiful description of both of these modes of divine communication. The first 6 verses tell how God has put His fingerprints all over His creation. Verses 7-11 then tell us how God has communicated to our souls in His written (special revelation) word! The last 3 verses show us how we should respond to this glorious revelation God has made known to us. We should recognize our own failure, rely on God’s forgiveness, and seek protection from the domination of sin!

April 13, 2011 (Lev. 17; Ps. 20-21; Prov. 31; 1 Tim. 2)

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Proverbs 31 can, at times when read, be very depressing! It seems like almost every mother’s day these verses are marshaled out of the bible and presented to women as the standard they are to keep if they ever hope to be good wives and mommies. Women hear about this women, “rising while it is still night” (v.15), “With the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard” (v.16), and “her lamp does not go out at night” (v.18) and think, “Is it not godly to ever sleep!?!?”

When men and young men read this there is a danger as well, especially when we properly understand that this chapter was meant to serve as a picture for men of what a good wife should look like. Men read this and think, “I guess I need to stay single….I can never find this woman” What we need to understand in reading this chapter is that the woman pictured in this chapter is not a real woman. This chapter was never intended to be anything more than a sample of what is ideal in a godly woman. It was never expected that any one woman would look exactly like this in every respect. This woman should be the goal but should never be a measuring rod by which we judge ourselves or others. Where we fail in reflecting this godly woman (and guys can use her as an example in many respects as well) we should repent of those shortcomings and turn to Christ who perfectly embodies all of God’s righteousness on our behalf!

April 14, 2011 (Lev.18; Ps. 22; Ecclesiastes 1; 1 Tim. 3 )

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“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” This second verse of the book of Ecclesiastes gives us a preview of what the whole book is about. The word, “vanity” in some form is used 38 times in this book. It’s meaning, literally is “vapor” and conjures up the idea of that which is fading away quickly. It should be taken in slightly different ways in the book depending on the context in which it is used.

When the word is used in those contexts which talk about life’s pursuits it should be taken to mean that “the present form of this world is passing away” (see 1 Cor.7:31). In some contexts this word is used to indicate the “preacher’s” frustration in trying to figure out life’s mysteries (see 1:14-15). Sometimes the word refers to the frustration and anger and sorrow that we feel from living in a fallen world. This is why it is important whenever we read this book that we always have the conclusion in our minds (See ch. 12:13-14). What really counts in life is living in such a way that we obey what God commands out of a heart that fears Him and recognizes Him for who He is. Any other life lived, as this book shows, is a life lived in vain!

April 15, 2011 (Lev. 19; Ps. 23-24; Ecc. 2; 1 Tim. 4)

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Here is the memory verse for this week, Leviticus 19:2. “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Holy means set apart, unique and distinct. This is what God is. He is not like the rest of creation around us, and because we belong to Him we should not be either. We should be like Him. We should act like Him. We should be holy. This is our fundamental calling!

April 16, 2011 (Leviticus 20; Psalm 25; Ecclesiastes 3; 1 Timothy 5)

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Psalm 25 is an acrostic psalm of David. This means that each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. One famous acrostic most of us are familiar with is GRACE (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense). This acrostic Psalm is a prayer in which David asks the Lord to meet a variety of needs.

David finds himself in danger of his enemies’ taunts. David openly trusts in the Lord and his enemies think that trust is utterly foolish. This is not too much different from the situation that we, as believers, find ourselves in today. We follow a risen Savior who has promised to return one day for us to put all wrongs right. The world thinks such hope is foolish. Furthermore this worldly point of view often shows itself in violent action and/or words towards those who hold to such hope. How are we to sustain our hope in the face of such hostile treatment?

We must do as David did. Notice he did not wallow in self-pity. He prays. He prays for guidance (v.4-5) and for forgiveness (v.6-7; 16-21), and expresses his trust in the Lord’s friendship (v.v.12-15) while praising Him for his mercy and goodness (v.8-11). Very instructive! Maturity comes when we start to pray like this.

April 17, 2011 (Lev. 21; Ps. 26-27; Ecc.4; 1 Tim. 6)

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Psalm 27: 4 says, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” This would be a great memory verse for this week. What is David saying here though?

Well, he is not saying that he wants to spend all of his time in church. What he is saying is that he wants to spend all his time in the presence and blessing of the living God who revealed Himself most truly and fully (up to that point in salvation history) in the temple. He is saying He wants to be caught up in God all the time.

How would we, this side of the cross, pray this prayer? Well, think of how God has fully and finally revealed Himself. 2 Cor.4:6 tells us that God has fully revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. The Christian praying David’s prayer would say, “One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek; that I may dwell with Christ and in Christ all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of Christ.”

That is our prayer. But we are not just to pray passively. We are to seek that which we pray for. So today, pray that you might be drawn closer to Christ and then seek his face with all that you have!

April 18, 2011 (Lev. 22; Ps.28-29; Ecc. 5; 2 Tim. 1)

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2 Timothy is probably the last book that the Apostle Paul wrote before he was beheaded by Nero around 67 A.D. It is his “Swan’s Song”. It is his final message. Notice he does not try and recruit the prayer warriors from the group in Acts 12 who “prayed” Peter out of prison. He really does not seem concerned with his own welfare at all. He is totally at peace that his God is in control of his fate (see 4:16-18).

What I find amazing about this letter is that Paul is writing to encourage his young protégé and child in the faith, Timothy. Paul is in distress and yet he seeks to encourage others. It convicts me about my conduct when I suffer. I am afraid that I do not usually respond to my suffering by trying to encourage someone else. Perhaps that may be one of the many reasons I find the level of Paul’s joy, at times, mind baffling. Any Amens?

April 19, 2011 (Lev. 23; Ps. 30; Ecc. 6; 2 Tim. 2 )

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Psalm 30:5 is very well known and deserves to be memorized.

“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning.”

Rejoice as you feast on this today!

April 20, 2011 (Lev. 24; Ps. 31; Ecc. 7; 2 Tim. 3)

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2 Timothy 3:16 is one of the great 3:16 s” of the bible. It summarily describes what the Word is and its effect. It is the only thing that will “equip the man of God for every good work.” Do you believe this? Do you live like the Word is the only thing that will provide you with the tools of life?

April 21, 2011 (Lev. 25; Ps. 32; Ecc. 8; 2 Tim. 4 )

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When you close your eyes and think of the most blessed thing imaginable what comes to mind? Notice what David says in Psalm 32:1:

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

If we have God’s forgiveness we have everything. If we do not, we have nothing else of worth!

April 22, 2011 (Lev. 26; Ps. 33; Ecc. 9; Titus 1)

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We might be tempted to read Leviticus 26 and hear how God promises blessing for obedience and punishment for disobedience and simply relegate such notions in our minds to some obsolete “Old Testament” box that does not apply any more. We now live in the New Covenant, we might subconsciously think. This blessing being contingent on obedience deal no longer applies we might assume. Let us beware of doing so!

Obedience is still required under the New Covenant even though some of the stipulations to be obeyed have been changed. The reason behind this is that the New Covenant brings with it a new nature for its recipients! And though we will not attain perfection until Jesus comes there will be some degree of transformation. Any other alternative is completely unthinkable to the New Testament authors.

So strive to obey, by the grace of God, today!

April 23, 2011 (Leviticus 27; Psalm 34; Ecclesiastes 10; Titus 2)

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Training is hard. Think about the various forms of training you have experienced at one time or another in your life. No doubt the times have been strenuous. Perhaps it was intense physical training for some sort of athletic event. Perhaps you exerted some extreme mental energy in trying to memorize lines for a play or get ready for a test. The principal is almost universally accepted, namely, that if one desires to succeed in any area of life that success will usually come at a cost. The simple way to say this is, “No pain; no gain.”

If this is so, and it is, why do we sometimes go about our Christian lives with little or no effort whatsoever in striving after holiness? This should not be so. Indeed, there is a great amount of effort that is involved in our striving to become more like Christ. This is what Titus 2:11-14 teaches us. The grace of God “trains” or “teaches” us to become godly people. Often we want to simply cling to “saving” grace. But “saving” grace always comes with “training” grace. Grace saves us and makes us holy. The two go together.

April 24, 2011 (Numbers 1; Psalm 35; Ecc. 11; Titus 3)

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One of the most beautiful descriptions of what has happened in our salvation is found in Titus 3:3-7. Read this passage today slowly and repeatedly until all that God has done for you has sunk deep into your heart. Among other truths this passage teaches us that, though we were once foolish and disobedient to God, He did not deal with us according to our works, but instead caused His goodness and loving kindness to appear to us. This goodness and loving-kindness manifested itself in the Savior washing us and the Holy Spirit renewing us. The end result of all this is that we, who were once rebels, now have become eternal heirs of God. What beautiful truth! Notice , however, the ethical change Paul says this truth should cause in us (verses 8-10).

April 25, 2011 (Num. 2; Ps. 36; Ecc. 12; Philemon)

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Psalm 36:7-9 would be another good passage to memorize this week. It reads,

“How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.”

Take this as an invitation to come and quench your thirsty soul today in the living God who remains steadfast in His love and faithfulness to all who come into the light of His Son. Take the invitation and then come….and drink your fill.

April 26, 2011 (Num. 3; Ps. 37; Song of Songs 1; Hebrews 1)

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There are some verses of the bible that are so brutally misquoted that all true meaning of what God wanted us to understand from those passages is lost. One such verse is Psalm 37 :4 , “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

This verse rightly teaches that God will give you whatever you desire. It does not, however, teach that he will give you things you desire that are birthed from a selfish, wicked delight. In other words if you desire to have a new car and think that all you have to do is “claim” this promise in order to get one then you are not understanding this verse properly. God promises to grant the desires of those who are first delighting in Him. As we delight in the Lord then our hearts will desire the right thing. So if, after delighting ourselves in the Lord, we still find that there is a desire for a car so that we can use it for ministry and the glory of God then that is the kind of desire God delights to fulfill.

April 27, 2011 (Num. 4; Ps. 38; S.O.S 2; Heb. 2)

2011-03-23T02:30:00.002-06:00

The book of the Song of Solomon is a book about courtship and the intimacy of marriage. God is not afraid of these subjects. He invented, marriage, relationships, and sex. We are not being biblical when we act as if these are taboo subjects to discuss. God wants us to know His blueprint and plan in these areas. There is much that can be said about what we find in this short book but let me, for now, focus on one verse found in chapter 2 (v.15)

“Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.”

In this verse the courtship of the couple in this book is being described. In other words, they are not married yet. They are preparing for marriage. Their relationship is thus being described as a vineyard that is blossoming. There is a problem though. There is a potential danger for this vineyard to be destroyed before if comes into full blossom. The danger is “the little foxes”. What does this mean?

It means that those things that destroy a relationship (by destroy I mean spoil it with impurity) are the little things. . The message is that no committed Christian young girl wakes up one day and decides that she will sleep with her boyfriend tonight. No committed Christian young man decides that tonight he will push the physical envelope too far. It is never so loud as that. It is always subtle. It is always a small thing that leads to that big decision. Maybe a late night with no one else around. Maybe too much time “sharing” each other’s hearts. Maybe just one more step physically. The little foxes must be caught, and they must be killed! And for those of us whom our vine has already matured we must be on the lookout for potential foxes in the lives of those who still have tender grapes!

April 28, 2011 (Num. 5; Ps. 39; S.O.S 3; Heb. 3 )

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I am glad to have the privilege of writing these devotions every month. They cause me to realize many things, but one of the things they cause me to realize is just how much some themes of the bible are constantly being presented in almost every book. One of those themes resurfaces in Hebrews 3:12-14. This passage calls on us to encourage each other lest we fall prey to the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is tricky and we need the vantage points of our brothers and sisters to help us see our blind spots and encourage us out of the pits when we fall into them. This is one of the ways God has designed us to persevere in the faith.

And that is the recurring theme, namely, perseverance. True believers always persevere. They keep believing and trusting and treasuring Christ to the very end of their days. This is almost on every page of the bible. Verse 14 says, “we have come to share in Christ IF indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” That is a big “IF”. It should cause us to, anew, examine ourselves to see if we are genuine!

April 29, 2011 (Num. 6; Ps. 40-41; S.O.S. 4; Heb. 4)

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Numbers 6:22-27 gives us one of the most beautiful and most often used blessings of the bible. It helps in understanding this blessing by noting that Moses uses a type of parallelism in arranging the parts of the blessing. There are basically three parts that all mean the same thing. The different wording helps explain just exactly what Moses has in mind when he writes and what the Lord wanted him to communicate. Thus for God to “bless” the people would mean that He “would lift up His countenance “upon them and “make His face shine upon them”. For God to “keep” the people would mean that He would be “gracious” to them and give them “peace”.

This is good stuff, but perhaps it would help us understand this blessing even more if we read what the exact opposite would mean for us. The opposite of this blessing would be the most horrible curse imaginable. It would sound something like this: “The Lord curse you and remove His care from you; The Lord look upon you with enmity and be angry with you; The Lord withhold His favor from you and terrify you.” This is strong. May it cause us to melt with thankfulness that this, indeed, is not how God is inclined to those who hope in His Son.

April 30, 2011 (Numbers 7; Psalms 42-43; Song of Songs 5; Hebrews 5)

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Make no mistake about it; sometimes God feels very far away. This is how the author of Psalm 42 and 43 feels. We often sing the words of the first verse of this Psalm, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” Unfortunately many of us have in our minds when we sing this song a ‘Thomas Kincade like’ image of a deer drinking from a glistening brook. That is not the image at all. The image is one of a deer being hunted, and desperately panting for a trickle of water! The question we must ask ourselves is what do we do when we find our souls panting like the deer. What do we do when our souls long for God (in these Psalms expressed in the idea of worshipping Him corporately with other believers in the temple), but do not seem to be getting filled with His presence? In those times we need to remind ourselves to continue to hope in God! (42:5,11; 43:5) We might never know why God allows us to go through those times of drought, but we do know that it is for our good. Those times of drought might be a tender mercy from God sent to keep us truly grateful for the intimacy we share with Him. So continue to hope in Him and remember that the time of drought is only “a time”. It will not last forever. “I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”

March 1, 2009 (Ex. 12:21-51; Lk. 15; Job 30; 1 Cor.16)

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What are you doing today? What are you doing this summer? Where will you move when you retire? How do you answer questions like these? No matter how we answer them specifically, as followers of Christ, we should preface those answers with, “If the Lord allows.” This is how Paul talked in 1Corinthians 16. IN this chapter Paul is laying out for his readers his traveling plans. After listing a few places he intends to go he tells the Corinthians that he desires to spend some time with them, “if the Lord permits.”(v.7) Paul recognized that no matter how much he planned ultimately all things would be determined by the sovereign will of the God he served. It would be wise for us to live under the same recognition. This does not mean that we necessarily have to make sure we start or end every sentence of our intentions with “If the Lord wills”, but even if we don’t we need to at least be thinking it. It might not, however, be a bad idea to make sure we say it often. There is something to be said for disciplining ourselves to talk Biblically. Lets do it!, if the Lord wills! J

March 2, 2009 (Ex. 13; Lk.16; Job 31; 2 Corinthians 1)

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I fear that, at times, we do not take sin seriously enough. We minimize the danger we face in this war of the soul. Jesus told us that it was better to gouge out our eyes and cut off our hands if it would prevent us from sinning with these instruments of our body. (see Matthew 5:27-30 for instance) Job was no such individual. He took the war against sin very seriously. So seriously, that in Job 31:1 he says, “I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?”

What did he mean by that? Listen to what one commentator from a couple of hundred years ago said about this:

“He made a bargain with his eyes that he would allow them the pleasure of beholding the light of the sun and the glory of God shining in the visible creation, provided that they would never [gaze at anything that might cause impure desires] and if they did, they must [repent] for it with much tears. (Matthew Henry)

If we want to keep our hearts pure we must guard our eyes and never let them stray on forbidden paths, not even for a moment! Today, make a pact with your eyes! Make them promise to look only at that which would be pleasing to the Lord, and then hold them to their promise!

March 3, 2009 (Ex. 14; Lk.17; Job 32; 2 Cor. 2)

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Job 32 introduces us to a new character to the story of Job, a young man by the name of Elihu. For 31 chapters this chap has sat stone cold silent. He has listened to Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar wrongly accuse Job of sin. He has listened to Job claim his innocence, despair his life, and come close to making God look like an ogre. He has listened and sat completely silent. Now in chapter 32 he speaks, and he speaks for 5 chapters. Commentators are divided on exactly how to take this young, fiery fellow.

One thing, however, is certain. Elihu does not get rebuked by the Lord as do the rest of Job’s friends in chapter 42. What he says is correct! In his speech he rebukes his elders for how they have misspoken. What can we learn from this guy? One of the main lessons we can learn is that gray hair does not necessarily make one wise. Elihu, the youngest, of the bunch is the only one who gets things right! All of his elders have misspoken in some way (even Job). This should be a lesson to the old. Do not dismiss youth just because they are young. Listen to them. They may have drunk long at the wells of the word and have some very significant things to say. There is also a lesson for the young here. Do not be quick to rebuke your elders. Elihu let his elders each give three speeches. He sat silent for 31 chapters before opening his mouth. He was reluctant to speak. Nevertheless if the truth is not being proclaimed by those who should proclaim it, then young person stand up and proclaim it! Rebuke those who speak not truth, but do so in love and as a last resort.

March 4, 2009 (Ex. 15; Lk. 18; Job 33; 2 Cor. 3)

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Here is a short devotion, but a very important one nonetheless. The first part of Exodus 15 is a song about how the people of Israel were delivered from slavery and the tyranny of Pharaoh. They sang of God’s mighty deliverance for them. One question. When was the last time you sang of His deliverance on your behalf?

March 5, 2009 (Exodus 16; Luke 19; Job 34; 2 Corinthians 4)

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God has blessed us tremendously through the blood of His Son. It is indescribable how infinitely valuable His redemption of us is. He has ransomed us out of darkness and into His marvelous light! The Exodus story is a beautiful picture of this redemption. In fact in 1 Corinthians 10:11 Paul says that the things that happened to the children of Israel were to serve as an example for us. In other words the things that God did for the children of Israel in the Old Testament have significant bearing on our lives 4,000 years later. That is amazing!

One of the things we can learn from the children of Israel in Exodus 16 is that we, like them, are monumental forgetters. It is almost comical how quickly we find these people grumbling against God right after He has brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The people grumble because they quickly forget. Moses had told them in chapter 14 that all they had to do was, in my paraphrase, “shut up and see how God saves you!” (14:14) That is exactly what God did. He split the waters of the Red Sea and brought about a mighty deliverance. But as soon as these folks start having hunger pains they are ready to head back to their lives of slavery. Why is this? Why did they act like this? Why do we act like this with our grumblings when the heat gets turned up a bit? How is it that people who have seen the grace of God slide so easily into grumbling and disobedience?

I think there is really one fundamental answer to these questions. People who did what the Israelites did on the heels of the Exodus and people who do what we do today when we grumble against God are people who think that God exists to serve their needs. They are ultimate, not God. They are the center. Their desires are what must be fulfilled and if these desires go unmet they are ready to ditch any one or any “god” until they find one to meet those needs. Let us beware. While God, in a sense, serves us He does not do so ultimately. He serves us in saving us and daily sustaining us in an untold myriad of ways. But this service is not because we are the masters. In fact, the total opposite is true. He serves us this way because He is the Master, and the goal of this service is to cause us to come to the place where we realize He is the center and all the planets of our passions must revolve around Him!

March 6, 2009 (Ex. 17; Lk. 20; Job 35; 2 Cor. 5)

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In many ways, if you have been reading Job 34 and 35, you might get the impression that Elihu sounds a lot like Jobs other three friends. If you read closely, however, you will find that this is not the case. The difference between Elihu and the other three and the reason why he is not rebuked by God at the end of the story, like them is this: Elihu leaves room for mystery.

In all of his talk Elihu recognizes that some things God has simply not revealed to men and never will (see Deuteronomy 29:29). In fact this kind of talk is similar to some of the things God Himself will say to Job in just a few chapters. We are not meant to understand everything fully. Indeed our finite minds will never be able to fully understand the hidden purposes of God! God never intended us to have this full understanding, and that fact is one of the main purposes of the book of Job. This truth has massive implications for our life. This means that God wants something more from us than just our evaluation and understanding (though He wants this as well). God wants our childlike trust and our wholehearted obedience in the face of the unknown. This is what God is teaching us in this book. Have you learned that yet? Keep reading and allow the Holy Spirit the drive that truth home on your heart with every page!

March 7, 2009 (Ex. 18; Lk. 21; Job 36; 2 Cor. 6)

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I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was in Zambia driving down a dirt road with one of my missionary partners and another Zambian believer. We were on our way to scout out a new village where the gospel had never been preached. We wanted to see if we could discover where God was already at work among the peoples of this small fishing community. This little village sat on the edge of a huge lake and would make a perfect launching point for villages all along the shore of that lake. It was a very important trip. On the truck ride there I was working on some of my scripture memory verses. My missionary partner saw my note card and asked me what verse I was chewing on. I told him it was 2 Corinthians 6:3. “We give no offense in anything that the ministry may not be blamed.”

This is one of the many passages in which Paul makes plain that he did all he could to not put an obstacle in front of someone that might prevent them giving the gospel a fair hearing. Even if it meant surrendering some of his rights he was ready to give those rights up for the sake of the gospel.

When we reached the town we found that the people were divided in their opinion of us. Some received us warmly and heartily invited us to come back. Others thought that, because of some misconceptions of Baptists, that we might be demon worshippers. Well, as we moved through the village one of the fishermen asked if he could take us on a tour of the lake for a small fee. We agreed and took the tour, which was pretty much uneventful except for seeing a few hippos. When we finished the tour I reached in my pocket to pay the man. As soon as I gave the man the money my partner said, “Wait David, I already paid the guy.” When I asked for my money back the man refused to give it back. In other words he ripped us off! I started to get mad and demand my money back when my partner looked at me and said, “What was that verse you were memorizing earlier?” Immediately God smote my heart.

As soon as he said it I gave up my attempts to get my money back (a measly $4). I am glad to say that that village now has a strong church in it that is reaching out to others. My partner was able to return and plant a church there. Up until a few months ago he and his family were there making sure that it grew. They have now left it in the hands of godly and capable Zambian church leaders. I have often wondered what would have happened if I would have insisted on having my four bucks back. It could have meant that the hearts of those people would have closed for good. I don’t know. All I know is this. God wants us to be willing to give up our rights if it means that people will be more open to hearing of His Son. Are you still clinging to any “rights”?

March 8, 2009 (Ex. 19; Lk. 22; Job 37; 2 Cor. 7)

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Luke 22 is the place in Luke’s gospel where we have the story of Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper or Communion. This is a ceremony that we still celebrate today in our church, but have you ever wondered why we do it so much ?We do it often because Jesus told us to. He never said how often, but in the words, “Do this in remembrance of me” (v.19) He intended for His church to practice the ceremony habitually. Why? The answer is simple.

In part we discussed this in the devotion for March 5. We are a people who forget often. We are hardwired to drift from the center and start focusing on secondary issues that don’t matter that much. This is why the ceremony is needed and why we need to observe it often. We need a constant reminder of what is central in our life, namely, the broken body and shed blood of Jesus that makes us right with Holy God! Don’t wait until the next time we observe this supper as a church body. Refocus your mind’s attention and heart’s affection today on the substitutionary death of our Lord! Everything else is secondary.

March 9, 2009 (Ex. 20; Lk. 23; Job 38; 2 Cor. 8)

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Exodus 20 records the “Ten Commandments”. The nuts and bolts of God’s moral law for mankind. There was a time when every school boy and girl could quote these ten commandments at the drop of a hat. It is sad to say, but today many church leaders could not perform this feat. I say this not merely to shame (though some shame is good if it drives us to the cross) but to encourage. IF you do not know the Ten Commandments the way they are listed in this chapter maybe this poetic rendition will help you:

You shall not have more gods than me (1)

Before no image bow the knee (2)

Take not the name of God in vain (3)

Nor dare the Sabbath to profane (4)

Give both your parents honor due (5)

Take heed that you no murder do (6)

Abstain from thoughts and deeds unclean (7…adultery)

Nor steal, though you are poor and mean (as in weak…. 8)

Nor tell a lie, nor love it (9)

What is your neighbor’s, do not covet! (10)

March 10, 2009 (Ex. 21; Lk. 24; Job 39; 2 Cor. 9)

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Nine times out of ten whenever I stand to preach or get ready to open the Bible just to read for myself there is a verse of Scripture that comes to my mind and serves as a prayer for what I am about to do. That verse of scripture is Luke 24:32. “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

This verse is spoken by two followers of Jesus whom He appeared to on the road to a town called Emmaus after His resurrection. At first they did not realize that the man they spoke with was the Lord. Consequently the Lord took the opportunity to unpack everything in the Old Testament that spoke of Him. It must have been amazing. Jesus unpacked the meaning of the Bible to these two men and as a result their hearts were set on fire! That is what I pray will happen to you every time you open the Bible. Jesus still does this by the ministry of the Holy Spirit! Ask Him right now to do so. Say, “Lord Jesus, by the power of your Spirit, would you come and walk with me as I dive into Your word and would you cause my heart to burn while You teach me the Scriptures!! ”That is a prayer God loves to hear and answer.

March 11, 2009 (Ex. 22; John 1; Job 40; 2 Cor. 10)

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John 1 is one of the most important chapters of the Bible simply because it teaches so clearly that Jesus is God! Read the first verse slowly, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Then jump to verse 14, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” Jesus is God! Big deal, you might say. “What does it matter if I believe that Jesus is God or not. I mean cant I believe that He was a really kind person and miracle worker, but not believe that He was God, and still be saved?” Many people talk like this or believe like this. The answer to that question is, “NO!” If you believe in a Jesus who is not God, then you are not believing the Jesus of the Bible. You are believing a false god, and can therefore, not be saved. Jesus had to be God or else He could not have borne all the wrath that was due to us. Is your vision of Jesus as it should be? Beware of thinking too little of the One who made you!

March 12, 2009 (Exodus 23; John 2; Job 41; 2 Corinthians 11)

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Do you ever read some parts of the Bible and just think, “what on earth does that have to do with my life?” Its okay, you can be honest in answering that question. If we are truly honest all of us would probably have to say that from time to time the answer to that question is a big fat “yes.” This is not the Bible’s fault but our fault. The truth is that if a person looks long enough, hard enough, and pure enough into any passage of Scripture the Holy Spirit will show in some way how that passage of Scripture relates to life in 2011.

One such passage is in Exodus 23:19: “Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” Okay, I am pretty sure that no one reading this will ever be tempted to kill a goat and then boil its meat in the same pot that its mothers’ milk is already being heated up in. So do we just skip over this verse and go to something more relevant. Not at all! This verse is very relevant. Remember, “Look long enough, hard enough, and pure enough.”

When reading this verse we must realize that to boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk was not bad in and of itself. What made this practice bad was that this was what all the other pagan peoples that surrounded Israel did as part of their pagan religious rituals. God did not want his people to do anything that looked like pagan worship. God wanted His people to be different. God wanted His people to be separated for Himself. He wanted and still wants His people to be distinct in a good way. So, what would the application of this verse look like today?

March 13, 2009 (Ex. 24; Jn.3; Job 42; 2 Cor. 12)

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Job 42:6 is a bit baffling. In this verse Job says to God, “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Why did he repent? I mean for goodness sake he has just spent 41 chapters arguing with his friends over this very fact. They told him he needed to repent and he kept arguing that he was an innocent man. Indeed, God Himself vindicates Job in v.8 when He tells Eliphaz that Job was in the right and the others in the wrong. So why then did Job need to repent?

Well, we need to be clear what Job was repenting of. Job was not repenting of what his “friends” wanted him to. They wanted him to say that he had done some horrible secret sin and God was consequently punishing him for that sin. Job did no such thing and refuses to repent of sin he has not committed. This is not what Job is repenting of in this verse. So what then is he repenting of?

He is repenting of the way he repeatedly demanded that God owes him an explanation! That is what he repents of. Job faced horrendous suffering, and one of the things that made it so horrendous was that the reason for it was so mysterious. There was no good reason why Job should have been suffering this way. That is what baffles Job in this book and he therefore demands an explanation from God. God, however, does not owe Job or us any explanations for what He does. “The secret things belong to the Lord…” (Deut.29:29). God is under no obligation to divulge all of His counsel with us. We should take this to heart. Let us beware of every demanding from our Creator explanations for that which we do not understand. Rather, let us trust that God is good and wise and all-powerful and that He works for the good of those who love Him, always!

March 14, 2009 (Ex. 25; Jn. 4; Proverbs 1; 2 Cor. 13)

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None of us like tests. Tests mean that there is a possibility that we might fail what we are being tested in. That is what produces sleepless nights of study, serious study groups, and pre-test jitters. There are, however, some good aspects of tests. Tests, if administered properly, are a good gauge of determining what someone has learned or mastered.

Did you know that the Bible tells us to test ourselves? The test, however, that the Bible calls for is not math or science or even English. The test that the Bible calls us to take is far more serious. 2 Corinthians 13: 5 says that we are to , “Examine yourselves to see whether we are in the faith; Test yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ lives in you? Unless of course you fail the test.” Every one who professes the name of Christ is called to examine his or herself. We are called to look at our lives and see if those lives really do reflect the life of Christ. He lives in all those who truly follow Him and He produces fruit in their lives that is solid evidence and that gives proof that they belong to Him. So give yourself a test today. Does Christ really live in you? I pray that you will not fail this test.

March 15, 2009 (Ex. 26; Jn. 5; Prov. 2; Galatians 1)

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Today’s devotion will build upon yesterday’s. I can imagine someone reading yesterdays devotion and the verse from 2 Corinthians about testing ourselves, and saying something like, “OF course Christ is in me. I go to church every time the doors are open. I read my bible at least 5 or 6 times a week. I even give to stuff at the church from time to time.” Is that answer good enough?

In John 5 Jesus is talking to some very religious people. They tithed so much that they even tithed the vegetables in their garden. They had, probably, the first five books of the Bible memorized. They attended the religious worship services without fail. Yet, despite all of these things Jesus says to them in verse 39, “You search the Scriptures for in them you think that you have eternal life. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.” How sad indeed! It is possible to be in the Word and not know the Living Word. It is possible to be around God’s people and never know God personally. Test yourself! Examine yourself! Come to Jesus!!

March 16, 2009 (Ex. 27; Jn.6; Prov. 3; Gal. 2)

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Galatians 2 tells us how Paul stood in the presence of many people and rebuked Peter to his face. Read the chapter for the details, but for now I want to ask, why did he do that? The answer is simple. Verse 14 reads, “When I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel [then I rebuked Peter]” When Peter started acting in a way that said, “In order to be saved you must do something on top of placing your faith in Jesus. “ This type of behavior Paul could not tolerate and he had to rebuke him.

Rebuking someone is not fun. You run the risk of having them misunderstand and sever their friendship with you. Why would Paul do such a thing and take such a risk then? Quite simply, the gospel was at stake. We, as the body of Christ, need each other. We don’t, however, just need each other to lean on in times of trouble. We need others to rebuke us when we start acting or talking or thinking in any way that is out of step with the gospel and we need to rebuke others doing so as well. There are many, many ways we can find ourselves out of step with the gospel. We can easily fall into a rigid legalism (like Peter) that says “unless you do it my way then your not a Christian.” Or we can fall in to a cheap grace mindset that says, “It is not big deal if I live a loose life, God is love and He will forgive me no matter how much I fail Him.” Both extremes, and many other positions in between, need to be rebuked in love. The gospel is at stake in how we live! Let us help each other by encouraging when we need to encourage and rebuking when we need to rebuke.

March 17, 2009 (Ex. 28; Jn. 7; Prov. 4; Gal. 3)

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Again, this devotion will build on yesterday’s. We saw yesterday, that at times we are to rebuke our brother’s and sisters when their behavior is contrary to the clear teaching of the gospel. Today in John 7:7 we see that we are also called to rebuke unbelievers. In this verse Jesus tells His brothers that the reason why the world hated Him was because He testified that it’s (the world’s) works were evil. You see, God is One. He is God over all people, even if most of those people never acknowledge His Lordship in this life. Consequently, this One Holy God has standards that He expects His creatures to meet and live up to. Because all of us are sinful rebels we hate these standards and choose to break God’s requirements in the most vile and evil ways. Jesus understood this and He rebuked the world for such evil.

We are called to do the same. We are called to tell people the “good-news”, but the first part of the “good-news” is the “bad-news” that we are evil. This must be proclaimed. No one can get saved without first realizing just how evil he or she is in his or her rebellion against God. In other words, a person has to get lost before they can get saved, and we must testify to their lostness. Are you doing that? Are you lovingly proclaiming to others their rebellion against a holy God? Here is a good way to know if you are doing that or not. Jesus said that because He made such proclamation that the “world hated Him.” Does the world “hate” you or do you find your self very much at peace and good friends with the world?

March 18, 2009 (Ex. 29; Jn. 8; Prov. 5; Gal. 4)

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Galatians 4:6-7 is a good passage to memorize this week. These verses tell us that, because of God’s redemptive grace, we now have the privilege of addressing God in the most intimate of terms, “ABBA (Daddy)”. “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son than an heir through God.” MEMORIZE THIS FOR THE GOOD OF YOUR SOUL THIS WEEK!!!

March 19, 2009 (Exodus 30; John 9; Proverbs 6; Galatians 5)

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Do you have a testimony? Every true follower of Christ does. What is your testimony? A testimony is simply a statement of what Christ has done in a person’s life. There is a man in John 9 who gives his testimony to a bunch of religious leaders. This man was blind and Jesus opened his eyes. During his testimony the religious leaders became angry with him because he was too positive about Jesus. They finally said to him, “you were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” (v.34) They said this for two reasons.

First, they thought that since this man was born blind he or his parents must have done some terrible sin (this seemed to be the mentality of that day, for even the disciples thought the same thing…see verse 2). Second, they thought that because this man was a sinner and had not had the proper training he was not in a position to “teach” them. Notice what the man had said to them though, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” (v. 26) That is what a testimony is. It does not matter how great a “sinner” you once were (Oh that everyone could see how great his or her sin is!). It does not matter if you have not had formal training in evangelism. Were you once blind? Has Jesus now given you sight? Then you have a testimony…..go and tell it to someone today!

March 20, 2009 (Ex. 31; Jn. 10; Prov. 7; Gal. 6)

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What should we do if a fellow brother or sister in the Lord falls into sin? Should we ignore that person? NO! We should try to restore them back to intimate fellowship with the Lord. Galatians 6:1-4 teaches us that this is what “spiritual” people are to do. In fact it is our duty to bear one another’s burden in this matter. This does not mean we do not rebuke them or call them out in their sin, but we do all of that from a heart of love with restoration always being our goal.

There is a catch to this that verse 4 brings out. Before we do such restoring for believers that have been “caught” in a sin our lives must be right in our relationship with the Lord. This is what Paul means when he says, “but let each one examine his own work…”. This is what Jesus meant when He told us to take the plank out of our eye before we get the speck out of our brother’s (see. Matthew 7:5). When the plank is out, however, we need to get our brother’s speck out. It would be unloving to do anything else!

March 21, 2009 (Ex. 32; Jn. 11; Prov. 8; Ephesians 1)

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It would be a strange person indeed who said that he or she loved death. That is not what we usually think of when we think of the things that we love. Proverbs 8:36, however tells us that if we do not find wisdom than this is really what we are saying. IF we do not seek after wisdom we are saying, “I love death” and in fact we are injuring our self. We are committing suicide. So how do we find wisdom? Proverbs returns to this theme over and over. “The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (9:10) IF we seek to know the Lord and understand Him properly this is wisdom and this is life. Knowing this should effect what we do with our free time today

March 22, 2009 (Ex. 33; Jn. 12; Prov. 9; Eph. 2)

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The people of Israel were a stiff-necked people. This means that they repeatedly disobeyed the Lord and turned back in their hearts from following after Him. In Exodus 33 God threatens to send them into the promise land but without His presence. Moses is terrified by this possibility. He, therefore, says to the Lord “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” (v.15) I wondered how our lives would be different if this were the mentality we adopted. “Lord if you will not go with me to that party then I will not go.” Or, “Lord if you will not be with me as I pursuer this career path then I will not do it.” The presence of the Lord, to the true believer, is the most valuable treasure one could ever posses. Do not seek to be satisfied with anything else. Do that which would find you in the sweet presence of the Master no matter how hard it may seem.

March 23, 2009 (Ex. 34; Jn. 13; Prov. 10; Eph. 3)

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What is in a name? Most of the times, in the Bible, names had important significance. In many ways this is the same today. Why do we call Spider Man by that name? Because he is a big ole spider guy. Why do we call Super Man, Super Man? Because he has super human powers. People’s name have significance, they typically give meaning to their character.

This is the same with the name of God. IN Exodus 34 God discloses His “Name” to Moses. When He does so it is not what we would typically expect. He starts listing a bunch of different aspects of His character. He says “The Lord, The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the father’s on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (v.6-7) Wow, what a name!!! This is who God is. To know Him is to know Him in these ways.

March 24, 2009 (Ex. 35; Jn. 14; Prov. 11; Eph. 4)

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Here is the memory verse for this week, John 14:6.“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Try to memorize this verse this week. And then think about it when you are at work, and in the line at the grocery store, and riding down the road in your car, and as your falling asleep. There are many who are trying to get to the Father by not coming through Jesus. This will not do!

March 25, 2009 (Ex. 36; Jn. 15; Prov. 12; Eph. 5)

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Did you know that God cares about how you treat your dog? Proverbs 12:10 says, “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.”

The man who is following after God is one who is even kind to God’s creation. Does this mean we can never go hunting or we have to be tree huggers? Not at all! All this verse is indicating is that true believers reflect the heart of their Maker. He is kind and compassionate to His creation and His followers should be as well. All of us can think of people we have known who have taken great delight in torturing animals. This reflects their wicked heart that lusts to see misery thrive. The righteous person knows that God has showered mercy on him and he longs to extend that mercy to others, and because God’s mercy is so abundant this even extends to those creatures who are not image bearers. I’m not saying, “all dogs go to heaven” or anything like that. I am saying that God is kind and so should His people be.

March 26, 2009 (Ex. 37; Jn. 16; Prov. 12; Eph. 6)

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As we engage in a constant war for our souls it is good to put on the spiritual armor God supplies for the battle. Pray through Ephesians 6:10-20 today and ask the Lord to arm you with the arsenal there described!

March 27, 2009 (Ex. 38; Jn. 17; Prov. 12; Philippians 1)

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Proverbs 12:4 says that “an excellent wife is the crown of her husband”. Husbands, do you feel that way about your wife? You should. Take some time today to make her feel as if she is your crown!

March 28, 2009 (Ex. 39; Jn. 18; Prov. 12; Phil. 2)

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Philippians 2:5-11 was probably an early hymn composed to testify to the greatness of Jesus Christ; a greatness, notice, that was attainted through humility. Indeed what is truly remarkable about the character of Christ in this passage is the fact that He did not “cling” to that which was His right. Instead He set it aside and took the form of a servant in order to benefit us. What is most remarkable is the context of this passage in the book of Philippians. In its context Paul is using this hymn as a model for us to follow. “Let this attitude be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”. Are you following your model?

March 29, 2009 (Ex. 40; Jn. 19; Prov. 16; Phil. 3)

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Today’s meditation builds on yesterday’s both in its subject matter and in the passage, Philippians 3:17, “Brothers, join in imitation me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”IN yesterday’s passage we saw how Paul called us to imitate Christ. Today he tells us to imitate himself and others (like Timothy and Epaphroditus in 2:19-30) who prove themselves to be good examples. Paul wanted these Philippian believers to have good models that they could imitate which is probably why he spends so much time talking about Timothy and Epaphroditus in chapter 2. Why?

Because all of us instinctly imitate someone, and as Christians we must be very intentional about who we will imitate or we will drift towards poor models. So if imitating Christ seems to these believers as too impossible Paul gives some more “attainable” models. This should be very encouraging and very challenging. The encouragement we should have is knowing that God does not leave us alone to just figure out how to live this Christian life. He gives us good models to help us along the way. The challenge we should hear is that God wants to use us as those models. In other words there are people all around us who are looking to us to see what it means to be a Christian. Based on your life alone, how do you think these people would define Christianity?

March 30, 2009 (Leviticus 1; Jn. 20; Prov. 17; Phil. 4)

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Do you ever find yourself saying, “If only I was around in the time when Jesus walked this earth then “so and so…”. You can fill in the blank any way you choose. I think we often feel as if we are slighted by the fact that we live in the time and place in which God has sovereingly placed us to exist. One of the many reasons that John 20:24-29 is in the bible is to squelch all such “if only” assertions.

This is the famous “doubting Thomas” passage in which the resurrected Lord appears to Thomas and tells him to touch his wounds so as to have the proof he desired to validate that Jesus, was in fact, alive. Once Thomas sees the Lord he falls down in worship and exclaims, “My Lord and my God!”. This is the climax of the whole gospel. Notice how Jesus responds to his amazing statement of faith. He says, “Thomas you believe because you see. More blessed are those who do not see yet believe.”

This is amazing! This means that although the visual tangible evidence of Jesus’ resurrection is not at our disposal we can nevertheless have the same experience Thomas had as he looked Jesus eyeball to eyeball. In fact, ours is the more “blessed” because ours is a more satisfied faith. Our faith is satisfied with the evidence that God has provided and we do not yearn for authenticating visions or miracles or experiences. We trust God’s word alone and we are blessed. Faith is no leap in the dark; it is a glorious step into the light and the light is cast by God’s word. Trust in that and be blessed today.

March 31, 2009 (Lev.2-3; Jn.21; Prov. 18; Colossians 1)

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There is no such thing as “Lone Ranger Christianity”. God has not designed us to live a life of faith alone. That is why Proverbs 18:1 says, “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.” In other words, if you isolate yourself you are a fool.

This is why it is hard to believe that a person is a genuine born again believer if he or she refuses to meet regularly with a local body of believers. Indeed one of the desires that comes along with our new hearts in conversion is a desire to want to fellowship and worship with other believers (see 1 John 2:19 for example). What other New Testament passages can you find that support this truth, namely, that we need one another in this walk of faith? And remember, even the Lone Ranger had his Tanto!

February 1 (Gen. 33; Mark 4; Es.9-10; Rom.4)

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The last two chapters of Esther tell us of the way the Jews celebrated their deliverance from the evil plot of Haman. One of the ways the celebrated their deliverance by God was by holding a festival called the festival of Purim. This festival is still practice by many orthodox Jews today. Read the chapters for more details.This is the point I want to make for today. Have we been delivered from a great threat? If so, and we certainly have (see yesterday’s meditation), how do we celebrate it? We have the holidays of Easter and Christmas but have these become so commercialized that the true significance is lost? Should we brainstorm new ways in which to celebrate our deliverance from death? I do not necessarily know the answer to these questions. I do, however, know this. Christ was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). This is grounds for massive celebration. How will you celebrate today?

February 2 (Gen.34; Mark 5; Job 1; Rom.5)

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IF someone were going to shoot your mom or dad or your son or daughter do you think you would jump in the way of the bullet? What about if someone was going to shoot your teammate or co-worker? Or what about that person that makes your stomach cringe every time you see him or her? What if that person was about to be shot? Would you take the bullet for them? This is the kind of reasoning that Paul uses in Romans 5 to communicate to us how great is the love of God in Christ. Verse 8 says, “…while we were still sinners (v.10 clarifies that this means we are God’s enemies) Christ died for us.” As we are preparing for AWANA praise night tonight why not join the Cubbies and memorize this verse today!

February 3 (Gen.35-36; Mark 6; Job 2; Rom.6)

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Job is a very sad story. Job is a man who loses everything. He loses all his wealth, he loses all his children, he loses his health, he loses his wife’s support and his friend’s encouragement…he loses it all. And worst of all it doesn’t seem like he did anything to deserve such a loss! This is why his wife said to him, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9) What she meant was, “stop trusting God. Just give up. He has let you down so you just need to spit in His face and let Him finish you off.” Notice how Job replies, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”

Job knows that he is entirely at the disposal of God. God can do with him whatever He desires. We are made to serve him. It is never the other way around. To think otherwise is the heart of idolatry. God does as he pleases. “But wait a minute” you might say. “Job was wrong. It was Satan who afflicted him, not God. God is not responsible for the evil.” Notice what the next part of the verse says, “in all this (saying God gives good and evil) Job DID NOT SIN with his lips.”

Here is the very mystery of evil. Bad stuff does happen to just people. Satan does cause it, BUT God is always the one who permits it. So how does that help us in our suffering? Well, picture God holding Satan on a leash like a dog. Satan is foaming at the mouth and yelping just waiting to tear your to pieces. Here is the good news. He can only go as far as God allows him. God will never drop the leash. He is good and He is wise and we might not ever understand just why God let the leash out as far as He did. We can, however, trust Him because He is good. This is what the rest of the book of Job will point us towards.

February 4 (Gen.37; Mark 7; Job 3; Rom.7)

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The Christian is at war! The greatest enemy, however, is not Satan but Self! We are our own worst enemies! Paul in Romans 7 describes this battle. In this chapter he tells us about his desire to do God’s will fighting with the desire to sin. Both of these desires lie in his heart. So how do we win the battle and follow hard after God? Verse 25 tells us, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” It is by depending on the indwelling Spirit of Jesus that we find freedom. Chapter 8 will elaborate on this. Do not, however, wait until tomorrow to lay down your arms and pick up the weapons the Lord provides you by reliance on His Spirit.

February 5 (Genesis 38; Mark 8; Job 4; Romans 8 )

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Jesus was and is a miracle worker. During His time here on this earth all our Lord had to do to heal was say a word. That is all just a word. Knowing this, when we come to Mark 8:22-26 we might be puzzled. In this story Jesus heals a blind man, but it takes Him two times before the man sees everything clearly. After the first attempt the man saw people, but they were distorted like trees walking.What is going on here? Was Jesus not having a good day? Did He not eat His Wheaties that morning? No, no, we know He could have healed him the first time. We have already seen that kind of power demonstrated in the book of Mark.I believe many things are going on here, one of which I shall comment on. We live in a “drive-thru” /microwave/ 1 minute ready rice culture. We want stuff and we want stuff now. Sometimes God does not choose to heal instantly. Sometimes He chooses to take us through a long process of healing or restoration or growth. We want it yesterday, but He wisely leads us down the path of learning to trust in Him.God can and does, at times, work instantly but don’t begrudge the process He might be leading you through. Seek to learn from Him. Speaking of learning, what else can we learn from this passage?

February 6 (Gen.39; Mark 9; Job 5; Romans 9)

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Job is a man who has suffered much. He lost his kids (all 10 of them in one day). He lost his enormous wealth in the same day. He lost his health (he actually took broken pieces of pots to scratch his oozing sores in order to try and bring some relief to his physical pain.) He lost his wife’s faithful support (she told him just to curse God and die). Job needs someone to put his or her arm around him, give him a Tylenol, and just weep with him. That is what his friends should have done. That is not what they did. Instead of comforting Job they add to their misery by speaking out of place. Job 5 gives us an example of this in the speech of Eliphaz, one of Job’s “friends”. Read the speech. He says some very true things. In fact he says some stuff that is later quoted in other parts of the Bible (Contrast v.13 with 1 Corinthians 3:20). However, he applies these true statements wrongly to Job. In effect what he says is that God punishes those who sin against Him, but Job has not sinned against God. He is innocent, but Eliphaz cannot grasp the possibility of someone who is innocent suffering. Let us be careful not to apply genuine truth in a heartless or cruel way. If we do we might be guilty of saying false things about God, and then we would be the ones who need to repent.

February 7 (Gen.40; Mark 10; Job 6; Romans 10)

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One of the most oft quoted verses in the Bible is Romans 10:13. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is so good. It means that salvation is available to any who will cry out to Jesus in repentance and faith! What a sweet gospel, but notice how Paul follows up this glorious verse. “But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed?” A third of the world’s people groups have still not been told the gospel. The only way they can be saved is if they hear the word of Christ. The only way they will hear the word of Christ is if someone preaches to them. The only way someone will preach to them is if people send and other people go! What will you do? Will you GO?? Will you send?? Or will you be disobedient??

February 8 (Gen.41; Mark 11; Job 7; Romans 11)

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God is a God of love! Amen and Amen! The Scriptures teach us this wonderful truth. We like this truth! God, however, is not just a huge ball of love. There is much more to God than that. God is also a God who judges; a God who is angry at evil; a God who is jealous for people to worship Him; a God who is terribly majestic in His holiness. And on and on we could go. Paul picks up on this a little in Romans 11. In this chapter Paul is explaining how the Gentiles came into the true olive tree of God’s chosen people. They came in because some of the natural branches (the unbelieving Jewish people) were cut off. These people rejected Christ as the Messiah and thus God rejected them. This is when Paul in verse 22 says, “Note therefore the KINDNESS and SEVERITY of God.” God is kind to some and He is severe to some, and Paul wants us to note both of these facts. In other words he wants us to meditate on them often. What good do you think it would do to meditate on God’s severity?