Category Archives: Daily devotions

(Job 29-31) Prejudice

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Do we get a glimpse at the less-than-righteous side of Job here? I have no doubt the man was a good, generous, upright guy who truly loved and feared God. God Himself called Job a righteous man, and God doesn’t lie.

But this man, who gave to the poor and fed the traveler, encouraged those who mourned, and received respect and honor from others, might have been a bit prejudice. In speaking of the young men who were harassing him, Job said this of their fathers:

I wouldn’t have put them with my dogs. They were emaciated, ate tree roots and shrubs like animals. These fathers weren’t fit for human society, and everyone treated them like thieves. They howled like wolves, and were forced out of the land.

Then Job says:

Now I am mocked by THEIR songs. I have become an object of scorn to THEM. THEY despise ME and keep their distance from ME. (30:9-10, emphasis mine)

Job is indignant at the very thought that the dregs of society would dare look down on him. But my question is, Job, why consider anyone throw-away?

I ask the same thing of us. ALL people are equally precious in God’s sight, and should be in the sight of all of His children: the unborn, the physically and mentally handicapped, the poor and the rich, the homeless and those living in luxury, homosexuals and those who reject that lifestyle, people with different skin color and nationalities, people with differing opinions, tattoos and piercings, grey hair and wrinkles.

We can be doing all the “right” things, we can be generous and loving and devoted to God. But is there a bit of prejudice in us, too? Because the truth is, ALL people need Jesus. Everyone needs Jesus, no matter what kind of life they are living!

God is asking me to do a prejudice check in my own heart. Might He be asking you to do the same?

(Job 25-28) Answers to Questions

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Question: Who is the shortest person in the Bible? If you answered Zacchaeus, you would be wrong. The shortest person in the Bible is Bildad the Shuhite (shoe-height).

Groan.

Job and his friends have been talking about sin and righteousness, judgment and blessing. We know none of them have a lock on any of it. Once in awhile, though, someone will say something that resembles truth.

Like when Bildad, while comparing God’s greatness to man’s insignificance, asks the questions:

How can a human be justified before God? How can one born of woman be pure? (25:4)

The implied answer to those questions is – we can’t. You and I can’t compare our righteousness, our goodness, our love to God’s. A maggot can’t make itself pure any more than we can make ourselves pure before our holy God.

Then Job, as he has done consistently, points us to God, God’s vastness, power and perfection. We must bow to God. He doesn’t bow to us.

Yet we want to understand. We want to know what He knows.

So Job tells us, if we really want answers:

The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding. (28:28)

So many people want God to “show up,” to reveal Himself, give us a sign, change a circumstance. But God is telling us wisdom and understanding is available IF we go to Him on His terms: Fear Him, and repent of sin.

And if you go to Him on His terms, either answers will follow, or you’ll realize having the answers isn’t all that important, anyway. That’s wisdom. That’s understanding. And both are gifts from God to those who follow Him.

(Job 22-24) Find Him

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Job makes me sad. He is in such pain and hopelessness, and his friends just aren’t helping him. He wants to trust God, but it’s hard. He wants to understand, but he can’t. His words break my heart:

If only I knew how to find him. (23:3a)

Where is God in our times of trouble? Why does He seem the furtherest when we hurt the most? Where can we go, what can we do to find Him?

The answer is too simple for some. Go to His Word. Get out your Bible and begin to read. But let me warn you, you may not like what is written there.

What is hard for some to accept is the truth that the only way to find God is to go through His Son Jesus. Scripture will tell you He is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. (John 14:6)

You may look for God in nature, in religions, gurus and mystics, but you will only find forgeries. You may look for Him in commentaries, and self-help books, but you will just find opinions.

Why not look to the source? If I am baking a cake I look at a cake recipe and not a recipe for fried fish. If I am looking to build a cabinet I look at the blueprint of a cabinet and not a jet airplane. If I’m looking for the definition of “approbation” or “congruity” I don’t go to Fortnite. I go to a dictionary.

Do you, like Job, wish you knew where to find God? He’s not hiding. He’s right there in the pages of the Book He inspired men to write to you.

Read it for yourself. Ask Him to give you understanding, and to reveal Himself to you. You can find Him. But you have to look in the right place.

(2 Chronicles 7-9) Come to Jesus

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We all know that Solomon was wise and rich. In fact, he was arguably the wisest and richest man who ever lived. But it occurred to me today that it was the people who flocked to him – ordinary people as well as kings – that is the message here.

And it was the man, Solomon, they came to see. It speaks to me about how the Gospel is presented these days. Do we invite people to come to God for the benefits of knowing Him? Things like health, wealth, peace, heaven?

Or do they hear an invitation to come to the Man, the person of Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world? Lay aside the material blessings associated with knowing Him. Lay aside the feelings, even lay aside eternity. Don’t we want people – don’t I want you – to meet Jesus Himself?

I guess I want people drawn to Jesus when they observe my relationship with Him. Not necessarily my lifestyle, or my attitude, or my faith. I want them to see that I have a real relationship with the King, and then want a relationship with Him, too.

The Queen of Sheba remarked how blessed Solomon’s people must be just being in his presence. I’d like people to be able to recognize how blessed I must be as I live in the Presence of God.

And ultimately, I want them to want to live there, too.

(I Kings 8) Be Specific

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When King Solomon prayed, he covered all the bases, everything he could think of that would cause God to remove Himself from the people:

When a man takes an oath, when our enemies defeat us, when there is drought, or famine, when foreigners come, when we sin, when there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, plague, illness… may your people return to You. Then God, hear our prayers and forgive.

I’m sitting here realizing that God would have me be more specific in my prayers, too. Not because He needs direction. But because it is a way of searching my heart, of putting my needs into words. It is identifying what I’m asking God to do, so that I will recognize His hand when answers to prayer come.

The Bible teaches that God hears… and answers… the prayers of His people. Let’s be specific.

(I Kings 3-7) Living In Splendor

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The Temple is built. I can only imagine the splendor. It was a house built for the King of Kings! It must have been breathtaking with all the gold, silver, cedar, carvings and sculptures. I’m glad God included those details in the passages I read today.

But as I read, I kept thinking about how, even after seven years of careful construction and at great expense, this temple will not survive. In a few short years, things will drastically change because of the disobedience of God’s people.

What does this tell us about God? After all, the Bible is given to us so that we can know Him. What does He want us to know?

As I sat here and thought about this, I recognized how this picture of the Temple, like all Scripture, paints a picture of how God blesses obedience; but He removes Himself and His protection when His people disobey. That was true in Solomon’s day. It’s still true today.

It’s true in our personal lives, and it’s true in a nation.

I want my walk with God to be in the splendor of His glorious Presence. Like the brick and mortar temple Solomon built with all it’s glory, every minute detail designed and blessed by God as I obey Him. I am able to do that because of His grace and mercy, as I continually submit to Him.

Sadly, I sometimes find myself walking in the rubble of a temple leveled by disobedience.

We will see in the chapters and books ahead how the Israelites will try time after time to rebuild or redecorate the temple. It will never be brought back to the glory we read about in these chapters in I Kings. However, unlike the temple Solomon built, I am able to return to that splendor when I confess and repent of sin. God’s Presence is renewed, my walk blessed by Him as I follow His blueprint for my life.

May my walk today be a life marked by the glorious Presence of God. May my heart be clean according to His plan. May I stand out as someone who is walking in the splendor which is God Himself. And may I be blessed, and a blessing, as I obey Him with all my heart.

(I Samuel 20-24) My Enemy, and Your’s

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The whole Saul and David thing reminds me that I have an enemy, too. My enemy pursues me with the same determination Saul pursued David. My enemy wants to see me dead every bit as much as Saul wanted to see David dead.

My enemy is God’s enemy. My enemy hates me, simply for the fact I choose God. My enemy hates me because I love God, whom my enemy hates with a hate far greater than I know. My enemy’s hate for God is played out in my life with temptations, attacks, hardships, doubts, disease. My enemy is relentless, like Saul was relentless in his pursuit of David.

Whenever I read what David said to Abiathar, I hear God say to me:

“Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for the one who wants to take my life wants to take your life. YOU WILL BE SAFE WITH ME.” ( 22:23, emphasis mine)

My enemy, and your’s, has no power over God. My enemy, and your’s, cannot touch us when we stay with God, when we become His children through the blood of Jesus, and choose to obey Him each and every day.

Stay with God, my friend. You will be safe with Him!

(I Samuel 19:9-18) Choosing Between Pure Good and Pure Evil

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The question posed in my Apologetics Bible is this: “Was Michal right to deceive and lie?” Read these verses in I Samuel, then think about it for a minute. What is your answer to that question? Was she right to lie?

The apologist said that, although God expects His people to be truthful, Michal “was not obliged to give (Saul) information that would help him carry out his wicked act,” that of killing David. He argues that if Michal had not lied, she and David would probably have died.

The writer goes on to say, “…within an environment where human sin abounds, it is not always possible to choose between pure good and pure evil.”

Thoughts?

Personally, I am appalled! God’s demand that His people be holy is NOT situational. Show me a verse where God declares that He only expects holiness of us when it’s convenient. Friend, we cannot decide to be holy when it’s easy, and allow ourselves to be unholy when things get tough.

Here’s what I believe to be true concerning Michal’s lie: She prevented God from revealing Himself to Saul (and us) in that situation. We will never know the miracle God would have performed had Michal trusted Him and told her Dad the truth. I don’t agree with the writer of the commentary that she and David would provably have died. We just don’t know how God would have saved them, because Michal lied.

Like Moses, who threw a veil over God’s power when he tapped the rock in the dessert, Michal threw the same veil over God’s power here. The reality is, both Moses and Michal sinned, and God couldn’t do great things because of their unbelief.

I believe Scripture teaches that any lie – no matter how “small” or how difficult the situation – is sin that comes with a death penalty. Lying, no matter what spin we put on it, is a slap in the face of God.

I have said it before, and I will continue to say it again and again, you and I have got to be reading God’s Word, commentaries, blogs, listening to preachers and teachers with discernment. Do not accept everything everyone says is truth. If I accepted what this apologist said, I might give myself a pass for a sin because my situation is uncomfortable, and sinning is my solution. That, dear one, would be inviting sin into my life and expecting God to be ok with it.

God will never be ok with it.

Choosing between pure good and pure evil is not only possible, it’s expected of us who know Jesus as our Savior. If we think we have to lie to get out of a difficult situation, we are preventing God from revealing Himself, perhaps preventing someone who needs Him from finding Him.

I pray you will consider this issue today. What do you believe about Michal? What do you believe about situational sin? Are all sins equal in God’s sight? Do all sins demand a death sentence? Is it your responsibility and mine to allow God to reveal Himself through us today, no matter what the situation? Do you trust Him?

I pray you and I will choose pure good today. It won’t be easy. But God will be faithful to honor our choice. I believe that with all my heart.

(I Samuel 13-15) God Regrets

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God’s Sovereignty is such a mystery. Some people believe life on earth is predestined to play out exactly how God causes it to be. Others think God set the world in motion, then stepped back to see how it would progress without His intervention. Some people place themselves somewhere in the middle, and believe God’s will will always be done no matter the choices we make, because if we make one decision, He will orchestrate situations which lead to His will, if we make another decision, God will manipulate circumstances in another direction to bring about His will. Still others believe something in between all of those.

(Let me say here that I know there is one indisputable aspect of God’s will that will ALWAYS be true. That is that anyone who believes in Jesus will be saved. It’s the “whosoever” of John 3:16. Anyone who comes to God on His terms, He will in no wise cast out. Take that to the bank!)

The question of God’s Sovereignty comes up when Scripture tells us God “regretted” making Saul king. Does that mean He wished He’d appointed someone else in light of what Saul did? Is God really saying hindsight is 20/20? Are we to assume this is the same as an unhappy husband regretting he’s married his nagging wife?

The definition of regret is: “a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done.”

I think what we see here in I Samuel is God’s expression of sadness and disappointment. God has nothing to repent for! Remember His will for Israel was that HE would be their king. They chose a human king instead. I think God mourned the inevitable pain their rejection of Him is going to cause. What Saul did was the tip of the iceberg as we will see as we read on in the Scriptures. And that made God sad.

When you watch your child make a decision that you know is going to end up hurting them, isn’t there a bit of regret, or sadness, or disappointment? It’s the same with God. He loved the people. He loved Saul. And it grieved Him to know how their choices were going to hurt them.

God was disappointed. But He was not surprised. After all He, in His Sovereignty, had already watched the scene played out before it happened. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t break His heart.

My Apologetics Bible said this about this passage: “(God’s) relationships with people are authentic and personal, not pre-programmed.” I tend to agree.

As I think about this passage this morning, I am determined not to cause God any disappointment or sadness. I pray that I – that we all – will decide to obey Him today and bring Him only joy. No regrets.

(I Samuel 8-12) Gotta Let It Go

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God had made Saul King of Israel. Yet when we next see Saul he’s out plowing his field like any other day. Wouldn’t you think God would want him doing king-stuff? It seems Saul was caught between his old comfortable life, and the unknown life for which God had anointed him.

Sometimes it’s hard to let go of our past. Most of us liked it there. It was familiar, predictable, perhaps exciting. It was “us.” But when we meet God and accept His will for our lives, He asks us to turn, to leave behind the old and put on the new.

It can be uncomfortable and scary. But if we are to be the people God wants us to be, we’ve got to let go of the people we were. Sometimes it means leaving home in a physical way, leaving former friendships, overcoming old habits.

Saul could not be king hanging onto a plow. We can’t be the people God wants us to be hanging onto our pasts, either. We’ve got to let it go, leave it behind, and step toward the blessings of life according to God.