Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
It Isn't About You
As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba. But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.
Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. "Look," they told him, "you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have"
Samuel was displeased with their request and ent to the Loan for guidance. "Do everything they say to you," the LORD replied, "for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don't want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them."
So Samuel passed on the LORD's warning to the people who were asking him for a king. - 1 Samuel 8:1-10 NLT
Just because people are good Christians and have good relationships with od doesn't mean their kids will too. Each person stands before God alone.
Samuel had been raised by Eli, whose children had been corrupt and evil. Sadly, Samuel's children turned out much as Eli's had. The people of Israel had no complaint with Samuel, but Samuel's children were clearly never going to be the spiritual leaders that he was. And so they asked that Samuel find someone else to become king for them.
Samuel was reluctant, and God warned the people that a king would not fix things. After all, a monarchy is hereditary; the king's children would take his place when he died. And if Samuel, as good as he was, produced children that the people didn't want ruling over them, what really made them think that getting a king, however good he might be, would solve that fundamental problem?
God compared their request for a new king with their continual problem with idolatry. Why? They kept looking to someone other than God to lead them and to fix their problems. They weren't willing to follow God at all. Samuel wasn't being rejected, even though their words hurt him and made him think that maybe they thought his life had not been worthwhile. The people were rejecting God. It wasn't about Samuel at all. God can use people to solve problems. The mistake comes in thinking that people can take the place of God altogether.
Information for your soul. Daily devotionals and Observances to celebrate.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Word of the Day
proximity\prahk-SIM-uh-tee DID YOU KNOW? The history of "proximity" hinges on the idea of closeness, both physical and metaphorical. English speakers borrowed the word from Middle French, which in turn acquired it from Latin "proximitat-, proximitas," forms of the adjective "proximus," meaning "nearest" or "next." A number of other languages, including Catalan, Portuguese, and Italian, derived similar words from Latin "proximus." Other descendants of "proximus" in English include "proximal," "proximate," and the somewhat more rare "approximal" (meaning "contiguous").
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Free at Last
You are to count seven sabbatic years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatic years amounts to 49. Then you are to sound a trumpet loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth [day] of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement. You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you are to return to his property and each of you to his clan. The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines. It is to be holy to you because it is the Jubilee; you may [only] eat its produce [directly] from the field.
In this Year of Jubilee, each of you will return to his property. If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, do not cheat one another. - Leviticus 25:8-14 11 HCSB
God cares about those who have nothing left to give. In ancient Israel, people could sell their property or even themselves if they became impoverished. But every fifty years all the people enslaved were supposed to be freed during the year of Jubilee. Property was supposed to return to its original owner.
For the entire year of Jubilee, no plowing of fields, no planting of crops, and no harvesting were to be done. By taking a year off to do no work, they would face clearly what was always true: God was the source of their sustenance. Jubilee restored economic balance in the land. And it reminded the people that God really could provide for them—just as he had for the forty years of wandering in the wilderness after the exodus.
During the time of Moses and Joshua, the land had been distributed to the tribes and families of Israel. It was supposed to remain with those tribes and families for all time. Unfortunately, though God told the Israelites to "proclaim liberty throughout the land" (Leviticus 25:10 NRSV) every year of Jubilee, the harsh reality of Israelite society was that Jubilee never came.
Idolatry wasn't the only reason God brought the Babylonians against the Israelites. God also sent them into captivity because the powerful had oppressed the weak. The powerful never set anyone free. They never returned a bit of land. So the Babylonians took only a minority of Israelites into captivity—the upper classes who had oppressed the poor by denying them their Jubilees. Those whom they had oppressed were left behind. Freedom finally came as the oppressors were dragged away. God granted mercy with his judgment.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Free at Last
You are to count seven sabbatic years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatic years amounts to 49. Then you are to sound a trumpet loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth [day] of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement. You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you are to return to his property and each of you to his clan. The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines. It is to be holy to you because it is the Jubilee; you may [only] eat its produce [directly] from the field.
In this Year of Jubilee, each of you will return to his property. If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, do not cheat one another. - Leviticus 25:8-14 11 HCSB
God cares about those who have nothing left to give. In ancient Israel, people could sell their property or even themselves if they became impoverished. But every fifty years all the people enslaved were supposed to be freed during the year of Jubilee. Property was supposed to return to its original owner.
For the entire year of Jubilee, no plowing of fields, no planting of crops, and no harvesting were to be done. By taking a year off to do no work, they would face clearly what was always true: God was the source of their sustenance. Jubilee restored economic balance in the land. And it reminded the people that God really could provide for them—just as he had for the forty years of wandering in the wilderness after the exodus.
During the time of Moses and Joshua, the land had been distributed to the tribes and families of Israel. It was supposed to remain with those tribes and families for all time. Unfortunately, though God told the Israelites to "proclaim liberty throughout the land" (Leviticus 25:10 NRSV) every year of Jubilee, the harsh reality of Israelite society was that Jubilee never came.
Idolatry wasn't the only reason God brought the Babylonians against the Israelites. God also sent them into captivity because the powerful had oppressed the weak. The powerful never set anyone free. They never returned a bit of land. So the Babylonians took only a minority of Israelites into captivity—the upper classes who had oppressed the poor by denying them their Jubilees. Those whom they had oppressed were left behind. Freedom finally came as the oppressors were dragged away. God granted mercy with his judgment.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Show Me Your Way
Moses said to the LORD, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people' But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight' Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people."
And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest"
Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth."
So the LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name."
And he said, "Please, show me Your glory."
Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will prodaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." - Exodus 33:12-19 NKJV
There's always room for worry. No matter how clearly God acts, human beings will want more reassurance. Moses had seen many miracles. He regularly talked to God face-to-face. And yet, with all of that, he wondered who would be going with them to the promised land. He wondered if he knew for sure where they would be going and what they would be doing.
God did not berate Moses, did not criticize him, did not even ask him a pointed question. Instead, God quickly reassured Moses and told him again that he would be with him. Moses—who saw God in the burning bush, on Mount Sinai, and even in the Tent of Meeting where he talked to God as a man might converse with a friend—then asked God if he could see his glory. And God gave him what he asked!
No matter how close we think we are to God, it is easy to start taking our closeness with God for granted. We need a bigger fix just to feel normal and to know that God is still there. God accommodated Moses, so don't be afraid to tell God about the doubts and weariness you may be feeling.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Show Me Your Way
Moses said to the LORD, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people' But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight' Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people."
And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest"
Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth."
So the LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name."
And he said, "Please, show me Your glory."
Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will prodaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." - Exodus 33:12-19 NKJV
There's always room for worry. No matter how clearly God acts, human beings will want more reassurance. Moses had seen many miracles. He regularly talked to God face-to-face. And yet, with all of that, he wondered who would be going with them to the promised land. He wondered if he knew for sure where they would be going and what they would be doing.
God did not berate Moses, did not criticize him, did not even ask him a pointed question. Instead, God quickly reassured Moses and told him again that he would be with him. Moses—who saw God in the burning bush, on Mount Sinai, and even in the Tent of Meeting where he talked to God as a man might converse with a friend—then asked God if he could see his glory. And God gave him what he asked!
No matter how close we think we are to God, it is easy to start taking our closeness with God for granted. We need a bigger fix just to feel normal and to know that God is still there. God accommodated Moses, so don't be afraid to tell God about the doubts and weariness you may be feeling.
Monday, March 28, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
How to Treat Your Slaves
When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years; then in the seventh he is to leave as a free man without paying anything. If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to her master, and the man must leave alone.
But if the slave declares: "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I do not want to leave as a free man," his master is to bring him to the judges and then bring him to the door or doorpost. His master must pierce his ear with an awl, and he will serve his master for life.
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to leave as the male slaves do. If she is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her. Or if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her according to the customary treatment of daughters. - Exodus 21:2—9 HCSB
Slavery has been part of the human condition through all recorded history. God liked slavery no more than he liked divorce. But he knows the fallen condition of human beings, and so he set up regulations in order to protect the weak from the strong. In most cultures, slaves had no more rights than farm animals. In the Mosaic legislation, God required that his people treat slaves well: the need to love others extended to them too. Slavery was ordinarily a temporary status in Israel. As a person went into slavery, so they would leave slavery.
For those whose status changed while they were slaves—for instance in marriage—the slave could choose to make his condition permanent by means of a ceremony. Poking an awl through the slave's ear signified his decision to give up his freedom for good. Although piercing of ears and noses was not uncommon in ancient Israel, this piercing signified more than adornment.
A woman sold into slavery did not become a sex slave. If her master intended to use her sexually, then she had to be granted certain rights—the same rights as any other wife. If her husband married an additional wife, she retained her standing as his wife. And if she was divorced, then she had the same protections as any other divorced woman. She could no longer be considered a slave, nor did she have to pay for her freedom. It is God's desire that we act conscientiously and deal fairly with all people.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
How to Treat Your Slaves
When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years; then in the seventh he is to leave as a free man without paying anything. If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to her master, and the man must leave alone.
But if the slave declares: "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I do not want to leave as a free man," his master is to bring him to the judges and then bring him to the door or doorpost. His master must pierce his ear with an awl, and he will serve his master for life.
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to leave as the male slaves do. If she is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her. Or if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her according to the customary treatment of daughters. - Exodus 21:2—9 HCSB
Slavery has been part of the human condition through all recorded history. God liked slavery no more than he liked divorce. But he knows the fallen condition of human beings, and so he set up regulations in order to protect the weak from the strong. In most cultures, slaves had no more rights than farm animals. In the Mosaic legislation, God required that his people treat slaves well: the need to love others extended to them too. Slavery was ordinarily a temporary status in Israel. As a person went into slavery, so they would leave slavery.
For those whose status changed while they were slaves—for instance in marriage—the slave could choose to make his condition permanent by means of a ceremony. Poking an awl through the slave's ear signified his decision to give up his freedom for good. Although piercing of ears and noses was not uncommon in ancient Israel, this piercing signified more than adornment.
A woman sold into slavery did not become a sex slave. If her master intended to use her sexually, then she had to be granted certain rights—the same rights as any other wife. If her husband married an additional wife, she retained her standing as his wife. And if she was divorced, then she had the same protections as any other divorced woman. She could no longer be considered a slave, nor did she have to pay for her freedom. It is God's desire that we act conscientiously and deal fairly with all people.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
What Have We Done?
The LORD said to Moses:
Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall camp opposite it, by the sea. Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, "They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has dosed in on them." I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Loa). And they did so.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, "What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?" So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The Loin hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal- zephon. - Exodus 14:1-9 NRSV
With the death of the firstborn, Pharaoh finally gave in to Moses and Moses' God. He granted the slaves—together with all their children and wives and all their livestock—permission to take three days off work to go somewhere to sacrifice to their God. Egypt was a mess; people were dead. For the benefit of the nation, he had to let the slaves' God have his way.
But after the three days had passed, the slaves didn't return. Pharaoh had to act. He'd been suspicious all along that Moses had in mind something more than just a worship service of singing, praying, and animal sacrifice. Pharaoh had lied repeatedly to Moses, but he now saw that Moses had been lying to him just as much. Pharaoh couldn't let Moses steal his property. He had to get it all back. He sent his army to track down and return the runaway slaves. Plagues or not, Pharaoh wasn't ready to lose his property for good.
Once again, however, Pharaoh underestimated God. He had lost his farms and his wealth, and he was about to lose his power. His army would be wiped out. Human power is no match for God's power.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
What Have We Done?
The LORD said to Moses:
Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall camp opposite it, by the sea. Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, "They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has dosed in on them." I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Loa). And they did so.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, "What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?" So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The Loin hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal- zephon. - Exodus 14:1-9 NRSV
With the death of the firstborn, Pharaoh finally gave in to Moses and Moses' God. He granted the slaves—together with all their children and wives and all their livestock—permission to take three days off work to go somewhere to sacrifice to their God. Egypt was a mess; people were dead. For the benefit of the nation, he had to let the slaves' God have his way.
But after the three days had passed, the slaves didn't return. Pharaoh had to act. He'd been suspicious all along that Moses had in mind something more than just a worship service of singing, praying, and animal sacrifice. Pharaoh had lied repeatedly to Moses, but he now saw that Moses had been lying to him just as much. Pharaoh couldn't let Moses steal his property. He had to get it all back. He sent his army to track down and return the runaway slaves. Plagues or not, Pharaoh wasn't ready to lose his property for good.
Once again, however, Pharaoh underestimated God. He had lost his farms and his wealth, and he was about to lose his power. His army would be wiped out. Human power is no match for God's power.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
The Plague
The LORD sent Moses with this message for the king of Egypt:
The LORD God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can worship him. If you keep refusing, he will bring a terrible disease on your horses and donkeys, your camels and cattle, and your sheep and goats. But the LORD will protect the animals that belong to the people of Israel, and none of thens will die. Tomorrow is the day the LORD has set to do this.
It happened the next day—all of the animals belonging to the Egyptians died, but the Israelites did not lose even one. When the king found out, he was still too stubborn to let the people go.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
Take a few handfuls of ashes from a stove and have Moses throw them into the air. Be sure the king is watching. The ashes will blow across the land of Egypt, causing sores to break out on people and animals.
So they took a few handfuls of ashes and went to the king. Moses threw them into the air, and sores immediately broke out on the Egyptians and their animals. The magicians were suffering so much from the sores, that they could not even come to Moses. Everything happened just as the Loan had told Moses—he made the king too stubborn to listen to Moses and Aaron. - Exodus 9:1-12 CEV
Pain will get your attention if nothing else will. Egypt's plagues finally turned from mere annoyance to physical pain and financial devastation. With the fifth plague, Pharaoh's property was being lost. He didn't want to let the Jewish people go, because they were part of his wealth.
But then he started losing animals and people. The lost people cut into his nonslave labor pool as well as his army. The nation of Egypt depended on the sea and the desert to protect the kingdom. But with no soldiers able to fight, Egypt was vulnerable to possible attack. The danger posed by the slaves' God was suddenly becoming serious; the slaves were becoming a threat to his wealth.
Even so, he wasn't willing to give in to the slaves' God. He was Pharaoh, and Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth. Eventually, the gods of Egypt would rise up against Moses. Eventually, the world would make sense again and the slaves would know their place and stay there.
Pharaoh didn't yet understand that his sense of power was an illusion and that the slaves' God was the only real God. False gods may look good and work for a while, but they always and ultimately come up painfully short. The more you have invested in them, the more painful is the lesson.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
The Plague
The LORD sent Moses with this message for the king of Egypt:
The LORD God of the Hebrews commands you to let his people go, so they can worship him. If you keep refusing, he will bring a terrible disease on your horses and donkeys, your camels and cattle, and your sheep and goats. But the LORD will protect the animals that belong to the people of Israel, and none of thens will die. Tomorrow is the day the LORD has set to do this.
It happened the next day—all of the animals belonging to the Egyptians died, but the Israelites did not lose even one. When the king found out, he was still too stubborn to let the people go.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
Take a few handfuls of ashes from a stove and have Moses throw them into the air. Be sure the king is watching. The ashes will blow across the land of Egypt, causing sores to break out on people and animals.
So they took a few handfuls of ashes and went to the king. Moses threw them into the air, and sores immediately broke out on the Egyptians and their animals. The magicians were suffering so much from the sores, that they could not even come to Moses. Everything happened just as the Loan had told Moses—he made the king too stubborn to listen to Moses and Aaron. - Exodus 9:1-12 CEV
Pain will get your attention if nothing else will. Egypt's plagues finally turned from mere annoyance to physical pain and financial devastation. With the fifth plague, Pharaoh's property was being lost. He didn't want to let the Jewish people go, because they were part of his wealth.
But then he started losing animals and people. The lost people cut into his nonslave labor pool as well as his army. The nation of Egypt depended on the sea and the desert to protect the kingdom. But with no soldiers able to fight, Egypt was vulnerable to possible attack. The danger posed by the slaves' God was suddenly becoming serious; the slaves were becoming a threat to his wealth.
Even so, he wasn't willing to give in to the slaves' God. He was Pharaoh, and Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth. Eventually, the gods of Egypt would rise up against Moses. Eventually, the world would make sense again and the slaves would know their place and stay there.
Pharaoh didn't yet understand that his sense of power was an illusion and that the slaves' God was the only real God. False gods may look good and work for a while, but they always and ultimately come up painfully short. The more you have invested in them, the more painful is the lesson.
Friday, March 25, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
God Doesn't Play Fair
The LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what the Loan says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. But if you will not let My people go, then I will send swarms of flies against you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The Egyptians' houses will swarm with flies, and so will the land where they live. But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people are living no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land. I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow."
And the LORD did this. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh's palace and his officials' houses. Throughout Egypt the land was mined because of the swarms of flies. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go sacrifice to your God within the country."
But Moses said, "It would not be right to do that, because what we will sacrifice to the Lox) our God is detestable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what the Egyptians detest in front of them, won't they stone us? We must go a distance of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LOUD our God as He instructs us." - Exodus 8:20-27 HCSB
God knows the best way to change a mind. He was in no hurry with haraoh's mind. God distinguished between his own and those who were not his own. This illustrated an important point about God's love. How his love is perceived depends on the relationship the object of God's love has with him. Those who love God will recognize God's hand as beneficial. Those who do not love God can't see it. The Egyptians suffered, but for the Israelites, the plague brought them one step closer to their liberation.
For the first time, Pharaoh's magicians found themselves unable to duplicate the plague and informed Pharaoh that clearly there was a god involved in events. But the plague went away the last time Pharaoh lied to Moses. Despite his refusal to keep his promise to Moses, the previous plague had not come back. Pharaoh believed the slaves' God was not as powerful as he was, so he didn't intend to back down. He needed the slaves.
God was patient, and though it might have seemed to both Pharaoh and the Israelites that nothing was changing, God's plan was in motion. It would work when and how it was supposed to.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
God Doesn't Play Fair
The LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what the Loan says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. But if you will not let My people go, then I will send swarms of flies against you, your officials, your people, and your houses. The Egyptians' houses will swarm with flies, and so will the land where they live. But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people are living no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land. I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow."
And the LORD did this. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh's palace and his officials' houses. Throughout Egypt the land was mined because of the swarms of flies. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go sacrifice to your God within the country."
But Moses said, "It would not be right to do that, because what we will sacrifice to the Lox) our God is detestable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what the Egyptians detest in front of them, won't they stone us? We must go a distance of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LOUD our God as He instructs us." - Exodus 8:20-27 HCSB
God knows the best way to change a mind. He was in no hurry with haraoh's mind. God distinguished between his own and those who were not his own. This illustrated an important point about God's love. How his love is perceived depends on the relationship the object of God's love has with him. Those who love God will recognize God's hand as beneficial. Those who do not love God can't see it. The Egyptians suffered, but for the Israelites, the plague brought them one step closer to their liberation.
For the first time, Pharaoh's magicians found themselves unable to duplicate the plague and informed Pharaoh that clearly there was a god involved in events. But the plague went away the last time Pharaoh lied to Moses. Despite his refusal to keep his promise to Moses, the previous plague had not come back. Pharaoh believed the slaves' God was not as powerful as he was, so he didn't intend to back down. He needed the slaves.
God was patient, and though it might have seemed to both Pharaoh and the Israelites that nothing was changing, God's plan was in motion. It would work when and how it was supposed to.
Jesus Calling March 25
March 25 - Promise #84 - 1 Peter 5:6Humble yourself before Me and in time I will exalt you.
1 Peter 5:6 KJV
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time:.
1 Corinthians 10:10 (Amplified Bible)
10Nor discontentedly complain as some of them did--and were [a]put out of the way entirely by the destroyer (death).
Hebrews 12:28-29 (Amplified Bible)
28Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe;
29For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.
1 Peter 5:6 KJV
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time:.
1 Corinthians 10:10 (Amplified Bible)
10Nor discontentedly complain as some of them did--and were [a]put out of the way entirely by the destroyer (death).
Hebrews 12:28-29 (Amplified Bible)
28Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe;
29For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Jumping Frogs of Egypt
The LORD said to Moses, "Go back to Pharaoh and announce to him, This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs across your entire land. The Nile River will swarm with frogs. They will come up out of the river and into your palace, even into your bedroom and onto your bed! They will enter the houses of your officials and your people. They will even jump into your ovens and your kneading bowls. Frogs will jump on you, your people, and all your officials.'"
; Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Raise the staff in your hand over all the rivers, canals, and ponds of Egypt, and bring up frogs over all the land: " So Aaron raised his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs came up and covered the whole land! But the magicians were able to do the same thing with their magic. They, too, caused frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and begged, "Plead with the Login to take the frogs away from me and my people. I will let your people go, so they can offer sacrifices to the LORD." - Exodus 8:1-8 NLT
Tyrants are not quick to keep their promises. As his nation was overrun with frogs, Pharaoh recognized that they came from the God of the slaves, and he asked Moses to get his God to send them away. In exchange, Pharaoh promised to do just what the slaves' God said.
This was but the second plague that had come upon the land of Egypt, and like the plague before, though it was annoying, it wasn't exactly devastating to his kingdom. Frogs didn't bite. They just made noise and startled people by their presence. And they were messy, and, really, you didn't want them in your food or in bed with you.
But like many a tyrant after him, Pharaoh asked for concessions, and then when they were given, asked for more. He never did what he promised in return. And so the pharaoh was quick to give in to Moses. Once he got what he wanted, however, he felt no obligation to follow through on his promise. Pharaoh was contemptuous of his slaves and of their God. But Pharaoh underestimated the sort of god the slaves had. God cared about the oppressed and was willing—and able—to help them.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Jumping Frogs of Egypt
The LORD said to Moses, "Go back to Pharaoh and announce to him, This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs across your entire land. The Nile River will swarm with frogs. They will come up out of the river and into your palace, even into your bedroom and onto your bed! They will enter the houses of your officials and your people. They will even jump into your ovens and your kneading bowls. Frogs will jump on you, your people, and all your officials.'"
; Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Raise the staff in your hand over all the rivers, canals, and ponds of Egypt, and bring up frogs over all the land: " So Aaron raised his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs came up and covered the whole land! But the magicians were able to do the same thing with their magic. They, too, caused frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and begged, "Plead with the Login to take the frogs away from me and my people. I will let your people go, so they can offer sacrifices to the LORD." - Exodus 8:1-8 NLT
Tyrants are not quick to keep their promises. As his nation was overrun with frogs, Pharaoh recognized that they came from the God of the slaves, and he asked Moses to get his God to send them away. In exchange, Pharaoh promised to do just what the slaves' God said.
This was but the second plague that had come upon the land of Egypt, and like the plague before, though it was annoying, it wasn't exactly devastating to his kingdom. Frogs didn't bite. They just made noise and startled people by their presence. And they were messy, and, really, you didn't want them in your food or in bed with you.
But like many a tyrant after him, Pharaoh asked for concessions, and then when they were given, asked for more. He never did what he promised in return. And so the pharaoh was quick to give in to Moses. Once he got what he wanted, however, he felt no obligation to follow through on his promise. Pharaoh was contemptuous of his slaves and of their God. But Pharaoh underestimated the sort of god the slaves had. God cared about the oppressed and was willing—and able—to help them.
Jesus Calling
March 24 - Promise #83 - Romans 8:28I will cause all things to ultimately work for your good.
Romans 8:28 KJV
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Psalm 89:15 (Amplified Bible)
15Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the people who know the joyful sound [who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feasts]; they walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance!
Psalm 132:15 (Amplified Bible)
15I will surely and abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.
John 6:12-13 (Amplified Bible)
12When they had all had enough, He said to His disciples, Gather up now the fragments (the broken pieces that are left over), so that nothing may be lost and wasted.
13So accordingly they gathered them up, and they filled twelve [[a]small hand] baskets with fragments left over by those who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
Romans 8:28 KJV
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Psalm 89:15 (Amplified Bible)
15Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the people who know the joyful sound [who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feasts]; they walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance!
Psalm 132:15 (Amplified Bible)
15I will surely and abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.
John 6:12-13 (Amplified Bible)
12When they had all had enough, He said to His disciples, Gather up now the fragments (the broken pieces that are left over), so that nothing may be lost and wasted.
13So accordingly they gathered them up, and they filled twelve [[a]small hand] baskets with fragments left over by those who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Who Is This God Person?
Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.' "
But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go."
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."
But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!"
Again Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!" - Exodus 5:1-5 NASB
Speaking hard truth to power sometimes turns out poorly. Egyptian royalty had power and usually cared only about retaining it. They saw no reason to pay attention to the truth. After all, if people don't have power, how can they have anything useful to say?
Moses' request to set his people free made sense. But Pharaoh had a different perspective. What slave wouldn't like to get time off from his or her labors? What slave wouldn't want to be free? Moses told the pharaoh nothing the pharaoh didn't already know about slaves. So why should he pay any attention? So what if Moses had talked to the slaves' God and that God wanted the slaves to go free? If that God were so great, then why were his people slaves? Pharaoh believed himself a god. Given his circumstances, Pharaoh thought he was stronger than the slaves were and thus stronger than the slaves' God. He had no reason to pay any attention to Moses or the God he claimed to represent.
People are not quick to change their minds about anything—be it God or their favorite cola—until and unless it stops working for them. Those at ease, those who are in positions of power and wealth, are not likely to change their minds about much. A comfortable life would have to become uncomfortable before the truth Moses was speaking could be heard by the powerful Pharaoh. Our hearts can't be changed until we fully realize they need to be changed.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Who Is This God Person?
Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.' "
But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go."
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."
But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!"
Again Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!" - Exodus 5:1-5 NASB
Speaking hard truth to power sometimes turns out poorly. Egyptian royalty had power and usually cared only about retaining it. They saw no reason to pay attention to the truth. After all, if people don't have power, how can they have anything useful to say?
Moses' request to set his people free made sense. But Pharaoh had a different perspective. What slave wouldn't like to get time off from his or her labors? What slave wouldn't want to be free? Moses told the pharaoh nothing the pharaoh didn't already know about slaves. So why should he pay any attention? So what if Moses had talked to the slaves' God and that God wanted the slaves to go free? If that God were so great, then why were his people slaves? Pharaoh believed himself a god. Given his circumstances, Pharaoh thought he was stronger than the slaves were and thus stronger than the slaves' God. He had no reason to pay any attention to Moses or the God he claimed to represent.
People are not quick to change their minds about anything—be it God or their favorite cola—until and unless it stops working for them. Those at ease, those who are in positions of power and wealth, are not likely to change their minds about much. A comfortable life would have to become uncomfortable before the truth Moses was speaking could be heard by the powerful Pharaoh. Our hearts can't be changed until we fully realize they need to be changed.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Holy Ground
GOD saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
He said, "Yes? I'm right here!"
God said, "Don't come any doser. Remove your sandals from your feet. You're standing on holy ground."
Then he said, "I am the God of your father. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob."
Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.
GOD said, "I've taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt I've heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
"The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I've seen for myself how cruelly they're being treated by the Egyptians. It's time for you to go back I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt" - Exodus 3:4-10 MSG
The people of Israel were in slavery because God had put them there. God sent Joseph to Egypt so that he could save his family's lives and the lives of the Egyptians. Then God sent Jacob and the rest of Joseph's brothers to Egypt to live with him. With Moses, the time had come at last to rescue the Israelites from a bondage that had not come through disobedience but through obedience to God's commands. God wanted the Egyptians to know about him. He wanted the Israelites to learn about God's power and to give them a picture of salvation.
God intended to take the land of the Canaanites and give it to the Israelites. The Canaanites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites all spoke a language similar to or in many cases the same as that of the Hebrews. The Hittites, however, spoke a language related to the languages of Europe and India. The people living in the promised land were disunited. Only their evil religion, a religion that included child sacrifice, bound them together. Israel would get their land because God needed to punish the Canaanites.
Sometimes doing what God wants might not be pleasant. We simply must trust that God knows what he is doing and that he is doing it for a very good reason.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Holy Ground
GOD saw that he had stopped to look. God called to him from out of the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
He said, "Yes? I'm right here!"
God said, "Don't come any doser. Remove your sandals from your feet. You're standing on holy ground."
Then he said, "I am the God of your father. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob."
Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.
GOD said, "I've taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt I've heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
"The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I've seen for myself how cruelly they're being treated by the Egyptians. It's time for you to go back I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt" - Exodus 3:4-10 MSG
The people of Israel were in slavery because God had put them there. God sent Joseph to Egypt so that he could save his family's lives and the lives of the Egyptians. Then God sent Jacob and the rest of Joseph's brothers to Egypt to live with him. With Moses, the time had come at last to rescue the Israelites from a bondage that had not come through disobedience but through obedience to God's commands. God wanted the Egyptians to know about him. He wanted the Israelites to learn about God's power and to give them a picture of salvation.
God intended to take the land of the Canaanites and give it to the Israelites. The Canaanites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites all spoke a language similar to or in many cases the same as that of the Hebrews. The Hittites, however, spoke a language related to the languages of Europe and India. The people living in the promised land were disunited. Only their evil religion, a religion that included child sacrifice, bound them together. Israel would get their land because God needed to punish the Canaanites.
Sometimes doing what God wants might not be pleasant. We simply must trust that God knows what he is doing and that he is doing it for a very good reason.
Jesus Calling
Philippians 4:4 (Amplified Bible)
4Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!
Psalm 95 (Amplified Bible)
1O COME, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation!
2Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!
Psalm 9:10 (Amplified Bible)
10And they who know Your name [who have experience and acquaintance with Your mercy] will lean on and confidently put their trust in You, for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek (inquire of and for) You [on the authority of God's Word and the right of their necessity]
Monday, March 21, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Whether They Listen or Not
All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the douds on a rainy day. This is what the glory of the Loan looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell face down on the ground, and I heard someone's voice speaking to me.
"Stand up, son of man," said the voice. "I want to speak with you." The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words. "Son of man," he said, "I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for remember, they are rebels—at least they will know they have had a prophet among them.
"Son of man, do not fear them or their words. Don't be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels. You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won't listen, for they are completely rebellious! Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in their rebellion. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you." - Ezekiel 1:28-2:8 NLT
Fearing God means you have nothing else to be afraid of. While in some cases "fear of God" might mean something like "reverential awe," in most cases it simply means to be afraid. The Hebrew word for fear in "fearing God" is the same word used when an angel tells someone to "fear not." Being afraid of God is the first step in a relationship with him. Only as we realize God will forgive us can our fear turn to hope and love. Besides reassuring Ezekiel that he would protect him from all harm, God also told Ezekiel that even though the people would know he was a prophet, few would listen. Then God fed him a small scroll to symbolize that Ezekiel's prophetic message would come from God.
Most people would have a hard time digging a bunch of holes only to fill them in again. But essentially that's what Ezekiel faced in his ministry. Ezekiel was okay with that. He would persevere no matter how tough or unrewarding it got. He saw that his success came not in the reactions of his audience but in the performance of his duty. He trusted that God would work things out whether Ezekiel could see how or not.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Whether They Listen or Not
All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the douds on a rainy day. This is what the glory of the Loan looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell face down on the ground, and I heard someone's voice speaking to me.
"Stand up, son of man," said the voice. "I want to speak with you." The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words. "Son of man," he said, "I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for remember, they are rebels—at least they will know they have had a prophet among them.
"Son of man, do not fear them or their words. Don't be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels. You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won't listen, for they are completely rebellious! Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in their rebellion. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you." - Ezekiel 1:28-2:8 NLT
Fearing God means you have nothing else to be afraid of. While in some cases "fear of God" might mean something like "reverential awe," in most cases it simply means to be afraid. The Hebrew word for fear in "fearing God" is the same word used when an angel tells someone to "fear not." Being afraid of God is the first step in a relationship with him. Only as we realize God will forgive us can our fear turn to hope and love. Besides reassuring Ezekiel that he would protect him from all harm, God also told Ezekiel that even though the people would know he was a prophet, few would listen. Then God fed him a small scroll to symbolize that Ezekiel's prophetic message would come from God.
Most people would have a hard time digging a bunch of holes only to fill them in again. But essentially that's what Ezekiel faced in his ministry. Ezekiel was okay with that. He would persevere no matter how tough or unrewarding it got. He saw that his success came not in the reactions of his audience but in the performance of his duty. He trusted that God would work things out whether Ezekiel could see how or not.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Jesus Calling March 23
March 23 - Promise #82 - James 2:13My mercy will overrule judgment.
James 2:13 KJV
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy;
and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
Psalm 36:7-9 (Amplified Bible)
7How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
8They relish and feast on the abundance of Your house; and You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures.
9For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.
Psalm 132:15 (New International Version, ©2011)
15 I will bless her with abundant provisions;
her poor I will satisfy with food.
John 6:12-13 (Amplified Bible)
12When they had all had enough, He said to His disciples, Gather up now the fragments (the broken pieces that are left over), so that nothing may be lost and wasted.
13So accordingly they gathered them up, and they filled twelve [[a]small hand] baskets with fragments left over by those who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
James 2:13 KJV
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy;
and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
Psalm 36:7-9 (Amplified Bible)
7How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
8They relish and feast on the abundance of Your house; and You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures.
9For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.
Psalm 132:15 (New International Version, ©2011)
15 I will bless her with abundant provisions;
her poor I will satisfy with food.
John 6:12-13 (Amplified Bible)
12When they had all had enough, He said to His disciples, Gather up now the fragments (the broken pieces that are left over), so that nothing may be lost and wasted.
13So accordingly they gathered them up, and they filled twelve [[a]small hand] baskets with fragments left over by those who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
Jesus Calling March 21
Isaiah 20:2-3 (Amplified Bible)
2At that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, Go, loose the sackcloth from off your loins and take your shoes off your feet. And he had done so, walking around stripped [to his loincloth] and barefoot.
3And the Lord said, As My servant Isaiah has walked [comparatively] naked and barefoot for three years, as a sign and forewarning concerning Egypt and concerning Cush (Ethiopia),
Psalm 21:6 (Amplified Bible)
6For You make him to be blessed and a blessing forever; You make him exceedingly glad with the joy of Your presence.(A)
A. Gen 12:2
Promise #80 - Psalm 146:7I provide food for the hungry and justice for the oppressed.
Psalm 146:7 KJV
7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry.
The LORD looseth the prisoners:
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
You Cannot Change the Laws of Physics
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
"Thus says the LORD, 'If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.' "
And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
"Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord chose, He has rejected them'? Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight.
"Thus says the LORD, 'If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.'" - Jeremiah 33:19—26 NASB
The creation is the mirror of the creator. The moral laws and the laws of nature are reflections of who and what God is. God links the permanence of the covenant with his people with the laws of the universe. The word translated as patterns is the word usually rendered statute or ordinance. That is, the laws. Breaking them is just as foolish as trying to count the sand or the stars.
God reassured his people that just as surely as the sun rose and set, and just as surely as the patterns of nature went about their courses, so God's promises to his people and their king were secure. Just because the people of Judah were being punished didn't mean God didn't love them anymore. And just because they were going into exile didn't mean God had rejected them. They would continue to be his people whether they remained in their land or not. God was not limited like the so-called gods who had power only within their own lands. God's domain was complete and absolute. God's laws are as unchangeable as the laws of physics, and just as the laws of physics cannot be broken, neither can God's love for his people be broken.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
You Cannot Change the Laws of Physics
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
"Thus says the LORD, 'If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.' "
And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
"Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord chose, He has rejected them'? Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight.
"Thus says the LORD, 'If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.'" - Jeremiah 33:19—26 NASB
The creation is the mirror of the creator. The moral laws and the laws of nature are reflections of who and what God is. God links the permanence of the covenant with his people with the laws of the universe. The word translated as patterns is the word usually rendered statute or ordinance. That is, the laws. Breaking them is just as foolish as trying to count the sand or the stars.
God reassured his people that just as surely as the sun rose and set, and just as surely as the patterns of nature went about their courses, so God's promises to his people and their king were secure. Just because the people of Judah were being punished didn't mean God didn't love them anymore. And just because they were going into exile didn't mean God had rejected them. They would continue to be his people whether they remained in their land or not. God was not limited like the so-called gods who had power only within their own lands. God's domain was complete and absolute. God's laws are as unchangeable as the laws of physics, and just as the laws of physics cannot be broken, neither can God's love for his people be broken.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
You Don't Quit What You Love
You are saying about this city, "By the sword, famine and plague it will be handed over to the king of Babylon"; but this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.
This is what the LORD says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them. - Jeremiah 32:36-42 NIV
Who's your boss? Whom are you really working for? Israel's contract with God stipulated that they had to worship God exclusively and love their neighbors as themselves. But not long after the death of Moses, when they stood triumphant over the newly conquered promised land, Joshua found it necessary to ask them to choose whom they were going to serve—God or someone else. In the centuries that followed, God sent prophets who asked the same question Joshua had asked on the banks of the Jordan River: Whom will you serve? God sent them ever-escalating troubles for disobedience, just as the contract had stipulated.
The prophet Jeremiah's message was not only one of destruction, however. God also gave him messages of hope for the people of Judah. The judgment God was bringing by means of the Babylonians would solve his long-standing problem with his people. God could reassure them that everything would finally turn out for the best. They remained his people, and he had not torn up his contract with them. The reconciliation between God and his people would make the long struggle to achieve it worth the effort.
Most people quit the things they are doing as soon as they start to get uncomfortable. But some people find it easy to keep doing what they love, even if it's hard. God loved his people, so he kept working with them. You mean more to God than your problem.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
You Don't Quit What You Love
You are saying about this city, "By the sword, famine and plague it will be handed over to the king of Babylon"; but this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.
This is what the LORD says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them. - Jeremiah 32:36-42 NIV
Who's your boss? Whom are you really working for? Israel's contract with God stipulated that they had to worship God exclusively and love their neighbors as themselves. But not long after the death of Moses, when they stood triumphant over the newly conquered promised land, Joshua found it necessary to ask them to choose whom they were going to serve—God or someone else. In the centuries that followed, God sent prophets who asked the same question Joshua had asked on the banks of the Jordan River: Whom will you serve? God sent them ever-escalating troubles for disobedience, just as the contract had stipulated.
The prophet Jeremiah's message was not only one of destruction, however. God also gave him messages of hope for the people of Judah. The judgment God was bringing by means of the Babylonians would solve his long-standing problem with his people. God could reassure them that everything would finally turn out for the best. They remained his people, and he had not torn up his contract with them. The reconciliation between God and his people would make the long struggle to achieve it worth the effort.
Most people quit the things they are doing as soon as they start to get uncomfortable. But some people find it easy to keep doing what they love, even if it's hard. God loved his people, so he kept working with them. You mean more to God than your problem.
Friday, March 18, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Running with Horses
Jeremiah, if you get tired in a race against people, how can you possibly run against horses?
If you fall in open fields, what will happen in the forest along the Jordan River?
Even your own family has turned against you.
They act friendly, but don't trust them.
They're out to get you, and so is everyone else.
I loved my people and chose them as my very own.
But now I will reject them and hand them over to their enemies.
My people have turned against me and roar at me like lions.
That's why I hate them.
My people are like a hawk surrounded and attacked by other hawks.
Tell the wild animals to come and eat their fill.
My beautiful land is mined like a field or a vineyard trampled by shepherds and stripped bare by their flocks.
Every field I see lies barren, and no one cares.
A destroying army marches along des en roads and attacks everywhere.
They are my deadly sword; no one is safe from them.
My people, you planted wheat, but because I was furious, I let only weeds grow.
You wore yourselves out for nothing! - Jeremiah 12:5-13 CEV
You think things are hard now? Sometimes it can be just the beginning—,and for good reason. Jeremiah was just a man. Like any human being, he occasionally was worn down by the day-to-day grind. But God offered him neither commiseration nor relief. Rather, he added to Jeremiah's burden by letting him know that what he had experienced up until then was just the beginning. His previous experiences were nothing compared to what was coming. He had to learn to buck up.
What would Jeremiah face? He would be imprisoned in a cistern, he'd be mocked, and eventually he'd be taken as an unwilling captive down to Egypt by people who called him a liar when he told them something they didn't want to hear. But those people took him with them anyway because they believed he was a prophet who heard God. They just didn't believe he always told them what God had actually said.
If the people of Israel had turned against God, Jeremiah had no reason for surprise when they wouldn't listen to God's spokesperson. Jeremiah found strength to continue his work because he knew he and God were working toward the same thing. Like Jeremiah, we're not facing our lives alone even when every minute seems like a struggle.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Running with Horses
Jeremiah, if you get tired in a race against people, how can you possibly run against horses?
If you fall in open fields, what will happen in the forest along the Jordan River?
Even your own family has turned against you.
They act friendly, but don't trust them.
They're out to get you, and so is everyone else.
I loved my people and chose them as my very own.
But now I will reject them and hand them over to their enemies.
My people have turned against me and roar at me like lions.
That's why I hate them.
My people are like a hawk surrounded and attacked by other hawks.
Tell the wild animals to come and eat their fill.
My beautiful land is mined like a field or a vineyard trampled by shepherds and stripped bare by their flocks.
Every field I see lies barren, and no one cares.
A destroying army marches along des en roads and attacks everywhere.
They are my deadly sword; no one is safe from them.
My people, you planted wheat, but because I was furious, I let only weeds grow.
You wore yourselves out for nothing! - Jeremiah 12:5-13 CEV
You think things are hard now? Sometimes it can be just the beginning—,and for good reason. Jeremiah was just a man. Like any human being, he occasionally was worn down by the day-to-day grind. But God offered him neither commiseration nor relief. Rather, he added to Jeremiah's burden by letting him know that what he had experienced up until then was just the beginning. His previous experiences were nothing compared to what was coming. He had to learn to buck up.
What would Jeremiah face? He would be imprisoned in a cistern, he'd be mocked, and eventually he'd be taken as an unwilling captive down to Egypt by people who called him a liar when he told them something they didn't want to hear. But those people took him with them anyway because they believed he was a prophet who heard God. They just didn't believe he always told them what God had actually said.
If the people of Israel had turned against God, Jeremiah had no reason for surprise when they wouldn't listen to God's spokesperson. Jeremiah found strength to continue his work because he knew he and God were working toward the same thing. Like Jeremiah, we're not facing our lives alone even when every minute seems like a struggle.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Why Cling to Old Lies?
"In that day," says the LORD, "the enemy will break open the graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and common people of Jerusalem. They will spread out their bones on the ground before the sun, moon, and stars—the gods my people have loved, sewed, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be scattered on the ground like manure. And the people of this evil nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will send them. I, the LORD of Heaven's Armies, have spoken!
"Jeremiah, say to the people, This is what the LORD says:
"When people fall down, don't they get up again?
When they discover they're on the wrong road, don't they turn back?
Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path?
Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back?
They cling tightly to their lies and will not turn around.
I listen to their conversations and don't hear a word of truth.
Is anyone sorry for doing wrong?
Does anyone say, "What a terrible thing I have done"?
No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!
Even the stork that flies across the sky knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane.
They all return at the proper time each year.
But not my people!
They do not know the LORD'S laws. - Jeremiah 8:1-7 NLT
Once something becomes a habit, it's hard to break, even when we know that its not good for us. Israel had been worshipping false gods for generations.
When Babylon invaded, they took their stuff. Part of an army's pay was the plunder. And since human beings tended to bury valuable items with their dead, armies commonly dug up the graves. For this reason, the bones of the dead wound up scattered beneath the sky. Those who had spent their lives worshipping the sun, moon, and stars were exposed to them until they rotted away.
Israel had repeatedly offered sacrifices and said prayers to their false gods. The rituals never satisfied and the gods never answered, but that didn't stop the Israelites because they knew nothing else.
We can't embrace lies and expect to discern the truth when we hear it.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Why Cling to Old Lies?
"In that day," says the LORD, "the enemy will break open the graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and common people of Jerusalem. They will spread out their bones on the ground before the sun, moon, and stars—the gods my people have loved, sewed, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be scattered on the ground like manure. And the people of this evil nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will send them. I, the LORD of Heaven's Armies, have spoken!
"Jeremiah, say to the people, This is what the LORD says:
"When people fall down, don't they get up again?
When they discover they're on the wrong road, don't they turn back?
Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path?
Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back?
They cling tightly to their lies and will not turn around.
I listen to their conversations and don't hear a word of truth.
Is anyone sorry for doing wrong?
Does anyone say, "What a terrible thing I have done"?
No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!
Even the stork that flies across the sky knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane.
They all return at the proper time each year.
But not my people!
They do not know the LORD'S laws. - Jeremiah 8:1-7 NLT
Once something becomes a habit, it's hard to break, even when we know that its not good for us. Israel had been worshipping false gods for generations.
When Babylon invaded, they took their stuff. Part of an army's pay was the plunder. And since human beings tended to bury valuable items with their dead, armies commonly dug up the graves. For this reason, the bones of the dead wound up scattered beneath the sky. Those who had spent their lives worshipping the sun, moon, and stars were exposed to them until they rotted away.
Israel had repeatedly offered sacrifices and said prayers to their false gods. The rituals never satisfied and the gods never answered, but that didn't stop the Israelites because they knew nothing else.
We can't embrace lies and expect to discern the truth when we hear it.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
From the Rising of the Sun
The LORD saw,
And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.
And He saw that there was no man,
And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.
According to their deeds, so He will repay,
Wrath to His adversaries, recom-pense to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will make recompense.
So they will fear the name of the Loin from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun,
For He will come like a rushing stream
Which the wind of the LORD drives.
"A Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," declares the LORD.
"As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your off-spring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring," says the LORD, "from now and forever." - Isaiah 59:15—21 NASB
Truth and justice are not as popular as some slogans might make us think. Instead, people would rather know what they're comfortable with.
God understands that the world of human relationships and activities sometimes fails to work the way he'd like. In the time of Isaiah, the Israelite government hated his message. Most of the people in the land also disliked what he had to say. The truth can be painful, unpopular, and make no one feel good. God predicted the destruction of his nation by the invasion of powerful neighbors. People were suffering, which is why God would bring judgment. Those who heard God's message accused Isaiah of being a traitor and of hating his own countrymen. They were wrong. He loved Israel just as God loved Israel.
But God's people needed the Babylonians in order to be saved. So God took the task of rescuing his people upon himself. Salvation was dependent upon him alone. He would see to it that his people came back from captivity in Babylon too.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
From the Rising of the Sun
The LORD saw,
And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.
And He saw that there was no man,
And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.
According to their deeds, so He will repay,
Wrath to His adversaries, recom-pense to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will make recompense.
So they will fear the name of the Loin from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun,
For He will come like a rushing stream
Which the wind of the LORD drives.
"A Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," declares the LORD.
"As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your off-spring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring," says the LORD, "from now and forever." - Isaiah 59:15—21 NASB
Truth and justice are not as popular as some slogans might make us think. Instead, people would rather know what they're comfortable with.
God understands that the world of human relationships and activities sometimes fails to work the way he'd like. In the time of Isaiah, the Israelite government hated his message. Most of the people in the land also disliked what he had to say. The truth can be painful, unpopular, and make no one feel good. God predicted the destruction of his nation by the invasion of powerful neighbors. People were suffering, which is why God would bring judgment. Those who heard God's message accused Isaiah of being a traitor and of hating his own countrymen. They were wrong. He loved Israel just as God loved Israel.
But God's people needed the Babylonians in order to be saved. So God took the task of rescuing his people upon himself. Salvation was dependent upon him alone. He would see to it that his people came back from captivity in Babylon too.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
An Everlasting Name
Thus says the LORD:
"Keep justice, and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil."
Do not let the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the LORD
Speak, saying,
"The LORD has utterly separated me from His people";
Nor let the eunuch say,
"Here I am, a dry tree."
For thus says the LORD:
"To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
Even to them I will give in My house
And within My walls a place and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off." - Isaiah 56:1—5 NKJV
God addressed people who had believed and obeyed him but who still felt estranged because of circumstances beyond their control, such as where they were born or of what had been done to them.
Non-Israelites who converted to Judaism often felt excluded. After the captivity, many were in fact cut off. The Samaritans and others who could not demonstrate a genealogy, a direct connection to Jewish ancestors, were excluded from participation in most aspects of worship. According to the Mosaic legislation, a descendant of Aaron who had "damaged testicles" (Leviticus 21:20 NLT) could not serve as a priest in the temple. Eunuchs—men who were castrated when they were young—would not even have testicles, of course, and so all eunuchs descended from Aaron would be excluded. Worse for them, of course, was the simple fact that they could never have children—no descendants. When they died, there would be nothing of them left behind. But God reassured them, as he reassured the foreign convert, that they belonged to God as much as anyone else might, and that if they had accepted God's covenant, they were as everlasting as God was. Our great-grandchildren might not remember our names, but God will never forget us. We'll be part of him forever.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
An Everlasting Name
Thus says the LORD:
"Keep justice, and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil."
Do not let the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the LORD
Speak, saying,
"The LORD has utterly separated me from His people";
Nor let the eunuch say,
"Here I am, a dry tree."
For thus says the LORD:
"To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
Even to them I will give in My house
And within My walls a place and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off." - Isaiah 56:1—5 NKJV
God addressed people who had believed and obeyed him but who still felt estranged because of circumstances beyond their control, such as where they were born or of what had been done to them.
Non-Israelites who converted to Judaism often felt excluded. After the captivity, many were in fact cut off. The Samaritans and others who could not demonstrate a genealogy, a direct connection to Jewish ancestors, were excluded from participation in most aspects of worship. According to the Mosaic legislation, a descendant of Aaron who had "damaged testicles" (Leviticus 21:20 NLT) could not serve as a priest in the temple. Eunuchs—men who were castrated when they were young—would not even have testicles, of course, and so all eunuchs descended from Aaron would be excluded. Worse for them, of course, was the simple fact that they could never have children—no descendants. When they died, there would be nothing of them left behind. But God reassured them, as he reassured the foreign convert, that they belonged to God as much as anyone else might, and that if they had accepted God's covenant, they were as everlasting as God was. Our great-grandchildren might not remember our names, but God will never forget us. We'll be part of him forever.
Monday, March 14, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
My Deliverance Will Be Forever
Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my teaching in your hearts; do not fear the reproach of others, and do not be dismayed when they revile you.
For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my deliverance will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.
Awake, awake, put on strength, 0 arm of the LORD!
Awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago!
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon?
Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over?
So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. - Isaiah 51:7—11 NRSV
God promised Isaiah, and the remnant who had remained faithful to him, that they need not fear what their enemies said about them. The idolaters would soon be history. Even the Babylonians would someday be gone, just as every other enemy in the past had gone away. God had taken care of the Egyptians, and he would take care of the current bad guys too.
God used a familiar old story well known to the ancient world to make his point. It was a pagan story. Rahab was a mythological beast, a dragon in charge of chaos, that had become a symbol for Egypt in Isaiah's day. (This Rahab was not the Rahab of Jericho.) In the myth, this Rahab was chopped to bits by God, allowing God to then create the universe. In a similar way, Egypt had been overthrown by the plagues that God had sent against it, allowing God to make his people into a new nation. So God repurposed this old story and reapplied it.
God promised his people that just as he had delivered them from Egypt, so he would deliver them from the Assyrians and the Babylonians who had taken them captive. The current oppressors would meet the same end as all other oppressors who dared to rise up against God's people. Remembering how God has helped in the past can help us fight discouragement today.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
My Deliverance Will Be Forever
Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my teaching in your hearts; do not fear the reproach of others, and do not be dismayed when they revile you.
For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my deliverance will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.
Awake, awake, put on strength, 0 arm of the LORD!
Awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago!
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon?
Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over?
So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. - Isaiah 51:7—11 NRSV
God promised Isaiah, and the remnant who had remained faithful to him, that they need not fear what their enemies said about them. The idolaters would soon be history. Even the Babylonians would someday be gone, just as every other enemy in the past had gone away. God had taken care of the Egyptians, and he would take care of the current bad guys too.
God used a familiar old story well known to the ancient world to make his point. It was a pagan story. Rahab was a mythological beast, a dragon in charge of chaos, that had become a symbol for Egypt in Isaiah's day. (This Rahab was not the Rahab of Jericho.) In the myth, this Rahab was chopped to bits by God, allowing God to then create the universe. In a similar way, Egypt had been overthrown by the plagues that God had sent against it, allowing God to make his people into a new nation. So God repurposed this old story and reapplied it.
God promised his people that just as he had delivered them from Egypt, so he would deliver them from the Assyrians and the Babylonians who had taken them captive. The current oppressors would meet the same end as all other oppressors who dared to rise up against God's people. Remembering how God has helped in the past can help us fight discouragement today.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Eagerly Waiting
The LARD says:
You are my people and nation! So pay attention to me.
My teaching will cause justice to shine like a light for every nation.
Those who live across the sea are eagerly waiting for me to rescue them.
I am strong and ready; soon I will come to save and to rule all nations.
Look closely at the sky! Stare at the earth.
The sky will vanish like smoke; the earth will wear out like clothes.
Everyone on this earth will die like flies.
But my victory will last; my saving power never ends. - Isaiah 51:4—6 CEV
God offers a lifetime warranty like no other. The earth wearing out like a garment is an image quoted by the author of Hebrews 1:11 as part of his exaltation of the Son of God, who created the universe and who, unlike the angels, always was and always will be.
Isaiah brought God's message to the Israelites who were facing the destruction of all they knew. The Assyrians were going to carry them far away to live as exiles. But they could not be separated from God no matter how far they went. Instead, he would ultimately defeat the Assyrians and bring his people back to their home. Someday the Israelites would accept God's truth and everything he had tried to teach them.
But God's salvation—his justice, his teaching—were not just for the people of Israel. Instead, God was for all people everywhere. He told the Israelites that soon he would reach out to everyone everywhere and rule over all the nations, not just over Israel. Israel had picked up the disease of their neighbors, the delusion that their God was small and ruled over only the lands that Israel called home. To be exiled from one's homeland was not just to be removed from what you had known, it was also to be removed from the care—and reach—of your god.
But God told them that he was more than just for the nations. Look at the sky, he told them, look at the earth. In Hebrew thinking, to refer to heaven and earth in the same passage meant "everything that there is." It was equivalent to our modern conception of the universe. God wanted them to see he ruled everywhere and through all time. The universe will end, but neither God nor his salvation will. We have a future with God.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Eagerly Waiting
The LARD says:
You are my people and nation! So pay attention to me.
My teaching will cause justice to shine like a light for every nation.
Those who live across the sea are eagerly waiting for me to rescue them.
I am strong and ready; soon I will come to save and to rule all nations.
Look closely at the sky! Stare at the earth.
The sky will vanish like smoke; the earth will wear out like clothes.
Everyone on this earth will die like flies.
But my victory will last; my saving power never ends. - Isaiah 51:4—6 CEV
God offers a lifetime warranty like no other. The earth wearing out like a garment is an image quoted by the author of Hebrews 1:11 as part of his exaltation of the Son of God, who created the universe and who, unlike the angels, always was and always will be.
Isaiah brought God's message to the Israelites who were facing the destruction of all they knew. The Assyrians were going to carry them far away to live as exiles. But they could not be separated from God no matter how far they went. Instead, he would ultimately defeat the Assyrians and bring his people back to their home. Someday the Israelites would accept God's truth and everything he had tried to teach them.
But God's salvation—his justice, his teaching—were not just for the people of Israel. Instead, God was for all people everywhere. He told the Israelites that soon he would reach out to everyone everywhere and rule over all the nations, not just over Israel. Israel had picked up the disease of their neighbors, the delusion that their God was small and ruled over only the lands that Israel called home. To be exiled from one's homeland was not just to be removed from what you had known, it was also to be removed from the care—and reach—of your god.
But God told them that he was more than just for the nations. Look at the sky, he told them, look at the earth. In Hebrew thinking, to refer to heaven and earth in the same passage meant "everything that there is." It was equivalent to our modern conception of the universe. God wanted them to see he ruled everywhere and through all time. The universe will end, but neither God nor his salvation will. We have a future with God.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
The End from the Beginning
Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.
Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.
I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel. - Isaiah 46:8—13 NIV
God's sense of speed bears no resemblance to ours. So we need to have the mind of Christ.
God's people, the Israelites, had been conquered and captured by the Assyrians. Judah would soon follow when the Babylonians conquered them. But that exile would end when God rescued them with the Persians. Persia—modern-day Iran—was to the east of Israel. The "bird of prey" from the east, "a man to fulfill my purpose," was none other than Cyrus the Great. In Isaiah 45:1 God referred to Cyrus as his "anointed," from the Hebrew word messiah. The Jewish captivity in Babylon and Assyria would end because God would use Cyrus to destroy the Babylonian Empire and set his people free. God gave Isaiah the prophecy of Cyrus about a hundred years before it would happen, and yet God said that the fulfillment—the rescue—was going to happen soon.
When Isaiah prophesied, the Babylonians hadn't yet conquered or attacked Jerusalem. The seventy years of captivity were far in the future. Before the Jewish people even needed salvation from the Babylonians, God was already letting them know that he would save them. From a human standpoint, a hundred years doesn't seem to be very soon. We become impatient just waiting a couple of seconds for a Web page to come up or two minutes for our food to heat in a microwave. God's definition of quick is not nearly as rushed as ours.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
The End from the Beginning
Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.
Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.
I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel. - Isaiah 46:8—13 NIV
God's sense of speed bears no resemblance to ours. So we need to have the mind of Christ.
God's people, the Israelites, had been conquered and captured by the Assyrians. Judah would soon follow when the Babylonians conquered them. But that exile would end when God rescued them with the Persians. Persia—modern-day Iran—was to the east of Israel. The "bird of prey" from the east, "a man to fulfill my purpose," was none other than Cyrus the Great. In Isaiah 45:1 God referred to Cyrus as his "anointed," from the Hebrew word messiah. The Jewish captivity in Babylon and Assyria would end because God would use Cyrus to destroy the Babylonian Empire and set his people free. God gave Isaiah the prophecy of Cyrus about a hundred years before it would happen, and yet God said that the fulfillment—the rescue—was going to happen soon.
When Isaiah prophesied, the Babylonians hadn't yet conquered or attacked Jerusalem. The seventy years of captivity were far in the future. Before the Jewish people even needed salvation from the Babylonians, God was already letting them know that he would save them. From a human standpoint, a hundred years doesn't seem to be very soon. We become impatient just waiting a couple of seconds for a Web page to come up or two minutes for our food to heat in a microwave. God's definition of quick is not nearly as rushed as ours.
Friday, March 11, 2011
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Who Is This God Person?
Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.' "
But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go."
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."
But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!"
Again Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!" - Exodus 5:1-5 NASB
Speaking hard truth to power sometimes turns out poorly. Egyptian royalty had power and usually cared only about retaining it. They saw no reason to pay attention to the truth. After all, if people don't have power, how can they have anything useful to say?
Moses' request to set his people free made sense. But Pharaoh had a different perspective. What slave wouldn't like to get time off from his or her labors? What slave wouldn't want to be free? Moses told the pharaoh nothing the pharaoh didn't already know about slaves. So why should he pay any attention? So what if Moses had talked to the slaves' God and that God wanted the slaves to go free? If that God were so great, then why were his people slaves? Pharaoh believed himself a god. Given his circumstances, Pharaoh thought he was stronger than the slaves were and thus stronger than the slaves' God. He had no reason to pay any attention to Moses or the God he claimed to represent.
People are not quick to change their minds about anything—be it God or their favorite cola—until and unless it stops working for them. Those at ease, those who are in positions of power and wealth, are not likely to change their minds about much. A comfortable life would have to become uncomfortable before the truth Moses was speaking could be heard by the powerful Pharaoh. Our hearts can't be changed until we fully realize they need to be changed.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Who Is This God Person?
Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.' "
But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and besides, I will not let Israel go."
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."
But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!"
Again Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!" - Exodus 5:1-5 NASB
Speaking hard truth to power sometimes turns out poorly. Egyptian royalty had power and usually cared only about retaining it. They saw no reason to pay attention to the truth. After all, if people don't have power, how can they have anything useful to say?
Moses' request to set his people free made sense. But Pharaoh had a different perspective. What slave wouldn't like to get time off from his or her labors? What slave wouldn't want to be free? Moses told the pharaoh nothing the pharaoh didn't already know about slaves. So why should he pay any attention? So what if Moses had talked to the slaves' God and that God wanted the slaves to go free? If that God were so great, then why were his people slaves? Pharaoh believed himself a god. Given his circumstances, Pharaoh thought he was stronger than the slaves were and thus stronger than the slaves' God. He had no reason to pay any attention to Moses or the God he claimed to represent.
People are not quick to change their minds about anything—be it God or their favorite cola—until and unless it stops working for them. Those at ease, those who are in positions of power and wealth, are not likely to change their minds about much. A comfortable life would have to become uncomfortable before the truth Moses was speaking could be heard by the powerful Pharaoh. Our hearts can't be changed until we fully realize they need to be changed.
A Year with God
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Ever Since You Were Born
Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel.
I have cared for you since you were born.
Yes, I carried you before you were born.
I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
I will carry you along and save you.
To whom will you compare me?
Who is my equal?
Some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a god from it.
Then they bow down and worship it!
They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there.
It can't even move!
And when someone prays to it, there is no answer.
It can't rescue anyone from trouble.
Do not forget this! Keep it in mind!
Remember this, you guilty ones. Remember the things I have done in the past.
For I alone am God!
I am God, and there is none like me. - Isaiah 46:3—9 NLT
Misplaced trust is disastrous. The Israelites had depended on their idols. They had ignored the one God who could have helped them. The Assyrians invaded Israel around 722 BC. They took captive a little fewer than thirty thousand people, mostly the upper classes and the well-to-do because they were most likely to lead an uprising. God spoke to the Israelites who were left behind after that destruction, who wondered what the future might hold.
Even though they might not have realized it, God had been taking care of them since before they were born, and he would continue caring for them until they were old and white-haired. There was no stage of their life where God was not present. They could not get away from him, no matter how hard they might try. There was no way that God had or ever would abandon them.
In contrast, the idols were nothing more than the wood, stone, or precious metals out of which they were manufactured. How could the Israelites ever compare God to them? They were worthless. We don't carry idols like those any longer, but we've made new ones of our jobs, our abilities, our technology. But if the economy goes bad, if we get sick or disabled, if the batteries run out, or we can't find a plug, what then? The new idols are as worthless as the wood, stone, and metal ones.
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Ever Since You Were Born
Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel.
I have cared for you since you were born.
Yes, I carried you before you were born.
I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
I will carry you along and save you.
To whom will you compare me?
Who is my equal?
Some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a god from it.
Then they bow down and worship it!
They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there.
It can't even move!
And when someone prays to it, there is no answer.
It can't rescue anyone from trouble.
Do not forget this! Keep it in mind!
Remember this, you guilty ones. Remember the things I have done in the past.
For I alone am God!
I am God, and there is none like me. - Isaiah 46:3—9 NLT
Misplaced trust is disastrous. The Israelites had depended on their idols. They had ignored the one God who could have helped them. The Assyrians invaded Israel around 722 BC. They took captive a little fewer than thirty thousand people, mostly the upper classes and the well-to-do because they were most likely to lead an uprising. God spoke to the Israelites who were left behind after that destruction, who wondered what the future might hold.
Even though they might not have realized it, God had been taking care of them since before they were born, and he would continue caring for them until they were old and white-haired. There was no stage of their life where God was not present. They could not get away from him, no matter how hard they might try. There was no way that God had or ever would abandon them.
In contrast, the idols were nothing more than the wood, stone, or precious metals out of which they were manufactured. How could the Israelites ever compare God to them? They were worthless. We don't carry idols like those any longer, but we've made new ones of our jobs, our abilities, our technology. But if the economy goes bad, if we get sick or disabled, if the batteries run out, or we can't find a plug, what then? The new idols are as worthless as the wood, stone, and metal ones.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
<b>Never Tired</b> devotion for 10-MAR-11
<b>Never Tired</b> devotion for 10-MAR-11
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Never Tired
The holy God asks, "Who compares with me?
Is anyone my equal?"
Look at the evening sky! Who created the stars?
Who gave them each a name?
Who leads them like an army?
The Loan is so powerful that none of the stars are ever missing.
You people of Israel, say, "God pays no attention to us! He doesn't care if we are treated unjustly."
But how can you say that?
Don't you know?
Haven't you heard?
The LORD is the eternal God, Creator of the earth.
He never gets weary or tired; his ; wisdom cannot be measured.
The LORD gives strength to those who are weary.
Even young people get tired, then stumble and fall.
But those who trust the LORD will find new strength.
They will be strong like eagles soaring upward on wings; they will walk and run without getting tired. - Isaiah 40:25—31 CEV
The more we learn, the less we know, and the more insignificant we become. When Isaiah wrote about the stars, both he and his listeners had a limited sense of what they were and how many there were.
On any given clear night, far from city lights, an observer might be able to see, at most, six thousand stars. But that is but a tiny fraction of the number of stars that actually exist. Within just our own galaxy, the Milky Way, it is estimated that there are 200 billion stars. Our Milky Way galaxy is but one of at least 100 billion galaxies that are known to exist. There are actually more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on all the seashores and deserts on earth. If you were to start taking a photograph of each star in just our galaxy, and took a photograph once every second, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, it would take more than thirty-one years just to photograph one billion stars. To take photos of all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy would take more than the length of all recorded human history. And then you'd have another 100 billion galaxies to go. Yet God created all those stars and keeps track of each one. No wonder his wisdom can't be measured!
The universe is immense, beyond human comprehension. Our place in it is vanishingly small. Our weakness is profound. But God is bigger than it all. His strength is beyond measure. And yet, that infinite God pays attention to us.
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Never Tired
The holy God asks, "Who compares with me?
Is anyone my equal?"
Look at the evening sky! Who created the stars?
Who gave them each a name?
Who leads them like an army?
The Loan is so powerful that none of the stars are ever missing.
You people of Israel, say, "God pays no attention to us! He doesn't care if we are treated unjustly."
But how can you say that?
Don't you know?
Haven't you heard?
The LORD is the eternal God, Creator of the earth.
He never gets weary or tired; his ; wisdom cannot be measured.
The LORD gives strength to those who are weary.
Even young people get tired, then stumble and fall.
But those who trust the LORD will find new strength.
They will be strong like eagles soaring upward on wings; they will walk and run without getting tired. - Isaiah 40:25—31 CEV
The more we learn, the less we know, and the more insignificant we become. When Isaiah wrote about the stars, both he and his listeners had a limited sense of what they were and how many there were.
On any given clear night, far from city lights, an observer might be able to see, at most, six thousand stars. But that is but a tiny fraction of the number of stars that actually exist. Within just our own galaxy, the Milky Way, it is estimated that there are 200 billion stars. Our Milky Way galaxy is but one of at least 100 billion galaxies that are known to exist. There are actually more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on all the seashores and deserts on earth. If you were to start taking a photograph of each star in just our galaxy, and took a photograph once every second, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, it would take more than thirty-one years just to photograph one billion stars. To take photos of all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy would take more than the length of all recorded human history. And then you'd have another 100 billion galaxies to go. Yet God created all those stars and keeps track of each one. No wonder his wisdom can't be measured!
The universe is immense, beyond human comprehension. Our place in it is vanishingly small. Our weakness is profound. But God is bigger than it all. His strength is beyond measure. And yet, that infinite God pays attention to us.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
<b>Ever Hearing, Never Understanding</b> devotion for 09-MAR-11
<b>Ever Hearing, Never Understanding</b> devotion for 09-MAR-11
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Ever Hearing, Never Understanding
One of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
He said, "Go and tell this people: "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and dose their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
Then I said, "For how long, 0 Lord?"
And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land." - Isaiah 6:6—13 NIV
Never volunteer" is the old Army adage, but when someone's in love he's quick to do anything his beloved asks. Isaiah fell in love with God. So Isaiah volunteered to be God's prophet. He not only heard God's words but he also saw him and cried out that he was ruined. In John 12, the apostle John quoted Isaiah's words as an explanation for why many people didn't accept that Jesus was the Messiah.
The seraphs mentioned in this passage were a kind of angel mentioned only by Isaiah. He said they had three pairs of wings: one pair for flying, one pair for covering their faces, and one pair for covering their feet. Beyond that, we know nothing else about the seraphs. After the seraph told Isaiah his guilt was taken away, God spoke.
God told Isaiah to prophesy to the Israelites, but warned him that they would not pay any attention to him. Isaiah wanted to know how long he'd have to give them God's words if they weren't going to listen. God told Isaiah to keep talking until the nation was destroyed by the invading Assyrians. He added one note of comfort: Israel's devastation would not last forever. Isaiah had the strength to do the hard thing God had asked of him because his love for God carried him through. God's love can carry us through anything we have to face too.
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Ever Hearing, Never Understanding
One of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
He said, "Go and tell this people: "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and dose their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
Then I said, "For how long, 0 Lord?"
And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land." - Isaiah 6:6—13 NIV
Never volunteer" is the old Army adage, but when someone's in love he's quick to do anything his beloved asks. Isaiah fell in love with God. So Isaiah volunteered to be God's prophet. He not only heard God's words but he also saw him and cried out that he was ruined. In John 12, the apostle John quoted Isaiah's words as an explanation for why many people didn't accept that Jesus was the Messiah.
The seraphs mentioned in this passage were a kind of angel mentioned only by Isaiah. He said they had three pairs of wings: one pair for flying, one pair for covering their faces, and one pair for covering their feet. Beyond that, we know nothing else about the seraphs. After the seraph told Isaiah his guilt was taken away, God spoke.
God told Isaiah to prophesy to the Israelites, but warned him that they would not pay any attention to him. Isaiah wanted to know how long he'd have to give them God's words if they weren't going to listen. God told Isaiah to keep talking until the nation was destroyed by the invading Assyrians. He added one note of comfort: Israel's devastation would not last forever. Isaiah had the strength to do the hard thing God had asked of him because his love for God carried him through. God's love can carry us through anything we have to face too.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
<b>Stand by Me</b> devotion for 08-MAR-11
<b>Stand by Me</b> devotion for 08-MAR-11
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Stand by Me
He always stands by his covenant—the commitment he made to a thousand generations.
This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to Isaac.
He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant:
"I will give you the land of Canaan as your special possession."
He said this when they were few in number, a tiny group of strangers in Canaan.
They wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
Yet he did not let anyone oppress them.
He warned kings on their behalf:
"Do not touch my chosen people, and do not hurt my prophets." - Psalm 105:8—15 NLT
Friends and family may let us down. There is no guarantee that they'll be there when we call. They may have had the best of intentions when they made promises, but things happen and circumstances change. They have their own problems to deal with. It just may not be a good time.
God wanted to make sure his people understood his commitment, and so he used symbols they understood. He spoke in their language. He borrowed things from their culture and turned them to his purposes. People made contracts with each other to make certain they'd keep their promises. Nations signed treaties. God took those images and used them to help his people understand the depth of his relationship with them. He bound himself to them. What he said was dependable. God was more than just a friend announcing he'd call back later.
Circumstances were never beyond God's control. Even when Israel was insignificant, barely more than a large family, God entered into a covenant—a treaty—with them. He kept his word then, when they were small, when they were barely anyone, when there was no reason even to give his word to them in the first place. It wasn't as if they had something to give to God. Nor was it as if he made promises so the people would give him something he didn't have. The Israelites didn't have to be concerned in their current circumstances. God protected his people in the past, took them through all their hard times, and didn't forsake them. There was no reason to think he would go back on his word.
God is consistent in how he treats his people. Look at what he did yesterday, and you'll see what he'll do for you tomorrow.
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Stand by Me
He always stands by his covenant—the commitment he made to a thousand generations.
This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to Isaac.
He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant:
"I will give you the land of Canaan as your special possession."
He said this when they were few in number, a tiny group of strangers in Canaan.
They wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
Yet he did not let anyone oppress them.
He warned kings on their behalf:
"Do not touch my chosen people, and do not hurt my prophets." - Psalm 105:8—15 NLT
Friends and family may let us down. There is no guarantee that they'll be there when we call. They may have had the best of intentions when they made promises, but things happen and circumstances change. They have their own problems to deal with. It just may not be a good time.
God wanted to make sure his people understood his commitment, and so he used symbols they understood. He spoke in their language. He borrowed things from their culture and turned them to his purposes. People made contracts with each other to make certain they'd keep their promises. Nations signed treaties. God took those images and used them to help his people understand the depth of his relationship with them. He bound himself to them. What he said was dependable. God was more than just a friend announcing he'd call back later.
Circumstances were never beyond God's control. Even when Israel was insignificant, barely more than a large family, God entered into a covenant—a treaty—with them. He kept his word then, when they were small, when they were barely anyone, when there was no reason even to give his word to them in the first place. It wasn't as if they had something to give to God. Nor was it as if he made promises so the people would give him something he didn't have. The Israelites didn't have to be concerned in their current circumstances. God protected his people in the past, took them through all their hard times, and didn't forsake them. There was no reason to think he would go back on his word.
God is consistent in how he treats his people. Look at what he did yesterday, and you'll see what he'll do for you tomorrow.
Monday, March 7, 2011
<b>Love Is Forever</b> devotion for 07-MAR-11
<b>Love Is Forever</b> devotion for 07-MAR-11
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Love Is Forever
Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, "I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.
"I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him,
With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him.
"The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
"But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him.
"My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted.
"I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers.
"He will cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.'
"I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
"My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
"So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven. - Psalm 89:19—29 NASB
Does God always keep his promises? God promised that David would always have a descendant ruling in Jerusalem. But the last descendant of David to sit on a throne was Zechariah, more than five hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Nebuchadnezzar dragged Zechariah to Babylon along with the people of Judah. There has not been a king in Jerusalem ever since. Even now, there are no genealogical records to connect any modern human beings with David.
God told David that his covenant had been established with him forever. God promised to crush his adversaries. But King Zechariah's sons were slaughtered in front of him just before he had his eyes poked out. The king of Israel was to be "the highest of the kings of the earth" and God's "firstborn," and yet Zechariah was dragged to Babylon in chains by Nebuchadnezzar.
So how did God keep his promise to David? Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the descendant of David, is the King and Creator of the universe: both son of David and Son of God. Jesus rules over God's people from heaven, sitting on David's throne there. We can't always see the promises that God keeps.
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Love Is Forever
Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, "I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.
"I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him,
With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him.
"The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
"But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him.
"My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted.
"I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers.
"He will cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.'
"I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
"My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
"So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven. - Psalm 89:19—29 NASB
Does God always keep his promises? God promised that David would always have a descendant ruling in Jerusalem. But the last descendant of David to sit on a throne was Zechariah, more than five hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Nebuchadnezzar dragged Zechariah to Babylon along with the people of Judah. There has not been a king in Jerusalem ever since. Even now, there are no genealogical records to connect any modern human beings with David.
God told David that his covenant had been established with him forever. God promised to crush his adversaries. But King Zechariah's sons were slaughtered in front of him just before he had his eyes poked out. The king of Israel was to be "the highest of the kings of the earth" and God's "firstborn," and yet Zechariah was dragged to Babylon in chains by Nebuchadnezzar.
So how did God keep his promise to David? Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the descendant of David, is the King and Creator of the universe: both son of David and Son of God. Jesus rules over God's people from heaven, sitting on David's throne there. We can't always see the promises that God keeps.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
<b>Quitting Can Be Good</b> devotion for 06-MAR-11
<b>Quitting Can Be Good</b> devotion for 06-MAR-11
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Quitting Can Be Good
To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear the Luau, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel; with whom the LORD made a covenant and commanded them, saying, "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down yourselves to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them.
"But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.
"The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods.
"The covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods.
"But the LORD your God you shall fear, and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."
However, they did not listen, but they did according to their earlier custom.
So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day. - 2 Kings 17:34–41 NASB
Practice makes perfect, but what if you're practicing the wrong way? You can get very good at swinging the bat with the wrong stance, the wrong grip, the wrong timing. Bad habits become hard to break. Perseverance in any direction, good or ill, becomes hard to stop.
Like father like son isn't necessarily a good thing. Perseverance isn't necessarily a good thing. God would like us to stop some of the things we keep doing. The nations that "feared the LORD" but also served their idols were Judah and Israel. God wanted them to quit their idolatry. But they persevered at the wrong thing. Hoshea, the last king of Israel, attempted to break free from Assyria and form an alliance with Egypt. The Assyrians responded by burning his capital to the ground and hauling him and many Israelites into exile. So God judged them for their persistent idolatry.
Bad habits are harder to give up than good ones. It is easier to keep doing the wrong thing than to keep doing the right thing. We seem more tempted to become weary in well-doing than in ill-doing. Generally you don't want to be a quitter. But sometimes a quitter is just what God wants you to be.
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Quitting Can Be Good
To this day they do according to the earlier customs: they do not fear the Luau, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances or the law, or the commandments which the LORD commanded the sons of Jacob, whom He named Israel; with whom the LORD made a covenant and commanded them, saying, "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down yourselves to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them.
"But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, and to Him you shall bow yourselves down, and to Him you shall sacrifice.
"The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever; and you shall not fear other gods.
"The covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods.
"But the LORD your God you shall fear, and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."
However, they did not listen, but they did according to their earlier custom.
So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day. - 2 Kings 17:34–41 NASB
Practice makes perfect, but what if you're practicing the wrong way? You can get very good at swinging the bat with the wrong stance, the wrong grip, the wrong timing. Bad habits become hard to break. Perseverance in any direction, good or ill, becomes hard to stop.
Like father like son isn't necessarily a good thing. Perseverance isn't necessarily a good thing. God would like us to stop some of the things we keep doing. The nations that "feared the LORD" but also served their idols were Judah and Israel. God wanted them to quit their idolatry. But they persevered at the wrong thing. Hoshea, the last king of Israel, attempted to break free from Assyria and form an alliance with Egypt. The Assyrians responded by burning his capital to the ground and hauling him and many Israelites into exile. So God judged them for their persistent idolatry.
Bad habits are harder to give up than good ones. It is easier to keep doing the wrong thing than to keep doing the right thing. We seem more tempted to become weary in well-doing than in ill-doing. Generally you don't want to be a quitter. But sometimes a quitter is just what God wants you to be.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
<b>My Heart in Perpetuity</b> devotion for 05-MAR-11
<b>My Heart in Perpetuity</b> devotion for 05-MAR-11
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
My Heart in Perpetuity
After Solomon had completed building The Temple of GOD and his own palace, all the projects he had set his heart on doing, GOD appeared to Solomon again, just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
And GOD said to him, "I've listened to and received all your prayers, your ever-so-passionate prayers. I've sanctified this Temple that you have built My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I've set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, then Ill back your kingly rule over Israel, make 1 it a sure thing on a solid foundation. The same guarantee I gave David your father I'm giving you: 'You can count on always having a descendant on Israel's throne!
"But if you or your sons betray me, ignoring my guidance and judgments, taking up with alien gods by serving and worshiping them, then the guarantee is off I'll wipe Israel right off the map and repudiate this Temple I've just sanctified to honor my Name. And Israel will become nothing but a bad joke among the peoples of the world. And this Temple, splendid as it now is, will become an object of contempt visitors will shake their heads, saying, 'Whatever happened here? What's the story behind these ruins?' Then they'll be told, The people who used to live here betrayed their GOD, the very God who rescued their ancestors from Egypt they took up with alien gods, worshiping and serving them. That's what's behind this GOD-visited devastation.'" - 1 Kings 9:1-7 MSG
Love can hurt. God made a promise to Solomon that he would love Israel and Israel's king forever. It was up to Solomon and Solomon's offspring as to exactly how God would keep that promise. The Israelites were God's people, and their king was God's man. God was determined to fulfill his promise to love his people and his king no matter what. But there was an easy way and a hard way. One kind of love went directly to the blessings that Solomon and Israel most desired. But the other kind of love took a detour to discipline and pain.
Sadly, God had to show his love to Solomon's descendants and Israel through discipline—exile from the land and destruction of the monarchy because of the path God's king and people chose to take. After Nebuchadnezzar took King Zechariah into exile, no descendant of David ever sat on the throne in Jerusalem again.
Love never fails, and God never stopped loving his king or his people. That's why he disciplined them, after all. God will always love us the way we need to be loved.
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
My Heart in Perpetuity
After Solomon had completed building The Temple of GOD and his own palace, all the projects he had set his heart on doing, GOD appeared to Solomon again, just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
And GOD said to him, "I've listened to and received all your prayers, your ever-so-passionate prayers. I've sanctified this Temple that you have built My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I've set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, then Ill back your kingly rule over Israel, make 1 it a sure thing on a solid foundation. The same guarantee I gave David your father I'm giving you: 'You can count on always having a descendant on Israel's throne!
"But if you or your sons betray me, ignoring my guidance and judgments, taking up with alien gods by serving and worshiping them, then the guarantee is off I'll wipe Israel right off the map and repudiate this Temple I've just sanctified to honor my Name. And Israel will become nothing but a bad joke among the peoples of the world. And this Temple, splendid as it now is, will become an object of contempt visitors will shake their heads, saying, 'Whatever happened here? What's the story behind these ruins?' Then they'll be told, The people who used to live here betrayed their GOD, the very God who rescued their ancestors from Egypt they took up with alien gods, worshiping and serving them. That's what's behind this GOD-visited devastation.'" - 1 Kings 9:1-7 MSG
Love can hurt. God made a promise to Solomon that he would love Israel and Israel's king forever. It was up to Solomon and Solomon's offspring as to exactly how God would keep that promise. The Israelites were God's people, and their king was God's man. God was determined to fulfill his promise to love his people and his king no matter what. But there was an easy way and a hard way. One kind of love went directly to the blessings that Solomon and Israel most desired. But the other kind of love took a detour to discipline and pain.
Sadly, God had to show his love to Solomon's descendants and Israel through discipline—exile from the land and destruction of the monarchy because of the path God's king and people chose to take. After Nebuchadnezzar took King Zechariah into exile, no descendant of David ever sat on the throne in Jerusalem again.
Love never fails, and God never stopped loving his king or his people. That's why he disciplined them, after all. God will always love us the way we need to be loved.
Friday, March 4, 2011
<b>Whose Side Are You On?</b> devotion for 04-MAR-11
<b>Whose Side Are You On?</b> devotion for 04-MAR-11
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Whose Side Are You On?
It came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?"
So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?"
Then the Commander of the LORD'S army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.
Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Loin said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets." - Joshua 5:13-6:4 NKJV
People like to believe that God is on their side. There is an abiding sense in most of us that if we believe what's right and do what's right, then God will have to back us. Wasn't God on the side of the Israelites when they went into their promised land? When Joshua asked the angel of the Lord that question, God's angel told him no.
The answer was puzzling. Weren't the Israelites God's chosen people? Hadn't he just rescued them from Egypt? How could God not be on their side?
God is on his own side. Joshua asked the wrong question. The real question for Joshua and the other freed slaves was the question for all of us: do we expect God to support our position and not that of our opposition? Or, to put it another way, do we expect God to back us, or do we expect to back God? God isn't on "our" side, whether it's a basketball game, a legal battle, or a war.
During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln met with a group of civic leaders. One of them asked, "Mr. President, can we pray that God is on our side?" And Abraham Lincoln responded, "I won't join you in that prayer, but I'll join you in a prayer that we're on God's side."
Asking if God is on our side is the wrong question. The question we need to ask is more difficult: Are we on God's side?
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Whose Side Are You On?
It came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?"
So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?"
Then the Commander of the LORD'S army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.
Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Loin said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets." - Joshua 5:13-6:4 NKJV
People like to believe that God is on their side. There is an abiding sense in most of us that if we believe what's right and do what's right, then God will have to back us. Wasn't God on the side of the Israelites when they went into their promised land? When Joshua asked the angel of the Lord that question, God's angel told him no.
The answer was puzzling. Weren't the Israelites God's chosen people? Hadn't he just rescued them from Egypt? How could God not be on their side?
God is on his own side. Joshua asked the wrong question. The real question for Joshua and the other freed slaves was the question for all of us: do we expect God to support our position and not that of our opposition? Or, to put it another way, do we expect God to back us, or do we expect to back God? God isn't on "our" side, whether it's a basketball game, a legal battle, or a war.
During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln met with a group of civic leaders. One of them asked, "Mr. President, can we pray that God is on our side?" And Abraham Lincoln responded, "I won't join you in that prayer, but I'll join you in a prayer that we're on God's side."
Asking if God is on our side is the wrong question. The question we need to ask is more difficult: Are we on God's side?
Thursday, March 3, 2011
<b>God Is Going to Be Around for a While</b> devotion for 03-MAR-11
<b>God Is Going to Be Around for a While</b> devotion for 03-MAR-11
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
God Is Going to Be Around for a While
Indeed the LORD will vindicate his people, have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, neither bond nor free remaining.
Then he will say: Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection!
See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god beside me.
I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and no one can deliver from my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven, and swear:
As I live forever, when I whet my flashing sword, and my hand takes hold on judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh—with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired enemy. - Deuteronomy 32:36-42 NRSV
All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. God is neither a horse nor a king's man, but if the story were true, he could put Humpty together. Nothing is too hard for God. Just before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, God repeated that he was the only God and the only one who could help them. The history of the Israelites ever after would largely consist of prophets and circumstances reminding them of what God said just before he gave them everything he'd ever promised.
When you have all the time in the world, you're not in much of a hurry. God is forever. God is all-powerful, so he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. In a contest between God's will and your will, God's will wins every time.
Moses had brought the Israelites to the promised land. Soon, Moses would die and the Israelites would begin fighting the Canaanites. God would make them victorious. But on the cusp of fulfilling their dreams, God warned them that they would quickly desert him. The Israelites would put their trust in other gods. They would devote time and treasure to them. And for what? When troubles came, their other gods wouldn't help. But even in the middle of their unfaithfulness, God would forgive them and rescue the Israelites. Be careful to place your trust in God. You can rely on him.
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
God Is Going to Be Around for a While
Indeed the LORD will vindicate his people, have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, neither bond nor free remaining.
Then he will say: Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection!
See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god beside me.
I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and no one can deliver from my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven, and swear:
As I live forever, when I whet my flashing sword, and my hand takes hold on judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh—with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired enemy. - Deuteronomy 32:36-42 NRSV
All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. God is neither a horse nor a king's man, but if the story were true, he could put Humpty together. Nothing is too hard for God. Just before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, God repeated that he was the only God and the only one who could help them. The history of the Israelites ever after would largely consist of prophets and circumstances reminding them of what God said just before he gave them everything he'd ever promised.
When you have all the time in the world, you're not in much of a hurry. God is forever. God is all-powerful, so he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. In a contest between God's will and your will, God's will wins every time.
Moses had brought the Israelites to the promised land. Soon, Moses would die and the Israelites would begin fighting the Canaanites. God would make them victorious. But on the cusp of fulfilling their dreams, God warned them that they would quickly desert him. The Israelites would put their trust in other gods. They would devote time and treasure to them. And for what? When troubles came, their other gods wouldn't help. But even in the middle of their unfaithfulness, God would forgive them and rescue the Israelites. Be careful to place your trust in God. You can rely on him.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
<b>Watch Where You're Going!</b> devotion for 02-MAR-11
<b>Watch Where You're Going!</b> devotion for 02-MAR-11
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Watch Where You're Going!
People of Israel, that's what the LORD has said to you.
But you don't have good sense, and you never listen to advice.
If you did, you could see where you are headed.
How could one enemy soldier chase a thousand of Israel's troops?
Or how could two of theirs pursue ten thousand of ours?
It can only happen if the LORD stops protecting Israel and lets the enemy win.
Even our enemies know that only our God is a Mighty Rock.
Our enemies are grapevines rooted in the fields of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The grapes they produce are full of bitter poison; their wine is more deadly than cobra venom.
But the LORD has written a list of their sins and locked it in his vault.
Soon our enemies will get what they deserve— suddenly they will slip, and total disaster will quickly follow. - Deuteronomy 32:28-35 CEV
The strongest person doesn't always win the race. At Jericho, God defeated the Midianite army of tens of thousands with barely three hundred Israelite men. The Midianites facing Gideon had no reason to think that they wouldn't be victorious against so small an army. But they lost all the same. But then there were times when Israel's forces severely outnumbered the enemy, and they lost all the same too.
Israel faced judgment. God had been warning his people for years that they would make mistakes. Nevertheless, those who stood arrayed against God's people didn't have a chance. In the end, no matter how good they looked, no matter how invincible, they were no better than Sodom and Gomorrah, the two cities that God had destroyed with fire and brimstone in a single day. God reassured his people that no matter what, God would avenge them. He was keeping track of all the wrongs they had done against his people. We may never see them judged, but we can trust that God will eventually call them to account.
Winning and losing are in God's hands, not in our own. We like to imagine we control our destinies, that our fate is ours to chose. But God is the one actually in charge, and no matter the odds, good or bad, God's way wins out.
Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst
Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.
Watch Where You're Going!
People of Israel, that's what the LORD has said to you.
But you don't have good sense, and you never listen to advice.
If you did, you could see where you are headed.
How could one enemy soldier chase a thousand of Israel's troops?
Or how could two of theirs pursue ten thousand of ours?
It can only happen if the LORD stops protecting Israel and lets the enemy win.
Even our enemies know that only our God is a Mighty Rock.
Our enemies are grapevines rooted in the fields of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The grapes they produce are full of bitter poison; their wine is more deadly than cobra venom.
But the LORD has written a list of their sins and locked it in his vault.
Soon our enemies will get what they deserve— suddenly they will slip, and total disaster will quickly follow. - Deuteronomy 32:28-35 CEV
The strongest person doesn't always win the race. At Jericho, God defeated the Midianite army of tens of thousands with barely three hundred Israelite men. The Midianites facing Gideon had no reason to think that they wouldn't be victorious against so small an army. But they lost all the same. But then there were times when Israel's forces severely outnumbered the enemy, and they lost all the same too.
Israel faced judgment. God had been warning his people for years that they would make mistakes. Nevertheless, those who stood arrayed against God's people didn't have a chance. In the end, no matter how good they looked, no matter how invincible, they were no better than Sodom and Gomorrah, the two cities that God had destroyed with fire and brimstone in a single day. God reassured his people that no matter what, God would avenge them. He was keeping track of all the wrongs they had done against his people. We may never see them judged, but we can trust that God will eventually call them to account.
Winning and losing are in God's hands, not in our own. We like to imagine we control our destinies, that our fate is ours to chose. But God is the one actually in charge, and no matter the odds, good or bad, God's way wins out.
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