Psalm 63:1 - "O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water."
Thoughts on today's verse:
Some people like to point out that one does not necessarily need to meet with the Lord in the morning. What if you're not a morning person? True. Many have their devotional time with the Lord in the evening. However, for David, it seems that his life was extremely busy and for him, because serving the Lord was extremely important, that relationship took precedence and priority in his day. Even if you aren't a morning person, does your life reflect that the Lord is first place from the time you get up to the time you lie down?
Then, David goes on to describe the type of relationship that he had with the Lord by way of an illustration of thirst. As the desert sorjourner would long for that precious water, so that same longing should be present for the Lord.
There is no thirst and sense of fatigue like that of a person who walks around in the desert. The arid climate rapidly saps one of strength. So strong is his physical longing for God that we may agree with C.S. Lewis that the psalmist had an “appetite for God” (The Psalms, p. 51).
Do I have an appetite for God? Do you? Does your soul cry out, longing to have a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the Lord? Seek him early, seek him often!
Friday, October 07, 2011
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Isaiah 26:4 - "Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength."
Thoughts on today's verse:
The command is given: trust in the Lord. We also see the duration of the command - we are to trust him forever. When we stop and think on these couple of things, this instructs about our entire lives, and gives us insight into the very nature of God. Just from this verse we realize that we are not in control of our lives, that we are not the life giver, that we literally depend on Him. We also understand from this that trusting in God is not natural. If this were the disposition of every man, woman, and child on earth, then the command would be necessary. God is perfectly trustworthy and we have no reason not to trust, yet we don't. That ought to cause us to think for a moment!
Furthermore, the trust is not momentary or fleeting, but is enduring. God's nature is such that He is trustworthy beyond the bounds of time! He is most pleased when we trust him day in, and day out, living by faith according to what He has revealed to us in His word.
Finally, the reason that we ought to trust God is given: God, the true God alone, is in fact everlasting strength! There is no depletion of his sustaining power, nothing diminishing. His power was not affected after the creation of the world, the universe and all it contains; it was not depleted at the cross, nor will it be depleted in the final overthrow of Satan. The power of God as displayed in Christ was not depleted as he performed miracles of healings, and raising from the dead. God never sleeps, nor slumbers, he does not grow tired, his strenght is in-exhaustible; his character - pure, holy, righteous - perfect.
Our God is all-powerful, and worthy of our trust now, and forevermore. Are you trusting Him now?
Thoughts on today's verse:
The command is given: trust in the Lord. We also see the duration of the command - we are to trust him forever. When we stop and think on these couple of things, this instructs about our entire lives, and gives us insight into the very nature of God. Just from this verse we realize that we are not in control of our lives, that we are not the life giver, that we literally depend on Him. We also understand from this that trusting in God is not natural. If this were the disposition of every man, woman, and child on earth, then the command would be necessary. God is perfectly trustworthy and we have no reason not to trust, yet we don't. That ought to cause us to think for a moment!
Furthermore, the trust is not momentary or fleeting, but is enduring. God's nature is such that He is trustworthy beyond the bounds of time! He is most pleased when we trust him day in, and day out, living by faith according to what He has revealed to us in His word.
Finally, the reason that we ought to trust God is given: God, the true God alone, is in fact everlasting strength! There is no depletion of his sustaining power, nothing diminishing. His power was not affected after the creation of the world, the universe and all it contains; it was not depleted at the cross, nor will it be depleted in the final overthrow of Satan. The power of God as displayed in Christ was not depleted as he performed miracles of healings, and raising from the dead. God never sleeps, nor slumbers, he does not grow tired, his strenght is in-exhaustible; his character - pure, holy, righteous - perfect.
Our God is all-powerful, and worthy of our trust now, and forevermore. Are you trusting Him now?
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Isaiah 55:6 - "Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near."
Thoughts on today's verse:
This verse provides both an encrouragment and a warning. First: the encouragement. The Lord may be found. The fact that we read these words now gives us hope. Paul said that "now is the day of salvation." If you are breathing on this earth right now, then the Lord may be found.
Secondly, Isaiah says "while" implying that there will be a time when He cannot be found. This doesn't mean that we will lose God, nor that He will be lost, but that there will be a time when we will no longer be able to turn to Him for help - or, in other words, when we cannot be saved. God's gift of grace lasts a lifetime. He is indeed longsuffering with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. In fact, it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance (Romans 2:4). However, once a man dies there is no more opportunity to reach out and lay hold of the gift so freely offered in this life.
Why? Because, then one will know fully the truth. Jesus reminded us of this in Luke 16 with the account of the rich man in hell. Once he died he fully knew the truth and wished that someone would go back and tell his family. Notice that he recognized the permanence of his situation, not asking for salvation or deliverance, but asking for others, that they might not be tormented as he was. "The lost in hell realize that the day for their repentance is gone for ever." (from http://www.mwtb.org/site/moments-for-you/back-issues/first-quarter-1995/repentance-after-death.html, accessed October 5, 2011)
Why in this life? The answer is simple: God wants us to trust him. He is, after all, trustworthy. That's what He wanted from Adam in the Garden, and that is what He wants now - for us to take Him at His Word. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9.
So, "seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near."
Thoughts on today's verse:
This verse provides both an encrouragment and a warning. First: the encouragement. The Lord may be found. The fact that we read these words now gives us hope. Paul said that "now is the day of salvation." If you are breathing on this earth right now, then the Lord may be found.
Secondly, Isaiah says "while" implying that there will be a time when He cannot be found. This doesn't mean that we will lose God, nor that He will be lost, but that there will be a time when we will no longer be able to turn to Him for help - or, in other words, when we cannot be saved. God's gift of grace lasts a lifetime. He is indeed longsuffering with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. In fact, it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance (Romans 2:4). However, once a man dies there is no more opportunity to reach out and lay hold of the gift so freely offered in this life.
Why? Because, then one will know fully the truth. Jesus reminded us of this in Luke 16 with the account of the rich man in hell. Once he died he fully knew the truth and wished that someone would go back and tell his family. Notice that he recognized the permanence of his situation, not asking for salvation or deliverance, but asking for others, that they might not be tormented as he was. "The lost in hell realize that the day for their repentance is gone for ever." (from http://www.mwtb.org/site/moments-for-you/back-issues/first-quarter-1995/repentance-after-death.html, accessed October 5, 2011)
Why in this life? The answer is simple: God wants us to trust him. He is, after all, trustworthy. That's what He wanted from Adam in the Garden, and that is what He wants now - for us to take Him at His Word. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9.
So, "seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near."
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Proverbs 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth."
Thoughts on today's verse:
James addresses this same thought in James 4:13-15 - "13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
This helps us to put our lives in the right perspective. Just when we think that things are under our control, the unexpected happens. We never plan for the accidents that beset us, for the sudden job losses, for sickness, for the tragic deaths, nor for the blessings that sometimes come. The point is, that even though we do not have control over those things and really have no knowledge of them, there is one who has seen the beginning from the end, who actually does know what tomorrow holds, and that one is God. We are to live according to that knowledge. Rejoice in His sovereignty over time. Live in the reality that we are not the master of our own destiny, and embrace the fact that we rely on the goodness of God moment by moment, and day by day!
Thoughts on today's verse:
James addresses this same thought in James 4:13-15 - "13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
This helps us to put our lives in the right perspective. Just when we think that things are under our control, the unexpected happens. We never plan for the accidents that beset us, for the sudden job losses, for sickness, for the tragic deaths, nor for the blessings that sometimes come. The point is, that even though we do not have control over those things and really have no knowledge of them, there is one who has seen the beginning from the end, who actually does know what tomorrow holds, and that one is God. We are to live according to that knowledge. Rejoice in His sovereignty over time. Live in the reality that we are not the master of our own destiny, and embrace the fact that we rely on the goodness of God moment by moment, and day by day!
Monday, October 03, 2011
1 Peter 1:3 - "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
Thoughts on today's verse:
Everything about our relationship with God is predicated on the fact of the resurrection. Yes, God is merciful, and we ought to ponder that. Yes, we have been born again, with our heart of stone being replaced with a heart of flesh; born again to a living hope, where have a confident expectation of one day seeing Jesus Christ face to face, what glory that will be! But, none of it is possible apart from the ministry of the risen Lord Jesus Christ!
It was our sins that drove him to the cross, and every time we observe the Lord's Table we remind ourselves of the cruel death that he suffered and the horrible price that sin exacts, but praise be to God that the Gospel doesn't end with Jesus on the cross! Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:16-17 - "For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!"
We have been raised to a living hope because of and through the living Savior!
Thoughts on today's verse:
Everything about our relationship with God is predicated on the fact of the resurrection. Yes, God is merciful, and we ought to ponder that. Yes, we have been born again, with our heart of stone being replaced with a heart of flesh; born again to a living hope, where have a confident expectation of one day seeing Jesus Christ face to face, what glory that will be! But, none of it is possible apart from the ministry of the risen Lord Jesus Christ!
It was our sins that drove him to the cross, and every time we observe the Lord's Table we remind ourselves of the cruel death that he suffered and the horrible price that sin exacts, but praise be to God that the Gospel doesn't end with Jesus on the cross! Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:16-17 - "For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!"
We have been raised to a living hope because of and through the living Savior!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)