Psalm 37:4 - "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart."

Thoughs on today's verse:

Too often we waste desires on ourselves! Stop and think about that for a moment. In today's world, there is a dangerous movment that exists known to some as the prosperity gospel, or the health and weath gospel. It has even gone under the moniker of "name it and claim it." Call it what you will, it is damaging. Among verses that are claimed in support of the idea that God wants us to be rich, etc., is this one. However, when the Psalmist instructs us to delight ourselves in the Lord with the result that the desires of our heart being granted, does he really mean that if we want a million dollars, or a new house, etc., that the Lord will give those to us? So many people have fallen prey to this deceptive teaching - it has literally ruined many lives!

Matthew 6:33 can help shed some light on the matter: "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." We know the verse, and perhaps have quoted it to others, but we do well to remind ourselves that the "these things" in view are the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing - not the things dedicated to oppulence. In fact, most of us have no personal experience with this kind of need, for how many of us have truly not known from where our next meal would come? How many of us have truly run out of clothing (and I'm not talking about the need to do laundry?). It is this true need in life that God addresses in Matthew 6:33 and he says, don't fret about it, even though it is a legitimate need, I know that you need it, but I want you to focus on your relationship with Me, and I will take care of you.

There we realize that God's taking care of the person is in their basic life sustenance. Remember, the Son of Man had nowhere to lay his head! One commentator on this verse pondered that "whereas the wicked live for themselves and by themselves, the righteous trust in God and receive from God their legitimate desires" (Craige, WBC Psalms 1-50, p. 298). Our desires should incline toward God and the things of God - to know Him better, to abstain from sin, to live a life pleasing to Him. Remember Paul's desire in Phil. 3:10-11 - "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

So, rather than thinking about what you would ask from the mythical Genie, focus on delighting yourself in the Lord!

Psalm 27:14 - "Wait on the LORD: Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wat, I say, on the LORD!"

Thoughts on today's verse:

The idea of waiting might conjure up the image of sitting in a chair with only the sound of a ticking clock to keep one company. God is not late to an appointment, nor are we to be idle in our lives. The idea of waiting here is the idea of trust, be confident, have no fear. These words of encouragement have taken different forms throughout history, whether from Moses to Joshua (Deut 31:7), God to Joshua (Josh 1:6, 7, 9, 18), Joshua to the people of Israel (Josh. 10:25), Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 16:13), or as the case here, with the Psalmist to the people of Israel.

The idea is the same - we are to live a life of faith! We trust the Lord, we can trust the Lord, and this truth ought to strengthen our faith, and bolster our confidence! Remember: we live by faith, not by sight! As one author said: "faith is the power which enables the faithful to endure the tension between his present afflictions and his future deliverance from those afflictions" (Weiser, p. 254)

Psalm 25:14-15 - "The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him,
And He will show them His covenant.
15 My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
For He shall pluck my feet out of the net."

Thoughts on today's verses:

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:3 that "even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing." This verse seems to capture some of the essence of of what the Psalmist was driving at. Jesus said elsewhere to let the children come to him and not to hinder them. This gives us insight into the simplicity of the Gospel on the one hand, so simple that even a child can believe, but on the other hand, so complex that a person can spend their entire life exploring it and never fully understand all that is there to be grasped!

This just goes to show that spirutual truth really is spiritually discerned! Note Paul's words to the Corinthians in his first letter: "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14).

We anchor to God by faith, and we fear Him, understanding that He is God and we are the work of His hands. When we acknowledge this by faith and the other truths that accompany the acceptance of God's revelation - namely the Gospel of Jesus Christ - then we have eternal life, and the Holy Spirit dwells in us, testifying to the truth of the Word and giving insight!

Romans 12:2 - "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Thoughts on today's verse:

Paul says this after beseeching believers to present themselves as living sacrifices. What's interesting here is that there appear to be only two options available. It's sort of like tossing a ball into the air. It's either going up or coming down, it can't stop in middair. The idea here is that we are either going to be conforming ourselves to the world, or we will transformed by the renewing of our minds. Obviously the latter is preferred. And, it should be noted that neither of this is an instantaneous occurence, but rather a process, meaning that you could be renewing your mind for a while and slip into conformity to the world.

This should remind us that our walk with the Lord is just that - a journey, a walk - it is not something that we arrive at and just sit back and enjoy, at least not in this world. So, don't let your guard down: run the race to finish, fight the good fight, and constantly be renewing your mind and transforming more into the image of our Savior!

Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Thoughts on today's verse:

These words from the Lord could not have come at a better time. When the nation of Israel was in captivity and experiencing the flood of emotions that accompany such an experience, wondering where God was in all of it, then God says through the prophet Jeremiah: I haven't forgotten about you, and in fact, I know what I have been thinking about you, as the one who sees the beginning from the end. I don't mean you harm, contrary to what you might think; I actually have great plans for you, of peace, future, and hope."

What encouraging words to the nation of Israel. Wonderfully, the same principle is true of Christians today. We know this from our theology of God and from our understanding of the process into which we have entered when we become Christians, known as sanctification. Perhaps you are in a dark chapter of life and are wondering where God is in all of it. Fear not - He has not forgotten about you, nor does He intend evil. We have confidence that His plans for us, though not national like they were to Israel are the same: peace, future and hope, even if not experienced in this lifetime, these will utlimately be true all who name the name of Christ in this world!

Philippians 2:9-11 - "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Thoughts on today's verses:

Because of what Christ has done in his earthly ministry, namely being completely humbled, God has now highly exalted Him. We learn from this a couple of things. First of all, Christ is alive, something that we do well to remind ourselves of often.

Secondly, we ought not to take the name of the second Person of the Godhead lightly, especially not as a curse word, or vainly. His name is unique, and the day is coming when it will be acknowledged properly by all the people of the world. For the result of the exaltation of Christ is our proper worship - ascribing the worth to Him that is due His name. Unfortunately, not all will do this while on earth, and they foolishly think that they will never have to, and they go to their grave mocking the Lord Jesus Christ. God never said that the knees bowing and tongues confessing would take place now - it will happen later, but we manifest a grace-based relationship with the Lord when we acknowledge Him properly now, by faith!

I could tell you that a bridge is out ahead and you could either ignore me and keep driving, in which case, when you went around the corner and plunged over the chasm, you would acknowledge the truth of my statement, but it would not save you - it would be too late. Or, the second option is that you could believe me and your life would reflect the fact that you believe me, for you would change the course of your life.

This analogy breaks down somewhat because when God has told us that one day every knee will bow and tongue confess, we are not the ones who turn our lives around - our only duty is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31), but when we believe and confess Him, then He is the one who changes our lives and others will see.

Psalm 62:8 - "Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah"

Thoughts on today's verse:

Last week, we looked at Isaiah 26:4 where we were commanded to trust God. Here we see the same idea. The concept of trust is to have confidence in something, and here we see that we ought to have confidence in our unchanging, loving, compassionate God. Here, the psalmist goes on to picture what that trust would look like. If we truly have confidence in God, then we ought to pour out our hearts to him, as He is, the only true refuge.

The truth is, we may try and keep things hidden from others for fear of what they might think of us were they to find them out. We fear rejection, we fear many things and so we keep hidden certain parts of our lives. However, the great comfort of this verse is that the One we are to trust and to whom we are to pour out our hearts, already knows everything about our lives! Nothing is hidden from the Lord, who searches the hearts of men, and yet he still accepts us and wants us to talk to him about everything, for we can anchor to Him and He will provide shelter through the peace of the Spirit and His Word.

Proverbs 19:20-21 - "Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days. 21 There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the LORD’s counsel—that will stand."


Thoughts on today's verse:

Solomon is here reiterating the whole theme of the book that he was writing to his son: listen to advice and accept instruction to be wise in the future. Up to this point, and even through the rest of the book, that is exactly what is being put forth: instruction and advice.

However, we do not look only to the book of proverbs for advice and instruction, and that is not what Solomon had in mind; otherwise it would have been worded differently. The idea seems to be that there are those who have grown in biblical wisdom through their own lives and we ought to be eager to learn from their advice and instruction so that we might too become wise!

This wisdom will go on to help us as we devise plans in our hearts, but even then, our plans are subject to change as we are not all-wise, nor unchanging. God, on the other hand, is all-wise, and is unchanging. He is immutable and therefore, his plans will stand, for they are always best. We ought to recognize this and accept it as we continue to grow in wisdom from above.

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!

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?

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."

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!

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!

Philippians 1:9-10 - "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ."

Thoughts on today's verse:

Paul's prayer is worth taking note of. He prays that the believers in Philippi would increase in their love. Notice that he does not specify the object of their love. He does not say that he prays that their love toward God would abound, nor does he pray that their love toward other Christians would abound. No, he simply prays that their love would abound more and more. This is likely a two avenue approach, where they should grow and abound first in their love to God (vertical) with the result of an overflow toward other around them (horizontal), which is pictured well with the illustration of filling a cup. The level of the liquid must first rise vertically before it can begin to flow out and around. This is one way that we can pray for others.

Paul goes on to explain his prayer for their love, that it would grow in knowledge and discernment. Sadly, many in the world today think and teach that love is blind; in other words, that it can and possibly should, operate from ignorance.

Note that "A virtuous man may be ignorant, but ignorance is not a virtue. It would be a strange God Who could be loved better by being known less. Love of God is not the same thing as knowledge of God; love of God is immeasurably more important than knowledge of God; but if a man loves God knowing a little about Him, he should love God more from knowing more about Him: for every new thing known about God is a new reason for loving Him."(F. J. Sheed, Theology and Sanity (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1946), pp. 9, 10.)

When we specifically pray for others that they would abound in their love, we ought to pray that their love would increase according to knowledge, that their relationship with the Lord would grow and flourish and that their lives would be impacted by it.

How can one discern the things that are excellent and remain pure until the day of Christ unless he has knowledge?!

"Remember this: a superficial love for God is a sure sign of a superficial knowledge of God. This is why we must give priority to gathered worship with our Bibles and hearts open to God. This is why we must daily open the Scriptures for ourselves and teach them to our children. This is why we must read both the Old and New Testaments with our eyes wide open to Christ, whom God has made known (cf. John 1:18)." (Preach the Word: Philippians, Hughes, p. 42)

John 3:20-21 - "20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Thoughts on today's verses:

John stated right before these verses that the Light (Jesus Christ) "has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." He then makes a correlary between their location and their deeds.

"The close connection between doing and being—namely, between practicing good or evil works and the nature of a person—is an important theological concept in John because believing is not merely a matter of mental affirmation but of life commitment. The world hated Jesus and continues to do so not merely because of some intellectual reason but because the deeds of world-oriented people are evil (John 7:7; cf. Col 1:21)." (NAC - John, p. 186)

What do you love? The light or the darkness? Do you like to cover up your deeds or do you come into the light so that they can be clearly seen with all glory given to God?

1 Corinthians 2:14 - "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Thoughts on today's verse:

Paul talks about the natural and spiritual man a fair amount in his writings. Here, the focus is on the man without the Spirit, or in other words - the natural man. Who is he?

"The natural man belongs to the world, while the spiritual man belongs to God. The one is an unbeliever and the other a believer; the one lacks the Spirit while the other has the Spirit; the one follows natural instincts (Jude 19), the other follows the Lord." (BNTC: 1 Corinthians, Kistemaker, p. 92)

Paul says to the Corinthians that the one who is unsaved does not accept as true, spiritual realities; and not only does he not accept them as true, he percieves them as foolishness and they are unintelligible to him because in order to understand them, one must have the Spirit of God indwelling him, which only occurs upon Salvation. We see Paul expounding on this idea in another letter that he wrote to the Romans, where he stated that the unsaved professed to wise and in doing so, they were cementing their own foolishness (Romans 1:22). You see, no person would admit that they cannot discern or properly understand the Word of God, so they mock it and consider it foolish and write about it as such, claiming to be wise. All along, however, they are merely confirming their foolishness before God.

Friend, if today, you are privileged to be able to discern spiritual truth, it is because of the Spirit of God in you, testifying to the truth you are reading, and that you have born from above.

Matthew 6:33 - "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."


Thoughts on today's verse:

Matthew just finished demonstrating what types of things can consume our priorities; basic things like food and shelter and clothing. It isn't necessarily that those things are unimportant, but rather, that, as he stated: the Lord knows that we have need of those things. He would have those who follow Him arrange their priorities so that He is first place, with the focus Christian growth, which we know as sanctification - or here: God's righteousness. We are to focus on living a life that is pleasing to our Creator God and our Savior, and we trust, by faith, that all of the other lesser necessities of life will be supplied, for, as Paul said: My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).

James 3:13 - "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom."

Thoughts on today's verse:


There was a story in the news a few months ago about a woman who had claimed to be a soldier with the U.S. Army. She made quite a claim and probably took quite a bit of time coming up with her story so that she could furnish the details when people from her small hometown would ask her about her time in service. You see, she wasn't really a soldier with the U.S. Army. She had never gone to boot camp, never been to a recruiter, and the military had no record of her. She made a big claim, but it was unsubstantiated!

Here James is telling the believers that there may be some among them who are making spiritual claims, that is, to be wise and understanding, to have knowledge of the Scriptures. However, he said that the true test of one claiming to be wise and understanding would not just be in the claim, or the ability to parse verses and recite whole sections of Scripture, but rather the test of the actual fruit of the life of that person!

The truly wise and understanding Christian will be marked with good conduct performed in the meekness of wisdom. So the truly wise one won't have to say it at all, for their life will manifest it and, as Solomon said in Proverbs 27:2 - Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."

1 John 4:16 - "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."

Thoughts on today's verse:

We all know the most famous verse of the Bible - John 3:16, which speaks of love. "For God so loved..." We often share this with others as we share the gospel with them, for part of the message is indeed the love of God. In that sense every true believer should know of the love of God, and every true believer has known the love of God. And, lest we forget, we have a picture of God's love in the form of Christ on the cross, dying for our sins, then being gloriously resurrected with a glorified body. Thus, in a very real sense, we see that, as John states - God is love!

We are then reminded of what this is to do in our lives. Jesus said that "if you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). No doubt John recalls this as he writes this letter, that the one who has experienced the love of God in his life, here, in the form of salvation, is to abide in love.

One commentator noted that "the only way to love, as the only way to believe (15), is by living in God and God in us. For it is the divine indwelling which alone makes possible both belief and love. They are its fruit, and therefore its evidence: ‘he who dwells in love is [i.e. is thereby seen to be] dwelling in God’" (Stott, John. TNTC Letters of John).

We cannot truly love others without first experiencing the love that God had for us and shared with us through Christ.

Philippians 2:1-2 - "Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."

Thoughts on today's verses:

Taking a trip down memory lane can be a sweet thing! Here, Paul exhorts the Philippians to reflect on the transaction that took place when they exchanged their worthless works and the necessary resulting death, for faith in Christ and eternal life.

He begins with the idea of consolation or encouragement in Christ. What is it that can console you or encourage you in the darkest of times? What is it that can give you the motivation and encouragement that boosts you on in your day-to-day living? Here, it should be Christ! When you think about what Christ has done for you, and the great love that he has for you, how can that do anything but encourage and console the believer?!

He then goes on to speak of the comfort of love. At times, it is possible to feel lonely, even in a crowded room. Many people have given testimony of this in their own lives. Yet, for the believer, this really shouldn't be the case when we remind ourselves of the great love wherewith Christ has loved us, and indeed, continues to love us!

The excitment builds, as we have already been encouraged, experienced the love of God, and now Paul reminds the believer that the relationship that is in place is one of fellowship - a holy fellowship, with the Spirit of God, who dwells within us. What an incredible relationship and time of rejoicing!

These things culminate in properly aligned affections toward Christ, which will in turn result in mercy toward others. It is, "the divine compassion and mercy that came from Christ himself to us at salvation and now passes through us to others" (Preach the Word: Philippians. R. Kent Hughes, p. 76).


All of this then serves as the foundation for the relationships that we have with other believers, as we are all encouraged in our own relationship and position in Christ, so we will act accordingly, in Christlike unity, humility, and love toward one another. Let us remember that it is only upon the foundation of Christ and his work that the church, of which we are a part, can exist the way God has declared!