Saturday, January 11, 2020

God Isn’t Finished With You



“Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?’ says the Lord. ‘Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!’”... (Jeremiah 18:5-6)



DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

God the Potter has the clay upon His wheel—but something happens. It’s marred. It’s ruined. Did God make a mistake? The problem is not in the hands of the Potter. The problem is in the clay. Now, what could be the problem in the clay? First, there might be some rock, some hidden impurity keeping the vessel from becoming what it ought to be. There may be some hidden impurity in your life, marring what God wants to do. Or it may just be that the clay is not broken enough. The clay is too stiff. The clay does not yield to the hand of the Potter. What is clay to do in the hand of the potter? We are to yield.

ACTION POINT:

Are you yielded? Can God form and shape you and make out of you what He wants? We must be willing to say, “Lord, You are the Potter, I’m the clay; mold me, make me after Thy will” (from the hymn “Have Thine Own Way, Lord”). Have you said, “Lord, here I am. Make of me what You wish. Do with me what You will”? Most of us dare not dream what we could be if we would allow God to have His way in our lives.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jan.11


1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My son"; and he answered, "Here I am."
2 He said, "Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.
3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me,
4 and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die."
5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it,
6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "I heard your father speak to your brother Esau,
7 'Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.'
8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.
9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.
10 And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies."
11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing."
13 His mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me."
14 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved.
15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
16 And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17 And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
18 So he went in to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?"
19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me."
20 But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He answered, "Because the LORD your God granted me success."
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not."
22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him.
24 He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He answered, "I am."
25 Then he said, "Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son's game and bless you." So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near and kiss me, my son."
27 So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed! 
28 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. 
29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!" 
30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me."
32 His father Isaac said to him, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
33 Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, "Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed."
34 As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!"
35 But he said, "Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing."
36 Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." Then he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"
37 Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?"
38 Esau said to his father, "Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: "Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. 
40 By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck." 
41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob."
42 But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran
44 and stay with him a while, until your brother's fury turns away-
45 until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?"
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?" - Genesis 27

1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.
2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.
3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.
4 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!"
5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,"
7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram.
8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father,
9 Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.
10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it."
17 And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God,
22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you." - Genesis 28

1 In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, "Flee like a bird to your mountain, 
2 for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; 
3 if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" 
4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD's throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. 
5 The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. 
6 Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. 
7 For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.  - Psalms 11

1 And the high priest said, "Are these things so?"
2 And Stephen said: "Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 
3 and said to him, 'Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.'
4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.
5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.
6 And God spoke to this effect-that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.
7 'But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, 'and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.'
8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9 "And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him
10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.
11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit.
13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.
14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all.
15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers,
16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 "But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt
18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.
19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.
20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house,
21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23 "When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.
25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?'
27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'
29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 "Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord:
32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
33 Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.'
35 "This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'-this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.'
38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. - Acts 7:1-38

13 "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 5:13-20

Friday, January 10, 2020

What Might Happen to You on the Potter’s Wheel?



BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?’ says the Lord. ‘Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!’”... Jeremiah 18:5-6



DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

God the Potter has the clay upon His wheel—but something happens. It’s marred. It’s ruined. Did God make a mistake? The problem is not in the hands of the Potter. The problem is in the clay. Now, what could be the problem in the clay? First, there might be some rock, some hidden impurity keeping the vessel from becoming what it ought to be. There may be some hidden impurity in your life, marring what God wants to do. Or it may just be that the clay is not broken enough. The clay is too stiff. The clay does not yield to the hand of the Potter. What is clay to do in the hand of the potter? We are to yield.

ACTION POINT:

Are you yielded? Can God form and shape you and make out of you what He wants? We must be willing to say, “Lord, You are the Potter, I’m the clay; mold me, make me after Thy will” (from the hymn “Have Thine Own Way, Lord”). Have you said, “Lord, here I am. Make of me what You wish. Do with me what You will”? Most of us dare not dream what we could be if we would allow God to have His way in our lives.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How Believers Will Be Judged



I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. (Revelation 20:12)

What about the last judgment? Will our sins be remembered? Will they be revealed? Anthony Hoekema puts it wisely like this: “The failures and shortcomings of . . . believers . . . will enter into the picture on the Day of Judgment. But — and this is the important point — the sins and shortcomings of believers will be revealed in the judgment as forgiven sins, whose guilt has been totally covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.”

Picture it like this. God has a file on every person (the “books” of Revelation 20:12). All you’ve ever done or said (Matthew 12:36) is recorded there with a grade (from “A” to “F”). When you stand before “the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10) to be judged “for what [you have] done in the body, whether good or evil,” God will open the file and lay out the tests with their grades. He will pull out all the “F’s” and put them in a pile. Then he will take all the “D’s” and “C’s” and pull the good parts of the test out and place them with the “A’s”, then put the bad with the “F’s.” Then he will take all the “B’s” and “A’s” and pull the bad parts out of them and put them in the “F” pile, and put all the good parts in the “A” pile.

Then he will open another file (“the book of life”) and find your name, because you are in Christ through faith. Behind your name will be a wood-stick match made from the cross of Jesus. He will take the match, light it, and set the “F” pile, with all your failures and deficiencies, on fire and burn them up. They will not condemn you, and they will not reward you.

Then he will take from your “book of life” file a sealed envelope marked “free and gracious bonus: life!” and put it on the “A” pile (see Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38). Then he will hold up the entire pile and declare, “By this your life bears witness to the grace of my Father, the worth of my blood, and the fruit of my Spirit. These bear witness that your life is eternal. And according to these you will have your rewards. Enter into the everlasting joy of your Master.”


John Piper 

Jan.10


1 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.
2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.
4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
5 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.
6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.
7 These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, 175 years.
8 Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
9 Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre,
10 the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife.
11 After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.
12 These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham.
13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes.
17 (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.)
18 They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled over against all his kinsmen.
19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham fathered Isaac,
20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife.
21 And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, "If it is thus, why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger." 
24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.
30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!" (Therefore his name was called Edom.)
31 Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright now."
32 Esau said, "I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?"
33 Jacob said, "Swear to me now." So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. - Genesis 25

1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.
2 And the LORD appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.
3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.
4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,
5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he feared to say, "My wife," thinking, "lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah," because she was attractive in appearance.
8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife.
9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I thought, 'Lest I die because of her.'"
10 Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."
11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him,
13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.
14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.
15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)
16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."
17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.
18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.
19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,
20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.
21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.
22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
23 From there he went up to Beersheba.
24 And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake."
25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.
26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army,
27 Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?"
28 They said, "We see plainly that the LORD has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,
29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD."
30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.
32 That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, "We have found water."
33 He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite,
35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. - Genesis 26

1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. 
3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD. 
4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God." 
5 His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. 
6 He says in his heart, "I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity." 
7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. 
8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; 
9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. 
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. 
11 He says in his heart, "God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it." 
12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted. 
13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, "You will not call to account"? 
14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless. 
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none. 
16 The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. 
17 O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 
18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.  - Psalms 10

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.
6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.
10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God."
12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council,
13 and they set up false witnesses who said, "This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,
14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us."
15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. - Acts 6

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. - Matthew 5:1-12

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Who Needs a Do-Over?



“Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make”
Jeremiah 18:3-4


DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The making of pottery is one of the oldest arts known to men. A potter takes clay and chops it and crushes it and molds it and squeezes it until it is soft and pliable. It is a beautiful thing to watch: a vessel of beauty or a vessel of service, or both, emerge from that ugly clay.

There are three ingredients in the making of pottery: the Potter, the clay, and the wheel. God is the Potter. We are His workmanship. God is the Master Workman, working on us. Think of yourself as the clay and see what God can do with you, for He is at work in your life. The wheel is the circumstances of life. Don’t think the incidences in your life is meaningless. God wants to make something beautiful out of you.

ACTION POINT:

Though you may not understand it now, every turn of the wheel has been a part of God’s plan. If He does not rule, God overrules. He’s going to turn every Calvary to an Easter, every midnight to a sunrise. He is going to turn every tear to a pearl and make a diadem for you.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Only a Little While


After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10)

Sometimes in the midst of the afflictions and ordinary stresses of daily life, we may cry out, “How long, O Lord? I can’t see beyond today’s pain. What will tomorrow bring? Will you be there for that affliction too?”

This question is utterly urgent, because Jesus said, “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13). We tremble at the thought of being among “those who shrink back and are destroyed” (Hebrews 10:39). We are not playing games. Suffering is a horrible threat to faith in God’s future grace.

Therefore, it is a wonderful thing to hear Peter promise the afflicted and weary Christians, “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10).

The assurance that he will not delay beyond what we can endure, and that he will abolish the flaws we bemoan, and that he will establish forever what has tottered so long — that assurance comes from the God of “all grace.”

God is not the God of some grace — like bygone grace. He is “the God of all grace” — including the infinite, inexhaustible stores of future grace, that we need to endure to the end.

Faith in that future grace, strengthened by the memory of past grace, is the key to enduring on the narrow and hard road that leads to life.


John Piper