November 4

1 The word of the LORD came to me:

2 "Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: 'Hear the word of the LORD!'

3 Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

4 Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel.

5 You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the LORD.

6 They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'Declares the LORD,' when the LORD has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word.

7 Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, 'Declares the LORD,' although I have not spoken?"

8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD.

9 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

10 Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash,

11 say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out.

12 And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, 'Where is the coating with which you smeared it?'

13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end.

14 And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

15 Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it,

16 the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord GOD.

17 "And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them

18 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive?

19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.

20 "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds.

21 Your veils also I will tear off and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand as prey, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

22 Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life,

23 therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. And you shall know that I am the LORD." - Ezekiel 13

1 Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.

2 And the word of the LORD came to me:

3 "Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them?

4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols,

5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.

6 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

7 For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the LORD will answer him myself.

8 And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

9 And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

10 And they shall bear their punishment-the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike-

11 that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord GOD."

12 And the word of the LORD came to me:

13 "Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast,

14 even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.

15 "If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts,

16 even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

17 "Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast,

18 though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

19 "Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast,

20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.

21 "For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!

22 But behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it.

23 They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord GOD." - Ezekiel 14

1 And the word of the LORD came to me:

2 "Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest?

3 Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it?

4 Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything?

5 Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything!

6 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

7 And I will set my face against them. Though they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, and you will know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord GOD." - Ezekiel 15

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 "If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking? 

3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. 

4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. 

5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. 

6 Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? 

7 "Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? 

8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. 

9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed. 

10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken. 

11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. 

12 "Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. 

13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, 

14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. 

15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. 

16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: 

17 'Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? 

18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error; 

19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth. 

20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. 

21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?'  - Job 4

10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 

11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.

12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,

13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.

14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,

16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. - 2 Peter 2:10-16

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

13 So the Pharisees said to him, "You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true."

14 Jesus answered, "Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.

15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.

17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.

18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me."

19 They said to him therefore, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also."

20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. - John 8:12-20

Carry These Five Principles into the Voting Booth

BIBLE MEDITATION

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” Proverbs 29:2

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Today in the US is an important election day. I trust every one of you will vote. Are you praying over your vote? Dr. Francis Schaeffer, a brilliant man, one of the foremost Christian thinkers of our time, gave us 5 principles to keep in mind when we vote. These have nothing to do with personalities or political parties. The principles guiding our vote should be:

The dignity of human life

The importance of the traditional family

Religious freedom of speech in schools, both public and private

Human rights and the need for justice in our world

The compassionate use of accumulated wealth

These five ought to be in the heart and mind of every child of God. Pray over these. Then, based on God’s Word, make your determination. God will give you wisdom.

ACTION POINT

Pray it from your heart, “God, bless America, and God, give us space to repent. And may the ones of Your choosing be elected to lead us.” Remember, “…to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Meaning of Suffering

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:26)

We do not choose suffering simply because we are told to, but because the One who tells us to describes it as the path to everlasting joy.

He beckons us into the obedience of suffering not to demonstrate the strength of our devotion to duty, or to reveal the vigor of our moral resolve, or to prove the heights of our tolerance for pain, but rather to manifest, in childlike faith, the infinite preciousness of his all-satisfying promises — the all-satisfying greatness and beauty of his own glory as the fulfillment of all of them.

Moses “[chose] to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. . . . For he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:25–26). Therefore, his obedience glorified the reward — all that God is for him in Christ — not the resolve to suffer.

This is the essence of Christian Hedonism. In the pursuit of joy through suffering, we magnify the all-satisfying worth of the Source of our joy. God himself shines as the brightness at the end of our tunnel of pain.

If we do not communicate that he is the goal and the ground of our joy in suffering, then the very meaning of our suffering will be lost.

The meaning is this: God is gain. God is gain. God himself is gain. That’s the meaning of our suffering.

The chief end of man is to glorify God. And it is truer in suffering than anywhere else that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

John Piper 

November 3

1 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, "Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand."

2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist.

4 And the LORD said to him, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it."

5 And to the others he said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.

6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the house.

7 Then he said to them, "Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out." So they went out and struck in the city.

8 And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, "Ah, Lord GOD! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?"

9 Then he said to me, "The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see.'

10 As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads."

11 And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, "I have done as you commanded me." - Ezekiel 9

1 Then I looked, and behold, on the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared above them something like a sapphire, in appearance like a throne.

2 And he said to the man clothed in linen, "Go in among the whirling wheels underneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city." And he went in before my eyes. 

3 Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the house, when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.

4 And the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD.

5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

6 And when he commanded the man clothed in linen, "Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim," he went in and stood beside a wheel.

7 And a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

8 The cherubim appeared to have the form of a human hand under their wings.

9 And I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one beside each cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling beryl.

10 And as for their appearance, the four had the same likeness, as if a wheel were within a wheel.

11 When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went, but in whatever direction the front wheel faced, the others followed without turning as they went.

12 And their whole body, their rims, and their spokes, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around-the wheels that the four of them had.

13 As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing "the whirling wheels."

14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was a human face, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

15 And the cherubim mounted up. These were the living creatures that I saw by the Chebar canal.

16 And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them. And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels did not turn from beside them.

17 When they stood still, these stood still, and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

18 Then the glory of the LORD went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.

19 And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

20 These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the Chebar canal; and I knew that they were cherubim.

21 Each had four faces, and each four wings, and underneath their wings the likeness of human hands.

22 And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the Chebar canal. Each one of them went straight forward. - Ezekiel 10

1 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of the LORD, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were twenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

2 And he said to me, "Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city;

3 who say, 'The time is not near to build houses. This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.'

4 Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man."

5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, "Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind.

6 You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain.

7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the meat, and this city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it.

8 You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord GOD.

9 And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and give you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you.

10 You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

11 This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel,

12 and you shall know that I am the LORD. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you."

13 And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?"

14 And the word of the LORD came to me:

15 "Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, 'Go far from the LORD; to us this land is given for a possession.'

16 Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.'

17 Therefore say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.'

18 And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

21 But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD."

22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city.

24 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me.

25 And I told the exiles all the things that the LORD had shown me. - Ezekiel 11

1 The word of the LORD came to me:

2 "Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.

3 As for you, son of man, prepare for yourself an exile's baggage, and go into exile by day in their sight. You shall go like an exile from your place to another place in their sight. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house.

4 You shall bring out your baggage by day in their sight, as baggage for exile, and you shall go out yourself at evening in their sight, as those do who must go into exile.

5 In their sight dig through the wall, and bring your baggage out through it.

6 In their sight you shall lift the baggage upon your shoulder and carry it out at dusk. You shall cover your face that you may not see the land, for I have made you a sign for the house of Israel."

7 And I did as I was commanded. I brought out my baggage by day, as baggage for exile, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my own hands. I brought out my baggage at dusk, carrying it on my shoulder in their sight.

8 In the morning the word of the LORD came to me:

9 "Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, 'What are you doing?'

10 Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel who are in it.'

11 Say, 'I am a sign for you: as I have done, so shall it be done to them. They shall go into exile, into captivity.'

12 And the prince who is among them shall lift his baggage upon his shoulder at dusk, and shall go out. They shall dig through the wall to bring him out through it. He shall cover his face, that he may not see the land with his eyes.

13 And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare. And I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, and he shall die there.

14 And I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops, and I will unsheathe the sword after them.

15 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among the countries.

16 But I will let a few of them escape from the sword, from famine and pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they go, and may know that I am the LORD."

17 And the word of the LORD came to me:

18 "Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink water with trembling and with anxiety.

19 And say to the people of the land, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink water in dismay. In this way her land will be stripped of all it contains, on account of the violence of all those who dwell in it.

20 And the inhabited cities shall be laid waste, and the land shall become a desolation; and you shall know that I am the LORD."

21 And the word of the LORD came to me:

22 "Son of man, what is this proverb that you have about the land of Israel, saying, 'The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing'?

23 Tell them therefore, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.' But say to them, The days are near, and the fulfillment of every vision.

24 For there shall be no more any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel.

25 For I am the LORD; I will speak the word that I will speak, and it will be performed. It will no longer be delayed, but in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it, declares the Lord GOD."

26 And the word of the LORD came to me:

27 "Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, 'The vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off.'

28 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: None of my words will be delayed any longer, but the word that I speak will be performed, declares the Lord GOD." - Ezekiel 12

1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

2 And Job said:

3 "Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.' 

4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. 

5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. 

6 That night-let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 

7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it. 

8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. 

9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning, 

10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 

11 "Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? 

12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? 

13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, 

14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, 

15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. 

16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? 

17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 

18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. 

19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 

20 "Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, 

21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, 

22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? 

23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? 

24 For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. 

25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. 

26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes."  - Job 3

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.

3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;

7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked

8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, - 2 Peter 2:1-9

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst

4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.

9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

10 Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."]] - John 8:1-11

Your Vote Means Obedience

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."

James 4:17

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

It’s not a Bible proverb, but there’s a wonderful proverb that says, “If the gold rusts, what shall the iron do?” Meaning, if those in leadership don’t lead rightly, what’s going to happen to the rest of us?

What does the Bible say about national leadership? Proverbs 29 makes it clear: leadership should lead by setting a godly example. The Bible repeatedly warns us that our leaders should be upright—and what the consequences will be if they aren’t.

Daniel confessed,

O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. (Daniel 9:16)

Jesus said, “Render to God the things that are God’s.” But He also said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” Our “Caesar” is a government of, by, and for the people. The very genius of our government is that the people participate. None other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself teaches us to participate in government. (Matthew 22:21)

ACTION POINT

Under our Constitution, the government answers to the people. It’s unthinkable that Almighty God would ordain government, then have His people stay out of it. Who would that leave, then, to influence and lead? If you do not vote, you’ve disobeyed God’s plan for His people to be involved. Get informed. Know where each candidate stands on the issue of protecting life and His design for marriage. Then prayerfully cast your vote for those most closely aligned with God’s principles for life and godliness in a nation.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Rejoicing in Pain

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” (Matthew 5:11–12)

Christian Hedonism says that there are different ways to rejoice in suffering as a Christian. All of them are to be pursued as an expression of the all-sufficient, all-satisfying grace of God.

One way of rejoicing in suffering comes from fixing our minds firmly on the greatness of the reward that will come to us in the resurrection. The effect of this kind of focus is to make our present pain seem small in comparison to what is coming: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:16–18). In making the suffering tolerable, rejoicing over our reward will also make love possible.

“Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great” (Luke 6:35). Be generous with the poor “and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14). Confidence in this promised reward cuts the cord of worldliness and frees us for the costs of love.

Another way of rejoicing in suffering comes from the effects of suffering on our assurance of hope. Joy in affliction is rooted not only in the hope of resurrection and reward, but also in the way suffering itself works to deepens that hope.

For example, Paul says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3–4).

In other words, Paul’s joy is not merely rooted in his great reward, but in the effect of suffering which solidifies the hope of that reward. Affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces a sense that our faith is real and genuine, and that strengthens our hope that we will indeed gain Christ.

So whether we focus on the riches of the reward or the refining effects of suffering, God’s purpose is that our joy in suffering be sustained.

John Piper 

November 2

1 "And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem.

2 And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.

3 And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.

4 "Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment.

5 For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel.

6 And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.

7 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city.

8 And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.

9 "And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it.

10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from day to day you shall eat it.

11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from day to day you shall drink.

12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung."

13 And the LORD said, "Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them."

14 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never defiled myself. From my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has tainted meat come into my mouth."

15 Then he said to me, "See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread."

16 Moreover, he said to me, "Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay.

17 I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and look at one another in dismay, and rot away because of their punishment. - Ezekiel 4

1 "And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber's razor and pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair.

2 A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. And a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them.

3 And you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe.

4 And of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.

5 "Thus says the Lord GOD: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.

6 And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes.

7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you,

8 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.

9 And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again.

10 Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds.

11 Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will withdraw. My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity.

12 A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.

13 "Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that I am the LORD-that I have spoken in my jealousy-when I spend my fury upon them.

14 Moreover, I will make you a desolation and an object of reproach among the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by.

15 You shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations all around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and with furious rebukes-I am the LORD; I have spoken-

16 when I send against you the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon you and break your supply of bread.

17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the LORD; I have spoken." - Ezekiel 5

1 The word of the LORD came to me:

2 "Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,

3 and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

4 Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols.

5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

6 Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined, your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out.

7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

8 "Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries,

9 then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations.

10 And they shall know that I am the LORD. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them."

11 Thus says the Lord GOD: "Clap your hands and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.

12 He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. Thus I will spend my fury upon them.

13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols.

14 And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the LORD." - Ezekiel 6

1 The word of the LORD came to me:

2 "And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.

3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations.

4 And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

5 "Thus says the Lord GOD: Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes.

6 An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes.

7 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains.

8 Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations.

9 And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD, who strikes.

10 "Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has come; the rod has blossomed; pride has budded.

11 Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.

12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude.

13 For the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.

14 "They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but none goes to battle, for my wrath is upon all their multitude.

15 The sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. He who is in the field dies by the sword, and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour.

16 And if any survivors escape, they will be on the mountains, like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each one over his iniquity.

17 All hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water.

18 They put on sackcloth, and horror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.

19 They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity.

20 His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore I make it an unclean thing to them.

21 And I will give it into the hands of foreigners for prey, and to the wicked of the earth for spoil, and they shall profane it.

22 I will turn my face from them, and they shall profane my treasured place. Robbers shall enter and profane it.

23 "Forge a chain! For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence.

24 I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their holy places shall be profaned.

25 When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be none.

26 Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor. They seek a vision from the prophet, while the law perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders.

27 The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the LORD." - Ezekiel 7

1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there.

2 Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man. Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal.

3 He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.

4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley.

5 Then he said to me, "Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north." So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy.

6 And he said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations."

7 And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall.

8 Then he said to me, "Son of man, dig in the wall." So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance.

9 And he said to me, "Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here."

10 So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel.

11 And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up.

12 Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.'"

13 He said also to me, "You will see still greater abominations that they commit."

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

15 Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these."

16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east.

17 Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose.

18 Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them." - Ezekiel 8

1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.

2 And the LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."

3 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason."

4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.

5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face."

6 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life."

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die."

10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.

12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.

13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. - Job 2

12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.

13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder,

14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.

15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,"

18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,

20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. - 2 Peter 1:12-21

45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?"

46 The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man!"

47 The Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived?

48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?

49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."

50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,

51 "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?"

52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee."

53 [[They went each to his own house, - John 7:45-53