September 5

Luke 21:29-38

[29] And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. [30] As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. [31] So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. [32] Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. [33] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

[34] “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. [35] For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. [36] But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

[37] And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. [38] And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.

Hebrews 3

[1] Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, [2] who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. [3] For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. [4] (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) [5] Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, [6] but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

[7] Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 

    “Today, if you hear his voice, 

    [8] do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

        on the day of testing in the wilderness, 

    [9] where your fathers put me to the test

        and saw my works for forty years. 

    [10] Therefore I was provoked with that generation,

    and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;

        they have not known my ways.’ 

    [11] As I swore in my wrath,

        ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

    [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. [14] For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. [15] As it is said, 

    “Today, if you hear his voice,

    do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

    [16] For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? [17] And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? [18] And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? [19] So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Proverbs 20:16-30

    [16] 

    Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger,

        and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners. 

    [17] 

    Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,

        but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel. 

    [18] 

    Plans are established by counsel;

        by wise guidance wage war. 

    [19] 

    Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets;

        therefore do not associate with a simple babbler. 

    [20] 

    If one curses his father or his mother,

        his lamp will be put out in utter darkness. 

    [21] 

    An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning

        will not be blessed in the end. 

    [22] 

    Do not say, “I will repay evil”;

        wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you. 

    [23] 

    Unequal weights are an abomination to the LORD,

        and false scales are not good. 

    [24] 

    A man’s steps are from the LORD;

        how then can man understand his way? 

    [25] 

    It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,”

        and to reflect only after making vows. 

    [26] 

    A wise king winnows the wicked

        and drives the wheel over them. 

    [27] 

    The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD,

        searching all his innermost parts. 

    [28] 

    Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king,

        and by steadfast love his throne is upheld. 

    [29] 

    The glory of young men is their strength,

        but the splendor of old men is their gray hair. 

    [30] 

    Blows that wound cleanse away evil;

        strokes make clean the innermost parts.

Isaiah 11

    [1] There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

        and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 

    [2] And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,

        the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

        the Spirit of counsel and might,

        the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 

    [3] And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

    He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

        or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 

    [4] but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

        and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

    and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

        and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 

    [5] Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

        and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

    [6] The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

        and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

    and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

        and a little child shall lead them. 

    [7] The cow and the bear shall graze;

        their young shall lie down together;

        and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 

    [8] The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

        and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 

    [9] They shall not hurt or destroy

        in all my holy mountain;

    for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD

        as the waters cover the sea.

    [10] In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

[11] In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

    [12] He will raise a signal for the nations

        and will assemble the banished of Israel,

    and gather the dispersed of Judah

        from the four corners of the earth. 

    [13] The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,

        and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;

    Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

        and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. 

    [14] But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,

        and together they shall plunder the people of the east.

    They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab,

        and the Ammonites shall obey them. 

    [15] And the LORD will utterly destroy

        the tongue of the Sea of Egypt,

    and will wave his hand over the River

        with his scorching breath,

    and strike it into seven channels,

        and he will lead people across in sandals. 

    [16] And there will be a highway from Assyria

        for the remnant that remains of his people,

    as there was for Israel

        when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 12

    [1] You will say in that day:

    “I will give thanks to you, O LORD,

        for though you were angry with me,

    your anger turned away,

        that you might comfort me.

    [2] “Behold, God is my salvation;

        I will trust, and will not be afraid;

    for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,

        and he has become my salvation.”

    [3] With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. [4] And you will say in that day: 

    “Give thanks to the LORD,

        call upon his name,

    make known his deeds among the peoples,

        proclaim that his name is exalted.

    [5] “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;

        let this be made known in all the earth. 

    [6] Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

        for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah 13

[1] The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

    [2] On a bare hill raise a signal;

        cry aloud to them;

    wave the hand for them to enter

        the gates of the nobles. 

    [3] I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

        and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

        my proudly exulting ones.

    [4] The sound of a tumult is on the mountains

        as of a great multitude!

    The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

        of nations gathering together!

    The LORD of hosts is mustering

        a host for battle. 

    [5] They come from a distant land,

        from the end of the heavens,

    the LORD and the weapons of his indignation,

        to destroy the whole land.

    [6] Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;

        as destruction from the Almighty it will come! 

    [7] Therefore all hands will be feeble,

        and every human heart will melt. 

    [8] They will be dismayed:

        pangs and agony will seize them;

        they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

    They will look aghast at one another;

        their faces will be aflame.

    [9] Behold, the day of the LORD comes,

        cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

    to make the land a desolation

        and to destroy its sinners from it. 

    [10] For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

        will not give their light;

    the sun will be dark at its rising,

        and the moon will not shed its light. 

    [11] I will punish the world for its evil,

        and the wicked for their iniquity;

    I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

        and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. 

    [12] I will make people more rare than fine gold,

        and mankind than the gold of Ophir. 

    [13] Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,

        and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

    at the wrath of the LORD of hosts

        in the day of his fierce anger. 

    [14] And like a hunted gazelle,

        or like sheep with none to gather them,

    each will turn to his own people,

        and each will flee to his own land. 

    [15] Whoever is found will be thrust through,

        and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. 

    [16] Their infants will be dashed in pieces

        before their eyes;

    their houses will be plundered

        and their wives ravished.

    [17] Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them,

        who have no regard for silver

        and do not delight in gold. 

    [18] Their bows will slaughter the young men;

        they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

        their eyes will not pity children. 

    [19] And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,

        the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

    will be like Sodom and Gomorrah

        when God overthrew them. 

    [20] It will never be inhabited

        or lived in for all generations;

    no Arab will pitch his tent there;

        no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. 

    [21] But wild animals will lie down there,

        and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

    there ostriches will dwell,

        and there wild goats will dance. 

    [22] Hyenas will cry in its towers,

        and jackals in the pleasant palaces;

    its time is close at hand

        and its days will not be prolonged.

Do You Know God’s Purpose for You?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

James 1:22

 

PONDER THIS

Do you know God’s purpose for you in the Word of God? Number one, it’s to show you what you are by nature. And number two, to show you what you ought to be by God’s grace. God’s purpose in the Word of God is to make you like the Lord Jesus Christ. God is so pleased with His Son, the Lord Jesus, that He wants people just like Him.

What God is up to is making people in the image of God, the image that was marred when Adam sinned in the garden of Eden. (See Genesis 3.) But the Bible says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). If we have put our faith in Jesus, then we are destined to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

What are some purposes you might have for yourself that don’t match God’s purpose for you?

How is being a doer of the Word and not only a hearer connected to fulfilling God’s purpose for your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of things you can do according to God’s Word to grow more into the image of Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What’s New About the New Covenant

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

Jesus shatters any absolute dissociation of commandments and love.

He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:15, 21). “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10).

Thinking in terms of commandments and obedience did not stop Jesus from enjoying the love of his Father. And he expects that our thinking of him as one who commands will not jeopardize our love relationship with him either.

This is crucial to realize because the new covenant relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ is not a covenant without commandments. The basic difference between the old covenant offered by God through the Mosaic law and the new covenant offered by God through Christ is not that one had commandments and the other doesn’t.

The key differences are that (1) the Messiah, Jesus, has come and shed the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 10:29) so that henceforth he is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that all saving, covenant-keeping faith is conscious faith in him; (2) the old covenant has therefore become “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13) and does not govern the new-covenant people of God (2 Corinthians 3:7–18; Romans 7:4, 6; Galatians 3:19); and (3) the promised new heart and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit have been given through faith.

In the old covenant, the gracious enabling power to obey God was not poured out as fully as it is since Jesus. “To this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (Deuteronomy 29:4). What’s new about the new covenant is not that there are no commandments, but that God’s promise has come true! “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33). “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27).

John Piper 

September 4

Luke 21:20-28

[20] “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. [21] Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, [22] for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. [23] Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. [24] They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

[25] “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, [26] people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. [27] And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. [28] Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Hebrews 2:10-18

[10] For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. [11] For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, [12] saying, 

    “I will tell of your name to my brothers;

        in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

    [13] And again, 

    “I will put my trust in him.”

    And again, 

    “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

    [14] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, [15] and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. [16] For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. [17] Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. [18] For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Proverbs 20:1-15

    [1] Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler,

        and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. 

    [2] 

    The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion;

        whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life. 

    [3] 

    It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife,

        but every fool will be quarreling. 

    [4] 

    The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;

        he will seek at harvest and have nothing. 

    [5] 

    The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water,

        but a man of understanding will draw it out. 

    [6] 

    Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love,

        but a faithful man who can find? 

    [7] 

    The righteous who walks in his integrity—

        blessed are his children after him! 

    [8] 

    A king who sits on the throne of judgment

        winnows all evil with his eyes. 

    [9] 

    Who can say, “I have made my heart pure;

        I am clean from my sin”? 

    [10] 

    Unequal weights and unequal measures

        are both alike an abomination to the LORD. 

    [11] 

    Even a child makes himself known by his acts,

        by whether his conduct is pure and upright. 

    [12] 

    The hearing ear and the seeing eye,

        the LORD has made them both. 

    [13] 

    Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty;

        open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread. 

    [14] 

    “Bad, bad,” says the buyer,

        but when he goes away, then he boasts. 

    [15] 

    There is gold and abundance of costly stones,

        but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.

Isaiah 9

[1]  But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

    [2]  The people who walked in darkness

        have seen a great light;

    those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

        on them has light shone. 

    [3] You have multiplied the nation;

        you have increased its joy;

    they rejoice before you

        as with joy at the harvest,

        as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 

    [4] For the yoke of his burden,

        and the staff for his shoulder,

        the rod of his oppressor,

        you have broken as on the day of Midian. 

    [5] For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

        and every garment rolled in blood

        will be burned as fuel for the fire. 

    [6] For to us a child is born,

        to us a son is given;

    and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

        and his name shall be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

        Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

    [7] Of the increase of his government and of peace

        there will be no end,

    on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

        to establish it and to uphold it

    with justice and with righteousness

        from this time forth and forevermore.

    The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

    [8] The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

        and it will fall on Israel; 

    [9] and all the people will know,

        Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

        who say in pride and in arrogance of heart: 

    [10] “The bricks have fallen,

        but we will build with dressed stones;

    the sycamores have been cut down,

        but we will put cedars in their place.” 

    [11] But the LORD raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,

        and stirs up his enemies. 

    [12] The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west

        devour Israel with open mouth.

    For all this his anger has not turned away,

        and his hand is stretched out still.

    [13] The people did not turn to him who struck them,

        nor inquire of the LORD of hosts. 

    [14] So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail,

        palm branch and reed in one day—

    [15] the elder and honored man is the head,

        and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail; 

    [16] for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,

        and those who are guided by them are swallowed up. 

    [17] Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,

        and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

    for everyone is godless and an evildoer,

        and every mouth speaks folly.

    For all this his anger has not turned away,

        and his hand is stretched out still.

    [18] For wickedness burns like a fire;

        it consumes briers and thorns;

    it kindles the thickets of the forest,

        and they roll upward in a column of smoke. 

    [19] Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts

        the land is scorched,

    and the people are like fuel for the fire;

        no one spares another. 

    [20] They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

        and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;

    each devours the flesh of his own arm, 

    [21] Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

        together they are against Judah.

    For all this his anger has not turned away,

        and his hand is stretched out still.

Isaiah 10

    [1] Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,

        and the writers who keep writing oppression, 

    [2] 

    to turn aside the needy from justice

        and to rob the poor of my people of their right,

    that widows may be their spoil,

        and that they may make the fatherless their prey! 

    [3] 

    What will you do on the day of punishment,

        in the ruin that will come from afar?

    To whom will you flee for help,

        and where will you leave your wealth? 

    [4] 

    Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners

        or fall among the slain.

    For all this his anger has not turned away,

        and his hand is stretched out still.

    [5] Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;

        the staff in their hands is my fury! 

    [6] Against a godless nation I send him,

        and against the people of my wrath I command him,

    to take spoil and seize plunder,

        and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 

    [7] But he does not so intend,

        and his heart does not so think;

    but it is in his heart to destroy,

        and to cut off nations not a few; 

    [8] for he says:

    “Are not my commanders all kings? 

    [9] Is not Calno like Carchemish?

        Is not Hamath like Arpad?

        Is not Samaria like Damascus? 

    [10] As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,

        whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, 

    [11] shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols

        as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

    [12] When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. [13] For he says: 

    “By the strength of my hand I have done it,

        and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;

    I remove the boundaries of peoples,

        and plunder their treasures;

        like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones. 

    [14] My hand has found like a nest

        the wealth of the peoples;

    and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

        so I have gathered all the earth;

    and there was none that moved a wing

        or opened the mouth or chirped.”

    [15] Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,

        or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?

    As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,

        or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! 

    [16] Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts

        will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,

    and under his glory a burning will be kindled,

        like the burning of fire. 

    [17] The light of Israel will become a fire,

        and his Holy One a flame,

    and it will burn and devour

        his thorns and briers in one day. 

    [18] The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land

        the LORD will destroy, both soul and body,

        and it will be as when a sick man wastes away. 

    [19] The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few

        that a child can write them down.

    [20] In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. [21] A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. [22] For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. [23] For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

[24] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. [25] For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. [26] And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. [27] And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”

    [28] He has come to Aiath;

    he has passed through Migron;

        at Michmash he stores his baggage; 

    [29] they have crossed over the pass;

        at Geba they lodge for the night;

    Ramah trembles;

        Gibeah of Saul has fled. 

    [30] Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!

        Give attention, O Laishah!

        O poor Anathoth! 

    [31] Madmenah is in flight;

        the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. 

    [32] This very day he will halt at Nob;

        he will shake his fist

        at the mount of the daughter of Zion,

        the hill of Jerusalem.

    [33] Behold, the Lord GOD of hosts

        will lop the boughs with terrifying power;

    the great in height will be hewn down,

        and the lofty will be brought low. 

    [34] He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe,

        and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

Are You Studying the Mirror?

PRAY OVER THIS

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”

James 1:23-24

 

PONDER THIS

This passage contains the idea of a person who simply glances into the Word of God. He gets up in the morning. He’s in a hurry. He just runs past the mirror. And then he’s gone. As a result, he quickly forgets what he saw. We often do the same. Have you ever looked at your watch casually and then immediately forgot what time it was? We are prone to do the same with the Bible. We open the Book. We glance at it. We say, “I’ve done my duty.” And then, we’re on our way, but we have not really looked into the Word of God. We take only a quick look in the Book.

James reminded us in verse 25 that it is the person who continues in the Word of God who understands and lives according to the truth. The point of reading the Bible is not simply to check it off of our list, but to truly behold what God has said and to continue in it each day.

Would your regular time spent in the Bible better be described as “glancing” or “beholding”?

Why is it insufficient to glance at the Word of God as preparation for dealing with the daily challenges of life?

PRACTICE THIS

Take intentional time today, not only to glance at the Bible but to behold what God says and to turn these truths over in your mind through meditation and prayer.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The “I Will” of God

“Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.” (Zechariah 2:4–5)

There are mornings when I wake up feeling fragile. Vulnerable. It’s often vague. No single threat. No one weakness. Just an amorphous sense that something is going to go wrong and I will be responsible.

It’s usually after a lot of criticism. Or maybe after a lot of expectations that have deadlines, and that seem too big and too many.

As I look back over about 50 years of such periodic mornings, I am amazed how the Lord Jesus has preserved my life. And my ministry. The temptation to run away from the stress has never won out — not yet anyway. This is amazing. I worship my great God for this.

Instead of letting me sink into a paralysis of fear, or run to a mirage of greener grass, he has awakened a cry for help and then answered with concrete promises.

Here’s an example. This is recent. I woke up feeling emotionally fragile. Weak. Vulnerable. I prayed: “Lord help me. I’m not even sure how to pray.”

An hour later I was reading in Zechariah, seeking the help I had cried out for. It came.

“Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.” (Zechariah 2:4–5)

There will be such prosperity and growth for the people of God that Jerusalem will not be able to be walled in any more. “The multitude of people and livestock” will be so many that Jerusalem will be like many villages spreading out across the land without walls.

Prosperity is nice, but what about protection?

To which God says in verse 5, “I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord.” Yes. That’s it. That is the promise. The “I will” of God. That is what I need.

And if it is true for the vulnerable villages of Jerusalem, it is true for me a child of God. That is how I apply the Old Testament promises to God’s people. All the promises are yes to me in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). There is a “how much more” after every promise for those who are in Christ. God will be a “wall of fire all around” me. Yes. He will. He has been. And he will be.

And it gets better. Inside that fiery wall of protection he says, “And I will be the glory in her midst.” God is never content to give us the protection of his fire; he aims to give us the pleasure of his presence. I love the “I wills” of God!

John Piper