A Necessary and Challenging Lesson (and other devotionals)

A Necessary but Challenging Lesson

Psalms 27:14

There are many lessons for us to learn in God's School of Obedience. With space for just two, I have chosen principles that aren't easy. Yesterday, we learned thatChristians must trust the Lord. Today, let's tackle patience: Believers must learn to wait upon Him.

Have you ever wondered why the psalmist coupled the admonition to wait upon God with encouragement to be strong and courageous? The reason is that sometimes delaying is the hardest thing to do.

Modern culture is in such a hurry. Gotta have it now! Gotta do it now! Can't wait! We've been primed to stay in a permanent state of readiness. It takes courage to be still when the world is rushing past. Everything in us hollers, "Go!" while God whispers, "Wait." But people are quick to act, because they are afraid of missing out on something. Believers who buy into that attitude make a move and then hope God will bless them.

God leaves nothing to chance. He does not place a decision before us with the hope that we'll make the right choice. That would be irresponsible and out of character. The Father is more than willing to show His children what to do, because He is personally interested in their welfare. But until the Lord makes clear what is the way forward, we've got to pause and wait. 

Waiting upon God is not passive. It is not lazy. It is not an excuse to be careless. In fact, the opposite is true. Those who pause are seeking His will—which means that they are praying, searching Scripture, perhaps even fasting. And they are still serving the Lord wherever they can.

~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~

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Afflictions, But No Broken Bones 

"He keepeth all His bones; not one of them is broken"   (Psalm 34:20).

This promise by the context is referred to the much afflicted righteous man: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivereth him out of them all." He may suffer skin wounds and flesh wounds, but no great harm shall be done; "not a bone of him shall be broken." This is great comfort to a tried child of God, and comfort which I dare accept; for up to this hour I have suffered no real damage from my many afflictions. I have neither lost faith, nor hope, nor love. Nay so far from losing these bones of character, they have gained in strength and energy. I have more knowledge, more experience, more patience, more stability than I had before the trials came. Not even my joy has been destroyed. Many a bruise have I had by sickness, bereavement, depression, slander, and opposition; but the bruise has healed, and there has been no compound fracture of a bone, not even a simple one. The reason is not far to seek. If we trust in the LORD, He keeps all our hones; and if He keeps them, we may be sure that not one of them is broken. Come, my heart, do not sorrow. Thou art smarting, but there are no hones broken. Endure hardness and bid defiance to fear.

~Charles Spurgeon~

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BIBLE MEDITATION: “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 29:13-14. DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Three things brought the wise men to Jesus: The ministry of the Spirit, the message of the Scripture, and the miracle of the star.  Who put the desire in their hearts to find the Christ child and to worship Him? The Holy Spirit. Do you know why we seek Him? Because He first sought us. Isn’t that true? “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Do you know why I love the Lord Jesus? Because God in grace and mercy put a desire in my heart to seek after Him. The Bible says that by our nature, our flesh, none of us would seek after God—no, not one—and that would have included these wise men.  They didn’t come to Him because they were so intellectual. Don’t get the idea that because they were smarter than other men they came. No. They were wise, and that wisdom made them yielded to God; thus God the Holy Spirit could work in their hearts and draw them to Jesus.  ACTION POINT: Do you have a desire to know Him? To love Him? To serve Him? Do you find something drawing you to God? Remember His promise: You will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart. ~Adrian Rogers~ _________________________ Look, a time is coming – and has come – when you will be scattered, each one to his own home, and I will be left alone. Yet I am not alone, because my Father is with me.—John 16:32 It need not be said that to carry out conviction into action is a costly sacrifice. It may make necessary renunciations and separations which leave one to feel a strange sense both of deprivation and loneliness. But he who will fly, as an eagle does, into the higher levels where cloudless day abides, and live in the sunshine of God, must be content to live a comparatively lonely life. No bird is so solitary as the eagle. Eagles never fly in flocks; one, or at most two, ever being seen at once. But the life that is lived unto God, however it forfeits human companionships, knows Divine fellowship. God seeks eagle-men. No man ever comes into a realization of the best things of God, who does not, upon the Godward side of his life, learn to walk alone with God. We find Abraham alone in Horeb upon the heights, but Lot, dwelling in Sodom. Moses, skilled in all the wisdom of Egypt must go forty years into the desert alone with God. Paul, who was filled with Greek learning and had also sat at the feet of Gamaliel, must go into Arabia and learn the desert life with God. Let God isolate us. I do not mean the isolation of a monastery. In this isolating experience He develops an independence of faith and life so that the soul needs no longer the constant help, prayer, faith or attention of his neighbor. Such assistance and inspiration from the other members are necessary and have their place in the Christian’s development, but there comes a time when they act as a direct hindrance to the individual’s faith and welfare. God knows how to change the circumstances in order to give us an isolating experience. We yield to God and He takes us through something, and when it is over, those about us, who are no less loved than before, are no longer depended upon. We realize that He has wrought some things in us, and that the wings of our souls have learned to beat the upper air. We must dare to be alone. Jacob must be left alone if the Angel of God is to whisper in his ear the mystic name of Shiloh; Daniel must be left alone if he is to see celestial visions; John must be banished to Patmos if he is deeply to take and firmly to keep “the print of heaven.” He trod the wine-press alone. Are we prepared for a “splendid isolation” rather than fail Him? ~L. B. Cowman~ ________________________ Attack at the Point of Spiritual Breakthrough We have seen in previous devotionals how Satan will attack when a person comes to Christ, when they are a babe in their faith.  I believe Scripture shows us that the devil will also attack when you are on the verge of a breakthrough, or at a time of important transition.  This is the second battle we must fight. In Matthew 3, we find Jesus at an absolutely critical time of transition in His life.  We have not heard from Him since He was 12 years old.  There has been about 30 quiet, unnoticed years where He presumably was working in His father's carpentry shop.  That is when we read in Matthew 3:16-4:1, When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus is about to enter public ministry.  The sick will be healed; the poor will have the gospel preached to them; miracles will be worked; the Father will be revealed.   So from this point, the battle is on.  And we are given a bird's-eye view of the conflict that occurs between Christ and the devil, which we will look at in more detail in the next several devotionals. But I want to submit something to you today.  If it seems that all hell has broken loose in your life, maybe, just maybe, it's because you are on the verge of a breakthrough in your life.  Maybe it's a time of very important transition where God wants to lift you into a place where there is going to be greater influence and greater impact through your life. ~Bayless Conley~ ___________________________ Joyful Desire  By Tripp Prince. O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.Psalm 63:1 When I was a boy, this time of year brought about one of the great highlights of childhood: the Christmas “wish list.” It was a learned art form, carefully selected and constructed over the weeks leading up to Christmas. Of course, I couldn’t simply put anything and everything I wanted on this list! I had to closely evaluate the longings of my heart, and carefully select the toys, games, or activities that promised to fulfill these longings. Now, as a young child I clearly did not frame this experience as the quest to fulfill my “deepest desires,” but looking back, this is exactly what it was- seeking the possessions that promised to bring happiness, excitement, and joy.  I’m often amazed by how little these desires changed as I entered into adulthood. One of the great lies we have believed is that our desires can be met and fulfilled with possessions. If we aren’t happy, if we lack joy, if our life seems meaningless, we assume that we simply haven’t yet found the right possession. Our Christmas list must still be incomplete! But what if joy is found, not in the acquisition of possessions, relationships, or experiences, but in the desire itself? As C.S. Lewis once said, “all Joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still 'about to be'.” To be joyful isn’t simply to arrive at a state of completed happiness, but it is the continual desire for that which can never be exhausted. In short, joy is desire. This is seen throughout the Psalms, where the author experiences the full range of human emotion and experience. Yet, in good times and bad, in sorrow and in happiness, joy can be found in the quest to know God. To earnestly seek and thirst after God is to experience joyful desire, regardless of the happiness or pain we may experience.  One of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most enduring cantatas is BWV 147, commonly heard in our culture at wedding ceremonies. However, Bach wrote this piece for the Advent season in which we now find ourselves. Interestingly, the words later associated with this great composition perfectly capture for us this picture of joyful desire, for they show us that Jesus and Jesus alone is our source of joy, the one we should desire and to whom our souls aspire. If joy feels distant and unreachable this season, look afresh to Jesus and in him find the joy that comes from desiring God above all else. Jesu, joy of man's desiring, Holy wisdom, love most bright; Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring Soar to uncreated light. Prayer: Father, awaken in me a renewed desire for you and fill me afresh with the joy that comes from knowing you. Related Readings: Psalm 4:6-8; Psalm 16:11; Psalm 27:5-7; Philippians 4:4-5; 1 Peter 4:12-13 ~Wisdom Hundters Devotional~