Category: 2018/19 Devos

Devo 17

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“The God of Israel has spoken; The Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light; like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning.” 2 Samuel 23:3,4

I grew up singing the “This Little Light of Mine” song and holding up my little index finger to show that my light wouldn’t be hid under a bushel, or snuffed out by Satan etc… But when Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:14-16 that we are “the light of the world,” He had something much brighter than a little candle in mind.

When the God of the Universe takes up residence through the person of the Holy Spirit in a lowly human soul, they don’t just emit a warm twinkly glow. Philippians 2:12-16 says that when God works in someone both to will and to do, they burst forth with brilliant, burning, blinding light, so radically different from the “crooked and twisted” darkness around them.

What a contrast to that darkness is the one who obeys Christ without grumbling or disputing, who remains blameless and innocent, who holds fast to the word of life! What a contrast is the just ruler of 2 Samuel 23:3,4! What a contrast is the true faster of Isaiah 58, who looses the bonds of wickedness, breaks the yoke, lets the oppressed go free, shares bread with the hungry, brings the homeless into his house, and clothes the naked! What a contrast are the wise in Daniel 12:1-4, and those who turn many to righteousness! And the righteous, themselves, in Matthew 13:24-43.

These are no “little lights.” These are described as “stars in the universe (NIV),” “the morning light,” “the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, ”the breaking dawn, “the noonday light, ”the brightness of the sky,” and “the sun.”

The truth is, if I was the one working in myself both to will and to do, I couldn’t even muster up a candle’s worth of light. But Oh the power of the resurrected Christ! Friend, do you know the power of Christ in you?

Devo 16

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“While they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword. At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, ‘Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.’ And the sun stood still and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.”
Joshua 10:11-13

We’ve been studying space rocks this week and learning about a whole concentrated belt of them orbiting the sun between the planets of Mars and Jupiter. There’s a theory that these chunks of ice and rock are remnants of an exploded planet. This hypothesis is aptly named “The Exploded Planet Hypothesis.” The fact that such a theory exists in mainstream astronomy has me wondering why the same scientists are so quick to dismiss “The Flooded Planet Hypothesis.”

If we’re willing to consider a planetary event cataclysmic enough to obliterate one planet and damage neighboring planets with a shower of debris, why is a temporarily drenched planet so out of the question? Maybe the ancient global flood accounts found across every continent deserve a little more credence than they’re given.

The fact is, as securely as we may currently dwell on our little blue dot, the universe is a pretty volatile place. Crazy stuff happens. Planets explode. Others get hammered by debris. They change temperature. Their water dries up. They get flooded.

We shouldn’t be surprised when we read in passages like Joshua 10, Job 9:7 and Habakkuk 3:11 that “the sun stood still.” If you need to be reminded why not, just scroll on back to last week’s Devo 15. It’s all God’s. The Sun, the moon, the stars, the earth and everything in it. He made everything for His glory and His good purposes.
Sometimes those purposes might include judging the whole earth in a world wide flood, or raining down space rocks (perhaps from an exploding planet?) on an enemy, or adding hours to a day in order to bring victory to a servant who dared to ask.

Interesting isn’t it, that the book of Joshua records the asking and granting of the request as the truly remarkable thing, rather than interruption of the sun’s course in the sky.

“The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.” Joshua 10:13,14

As 2 Kings 3:18 says, “This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord.” This commanding of the sun, this summoning of waters, this granting of victories and judging of man. Those are small things for a big God. But heeding the voice of a puny man? That truly was remarkable!

And yet, that’s the kind of God we serve. The God of Joshua and the stand-still sun is the same God who loved us enough to die for us, despite our futile rebellion against Him. He is the God who hears and heeds every broken and contrite heart that cries out to Him in repentance, as surely as He heard and headed the voice of Joshua on that remarkable day. And as He fought for Israel, He surely will fight for you. Just ask.

Week 15 Devo

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“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Yet the Lord has set His heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve Him and hold fast to Him, and by His name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.”
Deuteronomy 10:12-22

I had to print the whole passage, right? Which part could I have left out? The perfect requirements that only the perfect Son of God could fulfill? The fact that the One exacting those requirements just happens to be the Creator and Owner of the entire universe and everything in it, including those of whom those perfect requirements are being exacted? The shocking reality of the resounding YET? “Yet the Lord has set His heart IN LOVE on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, YOU above all peoples, AS YOU ARE today!” Can it really be?

And can one leave out or do less then the expected response that follows? “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn.” Well, we all do, right? I mean do less. That’s why the Great Exactor had to be the Great Fulfiller, right? It was Christ Himself who for the stubborn sheep, all gone astray, became the silent, submissive Lamb led to slaughter and was “CUT OFF from the land of the living (Isaiah 53).” Only the Perfect Circumciser of Hearts could cut out a heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, fit for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, our only hope and means of obedience (Ezekiel 36:26,27).

Is He not our praise! Has not this Creator and Possessor of the universe done great and terrifying things, not the least of which is the circumcision of our own rebellious, rock hard hearts? He is our praise indeed!

King David picks up this same theme when he prays for those assembled with offerings for the temple in 1 Chronicles 29:10-22.

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours… BUT…”

There we have it again. The shocking reality of another “YET.”

“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer WILLINGLY? For all things come from you, and of your own we have given you.

David acknowledges that all they have given already belongs to God because everything in the heavens and the earth is His anyway. EVEN the willingness of their hearts to give is a gift given and sustained by God! That is why David continues his prayer interceding on behalf of his people and specifically, the heir to his throne who will continue the temple work.

“KEEP forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and DIRECT their hearts toward you. GRANT to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, and your testimonies, and your statutes.”

Not only is He our praise, He gives us a heart of flesh willing to worship!

“Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!” (Psalm 89:5)