“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” (Psalm 110:1)

This verse talks about God speaking to Jesus. God tells Jesus to sit and He will make His enemies a “footstool” for Him. What is a footstool? It is a thing designed to help you prop up your feet. A footstool is not a fancy piece of furniture, and it is not very costly. It gets knocked around and used a lot, because it makes people more comfortable when they are sitting down. To sit down is one thing. To sit down and prop up your feet — well, that means you are really settling in and getting comfortable! You are planning to stay there a while, and that is your place.

A footstool is great to have close by you when you sit. But why does God use a word picture of a “footstool” to describe His enemies? When you think of enemies, you really probably do not think of wanting them sticking around nearby. You do not think of enemies being nice, useful, or comfortable. Usually, they are under your skin–not under your feet! Enemies cause problems, whether they are real people or spiritual struggles. They try to mess up your plans and hurt you emotionally and physically. Why would anyone want to keep an enemy close by?

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“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)

Have you ever built something? Maybe you wanted to build a bird-house or a dog-house. Stop and think how long it took you to build whatever you built. How long did it take you? Did it take you a day? Two days? Maybe even a week?

Now take a look around you. Look at the sky, the trees, and the ground. Look at your brother and sister, and your mom and dad and your friends. Now think of all the billions of people in the world and the trillions of animals and the quadrillions of stars and planets. Can you believe that God created all that and everything else in just six days? Not six years. Not six months. Not even six weeks. Just six days!

Almighty God created everything out of nothing. Nothing existed before God created it–nothing except for God himself. If you were to build a bird-house, you would probably copy another one that has already been built. At least you have seen one before to know what one looks like. But, when God created everything, He not only made it, but He imagined everything first. A tree never existed, before God made it; and neither did water or a fish or a human! And God created everything, and He did it out of nothing, in only six days! (Genesis 1:31)

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“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” (Hebrews 12:5-6)

“Susan!” yelled Grandpa from where he stood at the living room window. “The kids are outside playing with matches!”

Willy and Ellie heard him yell, but they did not have enough time to clean up the mess before Mom rushed outside to where they’d been hunched over the pile of kindling and matches.

“William! Ellen! What are you doing? You know you’re not supposed to play with fire!”

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“The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.” (Proverbs 10:28)

Jamie and Uncle Mike climbed into the big red Ford F150. The tackleboxes were between them on the seat. As Uncle Mike drove them to the lot on the lake where their favorite fishing alcove was, Jamie opened up one of the tackleboxes to take a look at the lures. There were all kinds, some of them knobby or slimy, some feathery, some glossy. And all of them were colorful! Jamie especially liked the brand new jitterbugs Uncle Mike had bought down in Florida last month. As the truck rumbled to a stop in the gravel by the boat ramp, Jamie had a bright idea. While Uncle Mike got busy cranking down the fishing boat, Jamie got busy picking out the fanciest, smoothest, reddest (because red was his favorite color) jitterbug for himself. Without a sound, Jamie shoved the lure in his jeans pocket and went out to help Uncle Mike put the gear in the boat.

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“He will turn again; He will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19)

Have you ever wondered if God has really forgiven you of your sin after you’ve confessed it to Him, and asked His forgiveness? Do you fear there’s a possibility that He’ll hold your sin against you in the future? In our verse for today, God compares His forgiveness of our sins as if He has thrown them “into the depths of the sea.”

Consider the following amazing facts about the deepest part of the sea:

• The deepest point of the Pacific Ocean is called the “Marianas Trench.”
• Its depth is 36,089 ft. (nearly 7 miles!)
• The lowest part of the Marianas Trench is called the “Challenger Deep.”
• “Mt. Everest could fit into the Challenger Deep and its peak still be covered by over a mile and a quarter of ocean. If you dropped a steel ball into the Challenger Deep from a ship, the ball would fall through the ocean for sixty-three minutes before it hit bottom.” (Science 5 for Christian Schools, Second Edition, BJU Press, 1990, page 31.)

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“For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.” (Psalm 44:3)

Do you like to have strong friends? Strong friends can really come in handy. A strong friend can help you lift something heavy. A strong friend can hit the ball really far for your team. A strong friend can stand-up for you if a bully is mean to you.

In Psalm 44, the Hebrew songwriter remembers when the Lord God brought the Hebrews into the Promised Land. The songwriter says in Psalm 44:3 that the Hebrews were not able to win the battles by themselves, but God’s strong right arm won the battles for them.

Does God literally have an arm? No, not really. We know that God is a spirit (John 4:24), and a spirit does not have arms or legs that we can actually see. The songwriter is using a word picture to say that the Lord God of Israel is very strong. Think about it. When you see someone who is very strong, what do notice first? Their arms. Sometimes kids want to show off their muscles. Do you flex your leg to show off your muscles? No! You would probably flex your arms to show how strong you are. When the songwriter says that God’s “arm” saved the Hebrews, he is using a word picture to express that God was stronger than all of Israel’s enemies.

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“For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” (Luke 12:30)

Have you ever sat near a window and watched a wild bird for a while? Does a bird have to worry about picking up a job at a fast food restaurant so that it can make money to pay for medical bills? Does the bird ever go out and plow a field, plant seed, and water the ground? Does a bird ever harvest corn and store it in big barns to eat later? Have you ever watched birds do all that? Probably not! It is more likely that you watched a bird flying around a feeder, pecking at a tree trunk, or splashing in a birdbath. Birds do not seem to have a care in the world!

It would be even more ridiculous to imagine a flower, laboring in a cotton field, spinning wool, weaving, or sewing clothes for itself. A flower does not need to work in order to be “clothed” beautifully. God has created a flower so it has everything that it needs to be just as beautiful as He planned. Jesus said that a simple wildflower is even more beautifully clothed than King Solomon was in the richest of his kingly robes.

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“And thou shalt bind [God’s words] for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8).

When I was in Jerusalem a few months ago, I saw Jews who had little black boxes bound to their foreheads. These boxes had pages of Scripture inside. The Jews had similar boxes fastened to their hands by straps that circled around their arms. God’s Word was literally bound on their hands and between their eyes!

In Deuteronomy 6, is God really commanding that pages of the Bible be strapped to our hands and foreheads? Is that what God wants us to do?

Actually, in that passage God was reminding the Israelites of how important it was that they constantly keep His words in their minds. God wanted His people to think about His words all the time so that they would remember to obey Him. He asked the Israelites to talk about His words while at home and while in the streets. He wanted His people to remember His words when going to bed at night and when getting up in the morning. He commanded His people to remind themselves and others about what He had done and about what He expected them to do.

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“But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

Jared had never been good at memorizing. He had trouble remembering what order to write the letters in the words on his spelling tests. Learning the names of the presidents was the hardest thing about fifth grade for him. But it was summer now, and the only memory project he had was the verse list for Bible Club. He had worked hard, and he knew three verses perfectly.

Now he stood in line and rehearsed them in his head. He was afraid that his mind would go blank when it was his turn to recite. So he thought about what the verses meant, as his mother had taught him. He thought about the promise that the Lord would never leave him nor forsake him. He remembered that God gives grace to those who are humble. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” he whispered to himself.

As he meditated on the verses, the Lord calmed his heart. When it was his turn to recite, he was able to say them with only one help from the teacher. The girl next in line rattled off twelve verses perfectly, but Jared did not feel put down. He was grateful for the truths he was learning about God.

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“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34: 18)

Abby was reaching to get a cereal bowl out of the cupboard when—CRASH!—she accidentally knocked a glass of orange juice off the counter and onto the kitchen floor. What a mess! Her mother had to pick up the large pieces of glass, mop up the spilled juice, and vacuum for any tiny shards that could cut someone’s foot. No one would ever drink from that glass again. It would have to be replaced.

Sometimes broken things can be fixed, but often they are useless.

Is breaking something ever a good thing? Yes! An egg, for instance, has to be cracked before it can be eaten. We have to untie or cut the ribbon on a present to open it. A plank of lumber must be cut the right size before it can be used to build a table.

One broken thing that is very valuable to God is a broken heart. When we are truly sorry for our sin, God accepts our broken heart as a sacrifice. No other sacrifice that we can offer will please Him—not even gifts of money or special acts of kindness.

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“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1)

The weather was not what they had hoped for, but the Herbergers were determined not to let a little rain spoil their camping trip. They needed to put up their tent before the storm broke.

Hurriedly, they spread the canvas, hammered stakes into the ground, and raised the poles. Thunder rumbled. The children made one last dash to the van for snacks and flashlights. Just as they returned, the downpour began. Mr. Herberger zipped up the door of the tent and closed the vents.

For the next couple of hours, the family sang, played games, and ate popcorn and cookies together in the close quarters. Rain pounded on the tent roof and turned the dirt campsite into mud, but the tent kept the Herbergers dry and comfortable.

Like a comforting shelter, God wants to be our place of safety from the storms of life. He wants us to trust in His care. If we make God our “dwelling place,” He will not allow evil to happen to us (Psalm 91:10).

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“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:11)

What does it mean to speak “as the oracles of God”? Some Bible translations use the word “utterances.” Basically this verse is talking about what ought to be true of our speech whenever something comes out of our mouths. You may not be a preacher standing in a pulpit. You may not be a teacher standing at a chalkboard. But did you know that every believer has, in a sense, a duty to be a “mouthpiece” of God?

These days, God does not give us new revelation outside of the Bible. He has already spoken to us through His written Word, and through His Son, the Living Word. So, if we are true believers, our words ought to be affected by His already-given Word. Our words should reflect the impact that God’s Word has had on our lives. Our words should be in keeping with what God would want us to say. And our words should not go against His Word.

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“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:11)

What does it mean to “minister…as of the ability which God giveth”? It means that when we do work for the Lord, we ought to do it by His power, and not in our own strength.

Our talents and abilities all come from God. Even the time that we have to serve God is given to us by God! But sometimes believers start to forget that without Christ, they can do nothing . (See John 15:5.) They start relying and depending on their own efforts and their own ideas and their own hard work–and they forget to rely and depend on God. In fact, they forget God altogether sometimes! These believers need to be humble and remember that they need God”s strength in order to do ministry work that glorifies Him.

On the other hand, some believers are afraid to get too involved with ministry work. They think, “I am not talented enough. I am uncomfortable in situations. So-and-so is a better such-and-such than I would be. I don”t really have time. I don”t really feel ”up to” this kind of a thing.” Sometimes, believers start to forget that through Christ, they can do anything that He wants them to do. (See Philippians 4:13.) These believers need to be encouraged and remember that they have God”s strength available to them, and that it honors Him when His people use that strength for His work.

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“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” (Psalm 66:18)

Outwardly, Jenna was dusting the coffee table. But inwardly, she was stewing. She could think of at least fifty other things she would rather do than clean the house for company. A new family from the church was coming over for supper, and her mother had given each of the children a task to help prepare the house. Not only did Jenna dislike having extra work, but she also dreaded eating lasagna again, her mother’s favorite dish to make whenever company came. Furthermore, the children in the new family were all under school age, and Jenna was not looking forward to babysitting them after dinner while the adults talked.

Nothing about the plans for the evening appealed to her. The more she thought about it, the more her resentment grew. Why didn’t her mother consider what Jenna wanted? Why shouldn’t her mother do all the cooking and cleaning, since she was the one who wanted to have company in the first place?

Stepping into the living room, Jenna’s mother glanced around and smiled approvingly. “That looks much better, honey. Thanks for your help.” Suddenly Jenna felt ashamed. She realized that her mother had no idea what she had been thinking. She had fooled her mother, but Jenna knew that her attitude was not right.

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“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Adele’s pet dog Molly is so smart. Molly seems to be aware of everything that goes on. She hears everything! Adele has to spell words out when she talks about F-O-O-D or a S-Q-U-I-R-R-E-L, so Molly will not understand her. But it is very hard to trick Molly, even when you spell words out! She is so smart, it is easy to think of her as a human being rather than a dog. And Adele loves Molly dearly, but Molly does have one fault. There is one thing that Molly has never learned. For the past eight years she doesn’t quite understand what is meant by the word “wait”!

Adele knows that she has probably not helped Molly learn the meaning of “wait!” because Adele is always quick to get Molly whatever she acts like she wants. Molly stares at Adele for a long time if she wants some food. If Adele sits on the couch, Molly will sit right in front of her and stare and stare. Not just for a short time. It is an actual staring contest, as far as Molly is concerned! And Adele gets “out-stared” every single time. Exasperated, Adele finally gets up and goes to get Molly’s food. Molly has no concept of “wait,” and she has found a way to get what she wants when she wants it!

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