Morning “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.” /
Psalm 120:5

As a Christian you have to live in the midst of an ungodly world, and it is of
little use for you to cry “Woe is me.” Jesus did not pray that you should be
taken out of the world, and what he did not pray for, you need not desire.
Better far in the Lord’s strength to meet the difficulty, and glorify him in
it. The enemy is ever on the watch to detect inconsistency in your conduct; be
therefore very holy. Remember that the eyes of all are upon you, and that more
is expected from you than from other men. Strive to give no occasion for
blame. Let your goodness be the only fault they can discover in you. Like
Daniel, compel them to say of you, “We shall not find any occasion against
this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”
Seek to be useful as well as consistent. Perhaps you think, “If I were in a
more favourable position I might serve the Lord’s cause, but I cannot do any
good where I am”; but the worse the people are among whom you live, the more
need have they of your exertions; if they be crooked, the more necessity that
you should set them straight; and if they be perverse, the more need have you
to turn their proud hearts to the truth. Where should the physician be but
where there are many sick? Where is honour to be won by the soldier but in the
hottest fire of the battle? And when weary of the strife and sin that meets
you on every hand, consider that all the saints have endured the same trial.
They were not carried on beds of down to heaven, and you must not expect to
travel more easily than they. They had to hazard their lives unto the death in
the high places of the field, and you will not be crowned till you also have
endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, “stand fast in
the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”

Evening “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?” / Job 38:16

Some things in nature must remain a mystery to the most intelligent and
enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has bounds beyond which it cannot
pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this be so in the things which
are seen and temporal, I may rest assured that it is even more so in matters
spiritual and eternal. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with
speculations as to destiny and will, fixed fate, and human responsibility?
These deep and dark truths I am no more able to comprehend than to find out
the depth which coucheth beneath, from which old ocean draws her watery
stores. Why am I so curious to know the reason of my Lord’s providences, the
motive of his actions, the design of his visitations? Shall I ever be able to
clasp the sun in my fist, and hold the universe in my palm? yet these are as a
drop of a bucket compared with the Lord my God. Let me not strive to
understand the infinite, but spend my strength in love. What I cannot gain by
intellect I can possess by affection, and let that suffice me. I cannot
penetrate the heart of the sea, but I can enjoy the healthful breezes which
sweep over its bosom, and I can sail over its blue waves with propitious
winds. If I could enter the springs of the sea, the feat would serve no useful
purpose either to myself or to others, it would not save the sinking bark, or
give back the drowned mariner to his weeping wife and children; neither would
my solving deep mysteries avail me a single whit, for the least love to God,
and the simplest act of obedience to him, are better than the profoundest
knowledge. My Lord, I leave the infinite to thee, and pray thee to put far
from me such a love for the tree of knowledge as might keep me from the tree
of life.

Have you entered into the springs of the sea?   Job 38:16

Some things in nature remain a mystery even to the most intelligent and enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has boundaries beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this is true in the things that are seen and temporal, I can be certain that it is even more so in spiritual and eternal matters. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with speculations about divine sovereignty and human responsibility? These deep and dark truths I am no more able to comprehend than to discover the source from which the ocean draws her watery supplies.

Why am I so curious to know the reason for my Lord’s providences, the motive of His actions, the design of His visitations? Will I ever be able to clasp the sun in my fist or hold the universe in my palm? Yet these are as a drop in a bucket compared with the Lord my God. Do not let me strive to understand the infinite, but spend my strength in love. What I cannot gain by intellect I can possess by affection, and that should be enough for me. I cannot penetrate the heart of the sea, but I can enjoy the healthy breezes that sweep across it, and I can sail over its blue waves with propitious winds.

If I could enter the springs of the sea, the feat would serve no useful purpose either to myself or to others; it would not save the sinking ship or restore the drowned sailor to his weeping wife and children. Neither would my solving deep mysteries avail me a single whit. The simplest act of obedience to Him is better than the profoundest knowledge. My Lord, I leave the infinite to You and ask You to put far from me a love for the tree of knowledge that would keep me from the tree of life.

Family Reading Plan   Ezekiel 8  Psalm 46

Genesis 22:1-3

While it’s often a struggle to put everything on the altar, one thing I’ve learned is, you don’t have to understand how God will accomplish His plans. All He asks is that you surrender your will to His and trust that He will show you the way (Prov. 3:5-6). Abraham’s willingness to give up what was most precious to him came from his unyielding faith in the Lord’s trustworthiness.

However, if you tell God no because He won’t explain the reason He wants you to do something, you are actually hindering His blessing. But when you say yes to Him, all of heaven opens to pour out His goodness and reward your obedience. What matters more than material blessings are the things He is teaching us in our spirit. Don’t miss that His way of rewarding is like a parent withholding a treat until the child does as he is told. Obeying the Lord naturally positions us to receive what He is already trying to give us and accomplish in our lives. So, when we fail to trust Him and refuse to do what He says, we are the ones choosing to close ourselves off from those good things.

What has God told you to do? Have you only partially cooperated? Or have you, like Abraham, relinquished your need to understand and then obeyed completely?

If the Lord says to give more than you think you are able to give, know that He will provide for you. Whether things are sailing smoothly or the bottom has dropped out, He is always trustworthy. You can count on Almighty God to keep His everlasting Word.

 Why isn’t God more obvious? This question is often asked in many ways and in many contexts, by people of all levels of faith. When prayers go unanswered, why is God silent? When suffering or tragedy strikes, why would God allow this to happen? Why wouldn’t God want more people to know God’s good news? When all the “evidence” seems to counter the biblical narrative, why doesn’t God just give the world a sign? If God was revealed through many wondrous signs and miracles throughout the Bible, why doesn’t God act that way today? All of these examples get at the same issue—the seeming “hiddenness” of God. 

 Atheist Bertrand Russell was once asked what he would say if after death he met God. Russell replied: “God, you gave us insufficient evidence.”(1) While many who have found God quite evident would balk at Russell’s impudence, a similar struggle ensued between the psalmist and his hidden God. “Why do you stand afar off, O Lord? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” Indeed, the psalmist accuses God of being asleep in these plaintive cries: “Arouse, yourself, why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, and do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?”(2)

 In fact, belief in a God who can be easily found, a God who has acted in time and space, makes the hiddenness of God all the more poignant and perplexing. Theologians have offered many explanations for God’s hiddenness: because God seeks to grow our faith, because our sins and disobedience hide us from God and keep us from seeing God properly, or because God loves us and knows how much and how often we need to “find” God. If we are honest, we are just as likely to hide ourselves from God because of our guilt and shame, just as the first man and woman did in the Garden when God sought after them. Even so, once our hearts are examined and our lives are blameless with regards to any willful hiding from God, we cry out, just like Job did and wonder why God stays hidden away in unanswered prayers and difficult circumstances: “Why do you hide your face, and consider me the enemy?”

 The hiddenness of God is problematic for theists and atheists alike. Christians often take for granted that we have the Scriptures which give us a record of God’s revelation. We have the benefit of a book full of God’s speech. God speaks in the wonder and mystery of creation; God speaks through the history of the nation of Israel; God speaks through the very Word of God incarnate, Jesus Christ. His life reveals the exact nature of God, and places God’s glory on full display. 

 But still we may wonder if we must always and only look to the past to hear God’s voice, while we wonder why God isn’t more “talkative” today? Has God not given us an additional witness for God’s presence and activity in the world today? 

 In fact, God is often found in one of the last places we think of—the church. At its best, the church retells the story of God speaking across the ages and definitively in Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel. But the church can also create community where God may be encountered in the faces of others as a result of the empowering Holy Spirit. Such a community is to be the symbol of God’s presence among us and with us as “God-found,” not “God-hidden.” It is to be the arms of God around us when we are hurting, or the voice of God speaking when we feel we haven’t heard from God in years. Such a community is to be God’s voice, God’s hands and feet as they go out into the broken places of the world to bring healing, help, and comfort. Through worship and liturgy, prayer and communion, service and sacrifice the church is to reveal the God who spoke and is still speaking. 

 God is not often revealed in the roar of the hurricane or the loud-clap of thunder, but in a “still, small voice”—a voice that is barely audible except to the most patient and still. But when the Church, broken and human as it is, seeks through the power of the Spirit to be who it is, we see God and hear God, and find God beautifully obvious. 

 For those who long to see God, who long to find God in the darkest hour, we may not find God in the dramatic or the victorious, the miraculous or the stupendous. Instead, we may yet hope to find him in the pew, at the table of the Lord’s Supper, in a simple hymn, or in the gift of fellow seekers longing to find God too. 

 Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington. 

 (1) Cited in Dr. Paul K. Moser’s booklet, Why Isn’t God More Obvious: Finding the God who Hides and Seeks (Norcross, GA: RZIM, 2000), 1.
(2) Psalm 10:1, Psalm 44:23-24.

Morning “I will; be thou clean.” / Mark 1:41

Primeval darkness heard the Almighty fiat, “light be,” and straightway light
was, and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word
of power. Redemption like Creation has its word of might. Jesus speaks and it
is done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the
Lord’s “I will.” The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or tokens of recovery,
nature contributed nothing to its own healing, but the unaided word effected
the entire work on the spot and forever. The sinner is in a plight more
miserable than the leper; let him imitate his example and go to Jesus,
“beseeching him and kneeling down to him.” Let him exercise what little faith
he has, even though it should go no further than “Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean;” and there need be no doubt as to the result of the
application. Jesus heals all who come, and casts out none. In reading the
narrative in which our morning’s text occurs, it is worthy of devout notice
that Jesus touched the leper. This unclean person had broken through the
regulations of the ceremonial law and pressed into the house, but Jesus so far
from chiding him broke through the law himself in order to meet him. He made
an interchange with the leper, for while he cleansed him, he contracted by
that touch a Levitical defilement. Even so Jesus Christ was made sin for us,
although in himself he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. O that poor sinners would go to Jesus, believing in the power of
his blessed substitutionary work, and they would soon learn the power of his
gracious touch. That hand which multiplied the loaves, which saved sinking
Peter, which upholds afflicted saints, which crowns believers, that same hand
will touch every seeking sinner, and in a moment make him clean. The love of
Jesus is the source of salvation. He loves, he looks, he touches us, we live.

Evening “Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have.” /
Leviticus 19:36

Weights, and scales, and measures were to be all according to the standard of
justice. Surely no Christian man will need to be reminded of this in his
business, for if righteousness were banished from all the world beside, it
should find a shelter in believing hearts. There are, however, other balances
which weigh moral and spiritual things, and these often need examining. We
will call in the officer tonight.

The balances in which we weigh our own and other men’s characters, are they
quite accurate? Do we not turn our own ounces of goodness into pounds, and
other persons’ bushels of excellence into pecks? See to weights and measures
here, Christian. The scales in which we measure our trials and troubles, are
they according to standard? Paul, who had more to suffer than we have, called
his afflictions light, and yet we often consider ours to be heavy–surely
something must be amiss with the weights! We must see to this matter, lest we
get reported to the court above for unjust dealing. Those weights with which
we measure our doctrinal belief, are they quite fair? The doctrines of grace
should have the same weight with us as the precepts of the word, no more and
no less; but it is to be feared that with many one scale or the other is
unfairly weighted. It is a grand matter to give just measure in truth.
Christian, be careful here. Those measures in which we estimate our
obligations and responsibilities look rather small. When a rich man gives no
more to the cause of God than the poor contribute, is that a just ephah and a
just hin? When ministers are half starved, is that honest dealing? When the
poor are despised, while ungodly rich men are held in admiration, is that a
just balance? Reader, we might lengthen the list, but we prefer to leave it as
your evening’s work to find out and destroy all unrighteous balances, weights,
and measures.

 You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin.   Leviticus 19:36

Weights and scales and measures were all to be according to the standard of justice. Surely no Christian will need to be reminded of this in his business, for if righteousness were banished from all the world beside, it would find a shelter in believing hearts. There are, however, other balances that weigh moral and spiritual things, and these need to be examined often.

Are the balances in which we weigh our own and other men’s characters quite accurate? Do we not turn our own ounces of goodness into pounds, and other people’s pounds of excellence into ounces? The scales in which we measure our trials and troubles—are they properly set? Paul, who had more to suffer than we have, called his afflictions light, and yet we often consider ours to be heavy—surely something must be wrong with the weights!

We must see to this matter, before we get reported to the court above for unjust dealing. Those weights with which we measure our doctrinal belief—are they quite fair? The doctrines of grace should have the same weight with us as the precepts of the Word, no more and no less; but it is to be feared that with many, one scale or the other is unfairly weighted. It is a vital matter to give honest measure in truth.

Christian, be careful here. Those measures in which we estimate our obligations and responsibilities look rather small. When a rich man gives to the work of God the same amount as the poor contribute, are things properly weighted? When pastors are neglected, is that honest dealing? When the poor are despised, while ungodly rich men are held in admiration, is that a just balance? Reader, we could extend the list, but we prefer to leave it as your evening’s work to identify and destroy all unrighteous balances, weights, and measures.

Family Reading Plan    Ezekiel 7  Psalm 45

Our heavenly Father is interested in every detail of our life. If we want Him to work in a particular area–whether relationships, finances, vocation, habits, or something else–we must be willing to let go and give over to Him whatever He asks of us.

We may think we have no attachments that come between us and the Lord, but He knows our hearts. One Sunday as I was about to preach a sermon along these lines, He showed me something I hadn’t yet taken care of. I realized that I needed to deal with it, or else I wouldn’t be able to preach the sermon. So I was glad when the choir’s song took a while, because I had time to come to the place of being able to say, “Lord, if that’s what You desire, I want to commit it to You. You have the right to claim it at any time, so it’s Yours right now.”

It’s difficult to be completely obedient if we’re holding onto something too tightly. The Lord wants our attachment to be exclusively to Him so we can live unswayed by the world. You may have multitudes of things that God has blessed you with, but the moment any of it has a hold on you, His work in your life will be blocked. But when you open your hands, gripping nothing, you will be totally free as the Holy Spirit’s power flows through you.

Is there anything you feel you could never give up? Think about whatever captivates you, and honestly consider whether it also holds you captive. I challenge you to release that relationship or situation to the Lord right now so He can give you victory and the freedom you’ve been craving.

In his clever telling of The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis describes a place called the “Afterworld” by means of a narrator who is on a bus ride through heaven and hell.  Along the way, he meets a multitude of supernatural beings.  Observing several conversations, the narrator is staggered to find those who are so insistent about what the love of God looks like that their imaginations forbid them from recognizing it as it truly is.     

The Gospel of Luke similarly recounts a story about two people walking along the road to Emmaus. As they walked, they spoke about events that both deeply troubled and genuinely puzzled them. Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had hoped to be the one that God had promised, the deliverer Israel, had been crucified just three days earlier. And complicating matters, that very morning some women came and told them that the tomb was empty and that Jesus was alive. As they walked, their heads bowed heavily with grief, their hearts and minds were tangled with confusion. Jesus himself joined them on their journey. But they did not recognize him. 

 There are certain hopes in each of our lives that orient everything. Our means of imagining these hopes provide a sense of coherence for plaguing questions. But if we come to a place where that hope seems to let us down, it may have been a hope that was not intended to hold such authority. Or, the hope is worthwhile but maybe our imagination is getting in the way.

 The disciples’ passionate hope in Jesus was visibly deflated because their expectations acted as thorns. They did not imagine that the one who would deliver Israel could fall in any way. They could not imagine a messiah who would suffer. Moreover, not only was Jesus betrayed and sentenced to suffer at the hands of men, he was crucified—a death reserved for criminals—a death which symbolized the curse of God. And while they believed in Christ’s work and word, they knew that death had the final word. How often I have reacted similarly, finding the law of nature, the law of returns, the law of unintended consequences the last authority. Most of us can even imagine how reasonable this seems.

 The disciples’ imagination of what could and could not happen so ordered their sense of reality, that they were even blinded from the presence of Jesus in their midst as they imagined all of these events together. Their hope in him was accurate; it was their expectation of that hope that blurred their vision and left them in the murky waters of an incoherent mess.   

 When the weary travelers reached their destination, they sat down with their fellow traveler and broke bread together. And Luke reports that at that moment of nourishing their bodies, their minds were opened too, and finally they recognized the one among them. 

 Today many of us travel along countless roads of life, maybe even discussing hope and disappointment, points of insight and confusion along the way. The Christian traveler offers a curious perspective. Hope in Christ is recognizing the reality of his presence even when we may least expect him, when we can’t imagine how he could appear. Perhaps one day we, too, will ask as the disciples did that day. Were not our hearts burning within us while he was with us on the road?

 Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Morning “Thou whom my soul loveth.” / Song of Solomon 1:7

It is well to be able, without any “if” or “but,” to say of the Lord
Jesus–“Thou whom my soul loveth.” Many can only say of Jesus that they hope
they love him; they trust they love him; but only a poor and shallow
experience will be content to stay here. No one ought to give any rest to his
spirit till he feels quite sure about a matter of such vital importance. We
ought not to be satisfied with a superficial hope that Jesus loves us, and
with a bare trust that we love him. The old saints did not generally speak
with “buts,” and “ifs,” and “hopes,” and “trusts,” but they spoke positively
and plainly. “I know whom I have believed,” saith Paul. “I know that my
Redeemer liveth,” saith Job. Get positive knowledge of your love of Jesus, and
be not satisfied till you can speak of your interest in him as a reality,
which you have made sure by having received the witness of the Holy Spirit,
and his seal upon your soul by faith.

True love to Christ is in every case the Holy Spirit’s work, and must be
wrought in the heart by him. He is the efficient cause of it; but the logical
reason why we love Jesus lies in himself. Why do we love Jesus? Because he
first loved us. Why do we love Jesus? Because he “gave himself for us.” We
have life through his death; we have peace through his blood. Though he was
rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. Why do we love Jesus? Because of the
excellency of his person. We are filled with a sense of his beauty! an
admiration of his charms! a consciousness of his infinite perfection! His
greatness, goodness, and loveliness, in one resplendent ray, combine to
enchant the soul till it is so ravished that it exclaims, “Yea, he is
altogether lovely.” Blessed love this–a love which binds the heart with
chains more soft than silk, and yet more firm than adamant!

Evening “The Lord trieth the righteous.” / Psalm 11:5

All events are under the control of Providence; consequently all the trials of
our outward life are traceable at once to the great First Cause. Out of the
golden gate of God’s ordinance the armies of trial march forth in array, clad
in their iron armour, and armed with weapons of war. All providences are doors
to trial. Even our mercies, like roses, have their thorns. Men may be drowned
in seas of prosperity as well as in rivers of affliction. Our mountains are
not too high, and our valleys are not too low for temptations: trials lurk on
all roads. Everywhere, above and beneath, we are beset and surrounded with
dangers. Yet no shower falls unpermitted from the threatening cloud; every
drop has its order ere it hastens to the earth. The trials which come from God
are sent to prove and strengthen our graces, and so at once to illustrate the
power of divine grace, to test the genuineness of our virtues, and to add to
their energy. Our Lord in his infinite wisdom and superabundant love, sets so
high a value upon his people’s faith that he will not screen them from those
trials by which faith is strengthened. You would never have possessed the
precious faith which now supports you if the trial of your faith had not been
like unto fire. You are a tree that never would have rooted so well if the
wind had not rocked you to and fro, and made you take firm hold upon the
precious truths of the covenant grace. Worldly ease is a great foe to faith;
it loosens the joints of holy valour, and snaps the sinews of sacred courage.
The balloon never rises until the cords are cut; affliction doth this sharp
service for believing souls. While the wheat sleeps comfortably in the husk it
is useless to man, it must be threshed out of its resting place before its
value can be known. Thus it is well that Jehovah trieth the righteous, for it
causeth them to grow rich towards God.

The Lord tests the righteous. Psalm 11:5

 All events are under the control of providence; consequently all the trials of our outward life are ultimately traceable to God our Father. Out of the golden gate of God’s ordinance the armies of trial march in rank, clad in their iron armor and armed with weapons of war. All providences are doors to testing. Even our mercies, like roses, have their thorns. Men may be drowned in prosperous seas as easily as in rivers of affliction. Our mountains are not too high, and our valleys are not too low for temptations: Trials lurk at every turn. Everywhere, above and below, we are confronted and surrounded with danger. Still no shower falls unpermitted from the threatening cloud; every drop has its order before it arrives on the earth.

The trials that come from God are sent to prove and strengthen our graces and immediately illustrate the power of divine grace, to test the genuineness of our virtues and to add to their energy. Our Lord in His infinite wisdom and superabundant love sets such a high value upon His people’s faith that He will not protect them from those trials by which faith is strengthened. You would never have possessed the precious faith that now supports you if the trial of your faith had not put you through the fire. You are a tree that never would have rooted as well if the wind had not rocked you to and fro and made you take a firm hold upon the precious truths of God’s gracious covenant.

Worldly ease is a great enemy to faith; it loosens the joints of holy zeal and snaps the sinews of sacred courage. The balloon never rises until the cords are cut; affliction provides this service for believing souls. While the wheat sleeps comfortably in the husk, it is useless to us; it must be threshed out of its resting place before its value can be known. Thus it is good that the Lord tests the righteous, for it causes them to grow rich toward God.

Family Reading Plan   Ezekiel 6   Psalm 44

Ephesians 3:20-21

Jesus knew firsthand what it meant to live with limited financial resources, to have others–including family members–question His actions (Mark 3:21), and to suffer rejection by those He sought to serve (John 6:66). Yet, in spite of such opposition, Jesus never let circumstances control His emotions or dictate His actions. Instead, He chose to trust that the Father was able to carry out His Word.

We are called to follow the example of Christ by believing that God is able to do what He has promised. For instance, the Bible pledges eternal salvation for everyone who asks for forgiveness in Jesus’ name (Heb. 7:25). The Son’s death on the cross satisfied the demands of divine justice for all our sins–from “white lies” to unspeakably vile acts. When we have true faith in Jesus, God will forgive us and make each of us a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). No matter what trouble we may have caused, He invites us to draw near in faith and receive the gift of everlasting life.

God promises to save whoever trusts in Him, and also to establish believers in truth (Rom. 16:25). He gives us a firm foundation in Christ and then builds us up in righteousness. Through His Spirit and the Word, we start to see things as our Father does and then can understand what pleases Him.

By believing God keeps His promises, we grow stronger in our faith and gain peace. Hardships that would have thrown us off course lose their power to shake us. Hope replaces discouragement, and trust overcomes doubt. When trouble comes, focus on God’s ability to care for you.

 In the eyes of an eight year-old, the most wonderful thing about Lake Michigan was grandpa’s boat. Sailing was a hobby of his and I was a glad participant. A particularly rare treat was spending the night on the boat, gently being rocked to sleep by the bobbing waves and steady clanking of metal against mast. My grandpa tried to show me the Milky Way, directing my eyes by way of the North Star. He told us the meaning of the boat’s name, a word that sounded funny at the time. “Nomad,” he said, “is the word for a wanderer, a drifting, homeless traveler.” Feeling like the darkened sky could swallow me up in seconds, under the stars, I felt the same. 

 One of the things I am comforted by in the Christian religion is the insistence that I am a wanderer, a stranger in a foreign land. “Hear my prayer, O LORD,” pleads the psalmist, “and give ear to my cry; do not hold your peace at my tears. For I am your passing guest, an alien, like all my forebears.” In the book of Hebrews, amongst the testimonies of those who have lived and died, we are told that besides having in common a life of faith, these men and women had in common the suspicion that they were people living as aliens, journeying toward home. “All these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth.”(1) 

 In his book Reaching Out, author Henri Nouwen defines a stranger as someone who is “estranged from their own past, culture and country, from their neighbors, friends and family, from their deepest self and from God.”(2) There are perhaps few of us who cannot find ourselves within that definition in some way each day. At the sound of breaking news and in the silence of anguished prayer, there is a sense of alienation that wells up within us. Longing for promises in the distance, we wait estranged by the hope that all is not as it will be.

 Along the road to Emmaus, Jesus walked with two of his disciples who did not recognize him. On their way, the disciples talked about the events that gripped them with confusion and sorrow: their crucified leader, their lost hope, and rumors of an empty tomb. The one who traveled with them talked about the Scriptures, explaining events and promises down the centuries from Moses to the prophets. When they arrived, they invited him in to have a meal with them, and as he broke the bread, their eyes were opened:  This stranger who walked with them was the one they knew.

 On the journey towards home, there are always parts of ourselves that wander off with guilt or resentment, or get stuck somewhere on a tangent. But there is a great difference between wandering like a nomadic soul and walking as a stranger aware that going home is a lifelong journey walked in thankful awareness of life with the Spirit. Often we are aware how long is the journey and how trying the conversations that must be had along the way. But we may find ourselves encouraged by fellow strangers in our midst. In the form of a tired traveler, Christ came to show us how to live. As a stranger in a foreign land, salvation came searching for all who find themselves estranged.  

 Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

 (1) cf. Psalm 39:12, Hebrews 11:13.
(2) Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out (New York: Doubleday, 1986), 49.

Morning “On mine arm shall they trust.” / Isaiah 51:5

In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can
trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When
his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must
simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy
storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that
drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes
because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so
friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his
Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with
troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his
God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than
at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that
drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see
that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and
Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to
God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show
rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper.
Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee
are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant
exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly,
as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy
weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of
the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single
visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything
discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus
this closing day of the month.

Evening “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light.” / 1 John 1:7

As he is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to
walk as clearly in the light as he is whom we call “Our Father,” of whom it is
written, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all?” Certainly, this is
the model which is set before us, for the Saviour himself said, “Be ye
perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect;” and although we may
feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after
it, and never to be satisfied until we attain to it. The youthful artist, as
he grasps his early pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael
Angelo, but still, if he did not have a noble beau ideal before his mind, he
would only attain to something very mean and ordinary. But what is meant by
the expression that the Christian is to walk in light as God is in the light?
We conceive it to import likeness, but not degree. We are as truly in the
light, we are as heartily in the light, we are as sincerely in the light, as
honestly in the light, though we cannot be there in the same measure. I cannot
dwell in the sun, it is too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in
the light of the sun; and so, though I cannot attain to that perfection of
purity and truth which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the
infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the
help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to his image. That famous old
commentator, John Trapp, says, “We may be in the light as God is in the light
for quality, but not for equality.” We are to have the same light, and are as
truly to have it and walk in it as God does, though, as for equality with God
in his holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross the Jordan and
enter into the perfection of the Most High. Mark that the blessings of sacred
fellowship and perfect cleansing are bound up with walking in the light.

If we walk in the light, as he is in the light …   1 John 1:7

 “As he is in the light”! Can we ever attain to this? Will we ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as He is whom we call “Our Father,” of whom it is written, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (verse 5)? Certainly this is the model that is set before us, for the Savior Himself said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”;1 and although we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it and not be satisfied until we attain to it. The youthful artist as he grasps his newly sharpened pencil can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michelangelo; but still, if he did not have a noble ideal before his mind, he would only attain to something very mean and ordinary.

But what is meant by the expression that the Christian is to walk in light as God is in the light? We conceive it to convey likeness but not degree. We are as truly in the light, we are as heartily in the light, we are as sincerely in the light, as honestly in the light, although we cannot be there in the same measure. I cannot dwell in the sun—it is too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in the light of the sun; and so, though I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth that belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me and strive, by the help of the indwelling Spirit, to conform to His image.

The famous old commentator John Trapp says, “We may be in the light as God is in the light for quality, but not for equality.” We are to have the same light and are as truly to have it and walk in it as God does, though as for equality with God in His holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross the Jordan and enter into the perfection of the Most High. Notice how the blessings of sacred fellowship and perfect cleansing are bound up with walking in the light.

1Matthew 5:48

Family Reading Plan  Ezekiel 3   Psalm 39

Jesus said in John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The only way people will know that you are my disciples, declared Jesus, is to demonstrate it by your relationships. Thus I believe there can be no real Christian apologetic without first a community of love and relationships. After we have given all the arguments, the defenses and the evidences, loving one another is the final apologetic.

 Of course, our relationships to one another in a fallen world waiting for the coming of Christ are not going to be idealistic, which is perhaps why Jesus chose an intimate occasion with his disciples to offer this command—during what we now call the Last Supper. The doctor Luke also records this occasion in his Gospel (see Luke 22), and here we gain some interesting insight about relationships that John doesn’t mention as John’s focus is on Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. Luke writes, “Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest” (22:24). Luke does not say anything about the washing of the feet. But putting the two texts together, you begin to see that Jesus is actually telling the disciples that by washing the feet of one another, they were going to demonstrate that they (and we) are living in an imperfect world where we could, to some degree, reflect the perfection of relationship that is part of the triune God.

 We have two children. Our first one is a daughter. Those of you who have daughters, you know that daughters are famous for lecturing their fathers! Now if our daughter were able to lecture within the few seconds of her birth, she would have given us a lecture that would have probably run along these lines: “You should be happy that I am born because before I was born, you had no object to love. But now that I am born, you can love me and therefore you are beginning to learn to love. And therefore (albeit in a peculiarly ironic way), I am your teacher and you are my students.” In hindsight, my wife and I would have to say, “Amen.”

 However, if this scenario reflects one’s perception of God this would be problematic because this God would be a God without an object to love. What do I mean? God is three-in-one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in relationship. God is not unipersonal but rather triune and thus relational. John, above all the other writers of the Bible, tells us that within the oneness of this God, there is a relationship. Take, for instance, John 14:8–11. When the disciple Philip asks Jesus to show the Father to them, Jesus chides Philip and his fellow disciples for not recognizing who he was in spite of being with him for so long. Jesus then goes on to explicitly tell them that those who have seen him have seen God! This claim is amazing, to say the least. Jesus describes his relationship to God in a way that no human being in his right mind has ever come close to saying. He and the Father are in a relationship that is so intimate—one is in the other and vice versa—that to see Jesus is to see God. Indeed, earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus declares, “I and the Father are one” (10:30).

 Notice too what Jesus says after “A new command I give you: Love one another”: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Jesus did not give us religious criteria by which Christians would be known as his disciples. He doesn’t say, “You will be known as my disciples because you worship on Sundays, because you’ll carry your Bibles—the bigger the better.” No. “You will be known as my disciples because of how you relate to one another.” It is a relational criterion rather than religious criteria.

 So when we consider who we are as Christians we must first consider who God is. Thus, we must begin to think about relationality, which is at the heart of reality: three persons, who in some amazing, mysterious way constitute one God. Here in John and Luke Jesus tells us that the relationship with the Godhead will be the standard by which our love for one another would be measured. Not at the mega level, but at the micro level. Not when ten thousand people come and worship together, but when five people meet in our home for a Bible study—a neighborhood Bible study—and our neighbors begin to see that we truly love one another. Because when I wash your feet and you wash my feet, the watching world sees two imperfect people, yes, but who belong to Jesus Christ and reflect his love in relationship. By this all will know that we are his disciples.

 L.T. Jeyachandran is executive director of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Singapore.

Morning “Wait on the Lord.” / Psalm 27:14

It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a
Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and
quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There
are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to
serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself
by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush
forward in presumption? No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call
upon God, and spread the case before him; tell him your difficulty, and plead
his promise of aid. In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to
be humble as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is
sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily
willing to be guided by the will of God. But wait in faith. Express your
unstaggering confidence in him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an
insult to the Lord. Believe that if he keep you tarrying even till midnight,
yet he will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not tarry.
Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because you are under the affliction,
but blessing your God for it. Never murmur against the second cause, as the
children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the
world again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and
with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant
God, saying, “Now, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. I know not what to
do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until thou shalt cleave the
floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if thou keep me many a day, for my
heart is fixed upon thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for thee in the
full conviction that thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and
my strong tower.”

Evening “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.” / Jeremiah 17:14

“I have seen his ways, and will heal him.”

Isaiah 57:18

It is the sole prerogative of God to remove spiritual disease. Natural disease
may be instrumentally healed by men, but even then the honour is to be given
to God who giveth virtue unto medicine, and bestoweth power unto the human
frame to cast off disease. As for spiritual sicknesses, these remain with the
great Physician alone; he claims it as his prerogative, “I kill and I make
alive, I wound and I heal;” and one of the Lord’s choice titles is
Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord that healeth thee. “I will heal thee of thy wounds,”
is a promise which could not come from the lip of man, but only from the mouth
of the eternal God. On this account the psalmist cried unto the Lord, “O Lord,
heal me, for my bones are sore vexed,” and again, “Heal my soul, for I have
sinned against thee.” For this, also, the godly praise the name of the Lord,
saying, “He healeth all our diseases.” He who made man can restore man; he who
was at first the creator of our nature can new create it. What a transcendent
comfort it is that in the person of Jesus “dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily!” My soul, whatever thy disease may be, this great Physician
can heal thee. If he be God, there can be no limit to his power. Come then
with the blind eye of darkened understanding, come with the limping foot of
wasted energy, come with the maimed hand of weak faith, the fever of an angry
temper, or the ague of shivering despondency, come just as thou art, for he
who is God can certainly restore thee of thy plague. None shall restrain the
healing virtue which proceeds from Jesus our Lord. Legions of devils have been
made to own the power of the beloved Physician, and never once has he been
baffled. All his patients have been cured in the past and shall be in the
future, and thou shalt be one among them, my friend, if thou wilt but rest
thyself in him this night.

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.   Jeremiah 17:14

 It is the sole prerogative of God to remove spiritual disease. Natural disease may be instrumentally healed by men, but even then the honor is to be given to God who grants wisdom to doctors and bestows power to enable the human frame to cast off disease. As for spiritual sicknesses, these remain with the Great Physician alone; He claims it as His prerogative: “I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal”;1 and one of the Lord’s choice titles is Jehovah-Rophi, “the Lord who heals you.” “I will heal your wounds” is a promise that could not come from the lips of man but only from the mouth of the eternal God.

On this account the psalmist cried unto the Lord, “Heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled,”2 and again, “Heal me, for I have sinned against you!”3 For this also the godly praise the name of the Lord, saying, “[He] heals all your diseases.”4 He who made man can restore man; He who was at first the creator of our nature can re-create it. What a transcendent comfort it is that in the person of Jesus “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”5

My soul, whatever your disease may be, this Great Physician can heal you. If He is God, there can be no limit to His power. Come then with the blind eye of darkened understanding; come with the limping foot of wasted energy; come with the disabled hand of weak faith, the fever of an angry temper, or the fit of shivering despondency; come just as you are, for He who is God can certainly restore you. No one can restrain the healing power that proceeds from Jesus our Lord. Legions of devils have attempted to overcome the power of the beloved Physician, and never once has He been hindered. All His patients have been cured in the past and shall be in the future, and you may be counted among them, my friend, if you will but rest yourself in Him tonight.

1Deuteronomy 32:39 2Psalm 6:2 3Psalm 41:4 4Psalm 103:3 5Colossians 2:9

Family Reading Plan   Ezekiel 2   Psalm 38

Hanging above the door in our house, my mother’s favorite plaque constantly reminded us, “Prayer changes things.” From an early age, I witnessed this powerful truth through her example. She’d tell me about some difficulties she was facing and then have me pray about them with her. And later, she’d always be sure to give God the glory when sharing the awesome news that He had answered those prayers.

Indeed, this is our confidence: Anything we pray for that aligns with the Father’s plan will be granted. And the more time we spend with Him, the more we’ll come to understand His will and how to pray for it.

Remember, prayer doesn’t change God’s mind, but it does transform the believer’s heart. Some requests are granted immediately, simply because we asked with the realization that our Father loves to give us good gifts. Other requests may require time or certain divine preparations before they can be given. We, meanwhile, must simply be diligent to persevere in prayer.

Whatever the Lord’s response or timing, we trust that He has only the very best in store for His children. That means we might not receive exactly what we’re asking for, but something even better. Such is God’s great pleasure, for He alone perfectly knows each heart’s desire and wishes to fulfill it.

Our most powerful tool for shaping the world and lives around us is always available. Prayer lets us witness God’s hand in any situation. And as we give attention, time, and perseverance to conversation with Him, we find no limit to what He can achieve in people’s hearts and circumstances.

 It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a dictionary, literally at least. I do most of my looking-up online or by phone. But my computer was already shut down for the day, I couldn’t find my phone, and for once it seemed faster to use a book for the task. I can’t remember the word I was hunting for now, in fact, I think I stopped hunting soon after opening the book. As I pulled the giant dictionary off the shelf and opened its pages to the general vicinity of the S’s, I was stopped in my tracks by a piece of paper that fell out. 

In his familiar mechanical script (block lettering and always in pencil) my dad had carefully scratched a word on a torn off corner of paper. His handwriting immediately caught my eye, but it was he himself that seemed to leap off the page. I had forgotten the dictionary was even his, landing on my shelves posthumously. But I was immediately filled with a sense of somber mystery: What was he up to? Why was this word on his mind? Did he hear it somewhere and quickly scribble it down to look up later? Was he researching something or was he just curious? His thoughts, however ordinary they may have been, seemed wonderful, fueled by the sense that I was somehow on his trail; or at least a trail he had once been on. The word was one I’d never heard before. As I looked it up, it felt as if he was peering over my shoulder.  

I have been stopped in my tracks similarly by the presence of God. Like a forgotten slip of paper that lands in my hands, God’s handwriting suddenly appears in unlikely places, reminding me of the Spirit’s presence, the Son’s hand in a difficult situation. These are the kind of moments that wake me up. Stumbling across evidence that God is in the room, spaces in my minds long anesthetized by sin or stuff or self are given a sobering thought: God is here, and I didn’t even know it.   

As Jacob rested midway on a long journey, he saw in a dream a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. The Lord was standing above the stairway, and he said to Jacob: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac… I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”(1) It was for Jacob a dream that woke him to the possibility that though far from home, on his own in the wilderness—kept company only by thoughts of a brother who wanted to kill him—he was not alone. The account in Genesis continues, “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ Then he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.'” In a desperate place, the faith of his fathers’ became his own. 

The psalmist knew well what Jacob discovered in the woods, no doubt from his own startled encounters: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”(2) What if God is here though you are not aware of it? What if Christ walks beside you unrecognized? When you stumble across the evidence, like Jacob and the psalmist, I hope you are moved to praise.  “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”

In one word, I was reminded that my father, whose absence is often the mark I see most clearly, has left his signature throughout my life, in this case literally. How much more so God moves through our lives, engraving our names on the palms of Christ’s hands, pursuing us through sin and selfishness, longing for us to see the evidence that God is in the room. 

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Genesis 28:13-17. 

(2) Psalm 139:7.