Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?
Job 2:10

 Recommended Reading: Job 2:1-10

How many question marks arise in your soul? There are more than two hundred of them in the book of Job. Almost every chapter is filled with questions, and many of them are by Job himself, who was described as the most righteous person on earth (Job 1:8). His first question, however, demonstrated how his faith survived the darkness: “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (NIV)

Jesus warned us that we will face troubles in this world, but be of good cheer! For He has overcome the world and all its troubles (John 16:33). He does all things well and works all things for good.

We often cannot understand what God is doing in our own or someone else’s life or why. Yet Christ is working in deep areas of our life beyond human eyesight and also in deep patterns of providential circumstances. When we can’t answer “Why?” we can certainly remember “Who.” We can place full trust in the Sovereign God who is always in control. 

Faith is the conquering grace; this is what gives the victory; this is what crushes this tremendous foe…. How does faith overcome the world? By leading the believer to the cross of Jesus.
Octavius Winslow 

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Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Psalm 51:1

 Recommended Reading: Psalm 32:1-5

People are often heard to exclaim, “Oh, that is just perfect!” when referring to a gorgeous vista in nature, a beautiful painted or photographed portrait, or a delicious dessert. But as often as we use the word perfect, we know there is no such thing. And that is definitely true of human beings. As Scripture says, “For all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). 

Even godly characters like David—a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), a man who wrote numerous psalms of worship to God—failed to live a perfect life. His adulterous affair with Bathsheba, complicity in the death of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, and concealing of his sins marred an otherwise imitable life. But the redeeming part of David’s imperfect life is the mercy and forgiveness he found when he confessed his sins to God. He wrote an entire psalm about his confession and restoration (Psalm 51). And therein lies the lesson from David’s imperfection for us.

First John 1:9 serves as a one-verse summary of Psalm 51: If we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us. Don’t imitate David’s failures; do imitate his response.

The beginning of repentance is the confession of guilt.
John Calvin

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I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13

 Recommended Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

The words trials and temptations are from the same root word. So it is no surprise that they are also connected spiritually as well as grammatically. A test can become a trial, and a trial can lead to temptation. Take Job, for example, in the Old Testament. He was tested, and his test became a lengthy trial during which he was tempted to doubt God’s fairness and goodness. But he hung on and resolved his trial by affirming his faith in God’s goodness.

Paul summarized his approach to hardship by writing, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” His words convey the same truth as the words of Moses to the generation of Israelites entering the Promised Land: “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away” (Deuteronomy 30:11, NASB). And Paul said he did not resent the tests and trials in his life because they gave him opportunity to display the grace of Christ in his experience (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). 

God always makes a way through trials and temptations (1 Corinthians 10:13). You can do all things today through Christ.

Temptations are everywhere, and so is the grace of God.
Uknown

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Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5

 Recommended Reading: Hebrews 13:1-5

Becket Cook was a gay production designer in Hollywood, and his career was very successful. Yet he was overwhelmed with a sense of emptiness. One day at a coffee shop, he saw open Bibles on the next table. He asked, “Are you guys Christians?” The fellow patrons began sharing the Gospel with him, and within days Cook gave his life to Christ. His testimony now is this: “My hope is that people will realize how much more amazing it is to deny yourself and follow Christ rather than to just give in to sin now just to satisfy some immediate need…. With God, I feel this unconditional love…. Like He’ll never leave or forsake me. I’m happy to leave that dead man [my old me] behind because He’s worth it.”¹

We can leave so much behind when we know He will never leave or forsake us—covetousness, sinful habits, and the pressures of life.

Pray aloud today: “I praise You, Lord, for You never for a moment leave me and will never forsake me!”

Because we are His children, His love will never leave or forsake us. There will always be a place for us in His heart.
Bryan Chapell
 

¹Nathaniel Banister, “‘Being Gay Was No Longer Who I Was’: This Hollywood Designer Met Jesus Christ in a Supernatural Moment,” CBN News, June 16, 2022.

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JUNE 28, 2023

[Be] a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled.
Titus 1:8

 Recommended Reading: Titus 2:11-15

It’s hard to keep our language clean when everyone around us is cursing. It’s hard to keep our minds clean when pornography is only a click away. And it’s hard to keep our nerves healthy in a polarized and deteriorating culture. It’s actually impossible without Christ. 

When we receive Him as our Savior, He comes into our life by means of the Holy Spirit. Notice the word “holy”! It’s the Holy Spirit who does a work of renewal inside us, surging through our mental catacombs and flushing out our emotional passageways. He breaks the power of canceled sin and sets the sinner free. He delivers us from the slavery of our habits and perfects that which concerns us (Psalm 138:8).

It’s easy to allow our environment to influence how we live, but when we live according to God’s Word, He will bless us. Today ask the Holy Spirit to take the Holy Bible and by His power and grace make you an increasingly holy person. As the hymn “Take Time to Be Holy” says: “Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.”

The Word of God is the means employed by the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ.
Alistair Begg

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Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.
Romans 12:10

 Recommended Reading: Psalm 34:13-14

In 2012, the New York City Police Department handled some four hundred hostage negotiations. Another year they handled a negotiation that lasted fifty hours and employed seventeen crisis negotiators. Talking a suspect “down” requires great skill and focus. The immediate goal is the safety of the hostages and the suspect by defusing the situation using patience and empathy.¹

Hostage situations are not the only things that need defusing. Relationships can be tense and potentially explosive as well, requiring the skills of someone who can calm the situation. Paul provides a template for how to bring calm into a tense situation: “Be kindly affectionate . . . giving preference to one another. . . . If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:10, 18). A tense moment calls for calm and the lowering of temperatures. We can do that for one another if we have love, affection, and humility toward every person.

“If it is possible” today, be the calming presence if you encounter a tense situation. Be a peacemaker wherever you go (Matthew 5:9). 

Humility binds Christians together in peace.
Thomas Watson
 

¹ “Police Negotiation Techniques From the NYPD Crisis Negotiations Team,” Program on Negotiation Harvard Law School, November 16, 2020.

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I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel.
Philippians 4:2-3

 Recommended Reading: Philippians 4:1-7

A couple in Liverpool, England, checked into a hotel to celebrate the man’s birthday. They got into an argument, and the woman locked herself in the bathroom crying. In anger, the man used his cigarette lighter to set fire to a towel, which triggered the fire alarm. There were eighty wedding guests in the hotel, and none of them appreciated being herded out into the street in the middle of the night in their bedclothes. ¹

Rightly does James say, “Human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires” (James 1:20, NIV).

Oh, how God’s children need to avoid foolish arguments and damaged relationships. There are too many cases of Euodia and Syntyche in our churches. If there’s a broken relationship in your life, ask God to give you the strength to forgive the person and the wisdom to know how to live at peace with them.

At peace with the Father, and at war with His children? It cannot be.
John Flavel

¹Adam Everett, “Drunk Thrown Out of Hot Water Comedy Club Torched Hotel Room,” Liverpool Echo, January 25, 2023.

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Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21

 Recommended Reading: Romans 12:14-21

Archeologist Steven Brann was using his metal detector near Little Round Top at the battlefield at Gettysburg last February when he got a hit. Digging about 20 inches into the soil, he found an entire artillery shell, which had been fired by Confederate gunners around 160 years ago. The Army’s 55^th Ordnance Company took it to a secluded part of the battlefield and blew it up before it could do any harm.¹

It’s amazing how deeply artillery shells can remain buried in our heart and how long they can remain hidden there. When we’re hurt, abused, ignored, slighted, or offended, it’s like a projectile is fired into our spirit. We can carry the wound for a long time. We can fire back and land a shell in someone else’s heart.

The Bible counsels us: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil…. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:17-19, NIV).

We serve a God who will watch out for us and take care of our adversaries. Release your bitterness, and let it dissipate in the breeze of His grace.

Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.
Hannah More
 

¹ Phil Gast, “Unexploded Artillery Shell Unearthed at Gettysburg,” CNN, February 11, 2023.

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If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
James 1:5

 Recommended Reading: Proverbs 9:9-12

What do the following have in common in the Old Testament: weavers, embroiderers, craftsmen, a shrewd man, a caster of spells, ants, idol makers, and ship captains? They were all said to possess wisdom—actually skill, since the word for wisdom meant skill. We could call biblical wisdom “skill for living.” 

Who doesn’t need skill for living? When it comes to raising children, managing money, solving health emergencies, planning for the future—there is no end to our need for skill or wisdom. There is also no end of sources to which we can turn. But we must be careful, for the Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom [or skill]” (Proverbs 9:10). That suggests God should be the first Person we turn to for advice and wisdom in life. The apostle James wrote the same thing: Whenever we are in need of wisdom, “ask of God, who gives to all liberally.” 

Think about where you need wisdom and skill in your life today, and turn to God first with your request. He promises to give wisdom liberally.

The heav’ns declare Thy glory, Lord, in ev’ry star Thy wisdom shines.
Isaac Watts

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

 Recommended Reading: Proverbs 3:1-10

Most Jesus followers understand something about trusting the Lord, acknowledging Him, and seeking His paths. But what does it mean to “lean not on your own understanding”? It means we shouldn’t try to do anything on our own. We shouldn’t try to figure things out on our own without consulting God, giving Him every aspect of the decision and letting Him guide our thoughts. When we live independently of God, it’s impossible to exercise wisdom. The Lord wants us to use our brains and to ponder our decisions, but not on our own! He wants us to use our sanctified minds.

Making decisions is an integral part of life. As Christians, we seek to make wise decisions that honor God. It’s through seeking His guidance that we are able to do just that. We make decisions prayerfully. We make decisions that don’t go against Scripture. We make decisions with the inner peace of sensing His guidance.

Whatever decisions you face today, ask God to lead and direct you.

His faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me.
J. H. Gilmore

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Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Psalm 36:5

 Recommended Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

Samaritan’s Purse recently told of Dr. Russ White who was trying to help a three-year-old girl at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya. The child was in severe respiratory distress due to a red bean she had aspirated. Dr. White put a scope down the child’s throat three times, trying to remove the bean. As he prepared to open the girl’s chest in a last-ditch effort to save her life, the Lord seemed to whisper in his ear, “Try again. Let Me do this with you.” The scope went down once more and this time—success!¹

When we work simply with our own skills, abilities, strength, and personalities, we face limitations. But when the Lord comes alongside us and does it with us—indeed, He does it through us—we have success. We cannot solve problems on our own, but we do have a Friend who can!

He is faithful to us, even when we are fearful and try to solve our problems in our own strength. Instead of acting in fear, trust in the faithfulness of our Almighty God to act on your behalf. 

If we do not understand and trust God’s faithfulness, we will not trust the rest of his character either.
Chip Ingram

¹ “Standing for Christ No Matter the Cost,” Samaritan’s Purse, September 19, 2022.

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Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
1 John 3:1

 Recommended Reading: 1 John 3:1-3

A recent movie about the life of actress Marilyn Monroe portrays her as an emotionally starved woman whose story was filled with trauma, who craved acceptance but who received only abuse and exploitation. That’s the sad condition of so many people. Everyone—even those who haven’t been traumatized in life—wants acceptance. We want to be liked, to be loved, to be included.

If you feel undervalued today, two prayers will help. First, ask God to give you a heart of friendship for someone else and to show you who it is. He will lead you to someone to befriend, and it’s in helping others that we ourselves find help.

Second, ask God to reassure you of His loving presence in your life. He has already accepted you. He sought you, saved you through the blood of Jesus, and longs to draw closer to you each day.

Live each day confident in the knowledge that God has accepted you as His child, and let His healing love bring fresh joy and reassurance to your personality.

[God] has made and keeps a covenant of personal commitment and love to His people.
Sinclair Ferguson

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For you will be successful if you carefully obey the decrees and regulations that the Lord gave to Israel through Moses. Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or lose heart!
1 Chronicles 22:13, NLT

 Recommended Reading: 1 Chronicles 22:6-13

David Balogun recently graduated from high school—at age nine! He’s a young prodigy who’s also working on his black belt in karate. David has already finished a semester in college, and his goal is to become an astrophysicist who studies black holes and supernovas.¹ At about the same time in another school, Pearl Neumann received her high school diploma—at age one hundred.²

Whether young or old, we have dreams, plans, and goals. We feel exuberance when they come true, and we’re often discouraged when they don’t.

Give all your dreams, plans, and goals to God. Ask Him to guide you. Be sensitive to His leadership in your life, and He will give you the best kind of success—that of fulfilling His perfect will for you. Worldly success can change people for the worse. Godly success brings rest to the heart.

Success is the continuing achievement of becoming the person God wants you to be.
Charles Stanley

¹ Ramon Antonio Vargas, “Pennsylvania Boy, Nine, Becomes One of the Youngest Ever High School Graduates,” The Guardian, February 5, 2023.

² “Pearl Neumann, 100 Years Old, Graduates Spencerport High School,” Westside News, January 8, 2023.

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But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
1 Samuel 18:16

 Recommended Reading: Luke 14:1, 7-11

“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Those words have been misattributed to the pop artist Andy Warhol who gained fame during the 1960s. During that decade especially, people gained and lost notoriety quickly. In fact, many sought fame, hoping it would last.

God often blesses people with success even when they aren’t seeking it. Men like Joseph, David, and Daniel were blessed and promoted by God because of their faithfulness. And each of them maintained a sense of humility in spite of their success. When Jesus was invited to a banquet, He observed some guests maneuvering to get the seats of honor at the table—and told a parable about a banquet in response. The point of the parable was this: If you promote and exalt yourself, the host may embarrass you by asking you to give up your seat for another. Better to take the lowest seat and be the one that the host invites to move higher (Luke 14:1, 7-11). 

If God grants you prominence, give Him thanks! But don’t seek it. Instead, seek faithfulness and humility, and let God bless you in His time and way.

The surest mark of true conversion is humility.
J.C. Ryle

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For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
1 John 5:4

 Recommended Reading: Hebrews 11:24-28

Warren Wiersbe admitted he never recalled many chapel messages from his student years, but Vance Havner gave a message he never forgot and frequently recalled for encouragement. Havner was speaking about Moses in Hebrews 11, who “forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (verse 27).

Havner said Moses lived in victory because he “chose the imperishable, saw the invisible, and did the impossible.”¹

This is still true for us today. Because we serve the Almighty God, we can be confident in Him to strengthen us and give us the victory. Life is full of problems, but that’s when we have to look upward, exercise faith, see Him who is invisible, and claim the victory. The Bible tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart—and we can also say with all our trials, tribulations, problems, and opportunities. 

Today ask God to help you choose the imperishable, see the invisible, and do the impossible.

Christians are either overcome because of their unbelief or overcomers because of their faith. 
Warren Wiersbe

¹ Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2007), 836.

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You were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.
Matthew 25:21

 Recommended Reading: Matthew 25:14-23

Booker T. Washington said, “Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the everyday things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon.”¹

The Lord assigns our daily tasks, and sometimes they’re as simple as washing a child’s face, picking up a piece of litter, showing up at a worship service, or taking chicken soup to a sick friend. Small acts of kindness catch the attention of heaven, and faithfulness in small things pleases the Lord. Somehow in His providence, the accumulation of small things, done faithfully, becomes a pathway of purpose and fulfillment in life.

In the middle of the mundane routines of the week, it can be difficult to remain faithful in our responsibilities. Yet God often uses our faithfulness in these small tasks to prepare us for bigger ones. Thank God today that He is always preparing you for what He has in store for you next. As the Lord sees us faithful in the small, He will assign more work to be rendered with joy and done for His glory.

Faithfulness is faithfulness, on whatsoever scale it be set forth!
Alexander Maclaren

¹ Robert L. Caslen Jr and Michael D. Matthews, The Character Edge (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 2020).

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But one and the same Spirit works all these [spiritual gifts], distributing to each one individually as He wills. . . . But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
1 Corinthians 12:11, 18

 Recommended Reading: Psalm 139:13-14

Identical twins share many of the same physical traits: hair and eye color, height, facial characteristics, and others. Research suggests that 25 percent of identical twins can be said to be mirror images of one another except in one specific area: Identical twins have different fingerprints.

That fact confirms the biblical testimony that we were knit together in our mother’s womb, that we were “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14, NIV). We are not only made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), but we are also uniquely made in God’s image. We are all different, unique, and special in God’s sight. The apostle Paul extends the idea of uniqueness by saying that God gives each Christian spiritual gifts “individually as He wills” and puts us in the Body of Christ “as He please[s].” When we compare who we are with others, we stand on the precipice of succumbing to envy, pride, or jealousy (2 Corinthians 10:12). 

Cultivate contentment as you seek God’s will for your life. Look for every opportunity to serve God and others as only you can.

God gives gifts where He gives a calling.
Henry Wilkinson

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For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Mark 10:45

 Recommended Reading: Philippians 2:5-9

Robert K. Greenleaf, born in 1904, spent four decades working in corporate management for one of America’s largest telecommunications companies. Toward the end of his tenure there, he became disenfranchised with corporate management philosophy. He saw it as a top-down, authoritarian, and power-based approach. So he resigned and founded a non-profit to research the idea of servant leadership. His work planted seeds of change that continue bearing fruit to this day.

The style of leadership Greenleaf reacted to—authoritarian, top-down—was the style Jesus identified in His day among Gentile rulers: They “lord it over” and “exercise authority over” their subjects (Mark 10:42). But Jesus demonstrated a different style: He came not to be served by others but to serve those He came to save. And His style was evident throughout His life and ministry. His service was sacrificial, costly, and humble—but it changed the world. And God “highly exalted Him” and lifted up His Name (Philippians 2:9). 

Look for ways today to lead by serving. It’s a simple but powerful way to show Jesus to the world.

Our humility serves us falsely, when it leads us to shrink from any duty.
J. R. Miller

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Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed [David] in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
1 Samuel 16:13

 Recommended Reading: 2 Timothy 3:16-17

On the day of His ascension to heaven, Jesus prepared His disciples for the task that was before them. He explained the Old Testament Scriptures to them (Luke 24:45), He outlined their mission (Luke 24:47), and He told them they would receive “power from on high” (Luke 24:49) from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). Thus, He revealed the two dynamics that would equip all who would follow Him: Word and Spirit.

The equipping of believers by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit became the hallmarks of Christian discipleship. By the Spirit, we are given gifts, abilities, and traits to manifest the ministry of Christ in the world (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Galatians 5). And by the Word of God we are taught, challenged, corrected, and trained so we “may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). 

Do you want to be useful to God in ministry? Yield to the Spirit of God and live in the Word of God, and you will be thoroughly equipped.

Every man who is divinely called to the ministry is divinely equipped.
A. W. Pink

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But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7

 Recommended Reading: Acts 13:22

On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. In his speech, he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”¹

That dream has not yet been realized. But God does not see people based on their race, nationality, or social background. When Samuel was choosing Israel’s next king from among Jesse’s sons, God specifically told him not to look at external qualities. Instead, he was to choose as God chooses—on the basis of the heart (1 Samuel 16:1-13).

When we look at people, let us view them as God does, not as the world does. Let us appreciate their heart above all. 

When we begin to see people through God’s eyes, our focus will change from looks to life. 
David C. McCasland

¹ “Martin Luther King Jr.: I Have a Dream,” American Rhetoric.

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