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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Approaching God

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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory! —Isaiah 6:3

 

Read: Isaiah 6:1-8
Bible in a Year: Numbers 1-3; Mark 3

It used to bother me that the closer I drew to God in my walk with Him, the more sinful I felt. Then a phenomenon I observed in my room enlightened me. A tiny gap in the curtain covering my window threw a ray of light into the room. As I looked, I saw particles of dirt drifting in the beam. Without the ray of light, the room seemed clean, but the light revealed the dirty particles.

What I observed shed light on my spiritual life. The closer I approach the Lord of light, the clearer I see myself. When the light of Christ shines in the darkness of our lives, it exposes our sin—not to discourage us, but to humble us to trust in Him. We can’t depend on our own righteousness, since we are sinners and fall short of God’s standards (Rom. 3:23). When we are proud, the light reveals our heart and we cry as Isaiah did, “Woe to me! . . . For I am a man of unclean lips, . . . and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isa. 6:5 niv).

God is absolutely perfect in every way. Approaching Him calls for humility and childlike trust, not self-importance and pride. For it is by grace that He draws us to Himself. It is good for us that we feel unworthy as we draw closer to God, for it humbles us to rely on Him alone.—Lawrence Darmani

Holy, Holy, Holy! Though the darkness hide Thee, Though the eyes of sinful man Thy glory may not see; Only Thou art holy—there is none beside Thee, Perfect in power, in love and purity. —Heber

There is no room for pride when we walk with God.

INSIGHT: This passage recounts the call of Isaiah to a long and difficult prophetic ministry spanning the reigns of four kings (740–681 bc). Isaiah was not the only one in Scripture who viewed himself as too sinful to be in God’s presence (6:5). Peter, when called to be an apostle, cried out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8). The tax collector in Luke 18:13 demonstrated a similar humility and recognition of personal sin.
Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Holy, Holy, Holy

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Our Daily Bread

Revelation 4

They do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” —Revelation 4:8

“Time flies when you’re having fun.” This cliché has no basis in fact, but experience makes it seem true.

When life is pleasant, time passes all too quickly. Give me a task that I enjoy, or a person whose company I love, and time seems irrelevant.

My experience of this “reality” has given me a new understanding of the scene described in Revelation 4. In the past, when I considered the four living creatures seated around God’s throne who keep repeating the same few words, I thought, What a boring existence!

I don’t think that anymore. I think about the scenes they have witnessed with their many eyes (v.8). I consider the view they have from their position around God’s throne (v.6). I think of how amazed they are at God’s wise and loving involvement with wayward earthlings. Then I think, What better response could there be? What else is there to say but, “Holy, holy, holy”?

Is it boring to say the same words over and over? Not when you’re in the presence of the one you love. Not when you’re doing exactly what you were designed to do.

Like the four creatures, we were designed to glorify God. Our lives will never be boring if we’re focusing our attention on Him and fulfilling that purpose. —Julie Ackerman Link

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity! —Heber

A heart in tune with God can’t help but sing His praise.

Bible in a year: Psalms 79-80; Romans 11:1-18

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Remember the Holy Spirit

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Alistair Begg 

Nehemiah 9:20

Common, too common, is the sin of forgetting the Holy Spirit. This is folly and ingratitude. He deserves better from us, for He is good, supremely good. As God, He is good essentially. He shares in the threefold ascription of “Holy, holy, holy” that ascends to the Triune God. He is unmixed purity, truth, and grace. He is good benevolently, tenderly bearing with our waywardness, striving with our rebellious wills, quickening us from our death in sin, and then training us for heaven as a loving father trains his children. How generous, forgiving, and tender is this patient Spirit of God. He is good operatively.

All His works are good in the most eminent degree: He suggests good thoughts, prompts good actions, reveals good truths, applies good promises, assists in good attainments, and leads to good results. There is no spiritual good in all the world of which He is not the author and sustainer, and heaven itself will owe the perfect character of its redeemed inhabitants to His work. He is good officially: Whether as Comforter, Instructor, Guide, Sanctifier, Quickener, or Intercessor, He fulfills His office well, and each work is filled with the highest good to the church of God.

Those who yield to His influences become good; those who obey His impulses do good; those who live under His power receive good. Let us then act toward Him according to the dictates of gratitude. Let us revere His person and adore Him as God over all, blessed forever; let us own His power and our need of Him by waiting upon Him in all our holy enterprises; let us hourly seek His help and never grieve Him; and let us speak His praise whenever occasion occurs. The church will never prosper until it more reverently believes in the Holy Spirit. He is so good and kind that it is sad indeed that He should be grieved by slights and negligences.

The family reading plan for February 16, 2014 Job 15 | 1 Corinthians 3