Today’s Scripture: Genesis 45-47

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. – 1 Corinthians 2:12

Thirteen years passed from the time Joseph was sold into slavery until he entered Pharaoh’s service–years of injustice, disappointment, and obscurity. It must have been a great day for Joseph when the mystery finally was solved, and he understood the leading of God in his life and in the lives of his family.

Through a series of almost unbelievable circumstances, God had worked out a plan to save the lives of Joseph’s father and brothers and their household. They now were settled safely in Egypt, with plenty of food to eat and plenty of work to do. But the thing to remember is Joseph’s statement to his brothers: “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:7-8).

Throughout the years of loneliness and all the months in an Egyptian prison, throughout all the difficulties that could have caused his faith to fail and his spirit to become bitter, Joseph saw the hand of God. In his mind there was nothing for which man could take either the credit or the blame.

Remember the account of the apostle Paul and Silas being beaten and cast into prison at Philippi? Acts 16:25 says, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” Why weren’t they complaining, griping, demanding their legal rights? Somehow, like Joseph many centuries before, they were able to detect the merciful hand of God in it all.

Prayer

Lord, I praise You for Your hand on my life. Amen.

To Ponder

Failure to look up to God, whether your circumstances are good or bad, can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

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Today’s Scripture: Genesis 25-26

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. – 2 Corinthians 1:20

When God’s Word promises something, and we claim it in prayer, but nothing happens, what are we supposed to believe?

I talked to a pastor who was struggling with this issue. He was preparing a sermon on Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” The pastor’s struggle was that he’d seen too many children turn away from the Lord, even though they had godly parents and a solid Christian upbringing.

I assured him that I believed the promise in Proverbs 22:6 was true, but that many issues were involved. One is the God-given free will of our children. Another is that we need to keep praying for our children and grandchildren, because all the evidence isn’t in yet.

In today’s passage, we find Isaac, the heir to all of God’s promises, facing a similar issue. The land of Canaan was being plagued by a severe famine that forced Isaac to live in the land of the Philistines. What good is a Promised Land if you can’t live in it?

But God is faithful. And while Isaac was in the land of Gerar, God came to him to buck up his flagging spirits. God said in Genesis 26:3, “I will be with you and will bless you.”

A great fact emerges here that stays with us throughout the rest of the Bible: Just because a person is walking by faith and claiming the promises of God doesn’t mean his life will be easy and free of difficulty. But through it all is the guiding, protecting hand of God. And, in it all, we can find the unfailing promises of God.

Prayer

Lord, give me a grateful heart for Your promises that I have not yet seen fulfilled. Amen.

To Ponder

When it comes to God’s promises, His delays are not His denials.

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Today’s Scripture: Genesis 21-24

If God is for us, who can be against us? – Romans 8:31

When should we expect life to get easier? When we graduate–when we marry–when we retire?

Today’s passage contains a story that seems to nullify God’s great promise that in Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed. He is to take his son, Isaac, into the land of Moriah and kill him–offer him as a sacrifice upon one of the mountains. Verse 1 tells us this command came to him “after these things.” After what things? After all the hardships and difficulties Abraham already had gone through.

All the tests and trials we have endured will not prevent other tests from coming our way. But these things need not destroy us nor wreck our faith. On the contrary, if you and I respond as Abraham did, in obedience and faith, these tough battles and trials can be the crowning moments of our lives.

Once I drove a small car from Colorado to Arizona for my son-in-law. In New Mexico I encountered violent crosswinds. It was all I could do to keep the car on the road. Suddenly I noticed a hawk flying right in front of me with his wings spread majestically, and he wasn’t moving a feather! The winds that almost blew me off the road were just carrying that hawk higher and higher. And I thought, For Christians, tough times are supposed to do that–just bring us higher and higher, closer to the Lord.

Christian, what winds are knocking you around today? Family matters? Finances? Ill health? When Abraham faced his toughest test, he looked to the Lord. By God’s grace and strength, you and I can do that, too.

Prayer

Lord, I will trust and obey You, no matter what. Amen.

To Ponder

God has determined that we should become conformed to the image of His Son.

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Today’s Scripture: 1 Samuel 24-26

I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. – Proverbs 4:11

When Saul entered the cave where David and his men were hiding, David’s men reminded him this was what they had all longed for–a wide-open door to the throne of Israel. With Saul at their mercy, how easy it would have been to misinterpret the promises and the providence of God. David took guidance by two things: First, his belief that Saul was the Lord’s anointed. God had made Saul king, and God would have to remove him. Second, David was restrained by a proverb of the ancients, “From evildoers come evil deeds.” He depended on God to avenge the wrongs done to him by Saul.

It’s easy to mistake circumstances for the will of God. Just because events fall into place that enable us to do something doesn’t necessarily mean God wants us to do it.

Some years ago I was planning a preaching tour through Asia, and we were praying for the Lord to show us if my wife Virginia should go. During this process, a friend heard of the situation and sent Virginia a signed blank check with a note that said: “Why not?” We had the invitation, the money, and the desire. After several weeks of praying, Virginia still didn’t have peace in the matter. She tore up the check, thanked our friend for his kindness, and wrote the people overseas that she would not be coming.

I believe the key to knowing God’s guidance is for us to saturate our lives with the wisdom of the Word of God. Then, when we are faced with a decision, the blessed Holy Spirit of God can guide us with the Word we have laid up in our hearts.

Prayer

Lord, You have called me to have eyes of faith. Help me not to always equate the circumstances of my life with Your perfect will. Amen.

To Ponder

In discerning the will of God, circumstances are much less important than the Word of our Father in heaven.

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Today’s Scripture: Joshua 1:8

Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. – 1 Timothy 4:15

I have a friend named Sam who for years has practiced meditation. He used to be part of a cult–an Eastern religion that promised inner tranquility. It was supposed to make one serene, confident, joyful. But Sam admitted his meditations resulted in none of those things. As he sat for hours in jeans and bare feet–chanting and meditating–a disturbing question tugged at his heart. What about my sin?

One day he met a man who spoke of his own release from the burden of sin through faith in Jesus Christ. Much to Sam’s surprise, the man said he, too, practiced meditation, but of a different kind. He meditated on the Bible to find deeper, clearer insight into its teachings. Through the continued witness of this friend, Sam came to Christ, abandoned his former practice of meditation, and adopted the practice of meditation on the Word of God.

Friend, God says that if you meditate on His Word, then you will be prosperous and have success! (Joshua 1:7). The promise is plain: God’s hand of blessing will be on that person’s life in an extraordinary way.

The psalmist said, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (Psalm 119:97). Meditation flows from a love for the Word of God. Ask God to give you a love for His Word and you will think on it.

Prayer

Lord, teach me to love Your Word. Amen.

To Ponder

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

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Today’s Scripture: Joshua 1-5

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. – Psalm 1:2-3

About all most people know of General Joshua is that he “fit the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumblin’ down” (usually as sung by a male quartet). But the first thing we’re told about this man in the Old Testament was that he was on speaking terms with God.

Joshua 1:1 says, “After the death of Moses…the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide…” Here is what God commanded of his newly appointed leader: “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (1:8).

Joshua could have said: “What? Think about the words of the Bible, day and night? What about the invasion of Canaan? What about getting all these people across this swollen, rushing river?” But key to Joshua hearing the voice of God and getting his marching orders was his meditation on God’s Word.

Years ago, when I was asked to begin a campus ministry, I spent the better part of three weeks reading the Bible, praying, and seeking how God wanted to penetrate this campus with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Out of that time, I received a solid conviction and a strategy for effective evangelism and discipleship.

In our daily walk with Christ and in protracted times alone with Him, meditation on God’s Word is a key to opening the door of God’s guidance. Take another look at Joshua 1:8; memorize it, meditate on it, and claim it for your own life.

Prayer

Lord, I have no excuse for getting “lost” when Your Word gives such clear directions for daily walking with You. Amen.

To Ponder

Do you know how to get your direction from God?

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Today’s Scripture: Deuteronomy 5-7

I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes. – Psalm 119:59

In today’s passage, we see that once again Moses gathered the people together to hear a second copy of the Ten Commandments read so that they might remember and obey, lest, as James 1:22 tells us, they deceive themselves.

When the people heard the commands of God, they responded in a wonderful way. They said, “It was not with our fathers that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today” (Deuteronomy 5:3). Don’t you just love to see people take the Word of God seriously?

For years I have approached the Bible, book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. I go into each chapter on four different roads. The more ways you enter, the more you see. Road one: What does the chapter say? Here I stop and write a summary in my own words. Road two: What does it say that I don’t understand? Here I stop and write down the problems and difficulties. Road three: What does it say in other portions of Scripture? Here is where I cross-reference the verses in the chapter. The Bible is its own best commentary, so I want to throw the light of the rest of Scripture on the passage I’m studying. Road four: What does it say to me? Here is where I pray over the passage and write out a personal application God has shown me for my own life. And then I seek to do it.

I encourage you to make the Bible a personal message from the heart of God to you.

Prayer

Lord, as I read Your Word today, I welcome Your personal word to me, and I will obey it. Amen.

To Ponder

It is not enough simply to know what the Word says; we must obey it.

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Today’s Scripture: Deuteronomy 1-4

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty. – Jeremiah 15:16

In the first few chapters of Deuteronomy, as the people of God stand on the brink of the Promised Land, they are faced with a formidable foe. Their instructions do not concern the strategy and tactics of battle, but their duty to God. Why? Because if they would walk with God in obedience and faith, and keep themselves in the light of His favor and blessing, He would go before them–He would fight for them and settle them securely in the land He’d promised to faithful Abraham many years before.

The book of Deuteronomy gives one of the clearest pictures in Scripture of the importance God places on His Word. For instance, we are told that when the nation was given a king, he was to write out a copy of the Word of God with his own hand and read it every day of his life. When the people passed over Jordan, it was to be written on huge stones for the people to see–sort of like billboards along the highway. God’s Word was to be read publicly at the Feast of Tabernacles by the priests to all the assembly of Israel.

Jesus, our role model, knew the Word. When He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, all of His answers came from the pages of Scripture–in fact, from the book of Deuteronomy.

This fifth book of the Old Testament shows us the sort of attention God wants all His people to pay to the Scriptures. We are to learn His Word, remember His Word, and obey it.

God always keeps His Word. His people must do the same.

Prayer

Lord, thank You that by the Holy Spirit’s power Your Word gives me greater insights into Your heart and purposes. Amen.

To Ponder

If we are ignorant of God’s Word, how can we recognize and enjoy the promises He has made to us?

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Today’s Scripture: Exodus 9:13-16

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12

A family I know was just about to leave the house to go to church when all the lights went out–the city was experiencing a power failure. No problem, they thought. When we come back from church it will be restored. Then it occurred to them they couldn’t leave–they had an automatic garage door that opened on electricity. So there they stood, thwarted by a power failure.

An electrical power failure causes problems every which way you turn. The same is true of a power failure within our lives. But unlike a failing electricity source, the Bible is very clear that there’s always an abundance of power available to see us through even the most trying and difficult circumstances.

For the Christian, the source of power is God, and God never runs out of power or fails in anything. If that’s true, how can there ever be a spiritual power failure in a believer’s life? The problem arises when we get cut off from the power supply. And one of the primary means by which God transmits His mighty power to His people is through His Word. The Word of God is food that sustains and empowers our soul and spirit.

The apostle Paul spoke of being nourished upon the words of faith. How goes it with you? Are you making time each day to nourish your soul on the Word of God? Don’t let a power failure happen in your life.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for Your life-giving Word. Amen.

To Ponder

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

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Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 9-11

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. – 2 Corinthians 6:16

The Vietnam War memorial in Washington, D.C., has become one of the most visited and emotional sites in the nation’s capital. What sets it apart from other memorials? Carved into that black granite wall are more than 58,000 names of Americans who gave their lives building a foundation for freedom.

In 1 Kings 9, we find Solomon, having built the temple, now dedicating it to God. Here is God’s response, verse 3: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.”

Solomon built a physical temple, but only God could hallow it and consecrate it to Himself. In the New Testament, God tells us of living temples–the people of God. And only God can sanctify us to Himself. He promises that those whom He sets apart for Himself have His eye, His heart, His love, and His care upon them.

Sanctification begins with God’s call to us in Christ. It is put in motion when we respond by faith and give our lives to Him. And it continues with God’s work of molding us to be more like the person of Jesus Christ. We must dedicate ourselves to Him and cooperate by obeying His commands, but the sanctifying belongs to Him.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Prayer

Lord, when I get discouraged by my inability to be holy, remind me that I can do nothing unless You do it in me. Amen.

To Ponder

Holiness does not come from observing a list of do’s and don’ts; it comes from God’s supernatural work in me as I obey Him.

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