From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Psalm 74:16
The night also is Thine.
Yes, Lord, Thou dost not abdicate Thy throne when the sun goeth down, nor
dost Thou leave the world all through these long wintry nights to be the prey
of evil; Thine eyes watch us as the stars, and Thine arms surround us as the
zodiac belts the sky. The dews of kindly sleep and all the influences of the
moon are in Thy hand, and the alarms and solemnities of night are equally with
Thee. This is very sweet to me when watching through the midnight hours, or
tossing to and fro in anguish. There are precious fruits put forth by the moon
as well as by the sun: may my Lord make me to be a favoured partaker in them.
The night of affliction is as much under the arrangement and control of the
Lord of Love as the bright summer days when all is bliss. Jesus is in the
tempest. His love wraps the night about itself as a mantle, but to the eye of
faith the sable robe is scarce a disguise. From the first watch of the night
even unto the break of day the eternal Watcher observes His saints, and
overrules the shades and dews of midnight for His people's highest good. We
believe in no rival deities of good and evil contending for the mastery, but we
hear the voice of Jehovah saying, "I create light and I create darkness; I, the
Lord, do all these things." Gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social
sin are not exempted from the divine purpose. When the altars of truth are
defiled, and the ways of God forsaken, the Lord's servants weep with bitter
sorrow, but they may not despair, for the darkest eras are governed by the
Lord, and shall come to their end at His bidding. What may seem defeat to us
may be victory to Him.
"Though enwrapt in gloomy night,
We perceive no ray of light;
Since the Lord Himself is here,
'Tis not meet that we should fear."
Proverbs 29:15
(15) The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to
himself bringeth his mother to shame.
If a child is "left to himself," where is his training coming
from? Obviously, in this case, mom and dad are not having a great impact on
their child. The training must then be coming from society, most likely from
the child's peers. Because "foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child"
(Proverbs 22:15), a child left to himself brings shame—he is bound to get into
trouble if his training is haphazard or undirected, or if he is not drilled or
disciplined. The flipside of this verse says, "But the rod of correction will
drive it far from him." The rod symbolizes that someone has taken an interest
in the outcome of this child's life. He is giving direction, correction,
instruction, to steer this child where he is to go. The training, the teaching,
makes all the difference in the world.
An example from the life of David illustrates this proverb.
"And [Adonijah's] father had not rebuked him at any time by saying, 'Why have
you done so?' He was also a very good-looking man. His mother had borne him
after Absalom" (I Kings 1:6). David was very old and was very shortly to die.
His family and his close advisors probably knew that he intended to pass his
crown to Solomon. But Adonijah tried to prevent that. He made a political move
to grab the throne before Solomon had a secure grip on it. His ploy failed
because Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, and David's faithful advisors appealed to
the king, and he made it very clear whom he had chosen to succeed him.
David, though a man after God's own heart, did not take an
active hand in teaching Adonijah. In this verse God states why Adonijah
rebelled. In essence, David actually encouraged his son to rebel by not taking
an interest in rearing him. David failed to train him in the way he should go,
so that he would not depart from it. Instead, David trained him in a way that
was bound to produce rebellion. This flaw of David's shows up in others of his
children: Absalom, Amnon, and others. It does not matter whether one is a child
of God having His Spirit or not. If a parent does not carry through with the
right kind of training, then the results will surface in his children.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Guard the Truth!
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daily devotional
Evening...
Job 1:5
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent
and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt
offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my
sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
What the patriarch did early in the morning, after the family festivities, it
will be well for the believer to do for himself ere he rests tonight. Amid the
cheerfulness of household gatherings it is easy to slide into sinful levities,
and to forget our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be so, but so
it is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified enjoyment,
but too frequently degenerate into unhallowed mirth. There is a way of joy as
pure and sanctifying as though one bathed in the rivers of Eden: holy gratitude
should be quite as purifying an element as grief. Alas! for our poor hearts,
that facts prove that the house of mourning is better than the house of
feasting. Come, believer, in what have you sinned to-day? Have you been
forgetful of your high calling? Have you been even as others in idle words and
loose speeches? Then confess the sin, and fly to the sacrifice. The sacrifice
sanctifies. The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the guilt, and purges
away the defilement of our sins of ignorance and carelessness. This is the best
ending of a Christmas-day-to wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer,
come to this sacrifice continually; if it be so good to-night, it is good every
night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal priesthood; to them
sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no cause for despair, since they draw near
yet again to the sin-atoning victim, and their conscience is purged from dead
works.
Gladly I close this festive day,
Grasping the altar's hallow'd horn;
My slips and faults are washed away,
The Lamb has all my trespass borne.
Numbers 12:4-9
(4) And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto
Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they
three came out. (5) And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and
stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both
came forth. (6) And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among
you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak
unto him in a dream. (7) My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all
mine house. (8) With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not
in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore
then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? (9) And the anger of
the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.
How would we like to be accused as Moses was, then witness God Himself
make a dramatic entrance and hear His voice boom out in poetry in our defense,
saying that we are without peer amongst all the people? God says to Moses,
"There is no one like you." He was without peer among the holy. That is pretty
impressive! It has not happened very often in mankind's history.
But, on the other hand, there has only been one Moses. There were a
number of ordinary prophets, who had to be content with visions and dreams, but
God spoke to Moses personally. Moses was in a class by himself. Nobody on earth
was more intimate with God than Moses, and, as a result, Moses was entrusted
with God's estate. And Hebrews 3:2 comments, "Moses also was faithful in all
His house."
"All His house" is a figure of speech, indicating that "house" is put for
itself (that is, the building) and everything in it. What is normally in a
house is a family. Moses, then, was faithful—he was without peer—in all of
God's Household, God's Family.
Nobody was faithful like Moses was faithful, therefore he could interpret
God's will to Israel with full authority. God backed His prophet up, saying
that Miriam and Aaron were completely out of line. This is why He says, "Why
were you not afraid to speak against [or, accuse] My servant Moses?"
It is clear what set Moses apart from others: He was faithful. This can
be seen when he is contrasted to the rest of Israel, the very people that he
was leading, who comprised God's Family at that time. They were anything but
faithful! In fact, the reason that the Israelites failed was because of their
lack of faith. And without faith, of course, one cannot be faithful.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Conviction and Moses
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