From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Evening...
Job 7:12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that Thou settest a watch over me?
This was a strange question for Job to ask of the Lord. He felt himself to be
too insignificant to be so strictly watched and chastened, and he hoped that he
was not so unruly as to need to be so restrained. The enquiry was natural from
one surrounded with such insupportable miseries, but after all, it is capable
of a very humbling answer. It is true man is not the sea, but he is even more
troublesome and unruly. The sea obediently respects its boundary, and though it
be but a belt of sand, it does not overleap the limit. Mighty as it is, it
hears the divine hitherto, and when most raging with tempest it respects the
word; but self-willed man defies heaven and oppresses earth, neither is there
any end to this rebellious rage. The sea, obedient to the moon, ebbs and flows
with ceaseless regularity, and thus renders an active as well as a passive
obedience; but man, restless beyond his sphere, sleeps within the lines of
duty, indolent where he should be active. He will neither come nor go at the
divine command, but sullenly prefers to do what he should not, and to leave
undone that which is required of him. Every drop in the ocean, every beaded
bubble, and every yeasty foam-flake, every shell and pebble, feel the power of
law, and yield or move at once. O that our nature were but one thousandth part
as much conformed to the will of God! We call the sea fickle and false, but how
constant it is! Since our fathers' days, and the old time before them, the sea
is where it was, beating on the same cliffs to the same tune; we know where to
find it, it forsakes not its bed, and changes not in its ceaseless boom; but
where is man-vain, fickle man? Can the wise man guess by what folly he will
next be seduced from his obedience? We need more watching than the billowy sea,
and are far more rebellious. Lord, rule us for Thine own glory. Amen.
Morning...
Mark 9:19 Bring him unto me.
Despairingly the poor disappointed father turned away from the disciples to
their Master. His son was in the worst possible condition, and all means had
failed, but the miserable child was soon delivered from the evil one when the
parent in faith obeyed the Lord Jesus' word, "Bring him unto me." Children are
a precious gift from God, but much anxiety comes with them. They may be a great
joy or a great bitterness to their parents; they may be filled with the Spirit
of God, or possessed with the spirit of evil. In all cases, the Word of God
gives us one receipt for the curing of all their ills, "Bring him unto me." O
for more agonizing prayer on their behalf while they are yet babes! Sin is
there, let our prayers begin to attack it. Our cries for our offspring should
precede those cries which betoken their actual advent into a world of sin. In
the days of their youth we shall see sad tokens of that dumb and deaf spirit
which will neither pray aright, nor hear the voice of God in the soul, but
Jesus still commands, "Bring them unto me." When they are grown up they may
wallow in sin and foam with enmity against God; then when our hearts are
breaking we should remember the great Physician's words, "Bring them unto me."
Never must we cease to pray until they cease to breathe. No case is hopeless
while Jesus lives. The Lord sometimes suffers His people to be driven into a
corner that they may experimentally know how necessary He is to them. Ungodly
children, when they show us our own powerlessness against the depravity of
their hearts, drive us to flee to the strong for strength, and this is a great
blessing to us. Whatever our morning's need may be, let it like a strong
current bear us to the ocean of divine love. Jesus can soon remove our sorrow,
He delights to comfort us. Let us hasten to Him while He waits to meet us.
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Romans 12:14
(14) Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
Romans 12:16-19
(16) Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high
things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
(17) Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of
all men. (18) If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with
all men. (19) Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto
wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Romans 12:21
(21) Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 13:1
(1) Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For
there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
At the very least, Paul derived this from the example of
Christ, who submitted to wicked and corrupt officials and authorities. Jesus
had every right to rebel. He was completely innocent and had done nothing
wrong—nothing of which He was accused had been part of His conduct. However, He
had every intention of doing the right thing, and He carried through with it.
The true Christian consciously chooses to suffer evil
rather than do evil because it would be wrong to do anything other than what
Christ did. He set the example. He is the archetype; He is the One who goes
before. The Christian is not a masochist, but by faith, he takes steps to
prevent war. He does this because he recognizes that two wrongs do not make a
right. Just because someone abuses authority does not give him the right from
God to fail to submit to it. This is why there is never any real thought to
war. Somebody gets into power and abuses his authority, and those who are under
him react carnally and retaliate to get back at the one in authority—and the
cycle never ends!
Will there ever be peace? There will be peace when people
submit to God, and that means submitting to His way. If everybody would submit
to God's way, war would stop overnight—that would be the end! But men will not
submit to God (Romans 8:7). A major principle we are to learn in this life is
to submit under duress, under abuse—when the pressure is on and the desire to
retaliate is strongest. We have to learn not to justify our retaliation by
saying, "He made me do it—the Devil made me do it!" All the ways of man are
right in his own eyes (Proverbs 14:12).
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Submitting (Part 1)
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daily devotional
Evening...
Daniel 10:11 A man greatly beloved.
Child of God, do you hesitate to appropriate this title? Ah! has your
unbelief made you forget that you are greatly beloved too? Must you not have
been greatly beloved, to have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot? When God smote His only begotten
Son for you, what was this but being greatly beloved? You lived in sin, and
rioted in it, must you not have been greatly beloved for God to have borne so
patiently with you? You were called by grace and led to a Saviour, and made a
child of God and an heir of heaven. All this proves, does it not, a very great
and superabounding love? Since that time, whether your path has been rough with
troubles, or smooth with mercies, it has been full of proofs that you are a man
greatly beloved. If the Lord has chastened you, yet not in anger; if He has
made you poor, yet in grace you have been rich. The more unworthy you feel
yourself to be, the more evidence have you that nothing but unspeakable love
could have led the Lord Jesus to save such a soul as yours. The more demerit
you feel, the clearer is the display of the abounding love of God in having
chosen you, and called you, and made you an heir of bliss. Now, if there be
such love between God and us let us live in the influence and sweetness of it,
and use the privilege of our position. Do not let us approach our Lord as
though we were strangers, or as though He were unwilling to hear us-for we are
greatly beloved by our loving Father. "He that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things?" Come boldly, O believer, for despite the whisperings of Satan and the
doubtings of thine own heart, thou art greatly beloved. Meditate on the
exceeding greatness and faithfulness of divine love this evening, and so go to
thy bed in peace.
Morning...
Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for
them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Angels are the unseen attendants of the saints of God; they bear us up in
their hands, lest we dash our foot against a stone. Loyalty to their Lord leads
them to take a deep interest in the children of His love; they rejoice over the
return of the prodigal to his father's house below, and they welcome the advent
of the believer to the King's palace above. In olden times the sons of God were
favoured with their visible appearance, and at this day, although unseen by us,
heaven is still opened, and the angels of God ascend and descend upon the Son
of man, that they may visit the heirs of salvation. Seraphim still fly with
live coals from off the altar to touch the lips of men greatly beloved. If our
eyes could be opened, we should see horses of fire and chariots of fire about
the servants of the Lord; for we have come to an innumerable company of angels,
who are all watchers and protectors of the seed-royal. Spenser's line is no
poetic fiction, where he sings-
"How oft do they with golden pinions cleave
The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant
Against foul fiends to aid us militant!"
To what dignity are the chosen elevated when the brilliant courtiers of
heaven become their willing servitors! Into what communion are we raised since
we have intercourse with spotless celestials! How well are we defended since
all the twenty- thousand chariots of God are armed for our deliverance! To whom
do we owe all this? Let the Lord Jesus Christ be for ever endeared to us, for
through Him we are made to sit in heavenly places far above principalities and
powers. He it is whose camp is round about them that fear Him; He is the true
Michael whose foot is upon the dragon. All hail, Jesus! thou Angel of Jehovah's
presence, to Thee this family offers its morning vows.
Proverbs 7:10-21 details some of a harlot's characteristics. A
careful study would find that she is described as deviously sly and cunning in
that she feigns love, knowing how to pull a man's strings. Her "love" is
strictly business—it is nothing but window dressing. Part of her eye-appealing
attraction is her purposeful seduction and immodest dress, arousing lust. She
is described as "loud," which might be better rendered as turbulent, flighty,
confused, inconstant, and unstable. She lacks dignity and gravity, and she is
stubborn, defiant, brazen, deliberately obstinate, and headstrong. Further, she
is aggressive, impudent, contemptuous, presumptuous, and disrespectful.
Apart from Israel, the biblical record relates the story of one
woman, Delilah, who exemplifies the harlot, helping us to zero in on what
drives most prostitutes. Only two verses, Judges 16:4-5, are needed to isolate
her reason for living as she did:
Now afterward it happened that [Samson] loved a woman in the
Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came
up to her and said to her, "Entice him, and find out where his great strength
lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict
him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver."
What motivates Delilah's harlotry, and what does it teach us from
God's perspective? Harlotry has its base in lust, deceit, and treachery,
entered into, executed, or performed for what the perpetrator believes is an
immediate gain. Not every case of harlotry follows Delilah's exact pattern, but
the motivations center on sinning for personal gain, an element that never
seems to change.
Delilah illustrates a greedy, smooth-talking temptress. Biblically,
she becomes a metaphorical image for the Israelites, who reject God's provision
for her as Husband to seek personal, "more satisfying" gain by other means. The
driving forces are unbelief and distrust combined with self-indulgence
primarily expressed through greed.
The term "greed" may sound harsh, considering the circumstances
some women get themselves into before choosing to prostitute themselves.
However, we have to learn that nobody has to sin—but something motivates us to
do so. Greed is "expressing excessive desire, especially for food, drink, or
wealth." We give ourselves and others an almost endless stream of
justifications for sinning, but the bottom line is that we are simply unwilling
to pay the price to discipline ourselves to do what is right. In our
impatience, we convince ourselves that righteousness will not get us anything.
Recall the Great Harlot's boast in Revelation 18:7: "I sit as
queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow." This is the statement of one
who would compromise rather than suffer the loss of what she felt is her due.
Greed is a synonym for lust or covetousness. However, it is especially
applicable here because of Israel's well-known desire for wealth and comfort.
Notice how clearly Hosea expresses this:
For their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them
has behaved shamefully. . . . She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them;
yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, "I will go and
return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now." For she
did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her
silver and gold—which they prepared for Baal. (Hosea 2:5, 7-8)
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Beast and Babylon (Part Nine): Babylon the Great
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