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."
Morning...
2 Corinthians 8:9 For your sakes he became poor.
The Lord Jesus Christ was eternally rich, glorious, and exalted; but "though
He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor." As the rich saint cannot be
true in his communion with his poor brethren unless of his substance he
ministers to their necessities, so (the same rule holding with the head as
between the members), it is impossible that our Divine Lord could have had
fellowship with us unless He had imparted to us of His own abounding wealth,
and had become poor to make us rich. Had He remained upon His throne of glory,
and had we continued in the ruins of the fall without receiving His salvation,
communion would have been impossible on both sides. Our position by the fall,
apart from the covenant of grace, made it as impossible for fallen man to
communicate with God as it is for Belial to be in concord with Christ. In
order, therefore, that communion might be compassed, it was necessary that the
rich kinsman should bestow his estate upon his poor relatives, that the
righteous Saviour should give to His sinning brethren of His own perfection,
and that we, the poor and guilty, should receive of His fulness grace for
grace; that thus in giving and receiving, the One might descend from the
heights, and the other ascend from the depths, and so be able to embrace each
other in true and hearty fellowship. Poverty must be enriched by Him in whom
are infinite treasures before it can venture to commune; and guilt must lose
itself in imputed and imparted righteousness ere the soul can walk in
fellowship with purity. Jesus must clothe His people in His own garments, or He
cannot admit them into His palace of glory; and He must wash them in His own
blood, or else they will be too defiled for the embrace of His fellowship. O
believer, herein is love! For your sake the Lord Jesus "became poor" that He
might lift you up into communion with Himself.
1 John 5:19-20
(19) We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under
the sway of the wicked one. (20) And we know that the Son of God has come and
has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in
Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
The very fact that we know these things—that we are of God, that
Satan is the unseen ruler of this world, and that we know God and His Son Jesus
Christ—is evidence that we have been given an understanding. This knowledge is
not something we have determined on our own; the sovereign God has given it to
us to fulfill His purpose in us. And in His sovereignty He has withheld it from
others.
Other passages, in more specific areas of our profession, show the
uniqueness of our calling to an even greater extent. For example, Paul writes
in II Thessalonians 3:1-2, "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of
the Lord may have free course and be glorified, just as it is with you, and
that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have
[the] faith." From our own experiences we know his statement is true. Not
everyone has faith. It is obvious that some believe and others do not. Even
within the church we are at different stages of faith.
Acts 13:48 adds important ramifications to this subject of God's
sovereignty, our calling, and faith: "Now when the Gentiles heard this, they
were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed
to eternal life believed." The implications of Luke's words are rather
startling. Only those whom God appointed or predestined to eternal life believe
the preaching of Paul and Barnabas! The rest, though they also hear the word of
the Lord, persecute and expel them from the region. They do not believe what
they hear, and it angers rather than converts them. We must conclude that God
triggers something in the minds of those He calls, making the Lord's words
agreeable, so they will believe what they are hearing.
This agrees perfectly with Ephesians 1:5—"[God] predestined us to
adoption as sons by [through] Jesus Christ"—and Romans 8:29-30, which
explicitly states the whole panorama of His purpose:
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the
image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover
whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also
justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
God has the whole process planned out, and He is so confident of
His ability to accomplish it that He perceives it as already done! He knows the
end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10).
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Sovereignty of God: Part Six
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daily devotional
Evening...
Deuteronomy 32:5 The spot of His children.
What is the secret spot which infallibly betokens the child of God? It were
vain presumption to decide this upon our own judgment; but God's word reveals
it to us, and we may tread surely where we have revelation to be our guide.
Now, we are told concerning our Lord, "to as many as received Him, to them gave
He power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed on His name."
Then, if I have received Christ Jesus into my heart, I am a child of God. That
reception is described in the same verse as believing on the name of Jesus
Christ. If, then, I believe on Jesus Christ's name-that is, simply from my
heart trust myself with the crucified, but now exalted, Redeemer, I am a member
of the family of the Most High. Whatever else I may not have, if I have this, I
have the privilege to become a child of God. Our Lord Jesus puts it in another
shape. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Here is
the matter in a nutshell. Christ appears as a shepherd to His own sheep, not to
others. As soon as He appears, His own sheep perceive Him-they trust Him, they
are prepared to follow Him; He knows them, and they know Him-there is a mutual
knowledge-there is a constant connection between them. Thus the one mark, the
sure mark, the infallible mark of regeneration and adoption is a hearty faith
in the appointed Redeemer. Reader, are you in doubt, are you uncertain whether
you bear the secret mark of God's children? Then let not an hour pass over your
head till you have said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart." Trifle not
here, I adjure you! If you must trifle anywhere, let it be about some secondary
matter: your health, if you will, or the title deeds of your estate; but about
your soul, your never-dying soul and its eternal destinies, I beseech you to be
in earnest. Make sure work for eternity.
Morning...
Luke 14:10 Friend, go up higher.
When first the life of grace begins in the soul, we do indeed draw near to
God, but it is with great fear and trembling. The soul conscious of guilt, and
humbled thereby, is overawed with the solemnity of its position; it is cast to
the earth by a sense of the grandeur of Jehovah, in whose presence it stands.
With unfeigned bashfulness it takes the lowest room. But, in after life, as the
Christian grows in grace, although he will never forget the solemnity of his
position, and will never lose that holy awe which must encompass a gracious man
when he is in the presence of the God who can create or can destroy; yet his
fear has all its terror taken out of it; it becomes a holy reverence, and no
more an overshadowing dread. He is called up higher, to greater access to God
in Christ Jesus. Then the man of God, walking amid the splendours of Deity, and
veiling his face like the glorious cherubim, with those twin wings, the blood
and righteousness of Jesus Christ, will, reverent and bowed in spirit, approach
the throne; and seeing there a God of love, of goodness, and of mercy, he will
realize rather the covenant character of God than His absolute Deity. He will
see in God rather His goodness than His greatness, and more of His love than of
His majesty. Then will the soul, bowing still as humbly as aforetime, enjoy a
more sacred liberty of intercession; for while prostrate before the glory of
the Infinite God, it will be sustained by the refreshing consciousness of being
in the presence of boundless mercy and infinite love, and by the realization of
acceptance "in the Beloved." Thus the believer is bidden to come up higher, and
is enabled to exercise the privilege of rejoicing in God, and drawing near to
Him in holy confidence, saying, "Abba, Father."
"So may we go from strength to strength,
And daily grow in grace,
Till in Thine image raised at length,
We see Thee face to face."
Amos 2:6-8
(New King James Version)
(6) Thus says the LORD:
“ For three transgressions of Israel, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they sell the righteous for silver,
And the poor for a pair of sandals.
(7) They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head
of the poor,
And pervert the way of the humble.
A man and his father go in to the same girl,
To defile My holy name.
(8) They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge,
And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
The Israelites' immorality fell into three major areas:
1) Indifference to and oppression of the poor.
2) Covetousness displayed by placing primary importance on
material possessions.
3) Unrestricted promotion of self-advantage—doing anything to
anyone to get their way.
The Hebrew words for poor are very similar to our "underdog."
Amos uses two different words, 'ebyôn and dal, to designate the poor (see Amos
4:1). 'Ebyôn usually designates the very poor, and dal describes the lowest
social class. However, both words connote "wanting because of oppression or
exploitation" and refer to the weaker members of society. To God the poor are
those without the worldly resources or connections to defend themselves. As a
result of their weakness, the wicked look upon the poor as fair game to exploit
(Isaiah 10:1-2). Today, "poor" could refer to the small businessman or consumer
at the mercy of the huge corporations, or the "little guy" under the thumb of
"big" government.
One of the means of oppression was the courts, and Amos
frequently shows how the poor "took it on the chin" within the "justice"
system. In a lawsuit the guilty party, one of the "strong," bribed the judge,
who found the innocent person—the weak—guilty (Isaiah 5:23). As so often
happens today in America, the ancient Israelites shunned out-of-court
settlements. They went to court even over minor matters because their chances
for a larger settlement were better.
When a person was found guilty by the court, he, of course, had
to pay a fine. If he did not have enough in his pocket to pay it, he could pay
in produce. For example, a vintner could pay in wine. The victors then took
their winnings—"the wine of the condemned"—and partied (Amos 2:8). They had
turned into self-centered parasites who lived by the code, "get the other guy
before he gets you." Israelites can be a mercenary, unmerciful lot of people.
Obviously, God was not happy with this system of justice, and it
is even worse now. Today's "wine of the condemned" awarded to the injured
party—reaching into the millions of dollars—goes mostly for exorbitant lawyer
and court fees. Governments of all sizes include expected fines from
lawbreakers in their budgets.
In addition, Israelites coveted real estate to the ridiculous
extent that the buyer begrudged the small amount of dust the seller threw on
his head to symbolize his grief over losing his ancestral properties (Amos
2:7). In a similar vein, God accuses the Jews of moving the boundaries between
parcels of land (Hosea 5:10). In those days, instead of driving a stake into
the ground to mark their property lines, landowners set up pillars of stones on
the boundaries. God pictures the Jews kicking the boundary stones over a few
feet when no one is looking. They may have justified it with, "Doesn't
everybody do it?" but it was still outright theft.
Because the strong could so easily exploit the weak, land and
wealth in Israel fell into fewer and fewer hands. God cries, "Woe to those who
join house to house, who add field to field, till there is no place where they
may dwell alone in the midst of the land!" (Isaiah 5:8).
It is no different than today's big international combines buying
up farmland and displacing farmers, who must then find jobs, usually in urban
areas. How soon we have forgotten that small family farms played a large role
in keeping the United States economically and socially stable for generations!
America's agrarian heartland was the backbone of the nation. We need to be
aware that the resulting instability will lead us down the same path of
destruction as it did Israel!
"They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge" (Amos
2:8). Under the Old Covenant, a person's cloak could be taken as security for a
loan, but Exodus 22:26-27 shows that it was to be returned every evening if it
doubled as his blanket at night. God considers keeping a poor man's coat
overnight as taking advantage of him.
Remember, our judgment from God largely depends on how we treat
our fellow man (Matthew 25:33-46). Good relationships with others are vital to
maintaining a good relationship with God (Matthew 5:23-24). This means we must
always do the right things toward others no matter how much it hurts us (Psalm
15:4) or how they might react (Matthew 5:44-45).
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Prepare to Meet Your God! (The Book of Amos) (Part One)
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