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January 7 - January 13, 2020
While we have not escaped the influence of our old sinful nature, those who have trusted in Jesus Christ have received a new nature. We have within us the Spirit of almighty God, whose mission and purpose is to transform us.
He or she must learn from mistakes and must appreciate that commitments are commitments: when one’s word is given, it must also be kept.
There you are again—there I am again—coming back to the Lord saying, “Here I am, Lord, bringing before You what I have done yet again.”
Isn’t it funny how our rationalizations grow to be so familiar that we become blinded to how absurd we sound?
And in response, God favored Abimelech and his household.
The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words. 1 THESSALONIANS 4:16-18
The time has already been established for the promise of His return to be fulfilled.
Here are some universal promises: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “Anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).
“Those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance. ECCLESIASTES 3:1-4
special. Humanity is extraordinary because we bear the image of God.
When God established His covenant with Abraham and formalized it with a covenant-cutting ceremony, He commanded circumcision as a sign of the boy’s participation in God’s plan.
Don’t clutch. Don’t cling. Our children are not really ours. They came at His appointed time, and they will live out their days according to His plan . . . and then they will leave at His appointed time.
Remember that God is never accidentally late. His plan unfolds right on time, even though on our timetable, the next step has been delayed for a long time. From our perspective, God’s actions come later than what we want or expect. But His timing is perfect—He’s never too late. And when we finally receive what we desire most, we will see that no time earlier and no time later would have been right.
Forget about your own schedule and plans. Your agenda cannot take into account all the details that affect other people, and you cannot see how future events will unfold. Fortunately, God has the perspective we lack, and He loves us more than we love ourselves. So His plan will give us greater joy than anything we could devise for ourselves. It could be said, then, that God answers the prayers we would pray if we could see what He sees.
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers. Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs, That just because he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care. Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.[48]
SOME OF THE MOST comforting words in the world are God forgives our sins.
Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. . . . His unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. PSALM 103:2-4; 11-12
While God forgives our sins and wipes the slate clean in terms of our relationship with Him, our wrongdoing may have lingering consequences with others.
“Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you.
You will no longer remember the shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood. For your Creator will be your [mate]; the LORD of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth. For the LORD has called you back from your grief— as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband,” says your God. ISAIAH 54:4-6
God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.” Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. GENESIS 21:17-19
Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. PSALM 68:5-6
Take your eyes off other people, and stop looking to them for what you need.
Whatever your sin, whatever your struggle, God is greater.
He didn’t understand the situation, but he knew the righteous character of his God, and he believed the promise He had made.
It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him.
Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. HEBREWS 11:17-19
As Abraham begins to speak, his words cast light on his previous silence. Amid the anguish that the reader has read into Abraham’s silence, there is now also a silent confidence in the Lord, who will provide.[54]
God would indeed see to a Lamb for Himself. His own Son would become the atoning sacrifice to free us from the death we deserve as a consequence for our sin.
Isaac trusted his father implicitly. He never doubted his father’s love, and he obviously didn’t fear death.
1. What you cling to is usually what God asks you to release.
He rewards risky faith with blessings beyond our ability to guess.
Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou
mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus’ name, Amen.[57]
“There isn’t any secret. It was only God that kept us together.”
Sarah would be the first ancestor of a new nation to be buried in a Hebrew tomb.
Abraham reassured the servant that his mission contributed to a divine plan and would, therefore, receive God’s guidance: “The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his
angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son” (Genesis 24:7).
“If she is unwilling to come back with you, then you are free from this oath of mine. But under no circumstances are you to take my son there” (Genesis 24:8).
Hear and heed the counsel of godly parents.
Today we associate camels with the Middle East, but domesticated camels were not common during Abraham’s time. Since they were rare and made ideal pack animals for long journeys, each beast represented a small fortune.
“O LORD, God of my master, Abraham,” he prayed. “Please
give me success today, and show unfailing love to my master, Abraham. See, I am standing here beside this spring, and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. This is my request. I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’—let her be the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.” GENESIS 24:12-14
Saturate the entire process in prayer.
Eliezer didn’t have the advantages of Scripture to read or the inward leading of the Holy Spirit. He did, however, have Abraham’s promise that God would provide supernatural leading.
Look for qualities that reveal true character.
