Habakkuk 1
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.
Habakkuk's Complaint
2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
The Lord 's Answer 5 "Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians, [a] that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;
9 they all come bent on violence. Their hordes [b] advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty men, whose own strength is their god."
Habakkuk's Second Complaint
12 O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians 11 1Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
January 16, 2008
What On Earth Are We Doing?
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READ: 1 Corinthians 10:31–11:1
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31 About this cover “What on earth are you doing?!” You may have heard that phrase when your mom told you to clean your room and found you playing with your toys instead, or maybe when your teacher caught you passing notes in class.
But if God were to ask you this question, how would you respond?
Paul tells us that as followers of Jesus we have been put on this earth to bring glory to God in everything we do. So what should that look like?
God’s glory is the manifestation of all that He is in His unsurpassed, stunning perfection. It is His amazing love, His wide mercy, His deep grace. His glory is seen in His truth, justice, wisdom, and power. To glorify Him means that we have the high privilege of showing Him off in a world that is totally unaware of what He is really like. Acts of mercy to the undeserving, grace to the needy, forgiveness to an offender, living wisely according to His will—all give glorious visibility to the character and quality of our God.
There are a lot of misconceptions floating around about God. It’s our job to let others see what He is really like. And, when they like what they see, let’s be sure to let them know who taught us to live like that. It’s not a good idea to steal God’s glory! —Joe Stowell
FOR FURTHER STUDYRead more about living a life that gives glory to God by visiting this Web site: www.rbc.org/bible_study/strength_for_the_journey/daily/50599.aspx
May our lives be a “show and tell” for God’s glory.
My Utmost For His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 16, 2008
The Voice of the Nature of GodLISTEN: READ:
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ’Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ —Isaiah 6:8 About this cover When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God’s nature, not ours. God providentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the threading of God’s voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is useless to seek another person’s opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him.
The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Boss is Never Away - #5483 Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The saying is about as old as dirt, "While the cat's away, the mice will play." To the extent that's true, the mice don't usually announce that they're planning to exploit the cat's absence, but not so with one business in our town. No, I drove by there the other day and saw a new display on the big sign that's in front of the business. The sign said, "The boss is away, so we will play." Let's hope the boss doesn't come back early. Or maybe we should hope he does.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Boss is Never Away."
The Bible provides that interesting perspective on life as it really is; the God who is the Boss that we all answer to is never away. Which ought to make us think twice about "playing."
It's something Joseph understood very well in the face of unbelievably strong temptation to take a detour from God's path. The story is told in Genesis 39, beginning with verse 2, and it's our word for today from the Word of God. Joseph's jealous brothers have conspired to have him sold into slavery in Egypt. By God's grace, the man who buys Joseph is Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's royal guard. Joseph gets a great job in a very nice place. The kind of situation many of us would have compromised to hang onto. Not Joseph.
The Bible says, "The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered ... when his master saw that the Lord was with him...he put him in charge of his household and entrusted to his care everything he owned." Then comes a very powerful temptation. "Now Joseph was well built and handsome." I think the word in Hebrew is "a hunk" here. "And after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, 'Come to bed with me!' But he refused. 'My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?' And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her."
We're looking at a pretty tempting temptation here: lonely guy, attractive woman throwing herself at him, and he's so trusted that probably no one would ever know except his Boss. Not Potiphar - the Lord God. Though God is nowhere to be seen, Joseph refuses on the basis that he cannot do "such a wicked thing and sin against God."
Temptation is strong at times when we think we're anonymous, when we think no one will know, when sin offers an attractive way to meet some deep need we have. Some tragic, life-scarring mistakes have been made when a person was away from home, on vacation, with their guard down, enjoying some "downtime," or when they were drunk or when they were high. The lie is that what we do when nobody's looking, when we're "off-duty." Hey, it doesn't really count, right? But God is still watching, the calculator is always running, and the consequences are always coming. And God blows away our "I'll get away with it" fantasy with one solemn Biblical guarantee, "Be sure that your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). Just ask David. He took a brief vacation from God, and he said yes to the temptation to sleep with Bathsheba, and he brought misery to himself and his family for the rest of his life.
Message: sin is never worth it. And the Boss you will give account to is never away. The measure of a truly great man or woman of God is what they're like when it seems no one will know. The little plaque in our daughter's home sums it all up brilliantly in five little words that you can base a life on: "Live innocently. God is watching."