Zechariah 7
Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting
1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, together with their men, to entreat the LORD 3 by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, "Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?" 4 Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: 5 "Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?' "
8 And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: 9 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
11 "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.
13 " 'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty. 14 'I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.'
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Revelation 21
The New Jerusalem
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
January 30, 2008
Wipe Away Tears
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READ: Revelation 21:1-7
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes . . . . There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. —Revelation 21:4 About this cover I had just finished preaching on the heartaches of life, when a couple approached me at the front of the church. The woman told me about the burden they bore as a family. Their young son had severe physical problems, and the strain of the constant care of this needy little guy, coupled with the heartache of knowing they couldn’t improve his situation, sometimes felt unbearable.
As the couple shared, with tears in their eyes, their little daughter stood with them—listening and watching. Seeing the obvious hurt etched by tears on her mother’s face, the girl reached up and gently wiped the tears from her mother’s cheek. It was a simple gesture of love and compassion, and a profound display of concern from one so young.
Our tears often blur our sight and prevent us from seeing clearly. In those moments, it can be an encouragement to have a friend who cares enough to love us in our pain and walk with us in our struggles.
Even though friends can be a help, only Christ can reach beyond our tears and touch the deep hurts of our hearts. His comfort can carry us through the struggles of our lives until that day when God Himself wipes away every tear from our eyes (Rev. 21:4). —Bill Crowder
He knows where the hurt is the deepest,The tears of the night and the day,And whispering softly, “I love you,”He brushes the teardrops away. —Anon.
The God who washed away our sins will also wipe away our tears.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 30, 2008
The Dilemma of ObedienceLISTEN: READ:
Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision —1 Samuel 3:15 About this cover God never speaks to us in dramatic ways, but in ways that are easy to misunderstand. Then we say, "I wonder if that is God’s voice?" Isaiah said that the Lord spoke to him "with a strong hand," that is, by the pressure of his circumstances (Isaiah 8:11). Without the sovereign hand of God Himself, nothing touches our lives. Do we discern His hand at work, or do we see things as mere occurrences?
Get into the habit of saying, "Speak, Lord," and life will become a romance (1 Samuel 3:9). Every time circumstances press in on you, say, "Speak, Lord," and make time to listen. Chastening is more than a means of discipline— it is meant to bring me to the point of saying, "Speak, Lord." Think back to a time when God spoke to you. Do you remember what He said? Was it Luke 11:13 , or was it 1 Thessalonians 5:23? As we listen, our ears become more sensitive, and like Jesus, we will hear God all the time.
Should I tell my "Eli" what God has shown to me? This is where the dilemma of obedience hits us. We disobey God by becoming amateur providences and thinking, "I must shield ’Eli,’ " who represents the best people we know. God did not tell Samuel to tell Eli— he had to decide that for himself. God’s message to you may hurt your "Eli," buttrying to prevent suffering in another’s life will prove to be an obstruction between your soul and God. It is at your own risk that you prevent someone’s right hand being cut off or right eye being plucked out (see Matthew 5:29-30 ).
Never ask another person’s advice about anything God makes you decide before Him. If you ask advice, you will almost always side with Satan. ". . . I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood . . ." (Galatians 1:16 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Incredible Power of a Woman - #5493 Wednesday, January 30, 2008
I don't think women have any idea of the power they have over a man. I mean, I've seen a 250-pound he-men reduced to quivering jelly by this little 95-pound blonde. Most guys can relate to the trauma of trying to work up the courage just to call a girl for a simple date. I've looked at the phone for 45 minutes, rehearsing all these impressive lines and the macho tone I was going to use. But it didn't matter how long I thought about it, when I finally heard that little voice at the other end of the phone say, "Hello," my reply would always come back with this pitiful, "Hello-oo-ooh."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Incredible Power of a Woman."
OK, the secret's out - if it ever was a secret. A woman has incredible power to make a man feel very big inside - or very small. And her own happiness may depend on how she uses that tremendous God-given power.
In our word for today from the Word of God, He addresses this power of a woman to work either the construction crew or the demolitions crew. In Proverbs 14:1, God says, "The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands." In that treasured Proverbs 31 description of the woman God is impressed with, it says, "the heart of her husband trusts in her ... she does him good and not evil all the days of her life ... her husband is known in the gates ... her children rise up and bless her ... her husband also, and he praises her."
Now, this is a woman who clearly builds up her man, and the implication is that he is highly regarded in the community largely because of the kind of woman she is. I understand that. I often tell people that heaven will show that most of whatever contribution I've been able to make is because of the wonderful woman I'm married to. And this woman receives back, according to Proverbs 31, the highest praise and respect from her husband, her children, the people who know them, and from God Himself.
Sadly, Proverbs also talks about a woman who tears down her house with her own hands. I don't think any woman means to do that, but in her frustration, she focuses on what the man in her life is doing wrong much more than what he's doing right. She doesn't understand how her criticism and her attacks wither his confidence and emotionally emasculate him. And in trying to nag and push him to take the leadership he should be taking, she may actually be causing him to doubt himself more and to actually retreat from leading.
And the more dominating and controlling and nagging and critical she becomes, the less the chances he will ever have the confidence to be the leader he ought to be and that she needs for him to be. Now, often in this program, I spend a lot of time talking about a man's responsibilities to a woman, but today we're looking at what the Bible says about that awesome power that a woman has to build up or tear down the man she loves.
The secret is that, well, inside most of us men is a pretty insecure little boy who can blossom or wither, depending in part on the godly wisdom of a woman who loves him. That woman, in the life of any man, has incredible power to make him or to break him.
