You will never have a problem-free life. Pigs might fly. A kangaroo might swim. Men might surrender the remote control. Women might quit buying purses. It’s not likely, but it’s possible. But a problem-free, no-hassle existence of smooth sailing? Don’t hold your breath. All people have problems, but not all people see problems the same way. Some are left bitter; others are left better. Some face their challenges with fear, others with faith. What about you?
The Psalmist asked, ”Why are you downcast, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?” The struggles of life threatened to pull him under. But at just the right time, the writer made this decision: “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him!” A deliberate decision to treat his downcast soul with thoughts of God. When troubles come, we can be stressed and upset…or we can trust God!
From Glory Days
Acts 7:44-60
“Our ancestors carried the Tabernacle[a] with them through the wilderness. It was constructed according to the plan God had shown to Moses. 45 Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it stayed there until the time of King David.
46 “David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob.[b] 47 But it was Solomon who actually built it. 48 However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,
49 ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Could you build me a temple as good as that?’
asks the Lord.
‘Could you build me such a resting place?
50 Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’[c]
51 “You stubborn people! You are heathen[d] at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”
54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.[e] 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56 And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”
57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him 58 and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.[f]
59 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.
Footnotes:
7:44 Greek the tent of witness.
7:46 Some manuscripts read the house of Jacob.
7:49-50 Isa 66:1-2.
7:51 Greek uncircumcised.
7:54 Greek they were grinding their teeth against him.
7:58 Saul is later called Paul; see 13:9.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Read: Genesis 29:14-30
Laban exclaimed, “You really are my own flesh and blood!”
Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel
After Jacob had stayed with Laban for about a month, 15 Laban said to him, “You shouldn’t work for me without pay just because we are relatives. Tell me how much your wages should be.”
16 Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. 17 There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes,[a] but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face. 18 Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”
19 “Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.” 20 So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.
21 Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can sleep with her.”
22 So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast. 23 But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. 24 (Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.)
25 But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”
26 “It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied. 27 “But wait until the bridal week is over; then we’ll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me.”
28 So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. 29 (Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.) 30 So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years.
Footnotes:
29:17 Or Leah had dull eyes, or Leah had soft eyes. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Beyond Disappointment
By Tim Gustafson
Hope in the Lord and keep his way.
Psalm 37:34
Perhaps you’ve seen the video of the little boy who learns he’s getting another sister. In the middle of his meltdown he laments, “It’s always girls, girls, girls, girls!”
The story gives an amusing glimpse into human expectations, but there’s nothing funny about disappointment. It saturates our world. One story from the Bible seems especially steeped in disappointment. Jacob agreed to work 7 years for the right to marry his boss’s daughter Rachel. But after fulfilling his contract, Jacob got a wedding night surprise. In the morning he discovered not Rachel but her sister Leah.
Jesus brings justice & restores hope.
We focus on Jacob’s disappointment, but imagine how Leah must have felt! What hopes and dreams of hers began to die that day as she was forced to marry a man who did not love or want her?
Psalm 37:4 tells us, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Are we to believe that God-fearing people are never disappointed? No, the psalm clearly shows that the writer sees injustice all around him. But he takes the long view: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (v. 7). His conclusion: “The meek will inherit the land” (v. 11).
In the end, it was Leah whom Jacob honored and buried in the family grave plot with Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah (Gen. 49:31). And it was through the lineage of Leah—who in life thought she was unloved—that God blessed the world with our Savior. Jesus brings justice, restores hope, and gives us an inheritance beyond our wildest dreams.
Lord, sometimes it’s so hard to wait patiently for good things. Forgive us for comparing ourselves to others and for complaining about what we don’t have. Help us meet You in a new way today.
Jesus is the only friend who never disappoints.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Direction of Focus
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters…, so our eyes look to the Lord our God… —Psalm 123:2
This verse is a description of total reliance on God. Just as the eyes of a servant are riveted on his master, our eyes should be directed to and focused on God. This is how knowledge of His countenance is gained and how God reveals Himself to us (see Isaiah 53:1). Our spiritual strength begins to be drained when we stop lifting our eyes to Him. Our stamina is sapped, not so much through external troubles surrounding us but through problems in our thinking. We wrongfully think, “I suppose I’ve been stretching myself a little too much, standing too tall and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person.” We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
For example, you came to a crisis in your life, took a stand for God, and even had the witness of the Spirit as a confirmation that what you did was right. But now, maybe weeks or years have gone by, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion— “Well, maybe what I did showed too much pride or was superficial. Was I taking a stand a bit too high for me?” Your “rational” friends come and say, “Don’t be silly. We knew when you first talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, that you couldn’t hold up under the strain. And anyway, God doesn’t expect you to endure.” You respond by saying, “Well, I suppose I was expecting too much.” That sounds humble to say, but it means that your reliance on God is gone, and you are now relying on worldly opinion. The danger comes when, no longer relying on God, you neglect to focus your eyes on Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden stop will you realize that you have been the loser. Whenever there is a spiritual drain in your life, correct it immediately. Realize that something has been coming between you and God, and change or remove it at once.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us. Disciples Indeed, 388 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Orders Remain Unchanged - #7532
When you visit Washington, D.C., you're bound to see the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building. But there's this one side trip to Northern Virginia that's probably the most humbling stop you'll make. It's Arlington National Cemetery where this endless sea of white crosses reminds an American of the high price of freedom. That price is beautifully dramatized every hour at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier-with the Changing of the Guard.
Tomb Guard sentinels are from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, traditionally known as "The Old Guard." These sentinels are considered to be the best of the elite regiment. In this elaborate but reverent ceremony, the Relief Commander and the relieving sentinel meet the retiring sentinel guard. The Relief Commander orders the relieved sentinel to "Pass on your orders." The sentinel who is being relieved says, "Post and orders remain as directed." To which the newly posted sentinel replies, "Orders acknowledged." In other words, orders remain unchanged. Since this duty began decades ago, the orders have not changed. They have always stayed the same. They always will.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Orders Remain Unchanged."
Two thousand years ago, on a hill overlooking Jerusalem, Jesus gave His final orders to eleven men into whose hands He was entrusting the mission that cost Him His life. Our word for today from the Word of God, Mark 16:15, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Now Luke tells us that the Lord ordered "You shall be My witnesses," from the city where they were to the ends of the earth.
The orders to Jesus' first soldiers were clear-you are to pour your lives into getting the Good News about Jesus to as many people as possible. And the orders remain unchanged...even if the world we live in is very changed.
Today, those of us who belong to Jesus are surrounded by battles to fight: Pornography, abortion, family disintegration, immorality in the media, crises of character in the lives of our religious leaders, our political leaders, our culture that has forgotten God. And that's just the beginning of the list. Some believers are so self-absorbed they're just sleeping through the whole thing. Other believers just shake their heads in anger and disgust over the mess and lament the problems, "It don't make any difference."
But this is a time for action, especially with the world looking more and more like the world Jesus said He would return to. It feels as if both armies-the armies of the light and the armies of darkness-are fully mobilized for what may be some of the last climactic battles for people's lives. So, which battles shall we fight? And what weapons shall we use? Political action? Attacks on the evils of our culture?
The Master's orders remain unchanged. "Go and preach the Gospel." How did the first century believers do battle against the evils of their day? Little baby girls left in jars on street corners to die, people torn apart by animals for Sunday afternoon entertainment, Christians burned as torches in Nero's gardens. You don't find much of a trace of the original Christians mounting a campaign against the sins of their culture.
What you do find is the original believers presenting Jesus Christ wherever they can. And city after city is rocked by the impact of believers who knew their orders and understood that as the Bible says, "the Gospel of Christ is the power of God for salvation" (Romans 1:16). The cultures are changed when individuals are changed by Jesus from the inside out!
Now, we need to be salt and light wherever God puts us, and stand against what breaks His heart. But we must never let our primary resources go to that which will, at best, bring about only temporary change-and leave people living better but still headed for a hopeless, Christless eternity.
Our moral outrage needs to be turned into more outreach! Only new creations will change a dying culture! So, as the orders have passed from Jesus to His first eleven soldiers, and now down through the centuries to us, our Master's orders remain unchanged.
Change the world by getting out the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ!
