You can find my Week 5 Bible Reading Challenge devotional writings below. Click here for more info.
January 26, 2015
Scripture Reading: Exodus
4-6 and Matthew 17:1-20
Devotional:
Yesterday we began Exodus. The
book opens by picking up where we left off in Genesis. Joseph, his brothers, and all of that
generation had died. There is also a new
Pharaoh in Egypt. Where the previous
Pharaoh had been benevolent toward Joseph and the people of Israel, the new
Pharaoh felt threatened by the Israelites and sought to make life difficult for
them.
Today I want us to think about the first six chapters of Exodus in
relation to God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3.
Exodus 1 tells us that the people of Israel were multiplying
rapidly. Pharaoh expressed his concern
in verse 9, "Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for
us." Because the Israelites were
growing in number so quickly, Pharaoh determined to make things more difficult
for them. He even sought to kill the
Hebrew baby boys in an effort to control the population. His efforts proved futile as we are told
"the people multiplied and grew very strong" (vs. 20).
But how does this relate to the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis
12? You will remember that God told
Abraham, "I will make of you a great nation" (Gen. 12:2). He later told him, "Look toward heaven,
and number the stars, if you are able to number them, so shall your offspring
be" (Gen. 15:5). Now in Exodus 1 we
see God keeping His promise. We see Him
multiplying Abraham's offspring in Egypt, even under adverse conditions.
Then look at the end of Exodus 3.
God is giving Moses instructions concerning the exodus from Egypt. In doing so, God promises Moses that He is
going to bless the people of Israel as they leave. They will not leave Egypt empty handed. The women will receive silver, gold, and
clothing from the Egyptians. Now take a
peek at Exodus 12:35-36 where we see that God gave the Israelites favor with
the Egyptians. The Hebrew women received
silver, gold, and clothing just as God had promised.
But what about Genesis 12? How
does this relate? You will also remember
that God told Abraham, "And I will bless you" (Gen. 12:2). The promise was one of material
blessing. We saw God keeping this
promise throughout Genesis, and here in Exodus 3 He continues to show Himself
faithful concerning His promises.
Let's look at one more. Consider
Exodus 6. It is filled with language
that is intended to remind us of the Abrahamic Covenant. First we see God identify Himself to Moses as
the Lord saying, "I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God
Almighty" (vs. 3). Then He refers
to the covenant explicitly, "I also established my covenant with them to
give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners"
(vs. 4).
Though Abraham's descendants were in a foreign land, God had not
forgotten them. The Lord heard the
groaning of the people, and He had determined to do something about it in
accord with His covenant with Abraham (Ex. 6:5-6). He would bless those who bless Israel, and
curse those who dishonor them (Gen. 12:3).
They were His people, and He was their God.
We are about to observe God do something spectacular. His power is about to be on full
display. All of this is in keeping with
His purposes. He will glorify Himself,
and fulfill His promises to His people.
I love studying the Old Testament and seeing the promises of God. I love being reminded that He is a promise
keeping God. He has made a lot of
promises to those who are in Christ. The
New Testament is full of them. It should
bring us great joy to know that He is the same God yesterday, today, and
forever. He has always kept His
promises, and He always will.
Prayer Focus: Spend some
time today thinking about the promises of God.
Give praise to God for the promises He has made. Thank Him in advance with great surety that
He will prove Himself faithful to those promises.
January 27, 2015
Scripture Reading: Exodus
7-8 and Matthew 17:21-18:14
Devotional:
Several times during Jesus' ministry we see the disciples arguing over
who is the greatest. In our New
Testament reading today, Matthew tells us about a time when the disciples came
to Jesus asking, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Maybe Jesus would name Abraham, Moses, or
David. Surely the disciples wondered
where they would find their own names on such a list. After all, they were the ones chosen to be
Jesus' closest followers.
But Jesus surprised them all. He
called over a little child and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you turn
and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." The disciples were probably wondering what in
the world was going on. A child? What could Jesus mean?
Jesus continued, "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
There it is. The secret to
greatness in the kingdom of heaven is humility.
Of course that doesn't seem to fit with the way we typically think about
greatness. It certainly wasn't the
answer the disciples were expecting from Jesus.
It is important to note that Jesus not only spoke to His disciples
about true greatness, He modeled it. In
Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul reminds us of the humility of Jesus in His
leaving heaven to take on flesh and dwell among us. This proved to be the path to exaltation for
Jesus, as Paul writes, "Therefore God has highly exalted him" (Phil.
2:9).
Do you aspire to be great?
Greatness is not a bad desire.
Jesus never condemned His disciples' desire for greatness. Instead He redefined greatness. Greatness is not attaining wealth or
prestige. Greatness is not receiving the
applause of men. Greatness is not having
people to serve you. No, true greatness
is found in humility. True greatness is
found in serving others.
The beautiful truth in all of this is that Jesus not only modeled true
greatness for us, He died to attain it for us.
Let's face it. You and I are not
humble. Even when we appear humble, it
is often false humility. We need the
humility of Jesus. We need His sacrifice
on our behalf, such that God can look on us and see humility rather than
pride. This is possible not because we
are humble, but because we have received the righteousness of Jesus through His
shed blood on the cross.
So strive for true greatness today.
Seek to walk in humility. And
when you fail, look to Jesus, our example and sacrifice.
Prayer Focus: Pray that God
would help you to walk in humility. Pray
that God would help you to cling to Jesus when you fail.
January 28, 2015
Scripture Reading: Exodus
9-10 and Matthew 18:15-35
Devotional:
Matthew 18 is an important chapter because it reminds us of our shared
responsibility to one another in the body of Christ. Jesus first gives instruction regarding how
we should respond when someone sins against us.
He then tells a parable to illustrate the necessity of forgiveness in
our relationships with one another.
So how does Jesus say we should respond to conflict in the church? He lays out four steps for dealing with
issues of sin. The first step is very
informal. You have a conversation with
the person who has wronged you. You
don't go talk to everyone else and build a team of allies. You don't slander this person through
gossip. Instead, you go and speak to
your brother or sister about the situation.
If they repent, the issue is resolved.
The second step becomes a little more involved. Here it is important that you involve one or
two others. Your first attempt at
reconciliation didn't work, so this time you bring along a brother or sister in
Christ to aid in clear communication. We
are all guilty of sometimes not being as clear as we think we are. We may need someone to help us in our conciliatory
efforts.
As Jesus continues, He gets more formal in the instruction given. If your efforts failed in the first two
steps, then you should move to step three and tell it the church. This involves the gathered assembly. The goal is still reconciliation. The hope is that the voices of numerous
people calling this brother or sister to repentance will be heard and
reconciliation will take place.
Finally, Jesus says that when all of these efforts have failed, the
only thing left to do is to treat the unrepentant sinner as an unbeliever. How are we to treat unbelievers? With the love of Christ, calling them to
repentance and faith. Identifying
someone who claimed Christ as an unbeliever is not the action of an individual
believer or church leader. This is the
action of the gathered assembly. It is
the church to whom Christ has given the keys of the kingdom as we saw in
Matthew 16. The hope is still
reconciliation, but at this point those efforts at reconciliation change in how
they look.
What is the good news in all of this?
We do not do it alone. Jesus
promises in verse 20 to be with us when we gather together as His church. This is a comforting reality.
Jesus concludes the chapter with a parable illustrating
forgiveness. How fitting to follow up
his teaching on confronting sin with a section on forgiveness! Forgiveness is not easy. In fact, Peter thought he was being very
generous when he suggested that we should forgive seven times. Jesus said, "No, seventy times
seven." Woah!
The parable is of a man whose debt was forgiven by a king. Immediately after having his own debt
forgiven, he went to his own debtor and demanded payment. When his debtor didn't pay because he
couldn't pay, the man had his debtor thrown into prison. Jesus likens this parable to the way we often
treat forgiveness. We have been forgiven
so much in Christ. How dare we withhold
forgiveness from others!
In this section, we are reminded that we should deal with sin in a
serious manner. We should first remove
the log from our own eyes. We should
then seek repentance of sin among our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we should be prepared to represent Christ
to them by offering forgiveness seventy times seven. The idea is that there should be no limit to
the amount of times we are willing to extend forgiveness.
Challenging and convicting words from Jesus this morning.
Prayer Focus: Pray that God
would help you to take sin seriously, first in your own life, but also in the
lives of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Then pray that God would help you in your efforts at reconciliation and
forgiveness.
January 29, 2015
Scripture Reading: Exodus
11-12 and Matthew 19
Devotional:
We have been reading over the last couple of days about the ten plagues
that God brought upon the people of Egypt. God plagued Egypt in these ways because of
Pharaoh's unwillingness to allow the Israelites to leave. Today we read about the final plague and the
Exodus from Egypt. I want to share a few
thoughts from the narrative of the plagues before we move past it.
One thing that stood out to me as I was reading is the fact that the
magicians of Egypt were able to repeat the first two plagues. Aaron struck the Nile with his staff just as
the Lord had instructed him, and all the water turned to blood. Afterward, God allowed the magicians to
perform the same act by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened as
a result.
The second plague resulted in a swarm of frogs. Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters
of Egypt, and frogs came up and covered the land. Frogs were everywhere! As if that wasn't enough, the magicians
performed the same act by their secret arts.
It is interesting that the magicians were able to do the plague, but
they were unable to reverse it.
Then came the third plague and the magicians were rendered powerless
from there on. At that point, because
they were unable to repeat the plague, the magicians recognized that the plague
had come by the finger of God. Pharaoh's
heart remained hard, and he failed to listen to the magicians' counsel.
I have a lot more questions about all of this than answers. Why did God allow the magicians to perform
the same feat he had done? Why did they
want to? Shouldn't they have
demonstrated their power by reversing the plagues? Why did God decide after two plagues to no
longer allow the magicians the ability to copy His feats?
The narrative leaves these questions unanswered. We do know that God had hardened Pharaoh's
heart at the outset, and was continuing to do so as the plagues
progressed. It was not until the final
plague, the killing of all the firstborn in Egypt, that Pharaoh finally decided
he had had enough.
In all of this we see ten disturbing, yet impressive, displays of God's
power. Nothing will stand in His
way. No one can prevent Him from
accomplishing His purposes. He is not an
angry dictator looking for someone to destroy.
All Pharaoh had to do to make it stop was allow the Israelites to leave
Egypt. But neither is God afraid to pour
out His judgment on those who shake their fists at Him as Pharaoh did in Exodus
7-12.
As we come to the final plague and the Passover celebration in chapter
12, we are given a foreshadowing of something that would take place many years
later. This time God would not take the
life of anyone's firstborn but His own, His only begotten Son. Jesus would lay down His life in the place of
all those who would repent of their sin and believe on His name. He would be our Passover lamb, dying in our
place.
As you think about the judgment of God on Pharaoh and the Egyptians,
don't stop there. Be sure to also
consider the salvation given to the people of Israel. Consider even the numerous warnings and signs
God gave to Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.
Finally, reflect on the salvation that God has given to us in Christ
Jesus. God is a God of holiness, wrath,
and judgment. But He is also a God of
mercy, forgiveness, and salvation.
Rejoice in this God today.
Prayer Focus: Pray that God
would soften your heart toward Him and His Word. Pray that God would continue to remind you of
all you have received in Christ Jesus.
Thank Him for His grace, forgiveness, and salvation.
January 30, 2015
Scripture Reading: Exodus
13-14 and Matthew 20:1-16
Devotional:
Do you ever feel like you've allowed the most jaw-dropping stories in
Scripture to lose their awe factor for you?
Today's reading includes one such story for me. I have been a regular attender in church
since 9 months before I was born. I have
heard the story of Moses parting the Red Sea countless times. In fact, I have heard it so many times that I
must be careful not to skim quickly over Exodus 14 without giving it much
thought.
Maybe you are like me. Maybe
this awesome story of God's power and deliverance doesn't stir your emotions
anymore. Maybe you need some help
thinking about it in a way that fills your heart with worship to the God who
controls every single atom in His creation.
You see, I am talking about the God who spoke everything into
existence. Before He decided to create,
there was nothing but Him. The Godhead
was together in perfect unity and self-sufficiency, but that is all there
was. Then God spoke. And everything we see around us each day came
into existence.
Now, in Exodus 14 there is a massive barrier between God's people and
the safety God desires for them. Pharaoh
and his armies were bearing down on them.
God's people had nowhere to go.
How will they cross the Red Sea?
The people were terrified. Moses
should have left them in Egypt, they thought.
Now they are going to die in the wilderness.
But then God intervenes. The God
who first spoke water into existence, and formed the land in such a way that
gathered the Red Sea together. God
instructed Moses to lift up his staff over the sea. Moses obeyed.
And when he did, God drove back the sea he created with the wind he
created, such that the people of Israel were able to walk through the Red Sea
on dry ground.
Wow! God showed up, and He
showed off. And as if that were not
enough, when the Egyptians attempted to cross after them, God instructed Moses
to stretch out his hand again over the sea.
And when he did, the wind stopped and the waters of the Red Sea crashed
over the Egyptians. The Bible tells us
that not one of them remained.
God reminded the people of Israel that He was their God and they were
His people. They could trust in
Him. Exactly what the future held for
them was uncertain in their minds. But
they could trust in the one who holds the future. He is the one who upholds the universe by the
word of His power. He is Lord over His
creation.
This God is still in control today.
He still upholds the universe by the word of His power. He is still sovereign over every single
atom. Does that create worship in your
heart?
Look, I don't know what is going on in your life. Maybe you just received a terrifying
diagnosis from the doctor. Maybe you
just received news of new life in the womb of one you love. Maybe you just got a new job. Or maybe you just lost your job.
While life is often uncertain and difficult, I want to encourage you to
trust in God. He is sovereign over His
creation, and He cares for His people.
Prayer
Focus:
Pray that God would help you to trust and worship Him today.
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