Daily Devotions

It is well known that the Book of Psalms is a collection of prayers, poems, and hymns that focus the worshiper’s thoughts on God in praise and adoration. Parts of this book were used as a hymnal in the worship services of ancient Israel. The musical heritage of the psalms is demonstrated by its title. The word Psalms comes from a Greek word which means "a song sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument.”

Individual psalms come from diverse periods of Israel’s history, but at every stage they served as the songbook of God’s people. David wrote about half of the Psalms. His role as king was more than that of a ruler. He was to represent and even embody the people, and their well-being presented through his faithfulness. As such, David writes as a representative, and the readers must discern whether the emphasis of a psalm is more on his role as ruler or more on his role as ideal Israelite, in which he is an example for all. The historical occasions mentioned in the psalm titles help the reader see how faith applies to real-life situations.

There are number of themes addressed in the Psalms with the collection of hymns including, Laments, Hymns of praise, thanksgiving and celebrations of God’s law. As with laments, there are community and individual thanksgiving psalms. Others could be described as Wisdom psalms, Songs of confidence, which enable worshipers to deepen their trust in God amid difficult circumstances and Royal Psalms that relate to the Monarchy and the Messiah. The final two categories are Historical and Prophetic psalms.

Psalms 91 is perhaps one of the noblest in the whole collection. "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." This Psalm stands out from the others because of the beautiful word pictures the author creates. If Psalm 23 is a loving shepherd, Psalm 91 is a loving protector and defender.

On very hot days, where do you find relief? In the shade! The shadow cast by a large object or building allows us to hide from the intense heat of the sun. Verse 1 says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” Debbie McDaniel writes, “Shadows, by definition are a place of protection or covering, they provide relief from the direct heat of the sun. If the heat is severe, the shadow is the place we run to … when we are resting in God’s shadow, we will never face the full heat of our difficulties. He shelters us from that pain”

Prayer of Saint Boniface (672-754) 

Eternal God, the refuge and help of all your children,

we praise you for all you have given us,

for all you have done for us,

for all that you are to us.

In our weakness, you are strength,

in our darkness, you are light,

in our sorrow, you are comfort and peace.

We cannot number your blessings,

we cannot declare your love:

For all your blessings we bless you.

May we live as in your presence,

and love the things that you love,

and serve you in our daily lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 

Daily Devotions

No doubt we have all heard the title, “Job's Comforter” - a person who aggravates distress under the guise of giving comfort. Such was circumstance that Job of the Old Testament faced.

The story of Job is a famous tale which shows how devotion to God can sustain a person through any adversity. The character of Job from the Bible is now virtually synonymous with suffering, as he becomes the focus of a wager between God and Satan as to how much someone can suffer and still remain loyal to God.

Job is presented as such a good man that God boasts about him in a conversation with Satan. Satan is then given permission to test how faithful Job would be if he had to endure loss, grief, and pain. Job’s friends come to bring comfort to Job, but fail miserably. After an extended series of dialogues between Job and four friends, God speaks and Job’s good fortunes return. Questions about why good people like Job suffer are left unanswered, but Job’s relationship with God is renewed.

 In Job 38 we read “And now, finally, God answered Job from the eye of a violent storm. He said, “Why do you confuse the issue? Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about? Pull yourself together, Job! Up on your feet! Stand tall! I have some questions for you, and I want some straight answers.

Some neuroscientists go so far as to say that we have one brain but two minds—or even, two people living inside our mind. There’s the version of us that acts on impulse and seeks immediate gratification, and the version of us that controls our impulses and delays gratification to protect our long-term goals. They’re both us, but we switch back and forth between these two selves. Sometimes we identify with the person who wants to lose weight, and sometimes we identify with the person who just wants that delicious slice of cake. 

This is what defines a willpower challenge: Part of you wants one thing, and another part of you wants something else. Or your present self wants one thing, but your future self would be better off if you did something else. When these two selves disagree, one version of us has to override the other. A. W. Tozer says “True obedience is the refusal to compromise in any regard our relationship with God, regardless of the consequences.” 

Eternal One, whose thoughts and ways are not ours,

you alone are God, awesome, holy, and most high.

School us in the ways of faith and wisdom,

that we, like Job,

may learn to truly see and hear,

and in humility find blessing. Amen.

Daily Devotions

Esther is one of the more exciting yet curious books in the Bible. The story is set over 100 years after the Babylonian exile of the Israelites from their land. While some Jews did return to Jerusalem, many did not. The book of Esther is about a Jewish community living in Susa, the capital city of the ancient Persian empire. The main characters are two Jews, Mordecai and his niece Esther. Then there is the king of Persia and the Persian official Haman, the cunning villain.

This is a curious book because God is never mentioned, not once. This may strike you as odd because the Bible is supposed to be a book about God. However, this is a brilliant technique by the anonymous author. It’s an invitation to read the story looking for God’s activity, and there are signs of it everywhere. The story is full of odd coincidences and ironic reversals that force you to see God’s purpose at work behind every scene.

Have you ever wondered why you are in a particular situation at a particular time? You may have found yourself caught in the middle of a conflicting relationships. Or you may have found yourself  in a highly dysfunctional environment.

Esther finds herself in such a position; we read, “Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? Esther 4:14

It’s hard to imagine a more stressful position than Esther’s. She rose from obscurity into a position of power and prestige. Yet whatever glitz and glamor she may have enjoyed it quickly turned to terror when she learned of a plot to kill her people. Esther faced a dilemma: should she risk her life, revealing her true identity in order to save her people? Or should she preserve her life while her people perished? Her cousin Mordecai suggested that she may have placed her in a posi­tion of authority especially to save her people.

Where you are is no accident. God has placed you there for a purpose! Granted, your setting may not be as dramatic as Esther’s, but God’s purposes are no less significant. You might be in a position to speak the very words a someone else needs to hear today. You might mediate a conflict that has been brewing for weeks. You might be the one who helps an another reach their full potential. For the disciple of Jesus, God who has chosen us and continues to choose us to do his work!

Sovereign God, thank you for placing us where we are today. Reveal to us how we might be an instrument of your sovereign will. In Jesus, Amen.

Daily Devotions

The Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, largely takes the form of a first-person memoir by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and concerns the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws.

Few people are familiar with the Biblical figure Nehemiah, and yet he was instrumental in the rebuilding and reestablishment of Jerusalem in the fifth century B.C. following the Babylonian exile. 

Nehemiah served as the king’s cupbearer,  which evidently put him in a position to speak to the king and request favours from him. After hearing about the sad state of affairs in Judah, Nehemiah acquired the king’s permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and its fortifications. He is even given letters from the king to ensure safe passage and to obtain timber from the king’s forest for the gates and walls of Jerusalem.

There are a number of lessons the church can learn from the book of Nehemiah. 

- Identify the need

- Plan carefully

• Face opposition and frustrations
• Work as a team
• Leading through service
• Showing faith and commitment
• Persevere and maintain the faith

Nehemiah was a faithful intercessor. In chapter 1:10-11 we read, “We are your servants, the people you rescued by your great power. O Lord, please hear my prayer! Heed the prayers of those of us who delight to honour you.”

Nehemiah had a burden for his people, for the broken city of Jerusalem. He wept, He cared with a passion. He had a vision of what could be and his first step was important. He didn’t race to Jerusalem and try to go at it alone. He didn’t start mapping out a plan to find the solution. He didn’t take the burden to people. He knew where the burden came from and he took the burden to the only one who knew it fully and had power to see it through. Nehemiah went to the Lord and prayed.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Let us learn to think of tears as liquid prayers, and of weeping as a constant dropping of importunate intercession which will wear its way right surely into the very heart of mercy, despite the stony difficulties which obstruct the way.”

Lord, thank You for the example of Nehemiah's prayer. May I humble myself before You, remembering that everything I have comes from You. Give me the humility and thankfulness to respond to Your call with "Here I am; send me!" I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Daily Devotions

The book of Ezra provides a much-needed link in the historical record of the Israelite people. When their king was dethroned and captured and the people exiled to Babylon, Judah as an independent nation ceased to exist. The book of Ezra provides an account of the Jews’ regathering, of their struggle to survive and to rebuild what had been destroyed. Through his narrative, Ezra declared that they were still God’s people and that God had not forgotten them.

Through the narrative of Ezra we witness the rebuilding of the new temple, the unification of the returning tribes as they shared common struggles and were challenged to work together. Later, after the original remnant had stopped work on the city walls and spiritual apathy ruled, Ezra arrived with another two thousand people and sparked a spiritual revival. By the end of the book, Israel had renewed its covenant with God and had begun acting in obedience to Him. 

Ezra was a great man—one of the all-time heroes of the faith. He had the will to lead; he had a heart for holiness; he had a mind for biblical truth. The hand of God was on him, and at the same time he had to be faithful to his calling. The measure of the man can be seen in Ezra 7:10 “Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” This verse is one of the Bible’s best summaries of what it means to be a faithful servant of God’s Word.

Dr. Howard Hendricks tells of when he was a student that there was a professor who made an impact on his life. Howard often saw the professor pouring over his books. One day, the student asked him, “Professor, I’d like to know, what is it that keeps you studying? You never cease to learn.” The professor answered: “Son, I would rather have my students drink from a running stream than from a stagnant pool.” That should be the desire of each disciple: to keep those things that God  brings across our path drinking from a running stream of Living water.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the exemplary life of Ezra and the way that he set his heart to know, study, and teach Your Word. Develop in me an increasing desire to study, practice, and share the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ from this day forward, and I pray that I may be used by You to turn the hearts of some who have strayed from the way of salvation, back to Yourself. This I ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.

 

Daily Devotion

Three verse that characterise 2 Chronicles message of honouring the King of Kings are found in 2 Chronicles 7:14-16 where God appears to Solomon and says,  “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

In the original Jewish order of the Bible, the Book of Chronicles (including 1 and 2 Chronicles) is placed as the last book of the Old Testament because it summarises the entire story of God’s work through humanity up until that point in history: The first word of 1 Chronicles is ‘Adam’ and the last chapter of 2 Chronicles leads us to the return from exile (36:22-23).

2 Chronicles covers the time period from Solomon’s rise to the throne and completion of the temple, to the proclamation of Cyrus to rebuild the temple 400 years later. The book virtually ignores the northern kingdom of Israel because of its false worship and refusal to acknowledge the temple in Jerusalem.

In our chosen verses for today, God’s promise of healing and restoration reminds us of His endless love and mercy towards us. It serves as a reminder that no matter how far we may have strayed, there is always an opportunity to turn back to Him and experience His grace. We open the door for God to work in our lives and bring about transformation and renewal by humbling ourselves, praying fervently, seeking God diligently, and repenting from our sins.

Thomas A’ Kempis (1379 - 1471) wrote  “Jesus hath now many lovers of His kingdom, but few bearers of His cross. He hath many desirous of consolation, but few of tribulation. He finds many companions of His table, but few of His abstinence. All desire to rejoice with Him; few are willing to endure anything for Him or with Him. Many follow Jesus unto the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of His passion.”

In the light of our text perhaps we should pray:-

Lord, in many ways, we have turned away from You. We dabble in evil and go to church on Sunday and expect You to bless our land and our families. Forgive us, Lord, for falling into deception and being halfhearted and lukewarm in our commitment to You. We repent of that, Lord, and ask You to give us the strength to stay on the path of righteousness. We seek Your face and Your ways, Lord, and we ask You to heal our land. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Daily Devotions

1 Chronicles retells the story of David, (already familiar from 2 Samuel), for a post exile audience, emphasising David’s preparations for the building of the temple and the establishment of temple worship.

Whilst 1 Chronicles looks like a history of Judah, the southern kingdom, the information presented, seems to be at odds with the earlier presentation of 2 Samuel. In light of this 1 Chronicles should be read as a theological, rather than a historical, rewriting of the earlier history, designed to demonstrate the continuity of David and Solomon’s united monarchy with the struggling post exile community to which the book was addressed.

Although it was the great king Solomon whom God appointed to build the Holy Temple of the Lord, it was David who had the vision to assemble a House for God. David gave generously toward this project, and the hearts of the people were moved to give freely of their goods for this great undertaking. In the midst of much rejoicing and great joy, David made all the necessary preparations for the building of the House of the Lord.

And so it was that together with the children of Israel, David dedicated the silver and gold in preparation for this great undertaking. He collected together all the fine materials that the people had been gathering freely and had donated happily, for the construction of the Temple of God.

When all the preparations had been made, the king blessed the Lord and led the congregation of Israel in a wonderful prayer of blessing, thanksgiving, and jubilant praise, which began, "Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel our Father, forever and ever." For the first time in Scripture, we see the Lord being referred to as 'Father' by the people of God.

David's prayerful song of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord continued in joyous enthusiasm, as he proclaimed with great jubilation, "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom. You are exalted as Head over all." 1 Chronicles 29:11

In a world of turmoil and conflict may we too voice such a prayer that in spite of all the chaos, the Lord alone is worthy of our devotion.

Heavenly Father, we worship and praise You, for the greatness, power, splendour, glory, and majesty are Yours alone. May You be greatly honoured, for You are Head over all things and Judge of all humankind. Thank You for all You have done to redeem our lives, and for bringing us into Your everlasting kingdom. May we never become too familiar with Who it was that gave his all on the cross for love of us. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.