Tag Archives: Obedience

2013 Day 81 – Deuteronomy 5-7, Psalm 41

22 Friday Mar 2013

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The message of salvation is not lost in what Moses is telling the Israelites. While God’s grace provides us freedom from sin, out of our love for God, we must work to keep His commandments and show honor to Him. Deuteronomy 6:17-18 says, 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the Lord ’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. The key phrase in verse 18 is “so that it may go well with you”. It’s not about salvation, it’s about perseveration of who God wants us to be so we may be blessed in this life by Him.

2013 Day 74 – Number 28-30, Psalm 36

15 Friday Mar 2013

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The reminder of the importance of our vows in Numbers 30 was very powerful to me this morning. I think we have become a society of “best effort” individuals with a lack of real commitment. We worry more about our personal happiness over making a true commitment to tough it out when things get a little sour. This is not to say there are not reasons to break off relationships at times under the proper circumstances, but I do think there needs to be more of an effort given to things, such as marriage, when we stand before God and make a commitment. Thankfully, I am blessed beyond measure with my wife of 17 years, but I would like to think I would do everything within my power to keep the vows I’ve made to her under any circumstance.

2013 Day 71 – Numbers 22-24, Psalm 34

12 Tuesday Mar 2013

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You can’t help but laugh a little when you read the interaction between Balaam and his donkey in Numbers 22:28-33, 28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” 29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.” 30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” “No,” he said. 31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. 32 The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. 33The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.” The lesson for us in this reading is that God will open up our eyes when necessary, but we need to be aware of the way situations open and close for us. When there is a blocked path in front of us and all we want to do is plow through it, we should pay attention to why it is there. We need to trust in God’s leading no matter how much it may not make sense to us.

2013 Day 69 – Numbers 15-17, Psalm 32

10 Sunday Mar 2013

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The verse that stood out to me today was Psalm 32:9, Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. We are to allow God to guide us step by step instead of driving ourselves in a direction that doesn’t give us any options. We should never force ourselves into a place where God’s only alternative is to discipline and punish us into obedience.

2013 Day 68 – Numbers 11-14, Psalm 31

09 Saturday Mar 2013

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Two verses stood out to me in today’s reading. The first was Numbers 11:23, The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?, you will now see whether or not what I say will come true.” How often do we not trust in The Lord and act as though He is unable to reach the problems we face in life. Let us not act as though God is unable and begin to understand that sometimes God is unwilling because He ultimately knows better than us.

The second verse that stood out to me today was Numbers 14:18, ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ God is very slow to anger. While God is merciful and shows us grace for our imperfect lives, continued rebellion will eventually lead to consequences. God will always forgive us, but He will never allow us to blatantly continue disobedience of Him.

2013 Day 67 – Numbers 8-10, Psalm 30

08 Friday Mar 2013

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We are now approaching the Israelite’s first attempt to cross into the promised land. Though we know how this will turn out, it is important to see where the Israelites went wrong. Ultimately, it was not because they were afraid; fear is a normal human emotion. They failed because they didn’t trust in the creator of the universe. If we look at Numbers 10:35, Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord ! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.” Moses knew God’s power and understood God needed to lead them in all they set out to do. This is a lesson to us all. We cannot expect to be victorious in all God has asked us to do if we don’t put God up in front of our lives. We must start by placing God in front of every step. This sounds impossible, but God never asked for perfection, He asked for obedience.

2013 Day 57 – Leviticus 19-21, Proverbs 16:17-33

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

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Today’s reading is summed up in the first two verses in Leviticus 19:1-2, The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Everything that is described and commanded in today’s reading is meant to bring the Israelites closer to God. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross bridges that gap for us, but the commandment in verse 2, ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.’ still holds true to us today as believers. We must keep all this in mind in everything we do.

2013 Day 48 – Acts 19-21, Proverbs 12:15-28

17 Sunday Feb 2013

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From today’s reading, Acts 20:24, However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. Our lives are meant for the service of our King. Too often we feel our lives are worthless unless we are getting a lot out of it; whether its fun, recognition, or success. Paul’s example shows it is more important what we put into this life than what we get out of it. What is more important to you: what you get out of this life or what you put into it?

2013 Day 46 – Acts 13-15, Proverbs 11:16-31

15 Friday Feb 2013

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Today’s reading in the book of Acts focused on the beginning of Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles. While there are many examples of this throughout this book, what stood out to me the most was the Apostle’s perseverance. Though they were rejected, misunderstood, and even beaten at times, they never lost sight of what they were doing, why they were doing it, and Who they were doing it for. May we all keep our eyes on our purpose in life. We are here to serve God by serving people and to draw them closer to Him; everything else is of less importance.

The other important thing to remember is that we are here to work and it is for God’s glory, not ours, that we do what we do. If we do His work and find it to be a thankless job, then we are right where we need to be. Our reward and thanks are in heaven. This is one of the hardest things I personally need to accept, but it is exactly the intent and purpose of my existence here on earth.

2013 Day 45 – Lent For Everyone

14 Thursday Feb 2013

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For our reflection day this week, I came across a friend of mine’s Facebook post about lent. It originated out of YouVersion as far as I can tell (hopefully no one will sue me for posting this). It was very thought provoking to me so I thought I would share it here. I hope you enjoy it.

Lent for everyone

We know very, very little about Joseph. Some legends make him an old man who died while Jesus was growing up, but we don’t know that for sure. We know he worked in the building trade, including what we call carpentry. We know he could trace his ancestry back to the ancient royal house of David and Solomon (many first-century Jews knew their family history as well as many today know the story of their favorite soap opera, or the fortunes of their football team). And we know that Joseph faced a unique personal and moral challenge, and came through it with integrity and humility. Joseph, in this passage, provides a sharply personal angle for us to approach Matthew’s gospel.

Think how it was for him. Marriage beckons, quite likely arranged by the two families but none the less an exciting prospect. A home. Children. A new status in the community — in a small town where everyone knows everyone else and where, without television, everybody else’s life is part of a complex daily soap opera.

And then the shock. Mary has news for him, news to send a chill down the spine of any prospective husband. How can he possibly believe her strange story? What will people say? So he plans, with a heavy heart, to call the whole thing off.

Then, the dream. Mary’s story is true. What’s more, she and her child are caught up, not just in a personal challenge, but in a much older, stranger purpose. God’s purpose. God’s rescue operation, long expected and at last coming true. The child to be born will be ‘Emmanuel’, God-with-us. God with us to save us: hence the name ‘Jesus’, the same word as ‘Joshua’, the great leader who brought the people of Israel across the Jordan into the promised land. The name means ‘Yahweh saves’. God with us; God to the rescue.

Whenever God does something new, he involves people — often unlikely people, frequently surprised and alarmed people. He asks them to trust him in a new way, to put aside their natural reactions, to listen humbly for a fresh word and to act on it without knowing exactly how it’s going to work out. That’s what he’s asking all of us to do this Lent. Reading the Bible without knowing in advance what God is going to say takes humility. Like Joseph, we may have to put our initial reactions on hold and be prepared to hear new words, to think new thoughts, and to live them out. We all come with our own questions, our own sorrows and frustrations, our own longings. God will deal with them in his own way, but he will do so as part of his own much larger and deeper purposes. Who knows what might happen, this year, if even a few of us were prepared to listen to God’s word in scripture in a new way, to share the humility of Joseph, and to find ourselves caught up in God’s rescue operation?

TODAY: Speak to us, Father, in a new way as we read your word. Help us to hear your voice and follow where you lead.