Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 30, Deuteronomy 26
The Lord has brought the people out of their slavery in Egypt, and now He is bringing them into this blessed land flowing with milk and honey. The commanded response, as well as the logical response of gratitude, is to offer back to God some of the fruit of this land – and not just any of the fruit, but the first fruits. Giving first fruits demonstrates faith and dependence on the Lord.
But, if I’m honest with myself (and with you), I must confess how stingy I am with the gifts that the Lord has given me, whether my time, my talents, my treasures, or my testimony. I treat these things as though I have earned them, not recognizing that they are gifts from God, given to me to give back to Him and to share with others. The Lord has blessed me that I might be a blessing to others.
How about you? Is gratitude your normal response to life? Are you living in a place of surrender to the Lord? Will you pray with me?
Heavenly Father, I pray that I would have a heart overflowing with gratitude for all that You have given me. Truly, what do I have that I haven’t been given? Where would I be today if You hadn’t led me by the hand every step of the way? Now, today, I offer back to You the first fruits of my labor. My children, my home, my work, my mind and mouth and money, are Yours. I give them back to You as an offering of praise. They are Yours. They were given to me by You, and now I again give them back to You, laying them down, prying my fingers off of them, leaving them on the altar of Your Holy presence. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 28, Deuteronomy 22-23
I’m prone to losing stuff. At least once a week, I can’t seem to find my keys, my purse, my sunglasses, or whatever. Usually the items are lost in my home, but sometimes I lose something when I’m out somewhere, most often my purse.
When I was younger (like, less than 40 ☺️), I forgot my purse in the grocery cart with remarkable regularity. I’d like to say I’m more careful than I once was, but I’m afraid that the real reason is that I rarely go shopping anymore, preferring the convenience of grocery pickup or delivery.
Well, anyway, it seems I’ve passed on my forgetful genes to my youngest son (and at least one of his siblings). For example, I remember one summer when said youngest son was playing basketball with a friend in our church parking lot. He took his wallet out of his pocket and carefully set it on the cement light pole for safe-keeping, fully intending to replace it in his pocket when the game was done.
You know how the story ends, don’t you? Several hours later, when he was getting ready to head to work, he discovered his wallet was missing, and, in fact, he couldn’t even remember where it was. Thankfully, after making some phone calls and driving around town a while, I recovered his wallet from the church parking lot without a hitch, and not even a dollar missing. 🎉🎉🎉
Which brings us to today’s passage, Deuteronomy 22:1-4,
“You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.”
Deuteronomy 22:1-4 ESV
Join me in praying, “Heavenly Father, if I find someone’s lost wallet or purse or dog, please help me to go the extra mile to restore it to him, even if it’s inconvenient.”
And suddenly I remembered the parables that Jesus told as recorded in Luke 15, the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:8-10 ESV
Friends, as much as we should seek to restore our neighbor’s lost wallet, how much more should we seek to restore a lost soul. A lost human is of infinitely greater worth than a thousand lost sheep or a million lost wallets.
What is more valuable to you, your neighbor’s stuff or your neighbor’s soul?
Heavenly Father, You are my greatest treasure. You are worth more to me than all the money in the world. Help me to love my neighbor as myself. Help me to love my neighbor’s children as I love my own. Help me to be faithful to love what You love, to be about my Father’s business of seeking and saving the lost. Please forgive me, Lord, for not making the most of every opportunity because of my own selfishness. Lord, break my heart for what breaks Yours. I love You, Lord. Thank You for Your love for me, for chasing me down and running to me with open arms. In the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer I pray. Amen.
In the Valley (Bless the Lord) – City Alight, featuring Sandra McCracken
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 26, Deuteronomy 18-19
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.'”
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 ESV
These words spoken by Moses as recorded in Deuteronomy 18 have been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Peter said to the people in Jerusalem after they were eyewitnesses to him healing a crippled man,
“Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.
But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.
To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.
Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
Acts 3:12-23 ESV
Dear friends, for so long I, too, was ignorant. I didn’t know the Word, and I didn’t know that Jesus was God’s only Begotten Son, fully God and fully man, whom God the Father had sent to pay the price for man’s sins by His death on the cross. I didn’t know that I could be saved by trusting in Him, turning away from my sin and turning to Him. I didn’t know.
But now I do. I’m no longer ignorant.
And just like God has different punishments for an accidental killing versus an intentional, willful murder, God’s justice will be more severe toward those who have willfully rejected His offer of salvation.
If you have read even this one blog post, you can no longer claim ignorance when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Like Paul said to the religious men in the Areopagus in Athens, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31 ESV)
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. Andthere is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:11-12 ESV
Reject Him no longer. I pray that today will be the day of salvation for you and your household. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Want more? Click here for an article on the topic of more severe punishment in hell for those who reject Christ.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for opening my eyes, for bringing me out of the darkness and into the light. Thank You for setting my feet on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, hiding me in the Rock that was cleft for me, passing over my sins because the blood of Jesus Christ has been applied to the door of my heart. This is all from You and for You. All praise and honor and thanks to You. I pray for those reading this today who are still wandering lost in the dark, who need their eyes to be opened. Please, Father, please. Show them Christ. In the Name of Jesus, my Savior and Redeemer and Lord. Amen.
Rock of Ages – Augustus Toplady – sung by Chris Rice
Show us Christ – Sovereign Grace Music
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 23; Deuteronomy 14-15
I grew up in a poor neighborhood on the east side of Des Moines, Iowa, walking distance from the state capitol building, but I was blessed to be accepted into the open enrollment program for the wealthy school on the other side of town. Surrounded by Guess jeans, Izod shirts, and BMWs, I felt poor in my sister’s hand-me-downs, white K-mart tennis shoes, and beat-up station wagon.
But, here’s the truth: I wasn’t poor. I had everything that I needed. In fact, I had much, much more than I needed.
Both of my parents worked hard to provide a comfortable, stable life for us, a life full of delicious homemade dinners together at home, as well as occasional fancy meals out. When I was little, and my parents couldn’t afford lavish vacations, they took us camping, loading up that old blue station wagon with two little girls, a dog, a tent, four sleeping bags, and plenty of food and fishing gear. As my parents made more money, they chose to spend it exposing us to the adventures of traveling to the Bahamas, the ancient Giant Redwoods of California, and the historic cities of the East Coast.
I’ve recently retired from being a homeschool-mom for twenty-three years. To make a little extra money, my family started a portable laser tag business on the weekends. After almost ten years in business, we sold it, and I started teaching English online in the early morning hours while my kids sleep. Sure, we could’ve given our kids more stuff and a fancier house if I had chosen to work full-time, but we decided that me being home to disciple my kids is immeasurably more valuable than expensive clothes, vacations, and all the various trappings of the world.
Americans today have a hard time grasping what it means to be poor. We think we’re poor if we can’t afford cable TV and Six Flags season passes. We think we’re poor if we can’t afford to vacation in Florida every summer or buy Starbucks every morning. We think we’re poor if we don’t have a closet full of name-brand clothes and sneakers. So, I admit it’s hard for me to know how exactly to help the “needy and poor” in my community, like I read in Deuteronomy 15:11.
For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV
When I originally wrote this post two years ago, I’d just gotten home from my local Aldi, trying to save a little money on my groceries. Walking in, I noticed an older man sitting outside by himself on a concrete bench in front of the store. A half-hour later I came out with a half-full grocery cart, hurrying home to make a salad to take to the dinner we were sharing that night at a friend’s house with some other couples from church. And there he was, still sitting alone on the bench.
I stopped next to him, asking if he was waiting for a ride – the only logical reason a person would sit on a bench in front of Aldi for a half hour in the hundred-degree Memphis heat. As it turns out, he wasn’t waiting for a ride. He was just sitting on the bench trying to escape the heat because it was in the shade.
I asked him if I could get him anything. He asked for a soda. I apologized, telling him that I hadn’t bought any soda. Next, I asked if I could get him some water, and he said he’d already gotten some water next door at the fast food restaurant. Finally, I apologized to him again and made my way back to my car where I unloaded my groceries into my trunk, got in the front seat of my car … and cried.
I couldn’t just leave that man there and go home to my air conditioning and fridge full of food.
So, I grabbed a five-dollar bill out of my glove box and went back into Aldi where I waited in line for five minutes to buy him an ice-cold bottle of Coke and a Snickers bar. What else could I do?
And I went back to that bench and sat down with that poor old man and asked him his name.
Truly, sisters, the love of Christ compels me. That man has a name. It’s John. And he’s been made in the image of God. God created John on purpose. I don’t know anything about John’s life or how he ended up sitting on a steaming hot, concrete bench in front of a grocery store trying to grab any forgotten quarters from the grocery carts’ locks. But I do know that if that was my son or my dad or my brother, I’d want someone to sit with him, to notice him, to ask if he needed anything. I’d want someone to talk to him and pray for him. I’d want someone to buy him a Coke and let him use their phone to make a phone call.
So, I laid my hand on John’s knee, prayed for him, and gave him one of the pocket-sized books of John from the Pocket Testament League that I always carry with me.
I wish I could say that I did more to help John, but I didn’t. It’s the struggle I face living in a finite, fallen world with limited time and dangerous men, but I sincerely hope that John will believe that God sees him and wants good for his life.
This past week, on Friday night, my husband, youngest son, and I got back home from Reynosa, Mexico, where we were blessed to serve with Rio Bravo Ministries. This was my husband’s fourth time and my third. All three of my older children have gone, too. My husband and oldest two children went for the first time in 2013. In fact, we got to see some of the very same children this week who they first met twelve years ago. Rio Bravo Ministries, founded in 1993, houses approximately sixty children in four children’s homes, runs a school for over 400 children, and serves the community of Reynosa in a myriad of other ways. It’s an oasis in the midst of a desert, and I was reminded again that God has blessed me that I might be a blessing, that apart from the grace and mercy of God, we are all dead in our sins, hopeless and drowning, poor and blind and lost in darkness, and we have been commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. Would you please partner with them by giving your time or money and especially your prayers? Click here for more information.
By this we know love, that he [Jesus] laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:16-18 ESV
Heavenly Father, We pray that You will send us where You want us. Give us beautiful feet that bring good news to those in need. Give us open hands and open mouths that serve generously in both word and deed. Use us in the cities where we live and use us to glorify Your name to the ends of the earth, that heaven will be filled with people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. We lift Rio Bravo Ministries up to You. We pray for every man, woman, and child who walk through their gates. We pray for the house parents. We pray for the teachers and administrators. Give these servants Your strength, peace, and wisdom. We pray for the children to know how deep and wide and long and high is the love of Christ. Open their eyes to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and open their minds to know, trust, and love Your Word. We pray for their biological parents and for the city of Reynosa, Mexico. Bring revival to that city, Lord. Show them how great is Your saving grace. In the Name of Jesus Christ, who came to seek and save the lost, we pray. Amen.
The Love of God – Selah
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 10; Philippians 1
“To live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Philippians 1:21 ESV
To live is Christ. To die is gain.
The world shouts, “Pursue riches. Pursue fame. Pursue power and beauty and praise. Take it easy. Enjoy life. You do you. Do what makes you happy. YOLO.”
But the Lord cries, “Pursue what makes for peace and building others up. (Romans 14:19) Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. (1 Timothy 6:11) Work hard. Enjoy Me. Be conformed to My likeness. Do what makes Me happy. YOLO.”
Whose voice am I listening to?
Oh, Heavenly Father, I only live once. It has been appointed for me to one day die and to stand before Your throne. Teach me to number my days that I might have a heart of wisdom. Give me the humility I need to count others more significant than myself, to look out for the interests of others. Make my faith firm and unwavering, that I can utter these words with complete conviction, “To live is Christ. To die is gain.” In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, the One who is Worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Amen.
See: Hebrews 9:27, Psalm 90:12, Revelation 5:12
My Worth is Not in What I Own (with Chinese subtitles) – Keith and Kristyn Getty
What does Paul mean by “To Live is Christ but to Die is Gain?” – Drive Thru History
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 9, Philippians 1
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 1:1-11 ESV
I love Paul’s humility as he opens this letter. “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ” — not “Paul, the one chosen by God to spread the gospel throughout the world, and Timothy my little brother,” nor “Paul, a servant of Christ, and Timothy, my disciple.”
Then, I noticed Paul’s subtle encouragement for humility on the part of his readers as well. Paul is writing this letter to all the saints in Philippi along with the overseers and deacons. He isn’t writing to the overseers and deacons and then telling them, “Hey, share this info with those other saints among you.”
When Paul says in verse 3, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,” expressing his gratitude that they have been partners in the gospel – in receiving the gospel and in sharing the gospel – he’s not just writing (or even primarily writing) to the elders, deacons, evangelists, and pastors. He’s writing to each and every believer in the body of Christ at Philippi. Each one of them are his partner because each of them (each of us) are partakers with Paul of God’s grace (verse 7). Paul wants each one of them to know how much he loves them, and how much he wants them to abound with more and more love, knowledge, and discernment.
My dear friends, my sisters, my fellow servants of Jesus Christ, I echo Paul’s words. I want you to know all this, too! Whether you’re a 95-year-old great grandmother who has been studying the Bible verse by verse since you were “knee high to a grasshopper,” or you are a brand new believer reading Philippians for the first time, I am thankful for your partnership in the gospel. I want you to know the Word better … so that you will know God better … so that you will love Him more and glorify Him better. I want you to have deeper knowledge of the Lord so that you may accurately discern what is excellent and what is evil, so that your heart and your life may be pure when you meet Jesus face-to-face and so that the watching world will see your good works and be drawn to give glory and praise to God.
I love how each of Paul’s words seem to pour into the next, like a stream rolling over a series of rocks until finally being deposited into the deep, wide, quiet lake of the glory and praise to God.
I want you to know how much I love you, how thankful I am for you, how often I pray for you,
that you would love God more,
that you would know Him more,
that you would be able to easily recognize what is good and what is not,
that you may be pure and blameless, full of righteous fruits … to the glory and praise of God.
That’s the end goal. The end goal isn’t about you, your happiness and holiness, your comfort and peace. The end goal is that God would be praise and glorified. And the irony in that is that your joy is ultimately found in bringing God glory. I am never happier than when I am in the fellowship of other believers, worshipping the Lord together in song and prayer and Bible study.
I wonder – Do you have any sisters and brothers who are your partners in the gospel? If so, have you told them how much they mean to you? If not, let me encourage you to find them … now. Find a local body of believers. Join a small group of women (or men) who pray for each other. Study the Bible with a few other sisters.
If you’re not familiar with Community Bible Study, check into them. They have groups all over the world. If you’re in the Memphis area, I invite you to join the Collierville, Tennessee group. We meet in person on Wednesday mornings or online on Thursday evenings.
Thank You, Heavenly Father, for each faithful partner in the gospel that You have put into my life. Some of them live just minutes away from me, while others live on the other side of the world. Thank You for each one of them, from the newest believer to the most seasoned saint. I pray that their love will abound more and more, with knowledge and discernment, that they may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory of praise of Your Name! In the Blessed and Holy Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
“Christus Victor (Amen)” – Keith & Kristyn Getty
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 5, Numbers 33-34
“And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”
Numbers 33:50-56 ESV
Two years ago when I originally published a YouTube video based on the Aaronic Prayer of Blessing from Numbers 6:24-26, within 24 hours I received a comment from an atheist accusing God of committing genocide and demanding young virgins as war booty to serve in his temple.
I continued to think about his comments as I read chapter by chapter through Numbers. I didn’t want to read the scriptures through the lenses of my own bias or preconceived notions. I want to have eyes and ears that search for the truth. So, what is it?
Is the God of the Bible a genocidal murderer, cruelly wiping out whole nations?
Is He a sadist, getting pleasure out of inflicting pain?
Or is He the holy, loving, good Father that I believe Him to be?
Friends, it’s so important to read the Bible – or any book for that matter – in context. Just like you could carefully cut one sentence from my blog and twist it to say something totally different than what I truly meant, likewise a person can take a sentence from the Bible to mean something totally different from what God is actually communicating.
Here in Numbers 33, we read about God’s command for the Israelites to completely drive out and wipe out the inhabitants of the land. God knows the future of the men, women, and children currently living in Canaan as well as the future of the Israelites that He is bringing in to possess the land. God knows that the Canaanites will not repent. God knows they will be thorns and barbs to the Jewish people, leading them into idolatry and immorality.
God always wants for His glory, but He also wants for His people’s good. The Lord truly is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)
The Lord’s blessings extend to the thousands. His forgiveness is boundless. But our sin does have consequences – upon our own lives and even down to our children, grandchildren, and great grand children. We see this again and again in the story of these faithless, complaining Israelites – as well as in our own modern lives.
So, you can read Numbers and decide that God is a cruel tyrant … or you can read Numbers and walk away more sure than ever that God is a just, faithful, forgiving, patient Father. What did you decide?
Heavenly Father, I pray for those who have been hurt by the church, who have gotten glimpses of your truth but have chosen to turn away from Your grace. Please, Father, bring them back to You and have mercy on them. Just like the Israelites who tested You time and again with their complaints, for the sake of Your Glorious Name, remember Your children. In the Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Your Grace is Enough – Martin Chalk Worship Session
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 148-149; Numbers 21
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
“We have no food. Well, I mean, this food that You miraculously give us every morning is worthless, and we hate it. Why did you deliver us out of slavery? You’re a mean god. We want to go back home.”
I wish I could say that I can’t relate, but that would be a lie. All too often the thoughts in my head sound all too much like them.
“Father, what are you doing? Why is life so hard? Why did you lead me to this place only to abandon me here? I thought you loved me?”
When the snakes were biting (and killing) the people, the Israelites simply wanted the Lord to take the snakes away.
“Make this pain go away, God! Take it away! Get me out of this desert and put me in the promised land. Now!”
But that’s not what God does. Rather, He sends a Savior, a Rescuer.
He says, “Look up here! Look up at this bronze serpent up here on this pole. Look at it and have faith. Trust Me. Don’t look down at those snakes or that snake bite. Look up here at Me! I love you. Trust Me.”
Jesus referred to this very event when He was explaining to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to Him secretly by night, that he must be born again if he wants to enter the kingdom of God.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
John 3:14-19 ESV
What happened to the Israelites who didn’t gaze up at that snake on the pole that had been sent by God to save them? They died in their sins.
What happens to people today who don’t turn their eyes to Jesus, the God-Man sent by God to save them? They, too, will die in their sins.
Is that scary? Yes. Yes, it is. But is God good to provide a way of escape for each of us who are dying in our sin? Yes! Yes, He is!
I’ll end with these words of Jesus, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)
Heavenly Father, Please draw us to turn our eyes to You. You have already provided a Savior. You have already sent Your son Jesus to pay the price for our sin. Now, Lord, give us the desire and the strength to turn to You instead of turning to ourselves, our circumstances, and other fallen men. Forgive us for our complaining. Forgive us for our lack of faith. Thank You for Your steadfast faithfulness and mercy toward us, a sinful people. We pray for those around us who are running headlong away from Jesus. Draw them to know You. Please, Father. We cry, Holy! Mercy! Save us, Lord! In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT TODAY’S VIDEO PODCAST ON YOUTUBE.
Turn your Eyes – The Glorious Christ Live – Sovereign Grace Music
Help Us See Christ – Sovereign Grace Music
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 145, Numbers 15-16
Initially as I began reading Numbers 16, I thought I’d write about the extreme humility and meekness that Moses continued showing again and again, begging God to spare His people again and again. Moses didn’t just grab a sword and start cutting people down left and right, but instead asked the Lord to have mercy. But then, when I got to the end of the chapter, verse 48 hit me like a ton of bricks.
“And [Aaron] stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.”
Numbers 16:48 ESV
Maybe your reaction doesn’t look like mine, but that’s because your life hasn’t looked like mine. I’ve had the unique honor of standing in the gap, interceding for and reasoning with atheists who are angry with God and angry with His servants. It’s an honor, a privilege, and a calling.
But it’s hard. It’s hard to get in the ring with a mustang that you know is going to lash out at any moment. Yet the only way to gentle a mustang is to get in the ring with it.
Will you please help me to lift up my hands? Will you please stand in the gap with me? Will you pray for me and will you intercede for them, too?
Let’s remember the words Christ spoke from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Jesus pursued me while I was His enemy. I want to do likewise.
Oh, Heavenly Father, thank You for the examples of Moses and Aaron, brave men who ran into the plague to rescue people who deserved Your wrath. Fill me with Your Mighty Spirit that I might do likewise. Make me like Jesus who came to seek and save the lost. Make me meek and gentle and humble. Keep me from pride, and keep me from complacency. I need You, Lord, and I need Your people to stand with me. None of us can do this on our own. In the Name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Want to know how I went from evangelical atheist to evangelical Christian? Tune in here.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT TODAY’S VIDEO PODCAST ON YOUTUBE.
Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 144; Numbers 14
It is so convicting to read Numbers 14 and see how desperately Moses desires God’s Name to be glorified among the nations. Moses’s top priority isn’t his own comfort, nor the comfort of the Israelites. Rather Moses’s top priority is that God would not be profaned among the Egyptians. Moses feared that “if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.'” (Numbers 14:15-16 ESV)
Moses isn’t the only one who put such a high priority on God’s name among the nations. Read Daniel’s prayer from Daniel 9,
“O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.
Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act.
Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
– Daniel 9:16-19 ESV
And don’t forget Psalm 79:9-10, “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes! “
Heavenly Father, I echo the words of the psalmist and cry out, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”” (Psalm 115:1-2) Father, so many other nations see America as a Christian nation, so we ask for Your sake, for the sake of Your Holy Name, that You will save our land. Draw us back into a right relationship with You, Lord. Heal our land. Forgive us our sins. Give us a heart of repentance, that we would turn to You and turn away from our wicked ways. In the Name of Jesus Christ our Savior and King, Amen.
Not to Us (Psalm 115) – The Worship Initiative (featuring Davy Flowers)
Psalm 115 (Not to Us) with Actions – CCBC Kids Sing
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Teach What is Good 
You must be logged in to post a comment.