Category: devotional

Deuteronomy 17:16-20 – Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, “You shall never return that way again.” And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

2 Chronicles 9:25-28 – And Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. And he ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah. And horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.
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Second Chronicles 9 contains in it an account that I see as a major downfall in King Solomon’s reign. The Queen of Sheba came to Solomon, and asked him hard questions to find out if the accounts of his wisdom were true. When she met him and saw his kingdom, she was overwhelmed. She gushed with praise for Solomon and his wealth, and it appears that the flattery that she bestowed upon King Solomon had on him a major impact.

It is immediately after the flattery that Solomon received from the Queen of Sheba that we have the chronicler write for us about Solomon’s wealth and some of the extravagant ways that he lived. Above, I have cut out just a few of the verses that tell of Solomon’s flashing of his wealth, and his breaking of God’s law in the process. First, look at the gold and silver. Solomon received a tribute of 666 talents of gold annually. This is an extreme amount of gold, and I can not help but notice the ugly number attached to it. Also, Solomon made silver so common that no one even valued it. These are in direct violation of the commands in Deuteronomy 17.

In Deuteronomy, the law charged the King to write down his own copy of the law, and to not elevate himself above his brothers. However, Solomon made a throne for himself the like of which the Bible says never existed in any other kingdom. It was an ivory throne overlaid with gold. This is a guy who is propping himself up at an extreme level.

Also, Deuteronomy called Israelite kings not to amass horses from Egypt. Solomon did exactly what he was commanded not to do.

And, let us remember that the text of Deuteronomy 17 also forbids kings of Israel from taking many wives for themselves. The Queen of Sheba, however, declared Solomon’s “wives” to be blessed. We know from other passages that Solomon had nearly a thousand women as either wives or concubines.

With all that said, I want to take for us two lessons that we can follow. The first is obvious: obey the commands of God. Solomon started ignoring the law of God, and we know from reading the history of Israel that this did not turn out well. By the time of Solomon’s death, the kingdom was ready to split apart, as it did shortly after Solomon’s unwise son took the throne. Whenever you disobey the commands of God, for whatever reason that you can come up with, you put yourself in certain danger. Solomon lived against the commands of God, and it hurt him, his family, and the entire nation.

And the other thing I want you to notice is the need that we have to be very careful about how seriously we take the flattery and compliments of other people. Solomon heard the words of the Queen of Sheba, and it honestly looks as though, from that point forward, he began to think far too highly of himself. The more often you allow anyone to tell you or even hint to you that you are great, the more likely you will come to believing them. The fact is, we ought not allow ourselves to start believing our own press clippings. We must not allow ourselves to treasure the kind words of others. We can not allow ourselves to believe what others say about our greatness. We are all the same, sinners in desperate need of the grace of God. That is what we must believe about ourselves.

I once heard a pastor who was applauded at a conference tell those who applauded him, “I don’t need much of that.” The pastor was telling the people that too much applause is a temptation for a leader to become too full of himself, too confident, too selfish, too arrogant. Solomon even wrote proverbs for his children telling them this truth. But sadly, Solomon did not take his own advice. He reveled in the applause and accolades of others, and his heart turned inward instead of Godward. Let us not make the same mistake.

Dear Lord, I thank you for your word and its honesty. I thank you that you record for us some of the mistakes of your people so that we can learn from them. I pray that you will help me to treasure and follow your word above all things. I also pray that you will help me never to seek the applause and accolades of others. Help me to be conscious that I do not need too much applause. Help me to have a heart that is turned Godward instead of inward. Help me to live for your glory, and not for my own.

John 9:1-3 – As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
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So often, the hearts of men can not see beyond the pleasantness or unpleasantness of circumstances. Jesus’ disciples saw a man born blind, and they immediately assumed that his circumstances were a punishment from God. Their only confusion was whether or not the man was being punished, or the man’s parents. So, you can imagine their surprise when Jesus told them that his blindness was no punishment at all.

Jesus made it plain, when speaking about the blind man, that he had been born blind in order that the works of God might be revealed in him. This man had a condition that relegated him to beggar status. He was looked down on by the society around him. People felt sorry for him, but they assumed that he had somehow earned his misfortune or was paying for the evil of his parents. But no one saw the bigger picture. No one but Jesus could simply see that this man’s weakness, his struggle, his disability was the means whereby God was going to show his glory.

In your life and in mine, I would guess that we all have things that we do not like. Perhaps you have some sort of disability. Perhaps you have some sort of problem you wish you did not have. Maybe you are not as smart as you wish you were. Maybe you are not shaped in the way you want to be. Perhaps you can not speak in front of groups, can’t sing, or can’t do math. Or, perhaps you have really tragic circumstances that have surrounded you for all of your life. If so, now would be the time to recognize that Jesus’ words to his disciples is applicable to you too. Your weaknesses exist, not as a punishment for your parents’ sin, but as a means whereby God can display his glory.

In my own life, I deal with blindness; so this story is closer to home for me than for many. Just like the man in this story, I recognize, because of the teaching of Jesus, that my own limitations exist, not as a punishment, but as an opportunity for God to be glorified. If everything about my life was easy and perfect, people might tend to glorify me when good things happen. If I preach a good sermon or write a clever blog (a rare occurrence to be sure), people could look at me and think that I am just talented. However, when people recognize that I am blind and still do what I do, they often recognize that God has done something amazing in my life. He has given me the tools that I need in order to be used by him. He shows himself to be strong through my weaknesses. He accomplishes the work, people see that fact, and God is glorified. And, so , I am willing to happily live with my limitations, because it is better to be used to glorify God in your weaknesses than it would be to have no weaknesses and only glorify yourself.

Today, look at your life and recognize that your weaknesses are there. This is no call to think, “O boy, I’m so glad I have this problem.” But, it would be a fine time to recognize that your struggles, your weaknesses, your circumstances serve as an opportunity for you to glorify God as you trust him and allow him to accomplish his will through you anyway. Remember, we do not live for the comforts of this life. We were created by God for his glory, and we are most satisfied in life when we do what we were created to do. So, allow God to glorify himself through your weaknesses, and find your heart satisfied, even in the midst of trying circumstances and personal weaknesses.

Dear Lord, I know that this message is a tough one for many to hear, but I pray that you will help it to make sense. You created us for your glory. Nothing will satisfy our souls so much as when we glorify your name. I pray that you will be glorified in my life, even through the circumstances that are difficult. Show yourself strong in my weaknesses. Use me, in whatever way you desire, to bring honor to your name and to expand your Kingdom for your glory.

Malachi 4:4-6 – Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.
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The words above are the last words in the Old Testament. God said these things to Judah sometime around 425 BC, and then he remained silent until just before the birth of Jesus when he sent Gabriel to declare the coming of the Messiah to Zacharias. So, one thing we would expect is that God’s words here would be pretty important, since they were the last thing that Judah would hear from him for quite a while.

At the end of the passage, there is a clear call for the nation to repent and turn in their hearts (fathers to children and children to fathers). But what has my attention is a theme that has been running through my reading almost daily. Notice that the first thing God says to the people as he prepares to close off communication for four hundred plus years is that they should remember his law, his written word. God let the people know that, although he was not going to be speaking through any prophets for a while, they lacked nothing that they needed to live a godly life. They had his written word, and that was enough for them to obey him, to know him, and to serve him faithfully.

Today, we again find ourselves in a world where God has not spoken through prophets in a long, long time. The canon of divine revelation was closed with the final verses in the book of Revelation. Since then, God may well have guided many people, but there is no evidence that anyone has received the kind of revelation that God spoke in the scriptures. So, like the people of Judah, we are living on God’s written word. His Holy Spirit inspired the writing of his word, and the Spirit helps us to understand that word. And, according to 2 Peter 1:3, God has given us everything that we need for life and godliness.

So, without question, we need to recognize the immense value of the holy scriptures. God has spoken to us in the Bible. The Bible is where we look to get to know God. In his perfect, infallible, and inerrant written revelation of himself, God has given us what we need to know him and please him.

Do you value the scriptures as God’s sufficient revelation of himself? Do you look to his word in order to find him? Do you trust the Bible more than your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. If so, you are looking and trusting in the right direction.

Dear Lord, thank you once again for your holy word. The Bible is a true treasure. You have revealed yourself to men in your word, and I could never give you thanks enough for such a wonderfully gracious gift. Please help me to treasure your word, and to study it more faithfully to know you more.

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John 8:23-24 – He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
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I recently heard that a Christian teacher told his or her students that Jesus would never come to you and point out your sin. The goal of this was, I am sure, a desire to show Jesus to lost students as gentle, kind, and appealing. The teacher likely thought that the best way to help students to become Christians would be to show Jesus as their friendly supporter, not as one who would ever call them sinners. (I also have to say that, since this is a second-hand story, I could also have been given an unclear representation of the teaching.)

Regardless of what happened in that particular situation, one thing is clear: no presentation of Jesus that does not include pointing out that we are sinners is not a fair presentation of Jesus. Here, where Jesus was speaking to the Jewish leaders, he made it quite plain that they not only were sinners, but were going to die in their sins if they did not believe that Jesus is “he.” So, our own Lord Jesus told people that they were sinners, were in danger of dying in those sins, and that the remedy for their sin was to believe that Jesus is “he.”

In the issue of our sinfulness, we have to recognize and declare with honesty that we are all sinners, and Jesus knows it. There is no way to present the gospel without presenting man’s sinfulness. To call someone to salvation without presenting to them from what they must be saved is an empty, ineffective, and dishonest call. Christ never called people to come to him for forgiveness without expressing that they needed that forgiveness because of their sin. Likewise, Jesus’ disciples in their writings are unabashedly clear that we need Christ because we are sinful before him. The good news of the gospel is not that we are not sinners or that we are all OK, the good news is that God loved us so much that he sent his Son to die as payment for our sins if we will simply place our faith in him.

The other point of interest is that the way that people are saved is to believe that Jesus is “he.” Sadly, today’s Crosswalk reading cut off the passage before the end of John 8. At the end of the chapter, Jesus makes the clear statement for us to know exactly who he is. Besides telling us that he was the one sent by God, Jesus tells us, “Before Abraham was, I am.” In that simple statement, we realize that the “he” that we must believe is that Jesus is God. He existed before Abraham was. He applies to himself the permanent present of “I Am,” and that is a title that only points to God (see Exodus 3). Jesus believed himself to be God, and he demands that we see him as God to be saved.

So, what is the gospel, the good news? The good news is that you are a sinner who is in danger of dying in his or her sin. God, however, out of a desire to show himself glorious and gracious and loving toward you sent his Son, Jesus, who is God in flesh, to pay the price for your sins. Now, if you will put your faith in the person and finished work of Jesus, you will be forgiven. You are not forgiven by being a good person, you are forgiven by God’s grace as you place faith and faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Would Jesus ever come up to you and call you a “sinner?” He most certainly would. If he would not call you a sinner, he would not love you. Love demands that Jesus tell the truth about the danger you are in before God until you place your faith in him and his finished work to save your soul. He would call you a sinner so you could recognize your danger and come to him for forgiveness. He would never call you a sinner just to call you names or to hurt your feelings, but he would most certainly call you one to lead you to salvation. So, let’s not present Jesus as anything other than who he is, the perfect, loving, and honest Son of God who tells us who we really are in order to bring us to himself.

Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are never going to affirm me falsely. I thank you that you have always declared the truth about who I am before you, even when that truth was that I was a lost sinner before you. I know that I am a sinful person who has no hope on his own. My only hope is that you are God, and that you died to pay the penalty for my sin and to reconcile me to God. I trust in you and your finished work for my salvation. Thank you for your grace that makes me(not a good person, but ) a sinner saved by grace.

1 Chronicles 29:9 – Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.
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The scene in 1 Chronicles 29 is a very impressive one. David is at the end of his reign as king. However, before he stepped down, he provided all of the building materials and blueprints needed for building the temple of God. And, as a sort of last royal action, David gave away his treasury for the building of the house of God, and he led others to follow him in giving freely for the building of the temple. Many people gave, and the treasure of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and precious stones to be used in the temple grew greatly.

What is beautiful to see is what is stated in verse 9 above. David and the people celebrated, rejoicing greatly, because they had all given freely to the Lord. No one held back. No one worried about their personal finances. All gave, and gave freely, so that the temple of God might be built.

Interesting, isn’t it, that people could on the same day give away all their gold and celebrate doing it? This teaches us something that the secular world will never understand. There is a true joy in giving, even sacrificially, to the work of the Lord. When a child of God gives freely to the work of God, that child of God is overjoyed. It is a true privilege to be allowed by God to give to his cause. He does not need us. He could accomplish his work just fine without us. But the fact that he includes us and allows us to give all that we have to him and his glory is a marvelously glorious blessing from God.

Check your own heart today. Do you have joy when you give of your time, money, or skills to the service of God? Does your heart find joy in sacrificing freely for the glory of God? If not, you need to take your heart to God for repairs, because the heart of one truly devoted to God will find joy in giving freely to him.

Dear Lord, I thank you that you have given me the opportunity to sacrifice and serve on your behalf. I acknowledge full well that you do not need me. I know that you can accomplish infinitely more than I can, and that you do not need my services to do your will. I also know that I am not worthy to know you or to give anything to your cause. However, you have graciously chosen to allow me to participate in your kingdom work, and for that I give you great thanks. Please allow me to serve you with all that I have. Please rejoice my heart when I give freely to your glory. Help me to know how and when is best to give to accomplish your purposes.

1 Chronicles 22:11-13 – Now, my son, the Lord be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as he has spoken concerning you. Only, may the Lord grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Fear not; do not be dismayed.
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As I said yesterday, I say again today: God’s word constantly speaks about the importance of God’s word. Here we see the words of David to Solomon. David learned from God that God would not allow David to be the one to build the temple because of the violent life David had to lead. So, David, learning that Solomon would build the temple of God, made complete preparation for the temple’s building.

After David made the preparation for the building of the temple, he charged Solomon with the work and made Solomon king. Notice in the verses above, that central to David’s charge to Solomon is a call to keep the law of God, the scriptures as they are written. David promises Solomon success and prosperity—the blessing of God on his kingdom—if Solomon will simply follow the commands of God as they are written in holy scripture.

This serves as simply one more reminder in a constant string of reminders for me that the word of God is all-important. Everywhere you turn in the scriptures, God is telling you to obey the scriptures. Every place you look, whether it is the writings of Moses, Joshua, David, the other prophets, Jesus, Peter, Paul, or any other biblical author, the command is always the same: keep the commands of God as they are written in the scriptures.

So, today as you read this, ask yourself just once more if you have the kind of love for the Bible that God wants you to have. Do you hear and obey the commands of God as they are recorded for us in the Bible? Do you recognize that the Bible is the inspired word of God? O how I long for the people of God to learn to love the word of God.

Dear Lord, I thank you again for your holy word. I ask that, today, you will use this writing to draw someone’s heart to treasure your holy word. I pray that you will help your church to learn to love your word, to hear and obey your commands. Help us to live in accord with your commands, and not to be swayed by culture or pragmatism. It is time for us to get back to the word of God, so please lead us in that revival.

John 5:39-40, 45-47 – You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. . . . Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?
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I want to make one short and simple point today. As we look here at the teaching of Jesus, we see our Lord affirm the holy scriptures. Over the past few weeks, my Blog has been overwhelmingly focused on the sufficiency and importance of the word of God. This is partly planned, because the scripture has been the topic of my preaching as well. However, this running topic is also something that is not planned; it comes up in nearly every single day’s reading.

Here, we see Jesus make two separate affirmations. First, in verses 39-40, he points out to the religious teachers that the holy scriptures point to him. Jesus, the Son of God, acknowledges publicly that the scriptures are valid, because those scriptures point to him. Then, in verses 45-47, he points to the writings of Moses, the written Torah, as witness to him.

In Sunday’s message, I pointed out from Jesus’ teaching in Luke 16:31, that the scriptures are sufficient to help people to believe and necessary for salvation. Now, in today’s Bible reading, Jesus makes the very same point in John’s gospel. Jesus lets us know that we will not believe him if we do not believe in the written word of God. Here he was pointing to the Torah, but in general, we can recognize that this is true of all the scripture. If you will not listen to the Bible, you will not and can not listen to Jesus.

Dear Lord, I again thank you for the Bible, your holy word. I ask that you will make your word more and more alive to me each day as I read what you have recorded for me to know you. Your word truly points me to you, and I will never know you apart from your word. Help me to study faithfully, that I might know you and glorify you more and more.

1 Chronicles 18:13-14 – Then he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. So David reigned over all Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people.
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After God made his covenant with David, we see God giving David victories over all of the enemies of Israel. It is the sentence, “And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went,” which has my attention here this morning. Depending on how you observed this situation, you might take from it different conclusions.

For example, if you watched David over these times, I can guarantee you that you saw a man who worked hard, who planned, and who fought with all his might to accomplish what was accomplished. To many observers, it would have looked like David was winning the battles by strength, cunning, military strategy, and simple hard work. We read nothing here of supernatural looking events, of angels fighting on behalf of Israel, or of the ground opening up and swallowing the armies of David’s enemies. So, to the untrained eye, it would have looked as though David won these victories.

But, the verse tells us that the Lord gave David victory. This tells me that, regardless of what David did, it is ultimately and finally the work of the Lord that David’s enemies were defeated. Again, David did not sit back, fold his hands, and await God’s making his enemies just fall over or go away. He worked, he fought, he struggled, he strategized, he gave his all to the campaign. But, when the battles were finished, there was no doubt in the mind of God, in the mind of David, or in the mind of this writer of scripture that it was God who gave David the victory.

Now, why would this be a thought worth our time? Simply put, David’s victories over these nations is a good model for us of the process of sanctification in our own lives. You and I have enemies that we must defeat. The sins that so easily entangle us, slow us down, and knock us down must be driven out of our lives. We are called to be like Christ. We are commanded by Christ to be perfect as his Father is perfect. We are commanded to eradicate sin from our outward actions and our inward thoughts and desires. And, like David, we are surrounded on every side by things who want to destroy us.

Also, like David, we are the ones who have to work against those sins. David did not sit back and just wait for God to destroy his enemies; he worked hard to prepare and to fight against his enemies. In the same way, we have to work hard. We have to fight sin with all our might. We have to strive for Christian growth. We have to study God’s word, pray, and discipline ourselves for the sake of godliness. We have to be open with and accountable to others who are growing along with us. We have to fight to the point of blood, sweat, and tears to conquer the enemies that would defeat us, the enemies that are Satan and our own sinful disposition.

Also, like David, when the battle is over and the victory is won, we too will acknowledge that all the victory that we ever achieved over sin was a direct result of God giving us the victory. We will not take credit, even for a single moment, for anything good we have ever done. We will not claim our salvation as our own or our sanctification as our own. We will give all the glory for all the good in us to God, because it is from God that all our goodness came. We will work as hard as we can, and when it is all said and done, God will be the one who accomplished the work in us.

And, let us be very careful not to allow ourselves to become lazy or complacent about our sanctification. Just because God is the one who ultimately is responsible for making anything good happen in our lives, we still have to work. We work with all our might. We work in the power of his Holy Spirit. We can not sit back and wait for him to snap us perfect. Instead, we fight with all our might, and give him all the glory when we win.

Dear Lord, I recognize that it is my responsibility to fight with all my might to become more like Christ. I also recognize that all the glory for anything good I ever accomplish is yours, for you are ultimately the source of all goodness in me. Thus, I am committed to work toward my sanctification, but I pray that you will empower that work by your Holy Spirit. Motivate me and help me to fight the good fight. Grant me the strength, the courage, and the wisdom to do what you want me to do. I will respond to your accomplishing good things in me by yielding to you all glory for anything good in me, because it is all of you anyway.