Category: devotional

In Proverbs 2, we see a picture of a man being protected by godly wisdom from dangerous and destructive personal sin. Wisdom keeps godly men from joining in with the evil and violent. And, in the same proverb, we see that godly wisdom turns a man away from the tempting adulteress.

 

Proverbs 2:16-19

 

16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,

from the adulteress with her smooth words,

17 who forsakes the companion of her youth

and forgets the covenant of her God;

18 for her house sinks down to death,

and her paths to the departed;

19 none who go to her come back,

nor do they regain the paths of life.

 

Notice, as you look at that text, how significant is the sin of adultery. This is a big deal, a very big deal. The author of Proverbs tells us that the adulteress forgets the covenant of her God. We see that she and her house lead to death and destruction.

 

There are many sins out there. All sin, of course is significant. But how pressing on our consciences should be the accusation of forgetting the covenant of our God? Such a thing should not happen. Such a thing should never be.

 

Of course, all sin can be forgiven in Christ. But, we must understand at the same time that a person who can willingly forget the covenant of their God is in grave spiritual danger. To willingly see the command of God, ignore his covenant, and violate his ways so willfully, so dramatically, so destructively should be terrifying.

 

Christians, adultery is a big deal. We are to be people who make and keep our marriage vows. God will not lead us into violation of such a sacred commitment. God wants Christians to grasp that the violation of the marriage covenant or the breaking up of a marriage is simply not what we do.

 

Of course, when dealing with this topic, hard cases always come up. No spouse should be subjected to abuse. God does not demand that a spouse put up with being the victim of adultery. But the beautiful thing is, if you are part of a solid church with a commitment to God’s word and to biblical church discipline, there is help and hope. God provides a path of confrontation toward restoration that is clearly prescribed in Scripture. Forgiveness and restoration will, of course, look different depending on our circumstances. I believe, though godly people disagree here, that God has provided avenues of response to certain sins against you as a spouse where divorce is allowable under his word; but those circumstances are not nearly as broad as our culture has chosen to make them. And I certainly believe that any Christian considering divorce must do so with the counsel of the elders of his or her church.

 

What is not a solution, however, is to leave your spouse for another person. This is simply not part of Christian character. And the word of God is clear that this is an issue of great weight, as the covenant of God is central to our behavior in this setting.

 

So, Christians, let this little part of Proverbs, a part we do not talk about much, ring out to you. Let it call you to see that adultery is a big deal. Let it call you to make your marriage and its preservation a priority. Let it call you to turn from any sort of media a or other forms of influence that might drag you away from your commitment to your spouse before the Lord. If things are hard, reach out to your elders in your church to ask for help, for counsel, or even for biblical church discipline if your spouse is in sin.

 

And if you have been guilty here, repent. Own that your choices were dishonoring to the Lord. Express genuine sorrow. Seek to do all that you can to obey the word of God as you attempt to make things right. Jesus has mercy and grace for all who are truly his. But I must add that all who are truly his will not take his grace lightly, for granted. We mourn our past sinful choices as we seek to do all we can to remember the covenant of our God and honor him through all our future behavior.

How many of our debates seem unsolvable? In our culture, there are people who have vastly, massively different conclusions that they draw about so many issues. Political and moral issues divide us as a culture in a way that we have never seen before as a society. But why does this happen?

 

The question, I would suggest, may boil down to a question of the starting point for our thinking. What is your worldview? When you are analyzing your own opinion on issues of life and morality, where do you begin? What things do you assume are true? What things do you declare to yourself are universally true? How do you make those determinations?

 

Again, go back to the starting point. Right there is going to be a major fork in the road that will divide people on a tremendous number of topics. Is the universe a closed, naturalistic system? Or is the universe the creation of Almighty God? No bigger question sits at the heart of all that divides most of our society.

 

Proverbs 1:7

 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

 

What is the beginning of knowledge? It is the fear of the Lord. If we want to know how the world works, how our lives are to function, what is the reason for our existence, we have to have a solid starting point. And, as should be no surprise, the Bible tells us that the right place to start is with the knowledge that God is and the proper respect for, fear of, him.

 

The alternative, the denial of the presence and purpose of God, is what the Bible calls folly. To turn from the Lord, in Proverbs, is said to be a denial of wisdom and instruction. Why would that be? If God exists—which he does—to turn from him and try to think from a position of denying his existence simply cannot work. WE do not do physics while trying to start from the assumption that there is no such thing as gravity or energy. We do not write music from the starting point of believing that there is no such thing as harmony. WE do not start cooking with the assumption that there is no such thing as a recipe. And we ought not try to figure out life and morality from the assumption that there is no God.

Do you ever wonder why the Lord has commanded certain things? Have you ever tried to figure out the rationale behind his commands? Sometimes we can see it clearly. Sometimes it is not so simple. The command not to murder is an obvious one. The command for Israel not to eat certain foods during a certain period of the nation’s existence, that is tougher.

 

But we get an insight into some commands of God in the thing that God says to Moses just before the Lord begins to provide miraculous food for the people in the wilderness.

 

Exodus 16:4 – Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.”

 

God told Moses that he was about to start raining down food on the people, providing for their needs on a daily basis. But notice that this provision is also a test. The provision is an opportunity for the people’s hearts to be displayed. Will they love and trust God enough to obey his command to the letter or not? Will they respect the Lord enough to do what he says in the way that he says it or not?

 

Of course, the test is not for God’s benefit. He knows the hearts of men. But the test is for the sake of the people. God reveals to them their own hearts as they either obey his word or disobey.

 

The same is true for us in many ways. The Lord has given us commands. Some of his commands are out-of-step with the society we live in. What will we do? Why would we still do things in the way prescribed by Scripture?

 

The answer to why we obey is not pragmatic. Not all of God’s commands will make our lives easier. The reason we obey, however, is the same as the reason the Israelites were to obey. We obey in order to demonstrate that our hearts are yielded to the lordship of Christ. We obey in order to declare that we belong to Jesus and he is our Master. We obey to show the watching world, the watching angels, and the always-present God that the Lord, he is our lord, and we will obey him as our king.

 

Consider how easy it is for us to want to look at an unpopular commandment in Scripture and put it away. We see the way that God has told humanity marriage is to work, for example, but that is no longer socially acceptable. Biblical standards of sexual morality are not in step with our culture. How easy it is to want to tell people that anything is OK so long as you do not hurt another person. But the Lord shows us that his commands, besides being good, are a test for our hearts. The question is not whether or not certain behaviors are harmful; nor is the question whether or not those behaviors are natural. The question actually is, “Will you obey the Lord?” If God is your God, if the Lord is your master, then you obey his commands in order to demonstrate your submission to him.

In Exodus 24, we see the ratification of the covenant between God and Israel. In chapter 19, the people had agreed to submit to what the Lord commanded. In chapter 20, God gave the Ten Commandments, the basic terms of the agreement between himself and Israel. Then, from 20-23, God gave a set of laws that are examples of how Israel would obey his commands.

 

By chapter 24, the people were again willing to affirm, now for the third time, that they want to be God’s people, under his rule and protection, and they want God to be their God. And so the nation takes part in the covenant ceremony. Animals are sacrificed. Sacred elements are sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice. Even the people have the blood placed on them, the blood of the covenant.

 

Then look at what happens next:

 

Exodus 24:8-11 – 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

 

As was common in those days, the confirming sacrifice of the covenant ceremony is followed up by a meal between the two parties entering into the agreement. This time, the meal is stunning. Representative leaders from Israel climb up Mount Sinai to eat a meal in the presence of God. Here these leaders have some form of a glimpse of the glory of the Lord, they dine in his presence, and they live. That is amazing, since to see God in his holiness would, under most circumstances, lead to their death—God is holy and men are sinful after all.

 

This passage is fascinating, but if we only stop there, we miss something very important to our Christian lives. This passage is fascinating, and it reminds us of something. This reminds us of the night of Jesus’ betrayal and the institution of the Lord’s Supper.

 

Think about it. Jesus sat with his disciples. He declared to them that a New Covenant was being made, as Jesus would pour out his own blood for the forgiveness of our sins. When Jesus held up the cup, he called it the blood of the covenant. And this was all done in the context of a shared meal. The disciples ate a meal in the presence of God the Son as they looked to the institution of the New Covenant.

 

And that is not fascinating enough. Jesus commanded that this ceremony be repeated in the life of the church. For some it is week-to-week. For some it is monthly, quarterly, or some other time interval. But, on a regular basis, Christians gather together for worship and they remember the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus. Not only do we remember, we eat and drink in commemoration. And we do so together, as the body of Christ, in the presence of the Lord. WE share a covenant meal in the spiritual presence of God, and we look forward to a meal that we will physically share with the Lamb of God at the great marriage feast upon his return.

 

Christians, let this stir your heart to love and treasure Lord’s Supper. This meal is not a magical ceremony. It does not infuse you with more grace. The elements remain bread and wine. It is commemorative.

 

At the same time, the spiritual life and blessing of this meal is more than a memory. Something sacred is going on, something mysterious, something glorious. People who are redeemed by Christ, under his covenant grace, are united in remembering his death on their behalf as they look forward to his return. And The Holy Spirit of god, the Spirit of Jesus, is with us at that moment. This is not just an empty ceremony of memory alone. It is dining together in the presence of God as we fellowship together. It is longing for his return. It is looking forward to an eternity beyond this sin-filled life. It is a glorious time of refreshing the soul. And it is certainly to be a major highlight of the Christian’s worship.

When God was preparing to destroy the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, he let us know why this was happening. He showed Moses and the people of Israel exactly why it is that he chose to do what he did in the way that he did it.

 

Exodus 14:4, 15-18

 

4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

 

15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

 

Three times in Exodus 14, the Lord tells us that what he was up to in the whole incident with the Egyptian army was getting glory. The glory of God was at the bottom purpose of why the Exodus happened as it did. This is why God parted the Red Sea. This is why the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground and the Egyptian army drowned in a crush of water. This is why Pharaoh never took a hint that he was defeated. It was all for the glory of God.

 

Immediately, if we are not careful, we will begin to make a personal evaluation. Is it OK that God did this for his glory? Is that reason acceptable to us? Do we like it? Do we think that the glory of God is a legitimate reason for what took place?

 

Let me caution us with a simple reminder. The reason that the universe exists is for the glory of god. The reason that humanity came into existence is for the glory of God. The reason the sun rises, the stars shine, the moon moves through her seasons, and the earth turns is for the glory of God. The glory of God is the purpose for all things.

 

When you grasp that the glory of God is the purpose for all things, then you can understand why it is good that the Lord would do what he did to get glory. The morality of the Exodus cannot be measured by any greater standard than that of the glory of God. There is no other rule set out there. The glory of God is the highest good because the glory of God is why the universe exists. Thus, when god takes action for his glory, God does the highest good.

 

We face many things we do not understand. The Lord does things in his word that are not the way that we would do them. But we are not the Lord. Our wisdom does not match his wisdom. And, if we are not thinking well, we will forget that the reason for all things, the highest measure of right, is the glory of God. Thus, when God does what glorifies himself, he does the highest form of right.

 

Does your heart reject this notion? Do you think that the glory of God must not be the highest right? If not, consider this: What standard would you put in its place? How would you better measure perfection and righteousness than by a comparison with the glory of God? If you look closely, you will find that no other standard is as perfect, as high, as fitting in keeping with the purpose of the universe. No, it will not always make sense to us. Nor will it always feel right to us. But the Lord is infinitely greater than us. His holiness is something we can only begin to understand. And thus, his ways, his purposes, are things we must allow him to show us. We must trust that he is right instead of thinking we can measure his rightness by another external standard. Let the glory of God as the purpose for the universe help you surrender to his plans and purposes as perfect.  

No way will that idea ever work! No way can that plan succeed. These thoughts come to us a lot when we think about doing things for the glory of God. Perhaps it is evangelism. Perhaps it is church planting. Perhaps it is putting together something special for the church. But often we look at our world, see that something appears very difficult or highly unlikely, and we just declare it impossible.

 

But think of how impossible it was for Israel to leave Egypt. There is just no way that the nation of slaves would be released by the more powerful Egyptians. But God got his people out.

 

Even more unlikely is this thought:

 

Exodus 12:35-36 – 35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

 

God told the Israelites to ask their Egyptian neighbors for treasure. Just imagine. The Israelites were thought of as disgusting by the Egyptians. The Israelites were slaves, a dirty shepherding people who had been assigned to make mud and straw bricks for building. They had no class. They had nothing to earn them favor with the Egyptians.

 

Just imagine the Israelites going to their Egyptian neighbors. “Hey, I was just thinking; how about you give me a bunch of gold and jewels? How about handing over to me your family fortune?” That was not going to happen. No way.

 

But it did. How? God gave the Israelites favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and the people handed treasures over to Israel. God used that treasure for the building of the first tabernacle and for the establishing of Israel as a nation. God did the impossible, because he was accomplishing his larger plan.

 

What do you think is impossible? Perhaps you should ask if what you want to do fits the large plan of God. Perhaps you should remember that God can and does change the hearts of people to bring them to places you might never think possible. There is no heart change that is impossible if God is involved. Politicians, authorities, banks, neighbors, family members, all have hearts that the Lord can influence. So take heart, pray, and trust the Lord. He provides in unbelievable ways.

When you hurt, how do you think differently? Do you tend to be harsh, even accusing, of others who are not in the same pain that you are? Are you rough with those whose emotional trials are not the same as yours? Do you even get snippy toward God, expressing bitterness for the hardship you are facing?

 

If we are honest, I think we all know that hardships often bend us toward dangerous ground. We allow our hearts to think that we have it worse than we deserve. We allow our souls to be upset with others who may simply not be able to understand our sorrow. Pain, physical or emotional, threatens to reshape us from the inside out.

 

Of course, we know that God is not above sorrow. WE know that the Son of God experienced tremendous emotional and physical pain as he went to the cross to pay for our sins. And in his suffering, the Son of  God reminds us of something to remember to keep our perspective in times of hardship.

 

When Jesus was on the cross, one of the phrases that he spoke is a citation of Psalm 22:1. In that cry of desolation, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” the Savior expressed his sorrow and hurt. But he also pointed the people who were watching to the 22^nd psalm. He pointed them to things that are significant truths for us all to know when we suffer.

 

Psalm 22:1-3

 

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

and by night, but I find no rest.

3 Yet you are holy,

enthroned on the praises of Israel.

 

Verse 1, of course is the cry. It is a genuine expression of pain. When we suffer, God is willing to allow us to express truth. We should not put on a falsely brave face and pretend before the Lord that we are OK when we are not.

 

In verse 2, the psalmist expresses his lack of understanding. Not only is he suffering, not only does he not know why, but he also does not know why God has not shortened the time of his suffering. God understands that longer times of suffering wear on us. And he gives us a text to help us to see that we are allowed to express that hurt to him as well.

 

But then comes verse 3. This verse, right in the heart of the opening, refocuses us on a truth we must cling to in times of suffering. It is the truth of verse 3 that can prevent us from going over the edge from honest expression of hurt into sinful accusation against the Lord.

 

David writes of the Lord, “Yet you are holy.” In that line, he acknowledges that, though he cannot understand why he hurts as he does, nor can he understand why it has lasted for so long, he does understand that God is holy. The Lord is right and perfect. The Lord is set apart from us. The Lord is able to see our hurt and our sorrow from a perspective that we cannot. The Lord, in his holiness, in his infinite wisdom, knows things we do not and is accomplishing things we cannot imagine. The Lord is holy, never capable of sin. The Lord, thus, is not wronging us, even when our hearts want to scream out that he is.

 

Friends, it is wise for us to keep all 3 verses that open Psalm 22 in mind when we face hardships. Yes, we may cry out to the Lord. Yes, we must express our fear, our sorrow, our confusion, and our pain. Yes, the Lord hears and cares. But in the same breath, we must recall that the Lord is holy. He is never wronging us. He is seeing things from a perspective, an eternal perspective, an omniscient perspective, that you and I simply cannot match. There is a place in Christianity to tell God you hurt, to say you do not understand, and still to bow and declare that God, above all, is perfect, good, and holy.

When Moses was called by God to speak to Pharaoh, he was afraid. Moses feared that he was unskilled in diplomacy. Moses feared that Pharaoh would not believe him. Perhaps Moses even feared that, were he to try to step in, he would make the situation with Israel in Egypt worse.

 

But God told Moses that the Lord himself would be with him. God let Moses know that, by God’s mighty hand, the Lord would lead the people out of Egypt. Moses would be God’s instrument, God’s tool in the process.

 

Now, most of us would assume, were we given this calling from God and these promises of God, that things would go smoothly. We would assume that , since God is with us, our words would be well-received. We would assume that God would make it so that, if we are doing his will, people have stronger, happier, healthier lives. But that was not the case for Moses.

 

When Moses came to Pharaoh and spoke the word of God to the Egyptian king, Pharaoh lashed out against the Hebrews. If you remember Exodus 5, you will remember that Pharaoh made the slavery of the people far worse. He demanded they go out and scavenge for the straw they needed to make the bricks that were required of them. The work was easily doubled, but the quota was not changed. So, in that moment, the lives of the Hebrews got vastly harder, more painful, more difficult, more deadly; and it was because of Moses’ following of god that this happened.

 

 

 

 

Exodus 5:20-23 – 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

22 Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

 

Look at the response of the people to Moses above. They were not grateful. They were angry. They wanted Moses to leave them alone. He and his message were making them miserable.

 

Moses himself cried out to the Lord. He wondered why God would have sent him in if all it was going to do would be to make things worse.

 

But, those who know the whole story will know that God was at work. God would eventually move the people out of the land. God would free the Hebrews from Egypt, establish them as a nation, build them over time, and bring the promised Messiah through them. But, in the day-to-day, they felt a great deal of pain because of Moses’ obedience.

 

Christians, we need to grasp that our faith is not a pragmatic thing. WE cannot assume that, if we make the right choices, everything will go smoothly. God does not and has never promised that faithfulness in our lives will lead to ease for us or for those who we love. We may cause our families, our friends, or ourselves pain simply by being faithful to God’s word. Because the world is fallen, when we cling to the commands of god, we may find that worldly opportunities are removed from us, that people look down on us, or that even persecution may occur. We must not be shocked by the concept.

 

Neither should we be discouraged. God is working his will. Whether we experience the success of his mission is irrelevant. What matters is that we trust the Lord, that we obey, and that we know that, in the end, the Lord will accomplish his will for his glory.

 

So, do not be shocked if your obedience to the Lord does not lead to immediate life success. In fact, do not be shocked if it hurts. But be aware that the Lord is faithful on an eternal scale, and if you serve the Lord, you will find him victorious.

They won’t listen to me. They will never believe me. They will think I’m crazy. They will be offended by my words. They are not open. I’m not special. I’m not smart enough to challenge them.

 

On and on our excuses flow for not obeying the call of God to speak the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. We come up with reason after reason that we should not be the ones to tell the truth to people in desperate need. This is not because we do not want to see them forgiven by God. It is not because we do not think it matters. But the bottom line is, we are afraid.

 

The interesting thing is, this is not  a new problem. Moses had it too.

 

Exodus 4:1- Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ”

 

When God commanded Moses to go and tell Pharaoh to let his people go, Moses had the kinds of fears that many of us face. Moses felt that he could not carry the message of God in a way that would make Pharaoh believe him. A look at the context shows us the kinds of excuses Moses makes. He worries about his ability to speak, his ability to persuade, his knowledge of theological truth such as the name of God. It all culminates in Moses pleading with God to send somebody else.

 

But the Lord has none of it. God sends Moses. God empowers Moses. God tells Moses that speaking to Pharaoh is his job, no matter how well or poorly Moses speaks. God is the one who will do the work. God will provide the power. Moses simply must obey.

 

What are your excuses for not talking to friends, family, or neighbors? Do those excuses sound like Moses here at the burning bush? Perhaps it would be good for you to remember that God is with you, his Spirit living inside all Christians, and he can empower you to do what you are not at all able to do on your own.   

What motivates you more to believe? Do solid, factual claims motivate you? Do beautiful, emotional pictures motivate you? We are all wired differently here. But God has chosen to show us reasons to follow Christ that fall into both camps. Sometimes, he even does so in the same breath.

 

Mark 16:6-7 – 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”

 

Do you want reasons to believe in and follow Jesus? These 2 verses contain for you hard facts and sweet emotions. Whichever motivates you more should ring out.

 

On the factual side, there is the simple claim, “He has risen; he is not here.” The Bible tells us that Jesus, on Sunday, walked out of his tomb and was alive again. There was no longer a body in the grave. Jesus is not dead but alive. That is a simple, historical claim of fact. It is either true or false. It cannot be neither or both. Either Jesus is physically alive or he is not.

 

If Jesus is not alive, there is no reason to follow Christianity. All of the Bible’s claims are simply unreliable if Jesus is dead. But if Jesus is alive, then he has the right to command our repentance and faith. If Jesus is alive, all the Bible claims about itself and about Jesus is true. And if Jesus is alive, you owe him your very life and very soul.

 

On the emotional side, there is the little phrase, “and Peter.” It requires some context to see the beauty there, but it is not hard. Peter had denied Jesus. In front of hostile folks, Peter pretended that he had never met Jesus and was certainly not a follower of the Savior. How would Jesus respond to Peter now that he was alive again? Is it not beautiful to hear the angel instruct the women specifically to tell Peter that Jesus is alive. Jesus is not writing Peter off. There is grace for a man who failed Jesus miserably.

 

Why this should speak to our hearts is obvious. We fail the Lord. WE are not as strong as we should be. How lovely to know that Peter was not turned away. The God who would love Peter enough to specifically speak of him in the message to call the disciples together and encourage them is a good, loving, and gracious God. We, who have failed him over and over again must find courage that God would love us in the same way, with the same grace, that he showed his love to Peter.

 

What strengthens your faith more? Is it that Jesus is alive and the tomb is empty? Is it that God would graciously include a failure like Peter—like you and me—in his call to the disciples? Either way, the word is encouraging you to believe in Jesus and follow him with your life. He is worth following because he is gracious. He is worth following because he is alive.