Tag: Travis Peterson

1 Samuel 22:22-23 – And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house. Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”

These words from David follow a terrible event in his life. David, in fleeing from the murderous jealousy of King Saul, had stopped and received help from a friend. The man, a priest, who aided David was later murdered by King Saul for supposedly conspiring with David against the king. Saul also had the man’s family and entire town put to death. The only escapee was Abiathar, a son of the murdered priest.

When Abiathar came to David with the news, David acted in true and godly humility. Many of us, in such a situation, would have spread the blame or declared our innocence. Many would have tried to deflect any fault for what happened to Saul; but not David. David said to Abiathar, “You know what, it’s my fault. I should have seen this coming. I put your dad and family in danger.” No blame-shifting. No hiding from what happened. No, “Man, that Saul is a jerk! We sure hate him, don’t we?” David just stood, like a man, and confessed his sin.

We must learn from David’s character here if we are to be humble before God and men. There are going to be times when we mess up. There are going to be times when we do not do our fair share. There are going to be times when we simply wrong others, either intentionally or not. In those times, let us learn to be like David. Let us not try to excuse ourselves. Let us not say, “Well, I was having a really bad day; and I had a headache; and the sun was in my eyes; and I was distracted by that barking dog; and besides, they made me mad; etc.” Instead, let us simply and humbly take the blame for our failures, and do what we can to make things right in the name of the Lord.

Dear God, I pray that you will help me to put off sinful pride and put on godly humility. Let me always be quick to take the blame when I fail. Let me not shift blame, look for excuses, or hide from the truth. Let me simply be a man who pleases you, a man with true humility.

Romans 7:15 – For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

Isn’t it true that, no matter how good you would like to be, you often find yourself messing up? This is the natural failure that seems to accompany our journey through this world. Often we start out with seemingly noble intentions only to find ourselves flat on our faces before our day is done. And, at times like this, verse 15 of Romans 7 is comforting. We are comforted that God saw fit to have Paul record for us his struggles, to let us know that the Christian life, while progressively getting better, can, at times, be marked with slip ups along the way.

But with that said, I want to point out a word in that verse that should cause us to step back and reevaluate our use of this verse as a comfort, or perhaps a comfortable excuse. The word that I want us to look at is “hate.” Paul says that, on occasion, he wants to do good, but somehow does what he hates. Sometimes, when he wants to treat people with dignity and respect, he will let someone get under his skin, and he will be harsh, sharp tongued, and simply cruel. He hates that kind of behavior, but he does it anyway.

What we need to learn is this: Though Paul says he sometimes slips into his old patterns of sinful behavior, as a true believer, he hates it. Paul does not revel in willful sin, then turn and say, “O well, good thing God is gracious.” He does not shrug his sin off as if it were nothing. Paul despises, abhors, detests, hates his sin. He does not love it. He can not love it. When he falls into sin, he feels like he falls. He does not feel like he can excuse it. He does not feel like he couldn’t help it, so he is not responsible. He hates it, and he strives to get better.

IF we are to live a true Christian life, we must learn to hate our sin. Yes, sometimes we will still fail. Sometimes we will do the very thing we hate. But let’s make sure that we learn to truly hate the very sin we commit. Let us not shrug off sin. Let us not excuse sin. Let us grow in the love of and fear of God. Let us learn to hate all that defies God’s holy standards. Let us hate our sin, and when we do, we will most certainly not find ourselves falling into it so much.

Do you hate your sin?

Dear Lord, I pray that you will help me, through your Holy Spirit and holy word to have a holy hatred of sin. Let me not love sin. Let me not excuse sin. Let me live a life of genuine repentance for your glory.

Romans 1:11-12 – For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
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IT seems interesting to me, with all the focus that is often placed on “discovering your spiritual gifts,” that Paul here uses the notion of spiritual gifts in a rather unique way. He speaks of imparting a spiritual gift to the Romans, whom he is hoping to visit for the first time sometime in the near future. If one were sold on our test-driven sort of spiritual gift inventory understanding of spiritual gifts, he or she would have to conclude that Paul is talking about giving to the Romans a gift like mercy or service or evangelism. Were a person convinced along more charismatic lines, he or she would argue that Paul was planning to go and give the Romans some power such as the ability to heal or speak in tongues. But neither of these ideas is in view.

Paul, after declaring his desire to impart a spiritual gift to the Roman church, then follows up that notion with an explanation so that no one would miss it. Paul then said that he means that he wants them to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. In sharing life together, doing church together, and ultimately reminding one another of the glory of God and of their wonderful responsibility to serve God, Paul says that he will be imparting a spiritual gift to them. True, loving, biblical fellowship, encouragement, and leadership is a spiritual gift. No, it’s not nearly as intriguing to many as are “sign” gifts; but such a gift is actually of far more use to the church. Spiritual gifts are intended by God for the building up of the body of Christ for the glory of God. Spiritual gifts are not given by God so that we can feel powerful or impress our friends with neat tricks.

So, now that we know that mutually encouraging one another with the word of God is a way to give a true spiritual gift, how can you and I do that today? What might you do today to bring a fellow believer to a better place because of your sharing with him your Christian life? Who might you be able to talk with today about the glories of the word of God? Who can you pray for today? Better yet, with whom can you pray today? I urge you to think about it, and find a way to give a spiritual gift by encouraging someone in the faith.

Dear Lord, I pray that you will help me to be a part of giving spiritual gifts as Paul did in this text. I recognize that there are gifts that you give us at salvation that are not what Paul is speaking of here. But, like those gifts, this gift in Romans 1 is also a gift given with the purpose of strengthening the church. I pray that you will help me to strengthen the church by encouraging someone with your word today.

Exodus 9:35-10:2 – So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”
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A key tenet of proper theology is a belief in the sovereignty of God. For us to say that God is sovereign is for us to say that God is in control—that there is no situation that is outside of God’s power, authority, or command. While we may not understand everything that happens, one thing we must never allow ourselves to believe is that anything happens apart from the permission of God.

IN Exodus 5-ff, God sends Moses to the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to call that king to let the nation of Israel leave Egypt. Pharaoh flatly refuses to listen to the words of Moses. In our reading, through chapter 10, God has struck the land of Egypt with a series of nine plagues. Each plague is designed by God to demonstrate his power. Each plague demonstrates the awesome strength and great reach of our completely powerful Lord. And one might assume that any of the plagues might be enough to convince the Pharaoh that God is stronger than him, and that he should listen to God’s commands for his own good. But the Pharaoh refuses to listen to God.

Was God not sovereign in this situation? Was God not in control? Could God not manage to convince the Pharaoh? Some might read this passage as such, but they would fail to see the beginning words of chapter 10. There we see that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. What God is saying there is that he actually prevented Pharaoh from learning from what was happening. God actually moved in such a way as to keep Pharaoh arrogant, disobedient, and destined for destruction. Now, in doing this, God did not force sin on Pharaoh, but God did allow Pharaoh to go with his own desires, which were to disobey God. Had God wanted to, he could very easily have reached into Pharaoh’s hard heart and worked change in him. But God had a greater purpose. God wanted the nation of Israel to see God’s mighty power and glorify God’s name. So, God kept Pharaoh in his hard-hearted state in order to allow Israel to see all the terrifying plagues that God would bring upon the land of Egypt. God was fully in control of the situation. God was fully sovereign. God did exactly what he had planned.

What does this mean for us today? If God is sovereign, we can rest assured that nothing defeats him. Nothing will ever catch God by surprise. No situation will ever arise for which God has no solution. He is fully God. He is sovereign, in control, over all things. Even our greatest tragedies are within God’s control. Sometimes he will allow us to suffer, but he will always be willing and able to get us through. Our God is an awesome God, and we must worship him for his sovereignty.

Dear Lord, I bow in worship this morning, and I praise you for your great power and your divine sovereignty. I declare here and now that there is nothing over which you are not in control. You rule the universe, and there is not even one molecule in the vastness of space that is outside of your control. You are mighty, powerful, and awesome in every way. You are worthy of worship. I give you my praise and I yield my life to your control.

Exodus 5:6-9 – 6The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7“You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
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There are a plethora of false teachers out there who would convince anyone, Christian or potential Christian, that being the people of God and following the commands of God is the key to making your life on earth easier. But we can learn a simple lesson about such teaching from the experience of Moses and the Israelites from Exodus 5. God commanded Moses to go to the Pharaoh, and to demand that he let the people of God go. According to many of our pop Christian teachers who proclaim health, wealth, and prosperity for all who are God’s, Moses and the Israelites should have met with great success. You would think, from the way that some teachers write, that the Pharaoh would have been ready to pack for the Israelites. But this is not the case.

In reality, following God does not always lead to happiness and success in this life. In Matthew 5:10-12, Jesus promised his followers persecution from the world. Here in Exodus 5, Moses did what God told him to do, and Moses’ life and the lives of the people he loved were made miserable by the Pharaoh. The people were forced to work harder. The foremen were beaten by their task masters. The hardships for the Israelites increased dramatically simply because Moses did exactly what God had commanded.

So, the question might arise, “Why follow God?” If God is not promising to make your life easy here, why follow him at all? And the answer is that we do not live for this world. We live for eternity. God may give you a nice, comfortable, relatively painless life; but that is no guarantee. What is guaranteed is, if you are God’s child by grace through Faith in Jesus Christ, your eternity is set. You will live forever in God’s kingdom, in perfect happiness, in perfect fellowship with God, in complete and utter joy if you become God’s child here on earth. You obey God now, because you love God for both what he has done for you in purchasing your salvation through Jesus’ death on the cross and for what he will do for eternity. You serve God now because, even though you face persecution, glorifying God is the reason you exist and is therefore the most fulfilling thing you can possibly do.

No, we do not follow God to have our easiest life now. Instead, we follow God because we love him, because it gives us joy to glorify him even in the midst of persecution, and because being God’s child leads to an eternity of perfection. No, life may not be easy, and never let anyone convince you that it will be. But, when you are doing what God has commanded you to do, you can know this: your suffering in this life will be very small in comparison to the glories of an eternity in the presence of your Lord.

Dear God, I come to you this day, and I acknowledge that you do not promise a life of success and ease. I recognize that sometimes, obedience to your commands leads to exactly the opposite result. However, I desire to obey you. I would rather suffer while obeying you than to have success while dishonoring you. I pray that you will grant me the opportunity, this day, to serve you through the joy or through the pain of life. I pray that you will give me the great honor of pointing others to the glory of your holy name.

Psalm 25:11 – For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
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This line in the midst of Psalm 25 is rich. David acknowledges that he is guilty. He has great guilt, as do we all. And David recognizes that he needs a pardon from God. His guilt is something that would separate him from the Lord. His guilt is something that would keep God from hearing his prayer. So David asks God for a pardon.

But notice the grounds upon which David bases his request. Notice why it is that David asks to be pardoned. David does not ask to be pardoned based on his own goodness. He has already acknowledged that he is a great sinner. Instead, David asks God to pardon him for God’s own name’s sake. It is for the sake of the reputation and glory of God that David asks for pardon. It is based on the fact that God is known to be a loving, merciful, covenant keeping God that David seeks pardon.

As Christians, we still mess up. All of us, in one moment or another, will fail before our Lord. In such moments, we too need to seek the forgiveness of God. Our sins, in the eternal legal sense, have already been forgiven in Christ, but we still need to be forgiven by God for the sake of our relationship with him. But when we seek his forgiveness, we need to be careful that we be not presumptuous. We do not demand his forgiveness. We do not act as though his grace is a little thing, a trifle to be claimed flippantly. Instead, we need to seek his grace as humble sinners should. We ask to be forgiven by God, not because we deserve it, but because his reputation is on the line. He has called us his children. He has promised to forgive and to keep us. Thus, we humbly seek his grace based on his name. We ask for him to forgive us so that his reputation as a loving and forgiving God will be upheld. We ask him to forgive us for his glory first and foremost.

Dear Lord, you are truly a great and gracious God. You have shown yourself to be faithful to your promises time and time again. I recognize, even from this verse, that every time you have forgiven me, it has been a testimony to your name, your reputation, your glory. I ask that you will continue to work in my life to make me more and more like you. Do this for the sake of your name. Sanctify me, leading me to obedience and growth, so that people will see how great, loving, kind, and glorious you truly are.

Psalm 24:1-2 – The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
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One of man’s rebellions against God is a question seldom publicly asked. However, if you watch the lost and listen to their words, you will notice that this question is at their heart. Sadly, you will also find the same question at the hearts of many who claim Christ. The question: “What gives God the right to command me thus,” or “What gives God the right to do this to me or allow it to happen?”

A simple look at the opening of Psalm 24 gives us enough answer to these questions, and should put them to rest in the hearts of believers. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. Everything that exists on earth belongs to God. All the fullness, the totality of all things, is actually something God owns. God has right of ownership of the world, and all who dwell in the world. Why? How does God have ownership of everything? God owns everything because he made everything. He created the universe. He fashioned all humanity. There is no item that exists that does not exist by his power and for his glory. Thus, he does own everything—it is all his. And, because God owns everything, he has every right to command us to live in whatever way he sees fit and to do with us whatever is his desire.

Think, for a moment, of how understanding this truth should change the way that Christians think and speak. Often, when studying Old Testament, and sometimes New Testament, commands, we struggle to give to one another a justifying reason for why it is better for us that God made such a law. You will hear Christians make arguments about why eating pork was an unacceptable thing for the Jews of old, and that God had some sort of health concern in mind when making this command. However, why not say, as the psalmist declares for us, that the reason that God commanded what he did is that the earth is his and the fullness thereof. All the world belongs to God. He has the right to command anything he desires, and he need not show us any reasoning for it. He could command that we hop 12 times on each foot before leaving any enclosed structure, and such a command would be perfectly righteous and logical because it came from the God who owns us all. Yes, that is a ridiculous sounding command, but it should illustrate the point. We do not need the “why” of any command God has given us. Instead, the “this is what the Lord commands” should be sufficient.

Also, if we recognized God as the true owner of all things and all people, we also would be much less apt to struggle with “why” questions for God. Christians cling to the right to ask God why he has allowed certain things to happen. Why that tornado? Why that flood? Why this illness? Why not stop that attack? Why this congress? Why give that person prosperity? In each of these questions, if we are not careful, we assert that we have a right to know. Most often, the question “why” is not asked as a simple request for knowledge not revealed. When we ask God why, we most often ask him to justify for us his reasoning and prove to us that he should have done what he did. However, God never need justify himself to anyone. The earth is his and the fullness thereof. We are his, all of us who dwell in the earth. He owns us. He has every right to do with us anything he sees fit, even when it hurts. We dare not demand an explanation. We dare not pretend that God has to clear his actions with us. He is God, and we are not. He is the Lord, and we are his possession.

Dear Lord, I acknowledge this morning that the earth is yours, and everything and everyone in it. We all belong to you. You are sovereign. You are King. You have every right to rule. You do not have to explain your commands to us. You do not have to justify your actions to us. I thank you that you have shown yourself to be loving. I thank you that all that you do is right, good, and loving. I thank you that you are not capricious or arbitrary. And I bow myself before you today. I acknowledge my place as your servant, your property, your son. I ask that you will do with me what is most to your glory. I pray that this will involve you helping me to obey your commands and faithfully serve you. I long to glorify your name. I pray that you will use me and those around me to accomplish great things for the sake of your kingdom.

Luke 17:7-10 – 7“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
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Jesus, in this illustrative teaching, reveals for us the natural heart of man and the proper Christian alternative. He does so by describing a situation that could well have been common in those days, and connecting it to a bigger principle. The servant, in this passage, is typical of servants in those days. Such servants were apparently expected to do their day’s work, and to continue in their role as servants when they returned to the house. No servant would have expected to be treated as anything other than a servant by his master, and no servant would have expected to receive special thanks from his master for doing what was his job.

In our lives, we often do exactly the opposite of what Jesus teaches here. When we are not careful, we can find ourselves thinking that God owes us special treatment, favors, or blessings because of our service to him. We sometimes think that, if we obey the commands of God, he ought to give us something extra special. We sometimes think that, if we refuse to fall into some particular temptation, we deserve a treat.

The problem with our thinking, when we do what I just mentioned, is that obedience to God is our duty, it is not special service. There is nothing that any of us can give to God, not even our very lives, that can put God the least bit in our debt. Even if we live a life of complete devotion, suffer the greatest of hardships, and sacrifice our bodies as martyrs, we only do what servants are supposed to do for their Master. We can never, not ever, earn any ounce of favor from God. Any favor we receive from God is unearned, unmerited favor—grace.

Let us learn to respond to God rightly, as servants to a Master. Let us no longer think that our good behavior should buy us favors from God. Let us not think that obeying God’s commands, which is in fact our delightful duty as his followers, should prompt him to give us the trinkets or comforts after which the world so eagerly seeks. Instead, let us recognize that we are unworthy servants, who after giving our all, still have not given even 1% of what God deserves from us. Let us remember that we have been forgiven an infinite debt, and we could never do enough good for an eternity to ever repay it. Let us live under God’s grace, and love that he allows us the privilege of being his followers.

Dear Lord, I acknowledge here and now that I am your unworthy servant. I have never done a thing to earn your favor, nor could I ever do so. I ask that you will remind me again and again of the grace that you have given to me in Christ. Let me serve you, not so that I can earn blessings and rewards, but out of simple love for you. Yes, I know that you will reward my obedience, but such a reward is not my due. Any reward you give me is grace upon grace, and so I thank you for your amazing grace.

I’m back to writing after being in Louisville for a week and a half and then coming home to catch the stomach flu. With that said, God has graciously allowed me to stay completely caught up on the reading. This entry is from yesterday’s reading.

Psalm 16:11

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
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Many people think of Christianity, of following God, as a duty. It may not be something they think they want to do, but they look at following God as the only means whereby they can have what they want. So, they go to church or read the Bible in much the same way that a child takes bad-tasting medicine.

Genuine Christianity, however, is not like a bitter pill that must be swallowed. Instead, genuine Christianity is the greatest of all joys. And notice, from the passage above, that the joy that comes from following God has always been a part of being the people of God. Whether from the Old Testament or the New, being a follower of God is a joyful thing.

The parts of this verse that truly grab my attention are the last two lines. In God’s presence is fullness of joy. Complete, full, utterly satisfying joy is something that can only be found in the presence of God. In god’s right hand are pleasures forevermore. The true source of genuine pleasure is our God. Following such a God is not a burden. He is the source of all pleasure and joy. To follow him is, by his grace, to follow after the one who gives the greatest and highest joys.

Today, you might want to put your own faith in God to a simple test. Do you see God as joyfully as the psalmist? Do you understand that in God’s presence is fullness of joy? Do you sense that in God’s right hand are eternal pleasures? Do you look at following God as your joy or as some sort of unpleasant but necessary duty? Genuine faith in God, truly knowing him, is bound up in having a real picture of him. Such a picture of God must include a picture of our God as the giver of all good things and the source of all true and lasting pleasure. To seek God is to seek the greatest joy one could ever seek. To be in God’s presence is to have fullness of joy. To be used by God is to have eternal pleasure.

Today, ask if you find your joy in serving and being near your God. If you do not find joy in God’s presence and pleasure in his service, I would ask you if you truly know him. If God truly is such a source of great joy, it would make little sense to me that someone would know him without also finding delight in him. Therefore, if someone claims to know God, but has no delight in being in his presence or in his service, I fear that they have missed truly getting to know God. This is serious business to be sure. God wants you to know him. Knowing him is to know fullness of joy and eternal pleasure. So, as John Piper might call us, we must be about the duty of delighting in God.

Lord, I thank you that you reveal to us that in your presence is fullness of joy and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. I deeply desire to know you more. I deeply desire the fullness of joy that is in your presence. I deeply desire the pleasures of being in your hand, used by you, and honoring you. I pray that this day, I will experience the fullest of joys by being in your presence. I pray that I will experience the highest of pleasures by being used by you for your glory. I recognize that following you is no drudgery. Following you is no bitter pill to be swallowed, but it is the greatest of joys. I pray that you will make yourself known to me more and more, and in doing so, I pray that you will make my joy complete in you.

Luke 5:27-28 – After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
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The Greek word for disciple is a word that simply means one who follows another. Here we see the beginning of Levi’s (Matthew’s) discipleship. The account here is simple and straight forward. Jesus sees Levi and approaches him. Let’s always remember that, if we are the disciples of Christ, we are only the disciples of Christ because Christ first came to us. And, when Jesus called, Levi left everything to get up and follow Jesus.

With the dawn of 2007, I think it is fair to say that we too have the call upon our lives that Levi heard from Jesus. Our Lord calls to us to follow him. Our Lord calls for us to come to him, to know him, to serve him, to glorify his name, and to become his disciples. No matter what your past, you are still called by Jesus to become one of his followers.

And, if we are to be Jesus’ disciples in 2007, our response to him has to be the very same as Levi’s. We have to get up, leave everything, and follow Jesus. You can never stay where you are and who you are and at the same time follow God. God calls you to change. He calls you to be different. He calls you to follow him to somewhere where you are not (either physically or spiritually). You also have to leave behind the old to follow Jesus. The follower of God can never cling to the things of this life and still be following God. We have to learn to stand up and leave behind the trinkets, distractions, and petty pleasures of this life if we are to truly follow Jesus. This is not to say that we let go of all pleasure to follow Christ, but it is to say that we trade the weak, short-lived, inane pleasures of the world for lasting, eternal, glorious, soul-satisfying pleasures which are found in the glory of God.

As you begin 2007, will you heed the call of Jesus? Will you hear his call to follow him? Will you stand up from where you are, put away the trinkets of this world and the comforts of the status quo, and follow the Lord? Let today be a day when you begin to follow Jesus.

Dear Lord, I thank you for the gracious call that you place on the lives of all men. You call us all to come to you, to receive your grace, and to follow you. Today, I again commit myself to follow you. I desire to stand up and leave behind the trinkets and distractions of this life. I want to trade those for the glories of knowing you, serving you, and being your disciple. Please take me wherever you want me. Please lead me wherever you want me. Please help me to simply know you, love you, and serve you for this year and all years to come.