Saturday, September 28, 2019
Testimony of a Fool
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 25:2-3, Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.
It always amazes me that Christians continually fall for the whole “prosperity preaching” thing. This whole idea that being rich equals being right with God is nonsense and non-biblical. This is not to say that God will not bless His people. We have plenty of examples of God blessing His people with riches, such as Job, Abraham, and Solomon, just to name a few (who, by the way, were far from perfect). Here we have Nabal, whose name means “a fool”. A man blessed with riches, yet a man of poor character, describe by God’s Word as “harsh and evil in his doings”. Far too often we who are followers of Christ covet the wrong things. Psalm 37:16 tells us, “A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.” The sad part about this man’s testimony is that not only was he blessed with riches, but he was blessed with something that is far more valuable, a wife who was “a woman of good understanding and beautiful in appearance”. In other words, she was beautiful both inside and outside. That, my brothers and sisters, is a true blessing to be treasured even more than worldly gain and riches. Too many of God’s people get sidetracked chasing the wrong things in life. As born again believers, our goal is to live a life that glorifies the Lord. Instead, we chase money, material gain, status in society, promotions at our jobs, etc. It is not wrong to have riches or success, as long as we put them in their proper place and priority. When we begin to live a life that puts distance between us and the Lord, we cannot honestly equate it with being right with Him, no matter how much we gain. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus clearly stated, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” In Matthew 45b Jesus also said, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” In Matthew 6 Jesus clearly teaches that we are to focus our attention on the Kingdom of God and He will be faithful to provide all that we need. If the Lord then decides to add to that and bless us with riches, there is nothing wrong with that. The problem with gaining riches, for many, is that once we get a taste of what the world has to offer, material things become our gods. We then do whatever it takes to gain those riches and we become a Nabal. When we begin to covet the world’s offerings, we sacrifice our relationship with the Lord, our spouse, and family in general; all to gain what we cannot take with us in the end. Psalm 49:16-20 warns, “Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased; 17 for when he dies he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him. 18 Though while he lives he blesses himself (for men will praise you when you do well for yourself), 19 he shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. 20 A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” 1 Timothy 6:7-10 states it this way, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” So I ask, “What are we coveting?” Do we seek after righteousness, and godliness, or are we sacrificing our testimony and service to the Lord for the empty riches of this world? Do we have all those things that bring us praise from the world, yet fall short in our relationship with the Lord? Has the Lord blessed us with a spouse who is of good understanding and beauty (inside and out), but we are sacrificing them on the altar of worldly gain? It is better to live a life that pleases God than one that brings us fame and popularity in this world, but labels us “a fool” before the Lord.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Finding Hope in the Wilderness
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 25:1, Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
There are those times in life, and our walk with the Lord, that we stop and ask ourselves, “Can things get any worse?” David, who was on the path to becoming Israel’s next king, could have very easily gotten discouraged and just “thrown in the towel”. Even though Saul had stopped pursuing him for the time being, he knew better and chose to return to his stronghold (1 Samuel 24:22). Here, we read that the one person who was David’s greatest supporter had died. After mourning with Israel over the death of his friend Samuel, David returned to the wilderness. The Wilderness of Paran is where the Israelites wandered for their refusal to trust the Lord to give them the Promise Land, after God led them out of Egypt. David, as we know from reading his Psalms, suffered much while running from Saul. There were instances when he drowned in his own tears, and cried out to the Lord in distress. There were even moments when he chose the wrong thing to do, as we saw in earlier devotional messages, because of his distress. However, no matter what the Lord allowed him to endure, he always ended up praising the Lord because he knew the Lord never forsook him, even during his time in the Wilderness. The fact of the matter is that none of us are immune from “wilderness moments”. As God’s children, we will find ourselves living through times when everything and everyone seems to be against us, and when nothing seems to work in our favor. We suffer hurts, emotionally, maybe physically, and become discouraged spiritually. Sometimes, those discouragements come because of our own decisions, other times they come because of other people’s decisions, and they even seem to just come out of nowhere. Regardless of the source, there is one thing that we can be certain of, God is in those “wilderness moments” and He never leaves us nor forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5-6). All the while Israel wandered in the wilderness, in spite of their rebellious attitude at times; God took care of them and met all their needs. Deuteronomy 8:4 tells us, “Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” Deuteronomy 29:5 also reiterated, “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet.” We may see the wilderness as a place of suffering, but in reality the wilderness is a place where we find comfort. Just like God took care of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, it also served as a reminder to David that God was His Comforter in this sorrowful time in his life. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness and God allowed David to wait almost 15 years before he become king of Judah, running from Saul a good portion of that time. It was not until some years later that he became king over all Israel. If any of us are currently living in the wilderness, we may not know how long we are going to remain there. We may feel like we are ready to break and just cannot live one more day in our circumstances, but we can be assured of this: God will take care of us in the wilderness and be our strength. The wilderness is a good place to find comfort and intimacy with the Lord. It is not just a time or place of suffering; it is a time for growth and learning who the Lord is in our lives. It is an opportunity to learn how to trust God in the darkest of times. The bottom line is that oftentimes God leads us through the wilderness to get us to the place He wants us to ultimately reach. Let us not waste the wilderness moments, and let us not prolong our time there by refusing to trust the Lord. Instead, we must put our eyes on Jesus as He leads us through it, and trust Him to do whatever necessary so that we grow and finally get to the place where He will be glorified most in our lives. In the end, it is all about Him and how He is glorified in all He allows us to go through. The wilderness does not always have to be a place of sorrow; it can also be a place of hope.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Sunday, September 22, 2019
When Solitude Turns to Loneliness
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 25:1, Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
The Prophet Samuel had a very interesting life in service to the LORD. He was dedicated and left to the LORD by his mother Hannah. He served God faithfully, yet was later rejected by the people, as they chose instead to have an earthly king rule over them, even though the King of kings was already ruling and leading them. He, like David, was not liked by King Saul. The difference was that Saul feared Samuel because he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Samuel was God’s prophet. Nonetheless, Samuel’s last days were ones of solitude, sometimes even in fear over Saul’s disdain toward him. We do not read much about Samuel once the story shifts to David and his journey to the throne. Here we read that “Samuel died”. There is both a joy and sadness that comes to mind when I read this. A joy because there does come a time in our service when our rest will come. The final and greatest rest is when we are finally home with our God. The Bible tells us in Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” Precious because it means that we are finally going home to be with Jesus, with no more suffering, no more tears, no more trials. There is something to be said about enjoying solitude, versus suffering in loneliness. Yet, in our solitude, there is a danger of suffering from loneliness. Although there are times when we grave the quietness of the day, with no noise and no distractions, the quietness can easily turn to loneliness. The loneliness of being rejected. Although Samuel served God faithfully, it did not exempt him from being rejected by the people. So it is with us that people will reject us for any number of reasons. Sometimes the rejection will come because we are serving God and people are offended by what we have to say about God’s truth. Other times we may be rejected because we stumbled and people choose to not forgive or restore us. Sometimes we are rejected for no apparent reason, even by those we love. However, when our solitude turns to loneliness, when our rejection by those we know and love becomes too much for us to handle, we have One who is always there. Psalm 27:10 reminds us, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me.” When the loneliness is the result of our own doing, maybe a consequence of our own sin, Psalm 25:16-18 remind us that we can call upon the One who never forsakes us. It reads, “Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate (lonely) and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart have enlarged; bring me out of my distress! 18 Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins.” Sadly, the more I talk to people, especially other Christians, the more I find (even in my own life) that Christianity can be lonely. Far too many Christians refuse to forgive each other when we sin. Yet, God commands us to (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13; Luke 17:3-4). Jesus even set the example for us, as He forgave those that the religious people of His day rejected. Yet, Christianity today has a tendency to be more pharisaical in its approach, in people’s attempts to make themselves feel better about their own shortcomings. This is not to say that we excuse sin, but we must be careful that we not isolate those who sin, truly repent, are forgiven by the LORD, but we choose to reject because of our own sense self-righteousness in wrongfully judging another. I find it curious that the same people who rejected Samuel and sent him into a life of solitude, which by the way…God already knew and allowed, were the same people who then gathered together and lamented his death. Will we be no different? Will we reject others, refuse to forgive, bad mouth one another, gossip about one another, condemn them to isolation and loneliness because of our lack of love, then mourn them when we hear the news of their death? How often I have heard, “I heard so and so passed away. I hadn’t seen him/her in a while and I wondered what ever became of them.” My thought to this kind of statement is always, “Did you think enough to call them and find out, since you claim to wonder ‘what ever happened to them?’” Today, there are many who, outside of enjoying the solitude, or the quiet moments in life, also suffer from the loneliness of having no one around…family, friends, so-called brothers/sisters in Christ. What are we doing today to reach out to those who are suffering quietly in loneliness and despair? For those of us who may be those very people, we do have One who does care, and who will never forsake us. His Name is Jesus. In the end, all that will be said of any of us, regardless of the life we lived is, “Then ________ died.” For some, it will not even be said that others gathered together and lamented for them. However, for those of us that know Jesus, what will ALWAYS be said by God in His Word is, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints”, because we will finally be home with our Savior.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Saturday, September 21, 2019
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