Daily Devotionals

Psalm 40:10

“Don’t garble the message!” 

If I heard that once during Marine boot camp, I must’ve heard it four dozen times. Again and again, our outfit was warned against hearing one thing, then passing on a slightly different version. You know, changing the message by altering the meaning a tad. It’s so easy to do, isn’t it? Especially when it’s filtered through several minds, then pushed through each mouth. It is amazing how the original story, report, or command appears after it has gone through its verbal metamorphosis. 

Consider the following: 

Isaiah 30:19-21

On October 12, 1972, a Fairchild F-227 of the Uruguayan Air Force was chartered by an amateur rugby team. The plan? To fly from Montevideo to Santiago, Chile...a flight pattern which required flying over the rugged Andes. There were 45 on board, including the crew. Bad weather brought the plane down in Mendoza, a small Argentinian town. Since the weather improved the following morning, the Fairchild set off again, flying south to the Planchon Pass. They would never make their destination. 

Joshua 1:9

Extreme dilemmas are usually solved by radical adjustments. It used to be called “fighting fire with fire.” Minor alterations won’t do. If the situation is getting completely out of hand, a slight modification won’t cut it. It’s get-with-it time. 

James 1:2–4, 12

It was the enraptured Rutherford who said in the midst of very painful trials and heartaches: 

Praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace! 

Let’s think about that. The hammer is a useful and handy instrument. It is an essential and helpful tool, if nails are ever to be driven into place. Each blow forces them to bite deeper as the hammer’s head pounds and pounds. 

2 Corinthians 5:17

Yesterday, we talked about innovative people, and I mentioned that there are a whole lot more innovative people around than any of us can imagine. Could you be one of them?

Let’s take a little test and see. I have Earl Nightingale to thank for this list of 25 traits generally found in creative, innovative people. No relax. You don’t need all 25...but if you have most of them, you may be closer than you think.

Proverbs 12:1

Webster defines it: “The introduction of something new...a new idea, method, or device.” When we innovate, we change, we flex. 

It takes guts to innovate, because it requires creative thinking. Thinking is hard enough, but creative thinking—ah, that’s work! To get the juices squirting, you have to be dissatisfied with the status quo.

2 Corinthians 4:7–10

They called him “Old Hickory” because of his tenacity and grit. His mother chose “Andrew” on March 15, 1767, when she gave birth to that independent-minded South Carolina rebel. Wild, quick-tempered, and disinterested in school, Andrew answered the call for soldiers to resist the British invasion at age thirteen. Shortly thereafter, he was taken prisoner. Refusing to black an enemy officer’s boots, he was struck with a sabre—Andrew’s introduction to pain.

Ephesians 6:14-18

Yesterday, we visited David as he faced off against Goliath. Refusing to accept his brothers’ rationalizations or listen to the giant’s threats, David saw through the Philistine strategy and withstood it through sheer, solid faith.

You know the outcome. With a well-worn leather sling and a smooth stone, and unbending confidence in his mighty God, David introduced Goliath and all the Philistine hordes to the Lord of hosts, whose name they had blasphemed long enough. The account concludes with a profound statement:

1 Samuel 17:50

Goliath reminds me of the cross-eyed discus thrower. He didn’t set any records...but he sure kept the crowd awake!

Psalm 18:30-36

The Cave of Adullam was no Holiday Inn.

It was a wicked refugee camp...a dark vault on the side of a cliff that reached deeply into a hill. Huddled in this clammy cavern were 400 losers—a mob of miserable humanity. They came from all over and wound up all together. Listen to the account:

Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered.... There were about four hundred men. (1 Samuel 22:2)