Devotionals

Psalm 46:10

Your response to the heading of today’s reading is probably: “Uh, oh—another money plea!” or “Here we go again...some Christian ministry trying to get into my wallet.” If that’s your response, I hate to disappoint you, but you’re wrong. Being wrong this time, however, disappoints no one!

Hebrews 13:1–4

Who really cared? His was a routine admission to busy Bellevue Hospital. A charity case, one among hundreds. A bum from the Bowery with a slashed throat. The Bowery...last stop before the morgue. Synonym of filth, loneliness, cheap booze, drugs, and disease.

The details of what had happened in the predawn of that chilly winter’s morning were fuzzy. The nurse probably shrugged it off. She had seen thousands and she was sure to see thousands more. Would it have made any difference if she and those who treated him had known who he was? Probably so.

Isaiah 29:1

The Great Plague stretched across London like a thick, drab blanket. It came as a thief in the night...unannounced, treacherous, silent. The mortality rate was astounding.

1 Thessalonians 4:1–8

Yesterday we looked at the grim, pitiful life of Samson, a powerful leader whose lust ultimately destroyed him. (Read Judges 16.) Lust is a deadly intruder you dare not entertain for a moment. When lust knocks on your door, you must call on Christ to meet it.

Before giving lust a firm shove away from your life, have Christ inform this intruder that the permanent peace and pleasure you are enjoying in your home with Christ are so much greater than lust’s temporary excitement that you don’t need it around any longer to keep you happy.

Judges 16

Samson was a he-man with a she-weakness. In spite of the fact that he was born of godly parents, set apart from his birth to be a Nazirite, and elevated to the enviable position of judge in Israel, he never conquered his tendency toward lust. On the contrary, it conquered him. Several things that illustrate his lustful bent may be observed from the record of his life in the book of Judges.

1. The first recorded words from his mouth were: I saw a woman (14:2).

Job 42:1–3

Could it be that you are beginning to feel the nick of falling rocks? Maybe the avalanche has already fallen and you’re more than a little desperate. Job is our model for staying faithful when life is reduced to rubble. How’d he do it? Let’s take a look.

First, Job claimed God’s loving sovereignty. He sincerely believed that the Lord who gave had every right to take away (Job 1:21). Stated in his own words:

“Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10)

Job 1:22

Job could write about wounds. His words were more than patronizing platitudes and armchair proverbs. He’d been there and back again. He could describe intense inner suffering in the first person because of his own sea of pain. 

Psalm 90:12

Ephesians 5:15–17

I’m a sucker for time-management books.

Some people can’t say no to a salesman at the door. Others have the hardest time passing up a free puppy...or driving by a garage sale without stopping. Still others find it almost impossible to withstand the urge to gamble. Not me. My weakness is books on the investment of my time. Books that tell me how to replace being busy with being effective. Books that caution me to think things through before plunging into them. I often recall what Bernard Baruch once said:

Proverbs 3:21–22; Philippians 1:9–10

Discernment is essential. Undiscerning love spawns and invites more heresy than any of us are ready to believe. One of the tactics of survival when facing “the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16) is to make certain we have cinched up the belt of truth rather tightly around ourselves. And what helps us do battle with the enemy also strengthens us in relationships with friends.