March 9: Genesis 8 15-22
Key Verse: Genesis 8 20
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Devotion:
God has remembered those who remember Him in their lives right from the beginning of time. Whilst the timing and validity of the book of Genesis is always going to be a centre of controversy between Christians and scientists, we can stand on our knowledge that God has preserved His Word so we may learn what He has done for us from the beginning of time. We can learn how He has kept control over the whole earth before and after His great flood. The single action which stands out for me here is what Noah did as soon as he got off the ark.
I am sure Noah and His family were very glad to be able to get a bit of fresh air and be able to walk around on dry ground again. You would think that the first thing he would be interested in doing was re-creating his life with his family. But the bible tells us something different. Noah knew exactly who has done everything during the time of the flood. He knew how God had prepared Him to continue on and rebuild the human race from scratch. So, the first thing Noah did was to build an altar to the Lord and to take what little supplies he had and offer the best sacrifice he could to God.
Noah knew God must come first and that their survival was dependent upon God. He knew God had continued to protect them during the flood and he knew God alone would be the one who would deliver them. That is why Noah showed God He came first in his life. He started out with the right attitude and God noticed that. God promised that whilst the earth remained (i.e. Up until the time He destroys this first earth with fire) there would continue to be four seasons and we would continue to thrive. God knew we still had that sin nature, but He was also pleased with Noah's attitude. We now no longer have to offer up sacrifices, but to offer up our prayers, our devotion and our time to Him. It is not a lot He has asked for in return for His continued love towards us.
Points to Ponder:
Do you keep your friends in mind through good and bad times?
How much of your time do you devote to God?
March 8: Psalms 90 12-17
Key Verse: Psalms 90 17
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Devotion:
I thought I would continue here in this Psalms just to let it be a reminder that we do need to have the right attitude towards God. We really need to sit up and think about what He means in our lives so we can not only make a difference to our lives, but also have a good relationship with Him. The only way we are going to be able to do that is by listening to and growing in His Word. We need to be willing receivers of His Word and His will in our lives.
What would it be like if you were playing a team ball game of some kind and half of the players on your team just did not want to receive the ball? They continued to run around on the field, but when the ball came towards them, they would run the other way! I think you may well find your team would not win! You may also have a few people on your team who seem to be playing their own game and will not involve anyone else around them! If we are not willing to participate in our life with God, then we are not going to be helping anyone – least of all ourselves!
Our relationship with God is so much more than just a ball game though – we have to make sure we have a personal relationship with Him and that we are willing to listen to His instruction. He is faithful and just to listen to our prayers and requests, but we need to be willing to listen to His answers. He is the one who knows what we really need in our lives and we need to remember that fact! We may not like some of His answers because of our vanity or pride, but we do need to listen to Him!
If we really want God in our lives, we need to find out what the “game plan” is, find out what the goals are, and be willing to join in in every team event that He has planned for our lives. We need to work with God and not against Him as so many people do seem to like doing nowadays!
Points to Ponder:
Do you join in with team players or play your own game?
Do you join in with Gods work, or play you own game?
March 7: Psalms 90 7-11
Key Verse: Psalms 90 11
Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
Devotion:
If we do want to learn true wisdom, then we have to pray for that to be given to us through the Holy Spirit. There is no higher authority or better teacher than God. Why should we then settle for any less a teacher than Him? But just like a good parent, He is going to have to make sure we do listen sometimes. He is not going to hold back His anger just to make sure we have a peaceful life. He knows what lies ahead and wants to make sure we have the best possible coaching for that journey ahead.
If we are not going to listen to His anger, we will never learn from our mistakes because we will never know that they are mistakes; but even if we do, we will get used to doing them through repetition and ignore God’s warnings. He has made sure our lifespan is set to a reasonably short time (when compared with lifespans before the flood) to make sure we take time to think about our lives and about Him. Can you imagine how your parents would feel if you rebelled against them for your whole life? When we do something wrong with or against our friends or family, we normally know we are doing wrong... the difference comes in whether we care we are doing wrong!
We do need to confess our sins against God, just as we should be honest and open with our friends. We need to keep in contact with Him and allow His to guide us in our lives. We live in a world where most people are trying to hide their sins from God, or simply don't care about those sins – or worse still, they do not know they are sinning because they have never been told!
If we think we know how our parents can react when they get angry about what we do, we have seen nothing yet! Personally, I would not like to be on the receiving end of God's wrath!
Points to Ponder:
Do you dump friends that let you know when you do wrong?
Are you keeping God out of your life because of your hidden sins?
March 6: Proverbs 19 19-21
Key Verse: Proverbs 19 21
There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.
Devotion:
There are many people you will meet in life who seem “hell-bent” on getting into trouble or just causing trouble wherever they go. If you try to get them to be aware of their troubles, they ignore you. If you try to change their ways, they ignore you. If you are lucky, they will listen to you for a short while, but they will carry on doing their own thing again. Does this sound like someone in your family or a friend? As with the reading yesterday, unless these issues are caught at an early stage, they become more and more ingrained into that person and harder and harder to combat each time – until finally they turn into the person we describe above.
If we want to avoid being described in such a manner as above ourselves, then we have to listen to counselling. I'm not saying we should all go and visit a counsellor every day, but rather be willing to listen to advice from others who know things and to act on those instructions – not just sit and listen and then go off and do your own thing again next week! The more we are willing to listen and learn, the more we are going to get to learn about what is right and wrong. For as long as we continue to ignore instruction, we end up falling by the wayside.
You may turn around at this stage and say you are good and you continue to obey people or that you are even a pillar of society! Well nobody else can argue with you because you may well be that. You may well be doing all the right things and saying all the right things, but unless your spirit is clean as well, it is all to no avail! Unless you can say within your heart you have no guile at all then you have still got issues; no matter how small those issues are, they are still issues. God is there, watching, waiting, listening to everything which goes on in your heart. His advice continues to stand... but are we listening and learning from it?
Points to Ponder:
How well do you act in front of others?
How good is your heart in front of God?
March 5: Proverbs 19 18
Key Verse: Proverbs 19 18
Chasten your son while there is hope, And do not set your heart on his destruction.
Devotion:
Whilst this is a verse that clearly reminds parents to take care of matters concerning children's misbehaviour, it also has much that we can all learn by. The first, and obvious point being the most effective time to discourage bad behaviour is when it is happening and not after any length of time. This does not just apply to parents and children, but to anyone you are involved in any way with. If their behaviour is unbecoming of a Christian, then they need to know about it there and then. If they get away with it for any time at all, they will think it is ok – or at least ok some of the time... And the more they do it, the more they themselves will be drawn in by that sin or bad behaviour! If you see a weed in the garden, you try to pluck it out as soon as it appears, not wanting it to take root in case it spreads. Why should we do anything else to misbehaviour in our lives?
The second is that sin is always going to have an excuse. If we give in to those excuses, then we are giving in to sin as well. We are allowing the problem to continue instead of doing something about it there and then! Those excuses are normally thought up on the spur of the moment. If you analyse the excuse in any way it will break down. Comparing the excuse to what God would have you do in your life will allow you to see what is wrong! Giving in to those excuses is only going to encourage the behaviour again, followed by the same excuse!
Put up with a little pain in the beginning so the matter can be dealt with immediately rather than having to revisit the matter on numerous occasions after the fact. Is it not better to have to put up with a little pain when the matter arises than to have to put up with worse pain when the matter comes face to face with magistrates or higher authorities? God does discourage us from leaping into our sinful lives, but far too many people continue to ignore every warning and will have to look at their judge face to face one day!
Points to Ponder:
Do you stand up for what is right amongst friends?
Do you think you can get away with anything with God watching?