October 16: Judges 6 36-40
Key Verse: Judges 6 36
So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said
Devotion:
“I can't do that! I don't know how to do that!”... Sound familiar? Too many times in our lives we say no to doing something because we believe that we do not have the right knowledge to be able to do the work required or even the right skill to take on the task at hand.
Er, hang on, haven't I read this already? Not having the right tools is not the only excuse we use to not do something. More often than not we turn round and tell people that we just plain and simple do not know how to do it! We once again turn things down because we don't think that we can do it... Much of the time we say we can't do it because we have never done it before and are not sure what we should be doing... Think about how Moses felt! He was being called to go and rescue a nation of people from slavery, not by fighting a huge war, but by going in and talking to the king of the land!
Do you think you would have tried to wriggle out of that one as well! “But Lord, I can't even speak the right language...” “But Lord, I have never stood before a king before...” “But Lord, I have never left this country...” I can hear the types of excuses that we would all come up with! And the same with Gideon, he used excuses but then asked God for signs to see how serious God was!
When God calls you to do something, He is not going to shout His head off until you listen to Him (not like your teachers at school!). He will simply place the task on the table and say that you should be doing it. Then come the 1001 excuses from within trying to wriggle out of it some way or another! God knows each one of our abilities. He will not ask anything more than we can do. All we have to do is have a little trust that He does know what we can do!
Points to Ponder:
Would you trust a chair you made yourself?
God has given each of us all we need to serve Him!
October 15: Deuteronomy 27 1-8
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 27 5
And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them.
Devotion:
“I can't do that! I don't have the tools to do that!”... Sound familiar? Too many times in our lives we say no to doing something because we believe that we do not have the right tools to be able to do the work required. Maybe you have been asked to build a garden wall for someone and you turned them down saying that you did not have the tools to do any brick laying. Or maybe you have been asked to bake some cookies and you said no because you didn't have anything to bake with.
Too many times we turn things down in our lives before we try to find a solution. We even say no before we have looked at the problem. We say no before we know the full question... Well, we can go back thousands of years in history and see that God has never required that we have any tools before we take on work for Him. I chose this one passage to show that God did not want people to have the best equipment so that they could build the best altars. God simply wanted people to use their hands and use stones that had not been shaped. God wants us in our natural state to be able to carry out His work.
God wants each of us to be able to use ourselves for His glory, to spread His Word, to show others that He cares for everyone. Working for God does not mean us having to go to the best college to study for doctorates or other degrees or diplomas; it means being willing to start the job expecting God to give us the wherewithal to complete the task.
There really is only one tool that we need, and that is the Word of God. God gave us all we need to know in the Bible so that we could use it to fashion the world, to shape the world, to take each natural part of this world and use it to glorify Him, and Him alone.
Points to Ponder:
Do you build DIY furniture without the manuals?
Will you use God’s Instructions for your life?
October 14: Deuteronomy 4 30-31
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 4 31
(for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
Devotion:
God has made many promises to Israel, to us and to many more people to come. Those promises are kept and they are here to stay; we can and should depend on them forever! We need to read our Bibles to be reminded of all the promises God has kept and all of those we are still to see. God is here for us and He is not going to leave us.
Sometimes it is the simplicity of those promises which means the most to me because my brain tends to make everything a whole lot more complicated than it has to be. God did make this world to be a complicated place, physically; how else would we be in awe of His majesty and power? What He did not do is to make the rules about how we can live with Him and for Him as complicated as we make them out to be!
Because God’s word is a whole lot of promises we can rely on, we can find strength in His Word. We can look at our own shortcomings and realise He will give us the strength to face up to a whole lot more than we can imagine in our lives. If we look at trying to find that strength for ourselves we will fall short of the mark, we will fail at finding that strength and we will probably blame God in any way we can.
But when we look to God for the strength and wait on Him to guide us through our problems we can find a whole lot more strength and wisdom than we initially realise. I do love reading my bible, but I do find it very difficult at time – especially when I am going through my own problems or helping others with their issues in life. But given time and patience I know God has helped me far more than I could ever thank Him for!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you depend on in your life?
How much do you rely on God for?
October 13: Psalms 31 23-24
Key Verse: Psalms 31 24
Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the Lord.
Devotion:
“I want it... and I want it NOW!”... Brings up all sorts of images and memories in my mind... What does it do in yours? One thing that most of us are not is patient! No sooner have we started to learn about something new and we want it there and then! No sooner do we hear about a new phone or computer or games console and we want it now! No sooner do we hear about someone else getting something and we want it too!
The basis of the Cold War was keeping up with the enemy. Trying to make sure that you stayed one step ahead, no matter what the cost! We are surrounded by people that are putting all sorts of stumbling blocks in our paths, whether they know it or not, they are killing us slowly!
Sometimes in our lives we seem to think that no matter what we do, our enemies are always going to be one step ahead. They will continue to be able to get one over on us all the time! It's at times like this where we have to call in the big guns and get the problem to go away rather than trying to get ahead of our enemies.
The Lord has promised us He will be there for us. He wants each of us to know He will always be there. One way He can show us is by allowing us to go a bit far and then showing us He is there, looking after us. For it is not going to be through any other means that we will actually listen to the truth! God wants us to hope in the truth, to know it is there and to be willing to wait for it if we have to!
Points to Ponder:
Are you impatient?
Do you stand on God’s promises?
October 12: Proverbs 8 32-36
Key Verse: Proverbs 8 35
For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favour from the Lord;
Devotion:
How many times in your life have you asked for help and them promptly ignored the help given you because it did not fit in with your way of thinking? Did you find out later the advice was actually good and you should have listened to start with? God has given us a wonderful tool to use in our lives. The Bible is more than just a good book. It is more than just a bunch of parables. It is more than just a history lesson. It is more than just a guide. It is more than just a book of proverbs...
The Bible is all of the above and a whole lot more. But there is not enough paper in this world to write about all the things that God has done on earth or maybe even in our lives... The Bible is a very small collection of the books giving us testimony to the most amazing love we could ever imagine. A love we will never truly be able to understand. A love which went far beyond anything we could imagine.
The Bible is a small collection of books showing us by example what we are like, showing us by example where we are headed for, showing us by example what man is like. It is also a collection of books showing us what we should be doing, who we should be praising and thanking for everything.
If we are strong enough to keep close to the words in this collection of books, we have nothing to fear! If we feel like we are not strong enough, it will give us the strength to continue.
Points to Ponder:
Do you ignore instruction manuals?
Do you listen to God’s instructions?