Thursday Reading: Acts 9 3-7
Key Verse: Acts 9 5
5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
Devotion:
Saul had been taught many things by the religious crowd at the time and he was doing all he could to rid the people of those that believed in Christ. It is little wonder then that Christ had to take such drastic steps for him to hear the truth! Samuel may have had to be spoken to a few times before being told that it was God who spoke, but Saul needed something that was going to have a bit bigger impact on his life!
How closed are your ears to the word of God? How hard will God have to shout before you stop and listen? Those may seem like unfair questions for most of us to answer because we do not verbally hear God speaking; but it is not just those verbal words that we should be hearing! God has given us so much through His Word and through the people around us that we should not have to look and listen for that thunderous voice calling us from the sky!
God wants us to listen to His calling. Not just carry on doing the things that we want to do but to stop and listen to what He is trying to say to us. That does mean that we should put aside the things of the world around us and stop and listen to what He is trying to say. We could pick on many people in our bibles to show us that we need to stop and listen but each of us (as are the stories in the bible) is very different and we each need a different approach from God. He is the one who knows exactly what we need and how much it will take before we do listen.
Are you going to be like Saul and kick up a huge song and dance before God stops you in your tracks, or are you going to be like one of the disciples and put down everything and follow Christ without question? It is very hard to put aside our worldly ways and life and take on the task of being a true servant of Christ. It is not what everyone can handle – some will crack up long before getting to be that servant, so God will not ask those people. Instead He knows what each of us can handle and will do what it takes for us to fulfil the role He has for us. Being a servant is not an easy task!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like what you do?
Would you be willing to give it up for God?
Wednesday Reading: 1 Samuel 3 1-10
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 3 10
10 Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”
Devotion:
There are some that will tell you that you will know exactly when God is talking to you; to them I would like to remind them of this passage. Samuel was dedicated at an early age but it took him a while before he recognised when God was talking to him and not man. It took another learned friend to point out that it was God speaking to him and not any man. Yes we will know it eventually because God will continue until it gets through to us, but it may not be immediately apparent!
I have learned to wait with great patience before rushing off and doing anything when God is concerned. I have seen the impatience of man and have even been caught up in it myself; but I have also learned to wait on God for His final say on the matter. I certainly do not expect everyone to understand the decision that I make and I do not pretend to think that I can go forward without making any mistakes – but by trusting God I will be able to make better informed decisions in my life.
It would be so much easier if God would ring the doorbell and come and tell me verbally what I should be doing in my life but that would not build up my faith and trust in Him. I would simply do what was being told of me and not thinking about it deep in my heart before going forward. Some may say that I tend to spend too much time thinking about things and not enough time doing them; well, each to their own. I would rather be like Samuel and make a few human mistakes before getting it right with God by listening!
When we are able to walk a close and dear walk with Christ, we should then be more like Eli and more willing to teach others about our walk and about how them too must have patience and seek God always. As servants of God we must not get upset if God chooses to use someone else instead of us; we must be the ones willing to sacrifice our pride and show humility that others can learn from!
Points to Ponder:
Do you always listen to others?
Do you find it hard listening to God?
Tuesday Reading: 1 Samuel 2 17-18
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 2 17
17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.
Devotion:
What was the thing that was causing most damage to the people and their sacrifices at this time? It was the fact that the people were being dutiful and honourable in bringing their annual sacrifices to God, but they were seeing some of the priests going against that law that was written down my Moses for them to follow. They could see those few people ruining it for everyone else in the congregation but they continued to come to offer their own sacrifices to God. It was not man’s place to pass judgement on them but God’s place.
Some of the people were not bringing their sacrifices before the Lord because of what was happening in the temple. Why should they bring their sacrifice if it was not going to be offered properly before God? But Samuel continued to minister before the Lord in all honesty and humility wearing his prescribed linen ephod. He continued to follow the law as written down by Moses and continued to work for the people and for God in the temple. When we come to church we should be willing to offer our sacrifice before Him with an open heart and be willing to do so without regret.
I am truly thankful that we do not have to offer physical sacrifices before God on a regular occurrence! I’m not sure whether I would be able to stand it if I knew that someone else was not following God’s rules when I was trying to… But each and every day we should still be offering sacrifices to God in a special way. We can sacrifice time and money and bring them before God. We can sacrifice our pride and other issues and allow God to wash us clean as we offer them to Him.
Jesus has paid for our sin debt and we no longer need to offer an animal sacrifice; but we should not stop everything and assume God will do it all. Bringing ourselves before Him and allowing Him to use us is a sacrifice that is well worth offering. That way we are showing God that we are willing to go that step further and follow on in Samuels example rather than the sons of Eli.
Points to Ponder:
What do you do for others?
What do you bring to God?
Monday Reading: Matthew 11 25-26
Key Verse: Matthew 11 26
26 Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.
Devotion:
Let us never forget that Christ is Lord of all! How easy it is to get carried away with science or physics and say how much we have learned and how much we know without realising that this is just a spec in the ocean compared to the things that Christ knows and has done for us! Our Lord Jesus may have come to earth as a human to be amongst us, He may have lowered Himself to our form, but He is still our creator and the one who sustains us.
I used to love learning about all the things of the world through science programs and programs which told of the modern technology that we use or are developing. I still do. But I am under no illusion as to who has made this all possible. Man has this need to feel important and to lift himself up; this is our sin nature welling up inside of us and not what God has created in us. Yes God wants us to be the best we can but He also wants us to know that this is all because of what He has done and not we ourselves.
A young child will normally listen to those around it so that it can learn as much as possible and as quickly as possible. But when that child is surrounded by evil people and evil ways, then they are going to grow up thinking those ways are normal until they can spot the difference between good and evil themselves. We need to allow God’s ways and His Word to spill out around us so that people will get to see His righteous ways and not just the corrupt ways of man.
Jesus always made sure that people knew that He was following His Father’s will and not doing His own will; they may be the same ways but as humans we would see things differently just as the Jews did. The Jews declared Christ to be a blasphemer because He dared to say that He is the Son of God and give out the truth. They would not accept the truth because they had learned their own ways and would not accept the truth when it stood before them.
Points to Ponder:
Are you depending on your own ways?
Will you accept Christ’s ways?
Sunday Reading: Proverbs 1 20-23
Key Verse: Proverbs 1 22
22 “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge.
Devotion:
It is a sad sight to see so many people walking round without knowing Christ; to see so many people trying to find the right way of doing things, trying to get life right… only to find themselves wanting because life cannot give them what they are looking for! These word highlight the fact that Christ has made His Word known on the streets, He has given us His Word, and yet we continue on in our own vain imaginations thinking that we should be able to work things out by ourselves in some way.
I love it that the word used to describe our ways means foolishness or silliness, yet man has chosen to use a kinder word, simplicity. Sometimes we have to stop and tell people the truth so that they will actually listen. We are fools for not following God’s Word in the beginning and fools for not turning our backs on the worldly ways. We live in this world and we die in this world, so why not make a difference in this world?
If we are willing to listen to Christ then we will find out that He is willing to teach us. He has promised to give us what we need and to allow us to learn what we need to know… if only we will listen to Him in the first place! When God shows you that you need to change, you had better start listening to Him as He tells you how to change. If you heard a policeman running down the road yelling out to people to take cover because of a bomb threat, you would take cover! So why do we ignore Christ?
We are not all made the same. We think in different ways and we live in different ways. Christ knows our differences but He has given us His Word that can be applied to all of our lives – not to make us all the same but to teach us how we can be different and always know that there is only one truth; that He is God’s Son and that He loves us and wants us to know the truth. Let us make a difference by using our differences to reach out to others.
Points to Ponder:
Do you look to yourself?
Or do you look to God?