Wednesday Reading: Genesis 11 6-9
Key Verse: Genesis 11 6
6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Devotion:
What do you do when you see someone start to do something wrong? Do you sit back and wait for them to fall flat on their faces or do you try to show them in the nicest possible way that they just maybe have done something wrong. Granted we may not want to get involved with whatever it is they are up to – God certainly does not want to be anywhere near the sin we are going along with – but we will normally do something to highlight their error so that they can change things.
We know that if we do not do something or say something then they will get deeper and deeper into their pit they are digging for themselves. We know that things can only get worse until something changes! Do you see where I am going with this? God will not stand by and do nothing. He will change things around us so that we begin to see just how much we have already broken. He does not want to see us destroy everything that he has built up for us and He will not stand by idly whilst we do break everything in sight!
But how far we are willing to go and how far God is willing to go are two very different measures. You see, when we figure we can’t cope or that we have done enough, we may well give up on helping others. We like to think that we will always be there for someone or that we will never give up no matter how tough the going gets, but we all have our limits. When we cannot stand the heat we back off and the more we back off the more likely it is that we will give up. We may even give up on helping a friend when we think we have done enough.
God will never give up on us. God will continue to step in and allow us to see the error of our ways. He will always be there watching over us. He will continue to be Holy and Just. He will always uphold all that is righteous. He will always make Himself known to us so that we will pick up on the fact that we have gone astray. He wants us to know when we make mistakes and He wants us to know that He knows. Basically He wants us to remember that He is God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know your limits?
Do you really want to find out if God has limits?
Tuesday Reading: Genesis 11 5
Key Verse: Genesis 11 5
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
Devotion:
To me, this verse says it all! If you ever start to think that you can get away with things, then come back and read this verse. Then go through your bible and read a few other verses with me. Genesis 3 8 God pays a visit to Adam and Eve after they have done something wrong. Is it a coincidence? Certainly not! God knows what is going on in our lives and He is the one that is going to try to stop us from continuing to make those same mistakes again. He wants us to put a stop to the wrong ways and to turn toward the Holy and righteous ways that he has described to us in the beginning!
Genesis 18 21 God goes down to see what man has been up to. It’s not as if He has to go down because He already knows what we get up to, but the very fact that He does means that He wants to show us that He does care what we get up to. So if we dare to turn round and say that God does not care because He lets us get into trouble… quite the opposite is true. God steps in to clean up the mess by trying to show us that He has noticed what we have done and that something has got to change because of that!
Hebrews 4 13 God is our Creator God and it is He who has made everything around us. So if He has made everything then there is nothing that He has not made. Because He knows us from the inside out, He knows what we will get up to and so He is constantly trying to show us all that is right and all that is wrong. Unfortunately for us we don’t always listen and we continue to do wrong until it eventually gets to the stage where God has got to do something that will allow us to see the difference between right and wrong – well, not just to see the difference but to fully realise that difference!
Psalm 33:14 God does keep an eye out on us. Just like a Shepherd will continue to keep a watchful eye on the flock, God continues to keep that ever watchful eye on us! It is not because He feels that He has got to be Big Brother and spy on us always but simply because He does not want us to fall out with Him – He knows the outcome!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you can get away with it?
Do you realise how close God is?
Monday Reading: Genesis 11 1-4
Key Verse: Genesis 11 4
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Devotion:
Time and time again man continues to show that he has got a great capacity for learning and retaining knowledge – but just as he has this great capacity, he also has a seemingly endless supply of excuses to forget things that just don’t agree with him at the time! We are all guilty of this at some time or another and it continues to be a common theme throughout history. Right from the days of Cain and Abel through to modern society, we strive to be better and yet we also make more and more excuses so that we don’t have to do everything according to the original rules.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are many laws that have been changed for the good and many more that still have to be corrected or changed – but those are man’s laws, the laws that he has created to try and get his own way and bring glory to himself. God’s laws are the original and only laws that we should have to keep; if we did manage in some way to keep God’s laws then we should not find ourselves wanting in ways of the law. Instead we have corrupted things so much over time that we continue to have to refine our laws to try and make things right once again. We even have people making a living out of bending the rules and re-defining them!
There are many things that will make us think of new laws or new rules – most of them centre around us not getting our own way! As soon as things seem to go against what we want in our lives or what we think we can get away with, then we look at ways of changing things so that we can get back to what we want. God, on the other hand, has always promoted the love for others instead of the love for oneself because it is the selfish ways that break down society and break down everything that God is trying to build up for us.
Promoting ourselves is not going to help to build up anything other than strive and vain glory. As soon as we focus on ourselves we lose focus on everything else around us – including God. Back at this time the people were looking for something new; whilst there is nothing wrong with looking for new things, they lost focus on God and started to try and lift themselves up… That is one thing that we will always find a bit difficult… to lift ourselves up whilst we are trying to support ourselves – it just does not make sense!
Points to Ponder:
What new things do you seek?
Are you breaking away from God’s ways?
Sunday Reading: Romans 5 6-11
Key Verse: Romans 5 8
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Devotion:
If there is one thing that should stand out about God’s love toward us is that it was there before we knew it. Love is not one of those things that should be counted or measured on the outside; if we were to try to account for it in some manner then we should maybe look at how it has stood over time because our failings are measured over time and that is what we would compare things to.
When we look at love and how it should be defined we always seem to come down to time because we see everything through these “time tinted eyes”. If it is going to last for a length of time then we think maybe it is worth looking into, but if it is going to break down over time then why should we be worrying about it? The same cannot be said about God’s love because the roots of His love do not come from time or within time but reach down into time from above. God’s love has always been because He is eternal. Before we were, His love for us existed – why else would He have continued to create us unless that love was to be realised?
But when we start to look into God and His Holiness, we begin to realise that we do not have any place in His life because of our sin nature and because of our sinful ways. And yet His love for us was there! Yes it does matter that we are sinners because that does separate us from God, but His love reaches down to us in this state that we are in and encourages us to come through Christ for forgiveness. Christ came to this earth to lay His life down for us so that our sins could be forgiven; that is the only way that we can get to be with God.
It is because of what Christ has shown us, what He has done for us, that we are able to come to God. We start off in our weakened state because we have already given in to sin; there is no way that we ourselves can win against that weakness. God knew that! That is why Christ came to lift us up, so that we can realise just how deep and without limit His love for us is. When we realise that we have the wherewithal to be lifted up.
Points to Ponder:
How many times could you lift yourself up before you fail?
How deep has God’s love already come for you?
Saturday Reading: 1 Peter 1 13-16
Key Verse: 1 Peter 1 16
16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Devotion:
Hiding behind fantasies can be an enjoyable experience, but the result can only be disappointment when the truth comes forward and is found out. Likewise we may like to live our lives by some strange fantasies that we have invented or want to live by, but when God’s truth comes out and is found out, our lives may well crumble in a heap of disappointment. Instead, God would have us to live toward that truth and to live by that truth so that we will never have to face that disappointment.
Does this mean that we will live a life without disappointment? Unfortunately not for us because there are always going to be so many things in our lives that will lead to disappointment due to the way that we build up those false hopes. God has given us the truth so that we can live with that truth in mind. As long as we continue to live toward that truth then we will never be disappointed in finding that truth in the end!
Taking a strong drink to try and forget a problem may well give you a moment or two of respite, but when the truth faces you again the next day you will still be faced with that same issue! Turning our backs on God’s righteous ways and turning toward the ways of the world to try and forget things that we have done is just not going to work either, because, when the times comes to ‘sober’ up from this world we are still going to be faced t=with those same things that frightened us in the beginning. Our lot is not to sweep the world under the carpet but to live in this world in spite of all that is wrong.
It is not God who has made these evil and corrupt ways. It is man who has chosen to lift up the evil and unjust. It is man who has chosen to bring forward the rejection of our God. It is man who has chosen to try and sweep the righteousness of God under the carpet so that he can live how he wants to instead. It is man’s failing that he does not see that God is Holy and will not accept anything that is not Holy. God cannot abide sin or evil which means that all the sin and evil that we carry around with us is going to prevent us from being with God. It is only because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that we can even approach God because He chose to forgive us of those sins and to separate us from those sins – just so that we could be with God!
Points to Ponder:
Do you know what Holy means?
Are you trying to corrupt God’s ways?