Friday Reading: Psalms 139 1-6

Key Verse: Psalms 139 2

2  You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.

Devotion:

When David wrote this Psalms he had a very clear picture of just who it is that knows everything about us. No matter how much we try to sweep things under the carpet, God continues to see everything that we do. Just like a thief thinks that they can get away with shop-lifting, so the evil one thinks he can get away with doing things wrong against God. Just like there are so many cameras in the shops nowadays, God has all-seeing eyes that will see what we get up to no matter what angle we look at it from.

God wants us to know that we cannot get away with things and so He has given us many examples whereby we can learn the things that God knows about – basically everything and everywhere. How we may love to be able to be there for someone at any time and at any place – but the reality of the situation is that we can only be in one place at one time. Fortunately God is God and is not restricted by the simple things of the world like time and space! God continues to be with us no matter where we are and no matter what we are getting up to.

God can see all those bad things that we do, but He also sees every good thing that we do. He continues to know what goes through our minds so He knows what is in our hearts as well. When David says that God knows everything, he is not short-changing us in any way. God, quite literally, does know everything! God continues to love us all the same – even though He can see into our minds and can see what is going in before it comes out, He still loves us! I thank Him that He is willing to set aside my sins and allows me to bring His name and lift it above all else! God continues to make sure that we know His ways by giving us people to teach us about Him. Let us do some of that teaching and show others that there is a real God!

Points to Ponder:

How much do you know about God?

How much do you care about God?

Thursday Reading: Psalms 94 7-9

Key Verse: Psalms 94 9

9  He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?

Devotion:

It is our lot to know that our God is True and Just and that He will not allow us to get away with things that we know are not right. But just because other people don’t think that God will carry out that truth and justice in a timely manner does not make it easier for them to get away with things. God does not miss a single tick in any second. He continues to be with us and see and hear everything that goes on in our lives. Just because we ignore Him does not make Him not be here! God is here!

It is the ones who do not believe that will be turning round and saying that God does not see them, hear then or care about them. They are the ones who will try to do things in secret and try to cover up all of their evil deeds with whatever they can lay their hands on… But that still does not make it right for them to do the things that they do. That still does not make it right to break God’s Laws! Just because we do understand those laws, we should be the ones standing up for them and reminding others that those same laws continue to be in existence despite what they do themselves.

God is our Creator and He is the one who can see everything. He is the one who formed our ears and will hear everything. He is the one who gave us life and will feel everything. For those who do not see these simple truths there is nothing but death. Just like an animal does not know about anything after death, neither will they. It is our task to take God’s Word with us and allow others to see that simple truth so that they will not find that dead end when they lose theirs!

Points to Ponder:

Do you find it hard to turn your back on evil?

Are you treating God as a stranger as well?

Wednesday Reading: Psalms 59 6-7

Key Verse: Psalms 59 7

7  Behold, they bellow out with their mouth; swords are in their lips; for they say, Who hears?

Devotion:

When evil is allowed in the door you can expect to find a whole lot of trouble following on in. When evil is kept out of the door you can expect to find it waiting to get in. We live in an evil world where so many things have been designed to promote evil and promote evil ways. If we listen carefully we can hear that evil like a hungry pack of wild dogs roaming the streets and waiting to gain access to our lives. So long as we continue to uphold God’s ways and to promote His ways then we can expect to come up against so many who are willing to do the opposite because it sounds like it could be fun.

How sad it is that they do not hear what is actually happening but instead they hear the sounds that evil would rather them hear. How sad it is that they imagine that noise and commotion to be fun rather than the evil that it is. But when we listen to God’s instructions and try to follow His ways we continue to see that noise for what it is and we can try our best to avoid it. To the unfortunate soul that does not know God’s ways, those evil ways sound like fun until they have then deep in their grip.

When we work for God we must expect things to happen in our lives because we are driving those evil ways away from the people we teach. How do you think Satan must feel knowing that we are telling those same people the truth and allowing them to see the ways that he has taught them are nothing but evil and worthless? The more we open their eyes, the more Satan has to worry about and the more that we may find he tries to disrupt our ways. David was seemingly trapped because He was aiming at bringing God back into the country and Satan wanted his own way to drive a wedge between God and Israel. But David continue to have faith in God that He would not let him down. Let us subscribe to that same faith that we see through David…

Points to Ponder:

Do you feel stronger through faith?

Do you know how much God wants you to succeed?

Tuesday Reading: Proverbs 15 1-4

Key Verse: Proverbs 15 1

1  A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.

Devotion:

One of the biggest fears we have is having to face up to any sort of violence or abuse and it is certainly not something that should be taken lightly at any time! But it is amazing just how much a soft voice will diffuse a situation compared to the retorting bark of an offensive string of words! This is certainly not something that is limited to modern society but something that has been with man from the beginning of his violent outbursts and will continue to be with him until we can leave these corrupt bodies behind and live with Christ away from it all for eternity.

It does not take very much to be said that will either turn someone into a violent and abusive shouter; but it takes just as small amount to keep the peace and quieten things down. Which way we are going to take it depends on how we are going to manage the situation we find ourselves in… If we rise to the bait then we shall find out the hard way that others may well have beaten us there and are already on the offensive when we should have been keeping things quiet.

No matter where we are and what we are doing, God is watching over us and He tries to get through to us that we have to be mindful of that fact. Why? Because we should be working for Him and to His glory at all times. That means we should be aware of the fact that He is watching and temper our lives to make sure that we are doing His will and His ways rather than winding Him up like the rest of society. We should have no reason to make God angry – but we are the weak ones and we do give in to the temptations and to those feeling inside of us that cause the outbursts that anger and wrath brings up. God wants us to be reminding ourselves of these facts so that we can calm ourselves down before we blow up. If we are able to take a step back and act in a calm manner then just maybe we shall be able to diffuse a situation that could otherwise be centred on us! God has given us His Word so that we can find out the correct ways of handling things – He expects us to turn back to His Word at times when we need a helping hand because He has given it to us for that purpose. His Word is not full of expletives but rather is a calm and rewarding word that displays His awesome love for us!

Points to Ponder:

What gets your back up?

Do you turn to God’s Word when you get angry?