Friday Reading: Leviticus 6 1-7

Key Verse: Leviticus 6 5
5  or all that which he swore about falsely, --he shall even repay it in its principal, and the fifth part he shall add to it, to whomever it belongs. He shall give it on the day of his guilt offering.

Devotion:
The amount of laws that were given to the children is Israel were staggering and it is little wonder that they then moved to make their own and get away with it from other people. With so many laws, making a few or taking a few would not be noticed by others unless they were judicious enough to learn all of the laws themselves. This is how man continues to live and continues to deceive many others; through making his own law look more likely than the real laws.

But each of Gods laws that He gave to Moses to give to the people were recorded and were there to be learned and passed down to the next generation. One that stands out in my mind is this law of wilful sinning. If someone wilfully sins and then attempts to cover it up or lies to cover it is clearly working against God and not just against the people. God was adamant about this part because this law states that the person should not only pay back what is due but should then add on an extra fifth on top of that to pay back the people that were affected; but then the guilty party also had to make atonement for that sin to God Himself through the appropriate sacrifice too.

Whatever we do against others we are doing against God. God does not say that whatever we do against Christians only but whatever we do against any of His people; and guess what, He made us all! Wilful sinning is working against man, against those around you, against your enemies and sadly, against God. If we thought about that one thing before we sinned we may well not do half of what we do do because none of us wants to willingly go against God. We are no longer called to sacrifice because Christ offered Himself as our perfect sacrifice so what we need to do is to bring our sins to Him to ask for His forgiveness for what we do against Him.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you deceive others?
 
Do you think that you can deceive God?

Thursday Reading: Genesis 24 42-46
 
Key Verse: Genesis 24 45
45  And before I finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. And she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, Please let me drink.

Devotion:
This is the story of Abraham’s servant who was sent back to Abraham’s country to find a wife for Isaac. It is not a story of hatred between nations or races but a story of obedience and trust. Abraham was told that he would be a father of a nation of his own people, not him directly but his seed. Because God had told this to Abraham, he had to believe that it was true and because of his belief he knew that Isaac must find a wife from his own country people and not from the Canaanites where he was living at the time.

Abrahams trust in God was not the only one on show because the servant that he sent was a man of God too. His own faith in God was secure and without fault because he expected God to answer his prayer as he lifted it up. When you read this first at the beginning of this chapter you may be forgiven for thinking that Rebekah may have overheard his prayers but when he recounts the story to the woman’s family he shows us that this happened even before he finished speaking in his heart. This suggests to me that he prayed silently but from the heart knowing that he could trust God to answer.

So many times we lift up our prayers and think, will God answer them today? What we need to be doing is lifting up our prayers daily and trusting God to answer them in His best possible way for us. He has proven His love for us explicitly so we should be faithfully lifting our prayers and knowing that He is going to answer. When Abraham took Isaac up for a sacrifice, he trusted that God would supply a sacrifice before he had to take his own son’s life. He trusted God implicitly and was showing that by being willing to follow God’s request all the way. We need to trust God all the way and not just until the end of our prayers.

Points to Ponder:
What do you pray about?

Are you trusting God to answer?

Wednesday Reading: Luke 17 26-32
 
Key Verse: Luke 17 32
32  Remember Lot's wife.

Devotion:
Think about how many people were on the earth when Christ was born and lived; think about how many people actually knew that He existed back then. Many more people knew about God than met Jesus face to face and yet still so many of those who did meet Him face to face rejected Him. Today we live in a world where the bible is the most produced book in the world and yet still so many people do not accept Him as Saviour and King.

The world continue to turn, people continue to live their lives and some even turn to look for God when they figure out that all they do is for vanity. Solomon spent a lot of time seeking all manner of earthly pleasures and in everything that he did he got to realise that earthly things are pure vanity; seeking and finding God is the only thing that counts. We have biblical records of the terrible things that have happened in the past as people have continued to live without God; we can thank Him that we now live in a time of grace where He has promised not to destroy the world again until after His return.

When we try to witness to people or try to show them that God is what is important they turn to their earthly things and try to bring them along. We need to show people that we are willing to leave our earthly possessions behind in order to live our lives for God. When Lot’s wife turned back to gaze upon what she had left behind, lamenting over her past, she died. God wants us to make sure that we do not get tangled up in our earthly lives otherwise we too may find that we get stuck in the past rather than moving with Him to the future.

He has a very special future for each one of us and He knows what we need in our lives. If we are willing to listen to Him then we will find that what He supplies for us will last forever, unlike our earthly possessions which will fade with time.

Points to Ponder:
What do you hold on to?
 
Are you listening for God?

Tuesday Reading: Ecclesiastes 9 11-12
 
Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 9 12
12  For man also does not know his time; as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

Devotion:
No matter how careful we are or how much we look out for trouble, it always seems to catch us unawares. Each of us does have duties which we have to perform. Each of us does have obligations that we have to fulfil. Just because we keep up with those duties and obligations, it does not necessarily follow that everything is going to run smoothly or that we will always be in control. We are all in control of various things around us and we are all working together in order to maintain control for the greater good; and that we must for if we lose control we make it harder for the people next to us. All this makes life sound like a real hard time!

Well, if we are going to depend on ourselves and those around us for everything, then we will continue to see just how hard life can be. Each unpredictable thing that happens has to be take control of before it takes control of us. Each thing that goes wrong has to be put right before it affects us all. The more that we try to do the more we seem to be able to find to do and the less time we will have to do anything. What we have to realise is that things are going to happen in life because that is what God has required. He in the one who actually is in control and unless we are walking with Him we may well be fighting against Him!

When God demands something, His will be done! Goliath was a man who nobody would say boo to and yet God used a young shepherd boy to do His will. God continues to work in ways that we may not understand and we must be ready to follow on in His ways so that we can uphold His will. God has a will for each of our lives; we need to listen to Him in order to be successful and not to try and go off and take the world on our own shoulders – it just will not work. But God can!

Points to Ponder:
Are you stressing with things around you?

Are you listening to God’s will?