Devotional Journal

WEEK 15 – 4/15/24

Monday, 4/15/24: “God knows best!”

Bible Reading Plan: Judges 7-8; Luke 22

 

Judges 7:2, 4 “And the LORD said to Gideon, ‘The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, My own hand has saved me….The people are still too many…”

 

We think we know it all, don’t we? But God not only knows what will happen but what could happen. While things are static with God, we make moment by moment decisions that have real, lasting consequences. We do what we think is best and responsible. At the end of the day, trusting God is where we ought all end up.

 

God communicated to Gideon that the people were too many. God knew that the children of Israel would boast in their own strength rather than God’s power! 135,000 Midianites to 32,000 Israelites (4.2 Midianites to 1 Israelite)! Really God, we need fewer people? It would help me trust you more if we had another 32,000 Israelites actually! Anyone else thinking that? But Gideon trusts God. The best place to be but sometimes it’s just hard on our natural way of thinking, right?

 

So 22,000 Israelites go home. Now, 135,000 Midianites to 10,000 Israelites (13.5 Midianites to 1 Israelite)! Surely now God can show His power with these overwhelming odds, right? But God knows it will still be too many! So God tells Gideon to trust Him again.

 

Finally, 9,700 Israelites are sent home. Now, 135,000 Midianites to 300 Israelites (450 Midianites to 1 Israelite)! Now it’s just pure craziness! Those odds are absolutely pitiful! But now God can work, do wonders, and get the credit He deserves!

 

Don’t we think backwards? If you were in Gideon’s sandals would you be arguing with God, or what? The things that God uses often seem backwards, but God knows best, right? God says, give me the first 10% and we say, God you don’t know what you’re talking about…I can’t afford to tithe! God says, talk to your family member, co-worker, or neighbor about me, and we say, I can’t – I’ll get tongue tied! God says, serve me and others in this way, and we say, I can’t – I don’t have time, knowledge, training, etc.! On and on the lists go of things God asks us to do. Impossible things – but God Knows Best!

 

Each time we stop and argue remember that God Knows Best! God did some amazing things through the 300 Israelites led by Gideon! He can do some amazing things through you too, if you’ll only trust Him! I Thessalonians 5:24 says “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

 

What is God calling you to that He can enable you to do? Don’t shrink back in fear – move forward in faith! Read the whole story of how God took a Gideon – who was always fearful and second guessing himself – and used him (fears and all) to do some amazing things that only God could receive the credit for! May God grant us the wisdom to see that He Knows Best in the areas of life we struggle with. May we trust Him for those great things He wants to do!

 

 

Tuesday, 4/16/24: “Frenemies”

Bible Reading Plan: Judges 9-11; Psalm 17; Luke 23

 

Luke 23:12 “That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.”

 

First off, what does the word Frenemies mean? Maybe you aren’t familiar with this term. It is a combination of the words Friend and Enemy. An online dictionary states the following: “a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry.” So I guess you learned a new word.

 

Why bring that up for today’s verse? Maybe it’s obvious. Pilate and Herod had been enemies and the situation with Christ healed a rift between them.

 

I just find this situation incredibly picturesque. That Christ’s sacrifice literally brought two enemies together in a way that little else could.

 

How about you? Has Christ’s sacrifice for you brought you closer to someone else who might have been an enemy before? Ephesians 4:32 challenges us to forgive others as God “for Christ’s sake” has forgiven us.

 

As a child of God, regardless of how someone has hurt, maligned, or cheated on us, we are to forgive…not because they deserve it…or because they have asked forgiveness. But because God forgave us! Let that Biblical motivation for forgiveness sink in!

 

Vertical forgiveness by God has horizontal implications. While I don’t understand every nuance, the opposite of what I just stated seems to be true from Matthew 18:21-35. Consider well that final verse! Who do you need to forgive because of the forgiveness that you’ve received? Would you release them from that debt even now? By God’s grace, live in that releasing.

 

Wednesday, 4/17/24:  “Words that encourage faith”

Bible Reading Plan: Judges 12-16; Psalm 146; Luke 24

 

Judges 13:22-23 “And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would He have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.”

 

Have you ever had that doubt that was so severe that it seems to stop life? If not physical life, then spiritual life. Your trust in God seems eradicated over one simple issue. So it was with Samson’s father, Manoah in our passage above.

 

After “seeing God,” Manoah is sure that they will perish. This must have been debilitating at the time. You gotta love the simple yet powerful, encouraging words that his wife says, right? The basic tenor is this: God just did some great things and told us of what He is planning to do. Why would he take our life now?

 

Manoah’s wife’s encouraging words set him on a track of faith. Words are powerful. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” Romans 10:17 says, “…faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Without going too far off on a tangent, the word “word” in Romans 10:17 isn’t really talking about the entirety of God’s Word as from Genesis through Revelation. Instead it is dealing with a specific portion, part of a verse, or a thought firmly rooted in God’s Word as God’s Word is the standard of truth.

 

Have you ever had something like this happen to you? You’re working through an issue or problem that seems so thick you can cut it with a knife – then someone says something that seems so simple and it clears all that up in an instant? Perhaps it was a specific scripture passage or portion of God’s Word. Or perhaps it was not a direct quote from God’s Word but for you might as well have been, right? I understand we need to be careful going outside the revelation of Scripture for truth. But did Manoah’s wife quote Scripture directly? But what she said WAS indeed Scriptural, right?

 

Praise God for people like this in all of our lives! People God used to speak a word in due season (cf. Proverbs 15:23). Perhaps it is just as you read through Scripture and God reveals to you a portion of Scripture that just sheds light on an issue (Psalm 119:130). Perhaps it is a friend or family member texting some thought or even verse in the right time. Perhaps it is something a preacher says or even doesn’t say but the Holy Spirit uses. Perhaps it’s the observation of a child. May we all be in tune with God so that He can use our lips for His glory and other’s edification (Ephesians 4:29) always! Psalm 19:14 says, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” Is that your prayer today – for yourself? for others through you?

Thursday, 4/18/24: Supernatural Strength

 

Bible Reading Plan: Judges 19-21; Acts 2

            What do you do to restore your strength? Does your vitality in life come from how much rest you get at night? All of us are affected by a lack of sleep – but is that your primary source of strength? Perhaps it’s something else? My mom observed that as a teenager I would get out of bed in the morning and stumble out to the kitchen. After eating a bowl of cereal, it was like I was rejuvenated for the day. Does it take food to restore your strength? Maybe some super food or protein shake? Maybe coffee? While God gives us richly all things to enjoy, we ought not ultimately look to any of these things for the Supernatural Strength we need to live the Christian life! We ought not try to draw our Supernatural Strength from anyone or anything other than the Supernatural Source, Himself!

 

Psalm 21:1 “The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!”

 

If you try to draw your Supernatural Strength from anyone or anything else, you will be disappointed fast! John 6:63 says “It is the Spirit that quickeneth…” God makes us alive and gives us Supernatural Strength through His Spirit!

 

Consider Samson in the Old Testament as a picture of Supernatural Strength through God’s Spirit. While most movies would picture Samson as some sort of body building hunk, the Philistines were truly perplexed as to the source of Samson’s Supernatural Strength (cf. Judges 16:5)! God’s Spirit was at work in and through Samson’s life (Judges 13:25):

 

14:5-6 (Samson kills a lion with his bare hands);

 

14:19 (Samson kills 30 men);

 

15:14-15 (Samson kills 1,000 men with a donkey’s jawbone)

 

One could argue that other times where Samson does miraculous things follow this pattern even while it’s not explicitly stated. While I do not want to repeat Samson’s lifestyle, I do want God to equip me with Supernatural Strength to accomplish things for His glory! Is that your heart cry too? Are you asking God to “control you by His Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18; Luke 11:13) on a regular basis? Day by day and situation by situation? Are you that living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) that God desires to use for His glory? Or do you want to live an ordinary life explainable by human means? God, I ask that you would equip and use me for Your glory, I pray! Help me realize my inadequacy but your sufficiency, I pray!

Friday, 4/19/24: A New Low

 

Bible Reading Plan: Judges 19-21; Acts 2

 

Judges 19:30 “And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.”

 

Hosea 9:9 “They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore He will remember their iniquity, He will visit their sins.”

 

Years ago there was a Sunday afternoon I was travelling to church, it became apparent that I had the stomach bug. I felt weak and tired in the morning service but figured it was a lack of good sleep. In the afternoon, I took a nap only to wake up feeling worse. Katie and I were scheduled to leave for church about 4:15p to get things ready before the evening service and teen event afterwards. I felt weak and dizzy. I hoped it would pass. Out of sheer willpower, I was going to be at church for the evening service but I never made it! Katie drove on the way to church and I had a trash can between my legs “just in case.” We didn’t get far from home before I realized this was not a good idea. I was of no use being at church and that wasn’t going to be a fun experience for anyone. There would have to be an emergency speaker to fill in. Praise the Lord that did all work out! Including a “soft sickness and recovery” rather than major issues – if ya know what I mean!

 

The sickness I was experiencing was strangely familiar to several months prior. At that time, both Katie and I along with many others in the church got a bad case of the flu. People were dropping like flies. I think my whole digestive/stomach acid system was still trying to reset itself after that episode almost 5 months ago! So needless to say, I was not very thrilled at this recurrence of similar symptoms/sickness. Katie doesn’t have to tell you because I will…I was being a big baby about it! Why did I tell you all that? To help you understand the language:

 

The whole story of Judges 19 makes me sick – I mean really sick! Like big baby kinda sick! The sickest part to me is not the treatment by this man towards his concubine – he sought her like a piece of merchandise (v.3 – note that I am understanding the treatment through the whole story with what is said here) and in the end is incredibly uncaring (v.25), insensitive (v.28) and crude (v.29)!  Or even the fact that he has a concubine – which is literally a “second wife” at best or even a “glorified mistress” idea. The sickest part is not the stuffy (dare I say “racial” and I don’t use that term lightly) treatment of the Jebusites (v.11-12). Or how about the repulsiveness of verse 22?

 

To me, the sickest part of the story occurs in verses 23-24. The cliff notes version? The solution to “vile behavior” is…well…a different sin that is more palatable, explainable or “natural.” Yeah…let’s do the “natural sin” versus the “vile sin” that makes a ton of sense, right? Wrong! Sin is sin whether it repulses you or not. Some things are clearly more repulsive than others – for instance, murder vs. being angry/bitter. From the human view, one is “out of control” and the other is “normal” because I experience it every day. But what does God say? Matthew 5:21-24! Hmm…

 

I have many more applications but are you seeing sin from God’s perspective or your perspective? Think about it!