Monday, May 23, 2011

Devotion Thoughts - 27/04/2011


Judges 7:1-25


'You have too many men!' Most men would have been nervous if told that just when they were preparing to go into battle against an army so large that 'they were thick as locusts'. We prefer to have the visible odds stacked in our favour. But Gideon had already learned that the invisible God was with him and had already promised him victory, and so did not argue. We too have been promised a victorious Christian walk. Paul experienced it, and so could write 'I can achieve all my goals through Christ Who helps me' (Philippians 4:13 - my words). Go for it!



Judges 8:17


Allow God to guide in every situation we face, for we do not know the best way to go. Sometimes we need to be diplomatic (vv.1-3); at other times we must take a firm stand (v.7), perhaps with a tad less harshness than Gideon contemplated! (Remember James and John, the sons of thunder who wanted to wipe out a Samaritan village? Only later did they learn what love was about!).


As a young person I thought I knew all the answers. The older I get the more I realise how wrong I was. Now I know there is no shame in asking advice of others with experience and wisdom. I do not have to slavishly follow their advice, but they provide me with more options to think about.



Luke 23:13-43


Those who ask why God allows pain and suffering into the world are asking the wrong Person. They must ask the religious leaders, the scribes and priests, why they chose that an innocent Man suffer, and a murderer be released. Their choices are indicative of the kind men have been making since Adam's day. Injustice does not emanate from God, but from men who allow evil to reign and good to perish. As for God, He saw His own Son suffer sacrificially for the sins of others, but He allowed it so that men might choose to have their sins washed away and spend eternity with Him.



Psalm 97:1-12, Psalm 98:1-9


The psalmist waxes lyrical in praise of God - and so should we, for He enjoys our praise, just as any earthly father enjoys expressions of appreciation from his children for what he means to them. I nearly wrote 'for God is human'. Of course He is divine, but just as we can love because God is love, so we can be 'human' because God, through Jesus, experienced our humanity.



Proverbs 14:7-8


This also holds good about people who lie; they shall not be found in heaven (Revelation 21:8). Of course there are those who once told lies - just as there are those who stole, murdered, practised homosexuality etc. - who have had all their sins washed away in the blood of the Lamb. They are regarded as sinless by God, Who has cast their washed away sins as far from Himself as possible.




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