Walk in the Light

January 29, 2023

January 29th, 2023

Sunday – Poetry

Psalms 13-16

Highlight Verses:

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends.”

Psalms 15:1-3 NLT

When I started reading this Psalm, I thought it was interesting that it came right after a Psalm declaring that everyone was evil. You gotta be blameless and do what is right to enter the sanctuary.

Then David starts to define what is right.

Tell the truth!

Everything that comes after that in this Psalm reflects different forms of honesty.

Of course, dishonesty is not the only sin out there. But honesty is at the core of righteousness. If you are honest with yourself and others, you will seek to correct other bad behavior so that you can remain honest.

If you are honest with yourself, can you claim to be one hundred percent honest?

If you are committed to a life of complete honesty, would you continue to try to get away with sin?
January 28, 2023

January 28th, 2023

Saturday – Open Topic

“O Lord, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, born into your household; you have freed me from my chains.”

Psalms 116:16 NLT

How can you be a servant and free at the same time?

If you read the entire Psalm, you will find that the author spends most of his time describing how God listens and cares for him.

The natural response to someone who has done much for one is to do much in return.

How much more true is that for God? He has provided our very lives and every bit of grace and mercy throughout out our lives.

To Him who has given us everything, it is good to give everything we have to offer including our heart of grateful service.

We know that our salvation does not come from the acts of service we perform. But our gratitude for His grace and mercy should inspire us to freely do those same acts of service.

Do you do things for God out of obligation, guilt, or gratitude?

Do you realize the freedom that you have in salvation?
January 27, 2023

January 27th, 2023

Friday – Prophets

Isaiah 10-12

Highlight Verse:

“In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah 10:20 NIV

The times in my life when all has been stripped away have been the times that I relied on God the most. There have been times when I was down to the stuff I could fit in my car. One time when the minivan with all my stuff catastrophically failed. Other times when I didn’t know how the bills would be paid.

I had nothing but God.

And God has always been faithful.

On the flip side of this, I believe we should always be on the lookout for when we can be God’s hands and feet to those who have nothing left.

In those times when I relied on God,

He used people to meet my needs.

It was God’s people who provided me with furniture when I got here.

It was a man of God who enabled me to move here in the first place.

In desperate times, people have provided me with food, money, shelter, and most importantly, hope! Their faithfulness has kept me following the one whom they follow.

Do you rely on God in both the good and bad times?

Are you attentive to when He calls on you to provide for others in their hard times?
January 26, 2023

January 26th, 2023

Thursday – Letters

Romans 4

Highlight Verse:

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.””

Romans 4:18 NIV

I can relate to Abraham. Actually, I had it easy compared to him and others.

Our best friends had two children but then tragically lost their third in a late term miscarriage. About a year later, they came to us saying that they were thinking of trying again but were praying we would have a child first.

Okay, great. After ten years with no luck, we’d given up hope. But they hadn’t.

Our Felicia turns 24 this year. Their Gabriel is just a month and a half younger.

Abraham and Sarah had to wait decades longer than us. He had been promised that he would be a father of nations. There were many times that he had given up hope of that dream.

But he hadn’t given up faith in God. And that faith preceded Him becoming father to many nations.

Are you in a season of waiting?

Are you tempted to give up hope?

God will fulfill all His promises to you in His best timing.
January 25, 2023

January 25th, 2023

Wednesday – History

Joshua 10-12

Highlight Verse:

“So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies. Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day.”
‭‭Joshua‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

First, let’s get this part out of the way. The Book of Jashar is thought to be an early telling of Israel’s history in poetic form. It did not make it into today’s Bible perhaps because of a lack of complete early manuscripts. Either way, it must have predated the Book of Joshua in order to be mentioned here.

Now to the strange part.

How could God have stopped the sun? Of course that would have involved stopping the Earth’s rotation which, in theory, would wreak all sorts of havoc throughout the globe.

But God.

Some say that it could have been a supernova that lit up the sky even at night.

But God.

Some say the wording in Hebrew could be construed to mean it stayed overcast all day.

But God!

If God can creat the universe with a few words, surely God could stop the earth’s rotation AND the crazy effects that would cause.

Whatever happened, it was significant or it would not made it into the Bible.

And it involved the miraculous.

I believe the miraculous happens today still.

I believe God is capable of doing whatever He wants.

Why would God go through the drastic measures just so they could defeat their enemies before night fall?
What do you think? Did the event really happen as described?
Some would say no.

But God!
January 24, 2023

January 24th, 2023

Tuesday – Pentateuch

Genesis 5-6

Highlight Verses:

“The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.”

Genesis 6:5-6 NLT

In case you had the idea that Noah’s flood was an act of an angry God determined to smite all those disobedient people, look again.

“It broke his heart.”

When God saw the evil that was so complete in the world, He purged it in great sorrow. He started again with the one glimmer of hope that He saw in Noah and his family.

Through the Flood and through Noah’s descendants, God paved the way for salvation to come through Christ.

The next time you are tempted to think that the God of the Old Testament is a judgmental angry old man, think again.

See Him as He has always been, a compassionate Holy Father.

Have you feared that God was strict and mean?

Does this passage change your perspective?

NOTE: my apologies to those who downloaded the reading list and thought there was only one chapter of Genesis today. I have fixed that typo and added the weekly feature verses through the end of February.
January 23, 2023

January 23rd, 2023

Monday – Gospels

John 5

Highlight verse:

““Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.””

John 5:7 NIV

All Jesus did was ask if the man wanted to get well. This man goes into a list of excuses.

How many times to we do the same thing?

“Do you want to get well?”

“I’m too tired to get up that early.”

“But I was hungry.”

“But everyone else does it.”

He’s heard it all before. And He still wants you well. He has such compassion for you that He keeps asking.

“Do you want to get well?”

“Yes!”

Are there things that God is asking you to do to get the wholeness you want?

What is standing in the way of proverbially taking up your mat and walking?
January 22, 2023

January 22nd, 2023

Sunday – Poetry

Psalms 10-12

Highlight Verse:

“Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”

Psalms 10:1 NIV

Is it okay to question God? Is it okay to be mad at God?

If you’re a parent, are your kids ever mad at you? Do they question you? Does that bother you? If it does what about it bothers you?

If God is our Father, I believe that He can handle it when we question Him and even express our frustration to Him as long as we do it with respect.

As a dad, I would rather know when my kids are frustrated with me.

Usually, that can be turned into a teachable moment

in which I can explain the reasons behind my decisions or opinions.

Of course, there’s a big difference between me and God.

Sometimes I’m wrong.

God is always right.

But I think He also takes our frustrations and turns them into teachable moments. Some of the greatest things I’ve learned in this life have come out of times of frustration and even anger.

As far as I can recall, every time David writes verses like this, he comes around to God’s point of view by the end of the Psalm.

We can relate to his occasional frustrations. We can learn from what God teaches him.

What lessons have you learned in the times of frustration?

How have you managed to maintain respect for God while expressing those frustrations?
January 21, 2023

January 21st, 2023

Saturday – Open Topic – Joy in the midst of sadness.

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIV

S.A.D. Seasonal affective disorder.

I’m not sure it should be called a disorder since it is so common. Shorter days, less time outdoors, and colder weather combine to bring down the moods of millions, including me.

It’s this time of year that I am especially thankful for passages like this.

Habakkuk was speaking to Judah just before the exile. The remains of the nation was about to be exiled to Babylon. Dark times of death, disorientation, and loneliness lay just ahead. In the midst of this, Habakkuk makes this bold statement.

Happiness may depend on happenings but joy depends on God, who is always faithful.

You don’t have to be happy to be full of joy.

Joy carries you through the dark times offering hope and encouragement from a source far greater than the worst circumstances.

I may be affected by the seasons, but I will get through with a joy that no one and no thing could take away!

Do you know that unsurpassable joy of the Lord?

How has God’s joy carried you through hard times?

Can you trust God to bring that joy during your current circumstances?
January 20, 2023

January 20th, 2023

Friday – Prophets

Isaiah 7-9

Highlight Verses:

“Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”

Isaiah 7:13-14 NLT

I find this amusing. Isaiah gives his most famous prediction of the Messiah as a result of losing patience with King Ahaz. There’s no way that Ahaz would be around for the fulfillment of that prophecy. But then, he addressed it to the royal family of David.

Ahaz may not have seen this prophecy fulfilled but we can. One scholar found 574 Old Testament verses predicting the Messiah.

Even conservative estimates point to Jesus fulfilling over 300 prophecies.

Today, we can look at this passage and the many others as proof that Jesus is who He says He is.

There is no other figure in history who was as thoroughly predicted.

Do these prophecies give you more confidence in believing that Jesus truly is the Messiah?

What is your favorite prophecy about Jesus?

Tell the truth!

How can you be a servant and free at the same time?

The natural response to someone who has done much for one is to do much in return.

I had nothing but God.

And God has always been faithful.

He used people to meet my needs.

But God.

But God.

But God!

I believe the miraculous happens today still.

But God!

“It broke his heart.”

See Him as He has always been, a compassionate Holy Father.

How many times to we do the same thing?

“Do you want to get well?”

Is it okay to question God? Is it okay to be mad at God?

Usually, that can be turned into a teachable moment

Sometimes I’m wrong.

God is always right.

It’s this time of year that I am especially thankful for passages like this.

You don’t have to be happy to be full of joy.

Even conservative estimates point to Jesus fulfilling over 300 prophecies.

There is no other figure in history who was as thoroughly predicted.