A Repost From Julie Ackerman Link of Our Daily Bread

From Bad To Worse

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September 24, 2011 — by Julie Ackerman Link

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Exodus 5:1-14,22-23

I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians . . . and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. —Exodus 6:6

Bible in a year:
Song of Solomon 4-5; Galatians 3

It happened again. I got the urge to clean my office. Before I could resist, I had created an even bigger mess than I started with. One pile turned into many piles when I started sorting books, papers, and magazines. As the mess mushroomed, I lamented that I had started. But there was no going back.

When God recruited Moses to rescue the Hebrews from slavery, their situation went from bad to worse as well. There was no doubt that the job needed to be done. The people had been crying out to God to help them (Ex. 2:23). Reluctantly, very reluctantly, Moses agreed to appeal to Pharaoh on behalf of the Hebrews. The encounter did not go well. Instead of releasing the people, Pharaoh increased his unreasonable demands. Moses questioned whether he should have started (5:22-23). Only after a lot more trouble for a lot of people did Pharaoh let the people leave.

Whenever we set out to do something good, even when we’re certain that God wants us to do it, we shouldn’t be surprised when the situation gets worse before it gets better. This doesn’t prove that we’re doing the wrong thing; it just reminds us that we need God to accomplish everything.

There is only One who knows

All the answers to my woes;

He will all my needs supply

When in faith to Him I cry. —Morgan

The supreme need in every hour of difficulty

is a vision of God. —G. C. Morgan

Reposted From Julie Ackerman Link of Our Daily Bread

A Repost From Charles Spurgeon of Morning and Evening

Serious Business

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September 23, 2011 — by Bill Crowder

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Psalm 96

The Lord reigns; the world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously. —Psalm 96:10

Bible in a year:
Song of Solomon 1-3; Galatians 2

Recently I was called for jury duty. It meant extraordinary inconvenience and lots of lost time, but it was also serious business. During the first day’s orientation, the judge lectured us on the responsibility at hand and the important nature of the task. We were going to sit in judgment of people who either had disputes (civil court) or were charged with crimes (criminal court). I felt a great sense of inadequacy for the task at hand. Passing judgment on another person, with serious life consequences riding on the decision, is not a simple thing. Because we’re flawed human beings, we may not always make the right judgments.

While the justice systems of our world might struggle and falter because of the inherent failings of the humans that manage them, we can always trust our God to excel in wisdom and fairness. The psalmist sang, “The Lord reigns; the world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously” (Ps. 96:10). God judges according to righteousness—defined by His own perfect justice and flawless character.

We can trust God now when life seems unfair, knowing that He will one day make all things right in His final court (2 Cor. 5:10).

The best of judges on this earth
Aren’t always right or fair;
But God, the righteous Judge of all,
Wrongs no one in His care. —Egner

One day God will right every wrong.

Reposted From Bill Crowder of Our Daily Bread

A Repost From David C. McCasland of Our Daily Bread

Beyond The Status Quo

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September 22, 2011 — by David C. McCasland

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Read: John 5:35-47

But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. —John 5:40

Bible in a year:
Ecclesiastes 10-12; Galatians 1

Dr. Jack Mezirow, professor emeritus at Columbia Teachers College, believes that an essential element in adult learning is to challenge our own ingrained perceptions and examine our insights critically. Dr. Mezirow says that adults learn best when faced with what he calls a “disorienting dilemma”—something that “helps you critically reflect on the assumptions you’ve acquired” (Barbara Strauch, The New York Times). This is the opposite of saying, “My mind is made up—don’t confuse me with the facts.”

When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, He challenged the deeply held beliefs of many religious leaders, and they sought to silence Him (John 5:16-18). Jesus said to them: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (vv.39-40).

Oswald Chambers observed, “God has a way of bringing in facts which upset a man’s doctrines if these stand in the way of God getting at his soul.”

Unsettling experiences that cause us to question our assumptions about the Lord can also lead us to a deeper understanding and trust in Him—if we’re willing to think it through and come to Him.

My mind cries its questions,
My longing heart, joining.
O Father, please hear me!
O Spirit, keep teaching! —Verway

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” —Socrates

Reposted From David C. McCasland of Our Daily Bread

A Repost From David H. Roper of Our Daily Bread

A Lesson In Crying

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September 21, 2011 — by David H. Roper

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Read: Revelation 21:1-7

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. —Matthew 5:4

Bible in a year:
Ecclesiastes 7-9; 2 Corinthians 13

Has your heart ever been broken? What broke it? Cruelty? Failure? Unfaithfulness? Loss? Perhaps you’ve crept into the darkness to cry.

It’s good to cry. “Tears are the only cure for weeping,” said Scottish preacher George MacDonald. A little crying does one good.

Jesus wept at His friend Lazarus’ grave (John 11:35), and He weeps with us (v.33). His heart was broken as well. Our tears attract our Lord’s lovingkindness and tender care. He knows our troubled, sleepless nights. His heart aches for us when we mourn. He is the “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation” (2 Cor. 1:3-4). And He uses His people to comfort one another.

But tears and our need for comfort come back all too frequently in this life. Present comfort is not the final answer. There is a future day when there will be no death, no sorrow, no crying, for all these things will “have passed away” (Rev. 21:4). There in heaven God will wipe away every tear. We are so dear to our Father that He will be the one who wipes the tears away from our eyes; He loves us so deeply and personally.

Remember, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4).

Think of a land of no sorrow,
Think of a land of no fears,
Think of no death and no sickness,
Think of a land of no tears. —Anon.

God cares and shares in our sorrow.

Reposted From David H. Roper of Our Daily Bread

A Repost From C. P. Hia of Our Daily Bread

Are You Ready?

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September 20, 2011 — by C. P. Hia

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: 2 Peter 3:1-13

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. —2 Peter 3:9

Bible in a year:
Ecclesiastes 4-6; 2 Corinthians 12

Many will remember the fall season of 2008 as the beginning of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929. In the months to follow, many lost their jobs, homes, and investments. In a BBC interview a year later, Alan Greenspan, former head of the US Federal Reserve, indicated that the average person doesn’t believe it will happen again. He said, “That is the unquenchable capability of human beings when confronted with long periods of prosperity to presume that it will continue.”

Assuming that things will continue as they always have is not just 21st-century-type thinking. In the first century, Peter wrote of people who thought that life would continue as it was and that Jesus would not return. He said, “Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4). Jesus said He would come back, but the people continued to live in disobedience as though He would never return. But His delay is only because of God’s patience with us, for He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (v.9).

Paul tells us that Christians ought to live “soberly, right­eously, and godly” in the light of Christ’s certain return. (Titus 2:12). Are you ready to meet Him?

Faithful and true would He find us here
If He should come today?
Watching in gladness and not in fear,
If He should come today? —Morris

Jesus may come any time, so we should be ready all the time.

Reposted From C. P. Hia of Our Daily Bread