July 9, 2012

Let Us Reason Together (7/9)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Isaiah 1-4.

At the time when Isaiah prophesied, the people of Judah had become so sinful and corrupt that God would not even accept their sacrifices or hear their prayers (Isaiah 1:2-4, 10-15). Yet God was willing to offer them a chance at reconciliation. So He extended an invitation to them.

“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’ Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 1:18-20).

The invitation began with God calling the people to “reason together” with Him. He wanted them to understand their current state, His offer, and the conditions attached to that offer.
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June 1, 2012

What Is Lost Because of Sin

Satan tempts us to sin by highlighting its supposed benefits. The Scriptures acknowledge that there is a certain amount of pleasure that can be derived from sin. Yet Moses understood that such pleasure was “passing” and that the rewards for rejecting God could not compare with God’s rewards for the faithful (Hebrews 11:25-26). But Satan does not want us to look beyond what is immediately before us. He wants us to focus on the temporary pleasures we can gain from sin and ignore those things which we stand to lose because of sin.

What is it that we stand to lose because of sin? To answer this, let us consider what was lost in the beginning when sin was first introduced into the world.
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April 20, 2012

Had the Lord Not Been on Our Side (4/20)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Psalm 121, 123-125, 128, 130.

“‘Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,’ Let Israel now say, ‘Had it not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the waters would have engulfed us, the stream would have swept over our soul; then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.’

“Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; the snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:1-8).

It is the natural reaction of many people to turn to the Lord in time of trouble. But after we overcome the temptation, we forget that God provided the way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). After we repent of sins and receive forgiveness, we forget that God made that forgiveness possible through the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7,9). After we endure difficult circumstances, we forget that it is through Christ that we have our strength (Philippians 4:13).
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March 4, 2012

The Bronze Serpent and the Pattern of Salvation (3/4)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Numbers 21-22.

“The people spoke against God and Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.’ The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.’ And Moses interceded for the people.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.’ And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived” (Numbers 21:5-9).

This account reminds us of the regular pattern of sin and salvation found in the Bible.
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January 15, 2012

When Did the Lord Restore Job’s Fortunes? (1/15)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Job 40-42.

When we read the book of Job, we have an advantage that this man of old did not have – we know that he is greatly blessed in the end. Job began as a wealthy man with a large family, but all of that was quickly taken away. He then suffered – unjustly, as he contended – unsure of what would happen in the future.

God certainly did bless Job in the end. But it is interesting to see when He did so:

“The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had two-fold” (Job 42:10).

Job’s friends had unjustly accused him of wrongdoing, arguing that this was the cause of his suffering. They had also misrepresented God, affirming that He was acting against Job, rather than Satan who had been allowed to afflict him. It would have been easy for Job to hold a grudge against his friends. But he did not. Instead he prayed for them. And he did not forgive them after his suffering was over and he was able to put it behind him. He forgave his friends, then God restored his fortunes.

We need to have the attitude of forgiveness of which Jesus spoke:

“Then Peter came and said to Him, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven’” (Matthew 18:21-22).

If we have been wronged, we need to be willing to forgive, even before our unfortunate circumstances improve.

Tomorrow’s reading: Genesis 12-15

[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]

Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.

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July 19, 2011

Repent and Be Converted

After Peter healed the lame man and had the opportunity to teach the crowd that had gathered, he told them, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19, NKJV).

Most of the denominational world believes that conversion is necessary for salvation. Peter plainly affirmed this as he told the people here that the blotting out of their sins was dependent upon them being converted. But what conversion was Peter talking about here? This is where you will begin to get some disagreement. Is one converted when he prays a “sinner’s prayer” and invites Jesus into his heart? Is he converted when he makes a verbal confession that he believes that Jesus is Lord? Or is there something else that Peter has in mind?

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May 8, 2011

The Justice of God

Ezekiel 18:4

Ezekiel 18 addresses the justice of God – how He treats individuals, both the righteous and the wicked, and how He will judge us. Let us examine what this chapter teaches us about God and His justice.
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