Evening, January 23
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Bible League: Living His Word
Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.

When something is done "in vain," it is done without meaningfully fulfilling the intended goal. Whatever it may be, it is a fruitless endeavor that is done without true satisfaction. You can work hard to build a house, or stay up all night to guard a city, or get up at the crack of dawn to go to work, but if it's done in vain it really gets you nowhere. Doing something in vain is just about the last thing on earth you want to do, because the effort robs you of your strength and gifts by wasting them on misguided efforts.

Our verses for today tell us that doing things apart from God's help is a vain endeavor. Anything done apart from God, even if it looks good, is hollow and empty in reality. Further, one might add that the person who thinks they can do anything apart from God is a vain person. Vain people overestimate their gifts and abilities and waste them in vain endeavors done apart from the approval and help of God. Vain people, if they think of God at all, are far out ahead of God.

Humble people, in contrast, know the futility of vanity and vain efforts. In the great scheme of things, their motto is: "'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6). The humble make a point of being in touch with God, consulting Him, seeking His Will, and asking for His strength and ability. The humble are careful not to get out ahead of God.

The life we have been given by God is too short to be wasted in the vanity of vain efforts. Consult God, and you will sleep better at night because you know God is at work for you.

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Exodus 4, 5, 6


Exodus 4 -- Miraculous Signs through Moses; Aaron as Mouthpiece; Moses Returns

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Exodus 5 -- Pharaoh Rejects Moses' Plea and Increases the Israelites' Labor

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Exodus 6 -- God Promises to Deliver the Families of Israel

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
Matthew 16


Matthew 16 -- Pharisees Demand a Sign; Peter's Confession of Christ; Jesus Foretells His Death and Rebukes Peter

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
The LORD lives! Praise to my Rock!
        May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted!
Insight
David praises God wholeheartedly. Praise is not just a song about God; it is a song to God.
Challenge
Praising God has several aspects to it: (1) Say thank you to him for each attribute of his divine nature; (2) focus our hearts on him; (3) thank him for his many gracious gifts to us; and (4) thank him for our relationship with him.
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Songs 1:4  We will remember thy love more than wine.

Jesus will not let his people forget his love. If all the love they have enjoyed should be forgotten, he will visit them with fresh love. "Do you forget my cross?" says he, "I will cause you to remember it; for at my table I will manifest myself anew to you. Do you forget what I did for you in the council-chamber of eternity? I will remind you of it, for you shall need a counsellor, and shall find me ready at your call." Mothers do not let their children forget them. If the boy has gone to Australia, and does not write home, his mother writes--"Has John forgotten his mother?" Then there comes back a sweet epistle, which proves that the gentle reminder was not in vain. So is it with Jesus, he says to us, "Remember me," and our response is, "We will remember thy love." We will remember thy love and its matchless history. It is ancient as the glory which thou hadst with the Father before the world was. We remember, O Jesus, thine eternal love when thou didst become our Surety, and espouse us as thy betrothed. We remember the love which suggested the sacrifice of thyself, the love which, until the fulness of time, mused over that sacrifice, and long for the hour whereof in the volume of the book it was written of thee, "Lo, I come." We remember thy love, O Jesus as it was manifest to us in thy holy life, from the manger of Bethlehem to the garden of Gethsemane. We track thee from the cradle to the grave--for every word and deed of thine was love--and we rejoice in thy love, which death did not exhaust; thy love which shone resplendent in thy resurrection. We remember that burning fire of love which will never let thee hold thy peace until thy chosen ones be all safely housed, until Zion be glorified, and Jerusalem settled on her everlasting foundations of light and love in heaven.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Galatians 5:11  But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.

Matthew 16:24  Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

Isaiah 4:4  When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning,

Acts 14:22  strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."

Romans 9:33  just as it is written, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."

1 Peter 2:7,8  This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone," • and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

Galatians 6:1  Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

Galatians 2:20  "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Galatians 5:24  Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

2 Timothy 2:12  If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Morning January 23
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