Bible League: Living His Word The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.In this world we have and will have troubles. King David says even the righteous person faces many troubles. And he would know, for he was a righteous man after God's own heart (I Samuel 13:14), and he faced many of them. Although we face troubles of all kinds, we may take comfort in the conviction that the Lord rescues us from them all. How does God rescue us from them all? First of all, God may rescue us by totally delivering us from our troubles in the here and now. The Bible is full of examples of the people of God being rescued from their troubles. Although Abraham and Sarah could not have children, God gave them a child in their old age (Genesis 21:1-7). When the Israelites were stuck between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army, God parted the sea and let them cross on dry land (Exodus 14). When the Apostle Peter was in prison, the Lord sent an angel to free him (Acts 12:1-19). Secondly, there is a sense in which God rescues us from our troubles by turning them from something that was meant by Satan to destroy us into something that actually benefits us. The Apostle Paul says, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them" (Romans 8:28). God uses the troubles of Satan to make us more and more like Jesus (Romans 8:29). With those in Christ, trouble loses its significance as a destructive force, for "our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (II Corinthians 4:17). Finally, God ultimately rescues us from our troubles in the next life. Sometimes the sick die, sometimes the lives of the persecuted are sacrificed, and sometimes, like the Apostle Paul, we live with a "thorn in the flesh" for all of our lives (II Corinthians 12:7). If our faith does not see its breakthrough in this life, however, it will see it in the next life (Revelation 21:4). Satan is the trouble-maker. His evil and illegitimate regime functions like a parasite within God's very good earthly creation. That's why we see troubles of many kinds. Take heart, however, for the Lord comes to our rescue each time. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJudges 1, 2 Judges 1 -- Israelites Capture Jerusalem, Hebron, Others NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Judges 2 -- Israel Rebuked and Defeated NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Luke 7:1-30 Luke 7 -- Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant, Raises a Widow's Son, answer John's messengers; Mary Anoints Jesus NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Search me, O God, and know my heart;test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Insight David asked God to search for sin and point it out, even to the level of testing his thoughts. This is exploratory surgery for sin. How are we to recognize sin unless God points it out? Then, when God shows us, we can repent and be forgiven. Challenge Make this verse your prayer. If you ask the Lord to search your heart and your thoughts, and to reveal your sin, you will be continuing on God's “path of everlasting life.” Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Lamentations 3:40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.The spouse who fondly loves her absent husband longs for his return; a long protracted separation from her lord is a semi-death to her spirit: and so with souls who love the Saviour much, they must see his face, they cannot bear that he should be away upon the mountains of Bether, and no more hold communion with them. A reproaching glance, an uplifted finger will be grievous to loving children, who fear to offend their tender father, and are only happy in his smile. Beloved, it was so once with you. A text of Scripture, a threatening, a touch of the rod of affliction, and you went to your Father's feet, crying, "Show me wherefore thou contendest with me?" Is it so now? Are you content to follow Jesus afar off? Can you contemplate suspended communion with Christ without alarm? Can you bear to have your Beloved walking contrary to you, because you walk contrary to him? Have your sins separated between you and your God, and is your heart at rest? O let me affectionately warn you, for it is a grievous thing when we can live contentedly without the present enjoyment of the Saviour's face. Let us labor to feel what an evil thing this is--little love to our own dying Saviour, little joy in our precious Jesus, little fellowship with the Beloved! Hold a true Lent in your souls, while you sorrow over your hardness of heart. Do not stop at sorrow! Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the cross. There, and there only, can you get your spirit quickened. No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead we may have become, let us go again in all the rags and poverty, and defilement of our natural condition. Let us clasp that cross, let us look into those languid eyes, let us bathe in that fountain filled with blood--this will bring back to us our first love; this will restore the simplicity of our faith, and the tenderness of our heart. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 13:1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?James 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Isaiah 49:14,15 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, And the Lord has forgotten me." • "Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Isaiah 44:21,22 "Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me. • "I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you." John 11:5,6 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. • So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Matthew 15:22,23 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." • But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, "Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us." I Pet 1:7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 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. |
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