Dawn 2 Dusk When the Sky ClearsIsaiah 44:22 paints a surprising picture: sin that once felt heavy and permanent is treated by God like something that can be wiped away—like weather that passes. Then comes His invitation: don’t stay distant, don’t keep rehearsing your failure—come back to the One who has already acted to redeem. Erased, Not Edited God doesn’t offer to “manage” your guilt; He promises to blot it out. That means your past isn’t merely filed away with a warning label—it’s removed from the record. He says, “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist.” (Isaiah 44:22) Clouds can loom and darken everything, but they don’t have the final word; a wind rises, light breaks through, and what looked immovable is suddenly gone. That’s why the gospel doesn’t begin with your improvement plan; it begins with His mercy. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) And if you’ve been living under a sentence God already lifted, hear this clearly: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) Return Without Rehearsing God’s call to return is not a demand to crawl back on your knees and convince Him you’re sorry enough. It’s an invitation to come home because redemption is already real. The point isn’t to perform despair; it’s to respond to grace. When the heart says, “But you don’t know what I did,” God answers with His character: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Returning often feels like taking the first honest step—turning from secret compromises, naming sin plainly, and trusting God more than your shame. It can be as simple (and as brave) as praying, “Lord, I’m coming back.” And when your emotions lag behind, let His promise lead: “Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:22) Redeemed People Live Differently Redemption isn’t God pretending you’re fine; it’s God paying what you could not, and then claiming you as His. That changes how you wake up, how you speak, how you endure temptation, how you handle regret. Your identity is not “the one who messed up,” but “the one bought back.” “For by grace you have been saved through faith… it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) So today, don’t just admire forgiveness—walk in it. When old accusations resurface, answer them with the cross and keep moving toward obedience. Fix your attention where your hope actually lives: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2) A cleared sky is meant to be lived under. Father, thank You for blotting out my sin and redeeming me. Help me return to You fully today—turning from what displeases You and walking in obedient faith. Amen. Evening with A.W. Tozer Growing Oaks or Ears of PopcornThe church must claim again her ancient dowry of everlastingness. She must begin again to deal with ages and millenniums rather then with days and years. She must not count numbers but test foundations. She must work for permanence rather than for appearance. Her children must seek those enduring things that have been touched with immortality. The shallow brook of popular religion chatters on its nervous way and thinks the ocean too quiet and dull because it lies deep in its mighty bed and is unaffected by the latest shower. Faith in one of its aspects moves mountains; in another it gives patience to see the promises afar off and to wait quietly for their fulfillment. Insistence upon an immediate answer to every request of the soul is an evidence of religious infantilism. It takes God longer to grow an oak than to grow an ear of popcorn. It will cost something to walk slow in the parade of the ages while excited men of time rush about confusing motion with progress. But it will pay in the long run--and the true Christian is not much interested in anything short of that. Music For the Soul The Earthly Setting, the Brighter RisingThen shall the righteous shine forth as the sum in the kingdom of their Father. - Matthew 13:43 Beauty, intellect, power, goodness, all go down into the dark. The sun sets, and there is left a sad and fading glow in the darkening pensive sky, which may recall the vanished light for a little while to a few faithful hearts, but steadily passes into the ashen grey of forgetfulness. The momentary setting is but apparent; and, ere it is well accomplished, a new sun swims into the "ampler ether, the diviner air" of that future life, "and, with new spangled beams, flames in the forehead of the morning sky." The reason for the inherent brightness is that the soul of the righteous man passes from earth into a region out of which we "gather all things that offend, and them that do iniquity." There are other reasons for it, but that is the one which our Lord dwells on. Or, to put it into modern scientific language, environment corresponds to character. So, when the clouds have rolled away, and no more mists from the undrained swamps of selfishness and sin and animal nature rise up to hide the radiance, there shall be a fuller flood of light poured from the re-created sun. That brightness thus promised has for its highest and most blessed character that it is conformity to the Lord Himself. For, as you may remember, the last use of this emblem that we find in Scripture refers not to the servant, but to the Master, whom His beloved disciple in Apocalyptic vision saw, with His "countenance as the sun shining in his strength." Thus, "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." And, therefore, that radiance of the sainted dead is progressive, too. For it has an infinite fulness to draw upon; and the soul that is joined to Jesus Christ, and derives its lustre from Him, cannot die until it has outgrown Jesus and emptied God. The sun will one day be a dark, cold ball. We shall outlast it. But remember that it is only those who here on earth have progressively appropriated the brightness that Christ bestows who have a right to reckon on that better rising. It is contrary to all probability to believe that the passage from life can change the ingrained direction and set of a man’s nature. We know nothing that warrants us in affirming that death can revolutionise character. Do not trust your future to such a dim peradventure. Here is a plain truth. They who on earth are as the shining light that shineth more and more until the " perfect day," shall, beyond the shadow of eclipse, shine on as the sun does, behind the opaque, intervening body, all unconscious of what looks to mortal eyes on earth an eclipse, and "shall blaze out like the sun in their Heavenly Father’s Kingdom." For all that we know, and are taught by experience, religious and moral distinctions are eternal. "He that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still." Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Psalm 31:5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. These words have been frequently used by holy men in their hour of departure. We may profitably consider them this evening. The object of the faithful man's solicitude in life and death is not his body or his estate, but his spirit; this is his choice treasure--if this be safe, all is well. What is this mortal state compared with the soul? The believer commits his soul to the hand of his God; it came from him, it is his own, he has aforetime sustained it, he is able to keep it, and it is most fit that he should receive it. All things are safe in Jehovah's hands; what we entrust to the Lord will be secure, both now and in that day of days towards which we are hastening. It is peaceful living, and glorious dying, to repose in the care of heaven. At all times we should commit our all to Jesus' faithful hand; then, though life may hang on a thread, and adversities may multiply as the sands of the sea, our soul shall dwell at ease, and delight itself in quiet resting places. "Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." Redemption is a solid basis for confidence. David had not known Calvary as we have done, but temporal redemption cheered him; and shall not eternal redemption yet more sweetly console us? Past deliverances are strong pleas for present assistance. What the Lord has done he will do again, for he changes not. He is faithful to his promises, and gracious to his saints; he will not turn away from his people. "Though thou slay me I will trust, Praise thee even from the dust, Prove, and tell it as I prove, Thine unutterable love. Thou mayst chasten and correct, But thou never canst neglect; Since the ransom price is paid, On thy love my hope is stay'd." Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook Choice MenThis has long been the motto fixed before our eye upon the wall of our bedroom, and in many ways it has also been written on our heart. It is no mean thing to be chosen of God. God’s choice makes chosen men choice men. Better to be the elect of God than the elect of a whole nation. So eminent is this privilege, that whatever drawback may be joined to it we very joyfully accept it, even as the Jew ate the bitter herbs for the sake of the Paschal Lamb. We choose the furnace, since God chooses us in it. We are chosen as an afflicted people and not as a prosperous people, chosen not in the palace but in the furnace. In the furnace beauty is marred, fashion is destroyed, strength is melted, glory is consumed, and yet here eternal love reveals its secrets and declares its choice. So has it been in our case. In times of severest trial God has made to us our calling and election plain, and we have made it sure: then have we chosen the LORD to be our God, and He has shown that we are assuredly His chosen. Therefore, if today the furnace be heated seven times hotter, we will not dread it, for the glorious Son of God will walk with us amid the glowing coals. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer We Should Bring Forth Fruit unto GodWITHOUT union to Christ, there can be no good works; and until we are dead to the law we cannot be married to Christ. We must see that there is neither help nor hope for us in any law that God has given, that only grace can save us, before we shall be willing to take Christ as God hath set Him forth in the everlasting gospel. Being married to Christ, we renounce our own name and take His; we live upon His fullness, walk by His word, and aim to please Him in all things. By His grace we perform good works; and through His merit, and His name, they are accepted as evidences of our love, proofs of our sanctification, and fruits of our oneness with Him. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him; and it becomes his meat and drink to do the will of God. Without union to Christ we can do nothing acceptable to God; being married to Him, our poor, imperfect, and (in themselves) worthless performances, are acceptable and well-pleasing to God. No union no fruit, no fruit no union. Beloved, are we bringing forth fruit unto God? Do we bring forth much fruit? Herein is our Father glorified, that we bear much fruit. Blest Jesus, animate my heart; Let Thy rich grace abound; So, to the honour of Thy name, Shall plenteous fruit be found. Bible League: Living His Word Jesus wept.— John 11:35 NIV "Jesus wept." It's the shortest verse in the Bible. I picture His weeping different than those mourning the death of Lazarus; I picture Him bursting into tears, a sudden outburst of emotion from deep pain within the heart. On two occasions in the Bible, Jesus weeps. The other is found in Luke 19:41 when Jesus burst into tears, an audible sobbing in another sudden outburst of deep emotion from the heart, as He wept over the city of Jerusalem. A city whose leaders and people have and will continue to reject Him and His words of salvation. On both occasions, Jesus weeps over death. He anticipates the death of His beloved city that will come in A.D. 70, at the hands of Roman Emperor Titus and his soldiers, prophesied in Micah. "Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble" (Micah 3:12). Here in John 11, Jesus is weeping over the grave of Lazarus, knowing that God's creation was never meant to suffer the pain and sting of death. Death was not meant to be part of life, but the fall of man brought it to this world and all in it. I recall years ago when I arrived on east coast from California, having answered the call to plant a new church. As I was driving to work one day, watching the faces of the drivers in the cars going by the other way, I was overwhelmed with the despair and sorrow for how many of them need Jesus in their life. I burst out crying in my car, knowing that many will die in their sin rather than in the grace of God. The good news is that although we see so much death in this life, so much pain, and we are prone to sorrowful and tearful outbursts, our sorrow still has hope attached. It is the hope that comes with abiding in faith and God's love. Paul says, you sorrow not as others who know no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). This is the simple faith believers are to share to the world. There is hope in Jesus Christ. Death is not the end game to life for the professing Christian. There is no tragedy of death to those in Christ. To go to heaven is to live forever in joy and peace. "O death where is your sting? O grave where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:55-56). Rather than invite us into the sorrow of death, Jesus invites us out of the grave—turn from sin and rejection and come to Him. Come into the saving grace and knowledge of Him. And then He says ,"Go." Go into the world and declare the Good News of life in Christ. Go declare your life of hope and love, your death to sin, and show how you are now living in the new life of grace and peace. Jesus wept. But He rejoices in the life-giving power of the resurrection. As with Lazarus who became a living witness to this life-giving power of Christ, so too, beloved, are you to be witnesses of Christ's resurrection power over death unto eternal life. By Pastor David Massie, Bible League International staff, California Daily Light on the Daily Path Jonah 1:6 So the captain approached him and said, "How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish."Micah 2:10 "Arise and go, For this is no place of rest Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, A painful destruction. Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Psalm 62:10 Do not trust in oppression And do not vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. 1 Chronicles 22:19 "Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise, therefore, and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the LORD." Luke 22:46 and said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation." Luke 21:34 "Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; Matthew 25:5 "Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. Hebrews 10:37 FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. Romans 13:11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. Mark 13:35,36 "Therefore, be on the alert-- for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning-- • in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. 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. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.Insight What a contrast between the disciples and the world! The world rejoiced as the disciples wept, but the disciples would see him again (in three days) and rejoice. The world's values are often the opposite of God's values. Challenge This can cause Christians to feel like misfits. But even if life is difficult now, one day we will rejoice. Keep your eye on the future and on God's promises! Devotional Hours Within the Bible Christ’s Divine AuthorityThe people were angry at Jesus because He had healed the helpless invalid on the Sabbath. They claimed that He had done wrong by the working on the seventh day. The answer of Jesus was, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” In the history of the creation, we read that God set the example of Sabbath-keeping. After six days of creating, He rested the seventh day. We are living now in God’s Sabbath. But the words of Jesus here show us that there is a sense in which God keeps no Sabbath. He never ceases to be active. The worlds do not stop in their orbits to rest, when the Holy Day begins. The sun does not veil His face and cease His shining that day. The grass does not stop growing, the flowers do not cease to bloom, and the wheat does not pause in its ripening, when the day of rest comes. There is no Sabbath-keeping in God’s providence. Nor does His care for His children pause, when the Sabbath dawns. It would be very sad for the world if it did. The people had found fault with Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. They said He had been working, and working was forbidden by the law. This was His answer, “My Father is always at his work to this very day” has never ceased to work, is evermore blessing and helping His creatures. Then He added, “And I, too, am working.” This was in answer to the charge that He had broken the Sabbath in healing the man. For one thing, He put Himself alongside the Father in power and authority. It was an assertion that He was divine. We get here a suggestion of the kind of works that are right for us to do on the Lord’s Day. There is not in these words a shadow of defense for ordinary secular work on the Lord’s Day but works of mercy, of religion, of obedience, we may do on the day of rest. Jesus had claimed equality with His Father in the words, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” For Him as well as for His Father, there was no need of a Sabbath of rest. Rest is necessary for man. His strength has its limitations. He cannot go on forever but must stop to renew His strength. Human energy flags and is exhausted, its source is finite and it must be continually renewed. But Christ was not like other men in this. He fainted not, neither was weary. Then He had coupled Himself with the Father in the words, “My Father is always at his work to this very day,” through all the ages, “And I, too, am working.” He and His Father work together. All divine power was in Him and had always been in Him. He could not grow weary. Then He added, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” From beginning to the end of Christ’s life we find the same oneness with the Father asserted. He did the Father’s will, never deviating from it in the smallest particular. We hear Him say continually such words as these: “I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent Me.” “I do always those things that please him.” For one thing, these words show us the perfect oneness of the Father and Son. He took all His directions from His Father’s lips. He waited at every step for His Father’s bidding. The question with Him never was: “What would be pleasant for Me to do? What would further My own interests? How can I do the most good in the world? How can I win the greatest number of friends?” The one question always was, “What is My Father’s will for Me today?” Jesus asserts the Father’s love for Him and His complete trust in Him. “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.” Here we have a glimpse of true fatherhood. Love hides nothing. The Father’s love for the Son is so perfect, that He withholds nothing from Him, has no secrets which He does not reveal to Him. The words tell of the most perfect oneness and unity, life flowing into life, heart opening into heart. It is a oneness of love. There are none of the “sons of God” who are so glorious in their privileges as the “only begotten Son.” Yet there is a verse in one of the Psalms (25:14) which says, “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him; and he will show them His covenant.” This would seem to mean that in proportion to our love for God and our trust in Him He reveals His inner thoughts, the secrets of His love and favor to us. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (15:15). Thus Jesus reveals the secret things of His love to those who trust Him. The works which only the Father can do, Jesus says He also does. “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.” To Nicodemus, Jesus spoke of becoming a Christian as being born again beginning life as if one had never lived before. Here Jesus represents the natural world as a great cemetery in which all men sleep in graves of death. The beginning of Christian life is spiritual resurrection those who believe on Christ burst their graves and come into life. The picture is very striking. The natural man is really dead to God and to the things of God. He hears not the voice of the Spirit. He knows nothing of what is going on about him in the spiritual realm. It is just as when Jesus stood before the grave of Lazarus and called the young man’s name. The dead heard His voice and came out and began to live. So the spiritually dead who hear the voice of Christ and believe on Him are quickened into a new life. There is another strong assertion of divinity here, showing that Christ was conscious of being equal with the Father. To God alone belongs the prerogative of judgment. “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” If this power of judgment is given to Christ He must be divine. It is a precious comfort to us, as we think of the judgment day, to know that the Judge on the throne will be Jesus the same Jesus who died for us, who wears still and shall then wear our nature, and who therefore will understand us. We need not fear Him who once died for love of us. If we are His friends now and here, confessing Him before all men, He will be our friend then, and will confess us before His Father and the angels. But we must not forget the other side of this truth. If we are ashamed of Him and do not confess Him here by love and obedience, we are assured that He will be ashamed of us and will deny us before His Father and the angels. We must remember, too, that He who is to be our Judge makes common cause with the lowliest of His people, and will say to them, “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.” OR “I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not take care of Me” (Matthew 25:35-40). We are continually on trial, and the Judge Himself is continually before us. We need to watch how we treat the lowliest of our fellow men. Hush! What if this friend should happen to be God? Jesus tells us here how to be saved. “He who hears my word, and believes on him who sent me, has everlasting life.” There are but two steps from the darkness of eternal death into the brightness and blessedness of eternal life. The first thing is to hear Christ’s word. The Bible says a great deal about hearing. “Hear, and your soul shall live” (Isaiah 55:3). But mere hearing is not enough. One may hear the gospel over and over and yet be lost. Therefore Jesus said, “Take heed how you hear.” We must hear with a willing spirit, a spirit of obedience. The second step is believing, “he who hears my word, and believes on him who sent me.” Hearing must be followed by believing. What is it to believe? It is not merely the assent of the mind to the truth. It is believing with the heart, trusting, committing oneself to God. The Revised Version takes out the “on” between “believes” and “him” there is not to be even a little preposition between the soul and God. These are the two steps from death’s darkness into life’s brightness hearing, and believing. Then comes the blessing, “has eternal life.” Each word burns with light. “Life” -not merely physical life but life in its largest, fullest, richest, truest sense the life of Christ in the soul. We are made partakers of the divine nature, and the new life which enters into us makes us children of God, changes us into the image of Christ. “ Everlasting life” not this world’s life only but life in heaven and forever. “ Has everlasting life.” I like the present tenses of the Bible. The good things of God’s love and grace are not pushed off into the future but are present possessions. Eternal life begins the moment one hears and believes! Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 132-135 Psalm 132 -- O Lord, remember David and all his affliction, NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 133 -- See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 134 -- Look! Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 135 -- Psalms of Solomon (2Ch 7) NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 1 Corinthians 8 1 Corinthians 8 -- Take Care with your Freedom in Christ NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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