Bible League: Living His Word LORD, you provide the flame for my lamp.You, God, turn the darkness around me into light. The situations we find ourselves in as human beings are not automatically clear to us. Like fish in a barrel or hamsters in a shoebox, we don't really understand where we are and what we should do. Apart from some help and explanation coming from the outside, we are lamps without flame, lost in the dark, and having no good idea of what direction to take forward. It shouldn't have been this way, but it is this way. We should have had some flame in our lamps, but we snuffed them out long ago. We've lost the ability to see our situations for what they are. We've lost our ability to light up the path before us and find our way. We act like we know the way, but we just stumble around in the darkness. We need help. We need help from the outside. We need help from above. We need someone or something to rekindle our lamps. David knew where to go to get his lamp rekindled. He knew that only God above could light the fire in him that would show the way forward. All the other options, all the other gods that people looked to for flame were dead embers that only darkened the darkness even more. Only the Spirit of God from above could fire up his soul with the wisdom and insight necessary to see through the darkness to the true meaning of his situation and to the way forward. It was for this reason that David became known as "the lamp of Israel." And it was so the lamp would never be extinguished that his men would not let him go to war anymore (II Samuel 21:17 NIV). When your lamp is rekindled, then people will gravitate to you. The lamp will turn the darkness around you into light and people will follow you because you know the way. People with the fire of the Spirit within them understand. They are wise. If you are a child of God, then you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8). Like David, your lamp has been fired up and you have the ability to see in the darkness. Perhaps you didn't realize this. Perhaps your sinful self was distracted by your situation. If you settle down and look within, however, you will find there the wisdom necessary to move forward. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingHosea 12, 13, 14 Hosea 12 -- Ephraim's Sins Provoke God NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Hosea 13 -- Ephraim's Idolatry; God's Anger and Judgment NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Hosea 14 -- Exhortation to Repentance and Promise of God's Blessing NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Revelation 3 Revelation 3 -- Messages to the Churches in Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.Insight Teaching was a highly valued and respected profession in Jewish culture, and many Jews who embraced Christianity wanted to become teachers. James warned that although it is good to aspire to teach, the teachers' responsibility is great because their words and example affect others' spiritual lives. Challenge If you are in a teaching or leadership role, how are you affecting those you lead? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Hosea 5:7 They have dealt treacherously against the Lord.Believer, here is a sorrowful truth! Thou art the beloved of the Lord, redeemed by blood, called by grace, preserved in Christ Jesus, accepted in the Beloved, on thy way to heaven, and yet, "thou hast dealt treacherously" with God, thy best friend; treacherously with Jesus, whose thou art; treacherously with the Holy Spirit, by whom thou hast been quickened unto life eternal! How treacherous you have been in the matter of vows and promises. Do you remember the love of your espousals, that happy time--the springtime of your spiritual life? Oh, how closely did you cling to your Master then! saying, "He shall never charge me with indifference; my feet shall never grow slow in the way of his service; I will not suffer my heart to wander after other loves; in him is every store of sweetness ineffable. I give all up for my Lord Jesus' sake." Has it been so? Alas! if conscience speak, it will say, "He who promised so well has performed most ill. Prayer has oftentimes been slurred--it has been short, but not sweet; brief, but not fervent. Communion with Christ has been forgotten. Instead of a heavenly mind, there have been carnal cares, worldly vanities and thoughts of evil. Instead of service, there has been disobedience; instead of fervency, lukewarmness; instead of patience, petulance; instead of faith, confidence in an arm of flesh; and as a soldier of the cross there has been cowardice, disobedience, and desertion, to a very shameful degree." "Thou hast dealt treacherously." Treachery to Jesus! what words shall be used in denouncing it? Words little avail: let our penitent thoughts execrate the sin which is so surely in us. Treacherous to thy wounds, O Jesus! Forgive us, and let us not sin again! How shameful to be treacherous to him who never forgets us, but who this day stands with our names engraven on his breastplate before the eternal throne. Daily Light on the Daily Path Exodus 14:15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.1 Chronicles 19:13 "Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight." Nehemiah 4:9 But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. John 7:17 "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. Hosea 6:3 "So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth." Matthew 26:41 "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Romans 12:11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; Isaiah 35:3,4 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. • Say to those with anxious heart, "Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you." 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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