Bible League: Living His Word Trust in the LORD with all your heart,and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. One of the key features of Western civilization is a strong commitment to reason and understanding. This feature began around 600 B.C. as a reaction to the mythology of the Greek people. Rather than faith in irrational myths, early Greek philosophers proposed that one should rely on reason based on evidence for the answers to the big questions of life. The trouble with this decision, however, is that reason proved to be an inadequate substitute for faith. Since reason is limited to evidence derived from within the created order, it has difficulty providing definitive answers as to how the whole created order was set up in the first place, or providing definitive answers to any of the other big questions of life---questions like: What does it mean to be human? Why is there sin and evil? What is the solution to sin and evil? Christianity is another key feature of Western civilization. Beginning around 100 A.D. Christians began to challenge the Western commitment to reason and understanding. What's needed to definitively answer the big questions of life for a person, they proclaimed, is not reason based on evidence, but faith based on the true revelation of God. Only God, the true source and origin of the created order, can give us the proper perspective on its meaning and purpose. Our verses for today have important things to say in support of the Christian position on these matters. If you want to live your life right, if you want straight paths, then stop trying to figure everything out on your own, stop relying on your own limited understanding. Instead, trust in God. God makes Himself and what He requires of us known in His revelation to us, primarily and authoritatively in the Bible, and we should have faith in Him and follow His ways. Doing so enlightens us with the answers to the big questions of life and helps us straighten out the crookedness in our lives. Reason has its place, but even reason needs the guidance only true faith can provide. Indeed, some of the most crooked and distorted products of reason have come from the minds of intelligent men and women who forsook trust in the Lord and leaned on their own understanding. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingExodus 39, 40 Exodus 39 -- The Priestly Garments; Moses Inspects the Completed Work NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Exodus 40 -- Tabernacle Erected and Filled by the Glory of the Lord NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Matthew 24:1-22 Matthew 24 -- Christ Foretells the Destruction of the Temple and His Glorious Return NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion LORD, have mercy on me.See how my enemies torment me. Snatch me back from the jaws of death. Save me so I can praise you publicly at Jerusalem's gates, so I can rejoice that you have rescued me. Insight All of us want God to help us when we are in trouble, but often for different reasons. Some want God's help so that they will be successful and other people will like them. Others want God's help so that they will be comfortable and feel good about themselves. David, however, wanted help from God so that justice would be restored to Israel and so that he could show others God's power. Challenge When you call to God for help, consider your motive. Is it to save yourself pain and embarrassment or to bring God glory and honor? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon James 5:16 Pray one for another.As an encouragement cheerfully to offer intercessory prayer, remember that such prayer is the sweetest God ever hears, for the prayer of Christ is of this character. In all the incense which our Great High Priest now puts into the golden censer, there is not a single grain for himself. His intercession must be the most acceptable of all supplications--and the more like our prayer is to Christ's, the sweeter it will be; thus while petitions for ourselves will be accepted, our pleadings for others, having in them more of the fruits of the Spirit, more love, more faith, more brotherly kindness, will be, through the precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest oblation that we can offer to God, the very fat of our sacrifice. Remember, again, that intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent. What wonders it has wrought! The Word of God teems with its marvellous deeds. Believer, thou hast a mighty engine in thy hand, use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and thou shalt surely be a benefactor to thy brethren. When thou hast the King's ear, speak to him for the suffering members of his body. When thou art favored to draw very near to his throne, and the King saith to thee, "Ask, and I will give thee what thou wilt," let thy petitions be, not for thyself alone, but for the many who need his aid. If thou hast grace at all, and art not an intercessor, that grace must be small as a grain of mustard seed. Thou hast just enough grace to float thy soul clear from the quicksand, but thou hast no deep floods of grace, or else thou wouldst carry in thy joyous bark a weighty cargo of the wants of others, and thou wouldst bring back from thy Lord, for them, rich blessings which but for thee they might not have obtained:-- "Oh, let my hands forget their skill, My tongue be silent, cold, and still, This bounding heart forget to beat, If I forget the mercy-seat!" Daily Light on the Daily Path Revelation 22:16 "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."Numbers 24:17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth. Romans 13:12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Isaiah 25:11,12 And he will spread out his hands in the middle of it As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim, But the Lord will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands. • The unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down, Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust. John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." Revelation 2:28 and I will give him the morning star. Mark 13:33,37 "Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come. • "What I say to you I say to all, 'Be on the alert!'" 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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