Dawn 2 Dusk When Windows OpenGod speaks in Malachi about bringing the full tithe into His house and then invites His people to “test” Him—an unusual, gracious challenge. It’s not a gimmick or a bargain; it’s a relationship moment where the Lord confronts our fear, trains our trust, and shows what He’s like when we put Him first. Trust That Has Receipts Giving isn’t God’s way of taking something from you; it’s His way of loosening your grip on what can’t hold you up. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21) Malachi presses on that same place: the heart behind the offering. The question isn’t merely, “Can I afford to give?” but “Do I believe God is who He says He is?” And God ties obedience to experience: not because He needs convincing, but because we do. Scripture echoes this pattern: “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest; then your barns will be filled with plenty.” (Proverbs 3:9–10) That’s not a promise that life will be easy; it’s a promise that honoring God reorders life around reality—He is Provider, and we are not. The Storehouse and the Heart The “storehouse” isn’t just a container for resources; it’s a picture of a worshiping community where needs are met and God’s work advances. When God’s people bring their best to Him, ministry becomes sturdy instead of fragile, and generosity stops being sporadic and starts being a culture. Paul wrote, “Each one should give according to what he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7) But cheerful giving doesn’t mean careless giving. It means chosen joy—faith with intention. If you’ve been burned by pressure or guilt, hear this: the Lord is not after your panic. He is after your freedom. When your giving becomes worship, it stops being about what you’re losing and starts being about who you’re trusting. When God Provides, It Looks Like God Malachi describes God opening “the windows of heaven” and pouring out blessing. Sometimes that blessing is material provision; sometimes it’s protection, wisdom, peace, and timely help you couldn’t have scheduled. Jesus reminded us, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) The point isn’t to chase “things,” but to chase the King—and watch Him faithfully handle what you can’t. And God’s provision often arrives with God’s fingerprints: opportunities, endurance, contentment, and unexpected generosity through His people. Paul testified, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) As you obey, look for more than money: look for the Lord forming a steady, unshakable trust in you—and making your life a channel instead of a reservoir. Father, thank You for Your faithful care and open-handed goodness. Teach me to honor You first, and help me obey with joy today—bring my best to You and trust You with the rest. Amen. Evening with A.W. Tozer The Four Horsemen of the Gloomy DecadesImmediately following the first World War, a wave of pessimism swept over the literate world. What the cause was I shall not go into here but, whatever it was, the intellectual mood of the 20s and 30s was thoroughly despondent. Materialism, pessimism, cynicism and skepticism were the four horsemen of those gloomy decades and they rode forth conquering and to conquer.
The scientists were materialistic, the philosophers skeptical, the novelists and biographers cynical and almost everyone pessimistic. Even the interpreters of prophecy were apprehensive, for they saw in the capture of Jerusalem by the British and the rise of the Roman Empire under Mussolini evidence of the nearness of the tribulation days, the coming of Antichrist and the collapse of civilization. About the only religionists on the Protestant side who managed to retain a little optimism were the liberals (?modernists? they were called in those days), and they were cheerful for a wrong reason. Out of the poetic passages of a Bible, in which they no longer believed, they wove delicate daisy chains, which have long since withered, and crocheted pretty religious doilies of which they are not now exactly proud and which they would willingly forget but cannot because their handiwork is still to be found among us--on the seventeen cent bargain table of the second-hand bookstores. Music For the Soul The Voice of ConscienceI remember God, and am disquieted: I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. - Psalm 73:3 You carry - no matter whence it came, or how it was developed; that is of no consequence, you have got it - you carry a conscience, that is not altogether silent in any man, I suppose, and that certainly is not altogether dead in you. Its awful voice speaks many a time in the silence of the night, and in the depths of your own heart, and tells you that there are evil things in your past and a page black in your biography which you can do nothing to cancel or to erase the stains from or to tear out. " What I have written I have written." And so long as memory holds her place, and conscience is not shattered altogether, there needs no other hell to make the punishment of the evil-doer. You need a refuge from the stings of the true indictments of your own consciences. Your conscience is a prophet. It is not, nowadays, fashionable to preach about the Day of Judgment - more’s the pity, I think. We say that every one of us shall give an account of ourselves to God. Have you ever tried to believe that about yourself, and to realise what it means? Think that all, down to the oozy depths that we are ashamed to look at ourselves, shall be spread out before the "pure eyes and perfect judgment of the all-judging" God. Oh! brother, you will need a refuge, "that you may have boldness before Him in the Day of Judgment." These things that I have been speaking about, external ills, ungoverned self, the accusations of conscience, which is the voice of God, and that future to which we are all driving as fast as we can - these things are truths; and, being truths, they should enter in, as operative facts, into your lives. My question is. Have they done so? You need a refuge; have you ever calmly contemplated the necessity? Oh! do not let that dogged ignorance of the facts bewitch you any longer. Do not let the consequential levity that cannot see an inch beyond its nose hide from you the realities of our own condition. People in the prisons, during the September massacres of the French Revolution, used to amuse themselves, although the tumbrils were coming for some of them tomorrow morning, and the headsman was waiting for them - used to amuse themselves as if they were free, and got up entertainments with a ghastly mockery of joy. That is something like what some of us do. One has seen a mule going down an Alpine pass, ambling quite comfortably along, with one foot over a precipice, and a thousand feet to fall if it slips. That is how some of us travel along the road. Sheep will nibble the grass, stretching their stupid necks a little bit further to get an especially succulent tuft on the edge of the cliffs, with eight hundred feet and a crawling sea at the bottom of it to receive them if they stumble. Do not be like that. " Be ye not as the horses or the mules that have no understanding," but look the facts in the face, and do not be content till you have acted as they prescribe. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Psalm 26:9 Gather not my soul with sinners. Fear made David pray thus, for something whispered, "Perhaps, after all, thou mayst be gathered with the wicked." That fear, although marred by unbelief, springs, in the main, from holy anxiety, arising from the recollection of past sin. Even the pardoned man will enquire, "What if at the end my sins should be remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the saved?" He recollects his present unfruitfulness--so little grace, so little love, so little holiness, and looking forward to the future, he considers his weakness and the many temptations which beset him, and he fears that he may fall, and become a prey to the enemy. A sense of sin and present evil, and his prevailing corruptions, compel him to pray, in fear and trembling, "Gather not my soul with sinners." Reader, if you have prayed this prayer, and if your character be rightly described in the Psalm from which it is taken, you need not be afraid that you shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the two virtues which David had--the outward walking in integrity, and the inward trusting in the Lord? Are you resting upon Christ's sacrifice, and can you compass the altar of God with humble hope? If so, rest assured, with the wicked you never shall be gathered, for that calamity is impossible. The gathering at the judgment is like to like. "Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." If, then, thou art like God's people, thou shalt be with God's people. You cannot be gathered with the wicked, for you are too dearly bought. Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are his forever, and where he is, there must his people be. You are loved too much to be cast away with reprobates. Shall one dear to Christ perish? Impossible! Hell cannot hold thee! Heaven claims thee! Trust in thy Surety and fear not! Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook Let Trials BlessThis is a promise in essence if not in form. We have need of patience, and here we see the way of getting it. It is only by enduring that we learn to endure, even as by swimming men learn to swim. You could not learn that art on dry land, nor learn patience without trouble. Is it not worth while to suffer tribulation for the sake of gaining that beautiful equanimity of mind which quietly acquiesces in all the will of God? Yet our text sets forth a singular fact, which is not according to nature but is supernatural. Tribulation in and of itself worketh petulance, unbelief, and rebellion. It is only by the sacred alchemy of grace that it is made to work in us patience. We do not thresh the wheat to lay the dust: yet the Rail of tribulation does this upon God’s floor. We do not toss a man about in order to give him rest, and yet so the LORD dealeth with His children. Truly this is not the manner of man but greatly redounds to the glory of our all-wise God. Oh, for grace to let my trials bless me! Why should I wish to stay their gracious operation? LORD, I ask Thee to remove my affliction, but I beseech Thee ten times more to remove my impatience. Precious LORD Jesus, with Thy cross engrave the image of Thy patience on my heart. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer The Lord Was Ready to Save MeTHIS is the testimony of a good man who had been in great danger. His heart was full of fears, and he gave up all for lost; but now he is recovered, and stands forth to acknowledge his mistake, and bear witness to this pleasing fact, that the Lord is ever ready to save His people in every time of trouble. The Lord hath saved us, and He will save us even to the end. He has power, and He will exert it; He has authority, and He will employ it; He has sympathy, and He will manifest it. He is a Saviour at hand and not afar off; He is ready and willing to deliver. Has He not proved Himself so in our past experience, and ought we not to trust Him for the future? Let us in every danger cry unto God to save us; wait upon Him in humble hope for the blessing; banish carnal and unscriptural fears far away; refuse to listen to Satan, sense, or unbelief; persevere in seeking until we obtain and enjoy the blessing. The Lord is ready to save us. Let us believe, hope, prove, and be happy. He will save, He will rest in His love, and joy over us with singing. Salvation to God will I publish abroad, Jehovah hath saved me through Jesus’s blood; The Lamb was once slain, but He liveth again, And I write my Jesus for ever shall reign; Then fill’d with His love, in the regions above, I shall never, no never, from Jesus remove. Bible League: Living His Word Do they not go astray who devise evil? Those who devise good meet steadfast love and faithfulness.— Proverbs 14:22 ESV On one side of this proverb, we have people who devise evil. These are people who not only commit evil deeds, but devote themselves to the study and planning of them. As a result, they get good at it - and they get good at getting away with it. One might go so far as to say that they are masters of evil. They are the Picassos and the Warhols of sin. Although they may get good at getting away with evil, they do not escape negative repercussions. Our verse for today says that they "go astray." What does this mean, exactly? It means that they leave the way of truth and righteousness. They lose sight of the proper way to live their lives and become "an abomination to the Lord" (Proverbs 3:32), and the Lord will visit calamity upon them suddenly. In a moment, when they least expect it, they "will be broken beyond healing" (Proverbs 6:15). Contrasted with them are people who devise good. These are people who not only do good deeds, but devote themselves to them. They become masters of good. They become the Michelangelos and the Rembrandts of good. Although no one is perfect, those who devise good show what is in their hearts. Those who devise good also experience the consequences of their deeds. However, instead of reaping the results of going astray, they "meet steadfast love and faithfulness." What does this mean? It means that they will receive the steadfast love and faithfulness of the Lord. Instead of receiving the calamity of those devoted to evil, they will receive the blessings of the Lord. The Lord will hold them "in His confidence" and He will bless "the dwelling of the righteous" (Proverbs 3:32-33). Today, then, become a master artist of good and so dwell in the steadfast love of the Lord. Daily Light on the Daily Path 2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.John 14:16,17 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; • that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 16:13,14 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. • "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. Romans 5:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 1 Corinthians 6:17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? Ephesians 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Romans 8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 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 So let's stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.Insight Both strong and weak Christians can cause their brothers and sisters to stumble. The strong but insensitive Christian may flaunt his or her freedom and intentionally offend others' consciences. The scrupulous but weak Christian may try to fence others in with petty rules and regulations, thus causing dissension. Paul wants his readers to be both strong in the faith and sensitive to others' needs. Challenge Because we are all strong in some areas and weak in others, we need constantly to monitor the effects of our behavior on others. Devotional Hours Within the Bible The Crucifixion of ChristAn old legend said that Calvary was at the center of the earth. So it was, really, for the cross was the meeting place of two eternities a past eternity of grace and hope, and a future eternity of faith, gratitude, love and devotion. It is the center of the earth, too, because toward it the eyes of all believers turn for pardon, comfort, light, joy, hope. As from all sections of the ancient camp, the bitten people looked toward the brazen serpent on the pole at the center of the camp so from all lands sin-stricken ones look in their penitence, and sorrow-stricken ones in their grief, toward the cross. “Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).” The first picture we see is Jesus leaving Pilate’s judgment hall bearing His cross. The custom was that a criminal should carry to the place of execution, the cross, on which he should be fastened. The cross was heavy. Yet, as heavy as it was, the wooden cross was not all the load Jesus carried that day. We know there was another still heavier, for He bore the burden of the world’s sin. The old prophet said, “All we like sheep have gone astray ... and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). It would seem that none of the apostles were with Jesus as He went out to Calvary. John was caring for Mary, whom Jesus had committed to His care. She, with John and other friends, were presently watching by the cross. Certain other women were in the crowd, lamenting with Jesus. These He comforted even in His own great-sorrow. When He staggered under His cross, a passer-by was seized and compelled to carry His load. It would have indeed been a strange irony had the man who carried the cross missed the salvation whereof it is the instrument and the symbol. The next picture shows us Jesus being nailed upon the cross. He was not alone, for two others were crucified with Him, although this was contrary to Jewish law. These were criminals, men suffering justly for their sin. Thus He was “numbered with the transgressors” (Mark 15:28, cf. Isaiah 53:12). They put Jesus on the middle cross, as if He had been the greatest of the criminals. This was the place of the deepest dishonor. As He hung there, He was at the lowest point of shame in the world, in the place of the worst sinner. This tells us that there is no known stage of sin or guilt possible on earth, down to which Jesus cannot, will not, go as Savior. One of the criminals beside Him was saved that day, lifted up by Him out of his guilt and sin, and borne in His arms to Paradise. This shows us that no sinner is so low in degradation or condemnation, that Jesus cannot lift him up to glory. But while we are looking at this one sinner who was saved that Good Friday, we must not fail to glance in sadness at his companion. He had the same opportunity for salvation that the other had, for he was equally close to Jesus, could hear His gracious words, see the blood dropping from His wounds, and behold His patience and compassion. Yet this man was not saved. He remained impenitent, though so close to the dying Redeemer. When people say they will take the chance of the dying thief on the cross, repenting at the last hour, they must remember that there were two dying thieves, equally close to Christ’s cross, and that one of them was lost. The next picture we see shows us Jesus Christ on His cross. “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Jesus was indeed the King of the Jews, their own Messiah. He was also the King of the world. After He arose, He said that all authority was given unto Him in heaven and on earth. In the visions of the Apocalypse we see Him in glory as King of kings. He did not seem kingly that hour on the cross. It was a strange throne for a king to occupy. Yet it was His throne, and the crucifixion was the point of His highest earthly honor. There His glory streamed out as at no other time in all His life. The love of God shone from the cross. It is the power of the cross that is changing the world today and drawing lives to the Savior! The rulers asked Pilate to change the title he had put over the cross. They wanted him to write only that Jesus said He was King of the Jews. They did not themselves wish to have it suggested that He was indeed in any sense their king. But Pilate refused to make any change in the superscription. “What I have written I have written,” he declared. He spoke a deeper truth than he knew. He was making a record which would stand forever, and which in spite of all the injustice and dishonor of the day was true. Just so we are all writing, all the while, ineffaceably. What we have written, we have written. Every act we perform, every word we speak, every thought we think and every influence we give out goes down to stay on the page. This is well when the things we do are good, right and beautiful things; but it is just as true when they are sinful and unholy things. We should lay this truth to heart and should live so that we shall write down in the inexpungible record of our lives only things we shall be glad to meet a thousand years hence. We never have the opportunity to go over our records to correct the mistakes we have made. As we write the words, so will they stand. The next picture we see shows us the soldiers dividing the garments of Jesus among themselves. We can think of these men going about at their duty after that day, wearing the garments which Jesus had worn during His beautiful and holy life. We may carry the illustration farther, and think of ourselves and all redeemed ones as wearing the garments which Jesus prepared for us that day on the cross. The scene of the soldiers gambling for the scant possessions of Jesus, while the most stupendous event of all time was being enacted above their heads, suggests to us how indifferent the world is to the glory of God and the glorious things that God does. Men are irreverent and are unmoved by even the holiest things! The next picture shows us a little group of the dearest friends of Jesus, standing near the cross, while He was enduring His unfathomable sorrows. His mother was there, and John, the beloved disciple. When Jesus saw His mother, His heart was touched with compassion for her, and He commended her to the beloved disciple, who from that time became as a son to her, taking her to his own home. In this scene we have a beautiful commentary on the Fifth Commandment. Even on His cross, in the midst of the anguish of this terrible hour, He did not forget her who had borne Him, who had blessed His tender infancy and defenseless childhood with her rich, self-forgetful love. Every young person, or older one with parents living, who reads this fragment of the story of the cross, should remember the lesson and pay love’s highest honor to the father or the mother to whom he owes so much. The next picture shows us Jesus in His anguish of thirst. In response to His cry, “I am thirsty!” one of the soldiers dipped a sponge in the sour wine that was provided for the watchers and held it up on a reed, that it might moisten His lips. This is the only one of the seven sayings on the cross in which Jesus referred to His own suffering. It is pleasant to think that one of the soldiers gave a kindly response to His cry. This is the only gleam of humanity in all the dark story of cruelty and hardness enacted around the cross. It is a comfort to us to know that even so small a kindness was wrought for Him who has filled the world with the fragrance of His love, blessing so many millions of suffering ones. For us the lesson is that we should train ourselves to deeds of thoughtful gentleness to all who are in distress. We remember that beautiful word of our Lord, that the giving of even a cup of cold water to a disciple in His name will not go unrewarded (see Matthew 10:42). There are thirsty ones coming to us continually, and countless are the opportunities of doing good to them in Christ’s name. We should not fail to put the cup to lips that are burning with life’s fever. Since Jesus thirsted on the cross and was refreshed, if only by so much as the moisture of a sponge filled with sour wine, He is quick to recognize and reward any kindness to one of His that thirsts. The last picture shows us Jesus dying. He said, “It is finished!” Then He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. It was a cry of victory which fell from His lips. His work was finished. He had done each day the work given Him to do that day, and when the last hour of the day came there was nothing that He had left undone. We should learn the lesson and live as He lived, so as to have every part of our work finished when our end comes. But what was it that was finished when Jesus bowed His head on the cross? A famous picture represents Christ lifted up, and beneath Him an innumerable procession of the saints, advancing out of the darkness and coming into the light of His cross. There can be no doubt that He had such a vision of redemption while He hung there, for we are told that He endured the cross, despising the shame, because of the joy set before Him. “It is finished!” was therefore a shout of victory as He completed the work of suffering and sacrificing that the world might be saved. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingSong of Solomon 1, 2, 3 Song of Solomon 1 -- The Song of songs, which is Solomon's. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Song of Solomon 2 -- I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Song of Solomon 3 -- By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 2 Corinthians 12 2 Corinthians 12 -- Paul's Vision, Thorn, and Concern for Corinthians NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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