Dawn 2 Dusk Hope Written in AdvanceWhen Paul says that everything written in the past was written for our instruction, he is pulling back the curtain on the purpose of the entire Old Testament. Scripture is not a dusty archive; it is God’s living classroom. Through the stories of real people, the raw prayers, the prophecies and songs, God gives us endurance and encouragement so that we “might have hope” (Romans 15:4). The Bible is intentionally shaped by God to steady you today. When you open it, you’re not just reading about what God did; you’re discovering what He is doing—and will do—in you. The Bible Is God’s Classroom, Not Just His Archive One of the quiet lies we can believe is that large portions of Scripture are “not for us”—too ancient, too foreign, too confusing. But the Spirit, through Paul, tells us, “For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Everything written before you ever took a breath was already aimed at your heart, your questions, your battles. Genesis, Leviticus, the prophets, the psalms—they are God’s curriculum for shaping your mind and stabilizing your soul. Paul says it another way in 1 Corinthians: “Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). The victories and failures of Israel are not trivia; they’re instruction and warning for believers in these last days. When you read of David’s repentance, Elijah’s discouragement, Joseph’s betrayal, you’re not just observing them—you’re being invited to learn endurance, humility, repentance, and trust. Scripture is not merely a record; it is the Spirit’s active tool to disciple you today. Endurance Is Born from Seeing God’s Track Record Notice the order Paul gives: “through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Endurance doesn’t appear out of nowhere; it is built as you watch God stay faithful, again and again, across centuries. When you see Him carry Noah through the flood, Ruth through famine and loss, Daniel through exile, your heart starts to say, “If He did it for them, He can carry me too.” The encouragement of Scripture is not shallow cheerleading; it is a detailed record of God’s faithfulness under pressure. This is why Scripture is not optional for a stable Christian life. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). When you skip the Word, you are trying to face a spiritual war under-equipped. But when you stay in the Word, you accumulate evidence. You see that God never breaks a promise, never abandons His own, never loses control. That evidence fuels endurance, and endurance, in turn, protects your hope when your feelings scream otherwise. Hope Is Not a Mood; It’s Anchored in a Person Biblical hope is not wishful thinking; it is a settled expectation rooted in the character of God. The more you listen to God’s voice in Scripture, the more your hope detaches from circumstances and attaches to Christ. Hebrews says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19). An anchor doesn’t change the storm; it keeps the ship from drifting away. Scripture keeps your hope from being dragged around by every headline, diagnosis, or disappointment. And all Scripture ultimately points you to Jesus Himself. He said, “You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me” (John 5:39). The more you read, the more you see the promises of God converging on Christ—His cross, His resurrection, His return. Your hope is not that things will simply “work out,” but that the living Christ will finish what He started, in history and in you. That is why opening your Bible is never a small act; it is walking into the place where God has already written your hope in advance. Lord, thank You for breathing out Your Word for my good. Today, move me to open the Scriptures, listen deeply, and obey eagerly, that my hope may be anchored more firmly in You. Morning with A.W. Tozer Lord of RighteousnessIn the midst of all the confusions of our day, it is important that we find out that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all righteousness and the Lord of all wisdom. Righteousness is not a word easily acceptable to lost men and women in a lost world. Outside of the Word of God, there is no book or treatise that can give us a satisfying answer about righteousness, because the only One who is Lord of all righteousness is our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of His kingdom. He is the only One in all the universe who perfectly loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Our great High Priest and Mediator is the righteous and holy One-Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. He is not only righteous, He is the Lord of all righteousness! Then, there is His wisdom. The sum total of the deep and eternal wisdom of the ages lies in Jesus Christ as a treasure hidden away. All the deep purposes of God reside in Him because His perfect wisdom enables Him to plan far ahead! Thus history itself becomes the slow development of His purposes. 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 Numbers 14:11 How long will it be ere they believe me? Strive with all diligence to keep out that monster unbelief. It so dishonors Christ, that he will withdraw his visible presence if we insult him by indulging it. It is true it is a weed, the seeds of which we can never entirely extract from the soil, but we must aim at its root with zeal and perseverance. Among hateful things it is the most to be abhorred. Its injurious nature is so venomous that he that exerciseth it and he upon whom it is exercised are both hurt thereby. In thy case, O believer! it is most wicked, for the mercies of thy Lord in the past, increase thy guilt in doubting him now. When thou dost distrust the Lord Jesus, he may well cry out, "Behold I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves." This is crowning his head with thorns of the sharpest kind. It is very cruel for a well-beloved wife to mistrust a kind and faithful husband. The sin is needless, foolish, and unwarranted. Jesus has never given the slightest ground for suspicion, and it is hard to be doubted by those to whom our conduct is uniformly affectionate and true. Jesus is the Son of the Highest, and has unbounded wealth; it is shameful to doubt Omnipotence and distrust all-sufficiency. The cattle on a thousand hills will suffice for our most hungry feeding, and the granaries of heaven are not likely to be emptied by our eating. If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust his fulness, but who can drain a fountain? Myriads of spirits have drawn their supplies from him, and not one of them has murmured at the scantiness of his resources. Away, then, with this lying traitor unbelief, for his only errand is to cut the bonds of communion and make us mourn an absent Saviour. Bunyan tells us that unbelief has "as many lives as a cat:" if so, let us kill one life now, and continue the work till the whole nine are gone. Down with thee, thou traitor, my heart abhors thee. 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 Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.Psalm 17:4,5 As for the deeds of men, by the word of Your lips I have kept from the paths of the violent. • My steps have held fast to Your paths. My feet have not slipped. Proverbs 6:22,23 When you walk about, they will guide you; When you sleep, they will watch over you; And when you awake, they will talk to you. • For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life Isaiah 30:21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left. 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." 2 Peter 1:19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. Revelation 22:5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. 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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