Morning, December 13
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Bible League: Living His Word
And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."

Symbolically, the arc of individual Christian experience runs from Egypt, through the Wilderness, and on to the Promised Land.

The ancient Israelite's captivity in Egypt represents the captivity of individual people to sin and the devil and the escape from Egypt represents salvation. The Wilderness represents the journey of purification and training that individual Christians pass through in preparation for the Promised Land. And the Promised Land represents the fulfillment of God's plan for an individual Christian's life in a specific place and calling.

Since the Wilderness is a place of purification and preparation, it has some unpleasant features. Here are a few of them:

For one, it is a journey led by God through desolate and barren places one would avoid under normal circumstances; it is a journey of deprivation that tests one's faith and resolve to follow God to the end. Second, it is a journey in the Wilderness and, as a result, there is no sense of having found a stable position or place in life. Third, it is a place where you must learn how to depend on God for everything. And finally, it is a journey that pressures the buried sin in one's life to the surface so it can be dealt with before entering the Promised Land.

The Promised Land comes after the Wilderness. Thus, it cannot be fully achieved unless one successfully makes it through the Wilderness, unless one passes the tests of purification and preparation. Individuals must have faith in God that He is leading them through this period of life in order to prepare them for what is required in the Promised Land. They must learn to follow God and cooperate with Him along the way.

As our verse for today indicates, however, the Israelites had objections to the terms of their Wilderness journey. Although God had provided food and water for them, it was not the bounty of the Promised Land or even what they had in Egypt. They spoke against God and Moses and they had to be disciplined as a result (Numbers 21:6).

In light of this, take stock today of where you are in God's plan for your life. If you are in a Wilderness, then don't complain about it. It won't help anyway.

Instead, trust God to lead you out of it to your personal Promised Land when you are ready.

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Joel


Joel 1 -- The Word of the Lord to Joel: Locusts, Starvation and Drought; Call to Repentance

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Joel 2 -- An Army of Locusts; Turn to Me with All Your Heart; The Day of the Lord's Spirit

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Joel 3 -- The Nations Will Be Judged; Blessing upon Judah

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
Revelation 4


Revelation 4 -- The Thrones and Elders in Heaven: Worthy are you, our Lord and God

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth.
Insight
What you say and what you don't say are both important. Proper speech is not only saying the right words at the right time, but it is also controlling your desire to say what you shouldn't. Examples of an untamed tongue include gossiping, putting others down, bragging, manipulating, false teaching, exaggerating, complaining, flattering, and lying.
Challenge
Before you speak, ask: “Is what I want to say true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?”
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Ezra 7:22  Salt without prescribing how much.

Salt was used in every offering made by fire unto the Lord, and from its preserving and purifying properties it was the grateful emblem of divine grace in the soul. It is worthy of our attentive regard that, when Artaxerxes gave salt to Ezra the priest, he set no limit to the quantity, and we may be quite certain that when the King of kings distributes grace among his royal priesthood, the supply is not cut short by him. Often are we straitened in ourselves, but never in the Lord. He who chooses to gather much manna will find that he may have as much as he desires. There is no such famine in Jerusalem that the citizens should eat their bread by weight and drink their water by measure. Some things in the economy of grace are measured; for instance our vinegar and gall are given us with such exactness that we never have a single drop too much, but of the salt of grace no stint is made, "Ask what thou wilt and it shall be given unto thee." Parents need to lock up the fruit cupboard, and the sweet jars, but there is no need to keep the salt-box under lock and key, for few children will eat too greedily from that. A man may have too much money, or too much honor, but he cannot have too much grace. When Jeshurun waxed fat in the flesh, he kicked against God, but there is no fear of a man's becoming too full of grace: a plethora of grace is impossible. More wealth brings more care, but more grace brings more joy. Increased wisdom is increased sorrow, but abundance of the Spirit is fulness of joy. Believer, go to the throne for a large supply of heavenly salt. It will season thine afflictions, which are unsavoury without salt; it will preserve thy heart which corrupts if salt be absent, and it will kill thy sins even as salt kills reptiles. Thou needest much; seek much, and have much.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
2 Timothy 2:1  You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:11  strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously

Colossians 2:6,7  Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, • having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Isaiah 61:3  To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Ephesians 2:20,22  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, • in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Acts 20:32  "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Philippians 1:11  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

1 Timothy 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Philippians 1:28  in no way alarmed by your opponents-- which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.

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.

Evening December 12
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