Morning, January 26
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.  — Isaiah 26:3
Dawn 2 Dusk
Still Minds in a Stormy World

The world keeps handing you more than your heart can carry—news alerts, nagging worries, and the quiet fears you never say out loud. Into that swirl, God speaks of a “perfect peace” that belongs to the one whose mind is steady because it trusts in Him. This isn’t escapism or denial; it’s a supernatural stability available right in the middle of real trouble. Today, Isaiah 26:3 invites you to discover how your mind can be held, guarded, and calmed by the God who never loses control.

A Promise Stronger Than Your Feelings

Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.” Notice where the weight of this promise rests: not on your ability to manufacture calm, but on God’s commitment to “keep” you. Peace here is not flimsy or fragile; the Hebrew idea behind “perfect peace” is actually “shalom, shalom”—double peace, a deep wholeness. It is God’s own peace, anchored in His character, not in your circumstances or your emotions on any given day.

This means your feelings don’t have the final word. God does. When your thoughts race and your heart feels scattered, His promise remains: He will keep the steadfast mind in peace. Jesus echoes this when He says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid” (John 14:27). Worldly peace depends on things going right; God’s peace flows from Someone who is always right, always wise, always good.

Training a Steadfast Mind

A “steadfast” mind is not a mind that never wanders; it’s a mind that keeps coming back. It chooses, again and again, where it will rest. Scripture doesn’t present this as automatic but as intentional. “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). God is not asking you to ignore your problems, but to refuse to let them be the loudest voice. A steadfast mind says, “I see the storm, but I fix my eyes on the One who walks on the waves.”

This is why prayer and Scripture saturation are not “extra credit” but survival. Philippians 4:6–7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. Every time you turn worry into prayer, and complaint into thanksgiving, you are training your mind to be steadfast—teaching it to run to God instead of spiraling inward.

Living Today in Perfect Peace

Perfect peace is not found by trying harder to feel peaceful; it is found by trusting a Person. Isaiah 26:3 ties peace directly to trust: “because he trusts in You.” Trust says, “God, You are wiser than my fears, stronger than my enemies, and kinder than my understanding.” Romans 8:6 reminds us, “For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace”. The Spirit leads you to Jesus—the One who secured your peace at the cross by dealing with your deepest problem: sin and separation from God.

So today, don’t wait for your life to settle down before you seek this peace. Bring your deadlines, diagnoses, and disappointments into the presence of God. Name them honestly before Him, and then consciously hand them over. Let Psalm 112:7 become your confession: “He will not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD”. The circumstances may not change immediately—but as you trust, you will find that you are being kept.

Lord, thank You that You promise perfect peace to the mind that trusts in You. Today, teach me to set my thoughts on You, to turn every worry into prayer, and to walk in the peace You freely give.

Morning with A.W. Tozer
In the Pursuit of God: Meekness and Rest

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Matt.5:5A

A fairly accurate description of the human race might be furnished one unacquainted with it by taking the Beatitudes, turning them wrong side out and saying, `Here is your human race.' For the exact opposite of the virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities which distinguish human life and conduct.

In the world of men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness, arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, `I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing'; instead of mercy we find cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of peacemakers we find men quarrelsome and resentful; instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon at their command. Of this kind of moral stuff civilized society is composed.

The atmosphere is charged with it; we breathe it with every breath and drink it with our mother's milk. Culture and education refine these things slightly but leave them basically untouched. A whole world of literature has been created to justify this kind of life as the only norm alone. And this is the more to be wondered at seeing that these are the evils which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of us. All our heartaches and a great many of our physical ills spring directly out of our sins. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice, greed: these are the sources of more human pain than all the diseases that ever afflicted mortal flesh.

Into a world like this the sound of Jesus' words comes wonderful and strange, a visitation from above. It is well that He spoke, for no one else could have done it as well; and it is good that we listen. His words are the essence of truth. He is not offering an opinion; Jesus never uttered opinions. He never guessed; He knew, and He knows. His words are not as Solomon's were, the sum of sound wisdom or the results of keen observation. He spoke out of the fulness of His Godhead, and His words are very Truth itself. He is the only one who could say `blessed' with complete authority, for He is the Blessed One come from the world above to confer blessedness upon mankind. And His words were supported by deeds mightier than any performed on this earth by any other man. It is wisdom for us to listen.

As was often so with Jesus, He used this word `meek' in a brief crisp sentence, and not till some time later did He go on to explain it. In the same book of Matthew He tells us more about it and applies it to our lives. `Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' (Matthew 11:28-30) Here we have two things standing in contrast to each other, a burden and a rest. The burden is not a local one, peculiar to those first hearers, but one which is borne by the whole human race. It consists not of political oppression or poverty or hard work. It is far deeper than that. It is felt by the rich as well as the poor for it is something from which wealth and idleness can never deliver us.

The burden borne by mankind is a heavy and a crushing thing. The word Jesus used means a load carried or toil borne to the point of exhaustion. Rest is simply release from that burden. It is not something we do, it is what comes to us when we cease to do. His own meekness, that is the rest.

Let us examine our burden. It is altogether an interior one. It attacks the heart and the mind and reaches the body only from within. First, there is the burden of pride. The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be those who will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have inward peace? The heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through the years and the burden will become intolerable.

Yet the sons of earth are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them. Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort. He develops toward himself a kindly sense of humor and learns to say, `Oh, so you have been overlooked? They have placed someone else before you? They have whispered that you are pretty small stuff after all? And now you feel hurt because the world is saying about you the very things you have been saying about yourself? Only yesterday you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere worm of the dust. Where is your consistency? Come on, humble yourself, and cease to care what men think.'

The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto. He knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring. He rests perfectly content to allow God to place His own values. He will be patient to wait for the day when everything will get its own price tag and real worth will come into its own. Then the righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father. He is willing to wait for that day.

In the meantime he will have attained a place of soul rest. As he walks on in meekness he will be happy to let God defend him. The old struggle to defend himself is over. He has found the peace which meekness brings.

Then also he will get deliverance from the burden of pretense. By this I mean not hypocrisy, but the common human desire to put the best foot forward and hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin has played many evil tricks upon us, and one has been the infusing into us a false sense of shame. There is hardly a man or woman who dares to be just what he or she is without doctoring up the impression. The fear of being found out gnaws like rodents within their hearts. The man of culture is haunted by the fear that he will some day come upon a man more cultured than himself. The learned man fears to meet a man more learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear that his clothes or his car or his house will sometime be made to look cheap by comparison with those of another rich man. So-called `society' runs by a motivation not higher than this, and the poorer classes on their level are little better.

Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real, and little by little they kill the victims of this evil and unnatural way of life. And the psychology created by years of this kind of thing makes true meekness seem as unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims of the gnawing disease Jesus says, `Ye must become as little children.' For little children do not compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what they have without relating it to something else or someone else. Only as they get older and sin begins to stir within their hearts do jealousy and envy appear. Then they are unable to enjoy what they have if someone else has something larger or better. At that early age does the galling burden come down upon their tender souls, and it never leaves them till Jesus sets them free.

Another source of burden is artificially. I am sure that most people live in secret fear that some day they will be careless and by chance an enemy or friend will be allowed to peep into their poor empty souls. So they are never relaxed. Bright people are tense and alert in fear that they may be trapped into saying something common or stupid. Traveled people are afraid that they may meet some Marco Polo who is able to describe some remote place where they have never been.

This unnatural condition is part of our sad heritage of sin, but in our day it is aggravated by our whole way of life. Advertising is largely based upon this habit of pretense. `Courses' are offered in this or that field of human learning frankly appealing to the victim's desire to shine at a party. Books are sold, clothes and cosmetics are peddled, by playing continually upon this desire to appear what we are not. Artificiality is one curse that will drop away the moment we kneel at Jesus' feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness. Then we will not care what people think of us so long as God is pleased. Then what we are will be everything; what we appear will take its place far down the scale of interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing of which to be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other than we are.

The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and pretense. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of Christ. Good keen reasoning may help slightly, but so strong is this vice that if we push it down one place it will come up somewhere else. To men and women everywhere Jesus says, `Come unto me, and I will give you rest.' The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the blessed relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what we are and cease to pretend. It will take some courage at first, but the needed grace will come as we learn that we are sharing this new and easy yoke with the strong Son of God Himself. He calls it `my yoke,' and He walks at one end while we walk at the other. Lord, make me childlike. Deliver me from the urge to compete with another for place or prestige or position. I would be simple and artless as a little child. Deliver me from pose and pretense. Forgive me for thinking of myself. Help me to forget myself and find my true peace in beholding Thee. That Thou mayest answer this prayer I humble myself before Thee. Lay upon me Thy easy yoke of self-forgetfulness that through it I may find rest. Amen.


Tozer in the Evening
The Object of True Faith

True faith is not the intellectual ability to visualize unseen things to the satisfaction of our imperfect minds; it is rather the moral power to trust Christ. To be contented and unafraid when going on a journey with his father the child need not be able to imagine events; he need but know the father. Our earthly lives are one shining web of golden mystery which we experience without understanding, how much more our life in the Spirit. Jesus Christ is our all in all. We need but trust Him and He will take care of the rest. Possibly it is because of my own innate dullness that I have found such deep satisfaction in these words of the prophet: I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them (Isaiah 42:16). God has not failed me in this world; I can trust Him for the world to come.

Music For the Soul
Victory Through the Blood of the Lamb

Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Corinthians 15:57

That victory is possible. The Apocalypse shows us that " there are two opposing Powers - the "beast" on the one side, and "the Lamb" on the other. These two divide the world between them in the seer’s vision. That is to say, Jesus Christ has conquered the bestial tendencies of our nature; He has conquered the selfish godlessness which is apt to cast its spells and weave its chains over us all. The Warrior-Lamb, singular and incongruous as the combination sounds, is the victor. He conquers because He is the Lamb of sacrifice; He conquers because He is the Lamb of innocence; He conquers because He is the Lamb of meekness, the gentle and, therefore, the all-victorious. By Christ we conquer. Through faith, which lays hold on His power and victory, we too may conquer. "This is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith."

Young men and women, do not let yourselves be led away captives to the shambles by the fascinations and seductions of this poor, fleeting present. Keep your heel on the neck of the animal that is within you; take care of that selfish godlessness into which we all are tempted to fall. Listen to the trumpet-call that ought to stir your hearts, that summons you to freedom and to victory through the blood of the Lamb. And do you, by humbly clasping Him as your sacrifice, your leader, and your power, enroll yourselves amongst those who, in His own good time, shall come victorious from the " beast " and from his image.

Our Captain provides us with an inexhaustible strength, to which we may fully trust. We shall not exhaust it by any demands that we can make upon it. We shall only brighten it up, like the nails in a well-used shoe, the heads of which are polished by stumbling and scrambling over rocky roads. " Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days so shall thy strength be."

Did you ever see that electric light which is made by directing a strong stream upon two small pieces of carbon? As the electricity strikes upon these and turns their blackness into a fiery blaze, it eats away their substance as it changes them into light. But there is an arrangement in the lamp by which a fresh surface is continually being brought into the path of the beam, and so the light continues without wavering, and blazes on. The carbon is our human nature, black and dull in itself; the electric beam is the swift energy of God, which makes us light in the Lord. God does not turn people out to scramble over rough mountains with thin-soled boots on. When an Alpine climber is preparing to go away into Switzerland for rock work, the first thing he does is to get a pair of strong shoes, with plenty of iron nails in the soles of them. Each of us may be sure that if God sends us on stony paths He will provide us with strong shoes, and will not send us out on any journey for which He does not equip us well.

Spurgeon: Morning and Evening

Matthew 6:26  Your heavenly Father.

God's people are doubly his children, they are his offspring by creation, and they are his sons by adoption in Christ. Hence they are privileged to call him, "Our Father which art in heaven." Father! Oh, what precious word is that. Here is authority: "If I be a Father, where is mine honor?" If ye be sons, where is your obedience? Here is affection mingled with authority; an authority which does not provoke rebellion; an obedience demanded which is most cheerfully rendered--which would not be withheld even if it might. The obedience which God's children yield to him must be loving obedience. Do not go about the service of God as slaves to their taskmaster's toil, but run in the way of his commands because it is your Father's way. Yield your bodies as instruments of righteousness, because righteousness is your Father's will, and his will should be the will of his child. Father!--Here is a kingly attribute so sweetly veiled in love, that the King's crown is forgotten in the King's face, and his sceptre becomes, not a rod of iron, but a silver sceptre of mercy--the sceptre indeed seems to be forgotten in the tender hand of him who wields it. Father!--Here is honor and love. How great is a Father's love to his children! That which friendship cannot do, and mere benevolence will not attempt, a father's heart and hand must do for his sons. They are his offspring, he must bless them; they are his children, he must show himself strong in their defence. If an earthly father watches over his children with unceasing love and care, how much more does our heavenly Father? Abba, Father! He who can say this, hath uttered better music than cherubim or seraphim can reach. There is heaven in the depth of that word--Father! There is all I can ask; all my necessities can demand; all my wishes can desire. I have all in all to all eternity when I can say, "Father."

Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook
God Routs Fear

- Job 33:27-28

How this should cut up root and branch all silly, superstitious fears! Even if there were any truth in witchcraft and omens, they could not affect the people of the LORD. Those whom God blessed, devils cannot curse.

Ungodly men, like Balaam, may cunningly plot the overthrow of the LORD’s Israel; but with all their secrecy and policy they are doomed to fail. Their powder is damp; the edge of their sword is blunted. They gather together; but as the LORD is not with them, they gather together in vain. We may sit still and let them weave their nets, for we shall not be taken in them. Though they call in the aid of Beelzebub and employ all his serpentine craft, it will avail them nothing: the spells will not work, the divination will deceive them. What a blessing this is! How it quiets the heart! God’s Jacobs wrestle with God, but none shall wrestle with them and prevail. God’s Israels have to prevail against them. We need not fear the fiend himself, nor any of those secret enemies whose words are full of deceit and whose plans are deep and unfathomable. They cannot hurt those who trust in the living God. We defy the devil and all his legions.

The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer
I Will Instruct Thee

At best we know but little, and we are slow to learn; but as the Lord has promised to instruct us, we may yet expect to be made wise unto salvation.

The Lord’s teaching always produces humility, self-loathing, confidence in God, zeal for His glory, and devotes the heart to His praise. It brings us to the feet of Jesus, and delivers us from the present evil world. Under Divine instruction we learn the true nature of sin, the vanity of the world, the emptiness of creatures, and the fulness and preciousness of Christ.

Is God willing to instruct us? Then let us be early and often at His throne, praying, as the Psalmist did, "Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day." Then shall we exclaim, as Elihu did, "Behold, God exalteth by His power: who teacheth like Him?"

The Lord will teach us to profit, and sanctify us through the truth He imparts. Christ is our great lesson, and to know Him rightly, is life, peace, and joy. Is Jesus thy Teacher? Then sit at His feet, treasure up His words, and show forth His praise. He says, "Learn of Me." Learn to know Him, love Him, obey Him, and live upon Him.

Eternal life Thy words impart;

On these my fainting spirit lives:

Here sweeter comforts cheer my heart,

Than the whole world around me gives.

Bible League: Living His Word
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.
— Ephesians 3:10 NIV

Our God is a God who reveal things. For one, He reveals His wisdom. It's a "manifold wisdom" that has many parts and facets. Although He doesn't reveal every part and facet, although He's under no obligation to do so, He reveals a lot. It's clear, then, that He doesn't want to keep everything He knows to Himself. It's important to Him that His wisdom be made known. Indeed, that's why He's made it known at "many times and in various ways." (Hebrews 1:1).

To whom does God reveal His wisdom? He reveals it to human beings. Although not every human being accepts the revelation of His wisdom, although many suppress His revelation (Romans 1:18), He reveals it nonetheless. No one will ever have the excuse of not knowing what has been revealed to them, however much that may be. (Romans 1:20).

He also reveals it to the angels, the "rulers and authorities" of our verse for today. He doesn't just want human beings to know. He wants the angels to know as well. And, in point of fact, the angels want to know. Indeed, the Apostle Peter tells us that they "long to look into these things. (1 Peter 1:12). They long to see the wisdom of God being revealed over the course of time.

As mentioned, God's wisdom is a manifold wisdom. It includes the wisdom revealed in the creation, the wisdom revealed in the Bible, and the wisdom mentioned in our verse for today—the wisdom revealed in the church. God also reveals His wisdom to the angels through the church. The growth and development of the church reveals the wisdom of God. It reveals the outworking of His plan of salvation.

The angels are watching. They long to look into these things because they're deeply interested. Indeed, they have a vested interest in the church. After all, they are ministering spirits. It's what they do. (Hebrews 1:14). No doubt, they long to look into these things to see if their efforts are bearing fruit, to see if they have helped us along the way.

Today, then, let's not forget that the angels are watching. Today, let's look into the wisdom of the Lord.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Hebrews 13:13,14  So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. • For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

1 Peter 4:12,13  Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; • but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

2 Corinthians 1:7  and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

1 Peter 4:14  If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Acts 5:41  So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.

Hebrews 11:25,26  choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, • considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

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
He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid! Don't be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God's.”
Insight
We may not fight an enemy army, but every day we battle temptation, pressure, and Satan, who wants us to rebel against God.
Challenge
Remember, as believers, we have God's Spirit in us. If we ask for God's help when we face struggles, God will fight for us. And God always triumphs.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible
Moses and Pharaoh

It was hard to get Moses to accept the leadership of his people. He almost missed the glory of his life, by urging his unworthiness and unfitness. But when he had accepted his mission he gave himself to it without reserve. He never again raised the question of his ability. He never shrank from any service required of him. He never failed in any task or duty.

Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh and delivered to him the message of Jehovah, “Let my people go!” “Who is Jehovah,” was the insolent reply, “that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go!”

Pharaoh charged Moses with keeping the people from their tasks, and the taskmasters were then commanded to make it still harder for them. They were to withhold straw from the brick-makers, compelling them to gather straw for themselves, while the quota of bricks required was not lessened. Thus the demand made upon Pharaoh, only added to the burden and hardship of the people. In their anguish, they cried to Moses in bitter complaint. Moses took the matter to God. God rehearsed His covenant promise that He would surely bring the people out. But they could think of nothing except their cruel wrongs and great sufferings.

One of the dangers of affliction, is that in our distress we fail to hear God’s words of comfort, that we think only of our own affliction and pain. There is a picture of a mourner sitting on a rock beside the sea which has swallowed up her dear ones. She is bowed in deep grief. Behind her is the Angel of Consolation, touching the strings of his harp. But the woman is so absorbed in her sorrow that she sees not the angel nor hears the music of comfort. So it is ofttimes with those in grief. The comfort is brought to them but they hear it not. If the people of Israel had listened in their bitter trouble, to the promise of God they would have been braver and stronger to endure a little longer in hope of the relief that was coming.

Then began a series of plagues or judgments while Pharaoh fought stubbornly against God. These plagues were meant to reveal to Pharaoh the power of Jehovah and to compel him to let go his hold upon God’s people. The waters were turned into blood; frogs swarmed everywhere in people’s houses, in their beds, their ovens; lice, then flies filled all the land; a grievous pestilence caused great loss among cattle; boils afflicted the people; a fearful storm of hail wrought destruction upon crops and property; locusts covered the whole country, eating up all the herbs and trees which the hail had left; thick darkness was over all the land for three days.

At the first Pharaoh seemed entirely indifferent to these judgments. Then he began to be affected by them for a little time but as soon as the plague was withdrawn, he would harden his heart. After the plague, he offered to let the people go to worship their God but they not allowed go out of the land. This condition Moses could not accept. Pharaoh then agreed that they might go out of Egypt but not very far away. But when the flies were gone, he withdrew his permission altogether. When the storm of hail was working such destruction, Pharaoh confessed that he had sinned but his penitence was of brief duration. When the devastating plague of locusts was announced, Pharaoh said the people could go but the men only. This condition, however, could not be accepted. When the darkness lay upon the land Pharaoh said to Moses, “Go you, serve Jehovah; only let your flocks and herds be stayed.” The answer to this was prompt and positive. “Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind.” Pharaoh then said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die!” Moses said, “I will never appear before you again!”

It should be noted that the Israelites did not suffer in the plagues. When the plague of flies was threatened, Jehovah said, “I will set apart that day the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there. I will put a division between My people and your people.” After the plague upon the beasts of Egypt we are told that Pharaoh sent, “and, behold, there was not so much as one of the cattle of the Israelites dead!” In the storm of rain and hail the record is, “Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.” In the time of the darkness in Egypt “all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

God always makes a distinction between His own people and those who do not accept Him. It may not seem so. Christian people suffer in the same calamities with those who are not friends of Christ. In the great conflagration there is apparently no distinction made. The houses of Christians are not spared, the fire does not leap over them and burn only the homes of unbelievers. In the desolation of the earthquake, when a city is destroyed, godly men’s homes are not left standing, while the houses of wicked men topple in ruin to the ground. In the sweep of contagion over a community, there seems to be no favor shown to those who love God and live lives of faith and service. Life’s common sorrows and troubles seem to knock at all doors alike. The godly are not exempt. Indeed, it sometimes appears as if the wicked fare better than the righteous, and have fewer trials!

How, then, does God make a distinction between His own people and those who do not own Him and worship Him, who do not obey Him and live to honor Him and bless others? We may say at least, that when God’s children suffer with the ungodly they do not suffer as the ungodly do. The latter have no comfort in their sorrows or losses. They are not sustained and strengthened in enduring them. When their property is destroyed in the flood, the conflagration, or the earthquake, they have nothing left; their loss is absolute. When they are bereft, when loved ones are taken from them, they have no consolation; no Divine comfort is with them.

On the other hand, the children of God, in precisely the same troubles or afflictions, have joy of which the people of the world have no experience; they have light in their homes. In their losses they have compensations. A man had put all his money into the building of a mill. Just when it was completed there came a great flood, and the mill was swept away. As the owner stood on the bank when the floods had subsided, grieving over his loss, he saw something shining in the sands. The wild waters which had swept away his mill had laid bare a vein of gold. The disaster which had beggared him had made him rich.

So is it always with the earthly losses which befall the godly when they endure them with faith and trust in God. Earthly losses uncover spiritual treasures! Pain which hardens the impenitent heart softens the heart of him who is abiding in Christ. Bereavement leaves the Christian lonely but he is comforted by the Divine love and sings and rejoices in his grief. “To those who love God we know that all things work together for good.”

Let us not say, then, that God makes no distinction now between His own people and those who love and obey Him not. We do not know what protection from physical hurt and danger comes continually to those who are Christ’s. The ninety-first psalm is filled with promises of Divine care, sheltering and blessing to those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. We do not know from how many unseen dangers we are preserved every day. God’s eye is always upon His people. The very hairs of their heads are all numbered. Then when sorrow or trouble befalls them, they are held in the everlasting arms and the love of God ministers to them healing and comfort.

The same troubles come to the saint and the sinner. Yet there is always a difference. God does indeed make a distinction between the world and His own people. If sorrow comes to both, it is different to the Christian it is illumined by hope. If death comes to both, it is not the same to both to God’s child it is but the opening of the gate into the Father’s house!

Nine plagues had been visited upon his land and people but still Pharaoh yielded not. Now the announcement was made that there would be one more judgment, the most terrible of all, and that then Pharaoh would yield. “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.” The appalling character of the last plague would be such that Pharaoh would no longer hold out.

Preparations were now to be made by the people of Israel for leaving Egypt. The Lord’s assurance had been realized. “No word He has spoken shall ever be broken.” The people were to go out, and they should not go empty. “Tell all the Israelite men and women to ask their Egyptian neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” The Hebrews had been serving the Egyptians long without wages; what they were taught to ask now, was their simple right. The result was that they went away with gold and silver and other valuable articles freely given by the Egyptians. These gifts no doubt were used afterward, perhaps contributing toward the building and adorning of the Tabernacle.

Moses then told the people of the terrible woe that was to come upon the Egyptians. “All the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die!” There would be no exceptions no household would be spared the calamity. From the palace to the lowliest hut every family would have its dreadful sorrow. Even the cattle would not escape. This would be the last judgment of God upon the Egyptians, to compel Pharaoh to let go his hold upon the Hebrews.

It is most interesting to notice that the Lord said, “ I will go out into the midst of Egypt.” It was a Divine judgment, not a mere ordinary calamity. This death of the firstborn in all the land of Egypt, suddenly and simultaneously, was not a mere coincidence, was not due to any pestilence or contagion. It was the hand of God which produced it. It was a direct Divine act, a judgment upon Pharaoh, to bring him down before the Lord in submission.

Here, as in all this struggle between the Lord and Pharaoh, the Hebrew people were unharmed. “But among the Israelites it will be so peaceful that not even a dog will bark ! ” This shows that it was not merely an epidemic that swept through the land, for then the Israelites would have suffered as well as the Egyptians. “Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites.” It is always so. The Lord knows His own people, knows where they live, knows them in any company or crowd, never overlooks the least or lowliest of them, and always distinguishes between them and the people of the world. “The Lord knows those who are His.”

Though Pharaoh had received such a fearful warning concerning the death of the firstborn announced to him in advance, no doubt, to give him an opportunity to repent yet his heart was not softened but only grew harder! We would say that he, as king and father of his people, should have submitted in order to save them from the terrible calamity that impended, and which he was assured would surely come unless he yielded to God. But even this motive of compassion for his people did not make the stubborn king relent. He persisted in his struggle with Jehovah though he was assured that unless he let the people go the firstborn in all his land would die at midnight.

We should not forget that the same resistance to God is repeated in a measure, in everyone who year after year hears God’s calls of mercy and grace and refuses to yield to the Divine love. There is a passage in the Gospel of John which reads strikingly like this story of Pharaoh: “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn and I would heal them.” John 12:37-40

To us the lesson is that we should listen to every voice of God, to every appeal and command, never resisting, always submitting gladly, cheerfully. Only thus can we make sure of God’s blessing. To resist, to refuse to obey, is to have our hearts made harder and less open to future appeals. And the end of final resistance and rejection is the utter hardening of the heart until it is past all feeling, and past all hope!

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Exodus 11, 12


Exodus 11 -- The Plague on the Firstborn

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Exodus 12 -- Passover; Feast; Memorial; Pharaoh Urges Exodus

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
Matthew 18:21-35


Matthew 18 -- Greatest and Least in the Kingdom; Parables of the Lost Sheep, Brother who sins, Unmerciful Servant

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Evening January 25
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