Dawn 2 Dusk Still CarriedThere is a tenderness in Isaiah 46:4 that disarms our self-reliance. God does not offer mere sympathy from a distance; He promises to be unchanged as we change, to keep carrying us when our strength is spent and our hair turns gray. In a world where bodies weaken, relationships shift, and plans collapse, He pledges steady, personal care from the first breath to the final one. This is not a seasonal kindness but a lifelong covenant love that refuses to let go. The God Who Does Not Grow Old When God says, “Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your gray hairs I will carry you. I have made you, and I will bear you; I will carry you and save you” (Isaiah 46:4), He is making a staggering claim: time changes you, but it never changes Him. Your memories accumulate, your body slows, your capacities shift—but He is not learning, not fading, not adjusting. The God who formed you in the womb is the same God who promises to walk you through the nursing home corridor or the lonely hospital hallway. He is as strong and faithful on your weakest day as He was on your best. Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that Jesus Christ is the same in every age—yesterday, today, and forever. That means the Christ who calmed storms and opened blind eyes is the Christ who meets you when your hands shake and your heart fears the future. When culture idolizes youth and quietly sidelines the weak, God draws near to those the world overlooks and says, “I am not done with you. I am not tired of you. I am not surprised by you.” His unchanging character is the anchor that keeps us from drifting into despair as the years pile up. Carried, Not Just Survived Notice the verbs God chooses: made, bear, carry, save. He does not merely watch your journey; He shoulders it. You were never designed to drag yourself through life by sheer grit. From birth to burial, the story of every believer is not “I made it,” but “He carried me.” The picture is not of an employer managing an underperforming worker, but of a Father lifting a child who cannot walk another step. His commitment is not to help you look strong, but to prove that His strength is enough when you are not. Peter urges us to throw every anxiety on Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). That is the language of being carried, not coached from the sidelines. Deuteronomy 33 speaks of everlasting arms underneath God’s people; underneath your fears about health, finances, loneliness, or usefulness, there are arms that do not tremble. To be carried by God is to admit your limits, lay down the illusion of total control, and entrust the full weight of your life—sins, sorrows, and future—to the One who has already borne your greatest burden at the cross. Finishing Well in the Hands That Hold Us If God has committed to carry you all the way, then old age is not a spiritual dead end; it is a strategic season. Psalm 71 describes an aging believer pleading, even when old and gray, not to be forsaken until he declares God’s power to the next generation. When you know you are being carried, you are freed from obsessing over self-preservation and enabled to invest what strength remains into others—praying faithfully, speaking truth in love, telling the story of God’s faithfulness to children, grandchildren, church family, and a watching world. Philippians 1:6 assures us that the good work God began, He Himself will bring to completion in Christ. Your finish line is not perfection in your own performance, but faith in a perfect Savior who does not abandon half-finished projects. So today, whether you are young and planning or older and remembering, receive this as your calling: let yourself be carried. Confess where you have trusted your own strength, hand Him the particular worries of this season, and then step forward—however slowly—in obedience, believing His arms will not fail beneath you. Lord, thank You that You have made me, You carry me, and You will save me. Teach me today to stop relying on my own strength and to trust Your unchanging hands, and move me to encourage someone else with the hope of being carried by You. Morning with A.W. Tozer Pressing Toward the Goal AheadWe are not called to fellowship with nonexistence. We are called to things that exist in truth, to positive things, and it is as we become occupied with these that health comes to the soul. Spiritual life cannot feed on negatives. The man who is constantly reciting the evils of his unconverted days is looking in the wrong direction. He is like a man trying to run a race while looking back over his shoulder. What the Christian used to be is altogether the least important thing about him. What he is yet to be is all that should concern him. He may occasionally, as Paul sometimes did, remember to his own shame the life he once lived; but that should be only a quick glance; it is never to be a fixed gaze. Our long permanent look is on God and the glory that shall be revealed. What we are saved from and what we are saved to bear the same relation to each other as a serious illness and recovered health. The physician should stand between these two opposites to save from one and restore to the other. Once the great sickness is cured the memory of it should be thrust out onto the margin of the mind to grow fainter and weaker as it retreats farther away; and the fortunate man whose health has been restored should go on to use his new strength to accomplish something useful for mankind. Yet many persons permit their sick bodies to condition their mental stuff so that after the body has gotten well they still retain the old feeling of chronic invalidism they had before. They are recovered, true enough, but not to anything. We have but to imagine a group of such persons testifying every Sunday about their late illnesses and singing plaintive songs about them and we have a pretty fair picture of many gatherings among Christians today. Music For the Soul All Have SinnedThere is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory God. - Romans 3:22-23 What does the Bible mean by sin? Everything that goes against or neglects God’s law. And if you will bring into all the acts of every life the reference, which really is there, to God and His will, you will not need anything more to establish the fact that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Whatever other differences there are between men, there is this fundamental similarity. Neglect - which is a breach- of the law of God pertains to all mankind. Everything that we do ought to have reference to Him. Does everything that we do have such reference? If not, there is a quality of evil in it. For the very definition of sin is living to myself and neglecting Him. He is the Centre; and, if I might use a violent figure, every planet that wrenches itself away from gravitation towards, and revolution round, that Centre, and prefers to whirl on its own axis, has broken the law of the celestial spheres, and brought discord into the heavenly harmony. All men stand condemned in this respect. Now, there is no need to exaggerate. I am not saying that all men are on the same level. I know there are great differences in the nobleness, purity, and goodness of lives, and Christianity has never been more unfairly represented than when good men have, as one of them called, with St. Augustine, the virtues of godless men, "splendid vices." But though the differences are not unimportant, the similarity is far more important. The pure, clean-living man, and the gentle, loving woman, though they stand high above the sensuality of the profligate, the criminal, stand in this respect on the same footing that they, too, have to put their hands on their mouths, and their mouths in the dust, and cry, "Unclean!" I do not want to exaggerate, and sure I am that if men will be honest with themselves there is a voice that responds to the indictment when I say sadly, in the solemn language of Scripture, "we all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. For there is no difference." If you do not believe in a God, you can laugh at the old wife’s notion of " sin." If you do believe in a God, you are shut up to believe this other, " Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned." And if this universal fad is indeed a fact, it is the gravest element in human nature. It matters very little, in comparison, whether you and I are wise or foolish, educated or illiterate, rich or poor, happy or miserable. All the superficial distinctions which separate men from one another, and are all right in their own places, dwindle away into nothing before this solemn truth, that in every frame there is a plague spot, and that the leprosy has smitten us all Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Jude 1:1 Sanctified by God the Father. "Sanctified in Christ Jesus." 1 Corinthians 1:2 "Through sanctification of the Spirit." 1 Peter 1:2 Mark the union of the Three Divine Persons in all their gracious acts. How unwisely do those believers talk who make preferences in the Persons of the Trinity; who think of Jesus as if he were the embodiment of everything lovely and gracious, while the Father they regard as severely just, but destitute of kindness. Equally wrong are those who magnify the decree of the Father, and the atonement of the Son, so as to depreciate the work of the Spirit. In deeds of grace none of the Persons of the Trinity act apart from the rest. They are as united in their deeds as in their essence. In their love towards the chosen they are one, and in the actions which flow from that great central source they are still undivided. Specially notice this in the matter of sanctification. While we may without mistake speak of sanctification as the work of the Spirit, yet we must take heed that we do not view it as if the Father and the Son had no part therein. It is correct to speak of sanctification as the work of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit. Still doth Jehovah say, "Let us make man in our own image after our likeness," and thus we are "his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." See the value which God sets upon real holiness, since the Three Persons in the Trinity are represented as co-working to produce a Church without "spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." And you, believer, as the follower of Christ, must also set a high value on holiness--upon purity of life and godliness of conversation. Value the blood of Christ as the foundation of your hope, but never speak disparagingly of the work of the Spirit which is your meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. This day let us so live as to manifest the work of the Triune God in us. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook Whom, When, and How to DeliverThe godly are tempted and tried. That is not true faith which is never put to the test. But the godly are delivered out of their trials, and that not by chance, nor by secondary agencies, but by the LORD Himself. He personally undertakes the office of delivering those who trust Him. God loves the godly or godlike, and He makes a point of knowing where they are and how they fare. Sometimes their way seems to be a labyrinth, and they cannot imagine how they are to escape from threatening danger. What they do not know, their LORD knows. He knows whom to deliver, and when to deliver, and how to deliver. He delivers in the way which is most beneficial to the godly, most crushing to the tempter, and most glorifying to Himself. We may leave the "how" with the LORD and be content to rejoice in the fact that He will, in some way or other, bring His own people through all the dangers, trials, and temptations for this mortal life to His own right hand in glory. This day it is not for me to pry into my LORD’s secrets but patiently to wait His time, knowing this, that though I know nothing, my heavenly Father knows. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer Happy Is the Man That Feareth AlwayGODLY fear flows from grace, and is always connected with spiritual knowledge. It is the fear of a tender child, who would not on any account grieve a kind and loving parent. It is a covenant blessing. Our God bestows it on all whom He loves; and they consequently fear to offend Him, their Father; dishonour their gracious Saviour, or grieve the Holy Comforter. They fear lest they should be led astray from God by their own hearts, by Satan, by professors, by the world, or any of the dispensations of providence. They fear to trust their own judgments, they reverence God’s word, and dread a lukewarm state. Happy is the man who thus feareth alway; he happily preserves a tender conscience, a humble mind, and a consistent walk. He proves his interest in all new-covenant blessings; has much to do with the blood of atonement; and enjoys a solid peace. He is in a happy state, standing high in the favour of God, walking in the comforts of the Holy Ghost, and keeping himself unspotted from the world. Oh, for godly fear to rule my heart, and preserve my goings! This fear’s the spirit of faith, A confidence that’s strong; An unctious light to all that’s right, A bar to all that’s wrong. Bible League: Living His Word The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.— Proverbs 13:14 NIV What does it mean to be wise? From the Christian perspective, a person is wise if they fear the Lord and acknowledge His will and ways. Indeed, the Bible says that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" and it says that only fools despise His "wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7). The wise acknowledge that this world is the Lord's and that His will and ways determine how it works. When one gets in line with the Lord and what He wants, then he is in line with the way the world actually works, and he will prosper. That's why the teaching of the wise is a fountain of life. The wise know how it is in the world. They know what it's all about. Their wisdom leads to life, not death. It leads to a life well-lived, not a life of hard knocks. Instead of making the costly mistakes of fools, the wise know the ways that will work and that will benefit. They know, for example, that "Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow" (Proverbs 13:11), and they know that "Where there is strife, there is pride" (Proverbs 13:10). Above all, they know the way of salvation; they know the way to redemption from sin and foolishness. Since the teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, it follows that it is also an escape from the snares of death. The wise person that points someone to the way of life at the same time turns them from the way of death. It is a blessing to be wise, and you are blessed if you listen to the wise. God places wise people in our lives. Pay attention to them, treasure them, treasure what they tell you. Store it up in your heart and it will be to you a fountain of life. "Whoever scorns instruction will pay for it, but whoever respects a command is rewarded" (Proverbs 13:13). Daily Light on the Daily Path Exodus 33:14 And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest."Deuteronomy 31:6,8 "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." • "The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Hebrews 13:5,6 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," • so that we confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?" 2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, Matthew 6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.' Jeremiah 10:23 I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. Psalm 31:15 My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. 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 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”“But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?” For there were about 5,000 men there. Insight When the disciples expressed concern about where the crowd of thousands would eat, Jesus offered a surprising solution: “You feed them.” The disciples protested, focusing their attention on what they didn't have—food and money. Challenge Do you think God would ask you to do something that you and he together couldn't handle? Don't let your lack of resources blind you to seeing God's power. Devotional Hours Within the Bible Worldliness and TrustThe Christian life is very simple if only we understand it. It has only one principle single-hearted devotion to Christ. Paul stated this principle when he said, “To me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21) Jesus states it here also when He says, “Seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness.” In our present passage, we have a whole scheme of life. To begin with, we must find something real and permanent to live for. It concerns the matter of possessions. Earth’s banks are not absolutely safe ; and even if they were, they are not eternal. We are immortal, and we must find a place of deposit secure for immortal years. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” How can we lay up treasures in heaven? By living for God, by committing our lives to Jesus Christ, by spending our money for the glory of God. There are men who possess little money or property when they leave this world but are rich in treasures laid up in heaven. Paul had only the clothes he wore, an old cloak and a few sacred parchments when his martyrdom came but he was rich beyond measure in glory! There are millionaires here who will be beggars in the next life; and there are poor men here who will have an inheritance of glory in heaven. Single-heartedness is the secret of true godly living. “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Some people seem to think they can keep on safe terns with God and at the same time maintain close relations with the world. The Master’s teaching here shows us that it is impossible to be half God’s and half the world’s. There is room for only one lord in our life, and we must settle who this will be. If we belong to God, the world is our servant. It seems strange indeed that anyone with an immortal soul, should be willing to have mammon money for his god. Money may do much good and be a great blessing, if it is used for God but when a man gets down upon his knees to his money, crawls in the dust for its sake, and sells his manhood to get it it has only curse for him. One who truly serves God cannot give money half his heart. God will not share a human heart with any other master. A great many people are talking now about the secret of happy living. The Master gives it here. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.” Anxiety is very common. There is a great deal of worrying in the world, even among good people. One does not meet very many whose faces shine always with the light of a perfect peace. The majority of faces show lines of care. Not many people pass undisturbed through all manner of experiences. Is worrying a sin or is it only an infirmity ? There certainly are a great many cautions and warnings in the Bible against worrying. But how can we help it? Paul tells us how to keep worry out of our life. “In nothing be anxious.” But how can we obey this counsel? What shall we do with the things that we would naturally worry about? Here is the answer: “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” That is, instead of worrying about matters that would naturally fret us we are to put them out of our own hands into God’s hands, by prayer. Then we have this assurance: “The peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6, Philippians 4:7). It will help us with our lesson, if we look carefully at the connections of the words as they stand in the Gospel. “You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious.” That is, anxiety comes from serving mammon. We say we are God’s children yet when mammon seems to be failing, and then we begin to worry. That is, we trust mammon more than we trust our Father. We feel safer when mammon’s abundance fills our hands than when mammon threatens to fail and we have only God. If we truly served God only, we should not be afraid, though we have nothing of mammon, not even bread for tomorrow. Jesus illustrates His teaching: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Elsewhere Jesus says that not even a sparrow is forgotten by our Father. The sparrows are the most useless and the most troublesome of all birds. You can buy two of them for a farthing. Yet God watches over them, and not one of them shall fall to the ground without His permission. If God so cares for quarrelsome sparrows, He will care much more for His own children. We are of more value than many sparrows. Souls are of great worth it took the blood of the Son of God to buy us back from bondage. Birds do not bear the Divine image. They have no spiritual nature. The God who cares for the soulless little birds will surely care much more thoughtfully, more tenderly, for a thinking, immortal being, capable of eternal life. God is our Father He is not the birds’ father; He is their creator and provider but they are not His children. A woman will give more thought to her baby than to her canary. Our heavenly Father will provide more certainly for His children than for His birds. Worrying is also most useless. “Which of you by being anxious, can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?” A short person cannot, by any amount of anxiety, make himself and inch taller. Therefore, why should he waste his energy and fret his life away in wishing he were taller, and in worrying because he is not? Worrying about a coming trouble does not keep the trouble away! Worrying over a loss does not bring back that which is gone. People find obstacles, difficulties and hindrances in their life. There are hard conditions in their lot. But is there any use in worrying over these things? Will it make them any easier? Will anxiety cure the lame foot, remove the ugly mole, reduce the undesired tumor, or put flesh on the thin body? Will fretting make the heavy burden lighter, the hard work easier, the rough way smoother? Will anxiety keep the winter away, put coal in the bin, or bread in the pantry, or get clothes for the children? Even philosophy shows the uselessness of worrying, since it helps nothing, and only wastes one’s strength, unfitting one for doing his best. But religion goes father than philosophy, and tells us that even the hard things, the drawbacks, the obstacles, may be changed into blessings if we meet them in the right spirit. So we learn that we should quietly and with faith accept life as it comes to us, fretting at nothing, changing hard conditions to easier if we can but if not, using them as a means for growth and advancement. The fact that God cares for us ought to keep us from worry. “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” Does God really care for the flowers? Yes, He weaves for them their matchless garments and fills their little cups with fragrance. Yet they live but for a day. If God clothes these frail plants so gloriously for only a few hours’ beauty will He not far more surely clothe His own children? It is told of Mungo Park the great traveler, that once in the desert he was famishing for drink, and could find no water. In his exhaustion he had sunk down in the hot sands of despair, and had given up to die. He saw a tiny shoot of moss growing in the sand, and the thought came to him, “God tends this little plant. He placed it here and He is watering it. Surely, then, He will not forget me but will provide for me, too.” He roused up from his despair and passed on and was saved. Here we come upon the great principle of Christian living. “Seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” That is, we are to put all the energy of our thought and life into one effort to do God’s will. We are not to worry about our clothing or food that is God’s matter, not ours at all. We are to take thought, however, about our duty, our work, the doing of God’s will, and the filling of our place in the world. Too many people worry far more about their food and clothing, lest they shall be left to need, than they do about doing well their whole duty. That is, they are more anxious about God’s part in their life than about their own! They fear that God may not take care of them but they do not have any fear that they may fail in faithfulness to Him. It will be a great point gained, if we learn here once and for all that providing for our needs is God’s matter, not ours; and that our first and only care should be our duty, the doing of our work. This God will never do for us but if we are true to Him we shall never have any occasion to fret ourselves about our care. Suppose we are nearly starving? Well, we must go on, doing our duty in the circumstances, and not worrying; and in due time, perhaps at the last moment but somehow or other, and in some way, the Lord will provide. Or if not, He will take us home. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 7, 8, 9 Psalm 7 -- O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 8 -- O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 9 -- I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 17:1-15 Acts 17 -- Paul at Thessalonica, Berea and Athens NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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