Dawn 2 Dusk Love Higher Than Your Highest ThoughtDavid reaches for the biggest image he can find to describe God’s love: the distance between earth and the heavens. He wants us to picture something so vast, so unreachable, that we finally give up trying to measure it and just stand in awe. And then he says that is how great God’s loyal love is toward those who fear Him. Today, let this verse lift your eyes from the limits of your feelings and failures to the limitless sky of His covenant love. A Love You Can’t Outrun “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:11). God is not trying to love you just enough to get by. He is telling you that His love is as unreachable as the farthest stars—beyond your ability to stretch, ruin, or exhaust. We live in a world of caps and limits: data limits, time limits, patience limits. So we quietly assume God must be that way too. This verse shatters that assumption. His loving devotion is not fragile, not moody, not a “trial version” of grace waiting for you to mess up. This love is not sentimental; it is covenant love anchored in the cross. The God who measures the heavens with the span of His hand poured out that same immeasurable love when He gave His Son. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The nails in Jesus’ hands are the proof that Psalm 103:11 is not poetry only, but blood-bought reality. When your conscience screams that you’ve gone too far, this verse answers: “You cannot outrun a love that reaches higher than the highest height you can imagine.” What It Means to Fear Him Notice that this promise is “for those who fear Him.” That might sound like a condition that puts everything back on your shoulders, but it’s actually an invitation into the only posture where you can really enjoy this love. To fear the Lord is not to cower like a slave in front of a cruel master; it is to tremble gladly before a holy God who could crush you, but chose instead to rescue you. It’s to take Him so seriously that nothing else gets to be god in your life anymore. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10). When you truly fear Him, you stop treating sin as a toy and God’s grace as a safety net for your hobbies of rebellion. You start hating what nailed Jesus to the cross, and loving the One who hung there for you. This doesn’t make His love bigger; it just opens your eyes to how big it already is. The more you stand in awe of His holiness, the more precious and staggering His mercy becomes. The fear of the Lord strips away your self-importance so you can finally feel the weight and warmth of a love that should have never been yours—but is, because He said so. Living Under an Endless Sky of Grace If God’s love really stretches “as high as the heavens,” then your daily life should look different—steadier, braver, cleaner. You do not wake up under a low ceiling of “maybe He still loves me.” You wake up under a sky of covenant mercy spreading farther than you can see. That means you can actually confess sin instead of hiding it, because you’re not trying to protect a fragile relationship. You can obey when it costs you, because you trust the heart of the One who commands you. You can face suffering with hope, knowing that “neither death nor life…nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39). Living under this sky of grace also means refusing to shrink God’s love down to the size of your emotions. Some days you will feel nothing; some days your guilt will feel louder than His promises. Those days are not the measure of His devotion—His Word is. Lamentations reminds us, “Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22–23). Every sunrise is God saying again, “My love is still higher than you can reach. Walk in it. Trust it. Obey Me because of it.” Lord, thank You that Your loving devotion towers higher than the heavens over my small life. Help me to fear You rightly, to hate my sin, and to walk today in bold, obedient faith under the endless sky of Your grace. Morning with A.W. Tozer The Changing External and the Unchanging InternalWhile Jesus grew through the various stages of developing childhood, He never saw a mechanical device more complicated than a cart. He never saw paper, or plastic, or a telephone, or a radio, or a camera, or a printed sheet, or a paved highway, or a gun, or a steam engine, or an electric motor. No one in His day ever got vaccinated or took vitamin pills or consulted a psychiatrist or had a song recorded or rode in a balloon or airplane or elevator. The people of His time had to get along without floating soap, chlorophyll toothpaste, rubber gloves, ready-mix flour, canned peas, Alka-seltzer, parking meters, Wheaties, puffed rice, electric razors, in-a-door beds, wristwatches, typewriters and Band-aids. Jesus never nursed from a rubber nipple or ate a scientifically compounded formula or played with an "educational" toy or attended a progressive school or saw a comic book or owned a toy bomb shelter. Judged against our present highly complicated manner of life, the people of Palestine in the days of Christ's flesh scarcely lived at all. Were we forced suddenly to live as they did, we would feel that the bottom had dropped out of the world. Surely people who lived so close to nature could not be "real people" (to borrow the language of the liberals).
But they were real human beings all right, those simple people of Bethlehem and Capernaum. And the striking thing is that they were exactly the kind of people we are. Not one minor variation distinguishes them from us. Only the externals were different. Those things that have changed belong to the outer man; the inner man has not changed in the slightest.
Music For the Soul Christ’s Unsought LoveI am found of them that sought Me not. - Isaiah 65:1 Christ’s own word is a wonderful one: "The Father seeketh such to worship Him "; as if God went all up and down the world looking for hearts to love Him and to turn to Him with reverent thankfulness. And as the Father, so the Son - for us the "revelation of the Father: "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Nobody on earth wanted Him, or dreamed of His coming. When He bowed the heavens and gathered Himself into the narrow space of the manger in Bethlehem, and took upon Him the limitations and the burdens and the weaknesses of manhood, it was not in response to any petition, it was in reply to no seeking, but He came spontaneously, unmoved, obeying but the impulse of His own heart, and because He would have mercy. He who is the Beginning, and will be first in all things, was first in this. "Before they call I will answer," - and came upon earth unbesought and unexpected, because His own infinite love brought Him hither. Christ’s mercy to a world does not come like water in a well that has to be pumped up, by our petitions, by our search, but like water in some fountain, rising sparkling into the sunlight by its own inward impulse. He is His own motive; and came to a forgetful and careless world, like a shepherd who goes after his flock in the wilderness, not because they bleat for him, since they crop the herbage which tempts them even further from the fold and remember him or it no more, but because he cannot have them lost. Men are not conscious of needing Christ till He comes. The supply creates the demand. He is like the "dew which tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men." But not only does Christ seek us all inasmuch as the whole conception and execution of His great work are independent of man’s desires, but He seeks us each in a thousand ways. He longs to have each of us for His disciples. He seeks each of us for His disciples, by the motion of His Spirit on our spirits, by stirring convictions on our consciences, by pricking us often with a sense of our own evil, by all our restlessness and dissatisfaction, by the disappointments and the losses, as by the brightnesses and the goodness of earthly providences, and often through such poor agencies as my lips and the lips of other men. The Master Himself, who seeks all mankind, has sought and is seeking you at this moment. Oh! you yield to His search. The shepherd goes out on the mountain side, for all the storms and the snow, and wades knee-deep through the drifts until he finds the sheep. And your Shepherd, who is also your Brother, has come looking for you, and at this moment is putting out His hand and laying hold of you through my poor words, and saying to you, as He said to Philip, " Follow Me! " Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Ephesians 1:14 The earnest of our inheritance. Oh! what enlightenment, what joys, what consolation, what delight of heart is experienced by that man who has learned to feed on Jesus, and on Jesus alone. Yet the realization which we have of Christ's preciousness is, in this life, imperfect at the best. As an old writer says, "'Tis but a taste!" We have tasted "that the Lord is gracious," but we do not yet know how good and gracious he is, although what we know of his sweetness makes us long for more. We have enjoyed the firstfruits of the Spirit, and they have set us hungering and thirsting for the fulness of the heavenly vintage. We groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption. Here we are like Israel in the wilderness, who had but one cluster from Eshcol, there we shall be in the vineyard. Here we see the manna falling small, like coriander seed, but there shall we eat the bread of heaven and the old corn of the kingdom. We are but beginners now in spiritual education; for although we have learned the first letters of the alphabet, we cannot read words yet, much less can we put sentences together; but as one says, "He that has been in heaven but five minutes, knows more than the general assembly of divines on earth." We have many ungratified desires at present, but soon every wish shall be satisfied; and all our powers shall find the sweetest employment in that eternal world of joy. O Christian, antedate heaven for a few years. Within a very little time thou shalt be rid of all thy trials and thy troubles. Thine eyes now suffused with tears shall weep no longer. Thou shalt gaze in ineffable rapture upon the splendour of him who sits upon the throne. Nay, more, upon his throne shalt thou sit. The triumph of his glory shall be shared by thee; his crown, his joy, his paradise, these shall be thine, and thou shalt be co-heir with him who is the heir of all things. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook Looking for HimThis is our hope. He to whom we have already looked as coming once to bear the sins of many will have another manifestation to the sons of men; this is a happy prospect in itself. But that second appearing has certain peculiar marks which glorify it exceedingly. Our LORD will have ended the business of sin. He has so taken it away from His people and so effectually borne its penalty that He will have nothing to do with it at His second coming. He will present no sin offering, for He will have utterly put sin away. Our LORD will then complete the salvation of His people. They will be finally and perfectly saved and will in every respect enjoy the fullness of that salvation. He comes not to bear the result of our transgressions but to bring the result of His obedience; not to remove our condemnation but to perfect our salvation. Our LORD thus appears only to those who look for Him. He will not be seen in this character by men whose eyes are blinded with self and sin. To them He will be a terrible Judge and nothing more. We must first look to Him and then look for Him; and in both cases our look shall be life. The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer Pray That Ye Enter Not Into TemptationTEMPTATIONS are trials; but by temptations very generally we understand solicitations to evil. Satan is the arch-tempter; he uses every possible variety of instruments, to draw us into sin and folly; consequently we are always in danger from him. But we are liable to be led astray by his temptations often, because they are sudden, powerful, importunate, deceptive, so timed as to fall in with our peculiar circumstances. Also because our hearts are weak, changeable, prone, to evil, open to seduction. How many eminent saints have fallen! Let us beware! Falling into temptation dishonours God, disgrace religion, and distresses the soul. God is able to preserve and deliver us. He has promised. But prayer is implied in every promise. Beloved, daily remember you have a malicious and designing foe; he is present with you! he will use saints and sinners as instruments to lead you astray. Pray without ceasing. Pray in simplicity, in sincerity, with importunity. God is faithful, and will make a way for your escape. Jesus Redeemer, Saviour, Lord The weary sinner’s Friend. Come to my help, pronounce the word, And bid my troubles end: Wisdom and strength to me impart, To quench each flaming fiery dart. Bible League: Living His Word Yes, it is God who is working in you. He helps you want to do what pleases him, and he gives you the power to do it.— Philippians 2:13 ERV You're not alone and you're not on your own. There's something bigger at work in you. If you're a Christian, then God is at work in you. God is fulfilling His will and purpose through you. This doesn't mean, of course, that God is doing all the work and you have nothing to do. He doesn't work instead of you, He works in you and through you. Whenever you try to do what's right and good, whenever you make an effort to that effect, God is at work in you. This should be a source of confidence and assurance for you! How does He work in you and through you? First of all, the Spirit is transforming your heart and will to desire to please God. Whenever you try to do what's right and good, whenever you make an effort to follow God's commands, God has nurtured that desire in you; He has inspired you to do the things that please Him. That's why Paul can say in the previous verse that you should "continue to live in a way that gives meaning to your salvation" and that you should "Do this with fear and respect for God" (Philippians 2:12), because if you do these things, then you can be sure that you are being transformed. Secondly, He works in you by giving you the power to do what pleases Him. It takes power to fight against temptation and peer pressure, so you need all the power you can get. You need more than the power you can muster on your own. You need divine, supernatural power, the kind that makes you realize that you're not on your own (Philippians 3:12). Today, therefore, go and live in a way that gives meaning to your salvation, with fear and respect for God, and you will experience God Almighty at work in you. Daily Light on the Daily Path John 17:16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." Hebrews 7:26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; Philippians 2:15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, Acts 10:38 "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Galatians 6:10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. John 1:9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. Matthew 5:14,16 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; • "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 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 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.” Insight Jesus was speaking to people who put extremely high value on family ties. Their genealogies were important guarantees that they were part of God's chosen people. A man's value came from his ancestors, and a woman's value came from the sons she bore. Jesus' response to the woman meant that a person's obedience to God is more important than his or her place on the family tree. Challenge The patient work of consistent obedience is even more important than the honor of bearing a respected son. Devotional Hours Within the Bible Two Sabbath IncidentsThe question of proper Sabbath observance arose several times during our Lord’s public ministry. The Jewish law made careful provision for keeping of the seventh day of the week but the Rabbis had added many rules of their own, making the Sabbath really a burdensome day. Jesus did not recognize these added requirements, and hence often displeased the rulers by what they considered violations of the law. The criticism at this time was caused by our Lord and His disciples going through the grain fields on the Sabbath. They were probably on their way to the morning synagogue service. The disciples were hungry, and as they walked along by the standing grain, which was then ripe, they plucked off some of the heads and, rubbing them in their hands and then blowing away the chaff, they ate the grains. The Pharisees were always watching Jesus that they might find something of which to accuse Him. There are two ways of watching godly people. One way is to watch them to see how they live that we may learn from their example; the other way is in order to criticize and find fault with them. It was the latter motive which prevailed with the Pharisees. They went along with Jesus, not because they loved to be with Him but as spies upon His conduct. The conduct of Christians is always watched by unfriendly eyes, eyes keen to observe every fault. We need to live most carefully, so as to give no occasion for just censure. Yet the example of Jesus shows us that we are not to be slaves of traditional requirements which have not authorization in the Word of God. Godly people can find better business than to play the spy upon the lives and conduct of others. The unfriendly espionage of these Pharisees on Jesus and His disciples, appears in our eyes very far from beautiful. We are behaving no better, however, than the Pharisees did if we keep our eyes on others for he purpose of discovering flaws. Perhaps they do not live quite as they should live; but are we their judges? Do we have to answer for them? Then, perhaps, our sin of censoriousness and uncharitableness is worse than the sins we find in them. There are some people so intent on trying to make other people good that they altogether forget to make themselves good! When the Pharisees said to Jesus that His disciples were doing that which was not lawful on the Sabbath, He reminded them of what David did when he and his companions were hungry. “Have you not read?” It was in their Scriptures. David, fleeing from Saul, went to Ahimelech very hungry, he and his companions, and asked for something to eat. There was no bread about the place, except the showbread. It was not lawful for any but the priests to eat this bread. But the men’s need satisfied the custodian of the tabernacle, that he might deviate from the letter of the law in this emergency (see 1 Samuel 21:1-6). The act of the disciples in plucking and rubbing out the heads of grain to satisfy their immediate hunger was a work of necessity, and therefore not a sin. Though the letter of the law may have been violated yet it was not violated in spirit. What works of necessity are, cannot be established by minute rules and regulations. The settling of the question must be left in each particular case to the enlightened consciences of faithful followers of Christ. Jesus made a starling claim when He said to His critics, “One greater than the temple is here” (see v.6). It is usually supposed that He refers to Himself. But a marginal reading suggests “a great thing,” meaning the law of love. That is, love is always the highest law. This different rendering seems to be favored by the words which follow. “If you had known what this means I will have mercy, and not sacrifice you would not have condemned the guiltless.” Love would have made you think of men’s needs, as higher than the observance of the letter of a Sabbath rule. No Divine law intends to have men go hungry. Then Jesus uttered another startling word, “For the Son of man is lord even of the Sabbath day.” He thus claimed the right to interpret the laws of the Sabbath. In Mark 2:27 we have also this strong assertion, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath was part of the Divine constitution which God had ordained for His children. Christ came not to destroy but to fulfill. He took the Sabbath, therefore, and stripped from it the burdensome regulations which men had attached to it, and put into it its true spiritual meaning. He set the Church free from the cumbersomeness of a rabbinical Sabbath, and made it a day of joy and gladness, a type and foretaste of heaven. Almost immediately afterwards, another question of Sabbath observance arose. It was in the synagogue. A man was present who had a withered hand. Again the Pharisees were watching Jesus to see what He would do. They asked Him if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath day. They were not humble seekers for the truth but were looking for a ground of accusation against Him. It was a violation of the rules of the Pharisees to attend the sick or even console them on the Sabbath. Jesus knew the intention of the Pharisees in their question and bade the man arise. Then He asked them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?” In this He appealed to simple common sense. Whatever their traditions said about the Sabbath day, the practice of the people would be on the merciful line. The Talmud says that if the animal is in no danger in the ditch it should be allowed to remain unrelieved over the Sabbath. But the form of our Lord’s question shows that this was not the practice of the people. “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?” Then He added, “How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!” If it was right to help a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath, it certainly was right to relieve a human sufferer from his sickness on that day. So we have the lesson, “Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath!” It is right for physicians to attend to their patients on the Lord’s day. It is right for those whose duty it naturally is to nurse the sick to care for them on the Sabbath. It is right to visit the sick when they need our sympathy and when we can carry to them blessing or cheer. It is right to visit those who are in affliction when we can carry comfort to them. It is right to visit the poor when we can minister to their needs or relieve their distresses. It is especially right to go out among the unsaved, when we can do anything to bring them to Christ. It is right to gather neglected children from the streets and from Christless homes, and bring them under the influence of Divine grace. We must be careful not to pervert our Lord’s teaching here. Not all kinds of work can be brought into the class indicated in the words, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.” It was the Jewish Sabbath concerning which Jesus was speaking here, and our Christian Lord’s day is in every way more beautiful, more joyous. Yet we need to keep most holy guard over it, for there are many influences at work to rob us of it. There was a time when very much of the old rabbinic spirit was exercised in some parts of the world toward the Christian Sunday. Now, however, the tendency is in the other direction, and we are in danger of losing the sacredness of this day. The Lord’s Day is not well kept when its hours are devoted to mere social purposes. The best preparation that can be made for its proper observance, is to prepare for it as far as possible on Saturday. This was the old-time way. Everything was done on Saturday that could be done to lighten the burden of the work on Sunday. Jesus never was deterred from His work of mercy, by the censorious criticism of His enemies. He bade the man to stretch forth his hand. The arm was withered, dried up, dead. How could the man stretch it forth? But when Jesus gave the command it was implied that he would also give power to obey. The man must make the effort to do what he was bidden to do. That was the way he showed his faith. Then with the effort came new life unto the dead arm. Whenever Christ gives us a command He is ready to give us strength to obey it. We may say the thing required is impossible but it is the privilege of the Christian to do impossible things. Anybody can do possible things; but when Christ is working in us and through us we need not ask whether the things He commands are possible or not. “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). People often say that they cannot begin a Christian life because they have not the strength to do what Christ requires of them. True but if they will begin to obey, they will be enabled to obey, helped by the Master Himself. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 31, 32, 33 Psalm 31 -- In you, O Lord, I take refuge. Let me never be disappointed. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 32 -- Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 33 -- Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous! Praise is fitting for the upright. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 21:15-40 Acts 21 -- Paul Sails from Miletus to Jerusalem, Seized in the Temple NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
Jump to: Bible League • Daily Light • Daily Remembrancer • Devotional Hours • Faith's Checkbook • Morning and Evening • Music for the Soul • Tozer • Tyndale • Reading Plans
    |