Morning, March 30
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Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.  — Isaiah 53:12
Bible League: Living His Word
Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God, "O LORD, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!"
— 2 Chronicles 14:11 NLT

Under the leadership of a ruler named Zerah, the Ethiopians invaded Judah with an army of one million men and three hundred chariots. They advanced to the town of Mareshah. Asa, the king of Judah, deployed his smaller army to a valley north of Mareshah. That's when he cried out to the Lord God with the words of our verse for today. In response, the Lord defeated the Ethiopians and they fled. Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. So many of the Ethiopians fell that they were not able to mount a counter-attack and the army of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder.

You don't have to face a million Ethiopians like Asa did, but perhaps you are having a rough time just the same. The mighty have come against you. Who are the mighty? They are any group or individual greater and more powerful than you. Maybe a government agency is using the power of the state to harass you into doing what they want you to do, even though it will hurt you in some way. Maybe it's someone much wealthier than you using his wealth to sue you into submission, even though you're in the right.

Whatever it is, there's no time to waste. It's time to cry out to the Lord. Like Asa, it's time to cry out to the One that can actually help you overcome the long odds. You're powerless in comparison to the mighty. There's no use in trying to go it alone. You'll never make it. The Lord must step in. Asa knew this, and he prevailed as a result. If you cry out to the Lord, you'll make it, too. After all, with God everything is possible (Matthew 19:26). Indeed, He takes pleasure in opposing the proud who trust in their might and helping the humble who trust in Him (James 4:6).

Like Asa, then, gather what you have together and confront the mighty. They won't see it, but the Almighty will be standing beside you fighting for you.
Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Judges 1, 2


Judges 1 -- Israelites Capture Jerusalem, Hebron, Others

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Judges 2 -- Israel Rebuked and Defeated

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
Luke 7:1-30


Luke 7 -- Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant, Raises a Widow's Son, answer John's messengers; Mary Anoints Jesus

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
        test me and know my anxious thoughts.
        Point out anything in me that offends you,
        and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Insight
David asked God to search for sin and point it out, even to the level of testing his thoughts. This is exploratory surgery for sin. How are we to recognize sin unless God points it out? Then, when God shows us, we can repent and be forgiven.
Challenge
Make this verse your prayer. If you ask the Lord to search your heart and your thoughts, and to reveal your sin, you will be continuing on God's “path of everlasting life.”
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Isaiah 53:12  He was numbered with the transgressors.

Why did Jesus suffer himself to be enrolled amongst sinners? This wonderful condescension was justified by many powerful reasons. In such a character he could the better become their advocate. In some trials there is an identification of the counsellor with the client, nor can they be looked upon in the eye of the law as apart from one another. Now, when the sinner is brought to the bar, Jesus appears there himself. He stands to answer the accusation. He points to his side, his hands, his feet, and challenges Justice to bring anything against the sinners whom he represents; he pleads his blood, and pleads so triumphantly, being numbered with them and having a part with them, that the Judge proclaims, "Let them go their way; deliver them from going down into the pit, for he hath found a ransom." Our Lord Jesus was numbered with the transgressors in order that they might feel their hearts drawn towards him. Who can be afraid of one who is written in the same list with us? Surely we may come boldly to him, and confess our guilt. He who is numbered with us cannot condemn us. Was he not put down in the transgressor's list that we might be written in the red roll of the saints? He was holy, and written among the holy; we were guilty, and numbered among the guilty; he transfers his name from yonder list to this black indictment, and our names are taken from the indictment and written in the roll of acceptance, for there is a complete transfer made between Jesus and his people. All our estate of misery and sin Jesus has taken; and all that Jesus has comes to us. His righteousness, his blood, and everything that he hath he gives us as our dowry. Rejoice, believer, in your union to him who was numbered among the transgressors; and prove that you are truly saved by being manifestly numbered with those who are new creatures in him.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Genesis 24:63  Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming.

Psalm 19:14  Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 8:3,4  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; • What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?

Psalm 111:2  Great are the works of the LORD; They are studied by all who delight in them.

Psalm 1:1,2  How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! • But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

Joshua 1:8  "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

Psalm 63:5,6  My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. • When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches,

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Evening March 29
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