Category: Daily Inspirational Devotional

For the most part, those of you who will read this don’t own farm ground or vineyards…so you might ask yourself, how does this Scripture apply to me? Well, for starters, as Believers we should be concerned with things that God’s concerned with, right? Things that are important to God need to be important to us…and aliens, widows, and orphans are extremely important to Him. So much, that He made special provisions for them, a safety-net so to speak, in order that they could survive. So how does it apply to you today? One way could be to keep a change jar that you throw your spare change into…and periodically give the money to a worthy cause. But a great idea would be to not keep your schedule so packed full that you couldn’t volunteer on short notice when asked…that’s because protecting, providing, and procuring for the less fortunate seldom happens on a perfect timetable…but that doesn’t mean the project still isn’t very important to God…and if it’s important to Him, it needs to be important to us.

Two Scriptures that relate to this one are also found in Isaiah. The first is Isaiah 45:3-4, “I am the Lord God of Israel Who summons you by name.” and the other is Isaiah 49:1, “Before I was born the Lord called me. From my birth He has made mention of my name.” Regardless of how far you may have walked away from God…rejected His existence, or rebelled against His authority…He knows your name. It says before you were even born He acknowledged and identified you by name and desired a relationship…a close acquaintance that only intimate friends can have. Yes, God knows well all about your sins…but He still chooses to call you by name as a redeemed son or daughter. On the other hand, the devil knows your name too, but to him you’re just a pawn…an unacquainted stranger that he can use for his own wicked purposes. Sure, he may know your name, but he doesn’t really want to “know” you…for he’ll only address you by your past sins…dredging up every sordid detail he can just to cause you shame, guilt, and condemnation.

Two trains of thought come from this verse. The first is that our days are numbered and fleeting…and we need to make the most of every minute. All our days here on earth were ordained by God before any of them ever came to be, (Psalm 139:16) and we need to use each one to its fullest potential for His glory and our good. Secondly, we may think we’re the boss of ourselves…planning our way and course of action, but God is really the One who is directing our steps. (Proverbs 16:9 & Proverbs 20:24) And the sooner we honestly consider just how short out lifetime is, we can learn not to take any day for granted.

No matter if it’s farm animals or the family dog or cat…they all learn quickly where and when they’ll be fed. So for Isaiah to compare Israel’s lack of understanding of God with the ability of animals to grasp where they need to go to eat is very sobering. But this lack of understanding goes much deeper than just insight. Several passages in Hosea speak of Israel’s failure to acknowledge God, their inability to even realize their unrepentant state, and that they would finally be destroyed because of their lack of discernment. Jeremiah said it well, “My people are fools; they don’t know Me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.” Or as Deuteronomy 32:28 continues this thought, “They are a nation without sense, there’s no discernment in them.”

As the persecution of the Church and God’s people increases around the world…we could all ask the same question the souls of martyrs did in Revelation 6:9-11, “How long Lord, until You judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” How long Lord, before You bring relief from affliction and tribulation of Your people? How long before we see You coming with fire… Your chariots like whirlwinds…bringing down Your anger with fury and Your rebuke with flames of fire? (Isaiah 66:15) We know the Second Coming of the Lord is going to happen…we just don’t know when it will take place, or if it will even be within our lifetime. Meanwhile, godly people may continue to die rather than renounce their faith and many may suffer great sorrow and sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel. But while we all wait, we can still find joy in Him.

Judas and Simon Peter both betrayed Jesus, but the end results were completely different for each. Judas double-crossed the Lord, but when Jesus was found guilty and sentenced to death, Judas was suddenly filled with regret. He wanted to find a way to undo what had been done…but it was far too late. And so Judas was filled with despair…but it was a worldly sorrow…a selfish dread of the consequences it would cost him… without a trace of true repentance. And as he sunk deeper into self-induced despair, Judas gave up hope. We need to though ask ourselves this question – Would the newly resurrected Lord have forgiven Judas? The obvious answer is Yes, but Judas gave up that chance when he took his own life. But now on to Simon Peter’s betrayal of Jesus, which wasn’t once, or twice, but three times he denied he even knew Him. Peter too was filled with deep despair when the rooster crowed. But his despair drove him to repentance and a turning back to the Lord for forgiveness. And three days later, when he beheld his risen Lord, Peter’s hopelessness and fear melted away and disappeared.

I love the word sluggard, and it’s used quite often in Proverbs to denote laziness in people. But the point of this Proverb isn’t loafers, but the people they represent. Both my sister and I were in careers where we were in charge of Staffing. We both interviewed, hired, gave verbal and written warnings, and terminated people when they didn’t live up to their job requirements. And now that both of us are retired, we have shared together staffing nightmare stories! For there’s nothing more irritating than to have someone, who’s representing your company to the public, conduct themselves in a manner that casts an untrustworthy, unethical, or immoral shadow on your business. Proverbs 26:6 sums up this frustration well when it says, “Like cutting off of one’s feet or drinking violence, is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.” There is nothing quite as wonderful as a trustworthy, faithful team player on your Staff…and if I was you, I’d thank them today for their work.

Ah, we see the good old Double Standard popping up in these verses. We are very quick to judge and denounce people… but when it happens to us, we cry foul. It’s the “Do as I say, not as I do” message that reeks of faulty principles that apply only to you but never to me. But Matthew 7:1 is pretty straightforward when it says, “Don’t judge or you too will be judged.” Or even James 4:11 that tells us, “Brothers, don’t slander one another.” Or as Jesus so wisely said to the group of men gathered around the woman caught in adultery…”If any one is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone.” (John 8:7)

What do you allow to occupy your mind? Maybe it’s every unresolved issue in your life where you felt rejected, wounded, misunderstood, and/or disrespected. It’s become a endless rambling loop of reliving your hurtful past…or as I call them, the would of, should of, could of’s I wish I had or hadn’t done. These negative thought patterns are difficult to break free from, for they are deeply ingrained…and when we throw in unforgiveness and bitterness, they become a deep rut to crawl out of. So what are we to do with these old habits that seem too daunting for us to control? The first is to acknowledge what God wants us to think about, which is, to paraphrase Philippians 4:8, “Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy – think on these things.” But how do we do that? As the verse says above, take into captivity every thought that’s not of God. It means purposefully turning back to God’s truth…intentionally refocusing our thoughts, and deliberately reining in all the negative notions. And what will happen if we do? Peace will abide in our minds not chaos…for God’s mercy will grant us deliverance and freedom from all distress. Or as a very wise Biblical Counselor said, “Keep persevering to do the right thing and talking to the real one who can help you.”

To get a little historical context – the Temple was undergoing renovation when this hidden scroll (which we now know as the Book of Deuteronomy) was found by the high priest. We could wonder why such an important part of the Pentateuch, (the first five Books of the Bible) had gone missing… but we only have to look back on the fifty-seven years prior of immoral, corrupted, and evil rule by Manasseh and Amon to see how generations of Jews had simply forgotten God. In fact, when Shaphan brought the scroll to King Josiah, they both had no idea what it was or contained. But when the scroll was read to the young king, (the son and grandson of Amon and Manasseh) he immediately ordered its requirements to be observed and took active steps to clean up the mess his family had made…triggering an intensive reform in the worship and morals in the Jewish nation of Judah.