January 22: Proverb 3:19-20
Key Verse: Proverbs 3:19
By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;
Devotion:
I loved doing science experiments when I was younger – especially those chemical types which made new things. What I could not get my head round was the chemical reactions and formulas which were happening behind the scenes. I marvelled at the chemistry teachers as they went about showing us experiments as if it was something they “just did!”
Now, we could look at God as being someone who just does the experiments which give us many of the things we take for granted, or we could try and understand how He does things... But, in the end we have to accept He is able to do things which we may never be able to understand or grasp; but because we do see it happening, we should believe it!
God created this world because He could and because He wanted something special for us. His abilities are far beyond our normal understanding it terms of science and physics, but we should still accept it as the truth because He has already done it. It may be hard to accept something we cannot see – but accepting something we see should be ‘normal.’
We probably don’t deserve what God has created for us and given us, but He has, because He loves us. We don’t have to return it when we mess it up! We don’t have to try and fix everything we break... God gave this all to us as a gift and continues to support us with this gift every day of our lives. Accept all God is doing and thank Him for it, daily.
Points to Ponder:
Have you looked at the natural world around you?
Do you see the design God has planned for everything?
January 21: Proverbs 3:5-6
Key Verse: Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
Devotion:
How much do you trust your family? How much do you trust your friends? How much do you trust other people? Your answers to any or all of these is probably to trust those who have given you reason to trust them and not to trust those who have given you reason not to trust them... But we cannot always live in the past where we judge people according to what they have done in the past!
If we lived by that idiom, we would probably trust very few people in our lives and find it very difficult to trust new people who came into our lives. Contrast that with the way God sent His Son to make a way for us to trust Him even when He knew we could not be trusted!
Someone has to start the trust relationship; and it may well be difficult for you to try and start that trust because of what has happened to you in your past. God wants us to be able to trust others and for them to trust us. This means we have to be trust-worthy and show others we can be trusted.
God has already shown us He can be trusted in everything and continues to uphold the truth and that trust. If we are willing to place our trust in His hands, He is faithful and just to continue keeping His word and continue showing us how much we can trust Him with everything and always.
Points to Ponder:
Do you trust God’s Word?
Will you place a bit more trust in God’s hands today?
January 20: Psalm 34:19-20
Key Verse: Psalm 34:20
he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
Devotion:
One of the most surprising things is that I have not broken any bones yet! When I think back of all the stupid things I have done in my past from jumping off roofs and rock climbing without any protection, the odds were clearly stacked against me – but I still came out relatively unscathed from all my doings... Now I am not saying we should all go out and jump off roofs! There is no way we should be knowingly tempting God!
But these words are so very comforting to us – not that God will always protect us from breaking our bones, because we still do stupid things and we probably deserve to have a broken bone or two! But God continue to watch over us in everything we do and will try to make sure we are safe at all times.
The most comfort I get from these verses is not the broken bones part, but that God gives us a peace which really does go beyond all our own understanding. That peace is able to cover all our worries and self-doubts. That peace lifts us up from our mourning and gives us an understanding of how God continues to love and protect us.
I pray each one of you who are reading this (or listening to it) are blessed by God’s peace and continue to trust Him in many more things in your lives. I know I have always been surprised by the depth of the peace He gives me and continue to accept it in bundles. He really does look after me and protect me in so many ways, especially with my heart and mind!
Points to Ponder:
How much do you trust God with?
Will you give God your heart for safe keeping today?
January 19: Acts 4:32-35
Key Verse: Acts 4:35
and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Devotion:
If you wanted to start changing your community from the inside, what would you start out by doing? One of the best things to start with is blessing others... I’m not talking about the crass way some people go about giving things to others just so they can get loads of views on social media, but the true servant hearted giving Christ calls us to. These people talked about in this section of passage were all now living as one community and were sharing everything they had with one another.
I can feel the cries of socialism and various other things... but when it comes down to it, this is what Christ was teaching – not the rule based “you will share everything with everyone” but the servant hearted “I am willing to share with anyone who is in need!” There is a huge difference in the two!
God does not call us to be a regimented society who are all too scared to do anything else but follow the rules. God calls us to be willing to share with people who are in need... So who is in need? It may surprise you to find out who the ones are who are in need.
It could be the company director just down the road who is now facing bankruptcy because their bills far outweigh the family income, or it could be the factory worker who had hardly anything to start with. We are not here to judge people on what they have done but to stand by people because of the situation they are in now! God bless you Dad for always being willing to help anyone.
Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to open your eyes to people in need?
Would you help someone who has not helped you before?