June 27: Psalm 30:8-10
Key Verse: Psalm 30:9
What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
Devotion:
Have you ever wondered why God made us; I mean, not just because He loves us, but why did He create us the way we are? We could come up with things like, He was lonely, or He wanted company, but we don’t really know enough about God to make assumptions like that. But, after people God to know Jesus personally, they wrote about things and through those words we have a better understanding of God through His Son Jesus.
When we read back over what God has done and the timing of various things, we can come to the conclusion He made the world so we would have a place to live – His creating us being the initial point and not just the creating of everything first!
As God got to know man, He was coming and spending time with man. Yes, He did enjoy the company, enjoy what he had done etc etc. Isn’t that the point of making something in the first place – so we can enjoy it. I have on many occasions wondered what I would create if I were to try to make a robot of some kind – how much artificial intelligence would I give it?
God wants us to continue communing (or meeting) with Him. He wants us to spend time with Him. If we did not, would the dirt around us praise God? I fear not, because we are the ones who have been created in His image, not dirt! God wants us to be open and enjoy our spending time with Him and not to hide it in a cellar or behind a bush!
Points to Ponder:
How much time do you spend speaking with God?
Will you spend a little more time today with God?
June 26: Isaiah 40:1-5
Key Verse: Isaiah 40:4
Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
Devotion:
I love the way God spoke to Isaiah so he would be able to encourage the people of Israel. They had been through so much, from being in captivity in Egypt, to searching through the desert, having a great place to live and then losing it all again. Some may well have thought God was not with them because of what they had been through – but they had turned away from God and done their own thing even after being warned by God!
After all this had happened, and they had more taken away from them that they could understand, God had promised to bring them back together and never to leave them. Throughout their troubles, God was close by and waiting for them to repent of their ways to come back to Him. His promises were to do so, and He was going to keep to those promises.
We can now look back over time and see how this promise came true through Jesus coming to live amongst them and to make a way where they would never have to seek sacrifices to cover their sins again. John came just before Jesus to make that way in the wilderness for people to look toward Christ and to find out what He was going to do for us all.
Jesus wanted to level the playing field so the rich would no longer be kept on platforms just because they had money, and the poor would be able to achieve things even though they are poor. Christ continues to make sure we still remember this and practice this when we can!
Points to Ponder:
Do you ever try to level the playing field?
Will you help someone today who is less fortunate than you?
June 25: Luke 3:10-14
Key Verse: Luke 3:14
Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’ He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.’
Devotion:
When Jesus started teaching the people about how to live as Christians, He upset quite a few people because He was adamant about how we should be living. When the people heard His instructions about how they should behave when dealing with possessions, the rich people were put off because they did not want to lose money, and some of the poorer people were put off because they did not want to have to rely on others.
But when it came down to sharing what we have with others – many people did not know how to handle that! It was well known in their society tax collectors would take more than people owed and skim some of the money off for themselves. We think of things like this nowadays and call it a service charge – but it amounts to much the same thing! The same went for the soldiers who would ‘uphold’ the law for anyone who was willing to pay them extra!
God wants us to be honest about our lives and honest about our dealings with others. If we are honest then we must look to be happy with what we have and not desire more than we have contracted for. If we have agreed a certain salary, then we should not expect more just because we could get more if we did something else... This idea tends to break down society because some people want more than others and they end up getting more than others because of how they behave.
The less strife we have between us and our neighbours, the less we will have to strive to get over and above what we have – in others words, the less we will want and the more satisfied we will be with what we have already. God wants us to aim for the best – but not to be greedy about getting it!
Points to Ponder:
Do you think your business life is honest?
Will you try to work to what you have agreed rather than what you think you want?
June 24: Luke 1:57-66
Key Verse: Luke 1:63
He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, ‘His name is John.’
Devotion:
When God asks you do to something, how long do you do it? Do you carry on doing it even when the world turns against you? Do you carry on even though you have doubts? Do you stop when you have had enough? If we look back in our lives, when we were younger we probably had some ideas about what we would like to do. When I was very young, I wanted to be a train driver! Then I wanted to be a pilot, then an engineer, and then I got into computers... My life as a youngster changed quite a bit!
When we are youngsters with God, we may well let our lives chop and change as well, just like we do when we are inexperienced in life. We gain experience and we take on new knowledge and wisdom – with that we grow and change our ways to try and keep up... But if you were told to do something by God – where do you draw the line?
God has ultimate knowledge about what is best for us and where we should be going in our lives. If we trust Him, depend on Him and obey Him, we should be able to get closer to the ideal position we should have in our lives. But there are all manner of things along the way which prevent us from getting things right! Temptations, lack of willpower, stupidity, pride and greed to name a few...
When God told Zechariah he was going to have a son, he doubted it and doubted what God could do. Because of this he was not allowed to speak until he had named his son John. After that point, Zechariah knew exactly why things happened the way they did and knew what had to be done with his life – he had to worship God in a new way!
Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to God’s call in your life?
How far would you go for God?