June 7: Genesis 3:8-15
Key Verse: Genesis 3:8
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Devotion:
What do you do when you know you have done something wrong and have just been found out? Do you run from the situation and try and hide, or do you stop and face up to what is going to happen? Yes, it’s probably going to depend on what you have done wrong and what sort of trouble you will get into... So you don’t have to answer!
When we do something wrong in our lives, God is not going to turn away from us and ignore us because we have sinned – He is more likely to come looking for us and find out why we did what we did! The same can be said for many of our friends – they will want to find out why we did what we did and help us to get things straight again.
When we hear that small voice in our heads saying “don’t do it!” it may well be God trying to get through to us so we don’t run off and commit the sin in the first place. God does not want to continually run after us and get us back on track – He would much rather we stayed on track and listened when He tells us we are about to fall flat on our faces! God is not the God of punishment. God is just, but because of His mercy He is more likely to warn you before you fall!
But, when we do fall and break the rules, we will have to face the music at some stage. We cannot keep running from the truth and running from God and His rules! It’s not us who are inherently evil, but the world we live in and the evil one who tricks us into doing those evil things just because he can! God may have won the war over sin, but we face continual skirmishes all the time as he picks and prods at us to stop us from drawing closer to God.
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel the weight of sin?
Will you ask Christ to help with your burden?
June 6: Psalm 130:1-5
Key Verse: Psalm 130:5
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
Devotion:
No matter where we are in our lives or how we feel about things, God is always going to be there, listening and answering prayers! Were you told stories as a child about how Father Christmas would keep a record of who has been good and who has been bad – and he would only deliver gifts at Christmas to the people who were on the good list! The best thing about God is He does not keep count of all the things you have done wrong! Can you imagine how long the list would be if He did keep record of everything we have done wrong!
One thing we can be sure of is Him listening to our cries – not because we have been good, but because He promised to do so in the beginning! Nobody's prayers would get listened to if God kept records of our sins! Instead, Christ has given us a sure way God will not just listen to our prayers but will answer them!
So what do we have to do? Simply wait on God! There is no point shouting about how God is not doing anything for you if you are not willing to wait for Him. He is the one who knows when and where the best time and place is to answer your prayers – we cannot know that sort of information because we do not know anything outside of our world we live in.
God is not limited by time and space like we are and certainly is not limited by our physical world. Christ showed us how He was willing and able to do so many miracles for people who were willing to wait on God. We have this hope in Christ which goes far beyond what we can think of – simply wait on God...
Points to Ponder:
How long do you wait after praying for something?
Are you willing to say yes to God even if He does not answer your prayers yet?
June 5: 1 Samuel 8:4-20
Key Verse: 1 Samuel 8:19
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We want a king over us.
Devotion:
One of the things we do as humans is look for other humans we can hold up as our leaders – we elevate them into positions where they hold far too much power over us and yet we don’t see it as such! When Samuel was getting old and the people saw none of his family were ready to take on the mantle of being the prophet to lead them, they turned to human ways and wanted someone they could think of as powerful to look after them and lead them.
What they were not thinking of was how God had been the one who was always there for them and always looked after them – albeit through the prophets because they would not listen directly to God!
The more we are surrounded by worldly issues, the more we look for someone who is willing to tell us what to do to get us out of the problems! If we were to set aside our physicals wants and look to God for our answers, we would be in a much better ways than we are now. The power and position of authorities gets to people’s heads and pride and greed take over their ways!
God wants us to not get too hung up with earthly way6s and power, but to look to Him in all ways for guidance and strength. He continues to offer us the guidance, but we keep on turning to mans ways to get us out of the problems when we should be looking for Gods ways! As the Israelites looked deeper at the issues which lay ahead, all they could do was to think of an earthly way forward... just like us!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you turn to for guidance when things go wrong?
Will you try to listen to God this time?
June 4: Luke 9:12-17
Key Verse: Luke 9:17
They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Devotion:
Sometimes in life we tend to rely a bit too much on what we think is probable rather than what God has promised. We water down God’s Word because we think it is a bit too difficult or hard to believe in the miracles. God is not limited by what we think is possible, probably or even by what we think is improbable!
Just like the disciples, when we see a problem approaching, we think of all the things which can go wrong and we expect them to start happening. Because we are looking for the problems and issues, we overlook what could be solutions to the problems and we get caught up in a mess – just as we expected!
When the disciples could see nothing but a big problem approaching, God told them to face the problem with a miracle. God is not going to leave us in the lurch if we are willing to listen to Him and obey Him. When the disciples started to listen and obey, they saw a solution to the problem which required God to do something extraordinary. They had to step up and allow God to do something extraordinary! They had to put all their faith and trust in God and allow Him to work out the problem.
If we are willing to do this for God, He is willing to do extraordinary things for us to allow us to face problems which seem insurmountable when we see them through our earthly eyes. Only seeing things through God eyes can help us to solve things His way. God wants to help us. God wants to show us He is capable of anything when we trust Him.
Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard to work past big issues in your life?
Have you tried giving them to God?