THE LORD SPOKE (June 5)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: II Kings 20-21

"Put your house in order, because you are going to die...." (II Ki. 20:1)

What Hezekiah heard should not have come as a surprise. After all, those words are true for everyone. The death rate for mankind is still one per one. But, Hezekiah had a lot he wanted to accomplish and he just wasn't ready to quit yet. So, what would you do if you had exactly fifteen years left to live (20:6)?

• Would you give more attention to your quiet time with the Lord every day?
• Would you give more effort to leaving something worthwhile behind?
• Would you give more action to sharing the Gospel with the lost?
• Would you give more time to your family?
• Would you give more?

Other lessons from this chapter:

• God may at times signal His direction for us in unique ways (20:11), but normally He speaks through His Word.
• God may at times provide miraculous healing, but this does not exclude the use of known remedies (20:7).
• God may at times give us a new lease on life (20:6), but this is not license to act foolishly (20:13-18).
• God may at times grant us a reprieve in judgment, but it should be a time to recognize His mercy and grace (20:19).

So, is your house in order. You are going to die, you know.


New Testament: II Corinthians 7

Godly sorrow vs. worldly sorrow. They both may look the same superficially but they certainly don’t act the same. And the end result is as different as night and day.

Worldly sorrow is self-centered. It is a response to consequences. The painful results of sin produce regret and a shallow sort of sorrow that does not result in real change.

Godly sorrow is God-centered. It is a recognition of the wickedness of our sin and produces a heart-felt change of direction. That’s the meaning of “repentance” (Gk. metanoia). It involves a deliberate turning from sin to righteousness.

When Peter and John healed the crippled beggar at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple (Acts 3), a crowd quickly gathered and Peter addressed them. After defining their sin in no uncertain terms, he said:

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.... (Acts 3:19)

It’s that wiping out of sin that identifies genuine repentance. Or, as Paul says in today’s text, it “leads to salvation” (II Cor. 7:10). He goes on to say that it produces earnestness and an eagerness to clear oneself, indignation and alarm at the sinfulness of sin, longing and concern to return to God, and a readiness to see justice done (II Cor. 7:11).

This sort of repentance will bring refreshing from the Lord, and how sweet it is! Genuine repentance produces life and restoration to fellowship.

Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.

I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
Fulfill Thy Word, and make me pure within.
Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire to magnify Thy Name.

Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine;
Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine.
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;
I now surrender, Lord in me abide.

O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee;
Send a revival, start the work in me.
Thy Word declares Thou wilt supply our need;
For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.

THE LORD SPOKE (February 28)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Numbers 14-15

How could it be? “The whole assembly talked about stoning them.” (Num. 14:10). Not the unfaithful spies who led the people away from God. They were talking about stoning Moses and Aaron, and probably Joshua and Caleb. The whole assembly! What was wrong with them? Was there not a man of integrity among the 600,000?

Apparently not, for God’s wrath was stirred against them. “The LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.’" (Num. 14:11-12)

Moses stood in the gap and argued (!) With the Lord for the people. God was ready to destroy the whole lot of them and start over again from scratch but Moses persuaded Him to display His sovereign strength in another way. "Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now." (Num. 14:17-19)

So God did pardon them. But they still suffered the consequences of their sin. Not one of them was allowed to enter the Land of Promise. For the next forty years they died one-by-one in the desert. God said, “But you - your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years - one year for each of the forty days you explored the land - you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die." (Num. 14:32-35)

If you start with 603,550 men (Num. 2:32) and an equal number of women, over a period of 40 years, that comes to something like 82.6 people per day. Every day. For forty years. How did it take place? Did they know that tomorrow it would be everyone whose last name begins with “Fr...”? Or was it everyone born between September 3 and 8? One thing was sure, everyone’s number eventually came up and a new pile of rocks on the desert floor was all that they had to look forward to.

Except for Joshua and Caleb. In them was “a different spirit” (Num. 14:24). They followed the Lord with their whole heart.

Where are you in this? Do you follow the Lord wholeheartedly? Or are you going to be content to be just another pile of rocks on the desert floor?


New Testament: Luke 15

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)

I. HIS MADNESS
A. He wanted his tin.
B. He surrendered to sin.
C. He gave up his kin.
II. HIS BADNESS
A. He went to the dogs.
B. He ate with the hogs.
C. He hocked all his togs.
III. HIS GLADNESS
A. He was given the seal.
B. He ate up the veal.
C. He danced a reel.

You could do the same for his brother (he was a better lad, he got very mad, he made his dad sad...) but don’t miss the point!

1. The Father loves us beyond measure and desires our restoration always.
2. When we find ourselves lost and undone, the only right direction is to return to the Father.
3. Recognition of our guilt needs to be verbally specific and expressed to the Father in an articulate confession.
4. Failure to forgive a sinning brother is a deep grief to the Father.

If you’re a prodigal, you need to listen to this. If you’re not a prodigal, you may need to listen to it even more.

THE LORD SPOKE (October 11)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Isaiah 65-66

What makes you tremble? When do you find your “flesh quivering”? What gives you goose bumps and makes your pulse race?

There are a variety of reasons this might happen. It could be fear or anxiety. We tremble when we are afraid of danger or approaching catastrophe. Our nerves are jangled and we quake. It could be extreme danger - our flesh crawls. Or it could be as simple as getting up to speak in front of a group - we get the jitters. Sometimes the trembling doesn’t come until after the danger has passed. Have you ever had to stop the car after a near accident just to let your nerves calm down, stop trembling, and get hold of yourself again? Danger averted may leave us trembling.

Or, we might tremble with expectation. The anticipation of something greatly desired may cause trembling. Do you remember how you felt as a kid during those last few hours before Christmas Day arrived? Or waiting for the mailman when you expected an important piece of mail to be delivered? Or finally tossing your suitcase in the trunk and heading for the airport to embark on a long-awaited trip? Or watching out the window for that loved-one’s car to pull into the driveway? The expectant anticipation left you all ajiggle.

Anger will leave you shaking. Cold will cause you to shiver. Guilt will make you twitch or quake. Defeat will rock you. Victory will give you a rush. Prolonged stress or over-extension will produce fatigue and you’ll begin to quiver. Shear joy or awe will move you and will be evidenced by another kind of trembling.

But when was the last time you trembled while reading God’s Word? If it’s been awhile, get back in the habit! First, you may need to just read it (have you slacked off lately?). Then, you may need to block out all the cares and the busy activities that keep your mind so occupied so you can listen to it. Finally, you have to apply it, make it personal, and do what it says. Come to it humbly, desiring to hear God’s voice to you. Come to it expectantly, wanting to find food for your soul. Come to it with a broken heart, confessing your sin.

Isaiah (66:2b) tells us what God thinks: This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.


Psalms 49-50

Hearses don’t pull U-Hauls. It might even be possible for you to arrange to have all your stuff buried in the hole with you but it still wouldn’t help. The fact remains: you can’t take it with you.

Or, as the psalmist says, “For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others” (Ps. 49:10). The death rate is still one out of one and “the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough” (Ps. 49:7). So, no one should ever think he can avoid it - or even delay it.

We are easily impressed by wealth. It’s a natural enough reaction when we see a beautiful house, nicely situated. Wealth and splendor do catch our attention. But this psalm warns us:

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich,
When the splendor of his house increases;
For he will take nothing with him when he dies,
His splendor will not descend with him. (Ps. 49:16-17)

Riches without understanding leave you no better off than the beasts. Twice that’s repeated (Ps. 49:12,20), just in case you might be tempted to forget it. Rather than trust in yourself or your riches, there is only one proper way to turn. You must look to God to redeem your life (Ps. 49:15). He is the only source of true value.

Back in the ‘50's and ‘60's it was common to see lots of little plaques on the walls of Christian homes. The little painted plaster knickknacks contained pithy statements that served as reminders along the path of life. Coming or going, they’d help us to pause and reflect on some worthwhile thought. One of the most common was:

Only one life, ‘twill soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Maybe we need to put up some more of those little plaques so we can be reminded of this truth.