Listening to the Word

Exodus 1-2; Ps 88; Luke 21 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36 Be careful, watch, and pray, so that you may be able to escape and stand before the Son of Man. Jesus taught that living with a daily expectation of his return would keep us from sin, strengthen our prayer life, and prepare us to give an account for our lives before his throne. It is healthy to live in the light of eternity. Jesus is returning soon. This expectancy focuses our lives on that which has eternal value. People matter to God. Invest in sharing the gospel. Holiness matters to God. Repent daily and resist temptation. Those who live this way have light heart...

Genesis 49-50; Psalms 8; Luke 20   “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” Psalm 8:1, 2 The mighty power of our Creator-God is contrasted with the frailty of an infant. Yet even this tiny expression of God’s creation gives our Creator praise through the wonder of how we are made. Jesus quoted this text in the temple courts as the children shouted, “Hosanna, to the Son of David” (Matthew 21:16). As the Pharisees and teachers of the law mocked and opposed Christ, it was the children who praised God and worshiped him for the miracles they had seen. In the humility of grateful praise to God, we, too, establish a stronghold against the enemy of our soul who came to kill, steal, and destroy the truth of our Creator-God in our lives and in this world. Will we, too, worship our Creator-God this day for...

Genesis 47-48; Psalms 10; Luke 19 “But you, O God, do see the trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless…You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.” Psalm 10:14, 17, 18 We serve a God who both sees and hears the afflicted and the fatherless. We can cry out to the Lord and commit our lives into his hands. The Lord is the helper and defender of the fatherless. Mercy and justice are part of the nature of God just as in the character of those who are filled with his Spirit. We carry the presence and character of the Lord in his mission of making disciples of all nations. In obedience, followers of Christ have birthed names for the fatherless around the world. We respond to trouble and grief with loving compassion because that is how the Lord has loved ...

Genesis 44-46; Luke 18   “Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’ Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lords’ slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.’” Genesis 44:32, 33 Judah’s intercession before Joseph for the life and freedom of Benjamin was a testimony to the transforming work of God in his life. Much earlier it had been Judah who was instrumental in selling Joseph into slavery. Now Judah was willing to be enslaved himself, rather than allow any harm to come to Jacob’s favored son. This is a picture of Christ’s intercession for us as he willingly took our sin upon himself, that we might be free from the penalty of sin and death.   As those who have experienced this freedom, are we, like Judah, available to intercede before God for the freedom of others? Are we willing to offer our lives for the lives of others? T...

Genesis 42-43; Psalms 5; Luke 17 “Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, ‘You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.’” Genesis 42:8, 9 Joseph’s dreams of his brothers bowing down to him caused much anger- and even contempt by his family. By sharing these God-given dreams with his them, Joseph prepared them for recognizing the hand of God at work when the time of fulfillment took place. We serve a prophetic God who prepares us for what is to come. This prophetic nature of God should give us faith that God’s Word is true and will be fulfilled. However, when we, like Joseph, receive a prophetic word through a dream, or the application of God’s Word to our lives, it is meant for confirmation, not direction. Joseph didn’t look for ways to make his brothers bow before him. When the prophetic word was fulfilled, he remembered the dream and God used that dream to confirm God’s hand ...

Genesis 39-41; Luke 16   “Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison…’…I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.’” Genesis 39:20; 40:15 Joseph’s enslavement, confinement, and mistreatment were all allowed by God for a future promotion, assignment, and saving of many people. Our confining tests must also be seen as the Lord’s sovereign preparation and refinement of our lives for his glory. We, too, might protest that we have “done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon;” but our full story has not yet been told. If we will choose to surrender to the Lord in our circumstances, and choose to bless, honor, and forgive those who have confined us, we, too, will live a testimony of God’s saving, transforming power. The tests God allows in our lives can be his greatest gifts to us if we respond with humility. From what “dungeon” does the Lord want to redeem to develop godly character, perseverance, a...