For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
Truly honest witnesses do not shape their testimony in order to deceive their listeners. On the other hand, once you realize that someone has distorted the truth in order to mislead you, you should expect that everything they say is similarly deceptively worded. Those who mock the beliefs of others may seek for wisdom, but they will not be able to find it. We see this around us all the time in people who mock Christianity as “superstitious nonsense” who then, in their search for meaning, fall prey to things that are truly superstitious nonsense.
Let us praise God today, let us sing to Him with thanksgiving. Let us kneel, surrendering completely to God’s authority, and worship Him. He will watch over us and care for us, if only we listen to His voice and follow His instructions. Let us not harden our hearts and determine to follow our own will rather than God’s. He desires what is best for us and if we follow His instructions they will bring us joy. I will listen to His voice today (and every day)!
Sing a song to the Lord and rejoice! Let us call on all of the earth to honour God, because that is the path to prosperity and happiness for all. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. If people would only do as He commands, misery and misfortune would be no more.
Whenever I read of Peter’s denial of Christ, I sympathize with him and it gives me renewed hope for myself. I know there have been times when I have denied Christ because of social pressure just as Peter did here. It gives me great hope to realize that Peter was forgiven for his denial. However, the passage also reminds me that Peter suffered great grief from his denial. It gives me great grief that I have at times denied my faith in Christ to avoid ridicule. I will continue to ask God’s Spirit to move within me to keep me from doing it again.
I have read the story of Gideon many times. When the angel came to Gideon and told him that God was with him, Gideon asked why all the bad things had happened to God’s people. The angel’s answer to Gideon is one for all of us who see injustice and people suffering in this world. The angel told Gideon, “I am sending you!” If you want to know why there is wrong and suffering in this world, it is because you (and I) have not done what God has called us to do. Rather than ask God why there is suffering in this world, let us ask God what He wants us to do about it.
Gideon’s reply is all too often ours, “I am too insignificant to help.” But God has an answer for that as well. God tells us, “I will be with you.” Gideon asked for a sign that this message was indeed from God. Let us not be afraid to ask God to confirm what He is telling us. He will do so, but once He has confirmed the message, let us act on it.