Good News Daily Volume XIV August 3-9, 2014 Number 31 Sunday, August 3 Judges 6:1-24 “I told you, ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live.’ But you have not listened to me.” (v.10 NLT) What are the gods of the land where I now live? I walk through shopping areas, and I see the word “ME” in windows and displays. Like the gulls in the movie Finding Nemo screeching, “mine, mine,” our culture is a “me first” culture. But what about me, Lord? Lord, forgive me the times I turn to the solutions and comforts of the people of my neighborhood, community, and nation rather than turn to you. I want to choose Your ways, Lord, rather than the litigious, self preserving ways of our increasingly self oriented culture. Psalm 96 invites us to “Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!” (v.1). Open the eyes and ears of my heart, Lord. Show me Your way. Psalms 93, 96; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15; Mark 3:20-30 Monday, August 4 Judges 6:25-40 “Pull down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah Pole standing beside it. Then build an altar to the Lord your God here on this hilltop sanctuary, laying the stones carefully.” (vv.25b-26a) What altars of our fathers must we pull down? Can we (will we) begin to search our hearts to reveal the altars we are building that our children will have to struggle to pull down? Altars to success, appearance, bank balances, property, reputation, food, and other addictions. What am I modeling to my children? If they follow my example what will they worship? Are my children seeing Jesus in me or something else? Show me, Lord. Shine Your truth on me. Perhaps today would be a good day for an examination of conscience, such as taught by St. Ignatius. “Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved” (Psalm 80:3). Psalm 80; Acts 2:37-47; John 1:1-18 Tuesday, August 5 Psalm 78:1-39 “So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting His glorious miracles and obeying his commands.” (v.7) Many years ago as I entered into my own relationship with the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, I read an enlightening phrase in the book A Closer Walk by Catherine Marshall: “God has no grandchildren.” At first I was puzzled. That seemed strange. Was He rejecting grandchildren? No, He wants us as children, with nothing and no one between Himself and us. I soon realized I didn’t want to be a grandchild to God. Being His child was my precious position. Learning the close connection He wants with us, created us for, has been a journey to savor. To have a Father always available to worship, receive love and wisdom from Him, share the ups and downs with Him, grieve, celebrate, rest under His protection. A Father who loves, teaches, restores, heals. Getting to know Him is a life journey. Jesus said, “Come!” I’m on the journey! Judges 7:1-18; Acts 3:1-11; John 1:19-28 Wednesday, August 6 Psalm 119:97-120 Oh, how I love your instructions! I think about them all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are my constant guide. Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. (vv.97-98, 105) In his book Draw the Circle, Mark Batterson says, “When you open your Bible, God opens His mouth.” Lord, that says it for me! Knowing every time I open the Bible You open Your mouth! By reading Your words on paper—if I listen—I can hear Your voice speaking into my life, giving me direction, instruction, correction, encouragement, truth, and healing. All with the comfort and safety of Your Presence. “A lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” Judges 7:19—8:12; Acts 3:12-26; John 1:29-42 Thursday, August 7 Psalm 145 I lift You high in praise, my God, O my King! And I’ll bless your name into eternity. Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal; you never get voted out of office. GOD always does what he says and is gracious in everything he does. (vv.1, 13 The Message) Oh, Lord! There You are in the sunrise and the sunset. Always all around me and within me. I just have to recognize You…just say Your name and You are waiting to “give a hand to me when I am down on luck, give me a fresh start when I am ready to quit” (v.14, paraphrased). Like Brother Lawrence, I want to spend my day knowing You are before me, share with You as I do my simple chores, seek Your truth as I confront the more complex issues of my life. “My mouth is filled with GOD’s praise. Let everything living bless him, bless his holy name from now to eternity” (v.21). Judges 8:22-35; Acts 4:1-12; John 1:43-51 Friday, August 8 Psalm 88 O LORD, I cry out to you. I will keep on pleading day by day. (v.13 NLT) The perseverance of the psalmist is inspiring! If he can persist in “crying out” and “pleading day by day” in spite of his belief that he has been rejected: God has turned his face (v.14), in spite of having been “sick and close to death” since his youth (v.15), in spite of the fact that “darkness” is his “closest friend” (v.18b), how can I let discouragement, pain, fear, or disappointment stop me from turning to (running to) God? If he, the psalmist, could persevere through all his trials can I not turn to God day by day, moment by moment, through my seasons of sickness and disappointment? I sense God responding; be still, know Him, wait on Him, the God who rescues and heals. Judges 9: 1-16, 19-21; Acts 4: 13-31; John 2:2-12 Saturday, August 9 Psalm 90 Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God. (vv.1-2) Once a small boy shared with me, “God is soooo big! He’s bigger than houses!” “Awesome” is too small a word for our God. In His immeasurably massive size and greatness, in His overwhelming presence, love, and grace, I can be saved from or carried through the most disastrous of circumstances. And we are taught by this psalm, “You (God) have been our home.” I can come home to Him from, and many times with, the messes of my life! When I come home to Him, come home to His wisdom and His plan, He will guide and protect me. Judges 9:22-25, 50-57; Psalm 87; Acts 4:32—5:11; John 2:13-25 by Barbara Maybee Used with permission from the BIBLE READING FELLOWSHIP PO Box 380, Winter Park, FL 32790 biblereading.org
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 23:01:54 +0000
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