Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be ho/y; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

(Hebrews 12:14 NIV)

God's demands are inexorable; only one thing will satisfy Him, and that is speckless, spotless holiness, and He will never let us go until He has brought us there - unless we wrest ourselves out of His hand drown!

Oswald Chambers

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman ©

June 12

Many years ago Dr. Samuel Smiles made an interesting observation: "While in a largenatured man, solitude will make the pure heart purer, in the smallnatured man it will only serve to make the hard heart still harder; for though solitude may be the nurse of great spirits, it is the torment of small ones."

"And in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there" (Mark 1:35). Jesus could be no more pure than He was, yet He sought the solitary place. Solitude is a gift that protects man's mind and heart from mediocrity and melancholy.

Pat Nordman ©

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions
Spurgeon's Morning for June 12	Spurgeon's Evening for June 12
"Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting." - Daniel 5:27	"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling." - 2 Timothy 1:9
Let me no longer be 'found wanting,' when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, lest I be found wanting in the scales of judgment." "Judge yourselves that ye be not judged."	Salvation must be of grace, because the Lord is the author of it: and what motive but grace could move him to save the guilty? Salvation must be of grace, because the Lord works in such a manner that our righteousness is for ever excluded.

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June 12 2Ch 7:1 - 9:31

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Current Bible Question

Which prophet was told to dig a hole in a wall to see Judah's idolatry?

Previous question and Answer:

How did Joshua's army cripple their enemies horses when taking over Canaan?

They clipped their hamstrings. Joshua 11:9

Today's Devotion

...and by his light I walked through darkness! JOB 29:3 NIV

Clay and Dust

by Pat Nordman

"For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust"

Psalm 103:14

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."

2 Corinthians 4:7

We are clay and dust, not very durable materials. Job in his agony lamented to God, "Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?" Job 10:9. We are frail, but God does not condemn us. On such days it helps us to remember that "as [our] days, so shall [our] strength be" (Deuteronomy 33:25b).

There is another instruction in these verses and that is to grant to others the generous allowance that God grants to us and to have as much patience with the frailties of others as we have of our own limitations. We are all dust and prejudices and heredities that God knows and evaluates in both the present and final accounting. How can we judge another's formation when we must ask God daily for mercy for our own failures?

We are also "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). Who but our Creator could house within dust and clay such delicate organs as the brain and ears and eyes, or envision the uses of hands and feet, arms and legs? The study of the cell alone convinces us of the astonishing Creator and His act of creation.

It is the spiritual operation of the mind that separates man from animal and makes us God's treasure. We need to remember too, that the mind is helped or hindered by the condition of the housing for it is with the body that we honor God: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. . .? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). From this, then, we realize that we are morally obligated to take very good care of our dust and clay.

Send a note to © Pat Nordman , the writer of this devotion.

Who but our Creator could house within dust and clay such delicate organs as the brain and ears and eyes, or envision the uses of hands and feet, arms and legs?

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