Today's Soul Food — April 14 & 15
 

April 14

"My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?" Psalm 6:3.

There are many how longs in the Bible. While Providence smiles, we take no notice; His consolations seem insignificant to none when all is well in our lives. We forget that He gives as well as takes. Then when a cloud slips past the sun, we forget that the sun still exists. Even when it is midnight and we are deep in the dark night of our soul, God still lives. It is we who eclipse Him, not vice versa. And it is a vice to forget this. "As when the sun is eclipsed, though the earth wants the light thereof, yet not the influence thereof; so God's supporting grace is ever with His deserted." Trapp.

Complaint should be carried to God and not be of God or anyone else. Because He is the same yesterday when we had joy, today when we have grief, and tomorrow when we have a new kind of joy born of faith in His purposes, then we should trust anyway and always. "This, too, shall pass!" Our God has measured our crosses to our caliber and He has calibrated just what we can bear. He has also appointed the time, and there are times when our disappointment is His appointment.

Even if we carry our cross to our grave, when we arise in our resurrection, blooms of love and elation will be flourishing from that cross, because we were faithful and believed to the end that God will bring good from what is so bad. Sorrows may end here; they most assuredly will end hereafter.

Jesus asked His how longs, too: "O unbelieving and perverse generation...how long shall I stay with you and put up with you?" Luke 9:41. Surely He felt a "how long" when He hung on the cross for us. We ask our how longs and our how muches; God simply asks us, "How much do you love Me? Is it enough to bear with what I now have for you, no matter how long it may last?"

Pat Nordman ©

April 15

"What are you willing to give me...?" Matthew 26:15a; "As keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it" John 12:6b.

This is a tragic chapter with a terrible question. Imagine, Judas is asking the chief priests how much they are willing to give him to betray his Lord! Judas, who once loved and believed in Jesus, is now ready to commit the greatest crime on earth, all for thirty pieces of silver. The weeds in Judas' garden were greed, lack of insight and ingratitude of the highest order. Even being with Jesus who daily sacrificed Himself for others did not convince Judas of his own self-serving ways. It must have gnawed at the very vitals of Judas that Jesus did not consider money the most vital possession in life. On many occasions Jesus warned about the love of money, but Judas' heart was enlarged with covetousness.

It's incredible to us that Judas would sell out the very One who gave him physical and spiritual life. Here was a man who was welcomed, along with Jesus and the other eleven disciples, everywhere they went. How could he not be content? But it isn't the lack of money but the love of money that has caused grievous desertion from principles and practices. His Master became a commodity to be sold to the most malicious bidders. For the price of a slave, Judas sold the Master. His itching palm and heart festered into boldness as he paid a tithe to the devil himself for "then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand [Jesus] over" (Matthew 26:16). How unthinkable, we think!

Pat Nordman ©

Yet who are we to judge Judas, for we serve self daily. How many times a day do we ask, "What are you willing to give me...?" We too have our dividing line when we choose either the right or the wrong action that will determine another's and our own future. Just as with Judas, we cannot step back over the line, so it is well to consider the consequences.

Today's Bible Question ?

What was the name of the secretary that wrote the book of Romans for Paul?

Previous question and Answer: Nicodemus put how many pounds of myrrh and aloes on the body of Jesus? Answer: One Hundred pounds. John 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. (KJV)

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T H I N K A B O U T I T

The Last Word The simplest meaning of Easter is that we are living in a world in which God has the last word. On Friday night it appeared as if evil were the master of life. The holiest and most lovable One who had ever lived was dead and in His tomb, crucified by the order of a tyrant without either scruples or regrets. He who had raised the highest hopes among men had died by the most shameful means. A cross, two nails, a jeering mob of debauched souls, and a quick thrust of a spear had ended it all. Those hours when His voice was stilled and His hands were quiet were the blackest through which the race has ever lived. If Caesar could put an end to Jesus, then no man could ever dare aspire or hope again. Hope, in such a world, could be nothing better than a mockery. Then came Easter morning and the glorious word: "He is risen!" And evil's triumph was at an end. Since that hour when Mary in the garden first discovered the staggering fact of victory, no man whose heart was pure and whose labors were honest has ever had reason to fear or despair if he believed in the Resurrection.  Paul Hovey  --James S. Hewett "Christmas is the Promise, and Easter is the Proof."

 

Today's  Devotion

Worth Living   God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.  Genesis 1:31 NIV

I have a tattered old booklet titled Is Life Worth Living? by J. Walter Rich. Probably every person who has been born, especially if they make it to old age, has asked that question. Certainly Job had a problem with the quality of his life when it went downhill rapidly. And Joseph must have wondered the same thing as he sat in prison for something he didn't do. I think we all need to focus on a purpose in life. It saddens me deeply to see the way some of our young people are being wasted. They are told they have evolved from slime, so why should they feel good about themselves? Why should they feel they are responsible for their own actions, if those actions are predetermined by a genetic makeup over which they have no control?  I've always believed in a rather simplistic description of good and evil: good is constructive and evil is destructive. Life is good and it is constructive for those who are good. "A man who has lived well is the one who has made good among his fellows. He has not been a dead weight upon his community. He has added to the uplift of his surroundings, passing on to it his spirit and inspiration. He has given as much or more than he has received; otherwise, he has been a liability rather than an asset." J. Walter Rich.  But - to do and to be good, we must believe in Something higher than ourselves and Someone who wants the best for us. If we know -- absolutely without any doubts -- that our Father truly loves us and wants the best for us, then we can live that good life! For our precious young people I'd like to share these verses:  John 10:10 I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full.  Psalm 103:4 He redeems my life from the pit and crowns me with love and compassion.  Deut. 30:19 I have set before you life and ...blessings...Now choose life, so that you and your children may live...  Eze. 18:32 I take no pleasure in the death of anyone...  John 12:47 I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.  Deut. 30:15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity...  Psalm 87:6 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples: This one was born in Zion.  Esther 4:14 And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? Life is indeed worth living to the fullness that God the Father wants us to have. Jesus died for naught if we feel otherwise! © Pat Nordman

But - to do and to be good, we must believe in Something higher than ourselves and Someone who wants the best for us.

More Walking Through the Darkness

All the Rest April 14 & 15

Today in History April 14 Today in History April 15