Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith'" he said, "why did you doubt?"

(Matthew 14:31 NIV)

In the tragic storms of the life, Jesus specializes in calming waves and silencing winds. It'll just shock you sometimes. How can Jesus Christ do such a thing? How, indeed. He is God! Never doubt it, my friend.

Charles Swindoll

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman ©

July 3

"Forgetting what lies behind..." (Philippians 3:13):

Slanders; temptations; sins which God has already forgiven; the little and large faults of others; provocations that sear our sensitive nature; quarrels that either we or they have started; and all the disagreeables of life. Let us reach forward, as Paul tells us in the same verse, to what lies ahead and enjoy the agreeables. We have such a perverted and sinful tendency to hone in on the bone and forget the delicious meat of life: family, friends, coworkers with whom we can share a thought and a laugh. Let us blot out others' transgressions and our disagreeables today.

July 4

"Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm..." (Job 38:1).

Thenwhen his friends had spoken their broken pieces, when Job was at wit's end and had vented his grief and despair at this God who was out to get him...then God spoke His Word to Job.

God does not mistime His visits, whether for mercy or for judgment. Sometimes He has to come in a storm for us to notice the importance of the lesson He has for us. He does not come to crush or overwhelm us, but to make sense of our perplexing problem: "Come now," He implores, "let us reason together" (Isaiah 1:18).

Dear friend, we are not alone in any storm of life.

Pat Nordman ©

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions
Spurgeon's Morning for July 3	Spurgeon's Evening for July 3
"The ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven wellfavoured and fat kine." - Genesis 41:4	"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." - 2 Timothy 2:12
If I neglect prayer for never so short a time, I lose all the spirituality to which I had attained; if I draw no fresh supplies from heaven, the old corn in my granary is soon consumed by the famine which rages in my soul.	If we are rash and imprudent, and run into positions for which neither providence nor grace has fitted us, we ought to question whether we are not rather sinning than communing with Jesus.
Spurgeon's Morning for July 4	Spurgeon's Evening for July 4
"Sanctify them through thy truth." - John 17:17	"He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." - Psalm 24:4
The Spirit of God infuses into man that new living principle by which he becomes "a new creature" in Christ Jesus. This work, which begins in the new birth, is carried on in two ways--mortification, whereby the lusts of the flesh are subdued and kept under; and vivification, by which the life which God has put within us is made to be a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.	We may wash the outside of the cup and the platter as long as we please, but if the inward parts be filthy, we are filthy altogether in the sight of God, for our hearts are more truly ourselves than our hands are; the very life of our being lies in the inner nature, and hence the imperative need of purity within.

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July 3 Ne 9:1 - 10:39
July 4 Ne 11:1 - 12:47

365 days of Bible Readings Linked to Bible Gaitway TM

Current Bible Question

In what land were there no swarms of flies, as a means of demonstrating that God's people dwelt there and were therefore protected?

Previous question and Answer:

Which seller of purple in the city of Thyatira provided a place for Paul and Silas to stay?

Lydia (Acts 16:14-15)

Today's Devotion

But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Job 16:5 (NIV)

Not Slow

by Cathy Vinson

"The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

(2 Peter 3:9)

How do we account the slowness of God? Slackness? Sluggishness? As we learn about the kindness of God, we realize He endures a waiting period for us to repent. To His own grief, He waits patiently. He is long-suffering, a word in the Hebrew meaning "long nose," or long fuse.

1 Peter 3:20 mentions those who disobeyed "long ago when God WAITED PATIENTLY in the days of Noah while the ark was being built." After God's plan was made to Noah, He waited 120 years for repentance. God waited; they disobeyed. Because there was "patience" in His wait, it seems He would have waited yet another week if there was repentance. Is this slackness?

What is it that slows God? What is giving us another day to live and breathe, and hopefully repent? Great love slackens our God. Love slows Him. God is love.

We must know that our days are filled with God's forbearance, His longing desire for more and more to repent for Christ. The passage of time MEANS the patience of the Lord, and "bear in mind that the patience of the Lord means salvation" (2 Pet 3:15). Let us not sin against the beauty of a waiting God.

Send a note to Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion.

... What is it that slows God? What is giving us another day to live and breathe, and hopefully repent? Great love slackens our God. Love slows Him. God is love.

Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE