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Daily Meditations are words of comfort and encouragement for those who are actively involved in making God's word an active and living part of their lives. We hope that you will find much blessing as you partake of his words daily.
______________________________________________ (TOP) CodeMD Proverbs 9:9-10 and Psalm 34:11-22 02/14/05 The wise and the fear of the Lord
Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still... Proverbs 9:9
The Lord sets a standard for all those who would be wise. He is wise, says the Lord who receives instruction and adds to his store of learning and becomes wiser still. The wise man will receive instruction gladly even when he is at a disadvantage. He will not take offense when he knows that the instruction given was for his good. With such an attitude, the wise man is on his way to life.
The wise man loves life enough to realise that in order to prolong it, he must learn to fear the Lord rightly. (Psalm 34:11 and 12). The Psalmist reminds us that in order to begin fearing the Lord, one needs to do some essential things. What are these? The first is to guard the tongue. Speak truth and keep the tongue from evil. Word torrents are filled with the debris of falsehood. It is better to be a rippling brook of pure and clear water than a rushing tsunami flood of black, mud filled water filled with abrasive stones and sundry. The wise man seeks peace by peaceful words and good deeds.
Second, the wise man who fears the Lord is a man of prayer (Psalm 34:17). He cries out to the Lord constantly and consistently. Although broken hearted and crushed, he does not despair but seeks the Lord for just recompense. Indeed there may be troubles and much toil, such is life on this earth where none is spared its dreary dark side. However, as the wise man calls out in prayer, he is reminded that the Lord is not deaf. Indeed the Lord hears and delivers. He saves the crushed in spirit and protects all those with broken bones. Many will give up the struggle to live and sink in desperation beneath the murky waters of dreariness but the man of God, the wise man who fears the Lord will fight by calling out to the Lord who saves. There are no sad stories in God. For all who call out to him will be saved. The Lord's hand is far reaching and will be stretched out in love for all those who look to him for salvation.
Thirdly, the wise man knows how to take refuge. He acknowledges his weakness and stoops down in humble adoration to the God who saves. The proud will stand and not bow down to adversity. He will relish his last stand even if it kills him. He is proud that he needs no God and by his beaten brow he will yet stand. Joseph Henley's "Invictus" summarises it all...
Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud, Under the bludgeonings of chance, My head is bloody, but unbowed,
Beyond this place of wrath and tears, Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years, Finds, and shall find, me, unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL.
The wise man acknowledges his need. He acknowledges that God stands between him and disaster and is grateful that the Lord stands in the gaps for him. He bows down in humility and cries out in joy and celebration. He calls out to God, Abba, Father! and is deeply grateful for his comfort and succour. While the proud mocks at the apparent weakness of the wise man and takes pride in his unconquerable soul, the meek wise man knows for a fact that indeed the meek will inherit the earth.
Friends, for the sake of a brief heroic moment we shall but burn in hell for all eternity. Be wise and know that He is God. He loves us enough to die on the cross for us. Take his outstretched arm gratefully and humbly acknowledge that without him we are men most miserable.
Prayer for Monday. Lord, thank you for your love and comfort. May we always be humble, praying to you for help. May we always be teachable, receiving instruction and applying ourselves to your life giving word. In your matchless name, Amen.
(BB) ______________________________________________
Tuesday Meditation CodeMD Psalm 35:1-16 02/15/05 Battle prayers and praise
Contend O Lord with those who contend with me, fight against those who fight against me Psalm 35:1
When Christians are involved in the midst of battle, how should they pray? How can we stand against the enemy, deal him harm and yet remain true to the Lord? The Psalmist in Psalm 35 teaches us how.
First, we must be prepared for strong defenses. A strong defense involves nothing less than the Lord himself. We pray defensively with these words...Contend, O Lord with those who contend with me, fight against those who fight against me. (1) We call upon the name of the Lord for help in battle. Our arms are strengthened because God is on our side and we invoke his terrible name. We call upon God to shield us, to brandish spear and javelin, that is all the offensive weapons which we and God have at our disposal in order to intimidate the enemy into not attacking us. We invoke the name which strikes terror at the enemies and call upon him to save us. At the very heart of our defense is God and his mighty power and we must never forget that.
Second there is the offensive part of battle. In this we pray that the battle when taken to the enemy will strike the enemy at his weakest point. The most important is his will to fight. At the heart of every contention is a cause. Each of the contending party asserts that his cause is the right one and thus always seeks to take the moral high ground. The battle hardened Christian must know for a fact that his cause is just and his position righteous. In that he must always act rightly and justly. The apostle Peter reminds us that we must ...keep a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against (our) good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander (1 Peter 3:16). When our cause is right and our actions just then we pray that the enemy will be put to shame and disgraced. We destroy his will to fight by weakening the cause on which he stands. We strengthen our cause by acting with integrity and righteousness (Psalm 35:11-16).
The next important part of the offensive part of the battle is the attack. We attack the enemy with the Lord's weapons and with prayer. Our prayer would ask the Lord to drive the enemy away like chaff (5). We pray that the very paths on which the enemy travels will turn against them and become slippery and dark (6). We pray that the plans to ambush and trap us will in itself become a trap for the enemy (8). We seek vengeance only through the Lord, for the Lord asserts that only he can wreak rightful vengeance on the evil. We pray that the enemy will be ruined suddenly and in surprising ways. Going to battle is working with God while exercising great skill in the operations of our weapons.
Surely when the Lord fights for us and is for us, who can be against us. The Psalmist rejoices that the Lord truly saves and rescues those who turn to him. We can call out in delight and exclaim with gladness that the Lord truly saves the poor and needy from those who would do them harm. We can praise God and revel in his love when the end is perceived as detrimental to the enemy.
Friends, many of us have been involved in battles and contentions. May we learn to fight rightly and justly. May we always act with integrity. And if we are in the wrong, to quickly ask for forgiveness.
Prayer for Tuesday. Lord, may we be battle hardened Christians, skilled in confronting the enemy so that the good will always prevail. In your matchless name, Amen.
(BB) ______________________________________________
CodeMD Proverb 9:13-18 02/16/05 Folly: Its characteristics
...Folly is loud,...is undisciplined and without knowledge Proverbs 9:13
Folly or the fool is one character derided in the word of God. He or she is held up to be the epitome of where a good person should not be and a character, that one should not emulate. What is it about folly and the fool that the Lord finds so abhorrent?
First, folly as a personal characteristic is undisciplined and without knowledge. There are no boundaries where emotions and behavior are held within so that actions arising from these unfettered emotions and behaviors run wild and extreme. Furthermore, there is no basis of fact and knowledge underneath these actions.
Second, folly is loud and it shamelessly draws attention to itself. It strives to be seen in the midst of every converging human traffic; and at every highway and by way of human commerce. It advertises itself and calls for all to be part of it. Come, it says, to those who are simple. My message is easily understood, and my ways easily practiced. If one does so, one would reap happiness. There will be pleasure without payment, satisfaction without responsibility and mirth without consequences. Enjoy life now and to hell with it if it is at the expense of others. Folly feeds on illicit pleasures. As long as something is illicit and illegal it must be sweet and should be enjoyed for its own sake. Folly would kill if that gives it pleasure.
Thirdly, folly is the outermost gates of the one who dwells in the infernal depths. By folly one is lead into death. Those who think that they are truly enjoying life and feel so alive because of the wild and extreme pleasure they are indulging are but dead. The light of life flares brightly for a moment and consumes the little sparks of life of those around it and then is forever overwhelmed in the darkness, never to emerge, ever again. The flowers of folly have their roots in the depths of hell and hades.
Friends, beware of the seductions of instant enjoyments which are always at the expense of others. Beware of the message which says that in order to be authentic, one needs to enjoy life down to its dregs. The ways of hell is in it.
Prayer for Wednesday. Lord, may we discern what is wise and what is foolish. Give us your presence and grace that when we stray you will order the circumstances to keep us to the straight and narrow. In your matchless name, Amen.
(BB) ______________________________________________
CodeMD Psalms 4:1-8 02/17/05 Offering right sacrifices
Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord Psalms 4:1-8
When God instituted the sacrifices into Israel’s worship, he intended it as a model of confession of sin, the receiving of forgiveness and the taking on of the righteousness of God. However, the Israelites forgot the point of worship and only remembered the means of worship. They were so concerned with the peripherals that they forgot the center. As someone would say, they saw the forest for the trees.
When Saul defeated Agag King of the Amalekites, he spared the best of the sheep and cattle for foolish gain. However when Samuel the prophet discovered his deception, Saul staged a sacrifice of some of the plunder thinking that this would appease God and His servant the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 15: 1-26). He though foolishly in his heart that God would be appeased if he sacrificed some of the goats, cattle and the sheep. The words of the prophet are instructive. “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord. To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination and arrogance like the evil of idolatry (1 Samuel 15: 22and 23).”
Saul dealt with the Lord at two fatal times. The first was when he tried to cover his greed by giving some of the plunder away even when the Lord had explicitly commanded that he destroy everything (1 Samuel 15:18). The second was when he absolved himself of all blame by feigning weakness in the face of apparent opposition from his people. (1 Samuel 15:24).
Have we ever come to the Lord in the same vein of deception and greed? Have we said to the Lord, I will give you a portion of what I have won, earned or taken if only you would grant my desire. We make the mistake of thinking that God can be appeased if we gave back to him a portion, perhaps ten percent of all we have. We make the mistake of looking to the gaining of some benefit through God and not to seeing that God is our shield our very great reward (Genesis 15:1). We must pursue God and God alone. In reality the object is something else but if we think that we can make use of God for the attainment of that object, we are in effect making that object our God!
And then when we are found out, do we blame others as Saul did?
Indeed the right kind of sacrifice is a contrite heart, obedience and the heeding of the Lord’s commands. Heeding the voice of God is better than the fat of rams. Indeed the right kind of sacrifice is the searching of our hearts silently for any rebellion and arrogance. And then obeying the still small voice of God who informs us that we must confess, repent and turn from our wicked ways. As the Psalmist would have it, “In your anger do not sin, when you are on your beds search your hearts and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust the Lord” As Proverbs would put it, “The Lord detests the sacrifices of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him (Proverbs 15:8).
Thomas Kempis writes, “We cannot trust greatly in ourselves because often grace and understanding is lacking in us. There is little light in us and this we quickly lose due to our negligence. Often we do not perceive how great is our inward blindness. Often we do evil and excuse it. We are sometimes moved with passion and we think it is zeal. We reprehend small things in others and pass over our own great faults. Quickly enough we feel and weigh what we suffer at the hands of others, but we are blind to how much others suffer from us. He who rightly considers his own work will find little cause to judge another.” (Book 2. Chapter 5 Consideration of oneself).
Prayer for Thursday Lord may you lead me to sacrifice rightly of all that I own. In His matchless Name, Amen.
by BB ______________________________________________
CodeMD Matthew 10:5-25 01/14/05 The life of a missionary
Freely you have received, freely give Matthew 10:8
Missionary life is firmly based on the life and example of Jesus. As the Lord would say, "A student is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like the teacher and the servant like his master (24)." We who are his servants must remember that the lot of our master Jesus will be our lot.
What is the message of the servant of Christ? It is given in specific terms. We cannot simply go where we want. The Lord would direct us. To the twelve, the Lord's instructions were very specific. He told them that they were bound for the lost sheep of Israel and not to the gentiles and Samaritans. The target people for the twelve was clearly specified. The message was also clearly spelled out. "You are to preach", said Jesus, "the Kingdom of God is near." As such repentance should be the response. And the means to reinforcing this message would be signs and wonders of healings, resurrections and exorcisms. The power of God would be clear and the message compelling.
What would be the attitude of the missionary twelve? They would be totally reliant upon God. God would provide every step of the way. They were to give of themselves and of their substance freely because, they would lack nothing because God would freely and greatly compensate them for their loss. The means of provision would come in part from the direct results of their ministry. The ministered would share of their largesse and the attitude of partaking of these gifts would be gratitude and peace. They must remember that they were bringing no less than God's wonderful peace into a household that received them.
What would be the pressures of ministry? As situations unfold they would discover that the world is a dangerous place. They would be like sheep among wolves and hence they would be called upon to muster every ounce of shrewdness and strength to counter the perverted corruptions of the world. Men would strive to kill them or render them impotent. They would face authorities who would flog and flail them for who they were and what they did. Called upon to defend themselves, the missionary twelve would find that the Holy Spirit would speak out from them to baffle the world. They would discover that their very own loved ones would be against them and this would be one of the most disheartening aspect of the ministry. However, they must stand strong and hopeful. They would flee from one end of the country to the next because of pressures and persecution. And they would do so until the Lord comes.
Friends, and for those of us who are called into his ministry, let us remember that life in the ministry would be as He said. However, we draw comfort from his promise that He has overcome the world and we shall too. He would acknowledge us before the Father because we have acknowledge him before men. He would count us as far more important than sparrows,
Prayer for Friday Lord, grant me the strength to go on in your work even when we are disheartened and broken. Keep us safe as we cling to your garment's hem. In your matchless name, Amen.
(BB) ______________________________________________
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