Have Some Pity

Are you easily frustrated with people? Does your demeanor drastically shift at the slightest provocation? You’re not alone.

Jonah had shown his frustration with people, so God gave him a test. He sent a plant to offer Jonah some relief. When the plant withered, Jonah lamented the death of the plant. He showed more pity for the plant than people.

Here are four powerful lessons from Jonah to shape your attitude toward people:

1. Your anger isn’t good.
2. Consider the possibility of their ignorance.
3. Don’t preside in God’s judgment seat.
4. Share God’s grace.

Reading: Obadiah; Jonah 1-4

Sound The Warning

Reading: Ezekiel 31-35

If your house were on fire, would you wake your family? If there were a violent threat to your child’s school, would you alert the police? Of course you would sound the warning!

If a person was in danger of losing their soul, would you tell them? Are you more hesitant about that?

Step up to the challenge of the watchman. Sound the warning. Do not stand before the judgment seat of God and hear the words, “You never mentioned Him to me.”

Next Reading: Ezekiel 36-40

No Free Passes in God’s Judgment

Today’s reading is Isaiah 21-25.

“Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest:
as with the slave, so with his master;
as with the maid, so with the mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the borrower;
as with the creditor, so with the debtor.”
–Isaiah 24:1-2

When God brings judgment, there is no partiality. Whether slave or master, maid or mistress, buyer or seller, lender of borrower, creditor or debtor, judgment is coming, and I won’t be able to pay my way out of it. I find it fascinating that this list also says whether people or priest. The priests in Isaiah’s day were as corrupt and perhaps more so than the people. Even today, having a title or special role doesn’t pay for a free pass. This, by the way, is why we all need Jesus, because nothing and no one else will prepare us for judgment. But praise be to God that whether people or priest, slave or master, maid or mistress, buyer or seller, lender or borrower, creditor or debtor, in with Christ in us and us in Christ, deliverance through the judgment is certain. Praise the LORD!!!

Monday’s reading is Isaiah 26-30.

Pride Comes Before a Fall

Today’s reading is 2 Chronicles 31-36.

The God Filled are under grace. However, we must not think grace means accepting forgiveness and deliverance and then continuing in whatever lifestyle pleases us. Hezekiah became ill and was healed by the grace of God. Then 2 Chronicles 32:25 says, “But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem” (ESV). We obviously cannot repay God for His saving grace in the strictest sense of that term. But the God Filled do not take God’s grace for granted. That kind of pride comes before a fall. Instead, they allow it to change them according to the grace they have been given. What are you doing with the grace God has given you?

Tomorrow’s reading is Ezra 1-5.

God Will Avenge; Rejoice in Him

Today’s reading is Deuteronomy 30-34.

“‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, as I live forever,
if I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh–
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’

“Rejoice with him, O heavens;
bow down to him, all gods,
for he avenges the blood of his children
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him
and cleanses his people’s land.”
–Deuteronomy 32:39-43

Need I say more?

We’d love to know what you got out of today’s reading or if another part struck you. Let us know in the comments section below.

Monday’s reading will be Joshua 1-5.

 

Don’t be a Stubborn Mule

Today’s reading is Deuteronomy 25-29.

“Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart'” (Deuteronomy 29:19, ESV). Or, as God says under the New Covenant, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8, ESV). The self filled want a Burger King religion: they think they can have it their way and still receive God’s blessings. The God Filled know God’s blessings are found on God’s path. Don’t be a stubborn mule.

We’d love to know what you got out of today’s reading or if some other part of it struck you. Let us know in the comments section.

Tomorrow’s reading is Deuteronomy 30-34.

 

Follow God, not the Nations Around You

 

Today’s reading is Leviticus 14-18.

“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nation I am driving out before you have become unclean…But you shall keep my statutes and my rules…” (Leviticus 18:24, 26, ESV). The God Filled must not be distracted by the cultural rules or taboos. We must not worry about being politically correct or following the Zeitgeist (the spirit of the age). Yahweh is our God. His statutes correct us; His Spirit guides us. That means we will stand out and be ridiculed. Be ready. But God will be with us, carrying us through. Hang on to Him.

We’d love to know what you got out of today’s reading. Let us know in the comments section.

Tomorrows reading will be Leviticus 19-23.

God the Destroyer

Today’s reading is Genesis 5-8.

Perhaps the reason so many want to contest Genesis 1 is because they actually want to contest Genesis 6-8. After all, if God actually created the heavens and the earth, He has the right to destroy them. In modern times, even Christians rarely like to think of God as judge and destroyer. But the flood reminds us why it is so important to be God Filled. The world will not always be like it is today. Ultimate change is coming. When it does, our only hope is to be God Filled (cf. II Peter 3:1-13).