Choose You This Day

Joshua 24:15

Joshua was the first general of the armies of Israel. He was also the successor to Moses as leader over the nation upon their entrance into the Promised Land. The book that bears his name is the story of Israel’s journeys under this great man and its last chapter is his final charge to the people preceding his death.

Joshua’s speech to Israel not only recounts their journey from Egypt into Canaan, but it also ministers of God’s grace. “And I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and olive yards which ye planted not do ye eat” (Joshua 24:13). No work went into the cities that they were living in or the food that they were eating, thus these blessings were a result of God’s grace. It is glorious how Joshua, though under the law, takes opportunity to minister to God’s people concerning His abundant grace and favor.

This speech contains one of the greatest proclamations of choice that is recorded in the Word. Joshua has just challenged the people to put away the strange gods which had come from Egypt and to serve the LORD. He lays in front of them the choice as to whom they will serve, “whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell” (Joshua 24:15). Then he declares his own intent, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”.

Note the King James usage of “LORD” in this verse, showing us that the original Hebrew word here is “Yahweh” or “Covenant Lord”. Joshua is declaring that he and his house choose to trust the God of covenant. When you appeal to the God of Covenant, you are holding God to his end of the deal so to speak. As New Covenant saints, when we appeal to Covenant, we are appealing to Christ’s finished work on the cross. What Jesus paid for, we are recipients of, and we should always appeal backwards to the cross to rest in what is rightfully ours by His blood.

Joshua not only declares that he will serve the LORD, but that his house will serve the LORD as well. As the priest of his home he has declared that his entire household will follow after the covenant that God has made and they will trust God to keep that covenant. Men should take this as an example from the great Joshua. Take the lead in your home and steer your family towards the things of God. Be the husband to your wife as Christ is to His church, loving her passionately and speaking sweetness to her, and father your children as the Father loves His Prodigal Son, with open arms and forgiveness of heart. When you lead in this way, you will not have to wonder if there is anyone following, for the household will gladly go after the man who is going after the LORD.

Never forget to open the challenge for following the Lord with as much grace as possible. There is no such thing as “too much grace”, though some will try to dissuade you from referring to this wonderful gift for fear that it will bring a license to sin. Where sin is great, grace is greater and if we can agree that sin is rampant in this world, we should agree that grace is needed now more than ever!

The Blessings of the Covenant

Deuteronomy 28

Notice that I do not list a verse in this devotion, but rather an entire chapter. The reason for this is that this chapter is God’s conditions of blessings and cursing in the Promised Land for Israel. The first 13 verses are what God promises that He will do to bless Israel if they are obedient, while verses 15-68 show God placing curses upon them for disobedience.

The 27th chapter ends with 12 verses beginning with “Cursed”. These curses precede the great blessings of chapter 28 and they are representative of the curse coming before the blessing. Jesus bore our curse so that we could bear His blessings, thus our curse has been accounted for while we rest in His goodness.

When we read the 28th chapter we are reading conditional promises. If we do what is good and right then “these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee” (Deuteronomy 28:2), but then if we fail to do what is right, we get curse upon curse. This is typical language for the Old Testament as much of it is built upon the principles of God’s Law, which is founded upon a covenant between God and Israel. They were responsible for their end of the deal, and their end was to keep God’s Law entirely. When they failed, they received punishment for their breaking of covenant which are the multiple curses.

Jesus came and lived a perfect life, born of a virgin. His lifestyle, one of perfection and absolute stainless righteousness met every demand of God’s law. He stated, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). By living the law to perfection, Jesus could lay His life down as a sacrifice for others, and present His life as an example of law completed.

When the Father smote Jesus at Calvary, He was killing Christ as a sacrifice for everyone else. This was not possible merely by stating it to be so, but rather Jesus had to first qualify as a sacrifice. With no stain of sin in His life, He was deemed acceptable and then given the opportunity to walk away from the task. In Gethsemane, Jesus agreed to drink of the cup of God’s wrath, thus taking into Himself at the cross all of the sins of the world.

By fulfilling the law, Jesus was given all of the blessings of that fulfillment with none of the subsequent curses for breaking it. However, Jesus changed places with us, knowing that we could never fulfill the law. His fulfillment brought Him God’s blessings which He traded to us for all of our law breaking. Thus, Jesus bore the curse that should have been placed upon humanity, so that humanity could bear the blessings that Jesus had earned by His perfect lifestyle.

Now, when we read Deuteronomy 28, we receive all of the blessings of the first 13 verses because we have placed our faith in the finished work of Christ, receiving all that He paid for. No Christian should ever study the curses that are listed in this chapter and fear that they may be living under them, for what has been blessed cannot be cursed (Numbers 23:20). Why do some Christians insist on telling others that they might be cursed because of things that are going on in their lives? It must be because they do not understand just how finished Christ’s finished work is.

Painting God in the Proper Light

Numbers 20:7-13

When a photographer shoots a photograph, they need proper lighting to bring the beauty out of the subject. The same is true for a portrait painter, who needs to see the subject in proper perspective in order to render a quality painting. When a preacher delivers a sermon on God, he is painting God in a particular light, and that light has a great effect on how the listeners perceive God in their daily lives.

If God is painted against a backdrop of judgment and darkness then He is an angry God, ready to dole out lightning bolts of fury against a sin-filled world. If He is painted against the light of the cross, where Jesus was judged for our sin then He is seen as a compassionate God, ready to dole out grace on a world that is perishing.

Moses had an opportunity to paint God in a wonderful light for the children of Israel as they thirsted in the desert of Zin. The people complained of the lack of food and water, prompting Moses to go before the Lord. God told him to “speak ye unto the rock before their eyes” (Numbers 20:8). God wanted this done before the eyes of the people so that they could see for themselves what God was about to do. In his anger, Moses replaces God as the sole provider, asking the Israelites, “Must we fetch you water out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10) Moses has joined himself to God, saying “we” when he should have said, “Must God fetch you water?” By adding himself to the equation, he is removing the awesome power from what God is about to do.

The mistake is exacerbated when Moses lifts up his hand and smites the rock rather than speak to it. In the 17th chapter of Exodus, before the giving of the law at Sinai, Israel had been in a similar situation. They had complained of no water and God had instructed Moses to smite the rock, bringing forth water. Paul said that the rock in the wilderness was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), so the smiting is a type of Christ being smitten of God at the cross (Isaiah 53:4). Paul also states in Hebrews 10:12 that Jesus “offered one sacrifice for sins, forever”, meaning that Jesus will not be smitten twice for our sins. If He is not smitten twice, then we are not smitten even once. Praise God!

God wanted Moses to speak to the rock so that He could show grace to His people, though they do not deserve it. Grace is never deserved and that is what makes it a free gift. By speaking to the rock and not smiting it, it is an example to them that God has never stopped providing for them by His smitten Rock. Jesus is our constant provision, and the believer only need speak His name for Him to provide water to their thirsty soul.

This mistake cost Moses entrance to the Promised Land. Being under law, he would bear the punishment for his failure. You and I are under grace, so Jesus has bore the punishment for us. We will not be denied our Promised Land due to our mistakes and failures, for where our sin abounds, grace does much more abound.

Paint God in the glorious light of the cross, showing the world that Jesus has been smitten for their sins. The God that you present is the God that they know, so show them the Rock that has already brought forth living water.

One More Night with the Frogs

Exodus 8:8-10

There is something to be said for resolve, but there is another, less flattering thing to be said for stubbornness. Resolve is good because it stays with a task regardless of the pressures to quit or the opposition. Stubbornness forges ahead despite repeated warnings to stop. One brings eventual success while the other leads to frustration.

When Moses dealt with Pharaoh in the famed showdown over the fate of the children of Israel, both of these characteristics are in full detail. Moses shows great resolve; determined to see God’s people freed in spite of the repeated rejections of Pharaoh. Moses’ resolve is based upon his faith in the spoken word of God. The Lord had told him that Pharaoh would reject his demands, but that Moses should persevere, for eventually Pharaoh would give in. With doggedness and determination, Moses stayed the course and we know the outcome.

Pharaoh on the other hand, shows a different kind of resolve that is best described as stubbornness. Determined to keep the Israelites as his slaves in the land of Egypt, he rejects the demands of Moses repeatedly. At first this rejection costs him very little, as the rod is turned to a snake and the river is turned to blood, but soon his own people begin to die as a result of the plagues of God upon the land of Egypt.

After the fourth confrontation, God brings another judgment upon Egypt; this time with frogs being brought upon the land. Not only does God bring frogs, but Pharaoh has his magicians bring frogs upon the land as well, just to prove that they can do what God can do. The problem is not in bringing the frogs but in getting rid of them. Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron to entreat the Lord to get rid of the frogs and Moses says, “Glory over me: when shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they remain in the river only?” (Exodus 8:9) In other words, “You tell me when you want the frogs to be gone”.

Surely Pharaoh says, “Right now!” Who would want to sleep in a bed full of frogs for one night longer than they have to? Apparently Pharaoh doesn’t find it so unpleasant, saying, “Tomorrow” (Exodus 8:10). Resolve will not quit because it believes in its cause, while stubbornness will not quit because it believes in itself. Pharaoh could have had all of the frogs out of the land and back into the rivers where they belong but he chose one more night with the frogs.

The 8th chapter of Exodus marks the first usage of the word “frogs” in the Bible, but it is not the last. It is repeated twice in Psalms (78:45; 105:30), both times in reference to the events of the Exodus. It then surfaces only once in the New Testament, in a prophetic passage in Revelation 16:13 as John sees three unclean spirits, “like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet”. He then describes that they are “the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:14). Using this as a guide, we see that the frogs of the Exodus are the workings of the enemy to convince man that he is able to take care of himself without the help of God. The kingdoms of the earth rally to fight Jesus at Armageddon convinced by evil spirits that they can win. Man tends to lean to his own abilities long before he listens to the Lord, and Pharaoh is a shining example of that.

Why choose one more moment of depending on your own strength when you can rest in the finished work of Christ right now? It is your choice every moment of every day. Choose wisely.

The Power to Choose

Genesis 4:7

Lost in the story of Cain and Abel is the wonderful moment when God gives Cain the power to choose which way that his life will go. Just before Cain’s murder of Abel, the Lord asks Cain why he is so upset, and then, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door” (Genesis 4:7). God is showing Cain the choice of life and death; one way is led by Cain’s obedience and it leads to acceptance on God’s part. The other way leads to disobedience with “sin” lying at the door.

The power to choose how we are going to live is a staple feature of God’s grace and kindness. Oftentimes I have had the question posed to me by young converts, “Why did God even put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden at all?” Some think that life would have been better if God had given man no opportunity to fall, but God created man to be a free creature, who would love Him willingly and not by obligation. By allowing man to fail, God allows a world of sin and grief to begin, but He also provides opportunity for redemption and perfect love. Neither of these wonderful things comes without a tremendous price, and Jesus has paid that price!

To get a sense of how wonderful this seventh verse is, we should look at what brought us to this point. Cain and Abel have both brought an offering to the Lord. Abel brought a lamb from his flock, “And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering” (Genesis 4:4), while Cain brought some of his harvest and the LORD “had not respect” (Genesis 4:5). Why would the Lord accept one offering while rejecting the other?

I preached for many years (and have read many commentaries that are written in the same vein) that God accepts Abel’s sacrifice because there is blood involved and rejects Cain’s for the same cause. The verse, “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22) is nearly always cited, stating that God needed to see blood in order to honor the sacrifice. This argument falls on two simple points: there is no indication that Cain and Abel are bringing an offering to God for the remission of sins, but rather they are simply coming to worship the Lord; and God never told them there must be bloodshed, so it is unfair to hold them accountable.

Abel brought the firstlings of his flock, sure to choose from its best, while Cain simply “brought of the fruit of the ground”. There was an attitude in their worship that God was watching, prompting the question from the Lord, “Why are you mad?” Cain had no reason to be angry for he had simply been given a choice: he could choose life or death, and we know which one he chose.

The phrase, “sin lieth at the door” is “sin-offering lieth at the door” in Hebrew, for the same word is used for “sin” and “sin-offering”. God is telling Cain that for every failure that he commits, there is an abundant offering for that sin lying at the door of his heart. Paul would repeat this promise in Romans 5:20, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”. For every bad choice, there is enough grace waiting at your door as well.

You have the power to choose what you will do with this life and in this life. Place your faith in Jesus Christ and watch blessings touch every area of your life as you are resting in His grace and goodness.

The Friendly Man Has Friends

Proverbs 18:24; 17:17

This was a principle that was drilled into me from as far back as I can remember. My parents told me this frequently, though I did not know where it was at in the Bible. The phrase, “the friendly man has friends” is not used word-for-word in the scriptures, but the concept is prevalent in this verse. To have friends one must be friendly; and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

Jesus said that the greatest love is one that will lay down its life for its friend (John 15:13), while the writer of Proverbs said, “A friend loveth at all times” (Proverbs 17:17). There is no love like the love of a true friend, and those friendships are often forged through fire. Out of great adversity, great relationships are born (Proverbs 17:17).

All of these principles are wonderful, and are Biblically sound, but there is little life to them without the finished work of Jesus Christ. Remember, it is Christ’s finished work that changes all things and brings all to life. To find Jesus in this passage, we must look a bit closer at the original Hebrew, which is the language of the Old Testament.

“A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). The first usage of “friends” in this verse is better translated from Hebrew as “acquaintances”, while the last usage of friends in the verse should be translated “lover”. The writer is saying that in order to have friendly acquaintances, one must be friendly to others. This is the type of affection that is given to someone who is kind to you, and they in turn, are kind back. Jesus spoke of this type of friendship as being common to the world (Matthew 5:46).

To change the second usage of “friend” to “lover” is to change the equation entirely. Now we are no longer talking about friendly relationships, but we have advanced to speaking about an intimate relationship that is stronger than the ties of blood and family. To “fall in love” is to sell out so completely to love that you actually are bound closer to that individual than you are to those members of your own family. Jesus sanctioned marriage with this kind of love in Mark 10 and sealed all marriages with that type of love and sacrifice.

Jesus loves His church with more than a familiar love, or a brotherly love. He considers Himself the “lover” which will always stick closer than a brother. I have had many people in the church to call me “brother” in one breath and then cut me with their next breath. Christ speaks love and affection to His church and you need never fear that in His next conversation with you He is going to turn on you with abuse and judgment. While a brother can be persuaded to turn on you, your heavenly lover never will.

I counsel some people who complain that they are lonely and can find no friends. It is difficult for me to be consoling in many cases because more often than not, they are difficult to get along with! They are quiet and reserved, so people think that they are angry or wish to be left alone. Sometimes they are judgmental and distant, wanting everyone to fall into their way of thinking, and oftentimes they have little sense of humor and are rarely caught smiling. If you find yourself longing for friends just remember that a friendly person has friends. Spread the love of Jesus that rings so true in your heart to someone around you and your circle of relationships can’t help but grow. Other people want to know that they are love also, so speak of His great love today.

Believe You Will See Good

Psalms 27:13, 14

It is easy to parcel out advice to others when they are going through tough times and things are rosy in your own life. In fact, we tend to give our most flowery advice when there is nothing but roses in our own garden. That advice makes life no easier for the person going through it, and it probably makes them wish that you had kept it to yourself. Though we advise in love and with concern, sometimes we sound as if we have all of the answers, and no one really does.

We can rest assured that the answers are found in the person of Jesus Christ. He does not have the answer; He is the answer! For believers, we have a steady, fixed point on our horizon, so that we can remain stable even though the boat rocks on the waves. Because we know that He loves us and cares for us, we believe for good things even in the midst of bad times.

“Hope” is the confident expectation of good. When we have hope we are confidently expecting that our God is going to make things work together for our good. Paul gave us this promise, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). How do we know that they are going to work out for our good? Because He spared not His Son and He freely gives us all things (8:32).

The Psalmist David said, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalms 27:13). In a very trying time in his life, David has come to the end of his sanity. He claims that he would have fainted, and given up if he had not believed to see God’s goodness. He does not claim to have already seen this goodness, but rather he believes that he will see this goodness. He has a confident expectation of good things. His faith is anchored in God’s ability to do good things and he does not need to see the circumstances change to believe that they will.

If an Old Testament saint can have this kind of faith, what more can a New Testament saint have? David did not have the divine nature of Christ living in him, nor did he have the finished work of the cross to bring him perpetual victory. Yet this saint of the faith believed that God both could and would do all that needed to be done. So confident was David that he gave us this advice, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalms 37:14).

David refers to God by the name “LORD” which is Yahweh or Jehovah. It means, “Covenant keeper”. David is saying that God is bound by covenant to take care of you so keep your confidence in Him. If he did not believe this, he knew that he was done, but by believing that he would someday see good, he could keep going.

Don’t wait until you see good to believe that God is good. Believe that you will see good, even when you are seeing bad. When you have this kind of faith, you can speak to your mountain and see it cast into the sea. Our mountains are obstacles for us, but nothing for God. Trust Him that He is good and that He wants to show His goodness in the land of the living.