Making A Difference Daily

Check the Schedule page for the Bible reading schedule for July.

Today’s Passage – Psalm 31 – 36

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32:1

The Book of Hebrews admonishes us to grow up in our faith and move beyond the foundational truths of the Christian life. That’s good advice: we cannot stay babies forever.  However, it is wonderful to be reminded often about the simple truths of the forgiveness that God offers to all those who are willing to put their faith in Him. In this passage, there is a reminder to all of us who are saved.  The verse above simply reminds us of the fact those who have their sins forgiven are a blessed people.  To think that an omniscient God, who knows every sinful act of my past as well as every evil thought, would be willing to forgive me, and even look at me and treat as if I had never done or thought any of those horrible things.

It gets even better.  Notice verse 2:

Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. (Psalm 32:2)

It is one thing to choose to forgive the acts of the past; but to also forgive ahead of time all of our future transgressions is beyond comprehension.  God loves us unconditionally.  He says he will not “impute” our sin.  The word impute means to assign to or credit to.  God says that he will not assign or credit our debts or sins to our account.  Why?  Because 2000 years ago he laid all of the debt of my sin upon the His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus paid my sin debt for me.  What a wonderful thought. Notice how that happened to David:

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)

He acknowledged his sin.  He did not deny them or hide them.  He then confessed them to God and asked the Lord for forgiveness.  God could only forgive him because the debt would be paid by Christ. Have you confessed your sin to God, and asked Him for forgiveness?  Have you come to the foot of the cross and called upon the name of the Lord for salvation. If you haven’t done so yet, please call upon Him today.

To those of us who have received the forgiveness of God through the remission of our sins, how are we at forgiving each other?  God has forgiven everything that I have ever done or will do.  What right do I have to withhold forgiveness from others?  Just a thought.

Today’s Passage – Psalm 21 – 25

Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. (Psalm 21:2)

Today’s Passage – Psalm 16 – 20

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

I love the Word of God.  I thoroughly enjoyed the Book of Job; but I am also having a wonderful time each morning in the Psalms.  As I read this morning, I was captured by the beauty of Psalm 19.  Verses 1-6 are expressions of David’s worship of God.  Verses 7 – 11 are remarks that lift up the Word of God, and the reader is admonished to place a higher value on the Word of God than gold.  Great Advice!

However, the verses that really caught my attention were verses 12 – 14 where David prays to God regarding God’s help in keeping him from sin.  In verses 12 and 13, he speaks of secret sins and presumptuous sins.  The presumptuous sins are those that we do blatantly, proudly, and in public view.  David begs God’s help in the removal of these things.

Verse 14 is the prayer that all of us should have on our lips and in our hearts the moment that we awake from sleep.  How often do we violate our relationship with God by allowing evil thoughts to take hold of our meditations.  we muse on things that are clearly outside of the will of God.  Ask God to control your thought life.  The minute the devil causes you to think about something that is wrong, take it to God.  Ask Him to help you.  Purposely divert your thoughts to things that are true, honest, just, and pure, etc.  Our sin begins with the musings of our heart.

Notice also the petition regarding his words.  Oh how I wish that I could take back some of my words.  The tongue can be a consuming fire, a deadly poison.  Why not ask God to help you get your tongue under control.

I wonder how many mistakes we could have avoided in the past had we made this our prayer?  We don’t have to make the same mistake in the future.  Let God control your thought life and your tongue!

Today’s Passage – Psalms 11 – 15

Today’s Passage – Psalms 1 – 5

I have enjoyed our reading in the Book of Job but I am also excited now that we are exploring the Psalms.  My though this morning comes from the second Psalm.  In this Psalm we get a glimpse into Heaven and we hear from the throne of God; but we also have a view into the earth where we see that the rulers of this world have set themselves in rebellion against God.  In verse 4 we see that God laughs at this.  Who does little man think he is in comparison to an almighty God.  The rulers of this world may think that they have power and authority, but few of them realize that it was God that gave them their power, and God could remove it at any time.

As we get closer to the end of this present age we will see the mighty men of this earth become more brazen in their fight against God.  At times it may seem that God is absent or even powerless to fight back; but don’t lose heart, He is in full control of His universe, and His patience with the rulers of this present world is quickly running out.

God’s warning to the kings of the earth holds true for the common man as well.  He tells us to “serve the Lord with fear” and to “kiss the Son”.  If you have not yet received Christ as your Savior you need to “kiss the Son” by receiving the forgiveness that only He can give you through His shed blood on the cross of Calvary.  If you are saved, you still need to “kiss the Son” by living your live in complete submission to His will.

Today’s Passage – Job 40 – 42

Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. (Job 40:4)

Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. (Job 42:3)

Have you ever made the statement, “I’d better keep my mouth shut”?  Have you ever told your child the same thing?  We can really get ourselves in trouble with our mouths, can’t we?  Sometimes it’s better not to say anything.  I remember when I was a brand new Christian.  I was having a discussion with Pastor Thompson about reaching the people around me for the Lord.  He said something that I never forgot: he said that if you don’t have an answer to their questions, or even their arguments, tell them that you don’t know the answer.  His exact words were, “Don’t snow them”.  What he meant was that we shouldn’t try to offer something on behalf of God that isn’t what God said.  We shouldn’t offer what we feel or think about God; but only tell people what we know to be true.  These friends of Job (and Job himself) were doing a lot of talking about God: each offering their own opinion about the situation; but how much of what they said was actually true.

The Bible says that we are God’s ambassadors.  We represent God to this world around us.  We speak on his behalf.  Shouldn’t we be very careful about what we say?  I wonder what God will have to say about me someday, especially the things that I have taught others about Him.  Preachers and teachers have an awesome responsibility.  Therefore we need to make sure that we are daily spending time with God in His word so that we can know how He thinks; and know what He teaches about any given subject.  And then when we are given the opportunity to speak on His behalf, whenever possible, we should tell people what God actually said, instead of what our opinion is.  As God’s ambassadors we have no right to represent ourselves, or present ourselves, or try to make ourselves look good in the eyes of the people.  We need to make God look good; and we need to give people the actual Words of God.

In God’s rebuke of Job, He said, “will thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous”?  What God was saying was that Job said things to justify himself; to make himself look good.  How often do I do that.  I am so afraid of the opinion of men that I have often condemned others in order to elevate myself.  Shame on me! and shame on all of us.  The Bible is very plain in its teaching that we don’t have to say too much, and that it is wise to hold our peace at times; and then when we do speak, we should be very careful about what we say.

Today’s Passage – Job 34 – 36

Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf. (Job 36:2)

In our reading we have been listening to a long speech (chapters 32 – 37) given by a man named Elihu, who claims to be speaking on behalf of God.  I am still trying to figure Elihu out.  At first, I included him with Job’s other three friends who were condemning Job.  However, at second glance, it does not appear that Elihu’s purpose is to condemn Job.  It seems to be the aim of Elihu to justify God.  It is interesting that at the end of the book God does not rebuke Elihu as he does the other three men.  Elihu seems to be defending God’s right as the God of the universe to do whatever He wants; and that everything He does is right.  Elihu further seems to be inferring that Job’s grumbling about his present distress is really a grumbling against God.  I can’t find fault in much of what Elihu has to say , particularly what he says about God.

What I really wanted to talk about, however, is the little phrase in verse 2 of chapter 6, “…I have yet to speak on God’s behalf”.  And then in verse 3 he says, “…I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker”.  That’s some good stuff right there.  Elihu says that he has a lot left to say about the righteousness of God.

Christian, you and I have a lot to say on behalf of God as well.  Paul told the church at Corinth that they were ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ.  We have the awesome privilege and responsibility of representing the Lord on this earth; and the people of this world have a lot to learn about the Lord.  Take full advantage of every opportunity that you get to ascribe righteousness to the Lord, and to speak on His behalf.  This world needs to hear about their Creator; but how shall they hear if His children are clamming up.

Today’s Passage – Job 31 – 33

I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? (Job 31:1)

In our reading we have been following the conversation between Job and his friends.  Job has been declaring hi innocence: not that he claims sinlessness; but he does contend that his sins were open and confessed to God, and that he was not living a double life.  His friends, however, are sure that Job must have some heinous secret sin in his life.  In this chapter Job seems to be answering a charge regarding his fidelity.  Perhaps the underlying accusation was that Job was an adulterer.  Job’s answer in chapter 31 is that he had been faithful, not only in not touching that which is forbidden, but in not looking on another woman besides his wife.

In our culture the accepted instruction is, “you can look, but you just can’t touch”.  Funny, my wife never bought into that line of reasoning.  The fact of the matter is that looking might just lead to touching.  Job said that he made a covenant, a commitment to himself and his eyes not to think (let alone look) upon a maid.  David said something similar when he said that he would set no wicked thing before his eyes.

Men, we need to do the same thing regarding the opposite sex.  We need to determine to keep our eyes and our minds on that which is pleasing to the Lord.  Turn off the TV if you have to; get rid of the internet if you must, but do what you have to do to keep yourself from sinning against your God and your wife.  It is wise to know your limitations and put up some fences to protect yourself.  A little accountability will go a long way.  And ladies, your not exempt from this either.  Your lusting may not be for the opposite sex per say, but I am sure you have your weak areas as well.  Maybe with you the struggle involves seeing things at the mall that you can’t afford.  We all need to make this same covenant that Job made to keep us from seeing and thinking about the things that we know are not part of God’s perfect will for our lives.

Today’s Passage – Job 28 – 30

But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? (Job 28:12)

And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. (Job 28:28)

In today’s reading we have seen a continuation of what we have been reading for the past several days.  Job is debating with his three friends regarding his calamity: they are claiming that Job is responsible; and Job is declaring his innocence.  However, in the middle of this discussion is a passage dealing with wisdom.  At first glance i wondered why God would put this teaching right in the middle of the discourse between Job and his friends regarding Job’s suffering; but then I remembered a similar teaching from the New Testament regarding trials and testing from the epistle penned by James.  Remember that James admonished us to “count it all joy” in the trials; but then he added some instruction regarding wisdom:

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5)

Apparently there is an association between enduring trials and wisdom.  God doesn’t hold back wisdom to those who fear him and depart from evil.  Job had the wisdom of God.  We know this to be true because later on when God enters into the discussion He states that Job spoke of Him the thing that is right.

If you are going through a time of testing, don’t seek the world and its counselors for wisdom: go to God.  If you fear Him and are seeking to do that which is right, God will give you the wisdom that you need to see your way through the trial.  In order for you to get to the other side you will need God’s wisdom, coupled with God’s grace.  It is apparent that Job had both of these attributes.

Today’s Passage – Job 23 – 25

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. (Job 23:12)

Nutritionists tell us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that is probably true; and many of us, no matter how busy we might be, take the time to grab a little bit of nourishment in the morning.  However, how many of God’s people begin their day with some nourishment from the Word of God?  Job said here that he considered the time spent in God’s Word to be the most important meal of the day.  I want to give you a few thoughts as to why we should start our day with the Word of God:

1  For most of us, the morning is the quietest time of the day, especially if you are disciplined enough to get out of bed before the rest of the house gets up. When it is quiet you can hear the voice of God.  There are less distractions that will cause your mind to wander.  Many doctors believe that the early hours of our day are the times that we are the most alert and have the most energy.

2  We should also spend time with God before we spend time with men.  God wants to brief us via His Word regarding the issues we are going to face each day.  He prepares us ahead of time with wisdom for the battles that lie ahead. When we go into our day without having spent time with God, we go unprepared; and often will fail in the battle.

3  Without the Word of God we will lack the strength that we need to endure the battle.  We have all seen what happens to people who fail to fuel their bodies for the day; but Christians desperately need spiritual fuel from God’s Word in order to have the strength to make it through the day in the will of God.

Job endured one of the worst trials that God had ever given a man to face.  God says that He will not give a man more than he can handle.  Job could handle this great test in life because he was prepared for it; he was strengthened ahead of time through his time spent in the Word of God.

How about you?  Did you have your spiritual breakfast this morning?  Are you prepared for what lies ahead of you today?  Will you come forth as gold in the trial that is lying in your path today?  Why not stop what you are doing and take a few minutes to refuel your spirit before the battle begins today.