July 23, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"The Important Role of Discipline… "

Proverbs 23:13-14

New International Version

13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.14 Punish them with the rod and save them from death.

Spare the rod, and spoil the child" goes the adage drawn from biblical proverbs like the one above. By now the degree to which that adage has fallen into disrepute is no secret, even among many believers. Unfortunately, the evil of excessive force belies the time-tested value of corporeal punishment when used with loving restraint. While it is possible to discipline a child without slapping the hand or spanking the bottom, it is hard to deny the close correlation between physical punishment and well-disciplined children. Nor is there any evidence suggesting that adults spanked as children suffer long-term physical or psychological damage from such punishment.

What's important is that, while the stinging bottom is quickly forgotten, the object of the exercise has a long-lasting, character-forming effect. This goes along way toward explaining the play on words between "die" and "death." The first speaks of physical death, the second of spiritual death. Make no mistake, says God, discipline or the lack of it is a matter of life and death. Sparing the rod altogether can result in a soul being destroyed eternally in “the second death." Like parents, churches would do well to remember the crucial role of discipline. The apostle Paul enjoined discipline to snatch the wayward soul from hell. Church discipline needs to be taken far more seriously! No wonder our heavenly Father himself can often be heavy-handed. Sometimes the only way to get our attention is not through our heads but on the other end.

The question for us disobedient children is: Do I truly welcome God's harsh discipline as a means to preserving my eternal soul?

July 22, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"Hang onto God's every Word!"

Proverbs 1:7

New International Version

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

No wonder there are so many fools around. If to be wise we must be afraid of God and sit in the corner all day for being naughty, not many are going to choose that option! Nor is the connection between fear and discipline lost on most folks. How many times have parents disciplined a child and then said, "I put the fear of the Lord in him"? Yet there is no reason why fear or discipline need have negative connotations. Consider how we use the word discipline in any number of positive ways. Athletes, for instance, willingly discipline their bodies, hoping to win medals. And scholars discipline their minds to learn how to think more sharply. By definition, discipline is never easy or terribly exciting, but only a fool would rob himself of its proven benefits.

Fear can actually be our friend. It keeps us from crossing busy streets to our peril or jumping from a plane without a parachute. Fear also has various connotations. The fright we experience when watching a horror film is different from fearing an approaching tornado or fearing the demise of our nation. So to fear the Lord doesn't mean we must quake in our boots with dread. By contrast, the fear of God that begets knowledge is a fear which manifests such profound respect for God's authority that one dare not question his word on any matter. Because God's word is true without exception, only a fool would prefer to be deceived. So if you really want to be wise, discipline yourself to hang onto God's every word!

The question for all potential fools is: Do I boldly claim to fear the Lord, yet listen only superficially to his Word and avoid spiritual discipline if at all possible?

July 21, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"Dreaming Big Dreams for the Lord… "

2 Chronicles 6:8-9

Easy-to-Read Version

8 But the Lord said to my father, ‘David, it is good that you want to build a temple for my name, 9 but you cannot build the Temple. Your son will build the Temple for my name.

Have you ever had a wonderful, exciting dream that never came true? Some grand idea that seemed so perfect, but came to nothing? Why couldn't others catch the vision? And because it was intended for God's glory, why did he not give it his full, divine backing? Many a godly dreamer has been sorely disappointed. It doesn't mean that God was displeased with the vision. Perhaps God just had a different builder in mind. Or a different time and place. From what Solomon says about his father's dream, God was thrilled that David had it in his heart to build a temple. Yet for his own reasons, God had reserved that task for Solomon.

One wonders if Solomon didn't learn some valuable lessons from his father's experience. Solomon would later write a number of proverbs addressing this very issue. On one hand the wise king urges, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" (Proverbs 16:3). Yet that advice is tempered by the perspective that, “Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails" (Proverbs 19:21). Between those bookends is the balanced truth that what plans we commit to God will succeed, unless God has a particular plan of his own. Indeed (as with David's design for the temple) one's "failed" dream might eventually become reality, right down to the last detail, only perhaps a lifetime later and by someone else. So here's to dreaming big dreams for the Lord!

The crucial question is: Do I have great dreams worthy of God's glory, even if I never see the trees that grow from the seeds I plant?

July 20, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"A Solomon like Decision... "

1 Kings 3:9

New International Version

9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

Anyone can tell the difference between black and white. It's gray that confuses us. Is it dark gray or light gray? If black and white were knowledge, gray would be wisdom. Knowledge can be learned from lectures and books. Wisdom is only acquired through experience, thought, and refection. Solomon's exceptional wisdom was a gift from God. Who can forget that stroke of genius and keen insight into human nature when Solomon dramatically resolved the dispute as to whose baby it was? Don't you find it intriguing that in order to resolve the "gray" issue, Solomon wisely reverted to couching the controversy in stark black and white? ("Cut the living child in two!") Both definitive "black and white" and the more uncertain “gray" have their place. The trick is having the wisdom to discern between them.

Yet take a close second look at Solomon's prayer for discernment to distinguish between right and wrong. Do any of us really need wisdom to understand what's right and what's wrong? If given a stark choice, probably not. But normally our most difficult choices are between two conflicting “rights" or two conflicting "wrongs." In these cases, how do we decide? We can't exactly call for a sword and threaten to cut up some innocent baby! No, but the Bible does speak of "the sword of the Spirit," which is able to deftly divide even bone from marrow if necessary. So if you find yourself having to make a Solomon-like decision, pray that God will give you an extraordinary spirit of discernment.

The black and white question is: If God answered Solomon's prayer for wisdom, is there any reason why he couldn't answer my own for discernment?

July 19, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"Answered Our Every Need... "

Psalm 22:1

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me so far from my cries of anguish?

By quoting the psalm's opening words, it is as if Jesus were saying, "If ever you think God has forsaken you, read Psalm 22!" Why? Because it begins with the obvious question countless sufferers have asked, yet ends on a sublime note of reassurance. “For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help." And when future generations are told about the Lord's mercies, "They will proclaim his righteousness...for he has done it!" Far from turning his back on us, God has already answered our every need.

The question for sufferers is: Should I find myself groaning in agony of flesh or spirit, will I seek reassurance in the same comforting psalm as Jesus?

July 18, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"When Can I Go and Meet with God?... "

Psalm 42:1-2

New International Version

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

Twice the psalmist speaks of his soul being downcast, and twice he refers to his enemies asking where his God is. The picture being painted is of a person of faith falling on such hard times that onlookers taunt him with the thought that God has abandoned him. Have you ever felt abandoned by God? If so, perhaps you can identify with the soul that despairingly yearns for God. For those who have never known such feelings of abandonment, perhaps the greater loss is in never having had that experience. Imagine how exhilarating it must be to know that God is still there after having every reason to think he's not! For those of us who blithely sing about our souls panting for God without knowing what it means to truly thirst, the deer we sing about seems far too pampered.

The question for introspection is: Am I content merely to sing about panting and thirsting when God calls me to pant for him on a more desperate level?

July 17, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"Our Inmost Being... "

Psalm 139:13-16

New International Version

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful I know that full well.15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

The human body doesn't begin to equate with what David described as "my inmost being." If asked where the real "you" resides, what would you answer? Because our thinking process seems closest to who we are, most of us tend to associate our inner self with the brain. But if our souls reside within the brain, what is left of the soul when those gray cells deteriorate in the grave? If there is to be life after death, the soul must be something quite apart from the brain. Compared with my incredible body, how much more fearfully and wonderfully made must be my immortal soul!

The profound question is: In my sentiment, thinking mind today, how conscious will I be of my "inmost being," which at death will survive the very brain with which I ask this question?

July 16, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"Praise The Lord…”

Psalm 134:1-2

New International Version

“1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord.”

If you have ever walked around at night, you know that it is like being in a shadowy, far-away universe. Few experiences are more suited to deep, contemplative thoughts and fresh perspectives. You - the silent observer and explorer of the night's closely held secrets. So when you encounter the nightshift at work behind the scenes, it's reasonable to wonder if that is also how God works behind the scenes. While we sleep, God-who never slumbers-is protecting, providing, maintaining, and healing. Why else have nighttime if not for God to give us fresh starts? To heal the body. To clean up behind us. To prepare spiritual nourishment for the coming day. To deliver insights through the night that we'll "read" as we awake. As much as we want God at our side throughout the busy day, have we lost sight of a God who is with us even when we close our eyes?

Whatever shift we're on, the question is: “Have I considered that starting and ending each day with praise in my heart lessens God's need to work during the night?”

July 15, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"Wisdom from Above..."

Psalm 119:98-100

New International Version

98 Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.

The writer of this lengthy psalm is a person "in the know." He knows that God's laws contain insight far greater than all human knowledge put together. God's wisdom helps us triumph over our enemies by providing smarter strategies. God's wisdom appreciates whatever knowledge a teacher might impart, but is able to take that knowledge a giant leap beyond what the ordinary teacher knows. And God's wisdom can surpass the accumulated insight of the most-experienced men and women. Because divine law is the vehicle that conveys the insight only God himself can have, to ignore God's law is to foolishly disdain the extraordinary wisdom that brings us the highest possible knowledge and power.

The question is: If I have spent years acquiring earthly knowledge, isn't it time I spent an equal amount of effort drinking in the wisdom from above?

July 14, 2022

Daily Devotion:

"The Story of a Lifetime..."

Psalm 71:17-18

New International Version

17 Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.18 Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.

Between the bookends of our human existence is a lifetime of learning about God and his eternal will for mankind. Given enough time, we all move from being students to teachers. Whether formally or informally, what we learn we transfer to others. Yet what is so amazing about the process is that the more we learn, the more we realize how little we know. And the more we know, the more we find ourselves getting back to the basics we first learned as a child-before all the intellectual clutter inexorably chokes out the essence of childlike faith and trust in the simplest truths. Perhaps the one advantage that the "hoary head" has over the “towhead" is a lifetime of witnessing God's incredible deeds. Combine the profound truths, which even children can grasp, together with the marvelous deeds, to which the more mature can testify, and you have the story of a lifetime!

The question for us older folk is: Have I grown so sophisticated in my knowledge of Scripture that what I teach others is overly complicated?