2020.12.31

On the last day of the year 2020, looking toward a new year but ultimately to the coming glorious Zion.

From yesterday's reading:

Isaiah 60: 19-20
The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;
But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light,
and your God your glory.

Revelation 21: 23-24

The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it,

for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, 

and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

2020.12.21

Behold the Lord God

One of many glimpses of the truth of 

Hebrews 4: 12
For the word of God is living and active...........

Today's reading included

Job 39:1 - 41:34

and

Isaiah 40:1-31

Job 41: 9

Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the sight of him.

Isaiah 40: 13

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?

2020.12.18

How rich is God's Word and His promises to His people!

A verse full of confident petition to God for His work in our lives:

Psalm 138: 8 NKJV
The Lord will perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

Psalm 138: 8 ESV

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me:

your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever,

Do not forsake the work of your hands.

And from Alec Motyer, who with his 'bits and bobs' brings the richness of the original Hebrew to those of us who don't know it:

Psalm 138: 8 Motyer 

Yahweh will Himself act fully on my behalf.

Yahweh, Your committed love is for ever.

Do not let down the works of Your hands!

2020.12.14

God of Abundance

Bless the Lord God for His abundance to us!

Alec Motyer: "To 'bless' God is to review gratefully what He is and to respond in worship", to "take note of His glories and excellencies and respond to them in wonder and adoration."

Psalm 130: 7 (NKJV)

O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is mercy, 
And with Him is abundant redemption.

Psalm 86: 5, 15 (ESV)

For You, O Lord, are good and forgiving,

abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You.

But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Isaiah 55: 6-7 (ESV)

Seek the Lord while He may be found;

call upon Him while He is near;

let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

John 10: 10b (ESV)

(Jesus said:) "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

2020.11.30

In this NKJV year on November 26--Thanksgiving!--I was struck by the Psalmist's statement to the Lord:

Psalm 116: 17 
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the LORD.  

Which brought to mind

Hebrews 13: 15

Therefore by Him (the Lord Jesus) let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.  

A sacrifice can be defined as "giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else". Perhaps this is the application: One will give up self-centered thinking--especially feeling sorry for oneself or focusing on very real suffering and pain and hurt--in order to give thanksgiving and praise to God, Who in His sovereign providence gives us all things and holds us in His fatherly hand.

2020.11.14

 A Chance to Die

What do you mean by the phrase "A Chance to Die"?

It's a Biblical phrase, representing a commitment--not at all easy!--to die: die to self and self-centered living and always wanting things to be the way I want them to be. The commitment is to live to obey and follow Christ.

Elisabeth Elliot, page 30 A Lamp for My Feet: "An older missionary said something to Amy Carmichael when she was a young missionary that stayed with her for life. She had spoken of something which was not to her liking. His reply was, 'See in it a chance to die.'"

Elisabeth Elliot's biography of Amy Carmichael is titled A Chance to Die.

Luke 9: 23 And (Jesus) said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Colossians 3: 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

2020.11.11

Fruitful growth in the pictures of trees in the Psalms:

    Psalm 1:3 (a godly person) is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

    Psalm 92:12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 

        13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.

        14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,

        15 to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Alec Motyer's note for verse 14: "The world's ambition is to 'stay young'; the Bible's, to grow old                                                                         fruitfully. Deuteronomy 34:7."