DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 10.12.24 - PART 1

How Long, O Lord? - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? —Psalm 13:1 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/how-long-o-lord/- Listen Christians have been asking variations of David’s question for two thousand years: How long, O Lord, will You delay Your return? How much worse does the world have to get? How many more propheciesmust be fulfilled? How long will You make us wait? As the apostles watched Jesus ascend to Heaven, two angels joined them. “‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven,but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!’” (Acts 1:11 NLT). And the waiting began. There’s no question about what’s going to happen. The Second Coming of Jesus is mentioned more than 1,800 times in the Old Testament and 300 times in the New Testament. One out of every 25verses in the Bible mentions the Lord’s return. Jesus said, “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:3 NLT). The question is, how do you feel about it? Charles Spurgeon said, “The sound of His approach should be as music to our ears.” When you think about Christ’s coming, your heart should jump with excitement. If, instead, you feel dreador indifference, I would wonder where you are spiritually. The teaching of the imminent return of Jesus is a great barometer of your walk with God. When you’re right with God, you look forward to Christ’s return. In fact, anticipating His return has a purifying effect on you spiritually. First John 3:3 says, “All who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure” (NLT). Jesus is coming again. It’s our blessed hope. We live in a world filled with bad news. And you can find it 24/7 on the newsfeed of your choice. War is imminent. Our nation is unraveling. AIis making us rethink what’s real. It’s enough to stress out anyone. But what did Jesus say? “So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!” (Luke 21:28 NLT). Don’t panic. Look up. The scary stories we see on the news are reminders that God keeps His promises and Jesus is coming back again. I’ve read the last page of the Bible. We win in the end. Are you ready? Are you living in anticipation of Jesus’ return by honoring and trusting God and putting Him first? Are you sharing the gospel whenever you have the chance? Are you living thelife God has called you to live? We may have many years left before Jesus returns. Or we may have a few. The timing is in God’s hands. Our job is to make every day count for the glory of God until then. ------------------------------------------ TheReal and the Unreal World �He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them amongprinces, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD�s, and he hath set the world upon them.� (1Samuel 2:8) The above text contains the first reference in the Bible to God�s world. The �pillars� upon which it is set are, literally, �firm summits� (not �columns�), speaking of its permanence, �established that it shall not be moved� through the eternal ages when �theLORD reigneth� (Psalm96:10). That is the real world, where all who have been �raised up� by the Lord through faith in His Word will �inherit the throne of glory� and reign with Him forever. But that real world has, for a time, become �this present evil world� (Galatians1:4), often mistakenly represented by its worldly inhabitants as their �real� world. In reality, this present world is very ephemeral, for �the world passeth away� (1John 2:17). This present unreal world has become the domain of Satan, �the god of this world� (2Corinthians 4:4), for �the whole world lieth in wickedness [or �the wicked one�]� (1John 5:19). Consequently, it is essential for believers now living in the world to heed the Lord�s warning: �I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you� (John15:19). The �world� includes its inhabitants and the world system they have developed. This present world, because of sin, has become so unreal that it no longer even knows its Creator. �He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not� (John1:10). Nevertheless, �God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved� (John3:17). We can defeat this present evil world and prepare for our eternal service in the real world to come. �This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith� (1John 5:4). HMM ----------------------- InEverything Give Thanks �Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shallfail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herds in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.� (Habakkuk3:17-18) It is easy to be happy and cheerful in times of prosperity, when one has all the comforts of an affluent lifestyle and everything seems to be going well. The testing times come, however, when these material comforts are somehow taken away, and one feels defeatedand all alone. Except for God! Whatever else may fail, God �will never leave thee, nor forsake thee� (Hebrews13:5). Since we still have the Lord (assuming we have trusted Him for forgiveness and salvation through Christ), we can always �rejoice in the LORD,...in the God of my salvation.� Job, for example, lost all his possessions, then his children, and finally his health. Even his wife turned against him. Yet he could say: �The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD� (Job1:21). God has commanded the Christian: �In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you� (1Thessalonians 5:18)�not for everything, but in everything! This has always been one of the greatest testimonies a Christian can give to an unbeliever�the testimony of a life rejoicing in God�s salvation even in the midst of trouble. This was the example of Christ Himself, �who for the joy that was set before him enduredthe cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God� (Hebrews12:2). �For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory� (2Corinthians 4:17). HMM ---------------------- TheBrightness of His Rising �And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.� (Isaiah60:3) This beautiful Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament book of Isaiah compares the coming of Christ to the rising of the sun. The rest of this chapter in Isaiah seems to stress His coming in glory at the future end of the age (e.g., �the LORD shall be thine everlasting light,� Isaiah 60:20), but our text verse had at least a precursive fulfillment when the Gentile wise men from the east came to Bethlehem to honor Jesus soon after His birth. Other Messianic prophecies used a similar metaphor. For example, there is Malachi 4:2: �Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.� Christ Himself made the same comparison. �I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life� (John8:12). He would not serve as the light for only the Jews; He is also the light of the whole world! The theme of global light through Christ is often found in the Old Testament. �I the LORD...will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles....It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribesof Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth� (Isaiah42:6; 49:6). It will all be perfectly and eternally fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, �for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it:...for there shall be no night there� (Revelation21:23-25). HMM --------------------- Prayerfor Peter and James �Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killedJames the brother of John with the sword.� (Acts12:1-2) Verse 2 of our text rather casually records what may have been one of the lowest points of apostolic time. James was killed with the sword�James, one of the only three disciples in Christ�s inner circle. He was one of only three to witness the resurrectionof the synagogue ruler�s daughter (Luke8:51-55); one of three to catch a glimpse of Christ�s glory at the transfiguration (Matthew17:1-2); and one of only four to sit with Christ on the Mount of Olives and learn of the future (Mark13:3-4). In Gethsemane after their last supper together, Christ allowed him, along with Peter and John, to witness His agony in a special way (Mark14:32-34). He was highly trained by Christ Himself, and the fledgling church could ill afford to lose his leadership. But suddenly he was arrested and slain! A tragedy it would seem to lose such a leader. Think what James might have accomplished had he lived longer, muchas Peter and John did. Could it be, however, that his martyrdom was a blessing in disguise? Certainly God allowed this to happen, but for what purpose? The answer may be found in the verses following our text. Peter had been taken prisoner and was to be executed the next morning (Acts12:6). However, the church had learned a lesson. No prayer for James is recorded, but for Peter, �prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him� (Acts12:5), and Peter was miraculously freed by an angel and joined the prayer meeting. What would have happened had the believers prayed for James as they did for Peter? Of course, that question has no definite answer, but prayer such as was offered for Peter followed the apostles and early church leaders in their work from that time on. JDM ------------------------ EverythingBeautiful in His Time “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no mancan find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes3:11) In verses 2-8 of Ecclesiastes 3 appears a remarkable listing of 28 “times,” arranged in 14 pairs of opposites (e.g., “a time to be born, and a time to die,” v. 2). The entire section is introduced by God’s definitive statement: “To every thing there is a season,and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (v. 1). It is then climaxed by His remarkable assurance in the words of our text for the day. Everything that God has made is beautiful in its appropriate time—even death and war, killing and hating, and all the other “negatives” in the list, as well as the 14 “positives”—healing and loving, building and planting, and many others. The pronoun (implied) could be either “its” or “His,” and since all our “times” are “in thy hand” (Psalm31:15), it is fitting to recognize that the appropriate time for “every purpose under heaven” is His time—God’s time. Thus, everything that God has made is, in fact, beautiful when accomplished in His own time, in His way, as set forth in His Word. We may not understand many things in our time, for “no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” Nevertheless, when God made us, He “set the world in [our hearts],” so that the very deepest roots of our nature assure us that God exists and cares. The Hebrewword for “world” means, literally, that “world without end” (compare Ephesians 3:21). Thus, all that happens to us, if accepted and applied according to God’s Word, becomes beautiful, 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” (Romans8:28). HMM ---------------------- TheMan Child �And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caughtup unto God, and to his throne.� (Revelation12:5) This remarkable scene was part of a great vision given to the apostle John as the Lord was revealing to him �the things which shall be hereafter� (Revelation1:19). He had seen an amazing �sign� in heaven�a woman �clothed with the sun...travailing in birth,� with �a great red dragon� awaiting the delivery and ready �to devour her child as soon as it was born� (Revelation12:1-4). Although the whole vision is richly symbolic, the figure of the man child clearly refers to Jesus Christ, because it is He alone who must eventually rule all nations �with a rod of iron� (Revelation19:15). Thus, the symbolic �woman� suggests His human mother, Mary, but also Eve, the �mother of all living� (Genesis3:20), for in His human birth the Son of God became also �the Son of man� (Acts7:56; Revelation 1:13). The vision dramatizes the long warfare between the great dragon (i.e., Satan�Revelation12:9) and the seed of the woman (Genesis3:15). In the vision, the �man child� will have been �caught up� (i.e., �raptured�) to heaven, and the dragon and his angels �cast out� to earth (Revelation12:5-9). But when Christ returns from heaven, all believers, living and dead, will also be �caught up� to meet Him in the air and thus may well be included in the man child of the great �sign.� There has been continuous warfare between the seed of the serpent and the spiritual seed of the woman. The dragon is forever �wroth with the woman� and with �the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ� (Revelation12:17). But Christ will finally prevail and cast Satan into the eternal lake of fire (Revelation20:10). HMM ------------------------------