A Verse for Times of Dread - Psalm 9:10

 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou. LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

A Devotional Thought From 2 Chronicles And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 2 Chronicles 36:15 It was a bad time in history for the ancient people of God. A good king, a man of faith, had died, and he was followed in quick succession by three bad kings. And, the religious leaders and people of the land were involved in religious evil as well. In response God sent messengers to them, prophets, preachers, obviously to speak up and call them out for their sins. “What you are doing is wrong. Turn from your sins. Change your dreadful behaviors.” People don’t like to hear such preaching. Some repent, but many rebel against it. Many attack the preacher of righteousness. “Don’t tell us what we can and cannot do. How intolerant. Speaking against sin is the real sin. Let us alone.” They consider it an intrusion on their lives. God wouldn’t call what we do a sin. But notice what the verse (2 Chronicles36:15) says. God did this, He sent His preachers of righteousness, “because he had compassion on his people.” God knew that they were headed for a cliff, for judgment, and because He had compassion, because He loved them, He sent the prophets to call them out of sin. Here’s how they reacted. 2 Chronicles 36:16: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Rejecting righteousness, and choosing sin, is a foolish choice.

A Devotional Thought From 2 Chronicles And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him. And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD. With twelve hundred chariots, and threescore thousand horsemen: and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkims, and the Ethiopians. And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 12:1-4 Two salient ideas are central to this piece of history. 1. When Rehoboam had established and strengthened his government, he and his people “forsook the law of the LORD.” They stopped obeying God’s rules. They chose to do things that were wrong. We don’t know if they justified their sins as modern people do, by saying something like; “That’s not my truth. My truth says there’s nothing wrong with what I am doing.” 2. The result of their turning from God’s truth was that one of the powerful nations of that period in history came against them in war. The scriptures note here in verse 2 Shishak, the enemy king, came “because” Rehoboam and his people “had transgressed against the LORD.” Rehoboam’s government capitulated. They lost cities, surrendered to be subjects of Shishak, and gave up their treasures and riches (12:4,9). God’s prophet made this declaration about the situation; “Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore I have left you in the hand of Shishak” (12:5). Here is a clear example of a nation that brought trouble on itself because it turned from God’s truth.

A Devotional Thought from Hebrews And it is appointed unto men once to die… Hebrews 9:27 When a world-wide famous sports figure, or other rich and famous person dies, through no fault of their own; an accident, a dread disease, an unexplained phenomenon, the news is broadcast far and wide on T.V., radio, the internet, social and print media. People are shocked that someone of that stature has been lost to the world, especially when they die young. Human tendency is to think that someone in that privileged position in life, with every resource available to him/her does not need to fear untimely termination of life . But such well known people who die are teaching us something we all could have learned from the Bible. “It is appointed unto men (mankind, humanity as a whole) once to die…” Everybody dies! Sooner or later everybody dies (with the exception of certain people described in the Bible who will have an equivalent but different experience) everybody dies. What Then? That statement and question is a good reason to turn to God’s Word, the Bible, and find out what God says about it.

A Devotional Thought From Daniel

And as the toes of the feet were part iron, and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.              Daniel 2:42

The great image King Nebuchadnezzar saw in his famous dream recorded by Daniel in chapter 2 contained a portion that referred to one of the great kingdoms of past history to us, but future history to him.

Most interpreters of Scripture agree this passage, Daniel 2:42, speaks of the Roman Empire. It is from this passage we get our modern-day phrase “feet of clay.” This kingdom, says Daniel, “shall be partly strong, and partly broken.”

It is easy enough to determine today's nation states (kingdoms as it were) that are partly strong and partly broken.

Strong nations have (iron);

the rule of righteous and merciful law;

they are following God’s word;

they allow freedom of thought and expression;

they have quiet neighborhoods;

they have righteous governments as governments go;

they support traditional moral values.

Broken nations have (clay);

lawbreaking as the norm;

rejecting the Bible;

no tolerance for opposing views;

violence in the streets;

duplicitous government;

everyone does what is right in their own eyes.

Nations today need to revive what makes them strong, and discard what breaks them. This happens in the individual, and transfers to the nation, as one by one people turn from sin to righteousness, from being broke to being strong. So if you want your nation to be greatly blessed, and that means everyone in the land, repent of that which makes it broken.

A Devotional Thought From Revelation

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20

In the book of Revelation it is Jesus, Himself, who is testifying, or announcing, the things herein recorded. Look back at the first verse of the book (Rev. 1:1) and we find God, the Father, gave the revelation to Jesus for the purpose of showing to his servants (those who trust in Him, and love Him, and serve Him) what will be happening “shortly.” From our human perspective we do not understand what “shortly” means in God’s understanding of time. What we do know is what is revealed here will happen sometime.

So when Jesus says at the end of the prophecy, “Surely I come quickly,” again we don’t know what “quickly” means in His God understanding of time. We do know that He keeps His word, He means what He says, and He will come.

We who love Him believe Jesus is coming again. We are glad He is coming, and John speaks for all of us when he says, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

A Devotional Thought From 1 John

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 1 John 1:4

John writes this letter with at least this verse as one of the most important ideas he wants to transmit to the Christians of his day. He indicates, the things I’m writing to you about the reality of Christ, the dangers of sin and false doctrine, the knowledge of God, the need to love your fellow Christians, the assurance of eternal life, I write to you so that your joy may be full. The written word and your personal knowledge of it produce joy and more joy.

This sincere, personal, clear theological treatise is meant to make the joy you feel in trusting Jesus as your Savior, be ever more full and fulfilling than it is now.

The word of God in all its teachings, not just 1 John, is this wonderful tool that God uses, not just to teach, and bring us to being born again, but the Bible is a book of His speaking in His own voice, and like Adam in the garden, we know He is calling to us through it. Once we begin putting the word of Scripture into our heart it has this amazing joy producing capacity.

Want to be joyful? Get into the reading, studying, praying, and obedience of the Bible.