Month: August 2024

1 Samuel 17:32-18:5; Isaiah 58:1-14; Romans 4:1-22

And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. Luke 23:41

Ponder the assessment of this criminal beside the Lord Jesus. He understood his own guilt but had grasped also the sinlessness of the Christ. “Not one thing out of place”, had been done by the Man beside him. Peter said, “He did no sin”; Paul said, “He knew no sin”; John said, “In Him there is no sin” (1 Peter 2:22; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 John 3:4). He also grasped the sovereignty of the Christ, and the surety of resurrection. He saw a dying Man who had an impending kingdom. He realized that the one beside Him was the Saviour and so he cried, “Remember me”. —L. Cain

That Man of Calvary has won my heart from me,
And died to set me free, blest Man of Calvary!  —M. Ferguson

1 Samuel 17:1-31; Isaiah 56:9-57:21; Romans 3:1-31

Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:27 NKJV

The Great Chinese Famine (1958-1961) resulted in the deaths of tens of millions. Some desperate people found and ate a form of “edible clay”. It filled them, but they still starved to death. Why? This “food” had no life-sustaining nutrients. This illustrates our verse. Those who attempt to satisfy their spiritual hunger through physical pleasures will starve to death spiritually. God called the farmer in Luke 12 a “fool”, and that very night he died a spiritual
pauper (v. 20). Don’t make the same mistake! Receive the Bread of Life and find true spiritual nourishment. —Brian Cretney

Ever may our souls be fed, with this true and living Bread,
Day by day with strength supplied, through the life of Christ who died. —J. Conder

1 Samuel 16:1-23; Isaiah 55:1-56:8; Romans 2:1-29

O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord. Psalm 117:1-2

What a joy it is to praise the Lord throughout our lives! We praise Him with our singing and our words. We unite in fellowship with other believers and mingle our voices to praise Him together. We praise God for who He is and also for what He has done. These verses highlight some specific reasons why we should praise the Lord. His merciful kindness is great. His truth endures for ever. We have an amazing God, and we should praise Him with every
breath we have. —Caleb Riordan

Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe, and crown Him Lord of all.  —Edward Perronet

1 Samuel 15:1-35; Isaiah 54:1-17; Romans 1:18-32

And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? Numbers 20:4

As they travelled through the wilderness the children of Israel were constantly complaining. Yet all the hardships they faced for 40 years were their own fault. In fact the wilderness journey could have been avoided if they had not rejected God’s plan. They could have entered the Promised Land within a matter of weeks instead of wandering in the wilderness for forty years. Are you wandering in the wilderness, my friend, because you are too stubborn to listen
carefully to God’s way? —David Croudace

Thy way, not mine, O Lord, However dark it be;
Lead me by Thine own hand, choose out Thy path for me.  —Horatius Bonar

1 Samuel 14; Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Romans 1:1-17

And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar. Genesis 28:18

From pillow to pillar! Even though he was journeying into the unknown, by the grace of God Jacob was able to sleep peacefully. And God affirmed His faithfulness through a vision to him while Jacob rested in Him. The next day Jacob turned his rock pillow into a pillar of commemoration. Let us also learn to rest in the Lord, and allow Him to speak to our hearts, and then abound with our own pillar of thanksgiving and remembrance! —Elizabeth C. Bishop

Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what Thou art,
I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, and Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power, Thou hast made me whole.  —Jean Sophia Pigott

1 Samuel 13:1-23; Isaiah 52:1-12; 2 Corinthians 12:14-13:14

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

This statement of faith comes right after Jeremiah’s pitiful cries of despair. But Jeremiah saw a reason for hope. Your despair can come to hope too. The Lord’s love has not diminished. His compassion is still warming. His care is still active toward His people. He provides for our needs as each day brings us closer to the time He returns. God’s faithfulness can be counted on in spite of all the adverse problems and sorrows of the present. —Gaius C. Goff

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not.
As Thou hast been Thou forever will be. —Thomas Chisholm

1 Samuel 11:1-12:25; Isaiah 51:9-23; 2 Corinthians 12:1-13

And there arose a great storm of wind…And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. Mark 4:37-38

Have you ever felt like the Lord was silent when going through a rough patch in your life? Are you sailing through deep waters and it feels like He is sleeping in the back of the boat? The faithless disciples awoke Him, rebuking Him for His apparent lack of concern for them. Dear child of God, the Lord is always with you in the boat. His plan is perfect and will speak peace to the troubling storm at the right time. Be encouraged knowing that the boat can
never sink when He is in it. —Sid Halsband

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil. —Edward Mote

1 Samuel 9:15-10:27; Isaiah 50:1-51:8; 2 Corinthians 11:1-33

You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 7:17 NKJV

The fact that there is another priestly order is one of the wonders of God’s plan for humanity. Melchizedek appears in Genesis 14, two thousand years before Christ. A thousand years later David mentions Melchizedek in Psalm 110. Then after another thousand years, the writer to the Hebrews explains the importance of Melchizedek. He was a king and a priest; a king of righteousness and a king of peace and the priest of the most High God. As such, he was a picture of the Lord Jesus and the basis of an unending and unchanging priesthood. —Gary McBride

Before the throne of God above, I have a strong a perfect plea;
A great High Priest whose name is love, who ever lives and pleads for me.  —C. Bancroft

1 Samuel 8:1-9:14; Isaiah 49:1-26; 2 Corinthians 10:1-18

And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for all men have not faith. 2 Thessalonians 3:2

There’s an element of divine kindness in this word “unreasonable” because the original means “absurd”. As our society continues its acceleration away from God, the proposals and principles being put forward do indeed become more and more absurd. Those who know the Lord Jesus Christ become increasingly aware that this world is at complete and diametric opposition with the truth of God. Oh for the day when He will set everything as it should be!
—Rick Morse

Tis the grandest theme through the ages rung;
’Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue;
’Tis the grandest theme that the world e’er sung,
“Our God is able to deliver thee.” —William A. Ogden

1 Samuel 6:1-7:17; Isaiah 48:1-22; 2 Corinthians 9:1-15

Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples,  whom Jesus loved. John 13:23
In him is no sin. 1 John 3:5

It is not by accident or chance that the one who leaned on the breast of Christ would years later take up his pen and write of His sinlessness. John would pen those tremendous words which have come down through the centuries “In him is no sin”. The world today would seek to attack His impeccability. May we lay hold upon the words of John, “In him is no sin”. —John M. Clegg

O spotless Lamb of God, in Thee,
The Father’s holiness we see;
And with delight Thy children trace,
In Thee, His wondrous love and grace.  —M. J. Walker