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Free Daily Bible thoughts by Rev. Stephen Thompson

Daily Bible thoughts 974: Wednesday 23rd September 2015: Psalm 119: 34: Light and life.

 Psalm 119: 34: Light and life. (Please click here for todays Bible Passage)

When God enlightens you, you have a responsibility to live it!

‘’Give me insight so I can do what you tell me – my whole life one long, obedient response.’’ The Message.

Someone described the life of a Christian disciple as ‘’a long obedience in the same direction.’’

We come to the Bible with an urgent request that God will shed His light on the pages He has written. We need the understanding that He gives, and we are not too proud to admit our need. We come like beggars with outstretched hands: ‘’poor in spirit’’, but never doubting that our loving, divine Benefactor will give us what we need. Even as we confess our lack, we believe in His generosity.

  • When God gives you understanding, you will see that you can ‘’obey’’ His Word; that His endless supply of help is at your disposal. You will ‘get it’ that God never calls without also equipping. Even though you may fall again and again, God will cause you to see that power is available for you to get up and keep going down ‘obedience road’.
  • When God gives you understanding, you will grasp how vital obedience is. It could never be an ‘optional extra’.
  • When God gives you understanding, your ‘’heart’’ will be profoundly affected. It is out of our hearts that we live, and there is a constant need for our hearts to be stirred and moved and changed. I read recently about a Christian mother who survived a devastating divorce, and raised four sons in the aftermath, by learning to live on the promises of God. She carefully went through her Bible and took note of every promise and then learned to ‘stand’ on these faithful words and ‘claim’ them in prayer. One of her boys said, ‘’She not only survived, she thrived.’’ That’s what can happen when God’s Word gets into your heart.

Has God shown you something in His Word today? It is to be translated into action. If it really sinks into your heart it will be!

‘’Do whatever he tells you.’’ (John 2:5).

Prayer: ‘’Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.’’

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Daily Bible thoughts 973: Tuesday 22nd September 2015: Psalm 119:33-40: ‘’Teach me’’

Psalm 119:33-40: ‘’Teach me’’(please click here for the Bible Passage)

‘’It is only with God’s help that we can even begin to keep God’s law.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The applied Old Testament Commentary, p.912.

‘’The spirit of dependence continues with nine requests in eight verses…The section is in three parts:33-35, total commitment, keeping God’s word with the whole heart; 36-37, inner threats, the divided heart; 38-40, divine, faithful care and supply.’’ J.A.Motyer: ‘The New Bible Commentary, p.567.

As we focus on verse 33 today, please remember that God wants ‘doers’ of His Word and not just ‘hearers’.

When I was a young boy I started to have piano lessons. I was unable to play the piano and I needed someone who could (an expert) to teach me how. A teacher is someone who is further on than you in knowledge and ability. They help you know what you don’t know and do what you can’t do.

The Bible is to be obeyed. More to the point, God is to be obeyed. He is ‘’LORD’’. Our obedience to it (to Him) is not meant to be spasmodic; hit and miss, but continuous. God’s ‘’decrees’’ are to be kept ‘’to the end’’. For this to happen we will need a Teacher. We have the very best. The One who wrote the Book will be your personal tutor. Begin each session with your Bible with a prayer to the Divine Author: ‘’Teach me…’’ But let that always be with a view to obedience: ‘’Teach me…then…’’ As you read your Bible today are you looking for directions; wanting to see what you must ‘’follow’’? It is important to not only read the Bible but also pray before you read. Be humble enough to ask for help. Don’t assume that you can just suss it out for yourself. Yes, of course, apply your mind; use the wonderful mental ability God has given you. Think. But do it all prayerfully. Stay in the place of humble dependence on God. When I got into my teenage years, for a time my mum arranged for me to have a personal tutor in maths, because I was struggling a bit as I approached my ‘G.C.E.’ exams. He was convinced that he could help me. (I think he was less certain after a few weeks!! But that’s another story!) Mum had to pay for this personal tuition, but our ‘lessons’ with the Divine tutor are totally free. What a gift! What a Teacher! Make the most of the opportunity. You, who are book lovers, just think if you could have an hour with your favourite author! How excited you would be. Yet our Christian privileges go way beyond that.

I think one of the ways God teaches us to stay on the right road is by allowing us to experience the consequences of taking wrong turnings. These sobering and salutary experiences encourage us to keep listening to God’s ‘Satnav’, and to heed His map. Stay on the clearly marked path today.

By the way, in case you were wondering, I still can’t play the piano! I can read a bit of music, and that is, in part, a legacy from that time. But I cannot play the instrument I love so much. When I was a young boy, the call of riding my bike was louder than the need to tediously labour over scales. It was getting more and more difficult to practice, and I gave up. Mum told me I would regret it, and I do. She was right. But I can’t expect to play. I gave up on my lessons. Don’t do that with the Bible. Keep asking the Teacher to teach you.

Prayer: ‘’GOD, teach me lessons for living, so I can stay the course.’’ The Message.

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Daily Bible thoughts 972: Monday 21st September 2015: 2 Thessalonians 1:12b: Serving grace.

 2 Thessalonians 1:12b: Serving grace.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

‘’…according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.’’

Everything in the Christian life is ‘’…according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.’’

This applies to:

  • Our entire experience of salvation (5-10);
  • The ability to persevere through trials (3,4);
  • The answers to prayers for spiritual growth (11, 12). In our passage it seems to particularly relate to this latter point – and especially to the request about the double glorification: Christ in us and us in Him.

Grace is (God’s) undeserved favour. Everything we receive from God comes to us as an unearned and undeserved gift. We can’t boast about these things or consider that we merit them. We don’t.

John Stott wrote that not only is there saving grace, but there is also such a thing as serving grace. It takes grace to make a person into a Christian; but it also requires grace to live as a Christian. We sometimes fail to grasp this. We can’t live the Christian life from out of our finite resources, but according to God’s infinite riches.

Grace:

  • It is God’s undeserved blessing on our lives in Christ;
  • It is the divinely bestowed ability to live the life of a Christian disciple;
  • It is deeply humbling and reminds us that we will always be incapable on our own;
  • It brings us to our knees in wonder and causes us to sing that it is

‘’Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely.’’ The Message.

Could there be a more fitting conclusion to this first chapter? It provides the key to everything we have read in it.

Prayer: Thank you that I am not alone, or left to my own devices.

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Daily Bible thoughts 971: Friday 18th September 2015: 2 Thessalonians 1: 11, 12

 2 Thessalonians 1: 11, 12(please click here for todays passage)

Paul practiced what he preached! (11a; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). It wasn’t a case of just, ‘Do as I say’, but ‘Do as I do.’ We can’t be continually saying prayers, but we can live in a spirit of prayer. It’s been said that you can take the teaching of Jesus on prayer, as you find it in the gospels, and essentially summarise it in one word – perseverance. Stick with it. Never stop praying for the church; don’t stop asking for each other’s spiritual growth. There is a link between what is requested and what happens. Do you believe this?

‘’Understand that God hears every prayer you pray in Jesus’ name – and that he will either do exactly what you ask, or something even better, which he probably would not have done had you not asked (Mt.7:7-11).’ Steve Fuller.

What did Paul pray here?

  • That God would count them worthy of His calling (11c). He already saw this happening in their persistence and progress through persecution (5), but Paul was not one to rest on his laurels. We have seen elsewhere in the Thessalonian correspondence that where Paul saw a good fire going he was quick to put on another log or two (1 Thessalonians 4: 1, 2; 9, 10).
  • That God would enable them to do everything that was in their hearts to do (11b). He wasn’t asking that the Lord would enable them to do every single thing that entered their heads, but everything that God put into their hearts to perform.
  • In all of this, his heart’s desire was to see Jesus ‘’glorified’’ in His church (12a).
  • But he also looked to the ultimate goal of believers being ‘’glorified’’ in Christ (12b). When someone becomes a Christian, a process is set in motion that will lead finally to their glorification – to their being made perfectly in the image of Jesus and shining with His glory. This final outcome is so certain that Paul could write about it as if it had already happened, even when it hadn’t. But, for him, God’s sovereign purposes were so certain and sure it was as good as done. God finishes what he starts.

Prayer: Lord remind me to pray for the spiritual growth of my brothers and sisters, and help me to believe, as Paul clearly did, that praying will make a difference.

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Daily Bible thoughts 970: Thursday 17th September 2015: 2 Thessalonians 1: 5-10: Pay back.

 2 Thessalonians 1: 5-10: Pay back.(please click here for todays message)

‘’God is just…’’ (6a). You may not want to hear that. You may prefer it if I say ‘’God is love’’ (1 John 4:16). Both statements are in fact true of God. His love is seen especially in that He has made a way for us to be forgiven through Jesus. But if we reject His way we will keep our sins and we will experience His justice (8). If we refuse ‘’the gospel’’ – the good news of Jesus, then we will be left facing the bad news of eternal punishment. The offer of the gospel is addressed to the human will and it can be declined (8). There has to be a response of faith (10b).This passage could hardly be clearer in spelling out the results of such rejection.

At least three things stand out here:

  • God will ‘’pay back trouble’’ to the church’s troublers (6). The apparent triumph of the persecutors is but for a season. ‘’You’re suffering now, but justice is on the way. When the Master Jesus comes out of heaven in a blaze of fire with his strong angels, he’ll even up the score by settling accounts with those who gave you such a bad time.’’ The Message. (See also Isaiah 66:15, 16; Matthew 13:40-43; Luke 3:17).
  • God will ‘’give relief’’ to His suffering people, and to all who care about them (7).
  • Those who do not want Him will not have Him: ‘’Those who refuse to know God and refuse to obey the Master will pay for what they’ve done. Eternal exile from the presence of the Master and his splendid power is their sentence.’’ The Message. To my mind (9) expresses the essence of Hell. Those who do not want God’s company/companionship in this life will not have it in the next. As Jim Packer notes in his fine book, ‘Knowing God’, ultimately all that the Lord will do in judgment will be to underline the choices we have already made. Surely no-one can read the words in 2 Thessalonians and not see that there is going to be a day of division, of separation in the universe. Not everyone will get to live with Christ in heaven because many have made it clear they do not want Him. We will not all live ‘’happily ever after.’’

As someone said, ‘’We make our choices, and then our choices turn around and make us.’’

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Daily Bible thoughts 968: Tuesday 15th September 2015: Jeremiah 16: 19-21: Living on smoke.

 Jeremiah 16: 19-21: Living on smoke.(please click here for todays passage)

‘’The godless nations will come from earth’s four corners, saying, ‘’Our ancestors lived on lies, useless illusions, all smoke.’’ Can mortals manufacture gods? Their factories turn out no-gods’’ The Message.

This lovely prayer of Jeremiah’s (19-21) comes at the end of another rather dismal chapter, and it should encourage us. Someone described prayer as ‘’the flight of the lonely man to the only God.’’ This particular prayer is ‘’a burst of faith and prophetic joy…’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (OT), p.1228.

Jeremiah’s Strength (19a): We have seen that Jeremiah had a difficult calling. He lived a lonely life. He was single and childless and had very few friends. He had a message to give that made him deeply unpopular with the majority. He was persecuted for his beliefs. He was ‘’like a speckled bird, set on by all the birds of the flock.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible’, p.300. So how did he manage to go on? God was his strength. Let that thought put fresh nerve into you today. If Jeremiah could persevere with God’s help, then you certainly can!

Jeremiah’s refuge (19a): Jeremiah was repeatedly attacked, verbally and even physically. But God was real to him. Jeremiah entrusted himself to God. He was conscious of being enveloped within the impregnable walls of God’s love (Romans 8:39). The Lord was his ‘’fortress’’ and ‘’refuge’’; his place of safety. In the midst of your pain and hardship God wants you to know this reality.

Jeremiah’s confidence (19b, 20): Although he was ostracised and largely rejected in his own day, Jeremiah was enabled to see that a day would come when the Gentile nations would flock into God’s Kingdom. We are living in these prophetically foreseen days right now. The church is growing and spreading all over the world (see Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4: 1, 2; see Habakkuk 2:14). Many people are seeing the idolatrous mirages they have trusted in for what they are. They are recognising that they have been living on ‘’lies’’, ‘’illusions’’ and ‘’smoke’’. God is able to do this. He breaks the stronghold of idolatry over minds and hearts. As Jeremiah prayed, God spoke (21). What God said was that He would do the very thing that Jeremiah saw that He would do. God’s Word informs and strengthens and shapes our prayers. God is able to change people; He is even capable of influencing  whole nations. You may be in a dark place, as Jeremiah was, but God can light up your life with an awareness of something significant He is yet to do. His bright ‘torch light’ can penetrate your ‘fog’.

Prayer: ‘’Let God speak, and I will listen.’’

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Daily Bible thoughts 967: Monday 14th September 2015: Jeremiah 16: Some further thoughts.

Jeremiah 16: Some further thoughts.(please click here for todays notes)

Here are some further observations on this chapter:

  • Verse 5 contains a warning for the church today. Think about the letters to the seven churches in the book of ‘Revelation’. ‘Lights’ can go out. ‘Candles’ can be extinguished. God can withdraw His blessing. Someone made the point that the local church is never more than a generation away from extinction. We can’t just live how we please and think that all will be well. God, in His patience, may well give us time to repent, but the time will not be infinite. A day will come when it is too late to change.
  • See once again that a note of hope is embedded within a message of severe judgment (14, 15). Jeremiah was enabled to see that there was going to be a second and greater ‘exodus’. In future days people would see the deliverance from Babylonian as the supreme example of God’s power in Israel’s history – even more than ‘the great escape’ from Egypt. (There is a repeated theme in this book that God will not destroy his people ‘’completely’’ : 4:27; 5:10, 18; 30:11; 46:28; see Psalm 94:14; Romans 11:1-5). When Jeremiah wrote, God’s revelation was not complete. Jesus, God’s final Word to mankind had not yet come. We now know that the supreme demonstration of God’s delivering power in human history was displayed at the cross where Jesus died for our sins.
  • Nothing is hidden from God (16-18; see 17:10). We are well and truly ‘bugged’. Jesus has ‘X-Ray vision (Revelation 1:14b).
  • Essentially, what God does in judgment is to give people what they have chosen (13). They would be where there hearts were – with their gods in the land of their gods. “When you tell this to the people and they ask, ‘Why is God talking this way, threatening us with all these calamities? We’re not criminals, after all. What have we done to our God to be treated like this?’ tell them this: ‘It’s because your ancestors left me, walked off and never looked back. They took up with the no-gods, worshiped and doted on them, and ignored me and wouldn’t do a thing I told them. And you’re even worse! Take a good look in the mirror—each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me. And for this I’m getting rid of you, throwing you out in the cold, into a far and strange country. You can worship your precious no-gods there to your heart’s content. Rest assured, I won’t bother you anymore.’ ’’ The Message.

Beware of what you set your heart on, for it will surely be yours!

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Daily Bible thoughts 966: Friday 11th September 2015: Jeremiah 16: The cost of ministry.

 Jeremiah 16: The cost of ministry.(please click here for todays passage)

In his remarkable book, ‘Intercessor’, Rees Howells says something along these lines: ‘’The Holy Ghost was stricter with me than any schoolmaster.’’ This Welsh man had a remarkable ministry in prayer, but there was a lot of self-denial and self-sacrifice behind the scenes. God will sometimes deny a person certain legitimate things for His own good reasons. He has a particular purpose for each life. We are not to compare ourselves with others, but faithfully do what the Lord asks of us (John 21: 20-23).

There is a price to be paid for an effective ministry. Indeed, there is a price to pay for a high profile ministry. Although, humanly speaking, he was largely unsuccessful in his day, and unpopular, Jeremiah has become one of the most famous names in history. But there was a price tag attached to what he said and did.

It must have been hard for a man ‘’of Jeremiah’s affectionate and sympathetic nature’’ to obey the commands in (2, 5 and 8). But this was part of his message. It gave him a platform to speak (10ff).

‘’When people asked Jeremiah about his strange behaviour, he would have opportunity to declare the Word of God.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe.

His life was his message, in a way. (In a slightly different way, it should be the case for us as well – that the godly way we live backs up what we say, and causes people to ask questions.)

‘’Jeremiah has already used a sign to reinforce his message (13:1-11); now his whole life becomes a sign (1-4). Being unmarried was unusual in ancient Israel, and so his singleness and childlessness stand out as noteworthy. In fact, they are intended by the Lord as a sign that all normal life in Judah will cease…Jeremiah is also forbidden to participate in normal funeral ceremonies, as a sign that death will be so widespread in Judah that such mourning ceremonies will become impossible (5-7). Gordon McConville: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.686.

Jeremiah was also told that this was no time for feasting (8).

So, he was a lonely man: unmarried, childless, and with few friends. Someone pointed out that what Jeremiah was called to was tantamount to self-imposed excommunication. Perhaps these things were the kind of increased difficulty envisaged in (12:5).

‘’Jeremiah’s apparently anti-social conduct was to be a witness to the devastation that was about to descend upon Judah, when all normal activities of a community would cease.’’ A.E. Cundall.

How unpopular are you prepared to be for the cause of God in this world? As we will go on to see, although Jeremiah trod a lonely path, he was not alone. He had a ‘’refuge’’ (19). So do you and me. He will be our ‘’strength’’ to carry on.

Prayer: I am grateful Lord that when you ask something of us, you also help us to do that thing. Otherwise we would never have the courage or fortitude or ability to get on with the job.

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Daily Bible thoughts 964: Wednesday 9th September 2015: Psalm 119:25-32: Watch where you run!

 Psalm 119:25-32: Watch where you run!(click here for todays passage)

George Muller was famous in the Christian world for being a man of faith. This faith was linked to his absolute confidence in the Bible as God’s Word. He miraculously ran two orphanages in the Bristol area in the 19th century, feeding hundreds of orphans daily. He trusted God to meet every need. George Muller exercised a long ministry, and continued to travel the world and preach into his eighties. I read that he put his health and longevity down to the Bible and its recuperative power over his entire being.

We see in today’s reading:

  • The renewing power of God’s Word (25): This verse caused me to think about George Muller and what he said about the link between the Scriptures and longevity. Tom Hale makes the point that ‘’according to your word’’ means ‘’according to your promise.’’ The psalmist was ‘claiming’ a promise of God. He says that God has promised, on average, a ‘’long life’’ to His people if they remain faithful (Deuteronomy 6:1, 2). But he adds that it is sometimes God’s will to cut short the life of one of His faithful ones in order to accomplish some special purpose. The supreme example is that He ‘’cut short’’ the life of His own Son in order to provide salvation for the world. George Muller exemplified what it means to live by God’s promises. It is said that he read the Bible through nearly 200 times in his life, and he often put his finger on a promise as he brought it before God in prayer. He would ask Him, and trust Him, to do as He said.
  • The strengthening power of God’s Word (26): Amid the painful realities of life that bring us to tears, God’s Word imparts supernatural strength. In sorrow, there is no healing balm such as that which we find in the Bible. God gives the strength to go on.
  • The keeping power of God’s Word (29): The Bible is a ‘means of grace’. We live in a corrupt and corrupting world, but in the pages of God’s Word we experience the grace to be different; to swim against the current. Someone said, ‘’Either this Book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this Book.’’

If we are to experience this power it will not happen automatically. We will not drift into the life of holiness which God intends for us. There must be a commitment to the Bible, and to a Biblical lifestyle, such as that exemplified by George Muller. I finish today’s thought with another quotation from him:

“The vigour of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts.”

 

Prayer: Lord God, Author of all Scripture, teach me how to live on every word that proceeds from your mouth.

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