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Daily Bible thoughts 998: Tuesday 27th October 2015: Psalm 119:49-56: Singing in the rain.

Psalm 119:49-56: Singing in the rain. (please click here for todays Bible passage)

We have a picture in these verses of a man suffering for his faith. He was a persecuted believer. How did he keep going? Well, he found ‘’comfort’’ in God’s Word (50, 52). Here are some of the ways he drew on this:

  • He remembered God’s ‘’promise’’ (50);
  • He remembered His ‘’ancient laws’’ (52). God’s Word might be an old Book, but that does not make it obsolete. To the writer of Psalm 119, the Bible (as he knew it) was always relevant; ‘’old, yet ever new’’. ‘’I watch for your ancient landmark words, and know I’m on the right track.’’ The Message.
  • He remembered God in’ ’the night’’ (55); in the dark hours when, maybe, fear stalked and sleep would not come, he remembered the Lord. When fears could seem greatest, and loom largest, he would not capitulate. He was still determined to be ‘Bible man’. ‘’I meditate on your name all night, GOD, treasuring your revelation, O GOD.’’ The Message.
  • He would not turn from God’s Word (51). Like a man who wraps his cloak more tightly around himself the more the wind blows against him, so this psalmist held God’s truth close to his heart and would not let it be ripped from his grasp. ‘’The insolent ridicule me without mercy, but I don’t budge from your revelation.’’ The Message.
  • He sang Scripturally-based hymns. Wherever he went he worshipped God with sound doctrine set to music. ‘’I set your instructions to music and sing them as I walk the pilgrim way.’’ The Message
  • He established good practices based on obedience to God’s Word (56). Whatever the ‘weather’ it was his intention to obey. ‘’Still, I walk through a rain of derision because I live by your Word and counsel.’’ The Message. Yes, it was ‘raining’ on this man, but he was determined to sing in the rain!

(Note: The more you know and love God’s Word, the more you will hate all evil; every manifestation of badness, see verse 53).

Prayer: Lord, I thank you that you have put a song of joy in my heart which no one can take from me.

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Daily Bible thoughts 977: Monday 26th October 2015: 1 Timothy 1: 18-20: Shipwrecks.

 1 Timothy 1: 18-20: Shipwrecks. (click here for todays Bible passage)

When a shipwreck occurs valuables are lost or plundered. It is sadly possible to ‘shipwreck’ your faith. You can probably think of those you know who have done just that to themselves. Paul mentions two known to him (20) who were currently on the rocks. (But he still had hopes of their being salvaged, and I will return to the point later.)

However this short passage points out 2 clear ways of remaining on course; staying afloat on the high seas of faith:

  1. Hold on to ‘’faith’’ (19a). Always remember that there is a ‘’thief’’ who ‘’comes only to steal and kill and destroy’’ (John 10:10). He wants to take this precious cargo from out of your ‘hold’;
  2. Hold on to ‘’a good conscience’’ (19a). The ‘thief’ has also set his sights on seizing this oh so valuable commodity.

We need to keep right on trusting in the right Person (Jesus) and believing correct doctrine. (We should also hold on to prophetic ‘words’ which we have good reason to believe are genuine. See 18) Linked to this, we are to go on living the right way. Part of this right living is getting on with what God has called us to do, just like Timothy did, even though it may not necessarily be easy (18a). This is about calling and vocation; not just about moral conduct.

But we do these things with our eyes wide open. We are not naïve (or shouldn’t be) about the true nature of things. We know that we’re in a furious fight. It’s a fight all the way; a battle to the end of our days. But it is ‘’the good fight’’ (18b). It’s in a good cause. It’s a fight for right against wrong. And the God who is good is ‘’for us’’ so ‘’who can be against us?’’ (Romans 8:31).

‘’There are some, you know, who by relaxing their grip and thinking anything goes have made a thorough mess of their faith. Hymenaeus and Alexander are two of them. I let them wander off to Satan to be taught a lesson or two about not blaspheming.’’ The Message.

In the mention of ‘’Hymenaeus and Alexander’’ who shipwrecked their faith, there is an intriguing note about Paul handing them ‘’over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.’’ This is generally taken to refer to excommunication. They were put out of the church into the world, which is Satan’s domain. But there is an implicit note of hope that this disciplinary measure will be corrective; that they will be ‘’taught not to blaspheme’’. Spiritual casualties can be healed and restored; the shipwrecked may one day find the wind of the Spirit in their once again unfurled sails. Me must hope and pray it will be so in a number of cases known to us.

Prayer: Pray today for those you know who have shipwrecked their faith.

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Daily Bible thoughts 995: Thursday 22nd October 2015: 1 Timothy 1:1-11: ‘’Bypath meadow’’

 1 Timothy 1:1-11: ‘’Bypath meadow’’ (please click here for todays Bible passage)

Have you noticed how some Christians always seem to want to pull away from the central core of truth? They are fascinated by what lies at the edges; captivated by what is on the fringe, and beyond. They major on minors. They love speculation. They like to have lengthy conversations about matters about which, frankly, no one can know with certainty this side of heaven. It’s ‘’meaningless talk’’ and ‘’they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm’’ (7). Let it be said that false teaching lies in that direction, and if you get away from the centre you will be in danger of crossing the border into heresy. It is better to keep to the highway of certainty and avoid ‘bypath meadow’. But some believers do love to ‘’wander off into cul-de-sacs…’’ The Message.

Something like this was happening in Ephesus and Paul left Timothy there to sort it out (3). Timothy and Titus have been characterised as ‘’timid Timothy and tough Titus.’’ That might be a slight exaggeration, but reading between the lines it seems Timothy may have been a bit more diffident by nature. Yet he was the one Paul left in Ephesus. Facing the challenge no doubt helped the younger man to grow. Some responsibilities may seem onerous, but remember that responsibility is our response to God’s ability.

In his introduction to the so-called ‘pastoral epistles’ of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, Eugene Peterson writes: ‘’The best leadership in spiritual communities formed in the name of Jesus, the Messiah, is inconspicuous, not calling attention to itself but not sacrificing anything in the way of conviction and firmness either.’’ So Paul said to Timothy, ‘’Stay right there on top of things so that the teaching stays on track. Apparently some people have been introducing fantasy stories and fanciful family trees that digress into silliness instead of pulling people back into the centre, deepening faith and obedience.’’ The Message.

The teaching ministry in the church is so important. Truth is vital. The pulpit must be guarded. A genuine Biblical ministry, sticking to what the Bible says, does not ‘’promote’’ controversy (4). Rather it builds consecration. It constantly calls believers back to the central things.The fruit of an authentic Bible teaching ministry lies in the transformation of character. God ‘works’ through His Word and by His Spirit to change people. Such preaching stimulates:

  • ‘’sincere faith’’ (5; 4b);
  • ‘’love’’ (5);
  • Purity of heart (5);
  • A clean conscience (5);
  • Holiness of life (8-11) – note in these verses that there is a life that is in conformity with ‘’the glorious gospel of the blessed God’’ (11), and Paul saw his ministry of this good news as a sacred trust. It didn’t belong to him, but was placed into his hands by God to steward well.

I knew a man who left one church group in a city for another. The reason he gave for moving on was quite simple. These people, he said, had got ‘’off centre’’. This is tragically possible. Let’s keep the main things the main things! And may God help us to do so.

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Luke 1:26-38: Written into God’s story: Daily Bible thoughts 994: Wednesday 21st October 2015:

 Luke 1:26-38: Written into God’s story (please click here for todays Bible passage)

I want to be part of a story God is writing. I don’t want to be working at some man-made project, however grandiose, and be able to boast about what ‘we’ are doing, and how successful we are. I realise that men can build ‘Babel’s’ that look impressive to other men, and to themselves, but they cut no ice with God (Genesis 11:1-9).

So, no, I don’t want any part in that, but I do so want to have a place in God’s story. It regularly involves ordinary and unlikely people. It often has relatively obscure and hidden beginnings in humble places. But it is always a story of real Holy Spirit power at work to bring Jesus into the world, and to change it by glorifying Him.

This is the story I would like to find myself in. I don’t want to write it myself; my desire is to be written in.

If God can hear from me the same words He heard from Mary, I too can have a role in history’s greatest work of non-fiction: ‘’I belong to the Lord, body and soul, let it happen as you say.’’ (38; see Romans 12:1, 2). ‘’And at this the angel left her’’, it says. No wonder. He had heard what he needed to hear; or rather what the Lord needed to hear. That was the required response.

To my mind, the challenge of this familiar story is about submission. Am I willing to have my plans altered, my life changed, by a Word from God? Am I willing for Jesus to fill me, to grow in me, to dominate my life from this point on (if I haven’t come to that place as yet)?

There are obvious parallels between the first story in (5-25) and this one, but it is important to understand that Mary’s question in (34) was not about unbelief. It was a technicality: ‘’But how? I’ve never slept with a man.’’ The Message. However big the mountains are, they can be moved when the Holy Spirit is on the job (35-37). That is one reason why God’s stories are the best!

Prayer: Lord God, may it be that my life is all about you, and not about me.

www.the-kings-church.org

www.gnba.net

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Daily Bible thoughts 993: Tuesday 20th October 2015: Jeremiah 19: The point of no return.

 Jeremiah 19: The point of no return.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

‘’They’re set in their ways and won’t budge. They refuse to do a thing I say.’’ (15b) The Message.

In this tragic chapter, Jeremiah is told to ‘’buy a clay jar from a potter’’ (1) and then break it in the presence of Judah’s leaders (10) as a sign of the coming destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. On this occasion, someone pointed out, he went to the potter’s not as a spectator but as a customer. There is an important difference between the ‘’clay jar’’ of this chapter and the ‘’marred ‘’ pot of the previous chapter (18:4). That was still pliable and could be remoulded; but here the jar was so hardened it could not be remade. There is a time when people can still repent of their sins, but in chapter 19 we have gone beyond that, and we need to remember that in sinning it is possible to reach a point of no return. For Judah it was now too late to be reshaped. The breaking of the clay pot showed that judgment was irrevocable. It was a powerful, ‘shattering’ image, and it spoke volumes. ‘’I’ll smash this people and this city like a man who smashes a clay pot into so many pieces it can never be put together again.’’ The Message. ‘’People with hard hearts and stiff necks (19-15) may be easily broken.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.510.

What was going on here? What had led to such devastation as described in this chapter?

They forsook God (4): That was the root of the problem. They left God behind; or rather they ‘’exchanged’’ Him (Romans 1:23) for other vile gods who demanded despicable things from them (5, 13).

They forsook God’s Word (5): Rejecting God and rejecting His Word are two sides of the same coin. It is tantamount to self-destruction ultimately.

They filled the city with innocent blood (4b): What kind of religion would demand that children be sacrificed in the fire (4, 5)? What sort of gods would desire such a thing? The law absolutely forbade child sacrifice (Leviticus 18:21: God foresaw that they would face both the temptation and the opportunity), and King Josiah had tried to put an end to it (2 Kings 23:10; see 21:16 – it was particularly rife in Manasseh’s reign); however the practice started up again after Josiah’s death. We are surely not shocked or surprised that terrible judgment fell on such evil behaviour? So, as a result of all this:

They were going to fall (7; see also 7:30-34): We may make our plans but they are not guaranteed to succeed. Even if they do, we need to realise that the Lord can ‘’ruin’’ them. Any plans we make which are not God-centred are doomed to ultimate failure, and we may find we are the sad recipients of what we did not plan.

‘’We have the spiritual treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor.4:7) so that we might share it with others. A vessel does not manufacture; it only contains and shares. All God asks is that we are clean, empty, and available. He will do the rest.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.510.

We need to understand that if we keep resisting God’s Word, and rejecting His Son Jesus, there will come a point where we are unable to turn.

Prayer: O Merciful God, give me grace to repent while there is still time.

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Daily Bible thoughts, Psalm 119: 41:48: Monday October 19th

Psalm 119:41-48: True freedom ( please click here for today’s Bible passage)
‘’Testimony requires the context of an obedient life (44), a life which demonstrates the true freedom which obedience brings (45)’’ J.A. Motyer, ‘The New Bible Commentary’, p.568.
True freedom is not the licence to do anything you want; it is the liberty to become the person God made you to be. It is not about doing what you want to do, but living the way God calls you to (45). People who are committed to knowing and doing the will of God find they have the ‘’freedom’’ to become everything they were meant to be.
The believer is the freest person in the universe. He or she is:
• Free to trust in God’s promises (41b/42b): Sometimes it is hard to live by faith; in fact, it regularly is. But Christians are set free to do this. They carry with them the chequebook of the bank of heaven, and they use it. These cheques do not ‘bounce’!
• Free to answer persecutors (42): They know what to say, when to say it, and they have the courage to do so. There is a time to be silent, but there is very definitely a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7b)
• Free to witness to all kinds of people without embarrassment (46) – even to those in authority: ‘’Then I’ll tell the world what I find, speak out boldly in public, unembarrassed.’’ The Message. (See also Matthew 10:16-26/32,33; Luke 24:12-19).
• Free to love God’s Word (47, 48): ‘’I cherish your commandments – oh, how I love them! – relishing every fragment of your counsel.’’ The Message. Can you say that you love your Bible? Is it your most treasured possession?’’…the mouth that speaks the word (42, 43) and the life that exemplifies it (44-46) must arise from a heart that loves it.’’J.A. Motyer: ‘The New Bible Commentary, p.568.
Here are just one or two aspects of a Christian’s freedom. It is not as the world knows it. In popular understanding, freedom is being able to do just what you want with your life. In truth that is permission to drive your life recklessly down the highway of life at 180 miles per hour and experience the consequences. They will not be pretty, for you or for others!
Prayer: Thank you Lord for the freedom we find in you.

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Daily Bible thoughts 989: Wednesday 14th October 2015: Jeremiah 18: 12-23: The last straw

Jeremiah 18: 12-23: The last straw(please click here for todays Bible passage)

I have to agree with you. This does sound terrible. My wife, Jilly, and I said as much to each other when we read it a night or two back (21-23). Jeremiah seems mean, nasty and vindictive. But you have to put some context around this; take a broader view; get a bigger picture.

The prophet had preached to these people (his people) for years and years. He had poured out his heart to them and poured out his life for them. God had spoken through him and warned those in Judah and Jerusalem repeatedly that if they did not repent, this judgment would come. Because of his God-given insight, Jeremiah had clearly spelled out what would happen. He saw it all vividly. But he did not want it to happen. When you read today’s verses remember this. Jeremiah loved these people; he broke his heart over them; wept ‘buckets’ for them. He had prayed faithfully that they would not have to face judgment (20b), that they would be spared. He had stood ‘in the gap’ for them. He had urged them over and over to turn from their cherished idols and get back to the true God. But they were intransigent, as (12) shows, and it is important to see these words as the precursor to what follows. Such stubbornness before God inevitably leads to a ‘’Therefore…’’ (13). Sin has consequences. If we persist in our own way; insist on getting it, then we will have it, and we won’t like it!

It seems to me that after years and years of loving and praying and preaching, and in a time of personal agony because his ‘congregation’ were out to kill him, Jeremiah came to a point where he saw that enough was enough. He recognised that the content of his preaching had to now be fulfilled in the lives of the Judean people. They would not turn, therefore they would have to be ‘’marred’’ in the Potter’s Hands, and made ‘’into another pot’’. Yes, the process would be brutal, but they would still be in God’s Hands (18:1-4). When Jeremiah prayed his prayer, he knew that the judgment would not be the end of this people, but part of God’s great purpose to reform and reshape them. Nevertheless, it would be dreadful in the short term, and we cannot dilute the concentrated truth about divine judgment.

This passage tells us that real ministry is costly. All shepherding service can be painful. Most leaders don’t suffer like Jeremiah did, but God’s people can be cruel and unkind and vicious with their tongues (18b). They can disappoint you and let you down. Our ‘sheep’ have teeth, and some make use of them! They can turn on you and make it clear they prefer other preachers. In Jeremiah’s case, the people were saying, ‘If we get rid of him we’ll still have other leaders to speak to us. ‘(18a). Those of whom they spoke were the ‘safe’ clergy who told them what they wanted to hear. The truth is that what seems safe and palatable is regularly dangerous. In this case, the people in ‘the church’ wanted to kill Jeremiah, but they could not put his message to the sword. The living Word of God, once spoken, would not return empty; it would come to pass (Isaiah 55:10, 11).

But here is a word to all in Christian leadership. Someone said, ‘’Ministry that costs nothing accomplishes nothing’’, and, ‘’There can be no blessing without bleeding.’’ Remember this, and stay faithful.

John Ortberg wrote in a recent edition of ‘Leadership Journal’, ‘’I don’t want to be the kind of person whose heart depends on getting applause from everybody every week. I want to be the kind of person that lives in freedom.’’

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Daily Bible thoughts 988: Tuesday 13th October 2015: Jeremiah 18:5-12: The hinge of repentance.

Jeremiah 18:5-12: The hinge of repentance.(please click here for todays Bible passage)

‘ ‘’…can I not do with you as this potter does?’’ declares the LORD.’ (6).

  • God is in charge. Don’t fight Him or resist Him. Yield to Him. Be soft and malleable in His Hands. Go with Him as He forms and shapes you. Be quick to repent when He shows you the things that are wrong in your life.
  • God looks for change. Repentance is the ‘hinge’ upon which so much turns. The people of Judah deserved God’s judgment for their sins. They had been repeatedly warned to turn from evil and back to the Lord. He did not want to inflict this punishment on them, so again He called them to repent; to change their minds (the literal meaning of ‘repent’) about the way they were living. (Repentance is a change of mind leading to a change of behaviour.) The statement in (7, 8) should have encouraged them to ‘turn’ when the call came in (11). But they would not (12). Their heels were well and truly dug in; their attitudes were entrenched. So the people were going to be ‘’marred’’ (4). However, they would still be in the hands of the ‘Potter’ as they were re-shaped in judgement, including deportation to a foreign land (13-17).

 

  • God gives freedom to choose. ‘’The Lord is absolutely sovereign, but He does not act in a mindless or mechanical manner. Both His threats and His promises are conditional; they are carried out in accordance with our response. If we respond rightly; He cancels the threat; if we respond wrongly, He cancels the promise. Thus, within His overall sovereignty, God has granted human beings a certain degree of freedom to choose the right response or the wrong one.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1102. ‘’Note carefully the cardinal rule of prophecy which is enunciated here, that both the promises and threats of God are not absolute but conditional. Judah often presumed on the divine promises, viewing them from the point of view of privilege and not of responsibility, in spite of prophetic warnings of the disaster that would overtake such an attitude.’’ E. Cundall.

 

‘’ ‘…Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.’ ‘’But they’ll just say, ‘Why should we? What’s the point? We’ll live just the way we’ve always lived, doom or no doom.’’’ The Message. Many people still respond in this way today, as the gospel message calls them (and us) to repent of sin and trust in Jesus (Mark 1:4, 14, 15). The call to repentance has never been popular, but repentance is the hinge upon which so much turns.

‘ ‘’…can I not do with you as this potter does?’’ declares the LORD.’ (6).

  • God is in charge. Don’t fight Him or resist Him. Yield to Him. Be soft and malleable in His Hands. Go with Him as He forms and shapes you. Be quick to repent when He shows you the things that are wrong in your life.
  • God looks for change. Repentance is the ‘hinge’ upon which so much turns. The people of Judah deserved God’s judgment for their sins. They had been repeatedly warned to turn from evil and back to the Lord. He did not want to inflict this punishment on them, so again He called them to repent; to change their minds (the literal meaning of ‘repent’) about the way they were living. (Repentance is a change of mind leading to a change of behaviour.) The statement in (7, 8) should have encouraged them to ‘turn’ when the call came in (11). But they would not (12). Their heels were well and truly dug in; their attitudes were entrenched. So the people were going to be ‘’marred’’ (4). However, they would still be in the hands of the ‘Potter’ as they were re-shaped in judgement, including deportation to a foreign land (13-17).

 

  • God gives freedom to choose. ‘’The Lord is absolutely sovereign, but He does not act in a mindless or mechanical manner. Both His threats and His promises are conditional; they are carried out in accordance with our response. If we respond rightly; He cancels the threat; if we respond wrongly, He cancels the promise. Thus, within His overall sovereignty, God has granted human beings a certain degree of freedom to choose the right response or the wrong one.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1102. ‘’Note carefully the cardinal rule of prophecy which is enunciated here, that both the promises and threats of God are not absolute but conditional. Judah often presumed on the divine promises, viewing them from the point of view of privilege and not of responsibility, in spite of prophetic warnings of the disaster that would overtake such an attitude.’’ E. Cundall.

 

‘’ ‘…Turn back from your doomed way of life. Straighten out your lives.’ ‘’But they’ll just say, ‘Why should we? What’s the point? We’ll live just the way we’ve always lived, doom or no doom.’’’ The Message. Many people still respond in this way today, as the gospel message calls them (and us) to repent of sin and trust in Jesus (Mark 1:4, 14, 15). The call to repentance has never been popular, but repentance is the hinge upon which so much turns.

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Daily Bible thoughts 987: Monday 12th October 2015: Jeremiah 18:1-4: Pottery Class!

 Jeremiah 18:1-4: Pottery Class! (please click here for todays Bible passage)

‘’…shaping it as seemed best to him.’’ (4b).

God has lessons for his people in ordinary things, if we will just go and see. Listen for His promptings today. Don’t miss what He might want to show you. In one chapter of his wonderful book, ‘The Sacred Year’, Michael Yankoski writes about lessons he learned whilst looking at an apple. The title of the chapter is: ‘’Single Tasking: The practice of attentiveness.’’ He says that we have so much information coming at us in this technological age that we are in danger of losing the ability to concentrate, to focus. ‘’This apple is beginning to speak, and I don’t want to miss a single word’’, he says. He quotes Thomas Moore: ‘’Spirituality is seeded, germinates, sprouts and blossoms in the mundane.’’

Here are three thoughts from today’s passage (and see also Isaiah 29:16; 45:9; 64:8; Rom.9:20, 21):

GOD IS SOVEREIGN: He has a plan for your life. His plans are good. Furthermore, His plans for you are more important (and better by far!) than your plans for you. He has the right to do with you whatever He pleases. Are you willing to take on His shape? ‘Give up your small ambitions.’ Let go of your perceived rights. ‘’There is simply no limit to the progress and development of the soul which is able to meet God with a never-faltering ‘’Yes’’ ‘’ F.B. Meyer.

IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR LIFE, GOD MAY CHANGE YOUR SHAPE: ‘’Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.’’ The Message. He might give you another role, a different job. You may not always be where you are now, doing what you are currently doing. Are you ready to change direction if your sovereign Lord chooses? He is the ‘God of surprises’. Gordon McDonald is a thoughtful and inspiring writer. One of his books is entitled ‘Mid-course correction.’ It’s well worth a read. In the middle of your life God may change your shape because you have sinned yourself into a bad shape. (The defect was in the clay and not in the Potter after all.) If that is so, it is good to know that no fall need be final. However, God may just decide to do something different with the same piece of clay because He is the Potter and it’s His right!

LIFE IS FRAGILE, BUT WE ARE SAFE IN GOD’S HANDS: When those ‘marring’ experiences come, as come they will, remember where you are and whose you are. You are out of shape, but you are still in the Hands of the Potter. Can you see Him ‘’working at the wheel’’ (3)? It is more important to be able to see God than your maimed life. When everything seems to be going wrong, keep your eyes on Him. Ron Jones was the General Superintendent of the Elim Pentecostal movement when I was the pastor of a little church in Lancaster. I remember him speaking at our church on this passage and admitting, ‘’It’s this wheel business I don’t like.’’ I want to be formed by God, but I don’t necessarily like what’s involved in the process.

‘’Note that a lump of clay has little value in itself, but when it has been made into something useful by the Master Potter, it has great value.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1102’

Prayer: Sovereign and loving Lord, shape me as seems best to you.

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