Author: Don Guthrie

Re: Verse reading–Daniel 3:1-2, 8-18, 25-29 (day one) 

“Let it be known to you, O king, that we will NOT serve your gods and we will NOT worship the statue that you have set up.”–v 18.

Sometimes (often) the most positive thing a person can do is to say “no”.  Want to build a marriage?  Begin by making some promises of what you will NOT do.  I will NOT be unfaithful to my spouse.  I will NOT be selfish or hold grudges.  Positives are implied (I will be faithful. . . I will be forgiving) but the first step is to pledge what WON’T happen.

Want to build a church?  Promise I WILL NOT FORSAKE  the assembling together of the saints.  See Hebrews 10: 25.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abenednego dreamed of rebuilding their broken nation.  Many steps still ahead, but the place to start was to say “NO” to any form of idolatry.

Strange!  Sometimes, a firm, clear “no” is a very positive thing.

Re: Verse reading–Jeremiah 1 (day one)

Eventually, all men will face the undeniable fact.  God is.  He knows us.  He has always known us.  He has a purpose for every life, and the most regrettable mistake that a person can make is to ignore God’s plan in pursuit of his own silly and temporal ideas.

God’s call to Jeremiah was an assurance of these unbending realities.  “Before you were born, I knew you and appointed you to be a prophet.”  v 5.

Wait!  What about personal choice?  Doesn’t God give each of us freedom to make this decision?  No.  The choice that we have–all of us–is “God”, or “Not God”.  Contained within this huge truth is the surrender of all freedoms to the vastly superior wisdom and plan of an eternally good heart.  If God is, why wouldn’t you trust Him?

Easy life?  No.  Real life?  Yes.  I follow the One who knew me before I was born.

Re: Verse reading–Esther 4:4-17; 7:1-6 (day seven)

“I will go to the king. . .and if I perish, I perish”–4:16.

“Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake. . .will save it.”–Jesus (Luke 9:24)

It is the ultimate irony.  “Playing it safe” is really unsafe!  The truly dangerous choice. The way of wisdom is to RISK LIFE in pursuit of Christ.

Esther decides to go see the King.  A teenage girl decides to break up with her bad-news boyfriend.  A Christian couple decides to stay where God called them in deliberate defiance of strong “consumer” desires.  The call of Christ requires us to abandon personal safety as our highest value.  We lose the life we wanted, the life we imagined.

The result?  We find true life!  Now and in eternity. We save ourselves and our days for life as God designed it to be. . .a great and dangerous adventure with the living God.

Re: Verse reading–Esther 4:4-17; 7:1-6 (day one)

“Who knows whether you have attained royalty for such a time as this?”–4:14

“To whom much is given, much is required”, said Jesus one day to His disciples. (Luke 12:48).  God’s sliding scale for judgement.  Those who have much information will be judged by a higher standard than those with less privilege.  Only fair.

Every blessing is also an obligation.  We love BECAUSE we have been loved.  (1 John 4:19).  Not even a choice.  A moral responsibility.

Sometimes, we conquer one kind of fear by focusing on a greater fear– of failing God, of being an ungrateful, spoiled child who always receives but never grows up to give back.

Mordecai’s words to Esther and Jesus’ words to us have a similar thread.  God’s gifts are not given to us so that we can “play it safe”.  His gifts prepare our hearts so that we will be ready for the risks that are involved in giving back!

Re: Verse reading–1 Kings 19:1-18 (day seven)  

“Go out and stand on the mountains in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”–v 11

If you lose hope, you lose your ability to hear–so far as God is concerned.  Discouragement is a weak grip that cannot hold onto God’s word.  His promises and commands will come, but the hopeless heart will have no strength to receive them.

For 30 years, Elijah welcomed the word of God with manly courage.  Every time.  Now in a sad lapse of confidence, his heart (and his feet) are unmoved.  Discouraged.  Hopeless.

Then,  God comes in an intriguing, new way,  Still small voice. Elijah intuitively understands.  Not “more of the same”.  God is ever new.  Elijah goes to investigate.

John Paul Jones said, “I have not begun to fight” (1779, American Revolutionary War). God says the same.  Only better.  We may be defeated.  God isn’t.

Hope again!  Your hearing will return.

Re: Verse reading–1 Kings 19:1-18 (day one)

“So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, ‘May the gods deal with me. . . if by this time tomorrow I do not (take your life).  Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.”–v 2-3

I know people who are trustworthy.  I also know people who are trustweary.  They serve well and long.  Stand like heroes against doubt and disappointment, opposition and criticism.  Then, one day, they get in the “red zone”.  Overload.  They get weary, and then they get afraid.

Sometimes they run.  Sometimes they get negative.  Sometimes they make foolish decisions.  Elijah is in the first category.  Jezebel’s threat sends him “over the edge”.

Rest is a spiritual necessity.  Sabbath is a command not a suggestion. Those who don’t get it in normal rhythms will experience God’s intervention.  “He MAKES ME lie down”.

Rest from all other things!  Guard your margins.  Save your energy for the most important thing.  Trust.

Re: Verse reading–Numbers 13:26-33; 14:1-9 (day seven) 

“And they gave out to the sons of Israel a BAD report”–13:32.

Was it BAD because it was dishonest?  No.  The majority that day were being completely honest.

Was it BAD because it was malicious? Motivated by self-interest?  No.  The ten members of that study committee thought that they were speaking wisdom.

It was BAD because it was not true, not an accurate reflection of God’s will.   They had not heard from God.  Listened to fear, instead.  It was BAD because “whatever is not of faith is sin”–Romans 14:23.

When God says, “go”, fear hesitates but faith obeys.  When God says, “wait”, pride pushes forward but faith kneels in humble patience.

Bad or good is ultimately determined by whether God is in it.  Have you waited on Him?  If so,  He is calling you to obey the “GOOD and acceptable and perfect will of God?”–Romans 12:2.  Anything else is going to be BAD.

Re: Verse reading–Numbers 13:26-33; 14:1-9 (day one)

“Our wives and children will be taken as plunder.  Wouldn’t it be better to go back to Egypt?”–14:3

It was a sad day.  A permanent regret.  God had prepared them.  Proved Himself at the Red Sea crossing, provided for them in daily manna.  Then, irrational fear took over.  At the first mention of powerful opponents and fortified cities and giant warriors, the people panicked!  No reference to a faithful, powerful God.  Wildfire anxiety!  Before long, they were imagining disaster and considering a return to Egypt!

At some point, fear becomes a choice.  “Let not your heart be troubled” says the Lord.  If fear is ruling my life, at some level I am allowing it.

Sad day for them.  Costly failure.  Doesn’t have to be so for us.  “TRUST in the LORD with all your heart!  Lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and He will direct your paths.”–Proverbs 3:4-5.

RE Verse reading–Exodus 3:7-15; 4:1-17 (day seven)

“When God saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush.”–3:4

It isn’t really a virtue, but almost.  Curiosity.  Interest.  Hunger for something that you haven’t yet found. The ability to dream again despite all disappointments.

The Bible says that God watched for it in Moses. Waited to see what he (Moses) would choose.

Maybe he was tempted to just walk on by.  Once burned, twice shy.   Why does it matter? Life is over for me anyway.  Or, maybe he identified with the bush.  Saw his own story in it. In the fire, but not destroyed.  Resilient.  Humbled but still hopeful.

Henry Blackaby talks about the “crisis of belief”.  That moment when what you thought would happen didn’t.  The answer you thought would come doesn’t.  What then?  Will you survive that moment?  Will your faith?

After all the bumps and delays, are you still curious?