TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: John 4:1-26
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. - Psalm 29:2
TODAY IN THE WORD
Few subjects are as sensitive in the life of the church today as the subject of worship. By worship we usually mean worship style. By worship style we mean music. Churches are more likely to divide over musical preferences than they are over points of doctrine.

Perhaps we care more about what we hear and sing than we do about what we believe. Some try to resolve the tension by emphasizing that worship is not about us. The question is not whether we like the worship but whether God does. Today’s passage can help us answer this question. It indicates that God’s primary concern when it comes to worship is the worshiper.

The Jews and the Samaritans disagreed about where God’s people should worship. Jerusalem and its temple was the center of worship for the Jews. Samaritans centered their worship on Mount Gerizim. When the northern kingdom of Israel separated from the southern kingdom of Judah, Jeroboam introduced calf worship at Gerizim to discourage the people of Israel from going to Jerusalem. This history of religious division, combined with the mixed ethnic background of the Samaritan inhabitants, resulted in religious and ethnic tension and hatred.

The woman at the well alluded to this when she expressed amazement that Jesus would ask her for a drink (v. 9). She also asked which mountain was the correct place to worship. Jesus’ answer indicated that Jerusalem was the designated location, but also signaled a fundamental shift: “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” (v. 21).

With His coming Christ ushered in a new era of worship. It does not require continuous animal sacrifices; rather, it is worship of God in spirit and truth. During His earthly ministry, Jesus warned that the temple’s days were numbered (Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6). Now that Christ has come, God is building a different kind of temple and is looking for a different kind of worshiper.

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Music matters to God. It has always been an important element in biblical worship. Instead of telling believers to orient their music in a vertical direction toward God only, the New Testament also includes our horizontal relationships with each other. We are to “speak to one another” with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs as we “give thanks to God” in Christ’s name (Eph. 5:19-20). We are to “teach and admonish one another” as we sing to God with grateful hearts (Col. 3:16).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Matthew 21:10-17
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” - Luke 2:49
TODAY IN THE WORD
Ever since the housing bubble burst in early 2007, many home values have steadily declined. Their shrinking value has significantly diminished the net worth of most families. Prior to this crisis some homeowners relied on their home’s equity to fund other purchases like cars and even vacations.

In Jesus’ day the temple leadership looked to God’s house to provide them with a stream of income. They used the outer court to serve as a marketplace where sacrificial animals were bought and sold and where foreign currency could be exchanged for temple coinage. The temple leaders licensed others to do commerce and probably received a percentage of the profits.

Those who sold sacrificial animals provided a necessary service to travelers who visited the temple from a distance. Yet this also made it possible for them to charge too much. The fact that verse 12 singles out those who sold doves suggests that the poor were especially vulnerable (cf. Lev. 5:7). The majority of worshipers who came to offer sacrifice at the temple were probably poor. Other animals were also for sale. John 2:14 mentions cattle and sheep as well as doves. The money changers charged a fee for exchanging the local currency of the pilgrims into Tyrian coins, the only kind that would be accepted for payment of the temple tax (cf. Matt. 17:24-27).

Even if no exploitation were taking place, the location of this temple commerce posed a problem. The outer temple was the only place Gentiles were allowed to worship. The business of exchanging currency and selling sacrificial animals must have been distracting for those who came to pray. Jesus alluded to this when He quoted from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 in verse 13. By turning God’s house into a “den of thieves” they robbed God of the worship He deserved. After He drove out those whose commerce had desecrated the temple, Jesus healed the blind and lame who came to Him there. As He did so, children took up the cry of the multitude that had gone before Jesus as He entered the city.

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It seems that the practices that Jesus condemns in today’s passage began for the convenience of those who visited the temple. Have you made any decisions about serving God out of convenience? Have you ignored how your choices affect people at the margins of our society? If the Spirit convicts you, invite Him to clean out your life just as Jesus drove out moneychangers from the temple.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 3:10-17
In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. - Ephesians 2:21
TODAY IN THE WORD
During His earthly ministry Jesus predicted that Herod’s temple would eventually be destroyed. Jesus responded with a dire warning when His disciples marveled at the beauty of the temple. “ ‘Do you see all these things?’ he asked. ‘Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down’” (Matt. 24:2). The apostle Paul’s description of the church as “God’s temple,” penned just a few years before Jesus’ prediction was fulfilled, indicated that a change had already occurred.

The Greek word that is translated “temple” in verses 16 and 17 referred to the sanctuary. In tomorrow’s study we will see that Paul used this term to refer to the individual believer. Here he has the whole congregation in view. God’s people are collectively the temple of God. This is because God’s Spirit “dwells” in their midst.

When God’s people come together as the church, the result is both sacred and unique. The gathered church is unlike any other human gathering. The church does not have to do anything to achieve this status. It does not require a particular ritual, prayer, or incantation. Paul states it as a fact. We are God’s temple.

Paul describes the church as a building that is still under construction. The foundation, Jesus Christ, has already been laid by preaching the gospel (v. 11) but the quality of the workmanship by those who build upon this foundation may vary. Two categories of people are in view. One consists of those who labor in “building” the temple, presumably those who exercise spiritual gifts to “build up” the church (cf. 1 Cor. 14:12). These are all believers who will be “rewarded according to their own labor” (v. 8).

The other category of people consists of those who attempt to destroy the church. The Greek word that is translated “destroy” also means to corrupt and appears elsewhere in contexts that refer to false teaching (2 Cor. 11:3; 2 Peter 2:12; Jude 1:10). These unbelievers will eventually be punished for what they have done to the church (v. 17).

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The church is at risk on two fronts. One is the danger posed by false teachers who attempt to corrupt the church’s teaching. They distort the gospel and substitute their own ideas for Scripture. The other threat is posed by the church’s own members who build on the right foundation but employ shoddy workmanship. As part of Christ’s church we are workers and we are those who are “worked upon” by those who teach. Pray for their work as well as our own.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness. - Romans 6:13
TODAY IN THE WORD
In a lecture given at Multnomah Bible College, genetic engineer John Medina observed that the human heart pumps more than a thousand gallons a day and more than 55 million gallons in a lifetime. The heart beats 2.5 billion times in the course of our life. The lungs contain a thousand miles of capillaries. But for those who know Jesus Christ as Savior, the most amazing fact about the body is its status as the temple of God.

What is true of the church collectively is also true of the individual believer. Every believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit (v. 19). The same God who manifested His presence in the tabernacle and the temple is also present with the individual believer. This means that there is spiritual significance to what we do with our bodies. Some in the Corinthian church did not think that the body had any spiritual significance. The slogans of verses 12 and 13 reflect their approach, which combined extreme views of liberty with a dualistic philosophy that regarded the spiritual as good and the physical as inconsequential.

Paul corrected their thinking on both counts. They were under grace and therefore not bound by Mosaic Law. But that did not mean that they were free to do anything. As for their strict dichotomy between the value of the spirit and not the body, they were partially correct in this thinking. It is true that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50). But they failed to realize that the capstone of the believer’s redemption will be bodily resurrection (1 Cor. 15:42-58). The body is meant for the Lord both now and for all eternity. The practical implication of this theological truth is to see our bodies as “members of Christ himself” (1 Cor. 6:14).

In his book The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard characterizes our relationship to the body as a kind of dominion. “In creating human beings in his likeness so that we could govern in his manner, God gave us a measure of independent power. The locus or depository of this necessary power is the human body.”

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You exercise control over your own body. But you do not have the freedom to do whatever you please with it. Your body is not truly your own: “you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Cor. 6:20). We confront messages that tempt us either to worship our bodies (instead of the Lord who created and indwells them) or to ignore our bodies and disregard them as God’s good gift. Think of a way today that you can intentionally honor God with your body.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Revelation 11:1-13
These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth. - Zechariah 4:14
TODAY IN THE WORD
Today a Muslim mosque sits on the location that was once Israel’s holy place. The Al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. The site is also the location of the Dome of the Rock, whose golden dome features prominently in pictures of Jerusalem. Muslims differentiate between these two sites, claiming that the Al-Aqsa mosque was the first mosque on earth and that the Dome of the Rock is a pilgrimage site where their prophet ascended to heaven.

Today’s passage suggests that these two Muslim holy sites will eventually be replaced by another structure. Revelation 11:1-13 speaks of yet another temple. Commentator John F. Walvoord believes that we should interpret the events in these verses literally. The city is the city of Jerusalem. The two witnesses are two individuals. The earthquake is a real earthquake. If so, these things will occur during the Great Tribulation. Others view the details of this chapter as symbolic.

Many of the events in this chapter have parallels in the Old Testament prophetic books. The two witnesses, two olive trees and the two lamp stands echo Zechariah 4:11-14. Earlier in Zechariah’s prophecy a man with a measuring line measures the city of Jerusalem (Zech. 2:1-2). In one of his visions Ezekiel watched a man measure a mysterious temple of remarkable proportions with a reed, the way John does in today’s passage (Ezekiel 40). Later in the book of Revelation an angel measures the city of New Jerusalem and its walls (Rev. 21:16-17). Today’s passage also describes the martyrdom and eventual resurrection of two faithful witnesses.

While scholars may debate the specifics of today’s passage, one of its practical implications is clear. God will not let the testimony of His faithful witnesses fail. In Isaiah 55:11 the Lord promised: “My word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Those who oppose the gospel and put its messengers to death will not succeed in their effort to silence the gospel. In the end God will vindicate both His message and His messengers.

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Initially the book of Revelation was written for beleaguered Christians who experienced fierce persecution. Perhaps you feel that you are outnumbered in a hostile world. Hold fast in your profession of faith. The God who is able to resurrect the dead can empower you to speak for Him today in the face of great opposition. To remind yourself of His faithfulness, write Isaiah 55:10-11 on a notecard to review throughout your day.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Revelation 21:1-22:5
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! - 2 Corinthians 5:17
TODAY IN THE WORD
New Year’s Eve is traditionally the time when people make resolutions. With the new year lying before them, many determine to make fundamental changes in their lives. Most resolutions go unfulfilled. After six weeks fewer than half of those people who made resolutions still keep them.

What we really need is not a set of new resolutions but a new world. This is exactly what we find in today’s passage. A new heaven and new earth replace the old. Instead of old Jerusalem there is the new Jerusalem, “coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Rev. 21:2). The fellowship that humanity lost in the garden will be restored. Indeed, the fellowship with God that we will enjoy in this new city will be superior to what Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden of Eden.

In the new Jerusalem, fellowship with God will be permanent rather than intermittent. God will dwell with us there (v. 3). His presence will be so immediate that no temple will be needed. No external source of light will be necessary either, “for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Rev. 21:23).

A river flows through the city emanating from God’s throne. This is no ordinary river but a river of the water of life. The tree of life is also there. The tree of life will bear fruit year round and its leaves will be used “for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2). The servant kings who dwell in the city will see God’s face (Rev. 22:4).

Although we do not yet see that city we already have a foretaste of the new life that will characterize it. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). His resurrection power and the abiding presence of His Holy Spirit can enable us to live out the godly resolutions we make for the coming year.

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It’s good to make resolutions, as long as you rely upon the Holy Spirit to keep them. You can read the list of resolutions Jonathan Edwards made when he was a young man at http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards. Why not finish the year by making your own list? First spend time in prayer, asking the Lord to reveal to you anything you need to eliminate or any habits you should adopt. Submit this to Him in joy.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 112
[The righteous] will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD. - Psalm 112:7
TODAY IN THE WORD
After World War I, construction began on the Maginot Line. This line of concrete fortifications and machine gun posts stretching along France’s border was meant to serve as an impenetrable defense against another German invasion. It failed miserably. When war broke out across Europe in 1939, the German army once again invaded France, bypassing the Maginot Line almost entirely.

If we admit it, many of us galvanize our resources to construct our own personal Maginot Line. Because of economic and political news, we’re deeply afraid and uncertain about our future. We want impenetrable defenses. We demand guarantees. And while fear is a normal human response to something terrifying, the Scriptures instruct the people of God not to be ruled by fear.

How does a godly person handle fear? That is a question we will answer throughout the month, and today’s reading provides a snapshot of a person ruled not by fear but by faith. It begins with perspective. What looms largest in the horizon? Do the dangers and threats take on terrifying proportions? Or is God big? When we recognize that God is big, when we believe He is powerful and good, and when we actively trust Him, the dangers around us lose their fierceness.

The psalmist uses many different words and phrases in this psalm to convey a picture of safety and protection. It isn’t as if the person portrayed here is completely invulnerable: he, too, faces darkness and enemies. But faith shapes what he sees: he sees the Lord, and that vision gives him steady feet. There’s a sense that he finds rest and peace in discovering his smallness. The Lord is worthy of praise, and He’s ultimately the one in control.

The psalm catalogs the blessings available to us when we reject fear and trust in the Lord. There are blessings to be shared with our children and our children’s children, a legacy lasting beyond our lifetime. The righteous person is both fearless and fearing: only before One does he tremble.

APPLY THE WORD
Godly people are not immune to suffering. It’s true that sometimes our worst fears come true. Faith doesn’t give us guarantees that what we fear will never happen. But our month’s study will help us to understand how to entrust our fears to the Lord and how to deepen our faith in the Lord, ultimately fearing Him alone. What fears can you already identify in your own life that strangle your joy and peace?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Genesis 6:9-22
By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. - Hebrews 11:7
TODAY IN THE WORD
In New York City in the early summer of 2011, an eight-year-old boy walked seven blocks home alone from his day camp. His neighborhood of strictly observant Jews is known to be insular and safe. He knew the route well, but this particular day, got disoriented. Tragically, the stranger he stopped to ask for directions had a psychotic history. The boy never made it home.

Our world is a terrifying place. Children disappear, and terrorists board planes. While we might think that the horrors of today are worse than any other time in history, we see that the violence and treachery of Noah’s generation had reached epic proportions. Brutal crimes were commonplace, and fear was everyone’s constant companion.

Noah, however, was a righteous man who walked with God. God confided in Noah His intentions to judge his generation and literally wipe out everyone, with the exception of Noah and his family, from the earth. To imagine the devastation and destruction to come must have left Noah breathless, both because of the magnitude of the death sentence and the acquittal he and his family had been issued. Perhaps he had to stare down fears of his own. There was certainly no guarantee that Noah would even be allowed to work freely on this boat of colossal proportions.

The writer of Hebrews explains that Noah’s faith gave him courage in the midst of fear. Faith compelled him to take God at His word. Faith also moved him into action. Rather than focus on enemies and obstacles, Noah acknowledged that God was powerful and also good. He knew that he owed God obedience.

The fear of the Lord prompts us to take seriously every word He speaks. Sometimes we have to do something as radical as building a boat; some days it’s just getting out of bed and trusting Him for the strength we need.

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Noah’s example teaches us that disarming our fear requires us to listen. God is actively speaking to each of us, especially right in the midst of our fear. Maybe He’s speaking words of strength and courage to steady your quaking knees. Perhaps He is speaking words of comfort that His presence is still with you. Maybe He’s got specific instructions for you as He did for Noah. His voice quiets fear’s whispering. Get still enough to listen.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Genesis 22:1-19
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. - Hebrews 11:1
TODAY IN THE WORD
The Bible is full of mystery. Of course we’ve got our theologians and pastors to untangle some of the knots, but certain stories seem to defy what we know and understand about who God is and how He works in this world. Today’s narrative of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac has been described as one of the Bible’s most challenging passages. In Eugene Peterson’s words, “God seems to us to behave outrageously out of character.”

For all of our shock, surprise, and even outrage as readers, Abraham himself seemed to have no hesitation when God asked him to sacrifice his son. Although it seemed utterly at odds with everything that God had yet revealed of Himself and His plans, Abraham obeyed, making thorough preparation for an unthinkable act.

The narrative is remarkably tight-lipped. We don’t know Abraham’s thoughts; we hear only one simple exchange between Isaac and Abraham. But what is clear is the cost of the sacrifice. Four times, in a single sentence, it crescendoes: “your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac” (v. 2). Abraham must give up, indeed must kill, the person whom he loves most.

It’s not simply that Abraham loved Isaac. It’s that Isaac embodied the very promises of God. God had promised to bless Abraham and to build him a family through Isaac. What would now become of the promise? What if God meant for Isaac to die? What if the promise failed? What if God failed?

Fear is faith’s hungry predator. Fear threatens to devour our resolve to trust God and to risk obeying Him. For Abraham, the stakes were infinitely high. He had already forsaken his native land and sacrificed time and again before he began the climb up Mount Moriah. Was it for nothing?

Abraham models for us what it means to fear the Lord: we readily obey and willingly sacrifice. We reject the “what ifs” of fear, and we keep on believing that God is good even when life doesn’t make sense.

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Fear is an opportunity for each of us to grow a deeper, more persevering faith. The question underneath our fears is simply this: who is God? Is God big enough, good enough, and faithful enough to handle what I fear? Are His intentions towards me ultimately for my good? Will I continue believing the promises of God, or will I believe somehow that He’s failed? Our battle with fear requires us to be deeply rooted in the truth of Scripture.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Exodus 1:15-22
We must obey God rather than human beings! - Acts 5:29
TODAY IN THE WORD
Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most courageous leaders in recent American history, faced threats and opposition, eventually giving his life in the fight for civil rights. Fear, however, would not dissuade him. He wrote, “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”

The Hebrew midwives faced just such a moment in our reading today. The Pharaoh of Egypt had given them a direct command: kill every Hebrew boy at his birth. This is exactly the kind of moment to inspire knee-knocking fear. Pharaoh held all the power, and he had every advantage over the midwives. He was a man; they were women. He was an Egyptian; they were Hebrews. He was king, and they were commoners. If they defied him, the midwives would likely lose their lives. The risk was so great—it was a matter of life and death.

But the midwives knew of Someone greater than Pharaoh. Perhaps they had learned of Him on their mothers’ knees, hearing stories told of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They knew of the miraculous rescue of Jacob’s family from the famine. And as with Noah and Abraham, the midwives saw more than just the obvious dangers presented by Pharaoh. They saw God, and they feared Him. They would defy the one who had authority to kill them, because ultimately they had to trust the One who had power to protect them.

They had reasons to trust. The narrative has this relentless forward movement, starting from the very beginning of Exodus 1. As a people, the Hebrews were multiplying. Pharaoh strategized about ways to oppress them, to control them, and to enslave them. But they simply wouldn’t be subdued. And we of course know why. God was on their side, fighting for them!

The Hebrew midwives trusted God despite the danger, and their lives were preserved and blessed.

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When we are ruled by fear, we demand safety and security. We’re unwilling to take risks. But the life of following Jesus is a life full of risk. Which character in the Bible wasn’t asked by God to do something extraordinarily risky? Our Lord Himself faced the ultimate danger, that of losing His life. He did it willingly because He knew of God’s greater plan. Faith means trusting God in the face of risk, and it requires we see God’s protection over us even in the midst of danger.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Joshua 2:1-21
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed. - Hebrews 11:31
TODAY IN THE WORD
Last year, Nancy Wake, or “The White Mouse,” as the German military called her, died at the age of 98. During World War II, Wake saved the lives of hundreds of Allied soldiers by escorting them through occupied France to Spain. She was also one of 39 women who parachuted into France in preparation for D-Day, collecting drops of weapons and ammunition and hiding them. “I was never afraid,” she said. “I was too busy to be afraid.”

Today’s reading takes us on a secret spy mission. God had rescued the Israelites forty years earlier from Egyptian slavery, but rather than immediately possessing the territory they had been promised, they didn’t believe God and doubted His power to deliver them into the Promised Land. For forty years they wandered the desert as punishment for their sin. Now in today’s reading, having served their sentence, they again found themselves at the border of the Promised Land.

The two spies whom Joshua sent out found the house in Jericho of the prostitute Rahab. This might have proven an unwise choice for many reasons. Frequently in the ancient world, prostitutes were involved in intelligence activities. But by the work of God’s providence, these two spies found a friend, not an enemy, in Rahab.

Rahab seemed to be the least likely hero of faith. Her profession was scandalous, and she was a heathen, a Canaanite. But she confessed faith in Yahweh, a faith that trembled at the sovereign God of the universe (v. 11). She wasn’t simply trying to curry favor with the enemy. Form deep within her being, she acknowledged that this God was great enough to control everything. Unlike any of the tribal deities she may have known or worshiped previously, she began to understand that something was categorically different about Yahweh. He was God over every inch of space in the universe. There was nothing He could not do. There was no one who could oppose Him. A holy fear of Yahweh took root in Rahab’s heart, and it gave birth to great faith that led to her salvation.

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Knowing God and understanding His character is a critical step for combating fear. This doesn’t mean just memorizing rote facts about God. It means immersing ourselves in God’s story, just like Rahab did. Yahweh had parted the Red Sea, rescuing His people from Egypt. He had dethroned two powerful kings, Sihon and Og. Whose stories are teaching you most about God? Are you paying attention to what your own story says about God’s power and faithfulness?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Joshua 4:19-24
He did this . . . so that you might always fear the LORD your God. - Joshua 4:24
TODAY IN THE WORD
On the fateful morning of September 11, 2001, Jean-Marie Haessle was in Lower Manhattan. Fleeing in the shower of ash, he stopped just long enough to scoop up dust with an envelope, an envelope that has been sitting on his desk ever since. Susan Horn keeps the shred of T-shirt a stranger had ripped from his back and instinctively distributed as protection against the filthy, dusty air. Amy Shigo keeps the ferry ticket that took her to safety in New Jersey.

We keep things to remind us of what we dare not forget. Survivors of 9/11 have specific items so that they’ll remember. The Israelites in our reading today kept something else as a kind of collective symbol of their rescue. They were crossing the Jordan, ready to enter the Promised Land, and God once again dramatically delivered them in spectacular ways. Just as He did when He parted the Red Sea in Egypt, so now he stopped the forceful flow of the flood-swollen Jordan, allowing them to cross on dry land.

Earlier in chapter four, Joshua commanded twelve men appointed from each of the twelve tribes to take from the river a large stone and carry it to the other side. Joshua then took the stones and erected a kind of monument. Like all monuments, this one told a story. This story must not be forgotten by the Israelites. It would shape their consciousness of who they were and what God they served.

Future generations must know that Yahweh delivered them by His own power and goodness. He did so miraculously, as if to forever proclaim that nothing would be impossible for Him. He is indeed Lord of heaven and earth, for even the waters obey His commands.

This is the kind of story to inspire a holy fear, a reverent awe of the Creator God. And holy fear is our protection when we face dangers and obstacles, such as those the nation of Israel experienced in their past and in their future.

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We fear God when we bear witness to His power. But the temptation is so great to forget! If you want to grow in the fear of the Lord, you need to begin recording the ways you see His miraculous power in your life and in the lives of others. It can be as simple as keeping a written journal. Or perhaps you might begin a collection of some sort, gathering objects whose purpose is to remind you of the stories, big and small, of God’s miraculous protection and help in your life.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Samuel 13:1-15
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. - 1 Samuel 15:22
TODAY IN THE WORD
Interviews with Jacqueline Kennedy conducted in early 1964 have only recently been published to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s presidency. Mrs. Kennedy spoke with Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian and Kennedy administration aide, about her husband’s presidency, her role as first lady, and their marriage. When recalling the Cuban Missile Crisis, she said that after the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba, “from then on, it seemed there was no waking or sleeping.”

Fear steals from us our sense of time. Nights blur into days, days into weeks. That’s exactly where King Saul found himself in our story today. He had only recently been anointed king over Israel. It was not a position he had sought or one he had readily accepted. There had been constant war between the Philistines and Israelites in recent memory, and as a kind of first initiative during his reign, Saul authorized Jonathan to attack a Philistine outpost, a decision he seemed almost immediately to regret.

Militarily, Israel was no match for the Philistines. The Israelites numbered three thousand, plus the additional men who had been summoned to Gilgal. The Philistines boasted at least three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and unnumbered foot soldiers. The Israelite soldiers, aware of their impossible odds, were deserting at alarming rates. As military commander, Saul knew he couldn’t afford to lose even one more soldier. He waited the seven days appointed by Samuel, but Samuel didn’t come. Saul decided that he had to offer the sacrifices himself.

The voice of fear is never a reliable source, as Saul proved. He felt desperate, driven to take matters into his own hands. The army and nation were on the precipice of disaster, and obedience to God’s prescriptions for sacrifice didn’t seem practical. Saul revealed his fundamental ignorance and lack of commitment to God. He saw God as a deity to be placated with sacrifices. Saul thought that burnt offerings would secure his favor. Fear has a way of revealing what we really believe about God.

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It can be helpful to see both good and bad examples when we’re trying to learn something. Saul exemplifies what not to do when we’re afraid. He never looked to the Lord, never prayed, and never cried out. When we’re afraid and when our resources seem too scarce to meet the challenge, we need to cry out to the Lord. The simplest prayers are sometimes best: “Lord, help me!”

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Samuel 17:1-50
The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of the Philistine. - 1 Samuel 17:37
TODAY IN THE WORD
Joan of Arc was a young peasant girl, born in France during the Hundred Years War. At the age of fourteen, Joan described hearing voices telling her to lead the country to victory against England. This divine appointment emboldened a girl of common ancestry, a girl who obviously lacked formal training as a solider. Joan of Arc rallied a listless French army to victory.

Joan was a young French heroine of the fifteenth century. David was a hero of much earlier times in Israelite history, but he was also a teenager and just as unlikely a hero as Joan. The youngest of his family, David endured the scorn of his older brothers. By all appearances a simple shepherd boy, David didn’t immediately win King Saul’s confidence when he offered to fight Goliath.

When David agreed to fight Goliath, he wasn’t motivated by reward. He didn’t set out to make a name for himself and earn respect. But unlike every other Israelite man at the battlefront—including his own brothers—he was unafraid. What was the source of courage for this adolescent boy, unarmed and inexperienced? Belief in who God said He was.

If courage gains strength from trust in an invisible God, fear takes root in believing the visible enemy. The Israelites cowered, Saul included, because all they saw on the landscape was a giant towering above the Israelite army. Goliath jeered at their powerlessness. He was dressed from head to foot in armor, with a collection of immense and frightening weapons. How could anyone face him in battle and hope to win?

David’s courage came from the God who guarantees victory. David had known the protection of Yahweh. While tending his sheep, he had faced lions and bears, and the Lord has rescued him. He believed (rightly) that God would rescue him again from the hands of Goliath. Goliath was big, but God was infinitely bigger.

With one shot, David sank a stone into the forehead of Goliath, and victory was the Lord’s.

APPLY THE WORD
Facing our fears is so much about perspective. What will we choose to see? Do we have faith to see what can’t be seen? Elisha and his servant faced enemy forces in 2 Kings 6. When the servant realized they had been surrounded, he feared for their lives. Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” The servant then saw the angelic forces fighting for them. When you’re afraid, ask the Lord to see rightly, with the lens of faith.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Psalm 23
He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. - Isaiah 40:11
TODAY IN THE WORD
In November of this year, we’ll be voting to elect a new American president. Political debates are always fierce, even more so with the bitter partisanship of recent years. But at the core of every campaign is essentially a promise: the reassurance that a candidate wants what’s best for the country and has a plan to lead people toward better days.

It’s impossible to follow someone we don’t trust. And to trust someone, we have to believe that they have our best interests at heart and are committed to our well being. This is true in families, in churches, and in corporations. It’s also true in our relationship with the Lord.

So much of our spiritual life hinges on trusting God. When we believe with certainty that He’s committed to our best, we find it easier to follow Him even when days are dark and difficult. But when there’s doubt, when we’re secretly afraid that somehow God’s plans for our lives aren’t altogether good, our faith begins to give way to fear.

Overcoming fear requires a deep trust in God’s good intentions toward us, His people. Psalm 23 catalogs the many ways God demonstrates tender care for His children. As a shepherd, He leads, protects, and defends. His rod is a weapon of defense, His staff a tool of guidance. He will not allow harm to come to His sheep, and He never abandons us. With these truths, David consoled himself that he could face anything. He could face enemies. He could face death itself, but he would not fear.

Fear indicates a deficit. Fear means to want. When we’re afraid, the threats are too big, and we are too small. We’re afraid of capsizing in the sea of life, knowing all too well that we can’t swim. But for followers of Jesus, fear is also an example of terrible accounting. It doesn’t factor in the resources of God! In Him, we have no want. In Him, we have everything we need for meeting every challenge of life.

That’s steady ground and sure footing when life wobbles and fear lurks.

APPLY THE WORD
This is such a familiar psalm. Maybe you even memorized it as a child. But its truths are poignant and profound. In fact, to understand better the life of a shepherd as it pertains to Psalm 23, read a copy of the book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Philip Keller. Keller is himself a shepherd and brings alive the meaning of familiar images in Psalm 23, helping us understand God’s tender care of us, His people.