A Daily Devotional

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My Glory


“O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise, even with my glory” (Psalm 108:1).

This seems a somewhat strange expression. A similar statement is found in Psalm 30:12. “To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent.” Also, note Psalm 57:8: “Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp.”

The Hebrew word is the normal word for “glory,” as in Psalm 19:1, for example: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” But what, then, is meant by “my glory”? The explanation is found in the way the New Testament quotes Psalm 16:9: “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth.” In Acts 2:26, this verse is applied to Christ, and translated: “Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad.”

It becomes clear, then, that in such passages “my glory” simply means “my tongue.” In fact, the word was translated “tongue” in these and other similar passages in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.

But why, then, did the inspired Hebrew text here use the words “my glory” instead of the usual Hebrew word for tongue? The answer probably is that, when our tongues are used to praise the Lord, they do, indeed, become our glory!

It is this very ability, in fact, that primarily distinguishes man from the animals. Animals can bark, roar, grunt, and send out sonar signals, but they cannot speak in intelligible, symbolic, abstract speech. This is an unbridgeable evolutionary gulf that cannot be crossed, because only men and women were created in the image of God.

Mankind alone has the ability to speak, for the simple reason that God desires to communicate with us so that we can respond in praise to Him. This is our glory! “I will sing of the mercies of the L SIZE="-1">ORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 89:1).

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Christ Our Substitute


“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).

There are two specific references in the New Testament to Christ “bearing” our sins as He died on the cross. In addition to our text above, the other is I Peter 2:24: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.”

However, the same word (Greek anaphero) is also used with a similar thrust in Hebrews 7:27, where it is translated “offer up”: “Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself.”

When Christ died, He died as a substitutionary sacrifice, “offering up” our sins for judgment and punishment by a holy God, as He simultaneously “offered up” Himself as the one who would submit to that judgment and bear that punishment. He was able to do this because He was both the infinite Creator and the one sinless Man, who needed not to offer a sacrifice for His own sins. He was willing to do this because He loved us, and wanted to save us.

This doctrine of substitutionary sacrifice is central to the gospel of salvation, and, therefore, precious to the saint. But its central importance likewise means that it is profoundly offensive to the natural man. Many acclaim Him as a great martyr or a great teacher, but deny either His deity or His humanity, and certainly deny the universal efficacy of His shed blood in substitutionary sacrifice for the sin of a lost world.

Nevertheless, He did bear the sins of “the many,” and He did completely settle our account with God. In both Hebrews 7:27 and 9:28, as cited above, the word “once” means, literally, “once for all.” He did have to die once—but only once—as our sin-bearing substitute. Thus, when He comes again, it will be “without sin unto salvation.”

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Fear Not Little Flock


“But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31).

In these days of financial worries and rampant materialism, it does us good to reflect on Christ’s teaching concerning our priorities. In this passage, He was teaching His disciples not to be troubled over temporal things (v.22), but to rest in the fact that He will supply our needs. “If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (v.28). We are not to have our mind set on material things (v.29), neither are we to be “of doubtful mind,” wavering between hope and fear of the future.

We are to be different. We are children of the King and are in His care. The “nations of the world seek after” (v.30) these things. Our Father knows that we have need of certain things, and since He loves us and has our best interests at heart, we have nothing to “fear,” and can be assured that “all these things shall be added unto (us)” (v.31).

But more is involved. It is not enough simply to avoid improper fixation on the things of the world; we are to seek rather “the Kingdom of God;” we are to be about His business. His priorities should be our priorities. We must strive to know Him and His Word so well that we naturally conform our actions to His desires. If we do so, He not only will take pleasure in supplying our physical needs (v.31), but also “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (v.32).

It is our privilege to participate in His work on earth as He enables. Our part may be to give: “Sell (what you) have, and give alms” thereby storing up “a treasure in the heavens that faileth not” (v.33), or to pray, “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (v.34). If our primary desire is to enhance the work of the Kingdom, then He will give us that desire, and we will see fruit which lasts for eternity.

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The Light And The Sun


“The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun” (Psalm 74:16).

One of the traditional “discrepancies” attributed by the skeptics to the Genesis account of creation is the fact that there was “light” (Hebrew or) on the first day of creation week, whereas God did not create the “lights” (Hebrew ma-or) to rule the day and the night until the fourth day.

However, it is interesting that modern evolutionary cosmologists find no problem in having light before the sun. According to their speculative reconstruction of cosmic history, light energy was produced in the imaginary “Big Bang” 15 billion years ago, whereas the sun “evolved” only five billion years ago. Thus, even in their attempts to destroy the divine revelation of Genesis, they inadvertently find it necessary to return to its concepts. Light energy somehow had to be “prepared” before the sun and other stars could ever be set up to serve as future generators of light energy. The fact that light is an entity independent of the sun and other heavenly bodies is one of the remarkable scientific insights of the Bible. As the basic form of energy (even intrinsic in the very nature of matter, as expressed in the famous Einstein equation), it is significant that the first recorded word spoken by the Creator was: “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3).

In this chapter, the psalmist is entreating the Lord of light, the Creator of all things, to deliver His people from those who are seeking to destroy all genuine faith in the true God of heaven. “The tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually” (v.23). Nevertheless, “God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth” (v.12). The mighty God of creation, who established and controls all the basic energies of the cosmos and their manifestation on the earth, is fully able to defeat His enemies and establish His people. We can be sure of that.

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Threescore Years And Ten


“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).

When Moses wrote these words, near the end of his life, he was 120 years old (Deuteronomy 34:7), but all the rest of the people of Israel (except Caleb and Joshua), who had been over 20 at the beginning of the 40-year wilderness wanderings, had died there (Numbers 14:28-34), and so there were no others over 60 years old.

In former days, men had lived much longer. Adam died at 930 and Noah at 950, but then Shem only lived to 600, and Abraham died at 175 years of age. Thus, the normal life span by Moses’ time was down to 70 or 80 years, and he prophesied that this would continue.

It is remarkable that, with all the increase in medical knowledge, this figure has stayed about the same, and there seems to be little the gerontologists can do to increase it.

Furthermore, the latter years are largely “labor and sorrow,” just as God told Adam when his sin brought God’s curse on the earth (Genesis 3:17-20). No matter how much we try to prolong our lives, we are “soon cut off.”

But then, we “fly away!” The soul/spirit complex of the Christian believer, released from its weary body, flies away to be with the Lord. Those left behind may sorrow, but “to depart, and to be with Christ . . . is far better.” The Christian may confidently say with Paul: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:23,21). In the meantime, as our time grows shorter, it is more important than ever that we “walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5). “So teach us to number our days,” prayed Moses (and so should we), “that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

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Headstone Of The Corner


“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Psalm 118:22).

That this enigmatic verse is really a Messianic prophecy is evident from the fact that Christ Himself applied it thus. “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner . . . ?” (Matthew 21:42). The Jewish leaders had refused Him as their Messiah, but the day would come when they would have to confess their sad mistake.

Later, addressing them concerning “Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,” the apostle Peter said: “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner” (Acts 4:11,12).

This analogy evidently refers back to the building of Solomon’s great temple a thousand years earlier. At that time, each of the great stones for its beautiful walls was “made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (I Kings 6:7). According to tradition, there was one stone which didn’t fit with the others, so the builders moved it out of the way. At last, when the temple tower was almost complete, they found they were missing the pinnacle stone which would cap all the rest. Finally they realized that the stone they had rejected had been shaped to be the head stone at the topmost corner of the tower.

Peter referred to it again, in his epistle: “Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: . . . Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient” (I Peter 2:6-8).

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Two Ways


"Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).

It is sobering to realize that the multitudes who believe that all people are "going to the same place" actually are all going to the same place, for they are all traveling the broad way to destruction. It was God Himself, through Jesus Christ, who said that few (few!) ever find the way to eternal life. That narrow way to life is only through Christ who said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).

The word for "way" in both Old and New Testaments means a road, or journey. Figuratively, it is often used for a lifestyle. The Bible makes it plain, again and again, that there are two ways and two destinies: "The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish" (Psalm 1:6).

The first "way" mentioned in Scripture is "the way of the tree of life," guarded by mighty cherubim and a flaming sword (Genesis 3:24) after Adam and Eve had rejected the authority of their Creator. The second "way" mentioned is when "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth" and God had to decree "the end of all flesh" (Genesis 6:12-13).

The great tragedy is that while there are relatively few who "do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life" (Revelation 22:14), the way is freely open, through Christ, to all who will come to Him. Therefore, each sincere soul should pray: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).

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To Be Like Him


“But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (I Peter 1:15,16).

Scripture admonishes us as Christians to be like our Lord and Savior in “all manner of conversation,” or all manner of life. We are His earthly witnesses, and we must so order our lives that we are an adequate reflection of Him.

We are to be like Him in the purity of our lives. As our text points out, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (I John 3:3). “Follow . . . holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

Our daily walk and lives should be patterned after Him. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (I John 2:6). “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (I John 1:7).

Furthermore, we are to be like Him in love. “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God. . . . For God is love” (I John 4:7,8). We are to be willing to suffer unjustly without revenge, “because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth” (I Peter 2:21,22). Being like Him involves a life of service, as well. “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14,15).

Christ has forgiven each of us many times, even though our sins grieve Him deeply. He stands ready to forgive and restore fellowship, and so should we. With His help, we can emulate Him, even when we are wronged. “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).

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According To His Folly


“Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit” (Proverbs 26:4,5).

These two strange commandments appear to contradict each other. This is so obvious that the apparent contradiction must itself be intentional, in order to make a vital point.

The words “fool” and “folly” occur frequently in Proverbs, and their primary meanings are defined the first time they appear. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). “He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray” (5:23). The fool, therefore, simply refuses to base his “knowledge” on “the fear of the L SIZE="-1">ORD.” Relying on his own humanistic philosophy, he will inevitably go astray and finally die, without the instruction he needs for salvation and true wisdom. This is the very height of folly.

The Christian is often called on to “give an answer” (I Peter 3:15) to such people, for they are usually very confident and vocal in their opposition to God’s Word. Our text verses give invaluable guidance for dealing with them. In the first place, we should not answer a man like this in the context of his own rationalistic premises (i.e., “according to his folly”), because that would make us “like unto him.” No amount of rational evidence will convince someone who “despises wisdom and instruction.”

Then, however, “lest he be wise in his own conceit” (i.e., arrogantly satisfied that he has bested the Christian in rational argumentation), he must be really answered “according to his folly,” showing him that his foolish humanistic premises are themselves irrational and are leading him inexorably toward eternal death. He must, by faith, begin with “the fear of the LORD,” before he can even evaluate real evidence.

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The Peace Of Thy Children



“And all thy children shall be taught of the L SIZE="-1">ORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isaiah 54:13).

This prophetic verse has its primary fulfillment still in the future. Nevertheless, it states a basic principle which is always valid, and which is especially relevant on Father’s Day. The greatest honor that children can bestow on a father is a solid Christian character of their own, but that must first be his own gift to them. Before sons and daughters can experience real peace of soul, they must first be taught of the Lord themselves, and the heavenly Father has delegated this responsibility first of all to human fathers.

The classic example is Abraham, “the father of all them that believe” (Romans 4:11). God’s testimony concerning Abraham was this: “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment” (Genesis 18:19). This is the first reference in Scripture to the training of children and it is significant that it stresses paternal instruction in the things of God. Furthermore, the instruction should be diligent and continual: “When thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).

The classic New Testament teaching on child training has the same message: “Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Not wrath, but peace, as our text suggests. Great shall be the peace of our children, when they know the Lord and keep His ways. Great, also, is the joy of a godly father when he can see the blessing of the Lord on his children, and then on his grandchildren. “Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers” (Proverbs 17:6).

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Who Shall Let It?


“Yea, before the day was I am He; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?” (Isaiah 43:13).

This is one of the classic “archaisms” of the King James Version, where the English word “let” does not mean “allow” (as we now use the word), but almost the exact opposite. This particular English word was originally written and pronounced “lat” and was from the same Teutonic root as the word “late.” Thus, to our Old English ancestors, it meant essentially “make late,” or “hinder.” Note its similar use in the King James in Romans 1:13 and II Thessalonians 2:7.

However, the Hebrew word (shub) from which it is translated in the verse of our text is extremely flexible, being rendered no less than 115 different ways in the Old Testament, occurring about 1,150 times altogether, with the context controlling its meaning in any given case.

In this context, the great theme is that of God as omnipotent Creator and only Savior. The first occurrence of shub, however, is at the time of the primeval curse on the creation, implanted in the very dust of the earth because of Adam’s sin. To Adam, God had said: ”In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return“ (Genesis 3:19). Here, shub is twice rendered “return,” and this is the way it is most often translated in its later occurrences.

God, therefore, challenges every man: “When I work, who can return anything (or anyone) to its (or his) prior condition?” Though none can deliver out of His hand, or “make late” His work, He has promised to be our Savior, “and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:11,25). When it is time for God to do His work—whether of creation or judgment or salvation, there is no one in all His creation who can “make it late!”

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The Flesh And The Spirit



“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

The conflict between flesh and spirit is a frequent theme in Scripture, beginning way back in the antediluvian period: “And the L SIZE="-1">ORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh” (Genesis 6:3). The “flesh,” of course, refers to the physical body, with all its feelings and appetites, while man’s “spirit” refers especially to his spiritual nature, with its ability to understand and communicate in terms of spiritual and moral values, along with its potential ability to have fellowship with God.

Because of sin, however, the natural man is spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), and “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:. When the flesh dominates, even the Apostle Paul would have to say, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). This aspect of human nature became so dominant in the antediluvian world that “all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:12), and God had to wash the world clean with the Flood.

Now, however, the substitutionary death of Christ brings salvation and spiritual life to all who receive Him by the Holy Spirit. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:10,11). By the Lord Jesus Christ, the human spirit is made alive right now, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the body’s resurrection is promised when Christ returns.

“They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh.” The daily challenge to the believer is this: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24,25).

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Evil Tidings


“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD” (Psalm 112:7).

Many used to believe that, when anyone received a telegram, it inevitably carried bad news. They never dreamed that good tidings could come from a cabled message. Surely much news that we as believers receive is good news that brings blessing and joy to our hearts, yet, at times, evil tidings do come our way; possibly, even those matters that we feared ahead of time. Job stated it thusly: “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” (Job 3:25).

The righteous do not have to be afraid of evil tidings. The reasons listed by the psalmist are as follows: “His heart is fixed”—not on himself, or others, but his trust is “in the LORD.” Many times our hearts are fixed on the problem rather than on the problem-solver, the Lord Jesus Christ. David expressed it beautifully: “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise” (Psalm 57:7). “O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise, even with my glory” (Psalm 108:1). “His heart is established” (v.Cool, that is, sustained and supported by God. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear” (Psalm 46:1,2). There is no fear when our hearts are established in the truth that the all-knowing, ever-present, Almighty God is on our side sustaining and supporting us. “Surely he shall not be moved for ever” (v.6). “The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance” (v.6). God does forget our sins: “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17), but He will never forget us. He will keep us in everlasting remembrance!

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Habitation For God


“Until I find out a place for the L SIZE="-1">ORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it at Ephrata: we found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into His tabernacles: we will worship at His footstool” (Psalm 132:5-7).

These fascinating verses may well have a double meaning: First, a retrospective reference to David’s desire to build a temple for God and, second, a prophecy concerning a still future habitation for God. Ephratah was the same as Bethlehem, the birthplace of both David and his greater son, Jesus.

The writer of this psalm may have been King Hezekiah, a contemporary of the prophet Micah, who had written: “Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, . . . out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). He was also a contemporary of Isaiah, who had written concerning this same coming Son: “His name shall be called. . . . The mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6).

David had desired to build a habitation for the mighty God of Israel; Isaiah had said this “mighty God” would be “a child born” and “a Son given;” and Micah said He would be born in Ephratah. Our psalmist must have been thinking about these truths when he saw, through the future eyes of those “in the fields of the wood,” “at Ephratah,” this “place for the L SIZE="-1">ORD,” who then would go to “worship at His footstool.”

Some 800 years later, “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields” at Bethlehem Ephratah, when a great host of angels told them the promised Savior had come, directing them to go to His “habitation” to worship Him. And that was where they did, indeed, find Him, “wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:8,12), and they were the very first to “worship at His footstool.”

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Showers Of Blessing


“And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing” (Ezekiel 34:26).

This verse provided the inspiration for the old gospel hymn, “Showers of Blessing.” While it applies specifically to Israel, it states a divine principle which believers of all times have rightly appropriated to their own lives. The same word (“showers”) is also frequently translated “rain,” speaking of the rain which followed Elijah’s contest with the prophets of Baal at the end of the three-year drought. “And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain” (I Kings 18:41).

In general, the word is most commonly used to indicate very heavy rains. In fact, its first occurrence is in connection with the great Flood. “The rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:12). This rain had poured forth from the windows (literally, “sluiceways”) of heaven, and it provides an impressive picture of the tremendous showers of blessing which God desires to pour down on His people.

In the context of our key verse, the promised showers follow the condition of the preceding verses: “And I the LORD will be their God, . . . And I will make with them a covenant of peace” (Ezekiel 34:24,25). The greatest blessings of God, accordingly, must follow the knowledge of God and the peace of God, through the Lord Jesus Christ.

No doubt the greatest of all spiritual blessings, at least in this life, is the inspired Word of God, and the same word is so used: “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud. . . . So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10,11).