A Daily Devotional

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When The Foundations Are Destroyed


“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3).

The word here for “foundations” is not the usual word for, say, a building foundation. Used rarely, a better translation of this word would be “purpose,” or “basis.” The fear expressed is not that the foundations of our faith might be undermined, but that we might lose our sense of purpose.

In the context of the psalm, David was in danger of becoming demoralized by the pressures of wicked desires and evil ambitions all around him, and Christians surely have the same problem today. Why should we try to maintain high standards of doctrinal integrity and moral purity when the people around us—even most Christians—seem to be occupied mostly with materialistic ambition and pursuit of pleasure? If we allow the devil to undermine the very purposes God has for our lives, wandering away from His will in favor of some temporal interest, then why even continue with a pretense of Christian living?

David’s solution was simply to remind himself that “the LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men” (v.4). He may allow the righteous to be tried for a season, but we must not forget that “the righteous LORD loveth righteousness” (v.7), and that “the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth” (v.5).

When we are tempted to wonder whether it is really worth all the effort, and when our very foundation and purpose for living seems to be crumbling, we should remember that our God is Creator, Sustainer, and Judge of all—that He still is on His throne, and that we who belong to Him have been “predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11).

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National Righteousness



“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

Modern Christians place great emphasis on personal salvation, but we must remember that God is also the God of the nations. That being so, our own nation, so greatly blessed of God in the past, may well be in great peril, for “the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17).

Our nation was founded by men who had strong faith in God, and its laws were based on the laws of God. The schools all honored the Lord and His Word, taught the truth of special creation, and enforced Biblical morality among the students. Today, God and anything associated with Him are banned from the classroom, His laws are no longer taken seriously in the courts and legislatures, and evolutionary humanism is, in effect, the state-endorsed religion. Divorce and immorality are affecting most of the nation’s homes; business and finance are ubiquitously plagued with greed and dishonesty; the sins of homosexuality, drunkenness, and drug use are rampant, and atheistic, New Age globalism is an imminent threat at our gates.

God would even have spared Sodom, though, if there had been ten righteous (Genesis 18:32), and America has evidently been spared thus far because it is still the nerve center of world missions and Christian literature, as well as aid for the sick and needy. The modern revival of true creationism is centered in this nation, and serious Biblical interest is growing in many places, yet worldliness, apostasy, and compromise are eating away at the heart of American Christianity, and there is great need for a revival—not of religious emotionalism, but of genuine commitment to the integrity and authority of God’s Word. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 33:12).

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Graven In The Rock

“Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!” (Job 19:23,24).

In the midst of terrible calamities and sufferings, righteous Job expressed a heartfelt longing to write down his experiences and meditations, that others might later understand. This longing no doubt later led him, when the Lord finally restored him to health and prosperity, to do just that.

Job apparently wrote his book, originally, not on some perishable material, but, as we see in our text, on tablets of stone with a pen of iron, so that his testimony might be permanently available to all future generations. Indeed, God in His providence has ordained exactly that, by incorporating it in the Bible.

And the essence of Job’s testimony is surely one of the most wonderful statements of faith ever penned, all the more remarkable in view of Job’s circumstances when he uttered it, and in light of the limited knowledge of God’s plan of redemption available in his day.

Here it is: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Even before the days of Moses, Job knew that God Himself would become, not just the world’s Redeemer from its bondage under the great Curse, but his own personal Savior! He even sensed the necessity of God’s bodily incarnation, for he said He would stand on the earth in the latter days. He knew that he himself would some day be resurrected from the dead, for he said that, even after worms had destroyed his body, “yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:26). In the many centuries since, multitudes of other believers have seen Job’s testimony, written forever in the Book, and have made it their own, trusting their living Redeemer.

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The Personal Psalm



“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).

Have you ever noticed how many times David used “I,” “my,” and “me” in this great psalm? Let’s count them.

“The LORD is my (1) shepherd; I (2) shall not want. He maketh me (3) to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me (4) beside the still waters. He restoreth my (5) soul: He leadeth me (6) in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I (7) walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I ( will fear no evil: for thou art with me (9); thy rod and thy staff they comfort me (10). Thou preparest a table before me (11) in the presence of mine (12) enemies: thou anointest my (13) head with oil; my (14) cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me (15) all the days of my (16) life: and I (17) will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

Seventeen times in six short verses, David personalized the great doctrinal truths found in this beautiful psalm. He understood that his great shepherd was none other than Jehovah (LORD) Himself, who would personally supply his every need, restore his soul in times of distress, give him victory over his enemies, even death; and abundantly bless him, even to the point of being with him forever.

How important it is to realize that our God is a personal God who desires to be to us everything that a faithful shepherd is to his sheep. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Our God would even die for us, and there is certainly no daily need He will not supply. “I shall not want.”

The apostle Paul said it beautifully: “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). May we daily practice the presence of our personal God and great shepherd of the sheep—the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Our Natural And Spiritual

“It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body” (I Corinthians 15:43,44).

In this portion of this great chapter on the resurrection—first that of Christ, then the future resurrection of the redeemed—death and resurrection are compared to seed-sowing and harvest. When a seed is planted in the ground, it is as though it had died and is buried. For a long time after its “death,” the seed cannot be seen, but finally it rises again as a beautiful flowering plant, or sheaf of grain, or even a lovely tree.

Jesus made this same analogy. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24; note also Mark 4:26–29). Our human bodies, because of sin and the curse, eventually die and are buried; but one day (like the planted seed) they will appear again, but now immortal and glorified, far greater than they were before—that is, of course, if their real inhabitants (their eternal created spirits) have been born again through faith in their already-resurrected Savior.

Our new spiritual bodies rising from the grave will be real physical bodies (like that of Jesus after He was raised), but will no longer be under bondage to gravitational and electro-magnetic forces, as at present, but only to spiritual forces, of which we have as yet very little knowledge. We do know, however, that our spiritual bodies will be “fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Although “it doth not yet appear what we shall be: . . . when He shall appear, we shall be like Him” (I John 3:2). Then, in our glorious, powerful, spiritual bodies, we as “His servants shall serve Him” in love and joy forever (Revelation 22:3).

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Thanksgiving In Heaven


“And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats [thrones], fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned” (Revelation 11:16,17).

This is the final reference in the Bible to the giving of thanks. It records a scene in heaven where the 24 elders, representing all redeemed believers, are thanking God that His primeval promise of restoration and victory is about to be fulfilled. The petition, “thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10), is now ready to be answered.

Similarly, the final reference to the offering of praise is also set in heaven. “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, 'Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great.' And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Revelation 19:5,6).

The word “alleluia” is the same as the Hebrew word “hallelujah,” meaning, “Praise ye the Lord!” Thus, the joyful notes of praise for who He is and thankfulness for what He has done will resound through heaven when Christ returns. Then, forevermore, the very lives of all His saints will be perpetual testimonies of thanksgiving and praise.

This is our destiny, if we have received Christ by faith as Savior and Lord. It is important that our lives even now begin to reflect such a character, that we may be the better prepared as the day approaches. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18). “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15).

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God Our Savior


“But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared” (Titus 3:4).

Six times in the pastoral epistles Paul refers to God (evidently meaning the Father) as our Savior (I Timothy 1:1; 2:3; 4:10; Titus 1:3; 2:10; 3:4). Usually, however, he and the other New Testament writers identify Jesus Christ as our Savior. “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18, for example). In the same fashion, Paul relates that his commission to preach the gospel came from “God our Savior” (Titus 1:3), while elsewhere, he says his commission came “by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12).

Is this a contradiction? No! In fact, references to God as our Savior should not surprise us, for it is found in numerous places in the Old Testament. (See, for example, Psalm 106:21.) Furthermore, our understanding of the Trinity insists that all three persons of the Godhead are One in purpose. Of course, Christ made many references to the fact that He was not acting on His own, but came to do “the will of Him that sent me” (John 6:38). Paul, himself, seemed to be comfortable with this seeming overlap, for in one sentence he wrote, “God our Savior: . . . Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 1:3,4).

While Christ was the primary instrument of salvation as the perfect sacrifice for sin, God the Father is, without question, the source of all human salvation, and the application of the title Savior to Him is proper. Indeed, we derive great comfort as we see the role of all three Persons of the Godhead involved.

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10).

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Perfect Peace


“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3).

Perfect peace is rendered in the Hebrew, “Shalom, shalom.” God’s people are kept in “Shalom, shalom” when they have their minds stayed on the Lord and trust in Him. Note three places where peace is promised to the believer: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). The believer has what is called “peace with God.” We were sinners (guilty) before the law court of God, but now we are justified (not guilty!); therefore, now that the sin question has been settled, we no longer fear to stand before God. We are “in Christ” (Romans 8:1; 16:7; I Corinthians 1:2, etc.). Thus, His presence produces continual peace before a holy God. “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). The “peace of God” mentioned in this text is given to quiet the state of our heart because of circumstances. So many things can seemingly take away our peace. We believers are ever bombarded with trials, sufferings, and tribulations that the devil likes to use to disturb and discourage us. But the Lord has promised peace in our hearts and minds. The Lord desires to give peace in the emotional part of us (the heart), and also in the intellectual part of us (the mind). He will keep, that is guard (military term), our hearts and minds. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). Personal, practical peace comes from the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t have to work up peace; it comes from Christ, directly, and is the fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, “let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

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The Extended Family

“But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life” (Mark 10:30).

When Jesus saw a mother grieving over the death of her only son, “He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not” (Luke 7:13), and returned him alive to his mother.

The situation at the cross has some parallels to the above, but a new solution for the grieving mother was necessary. It was important that the Son on the cross stay there in order to save her. She earlier had confessed such a need (cf. Luke 1:47). The solution to the immediate need, however, was found in the circle of faith. Mary was to seek comfort in another “son” who was already standing nearby—John. He, in turn, was to care for Mary as he would for his own mother (John 19:26,27).

Consider spiritual relationships in Christ. The one who does the will of the heavenly Father, “the same is my brother, and sister, and mother,” Jesus said (Matthew 12:50). John seems indeed to have grasped the broader message: “My little children” (I John 2:1). Paul, similarly, called Timothy his “own son in the faith” (I Timothy 1:2)—with familial terms being used for Titus, Onesimus, and Rufus' mother, also (Titus 1:4; Philemon 10; and Romans 16:13). He tells us to entreat an older man “as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters” (I Timothy 5:1,2). In our text for today, we learn that broken physical relationships which occur as a result of faith in Christ will be replaced “an hundredfold . . . brethren, sisters, fathers, mothers, wives, children” (Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:30).

Believers, because of Jesus, have been brought into a big family—a family of faith. The Lord is to be praised!

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The Good Confession


“I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession” (I Timothy 6:13).

Young Timothy also had “professed a good profession [same word as ‘confession’] before many witnesses” (I Timothy 6:12), evidently of similar substance and quality to that in the witness of Christ before Pilate. When the Jews urged Pilate to condemn Jesus to death, their charge was that “He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). Pilate gave Jesus opportunity to deny this charge and save His life, “but Jesus gave him no answer” (John 19:9). Both by His silence, when a denial of the charge could have saved Him, and by His open testimony before Pilate that He was, in fact, a King from heaven itself—indeed “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (I Timothy 6:15), it becomes clear that our own “good confession” must be a confession of our faith in Jesus Christ as Son of God, our Savior and Lord, especially when that confession is made openly before hostile witnesses.

Jesus said: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). Paul said “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9); and John said, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God” (I John 4:15).

Despite the great blessings awaiting all who make a courageous and good confession of saving faith in Christ, most people will refuse until it is too late. There is a time coming, however, when “every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11).

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Charity Or Love?

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” (I Corinthians 13:1).

It is well known that this word “charity” (Greek agape) is translated as “love” in most modern translations of the Bible. In fact, even in the King James Version, it is translated “love” more than three times as often as it is rendered by “charity.” One wonders why these scholarly translators of the 17th century did not translate agape by the word “love” here in this very familiar “love chapter,” as it has been called. They certainly knew the word did not mean giving to the poor, for they translated verse 3 thus: “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, . . . and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” How could anyone exhibit greater charity than to give everything he owns to the poor?

They evidently well knew that agape did not mean “charity” as we think of charity today. But neither does agape mean “love” as we think of it today. People today usually are thinking of romantic love, or erotic love, or brotherly love, or perhaps even a sort of happy feeling (e.g., “I love a parade!”) when they speak of love.

Actually, the original English concept of “charity,” meaning a genuine and unselfish concern for others because of their own intrinsic worth in the sight of their Creator, is the true meaning of agape in its Biblical usage. “Charity” may not be the best word to express this attribute today, but “love” is so common and so misused, and seems even less appropriate. In fact, no single English word today really seems to fit, perhaps because we have almost lost the very virtue which the word “charity” used to express. Well, no matter how we say it, our lives desperately need to show agape, for God Himself is “agape” (I John 4:.

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Partakers Of The Promise

“That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6).

There are many Christians who regard themselves as almost exclusively New Testament believers, arguing that the Old Testament was for the Jews under the dispensation of law and thus not applicable to Christians today.

Nothing could be further from the truth. While the old animal sacrifices, temple rituals, and Levitical priesthoods have indeed been superseded by Christ’s “one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Hebrews 10:12), there are many “exceeding great and precious promises” (II Peter 1:4) of the Old Testament that can be properly and joyfully appropriated by Christians. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable . . .” wrote Paul (II Timothy 3:16), speaking particularly of the Old Testament Scriptures.

In the context of our verse for the day, Paul is stressing that his own new revelations, given in connection with the Christian gospel, actually involved bringing Jew and Gentile together as one body in Christ. The “dispensation of the grace of God . . . by revelation He made known unto me,” he wrote, but in previous ages, it had not been “made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:2–5).

And what was it that had not been made known? The hidden mystery was simply “that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs” with the Jews, and therefore “partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6).

Thus Gentile believers can now share in all the gracious promises of God in the Old Testament (e.g., Psalm 23; Isaiah 26:3; etc.), except those directly dealing with the future of Israel as a nation, “that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:14).

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Early Risers

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35).

One of the best ways to meet the Lord is to rise up early in the morning, before activities of the day can interfere. This apparently was the practice of Jesus Himself.

There are also many other occurrences in the Bible: “Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD” (Genesis 19:27). In order to set up an altar, “Jacob rose up early in the morning” (Genesis 28:18). When Moses gave the people the laws of God, he “wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill” (Exodus 24:4). Later, when he was to receive the commandments a second time, “Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto Mount Sinai” (Exodus 34:4). “Joshua rose early in the morning” to lead Israel over the Jordan, and then to capture Jericho; and to take Ai, “Joshua rose up early in the morning” (Joshua 3:1; 6:12; 8:10). During the time of the Judges, Gideon “rose up early on the morrow” to prove God’s will through putting out the fleece (Judges 6:38). Hannah and Elkanah, in praying for the son who would later become Samuel, “rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD” (I Samuel 1:19).

No doubt there are justifiable exceptions, but late sleeping is in general not a good thing. “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? . . . He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame” (Proverbs 6:9; 10:5). It is good to seek the Lord early each day. “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me” (Proverbs 8:17). “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up” (Psalm 5:3).

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And God Said...

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

The phrase, “and God said,” echoes throughout the Genesis account of creation. According to Psalm 33: “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (v.6).

“And God said, Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3); “And God said, Let there be a firmament” (v.6); “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass” (v.11); “And God said, Let there be lights” (v.14); “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature” (v.24); “And God said, Let us make man in our image” (v.26).

Long before anyone existed who might listen, God spoke. He simply could have “thought” the world into existence, but instead, He chose to voice the thoughts and intents of His heart. Basing creation on the spoken word underscores God’s desire to make Himself known to man.

That we possess a record of creation emphasizes the importance to God of the Written Word. Without such a definite account man would be adrift with no sure foundation on which to build a system of beliefs. One has only to study the ever-shifting winds of evolutionary doctrine to see the instability of that position.

We must assume that the written record accurately records what actually occurred at the beginning of the world. To do otherwise calls God’s veracity into account. If we cannot trust His revelation regarding creation, how can we depend on what He has revealed about the salvation secured for us by Jesus Christ? For that matter, how could we believe that Jesus is indeed the very Son of God?

In Genesis 1 the Holy Spirit reiterated, “And God said. . . .” Perhaps in parentheses we ought to add, “And I believe. . . .”

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Faith, Substance, And Evidence

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews, known as the great Hall of Fame of Faith, reciting the faith and resulting action of many Old Testament heroes, begins with a description of what faith is.

First, we see that it is the “substance of things hoped for.” Biblically, we know that the Christian “hope” is a hope so real it has substance in the present. None of the people of faith recited in this chapter actually saw the promises made to them come to fruition, but they so believed in them that they lived in the present as if the future were reality.

The word “substance” occurs only two other times in Hebrews. It is used to speak of Christ as the exact representation of God’s essence and nature, “Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person . . . [i.e., substance]” (Hebrews 1:3). It is also translated “confidence,” “for we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14), and speaks of a deep assurance. Our text could then read, “faith is the essence of our assurance of things yet in the future.”

The word “evidence” could be translated “conviction,” or even “proof.” The word implies a logical, air-tight argument. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof [same word as ‘evidence’], for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16). This sort of evidence is something we know to be true, and to have such conviction about it we act accordingly.

The first half of the verse brings a future truth down into the present; the second half commits our lives to that truth.