Pastor’s Bible Reading Schedule: 1 Samuel 21-22; 2 Peter 3
Devotional Thought:
We live in the day of scoffers who are creating doubt to the declared word of God. They constantly strive to exalt their own intellect and demonstrate a faith that is rooted in their own abilities, education, and experience. They denounce the truth that is found in God’s word and attack anyone who places their faith in its firm foundation. So many of our day believe that God is not engaged in the world as we know it, but rather that the world just has been put into motion and it just continues on its own. There is a refusal to accept the sovereign hand of God who holds the world in His hand and is intricately involved in sustaining it. It is sad that just like in Noah’s day, the warnings were declared, the truth was spoken, but man chose to trust himself rather than the revealed word of God. Just as so many were destroyed in that day, so it will be when the fulfillment of the coming of Christ comes. The scoffers of our day are believed by society as a whole and the preachers of our world are made out to be fools. Peter knew his audience was facing the same sort of frustration so he says, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise…” (vs. 8-9) We, as finite creatures, are so governed by time. God declares that the 6,000 plus years since creation has been a mere 6 days in His time economy. Time is not getting away from God and He has not forgotten or forsaken His promises to us. He will come again and we will spend an eternity with Him, but He “is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (vs. 9) He wants to give people a chance to repent and come to God for the salvation that He offers. However, the Lord will come “as a thief in the night” and therefore we have been given the command to live holy and properly reflect the person and character of Christ to a needy world. We must live a life of faith, believing the word of God and claiming every promise as true. We must thank God for the grace He has shown in our lives and the grace that He is showing to a lost world.
Personal Requests:
• Lord, please help me to never doubt in the night what you have clearly declared in the light. There are always difficulties in life, but your word is clear and unchanging and can be trusted.
• Lord, thank you for being long suffering with me and for giving me grace and mercy. Please help me to show that same to those around me that need Christ.
• Lord, thank you for the promise of eternal life. I look forward to seeing you face to face.