How Long? (Revelation 3:20)

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It took years before she finally said yes. A Welshman had fallen in love with one of his neighbors and wanted to marry her. But they had quarreled, and she refused to forgive. Shy and reluctant to face the offended woman, the persistent suitor slipped a love letter under her door every week.

At last, after 42 years, he summoned up courage, knocked on her door, and asked her to become his wife. To his delight, she consented. So they were married at the age of 74!

God is also a persistent lover. Century after century He sent prophets as His messengers beseeching the stubborn, alienated people of Israel to live with Him, a faithful covenant-keeper. But all those overtures were sinfully refused. Then at Bethlehem, God Himself came in the Person of Jesus Christ. Now, having opened up the way for reconciliation by His redeeming sacrifice at Calvary, He stands at the door of everyone’s heart, knocking and asking that sinners personally accept Him as Savior.

If we have answered yes, let’s rejoice that we are His. If that door stays shut, however, we must realize that time may run out. Don’t remain forever self-alienated from the Lover of your soul. Trust Him today. – Vernon C. Grounds

Why trade the hope of heaven’s light

For things that please the prince of night?

Eternal glories wait for all

Who turn and trust God’s loving call. – J. D. Branon

God always knocks loud enough for a willing soul to hear.

• October 31, 1993, Our Daily Bread

God-ography (Hebrews 11:6)

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A National Geographic News survey in 2006 reported that man young Americans are geographically illiterate. According to the survey, 63 percent of Americans aged 18-24 failed to correctly locate Iraq on a map of the Middle East. The results for US geography are even more dismal. Half could not find New York State on the map, a third could not find Louisiana, and 48 percent could not locate Mississippi.

Understanding geography is helpful in daily life, but “God-ography” (finding God) is infinitely more crucial – for now and for eternity.

In Hebrews 11:6 we are told that to find God and please Him, we first have to believe that He exists. How can we prove that God exists? Finding God is a matter of faith – confidence in Him and commitment to Him. this confidence and commitment should remain strong even though the objects of our faith are unseen. The writer of Hebrews and the apostle John agree that ultimately the way to find the Lord and please Him is by believing in His Son Jesus (Hebrews 11:6; John 14:6).

Finding God is solely a work of God. Those who seek Him will find Him because God will give them a heart to recognize Him as Lord (Jeremiah 29:13-14). – Marvin Williams

I sought the Lord, and afterward knew

He moved my soul to seek Him, as He sought me;

It was not I who found, O Savior true;

No, I was found of Thee. – Anon.

To find God, we must be willing to seek Him.

• October 30, Vol. 15, Our Daily Bread

Lifetime Guarantee (Deuteronomy 31:8)

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Three years ago I bought a suitcase with a lifetime guarantee. “We don’t care who breaks it,” the manufacturer said, “we’ll repair or replace it free – forever.” To its credit, the company repaired it twice, just as promised. But a few weeks ago, I learned that the business had filed for bankruptcy and its future was in doubt. If the company goes under, so does the guarantee.

In a world where we can’t always depend on guarantees, there is one promise we can trust. Throughout Scripture we find the Lord’s pledge to be with His people. In Deuteronomy 31 we read Moses’ assuring words to Joshua: “The Lord … will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake; do not fear nor be dismayed” (v. 8).

This promise is repeated in the New Testament: “He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5-6). The promise of God’s unfailing presence with us is the key to living with confidence and contentment.

No matter how many pledges are broken by people, God’s promises will last through all time and eternity. Because He is eternal, He can give us an eternal guarantee. – David McCasland

Sweetest of all life’s blessings,

Communion with Christ above,

Assurance of his presence,

His matchless, eternal love. – Anon.

Every promise of God comes with an eternal guarantee.

• October 29, Vol. 18, Our Daily Bread

Working for the Wind (Ecclesiastes 5:16)

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Howard Levitt lost his $200,000 Ferrari on a flooded Toronto highway. He had driven into what seemed like a puddle before realizing that the water was much deeper and rising quickly. when the water reached the Ferrari’s fenders, it s450-horsepower engine seized. Thankfully he was able to escape the car and get to high ground.

Howard’s soggy sports car reminds me of Solomon’s observation that “riches perish through misfortune” (Ecclesiastes 5:14). Natural disasters, theft, and accidents may claim our dearest belongings. Even if we manage to protect them, we certainly can’t haul them with us to heaven (v. 15). Solomon asked, “What profit has he who has labored for the wind?” (v. 16). There is futility in working only to acquire belongings that will ultimately disappear.

There is something that doesn’t spoil and we can “take with us.” It is possible to store up eternal heavenly treasure. Pursuing virtues such as generosity (Matthew 19:21), humility (5:3), and spiritual endurance (Luke 6:22-23) will yield lasting rewards that can’t be destroyed. Will the kind of treasure you seek expire on earth? Or, are you seeking “those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God”?  (Colossians 3:1). – Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Dear God, please give me a passion for the unseen, eternal rewards that You offer. Make me indifferent to the temporary pleasures of this world.

Treasures on earth can’t compare with the treasures in heaven.

• October 28, Vol. 22, Our Daily Bread

What Now? (2 Chronicles 20:12)

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During the years that I taught junior high students in an overcrowded school, I used to say (only slightly in jest) that my morning prayer was 2 Chronicles 20:12 – “O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

When Judah’s King Jehoshaphat spoke those words, it was a matter of life and death. As a coalition of armies marched against Jerusalem, the people of Judah gathered to seek God’s guidance and help (v. 11).

During threatening times of disruption and change, we need to ask, “Lord, what do You want to do with this moment?” And like the Kind Jehoshaphat, we should begin our prayer with praise to our sovereign and powerful Father in heaven (vv. 5-9).

God told the king and his people: “Do not be afraid nor dismayed …, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. tomorrow go down against them…. For the Lord is with you” (vv. 15-17).

In stressful, confusing situations, we might ask a worried “what now?” But if we look to the Lord and trust in His care, our fear will be replaced with peace. – David C. McCasland

O Lord, whenever we’re afraid,

We’ll put our trust in You

To lead, protect, and guide our ways,

And help us make it through. – Sper

Faith ends where worry begins, and worry ends where faith begins.

• October 27, Vol. 13, Our Daily Bread

Declaration of Dependence (John15:5)

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Adults celebrate when children learn to do something on their own: get dressed, brush their teeth, tie shoelaces, ride a bike, walk to school.

As adults, we like to pay our own way, live in our own houses, make our own decisions, rely on no outside help. Faced with an unexpected challenge, we seek out “self-help” books. All the while we are systematically sealing off the heart attitude most desirable to God and most descriptive of our true state in the universe. It’s what Jesus told His disciples: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

The truth is that we live in a web of dependence, at the center of which is God, in whom all things hold together. Norwegian theologian Ole Hallesby settled on the single word helplessness as the best summary of the heart attitude that God accepts as prayer. He said, “Only he who is helpless can truly pray.”

Most parents feel a pang when the child outgrows dependence, even while knowing the growth to be healthy and normal. With God, the rules change. We never outgrow dependence, and to the extent we think we do, we delude ourselves. Prayer is our declaration of dependence upon the Lord. – Philip Yancey

Give Him each perplexing problem,

All your needs to Him make known;

Bring to Him your daily burdens –

Never carry them alone! – Adams

Pray as if your life depended upon it. It does!

• October 26, Vol. 17, Our Daily Bread

A Flake of Mica (1 Peter 2:12)

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Sometimes we think that the people who do mighty works for God are the only ones who can have an impact for Christ. But we are mistaken. Every good work, no matter how small, is a testimony of God’s saving power and a witness of His grace. Every believer, therefore, should fulfill the will of God by doing good.

Alexander MacLaren touched on the importance of even the smallest service for God when he wrote, “Again the field is all trivial things …. There is nothing that grows so low but that the scythe will travel near enough to the ground to harvest it. There is nothing so minute but it is big enough to mirror the holiness of God. The tiniest grain of mica [a shiny mineral] on the face of the hill is large enough to flash back beam. Likewise, the smallest thing we can do is big enough to hold the bright light of holiness. Ah! If our likeness to God does not show itself in trifles, what is there left for it to show itself in? For our lives are all made up of trifles. The great things comes three or four of them in the seventy years, the little ones every time the clock ticks.”

Every act of godliness, whether large or small, can manifest the glory of the Lord and draw people to Christ. Therefore, let’s try to please Him in everything we set our hands to do. Like a tiny flake of mica, we too can reflect a shining light. – David C. Egner

Oh, thank you, God, for little things

Entrusted to my care;

I cannot do the mighty deeds,

So let me do my share. – Burdge

You can be too big for God to use, but you cannot be too small.

• October 25, 1985, Our Daily Bread

God Hears Your Cry (Psalm 34:17)

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Aquilla Webb told of a friend who asked a lifeguard this question: “How can you tell if someone is in need of help when thousands of bathers on the beach or in the water are all combining their voices in a hubbub of noise?” He replied, “No matter how great the sounds of confusion may be, there has never been a time when I couldn’t distinguish a cry of distress above them all. I could always tell when there was an actual emergency.”

Webb concluded, “That’s exactly like our heavenly Father. In all the babel and confusion here below, He never fails to hear the soul that cries out to Him for help amid the breakers and storms of life.”

The psalmist David found that in his hour of trouble he could call on the Lord and be confident of receiving His help. This was a great comfort to him. In Psalm 34 he told of his trials and praised God for His loving watchcare and deliverance.

You may be sure that in your times of anguish and distress God is watching over you. He sees you as if you were His only child in the whole world, and He offers relief or the strength to endure.

If you are encountering troubles today, cry out to the Lord. Then praise Him for the help that He brings to you. – Henry G. Bosch

There is only One who knows

All the answers to my woes;

He will all my needs supply

When in faith to Him I cry. – Morgan

God takes heed to your every need.

• October 24, 1990, Our Daily Bread

A Correctable Mind (Proverbs 9:8)

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If your attitude toward being corrected is “Nobody’s going to tell me I’m sinning,” you probably fit the description of the “scoffer” in Proverbs 9:8. Anyone who tries to correct you will risk being hated by you. On the other hand, if you accept the correction of someone who rebukes you, you are “wise,” according to Proverbs 9:8, and you will love that person.

By nature, we don’t like to be told we have done wrong. I have had do resist feelings of anger and wounded pride on more than one occasion when someone pointed out to me that I was in the wrong. (You may have had a similar experience.) But later, I was glad I held those reactions in check and listened because what was said actually helped me.

Proverbs 9:12 says, “If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, you will bear it alone.” During the years I was a pastor, I saw many confirmations of that truth as I lovingly and truthfully confronted people with their sin (Galatians 6:1). The wise who received correction reaped personal blessing. But those who scoff tended to harvest persona pain and grief.

Lord, I want to be a wise person. Give me a correctable mind. – Herbert Vander Lugt

He is a friend who tells the truth

Yet tempers it with love;

And he who takes the truth to heart

Gains wisdom from above. – D. J. De Haan

One proof of your love is how you handle reproof.

• October 22, 1993, our Daily Bread

Need or Greed? (Proverbs 1:19)

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In his book Feminine Faces, Clovis Chappel wrote that when the Roman city of Pompeii was being excavated, the body of a woman was found mummified by the volcanic ashes of Mount Vesuvius. Her position told a tragic story. Her feet pointed toward the city gate, but her outstretched arms and fingers were straining for something that lay behind her. The treasure for which she was grasping was a bag of pearls.

Chappel said, “Though death was hard at her heels, and life was beckoning to her beyond the city gates, she could not shake of their spell…. But it was not the eruption of Vesuvius that made her love pearls more than life. It only froze her in this attitude of greed.”

Pearls, property, power – anything can fuel the flames of excessive desire. But if not checked, greed destroys us in the end. The wealthy landowners in Isaiah’s day acquired more and more houses and fields until they had a monopoly (5:8). But God said that their houses would become desolate and their lands would not produce (vv. 9-10).

Lord, flash on the warning light of conscience when a good desire becomes excessive, whether it be for food, for things, or for power. Help me to be thankful always, lest I become foolish and want more than I need. – Dennis J. De Haan

Fret not for want of earthly things,

They’ll never satisfy;

The secret of contentment is

To let the Lord supply. – D. J. De Haan

If I am not satisfied with what I have, I will never be satisfied with what I want.

• October 22, 1990, Our Daily Bread