“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” What a terrible state the children of Israel are in at this time. They were torn between serving the LORD or from serving the state sanctioned religion of their day. To openly follow the LORD would mean to upset the present King of the country whose wife had slain the prophets of the LORD. There was also enough knowledge about the true and Living God that possibly caused them to fear totally forsaking Him for Baal. So when Elijah challenged them to choose who they were going to serve they answered not a word. We need to realize this day that God will not accept a divided heart. The Lord will have all or none. We cannot serve the god of this world and the Lord God at the same time. We are challenged this day to make up our mind who it is we are going to serve. Our God is a jealous God and He demands all of our hearts affections. When Moses saw the people dancing around the golden calf he said, “Who is on the LORD’S side? Let him come unto me.” Jesus said, “He that is not with Me is against Me.” We need the resolve of Joshua who said “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” There are many who are trying to serve the Lord and their fleshly passions at the same time. They sing the songs of the Redeemer on Sunday and walk with the world the rest of the week. How long will you halt or linger between two opinions?

When David was fleeing from Jerusalem because his son Absalom was seeking to take over the kingdom he came upon two men that treated him very differently. Ziba was the first man that came to David and he supplied David and his followers with presents and food supposedly in order to care for David (II Sam. 16:1-4). However, you can easily find out that he was only seeking to get from David the inheritance that belonged to his master Mephibosheth. Then David met up with a man by the name of Shimei, who openly cursed David and threw stones at him. This reminds me of the two different ways that Jesus was treated as He was being rejected as king. He was betrayed by Judas, one of His disciples, with a kiss for some silver. He was then smitten upon the cheek by those who openly hated Him. Jesus is treated much in the same way today. Some will pay lip service to Jesus hoping to get something out of Him while others just simply cast their stones of scorn and disdain very openly at Him. Neither of these are in love with the Lord Jesus and reveal the corruptness of their hearts. I’m looking forward to the day when King Jesus will truly sit upon the throne of David and all those who have betrayed him with a kiss or have openly blasphemed Him will bow their knee and confess that Jesus Christ is King. David was eventually able to come back and reign after he had been rejected. Likewise, our Lord Jesus is coming back and He will reign.

Elijah was told of the Lord to go to Zarephath, which was about 100 miles away, because the Lord had a widow woman there that was going to provide for Elijah. Now, this would have been a humbling adventure seeing that it was a poor widow woman with a young son and it was also in the middle of a terrible drought. The Lord very graciously provides for Elijah, the widow woman and her son. During Elijah’s stay the woman’s son dies. Elijah takes the young boy into his room and prays fervently for God to allow the soul of the child to come into him again. After Elijah prayed the Word of God says, “And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived” (I Kings 17:22). The point of this devotion is that, first of all, Elijah had to be willing to go where God would want him to go. Elijah first listened to God and obeyed Him then we see the Lord listening to the prayers of Elijah. Often, we want God to listen to our prayers but we don’t want to listen to the Word of God. When the Word of the Lord came to Elijah, he obeyed the Lord even though it was going to cost him much pride. Often times we want God to use us and to hear our prayers but we won’t humble ourselves in His sight and obey His word. Do you want God to hear your voice? Then make sure you are listening to His in the Word of God.

Often times the Lord would refer the nation of Israel to the time that He delivered them out of the land of Egypt. Sometimes they would be sinning against Him and He would remind them of the great things He did in order to rescue them from bondage. I’m sure that this must have become familiar language among the Israelites. They would often encourage one another to follow the Lord that brought them out of the land of Egypt. The Lord refers to this in Jeremiah 23:7 where He says, “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.” Now, why would the Lord say that this was going to happen? This prophecy was not a bad thing that was going to happen but rather a good thing. The next verse tells us what they will say: “The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.” The nation of Israel has been scattered all over the world ever since their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have fought many wars in order to have all the land that God gave them and they still don’t have it all yet. However there is coming a day of salvation for God’s nation once again. Paul referred to this in Romans 11. He teaches us that blindness has happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. God has been saving mainly those outside of the Jews for the last 2000 years. However, when that time is filled Paul says that Israel shall be saved. Pray this day dear child of God for the Jews to finally see that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The day is coming…

Hebrews 12:2 declares: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” This verse does not teach us that Jesus enjoyed the cross. There are many passages that speak about the mental and physical anguish that Christ bore in the place of sinners. This passage is talking about how that by faith Christ looked beyond the cross to the time that He would sit at the right hand of His heavenly Father. This is how we must face the crosses that we must bear in this life. We as the children of God must look beyond with the eye of faith to the time that we will ever be with our great God and King. We don’t have to enjoy the disease, the death, the departing of friendships or any other hardship we may be going through. But, we must look to the time that Christ will call us home and ever rid us of all the problems that sin has brought upon this earth. So, dear child of God, if you are growing tired and weary in this life then consider Christ and learn to also live by faith. The next verse says, “For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” Look up dear child of God for our redemption is drawing nigh!

A couple of nights this past week we were able to enjoy a couple of campfires here at the house. I was quickly reminded how much smoke bothers your eyes and nostrils. Where the smoke blows the people quickly move away because no one likes to have smoke blowing in their face. I read in Isaiah this morning about what God thinks about those who have a holier than thou attitude. He said they are a “smoke in my nose” (Isaiah 65:5). The Lord wants us to walk in holiness but He does not want us to think that we are better than everybody else. We must learn as Christians to walk in the ways of our Lord but not be self-righteous. We will never be a positive influence on others with a “holier than thou” persona. Others will treat us the same way they treat the smoke blowing off the campfire. They will move in the opposite direction and seek to get away from us. We should seek to have some holy, fiery zeal for the holiness of our God but not blow a bunch of smoke in order to show off. A fire can be a very cozy and comfortable thing to gather around as it yields warmth on a cool evening. Let us have a holy warmth with love and compassion and not seek to make others turn their head because our attitude stinks. What a turn off toward Christianity this is! Let us not be smoke in God’s nose.

I have loved for years the change that you see happens to David in Psalms chapter three. He starts off talking about how that there were many that had risen up against him. These people that had risen up against him shouted out to him that God would not help him. Have you ever felt like that? Maybe it wasn’t people saying that to you but you felt like you were surrounded by trouble on every side and each trouble shouted out defeat and despair. David was a man after God’s own heart but yet he faced the emotions that we face today. We face our own troubles and they discourage us and cause us to despair. Something wonderful happens next in David. We find him looking to the Lord and calling out to Him in prayer and declaring God to be his shield, his glory and the lifter up of his head. We see him restfully sleeping and trusting in his God to care for his soul. Then he says, “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.” What a change prayer and trusting the Lord made in David! He goes from talking about how many people there were that gave him trouble, to I won’t be afraid of ten thousands of people. Maybe you face your own kind of troubles today, as you look around you see them on every side. I encourage you to look to the Lord and know that He can and will be your shield if you call out to Him. Then, like David, you will be able to be at peace, lift up your head and say “I will not be afraid.”

Probably one of the greatest insults you can give a person is to call them a liar. Have you ever told someone about something and they said that they didn’t believe you? How did that make you feel? When someone else tells us something and we are thinking to ourselves that we don’t believe them we are calling them a liar. I don’t think too many people would come out and say out loud, “God, you are a liar.” However, if we fail to believe what God says in regard to His Son then that’s exactly what we are doing. Listen to the Word of God in I John 5:10-12; “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” It’s a great insult to God when we fail to believe what He has told us in His Word in regard to His Son. What you need to realize in all of this is that there is no middle ground. Either you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ or you don’t. If you do not believe what God says about His Son then not only are you calling God a liar but you become the liar. If you are telling me the truth and I say that you are not telling me the truth then who is the liar? The Lord is not a liar, for God cannot lie. He is not seeking to deceive you. There is life in His Son! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved from your sins.

How do you know how much you love the Lord? What are some questions that you may ask yourself in order to determine the answer? We could get into a lot of detail in order to answer this question but we will seek to keep it simple and answer it with just a couple verses. First of all, Jesus tells us in John 14:15, “If you love me keep my commandments.” The keeping of the commandments of God in no way saves us from the judgment of our sins. We are saved only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, we are taught very clearly in the Word of God that those who love the Lord will seek to obey Him. There would be many today that would say that they love Jesus, but they do not seek to obey His commandments and follow His Word. Jesus spoke about some who would honor Him with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. It’s clear from scripture that the more we love the Lord then the more we will seek His commandments and obey them. Secondly, we need to consider I John 5:3; “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.” Some may take the first point and say they love God because they are trying to obey the commandments of God. However, we see from this verse that true love for God manifests itself by more than outward obedience. There will also be a willing and cheerful submission as we obey Him. That word grievous speaks of something that is heavy and burdensome. When I was lost and in my sin then God’s commandments were weighty and showed me my sinfulness. However, when I became a child of God, God put within me a new spirit that loved Him and His Word. I have found that as I grow as a child of God I am doing what the Lord has told me to do more and more because I want to and not just because He has told me to. Is our love for the Lord growing? Are we more and more cheerfully obeying Him? If we cannot cheerfully obey Him at all then maybe we need a new heart.

Listen to Psalm 147:10-11 and you will understand the title: “He deligheth not in the strength of the horse: He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy.” Man has much physical strength in his legs and the Lord is teaching us in these verses that we are not to put our trust in our strength. Not only is He teaching us not to trust in our strength but He is also teaching us that it’s not our strength that pleases our Lord. Many today are sure that if they work harder and longer that God would be pleased with them. Thankfully this is not the way the Lord is. If He was then those with physical disabilities would not be able to please Him. The glorious thing that is being taught here is that no matter your physical ability you can please the Lord if you fear, respect and honor Him. There is no fear of God with the wicked but those that put their trust in Him also fear Him. We also see in these verses that the Lord takes pleasure in those that hope in His mercy. God wants us to know that He is in charge, that He is worthy of our adoration, respect and honor. He also takes delight in those that hope in His mercy. The Lord is one to be feared but very thankfully He is also a God of mercy unto those that hope in Him. My friend, don’t look to your strength in order to please the Lord.  He’s not impressed by your strength. However, He is pleased when we fear Him and hope in His mercy.