Daily Devotional 3-18-2022
Deu 17:17 CSB He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself. The prohibition against taking many wives was given because many kings married foreign women to form political alliances. If the king followed the Lord he would not need political alliances. Also foreign wives would cause his heart to be led astray to worship their idols. The prohibition against large amounts of silver and gold was intended to keep the king from developing a sense of independence and a lust for material wealth.. All three prohibitions, then, were designed to reduce the king to the status of a servant totally dependent on his Master, the Lord. The tragedy of ignoring these commands is seen in Solomon who broke all three prohibitions.
Daily Devotional 3-16-2022
Deu 17:16 CSB However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the LORD has told you, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’ Three things about the behavior of the king were singled out. The prohibition against acquiring great numbers of horses meant that on human terms the king’s army, composed mainly of infantry, would be significantly weaker than an enemy’s army with many chariots and cavalry. Yet this was precisely the point. An obedient Israelite king was to depend not on military strength but on the Lord alone. God had already demonstrated His ability to crush a large superior chariot army. Acquiring horses would mean the people would be going to Egypt, where many were available. Returning to the nation’s former land of slavery was unthinkable.
Daily Devotional 3-10-2022
Mat 6:24 CSB “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. The impossibility of living for God and for money is stated here in terms of masters and slaves. No one can serve two masters. One will inevitably take precedence in his loyalty and obedience. So it is with God and mammon. They present rival claims and a choice must be made. Either we must put God first and reject the rule of materialism or we must live for temporal things and refuse God’s claim on our lives.
Daily Devotional 12-11-2021
Psa 89:3-4 CSB The LORD said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn an oath to David my servant: (4) ‘I will establish your offspring forever and build up your throne for all generations.’” Selah Faith reverently reminds God of the covenant He had made with David. Because David was His chosen servant, He had sworn that he would never lack heirs to sit on his throne and that his kingdom would endure to all generations. An unbroken dynasty sitting on an everlasting throne!
Daily Devotional 12-4-2021
Psa 24:1-2 CSB A psalm of David. The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD; (2) for he laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers. As the throng nears the city, the announcement rings out that the earth and everything in it belong to God. It is a statement of divine ownership and of Christ’s full right to reign. Then the reason is given. Christ is the One who made the world. It was He who gathered the waters together in one place and made the dry land appear. It was He who formed the rivers, some on the surface of the earth and some beneath the ground. So now He is coming to claim what is really His own but has been denied to Him for centuries.
Daily Devotional 7-21-2021
Jas 4:11-12 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. (12) There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you–who are you to judge your neighbor? To slander and judge one another is totally incongruous to the humble spirit God desires. Furthermore, to judge another is actually a judgment of God’s Law itself. His Law is a mandate over all people. No one dares assume a haughty position over it. The slanderer is sentenced by the Law; the self-righteous judge is jeopardized by the Law; only the humble person is honored. True justice or righteousness is rendered when a believer subjects himself to God in humility and…