DAILY REMINDER – Today, September 24’s Bible reading is Obadiah-Jonah.
NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, September 25’s Bible reading is Micah 1-7.
May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.
OBADIAH MOMENT – (24SEP19) “You
should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune,
nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction,
nor boast so much in the day of their trouble” (Obadiah verse 12). Obadiah had been given a vision concerning the destruction
that was coming to Edom. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau and the
rivalry between them and Israel had been a long one. They were disgruntled that
Jacob had received the birthright through cheating instead of seeing that the
Lord had chosen for Israel to be His special people. Therefore, when Israel received
their judgments because of their disobedience to God, the Edomites gloated over
their misery. This, however, made the Lord very angry, and He sent Obadiah to
prophesy against them for they were a wicked and prideful people. Israel was
going to eventually be delivered out of the hands of her enemies, but Edom
would be no more.
God does not want us to take pleasure in the demise of
the wicked. He hates a prideful attitude and an arrogant heart. Even though
Israel had brought judgment upon themselves, it was not for other nations to
look upon them with pride as if they could not be brought down themselves or
was deserving of the Lord’s grace and mercy. The Apostle Paul said: “No, I strike a
blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have
preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1
Corinthians 9:27). The apostle was speaking of the need to operate in humility unless
we end up falling ourselves by the temptation of sin. One of the ways that we
can sin is by enjoying the downfall of others. Regardless of how deserving they
may be of whatever misfortune come their way, it is not for us to take joy in
it. We should instead pray for them to be delivered and set free. In so doing,
we are reminded that Jesus died for ALL of our sins and we are no better than
the person who is being judged. Something to ponder….
QUESTION OF THE DAY
- (24SEP19) Have you run from the call that the Lord has upon your
life? Has He had to call on you more than once for you to be obedient? Is He
still waiting for you to answer His call? “Then the word
of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I
give you.’ Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it
took three days to go through it” (Jonah 3:1-3). The Lord had a
message for Jonah to deliver to the city of Nineveh that they would be
destroyed in forty days. Jonah did not want to go, so he decided it was better
to run. The Lord, however, did not allow him to follow through with his plans.
Jonah spent three days and nights inside the belly of a fish until he prayed a
prayer of humility and vowed to obey the Lord. The Lord repeated His call to
Jonah and this time, Jonah obeyed, and a city humbled itself and was spared
disaster.
The Lord has called
many people to do a work for His kingdom, but some people choose to ignore the call
and follow their own pursuit. Some do not want to be drafted for kingdom
service because of not wanting to let go of the world, while others do so
because of their need to be admired by the masses. Jesus said that one must
count the cost to be a disciple of his (Luke 14:25-35). Nevertheless, when we
operate outside of God’s will, we can expect no good to come to us. There was a
message that needed to be delivered and the Lord had chosen Jonah to do it.
There is still a message that needs to be preached to the world today and God
has chosen His followers to deliver it. The message of repentance and salvation
is needed to be spoken to the entire world. The Bible says: “Then
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). We have all been assigned the Great Commission. We must ask
ourselves if we are willing to obey, or will we run as Jonah did only to be
caught up in the belly of a fish. Something to ponder….
JONAH MOMENT – (24SEP19) “When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with
sackcloth and sat down in the dust” (Jonah 3:6). When the people
of Nineveh heard Jonah’s message, they took him seriously and went on a fast.
From the king on down to the peasant, everyone went before the Lord to beg of
Him not to punish them. The Lord looked upon the people with compassion and
relented on the judgment that He was going to send to them. This made Jonah
angry as he waited for the judgments to come down, but they did not. He
preferred to die rather than see the compassion of the Lord upon a city that he
felt was undeserving of it. Jonah had a superiority complex in that he thought salvation was only for Israel. He did not understand that God had a plan
that stretched beyond the borders of Israel into the entire world. Jonah thought
that He had the right to feel the way He did, but the Lord showed him through
the withering of the plant which Jonah had neither created nor planted that He
was the One in control. Whoever the Lord wished to spare would be spared and Whoever He wished to give mercy would receive mercy.
There
are judgments which will come upon our land and the rest of the world,
but we must be careful not to have an attitude such as Jonah’s. The Lord loves ALL
of His children and He wants everyone to be saved. The Bible says: “The
Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand
slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but
everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God has been
merciful to give us all grace even when we were undeserving of it. There is no
one worthy within his or her own right to be saved. The Bible says: “For it is by grace you have
been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Our salvation is based upon a free gift given to us by Jesus due to faith and
nothing more. Therefore, we should pray for the salvation of the lost and
rejoice when they come to repentance because Heaven does. The Lord loved
Nineveh enough to warn them and unlike Israel, they took heed of the warning
during that time. There are a lot of lost souls that need to be reached, and
even if you cannot reach them in person, you can reach God’s ears in prayer on
their behalf. Something to ponder….
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