Tag: Faith

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The Daily Walk

Daily Reading

Exodus 16-18

Daily Thought

Faith can be plunging forward into a future unknown, a leap of faith. But faith can be a walk, as well, one step after another, a daily discipline. God would teach Israel the latter faith as they wandered the wilderness, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exodus 16:4). Gather meat in the evening and manna in the morning, as much as you want, no more than you will eat. If you save some until the next day, it will not keep. Some saved some anyway, and “it bred worms and stank” (Exodus 16:20). Once a week, on Friday, gather twice as much, because Saturday is the Sabbath, the day of rest. There will not be anything to gather on that day. You can save half overnight on Friday; it won’t stink. Some did not gather twice as much. They went out on the Sabbath, “but they found none” (Exodus 16:27). They went hungry. 

Six days on, one day off. This is not daring to leap, it is learning to walk. It is a discipline of trust, gathering enough and only enough, believing God for our daily bread, a discipline of rest each seventh day. It is the discipline of living by God’s Word, being blessed in his care, that you might know the LORD is your God and you are his people.  

Following Jesus is not so much a leap of faith as an every day walk. 

Daily Prayer

O LORD my God, You and You alone are God, worthy of my devotion, my worship, my love, and my life. With all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, I love and adore You. You bring each day afresh and put a thankful expectation of Your grace and glory in my heart. As I live this day for You, may I see Your handiwork in this world. May I reflect Your grace to others. May I love the people You created with the same tender love that led Your Son to endure the cross.  

Fill my thoughts with the wonder of Your Kingdom and guide my steps toward righteousness. May I be so heavenly-minded that the world cannot help but see Your goodness shine. Teach me to walk in faith, to listen and obey all that You have commanded, because that’s the best way to live. I love You. 

Amen

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No Limits

Daily Reading

Genesis 22-24

Daily Thought

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Genesis 22:1-2).

God’s command of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac is one of the most troubling in Scripture. Yes, God creates life, so it is his for the asking, and taking, but not children, not child sacrifice. That is the great sin of wicked people to phony foreign gods. Right? Yet God commands this of Abraham. Explanations have been offered. Perhaps God was dramatically displaying that he is not like these pagan gods because he stops Abraham’s knife before it plunges into Isaac’s chest. Maybe this was a terrifying test to the ultimate length Abraham would stretch his faith. Certainly this is a foreshadowing of “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son” and Jesus on the cross was God’s sacrifice for the sins of the world. It is okay, is it not, for God to ask this of Abraham in light of God’s willingness to do it himself with his Son. These are some of the offered answers. Do any satisfy?

Martin Luther, the 16th century reformer, during devotions with his wife, read the account of Abraham offering Isaac on the altar. Katherine Luther argued, “I do not believe it. God would not have treated his son like that!” “But Katie,” Luther replied, “He did.” That may be as good an answer as we get. Abraham trusted God for his son; now he must trust God with his son. That’s what we know. “A man’s got to know his limitations,” cautioned Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, and Abraham learned his faith has none. Abraham proved himself faithful, and God proved himself faithful. So what do we learn? We learn what God expects from us, and what we can expect from God. God gave his only son. There should be no limit to my faith because there is no limit to God’s love.

Daily Prayer

God Almighty, You are faithful and just, and You are good.  I trust You no matter what, because You are the one place where trust is always satisfied. This means, God, that the times when I don’t understand, it’s okay, because I don’t have to understand. You have a plan and a purpose, and that is enough.

Teach me to be strong in my faith, to place my all in Your hands, no limits, to love You completely.  

Amen