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 February 28: Neon Gods

Leviticus 26–27; John 10:22–42; Song of Solomon 8:10–14

Idolatry seems archaic. Who worships idols anymore?

We all know that in other countries, traditional idol worship of gold and wooden statues still goes on, but we often forget about our own idols. What does all our furniture point toward? Why do we care who is on the cover of a magazine? How do you feel if you miss your favorite talk show? If we’re really honest, what do we spend the majority of our time thinking about?

Idols are everywhere, and most of us are idol worshipers of some kind. When we put this in perspective, suddenly the words of Leviticus 26 become relevant again. The problem addressed in Leviticus is the same one we’re dealing with today.

Leviticus 26, with its harsh words against idolatry, should prompt each of us to ask, “What are my idols?” and then answer, “I will end my idolatry.” And if the temptation is too great with these things present in our lives (like the TV), we should say, “I will exile them from my home and presence.”

It’s not put in these terms often enough, but it should be. The “noise” of idols is keeping us away from God, and even more so, our worship of the noise is doing so. Likewise, our obsession with possessions and celebrities is standing between God and us.

In their song “The Sound of Silence,” Simon and Garfunkel described the same situation in modern culture: “The people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made.”

What neon god are you worshiping? And what are you going to do about it?

John D. Barry

 John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

Morning, February 28: Go To Evening Reading

“My expectation is from him.”

—Psalm 62:5

It is the believer’s privilege to use this language. If he is looking for aught from the world, it is a poor “expectation” indeed. But if he looks to God for the supply of his wants, whether in temporal or spiritual blessings, his “expectation” will not be a vain one. Constantly, he may draw from the bank of faith and get his need supplied out of the riches of God’s lovingkindness. This I know, I had rather have God for my banker than all the Rothschilds. My Lord never fails to honour his promises; and when we bring them to his throne, he never sends them back unanswered. Therefore, I will wait only at his door, for he ever opens it with the hand of munificent grace. At this hour, I will try him anew. But we have “expectations” beyond this life. We shall die soon, and then our “expectation is from him.” Do we not expect that when we lie upon the bed of sickness, he will send angels to carry us to his bosom? We believe that when the pulse is faint, and the heart heaves heavily, some angelic messenger shall stand and look with loving eyes upon us, and whisper, “Sister spirit, come away!” As we approach the heavenly gate, we expect to hear the welcome invitation, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” We are expecting harps of gold and crowns of glory; we are hoping soon to be amongst the multitude of shining ones before the throne; we are looking forward and longing for the time when we shall be like our glorious Lord, for “We shall see him as he is.” Then if these be thine “expectations,” O my soul, live for God; live with the desire and resolve to glorify him from whom cometh all thy supplies, and of whose grace in thy election, redemption, and calling, it is that thou hast any “expectation” of coming glory.

Go To Morning Reading, Evening, February 28

“The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.”

—1 Kings 17:16

See the faithfulness of divine love. You observe that this woman had daily necessities. She had herself and her son to feed during a time of famine, and now, in addition, the prophet Elijah was to be fed. Although the need was threefold, the supply of meals was not wasted, for she had a constant supply. Each day she made calls upon the barrel, yet each day it remained the same. You, dear reader, have daily necessities, and because they come so frequently, you are apt to fear that the barrel of meal will one day be empty, and the cruse of oil will fail you. Rest assured that, according to the Word of God, this shall not be the case. Each day, though it brings its trouble, shall bring its help; and though you should live to outnumber the years of Methuselah, and though your needs should be as many as the sands of the seashore, yet shall God’s grace and mercy last through all your necessities, and you shall never know a real lack. For three long years, in this widow’s days, the heavens never saw a cloud, and the stars never wept a holy tear of dew upon the wicked earth: famine, and desolation, and death, made the land a howling wilderness, but this woman was hungry, but always joyful in abundance. So shall it be with you. You shall see the sinner’s hope perish, for he trusts his native strength; you shall see the proud Pharisee’s confidence totter, for he builds his hope upon the sand; you shall see even your own schemes blasted and withered, but you yourself shall find that your place of defence shall be the munition of rocks: “Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure.” Better have God for your guardian than the Bank of England for your possession. You might spend the wealth of the Indies, but the infinite riches of God you can never exhaust.

 C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).

Morning, February 28: Go To Evening Reading

“My expectation is from him.”

—Psalm 62:5

It is the believer’s privilege to use this language. If he is looking for aught from the world, it is a poor “expectation” indeed. But if he looks to God for the supply of his wants, whether in temporal or spiritual blessings, his “expectation” will not be a vain one. Constantly, he may draw from the bank of faith and get his need supplied out of the riches of God’s lovingkindness. This I know, I had rather have God for my banker than all the Rothschilds. My Lord never fails to honour his promises; and when we bring them to his throne, he never sends them back unanswered. Therefore, I will wait only at his door, for he ever opens it with the hand of munificent grace. At this hour, I will try him anew. But we have “expectations” beyond this life. We shall die soon, and then our “expectation is from him.” Do we not expect that when we lie upon the bed of sickness, he will send angels to carry us to his bosom? We believe that when the pulse is faint, and the heart heaves heavily, some angelic messenger shall stand and look with loving eyes upon us, and whisper, “Sister spirit, come away!” As we approach the heavenly gate, we expect to hear the welcome invitation, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” We are expecting harps of gold and crowns of glory; we are hoping soon to be amongst the multitude of shining ones before the throne; we are looking forward and longing for the time when we shall be like our glorious Lord, for “We shall see him as he is.” Then if these be thine “expectations,” O my soul, live for God; live with the desire and resolve to glorify him from whom cometh all thy supplies, and of whose grace in thy election, redemption, and calling, it is that thou hast any “expectation” of coming glory.

Go To Morning Reading, Evening, February 28

“The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.”

—1 Kings 17:16

See the faithfulness of divine love. You observe that this woman had daily necessities. She had herself and her son to feed during a time of famine, and now, in addition, the prophet Elijah was to be fed. Although the need was threefold, the supply of meals was not wasted, for she had a constant supply. Each day she made calls upon the barrel, yet each day it remained the same. You, dear reader, have daily necessities, and because they come so frequently, you are apt to fear that the barrel of meal will one day be empty, and the cruse of oil will fail you. Rest assured that, according to the Word of God, this shall not be the case. Each day, though it brings its trouble, shall bring its help; and though you should live to outnumber the years of Methuselah, and though your needs should be as many as the sands of the seashore, yet shall God’s grace and mercy last through all your necessities, and you shall never know a real lack. For three long years, in this widow’s days, the heavens never saw a cloud, and the stars never wept a holy tear of dew upon the wicked earth: famine, and desolation, and death, made the land a howling wilderness, but this woman was hungry, but always joyful in abundance. So shall it be with you. You shall see the sinner’s hope perish, for he trusts his native strength; you shall see the proud Pharisee’s confidence totter, for he builds his hope upon the sand; you shall see even your own schemes blasted and withered, but you yourself shall find that your place of defence shall be the munition of rocks: “Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure.” Better have God for your guardian than the Bank of England for your possession. You might spend the wealth of the Indies, but the infinite riches of God you can never exhaust.

 C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).

February 28th

Do ye now believe?

By this we believe … Jesus answered, Do ye now believe? John 16:30–31.

‘Now we believe.’ Jesus says—‘Do you? The time is coming when you will leave Me alone.’ Many a Christian worker has left Jesus Christ alone and gone into work from a sense of duty, or from a sense of need arising out of his own particular discernment. The reason for this is the absence of Jesus's resurrection life. The soul has lost intimate contact with God by leaning on its own religious understanding. There is no sin in it, and no punishment attached to it. Still, when the soul realizes how it has hindered its understanding of Jesus Christ, and produced for itself perplexities and sorrows and difficulties, it is with shame and contrition that it has to come back.

We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus much more deeply to get into the habit of steadily referring everything back to Him; instead, we make our own common-sense decisions and ask God to bless them. He cannot; it is not in His domain, it is severed from reality. If we do a thing from a sense of duty, we are putting up a standard in competition with Jesus Christ. We become a ‘superior person,’ and say—‘Now in this matter I must do this and that.’ We have put our sense of duty on the throne instead of the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to walk in the light of conscience or of a sense of duty, but to walk in the light as God is in the light. When we do anything out of a sense of duty, we can back it up with arguments; when we do anything in obedience to the Lord, there is no argument possible; that is why a saint can be easily ridiculed.

 Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).

February 28

Forgetting those things which are behind … I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Phil. 3:13, 14

It is not by regretting what is irreparable that true work is to be done, but by making the best of what we are. It is not by complaining that we lack the right tools, but by using the tools we have well. What we are and where we are is God’s providential arrangement—God’s doing, though it may be man’s misdoing. Life is a series of mistakes, and he is not the best Christian who makes the fewest false steps. He is the best who wins the most splendid victories by the retrieval of mistakes.

F. W. Robertson

 Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).