Day 4 - Wednesday | Daily Devotions | Morning and Evening: Daily Reading | Connect the Testaments | My Hope for His Highest | Thoughts for the Hour |

 Morning, August 28 Go To Evening Reading

"Oil for the light."

—Exodus 25:6

My soul, how much thou needest this, for thy lamp will not continue to burn without it. Thy snuff will smoke and become an offense if light is gone, and gone it will be if oil is absent. Thou hast no oil well springing up in thy human nature, and therefore thou must go to them that sell and buy for thyself, or like the foolish virgins, thou wilt have to cry, "My lamp is gone out." Even the consecrated lamps could not give light without oil; though they shone in the tabernacle they needed to be fed, though no rough winds blew upon them they required to be trimmed, and thy need is equally as great. Under the most happy circumstances, thou canst not give light for another hour unless fresh oil of grace is given.

It was not every oil that might be used in the Lord's service; neither the petroleum which exudes so plentifully from the earth, nor the produce of fishes, nor that extracted from nuts would be accepted; one oil only was selected, and that the best olive oil. Pretended grace from natural goodness, fancied grace from priestly hands, or imaginary grace from outward ceremonies will never serve the true saint of God; he knows that the Lord would not be pleased with rivers of such oil. He goes to the olive press of Gethsemane and draws his supplies from him, who was crushed therein. The oil of gospel grace is pure and free from lees and dregs; hence, the light fed thereon is clear and bright. Our churches are the Saviour's golden candelabra; they must have much holy oil if they are to be lights in this dark world. Let us pray for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches that they may never lack oil for the light. Truth, holiness, joy, knowledge, and love are all beams of the sacred light, but we cannot give them forth unless we receive oil from God the Holy Ghost in private.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, August 28

"Sing, O barren."

—Isaiah 54:1

Though we have brought forth some fruit unto Christ and have a joyful hope that we are "plants of his own right-hand planting," there are times when we feel very barren. Prayer is lifeless, love is cold, faith is weak, and each grace in the garden of our heart languishes and droops. We are like flowers in the hot sun, requiring a refreshing shower. In such a condition, what are we to do? The text is addressed to us in just such a state. "Sing, O barren, break forth and cry aloud." But what can I sing about? I cannot talk about the present; even the past looks full of barrenness. Ah! I can sing of Jesus Christ. I can speak of visits which the Redeemer has afore times paid to me; or if not, I can magnify the great love wherewith he loved his people when he came from the heights of heaven for their Redemption. I will go to the Redemption.

Come, my soul, heavy laden thou wast once, and thou didst lose thy burden there. Go to Calvary again. That very cross which gave thee life may give thee fruitfulness. What is my barrenness? It is the platform for his fruit-creating power. What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of his everlasting love. I will go in poverty, I will go in helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding, I will tell him that I am still his child, and in confidence in his faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud.

Sing, believer, for it will cheer thine own heart and the hearts of other desolate ones. Sing on, for now, that thou art really ashamed of being barren, thou wilt be fruitful soon; now that God makes thee loath to be without fruit, he will soon cover thee with clusters. The experience of our barrenness is painful, but the Lord's visitations are delightful. A sense of our own poverty drives us to Christ, and that is where we need to be, for in him is our fruit found.

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

August 28: Meaningless Maxims

Isaiah 58:1–59:21; Luke 22:24–62; Job 13:1–12

"Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay" (Job 13:12).

The words spoken by Jobs' friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, contained bits of truth. Between their blundering interpretations were words that expressed God's majesty, justice, and sovereignty. Unfortunately, they pieced together their bits of truth and misapplied them to Job's life.

Job quickly saw through their packaged solution. However, only some of those struggling with loss can handle an onslaught of helpful Christians with easy answers. When people go through difficult times and ask for advice—or even if they don't—it's tempting to deliver our responses based on our experiences. Eliphaz argued this way: "Just as I have seen, plowers of mischief and sowers of trouble will reap it" (Job 4:8).

How we interpret and respond to events is often Scripture-based and Spirit-led. Though we should readily encourage those who struggle, we shouldn't always encourage others toward the same application. Our responses to those in need should be carefully weighed, and they should always guide others to Scripture, the good news, and the work of the Spirit. Ultimately, these are the means through which truth speaks into our experiences. We should never intend our guidance to be the final authority in others' lives.

How are you helping others understand their pain and sorrow?

Rebecca Van Noord

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

August 28

What's the good of prayer?

Lord, teach us to pray. Luke 11:1.

It is not part of the life of a natural man to pray. We hear that a man will suffer if he does not pray; I question it. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished, not by food, but by prayer. When a man is born from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve that life or nourish it. Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves; the Bible's idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.

"Ask, and ye shall receive." We grouse before God, are apologetic or apathetic, and ask very few things. Yet what a splendid audacity a childlike child has! Our Lord says—"Except ye become as little children." Ask, and God will do. Give Jesus Christ a chance, give Him elbow room, and no man will ever do this unless he is at his wits' end. When a man is at his wits' end it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way he can get into touch with Reality. Be yourself before God and present your problems, the things you know you have come to your wits' end over. As long as you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything.

It is not so true that "prayer changes things" as it changes me, and I change things. God has so constituted things that prayer is based on. RedemptiRedemptiRedemption is not a question of altering things externally but of working wonders in a man's disposition.

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

August 28

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

Col 3:15

Years ago, one of our fleets was terribly shattered by a violent gale, but it was found that some of the ships were unaffected by the violence. They were in what mariners call "the eye of the storm." While all around was desolation, they were safe. So it is with him who has the peace of God in his heart.

Pilkington

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