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 Morning, October 11 Go To Evening Reading

"Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens."

—Lamentations 3:41

Prayer teaches us our unworthiness, which is a very salutary lesson for such proud beings as we are. If God gave us favors without constraining us to pray for them, we should never know how poor we are. Still, a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalog of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty. While it applies to divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness. The most healthy state of a Christian is to be always empty in self and constantly depending upon the Lord for supplies; to be consistently poor in self and rich in Jesus; weak as water personally but mighty through God to do great exploits; and hence the use of prayer, because, while it adores God, it lays the creature where it should be, in the very dust. Prayer is, in itself, apart from the answer that it brings, a great benefit to the Christian. As the runner gains strength for the race through daily exercise, so for the great race of life, we acquire energy through the hallowed labor of prayer.

Prayer plumes the wings of God's young eaglets so that they may learn to mount above the clouds. Prayer girds the loins of God's warriors and sends them forth to combat with their sinews braced and their muscles firm. An earnest pleader cometh out of his closet, even as the sun ariseth from the chambers of the east, rejoicing like a strong man to run his race. Prayer is that uplifted hand of Moses which routs the Amalekites more than the sword of Joshua; it is the arrow shot from the prophet's chamber foreboding defeat to the Syrians. Prayer girds human weakness with divine strength, turns human folly into heavenly wisdom, and gives troubled mortals God's peace. We know not what prayer cannot do! We thank thee, great God, for the mercy seat, a choice proof of thy marvelous lovingkindness. Help us use it right throughout this day!

Go To Morning Reading Evening, October 11

"Whom he did predestinate, them he also called."

—Romans 8:30

The second epistle to Timothy, first chapter, and ninth verse are these words—"Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling." Now, here is a touchstone by which we may try our calling. It is "a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his purpose and grace." This calling forbids all trust in our own doings and conducts us to Christ alone for salvation, but it purges us from dead works to serve the living and true God. As he that hath called you is holy, so must you be holy. If you are living in sin, you are not called, but if you are Christ's, you can say, "Nothing pains me so much as sin; I desire to be rid of it; Lord, help me to be holy." Is this the panting of thy heart? Is this the tenor of thy life towards God and his divine will? Again, in Philippians 3:13, 14, we are told of "The high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Is then your calling a high calling? Has it ennobled your heart and set it upon heavenly things? Has it elevated your hopes, your tastes, your desires? Has it upraised the constant tenor of your life so that you spend it with God and for God? Another test we find in Hebrews 3:1—"Partakers of the heavenly calling." Heavenly calling means a call from heaven. If man alone calls thee, thou art uncalled. Is thy calling of God? Is it a call to heaven as well as from heaven? Unless thou art a stranger here, and heaven thy home, thou hast not been called with a heavenly calling; for those who have been so called, declare that they look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, and they are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. Is thy calling thus holy, high, heavenly? Then, beloved, thou hast been called of God, for such is the calling wherewith God doth call his people.

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

October 11: Greener Grasses

Ezekiel 23:1–49; Revelation 11:1–14; Job 35:9–16

The biblical story becomes solemn, sad, and explicit when God's people turn from Him.

"Now, as for their names, the older was Oholah, and Oholibah was her sister. And they became mine, bore sons and daughters, and their names are Samaria for Oholah, and Jerusalem for Oholibah. And Oholah prostituted herself while she was still mine [being Yahweh's], and she lusted for her lovers, for Assyria who was nearby.… Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians after whom she lusted" (Ezek 23:4–5, 9).

Yahweh's words through Ezekiel firmly rebuke sin—sin becomes the punishment. But this sad picture reveals Yahweh's perspective and the pain He feels when we walk away from Him.

Ezekiel's words should prompt us to ask questions. How often have we been blinded by our lust for "greener grasses"? How usually have we sacrificed God's plan and potential for our lives at the altar of selfish desires? How often has "want" controlled us to the point of betraying the God who created us?

Our remorse should guide us into making better choices. We can walk away from pursuing our desires and walk into the life that Yahweh offers us. The "two witnesses" in Rev 11:1–14 make this decision. Appalled by the horrifying scene of their generation (e.g., Rev 9:13–21), they find hope and power in seeking Yahweh. Rather than allowing the evil of their generation to control or change them, they seek Yahweh. Doing so gives them the power to do His work (Rev 11:2–6).

Each sad moment in history—indeed, every single moment—is an opportunity to do God's will. Today, we have an opportunity to deny the narrative of our generation (and previous ones) in favor of God.

What selfish desires is God overturning in your life?

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).

October 11

After God's silence—what?

When He heard that He was sick, He stayed two days in the same place. John 11:6.

Has God trusted you with a silence that is big and meaningful? God's silences are His answers. Think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything analogous to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking for a visible answer? God will give you the blessings you ask if you will not go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? You will find that God has trusted you in the most intimate way possible, with an absolute silence, not of despair, but of pleasure, because He saw that you could stand a more significant revelation. If God has given you silence, praise Him; He is bringing you into the great run of His purposes. Manifesting the answer in time is a matter of God's sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while, you say—' I asked God to give me bread, and He gave me a stone.' He did not, and today, you find He gave you the bread of life.

A wonderful thing about God's silence is that the contagion of His stillness gets into you, and you become perfectly confident—' I know God has heard me.' His silence is the proof that He has. As long as you know that God will bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that worship is for glorifying His Father, He will provide you with the first sign of His intimacy—silence.

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

October 11

Behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven

Gen. 28:12

Think of that mystic ladder, which descends from the throne of God to the spot, however lowly, where you may be. It may be a moorland waste, a humble cottage, a ship's cabin, a settler's hut, or a bed of pain, but Jesus Christ finds you out and comes just where you are. The one pole of this ladder is the gold of His deity; the other is the silver of His manhood; the rungs are the series of events from the cradle of Bethlehem to the right hand of power, where He sits. That ladder sways beneath a weight of blessing for you. Oh, that you would send away your burdens of sin, and care, and fear, by the hands of the ascending angels of prayer and faith!—to be able to receive into your heart the trooping angels of peace and joy, and love, and glory.

F. B. Meyer

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