Gracious God of heaven and earth, you are such a covenant-keeping God! Please help us to be as faithful to You as You are to us. In the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

What a great God we serve! How faithful He is to us - in spite of our unfaithfulness! Can you imagine that God would keep His promise to Abram even though Abram failed to keep his part of the bargain? At no time did God tell him that the promised seed would come through proxy. There was no justification for Abram’s taking Hagar as his wife and trying to secure a heir through her. God did not tell Abram to do anything in this covenant, except, “walk before Me and be blameless. . .” (Genesis 17: 1c). Like so many of us, we want to work for God’s gifts. We have not learned that there are some things we have to accept from God, and simply say, “Thank You Lord!”

So here we find Abram, now turned Abraham - name changed, promised seed born, according to God’s promise, struggling with the results of his choosing to listen to Sarai, instead of to God. And here we find God, Covenant-keeper, par excellence, keeping His promise. He will bless Ishmael, Abraham’s heir not according to the promise, but according to the works of the flesh, “because he is your seed” – because He promised. 

God had every right to say to Abraham, “I am sorry, when I made this covenant with you, it was I who promised to give you a son. You went ahead and provided yourself a son, on your terms, I will not bless him, because he is not the child of promise.” But because God honors His word, “For You have magnified Your word above all Your name” (Psalm 138: 2d); He blessed Ishmael, because he was Abraham’s “seed” (Genesis 12: 3c; 13: 14-16; 15: 4, 5; 16: 10; 17: 4-8, 20). What a Covenant-keeping God!

The next time you and I are feeling down. Whenever doubts enter our minds and we begin to despair, let us remember that we serve a God who keeps His Word!. We can put our hands on any of His promises and claim them. We can ask Him to keep the covenant He made with us. Then rest assured that He will - because He promised!

NOTE: Friday’s devotional has been edited.

Dear God, please help us as we enter the study of Your Word. May we learn how to slaves to righteousness. The the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

I believe if I asked most people this question they would immediately think of their current employer. We do not think of our spiritual life in terms of working for someone. If we have been saved, then we are right about that. The saved person does not work for salvation, he or she simply receive it as a gift. But if we look at it from the point of view that we are all obeying someone, then it makes a world of a difference!

The interesting thing here is that in God’s cause we choose to be His slaves. When it comes to the Adversary, He makes us his slaves . Now let us take a look at the wages. If you are obeying the Adversary, your wages will be death. If you are living in obedience to the Savior, then righteousness and life eternal will be the gift you receive at the end of life’s day (Romans 6: 23).

It looks like a no-brain-er, right? Wrong! If an employer is really anxious to hire someone for a job, the wise, or should i say, shrewd, employer will not show the person the unpleasant tasks to be performed. He or she will show the person all the perks that can be theirs if they accept the job. The unpleasant tasks will become visible eventually.

Let’s not forget, that in this life, we are dealing with the arch-deceiver. Remember when he wanted to get Eve to work for him? He assured her that she would not die. To the contrary she would “be like God.“ He did not explain what knowing evil would imply. He simply said that her eyes would be opened (Genesis 3: 4, 5). Be sure to read the fine print before you accept employment. The unpleasant tasks in the job description might be intentionally hidden!

When the Adversary offered employment to David, I am sure that he did not show him the harvest he would reap:  that of a daughter who would be a rape victim (like Bathsheba); and the fourfold (four dead sons), he would have to repay for having taken Uriah’s “one little ewe lamb” (Bathsheba); or, the sword dipped in blood that would not depart from his house all the days of his life (2 Samuel 12: 1-6, 8, 9). He only showed him the moonlit body of a beautiful woman, and whispered in his ear, that as king, he did not have to deny himself any pleasure. 

Then he tried to offer Jesus employment. Listen to his presentation:   “the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘ “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me” ‘ ” (Matthew 4: 8, 9). Do you believe he showed the Savior the sick people in hospitals with terminal illnesses? Or, the terrible wars in which the world would be engaged? Or, the many broken homes and the misery that would follow?  Of course not! He showed the Savior only the “glory” of these kingdoms! Perhaps he forgot that Jesus had fought with him in heaven and was acquainted with his deceptive methods of warfare.

It is easy to find yourself working for the wrong employer. God has left us a work manual complete with job descriptions. Prayerfully review the working code of ethics of each job before accepting any job proposals. It is a matter of life and death!

Dear God, We need to see with spiritual eyes what is really happening around us. Our physical eyesight very often will deceive us. As we study Your Word please open our eyes to our reality. This is our prayer in the holy name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our Scripture for today shows us just how wrong we can be about a lot of things, and how dangerous it is to be led by our senses. When Lot lifted his eyes and looked at Sodom and Gomorrah, it looked to him “like the Garden of Eden”  (Henry Wright). But he could not have been more wrong! In the Garden of the LORD, what you saw was what was there! Not so with Sodom and Gomorrah. Almost as if in direct contradiction to that statement, comes the following:  “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD” (13). Things were not what they seemed.

 The more I study the Word of God, the more I understand the extent of Jesus’ words, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17: 15). Remember the words of the LORD after our first parents sinned? “Then the LORD God said, ‘ “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil” ‘ ” (Genesis 3: 22a). Disguising evil is the work of the evil one - the great deceiver. He did it with Eve and he has been doing it ever since! He made her see the tree simply as, “a tree desirable to make one wise.” He did not explain what the “knowledge of evil” entailed. 

Jesus said of him, “When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8: 44c). Every form of deception is a lie. Whether it be spoken, an optical illusion, a false sensation, a misleading scent, or a disguised taste. They are all the work of the Adversary. He not only makes us see what is not there; he also makes us act as who we are not. Our senses have become so distorted by sin, that we can no longer trust them. Jesus’ prayed that we would be protected (kept) from the deceitful influence of the devil.

Sad to say, he has not only invaded the world, but is also at work within the church. He has tampered with our spiritual senses as well! Listen to the words of the Spirit to the church in different eras: 

” ‘ “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, . . . you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars” (Revelation 2: 1a, 2).

“ ’ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, . . . I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (8a, 9).

” ‘ “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, . . . I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality” (12, 14).

” ‘ “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, . . . I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols” (18a, 20).

” ‘ “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, . . . ‘ “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead” ‘ ” ‘ ” (3: 1).

 ” ‘ “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, . . .  ’ “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. . . . Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—” ‘ ” ‘ ” (14a, 15, 17).

Yes my friends, in the world, and unfortunately, in the church, there are those whose spiritual senses have become affected by the deceitfulness of the evil one. Many have “a form of godliness but [deny the] power” (2 Timothy 3: 5a). Therefore, things are not always what they seem.

The advice of the Spirit  to the church represents the only viable solution to this dangerous problem:  ”I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (18). Emphasis provided.

Only then can you and I be sure that what we see is what is really there.

Dear God, please give us ears to hear Your call, and help us to respond accordingly, for it is in recognizing and obeying Your call that that we find our place in life. In the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

In our Scripture for today we find Terah headed toward Canaan with his son Abram, Abram’s wife Sarai, and his grandson Lot. My question is - why is he making this move? Has he been called by God to do this? Nowhere is found a call made to Terah to go anywhere. A note of interest is that he gets as far as Haran, and dies.

As we enter the following chapter we are greeted by Abram’s call to leave his country, his family, and his father’s house, and go “to a land that [God] will show [him]” (12: 1). This sounds as if God is asking Abram to make a “clean cut” with everything that is familiar to him. From all appearances, his must be a journey by faith and not by sight! Obviously his earthly parents are not to have anything to do with his journey to Canaan. He must now become the leader of a flock of his own under the guidance of his Heavenly Parent:

“So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan” (4, 5).

I found this rather interesting because I believe that salvation is a process of growth – human beings growing back into the image of God, from which we fell. I believe that in the same manner in which children experience growth spurts, during their physical development, Christians, at different times in our journey toward the Promise Land also have our spurts of spiritual growth that will eventually result in spiritual maturity.

Notice the steps: 

Abram leaves Ur of the Chaldees led by His earthly father - Terah. He leaves Haran on the arms of his Heavenly Father - Jehovah (Genesis 11: 31; 12: 4).

He journeyed from Ur to Haran as a part of his father’s  flock. He leaves Haran leading a flock of his own (11: 31; 12: 4, 5).

Abram left Ur headed for Canaan, following his father – but never arrives at his destination (11: 31, 32).

He leaves Haran, called and led by God, and arrives in Canaan (12: 1-5).

Abram goes into Egypt depending on Sarai to save him- He leaves Egypt knowing that God can, and will, defend His own (12: 10-20)!

Abram tries to produce the Seed - but realizes that he is only capable of producing an heir (16;  17: 18-21).

Then Abram matured into Abraham and was willing to sacrifice his son – It was then that he understood that God had already provided Himself a Perfect Sacrifice (Genesis 22: 1-18; John 8: 56)!

Heed the call - and enjoy the growth!

Heavenly Parent, we give You thanks for remembering the creatures of your hands. May we take hope as we realize that You will never forget us. In the blessed name of Jesus the Christ we humbly pray. Amen. 

Have there been moments in your life when you thought that God had forgotten you? Well you are not alone. I am sure that the thought has passed through the mind of almost every human being. There are certain situations that invite such thoughts. Living in an ark with all kinds of animals for what must have seemed like an eternity, could have triggered this thought in Noah’s mind.

Have you ever stopped to think how much time he and his family were in the ark? I did not - until today. As I was reading chapters seven through nine, of Genesis, I decided to look at the footnotes in my Bible (the Andrews Study Bible – an excellent resource!), and realized that it was approximately three hundred and ninety eight days! More than a year (Genesis 7: 11; 8: 13-19)! But God had not forgotten them.

It would be interesting to know what the living conditions were like in the ark. I have heard some rather descriptive imaginary accounts of what Noah and his family experienced during their stay in the ark. But the truth be told, I believe that this is one of those times when you actually had to feel it to know it. Since none of us were there, the most we can do is compare some of our life experiences to life in the ark.

One of the outstanding features of living in the ark was the limited mobility – No one could leave the ark (7: 16) -God had shut the ark, and Noah could only open it when God allowed it (8: 6). There are situations in life when you feel that you are at a stand still. The waters of discouragement, unemployment, illness, seem to keep you from going anywhere. At these times, let us remember that it is God who has the key (Revelation 3: 7), and it is He who closes doors that no one can open, and in His time – at the perfect time - will open the door for us. Do not forget that God remembers!

Noah did not choose what to take into the ark. God had directed the loading of the ark. Sometimes those who God chooses to accompany us on the journey of life are not who we would consider our first choice. Nevertheless, as we continue on our journey we begin to see that they all have a part to play in our reaching maturity, especially the ones whom we consider less likely to be a blessing. The unclean animals that Noah took into the ark did a great job of cleaning up his surroundings when he and his family came out of the ark. Had it not been for them just imagine what life would have been like after the flood!

Finally, as uncomfortable as it may have been – the ark represented safety (Genesis 7: 20-23). There are times when we have to live in what we consider less than ideal conditions, for a time. But it is only - until the storms of life are pass. At the beginning, and sometimes, during, our journey we may observe others who are going where they want to go - when they want to. There are those who are making choices based on what feels good, and here you are, closed in by standards of excellence and codes of conduct. They seem to be doing just as good as you are, and in some cases, better. Look at it this way:  Even if there is no flood in your future, you would have lost nothing, by remaining within the ark of safety. And if there is a flood, you will be saved by remaining in the ark of safety.

You will not have to remain in the ark a day longer than what is necessary – because God remembers.

Dear Heavenly Parent, We rejoice in Your “grace that is greater than all our sins.” O help us LORD, to extend the grace that You have granted unto us, to others. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!

Today, the Lord opened my eyes to the flow of grace in chapters four through six of Genesis! Chapter four begins with a terrible tragedy – Cain kills his brother Abel. As a parent, who have never experienced anything like this, you do not even want to imagine what Adam and Eve must have felt! The world is still in its nascent stage. Sin is still being introduced, as it were, into a perfect world. The knowledge of evil that was never intended for the human family is showing its ugly head. I imagine poor Adam and Eve, bearing not only the unspeakable pain of losing a child, but the almost unbearable guilt, knowing that they have opened this Pandora box.

But thanks be to God - somehow, somewhere, by some divine act of  “amazing grace”, Cain knows that even “before the foundation of the world” (1Pter 1: 20) a Lamb was provided! So we hear the first murderer uttering the first prayer in the Bible! “And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me” ‘ ” (Genesis 4: 13, 14). Then comes the second response of grace (the first is found in Genesis 3: 15), to humanity’s dillema of sin:

And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him” (15). God not only speaks grace to Cain, He touches him with it, by putting a mark on him. I have heard so much speculation concerning the nature of that mark! I just like to think that the blood of the Lamb “foreordained before the foundation of the world,” was applied to that destitute soul. Grace abounded!

Sin has a terrible way of multiplying itself. In the same chapter four of Genesis, Lamech also says a man, and though we do not hear a prayer of repentance, but instead a boast of defiance, ”. . . I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (23b, 24), nonetheless, chapter four ends on a note of victory: ” Then men began to call on the name of the LORD” (26b). And by the time we get to chapter five, we find the “amazing grace” of our Gracious God, at work in the life of Lamech:

“Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD has cursed” (5: 28, 29). The name Noah means rest. I do not know how old Lamech was when he slew that man, but by the time he was one hundred and eighty-two years, he seemed to have been tired of the results of sin, and sought rest – true rest – before he died (31). This rest comes only through the abundant grace of God!

Thank God, that in the midst of all the tragedy and evil that exists, God’s grace is constantly searching for sinners. Noah came on the scene, and God’s grace found him! “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” When we find grace in God’s eyes, it is because His grace has already found us! Though chapter six begins on a very low note, it ends in victory:  “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did” (22). Because “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5: 20b).

Dear God, thank You for a new year! Please give us grateful hearts to appreciate the blessings that this new year has in store for us, bravery of heart to face the challenges, and a positive outlook, that we may grow from whatever experience you allow to come our way. Now please open our eyes to see the buried treasures in Your Word. In the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Happy New Year everyone! I am very grateful to be once again sharing my devotional thoughts with you on this first day of 2012. May the God of peace, love, and joy, remain with us as we enter the study of His Word.

It is amazing how the word of God offers new insights every time we approach it! I decided to read my Bible through again this year, so this morning I began by reading the first three chapters of Genesis. How thrilling it was for me to review truths that I had seen before and discover precious gems that had been overlooked in the past. One of these discoveries was made in the verses that comprise our Scripture for today – the amount of time God dedicated to the creation and separation of light and darkness during creation week.

On the very first day of creation He called light into existence and declared it good. Then He separated it from the darkness. He then named it Day, and the darkness Night. 

On the fourth day of creation we find God taking portions of light and placing them in Heaven (the firmament in the midst of the waters). Again there is division – the lights now provide a division between the day and the night. The greater light (the sun) would rule over the day, and the lesser light (the moon) would rule over the night, along with the stars. Once again light and darkness are divided (18).

In Scripture, repetition usually implies that what is being stated is worthy of our attention. Not without importance, I believe, is this subtle division between light and darkness from “in the beginning”. Throughout Scripture that division can be observed:  During the plagues in Egypt (Exodus 10: 21-23); During the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14: 19, 20); God’s people as compared to the world (Isaiah 60: 1-3); In order to receive light people must turn from darkness (Acts 26: 18); there is no fellowship between the two (2 Corinthians 6: 14).

Therefore, I would like to share with you what I consider a good rule of thumb for living our lives in this new year:  “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1: 7). 

May you and I enjoy a de -light-full New Year!

Merciful God, we thank You so much for Your endless love and forgiveness. We need You in our lives, to give them meaning. We love You and want to serve You. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

We often hear people ask questions like:  If God is a God of love, why did He allow an innocent child to die? Or, If “God is love” why did this disaster take place? Or, How can a God of love destroy the wicked? We base our inquiries on God’s love, and seem to completely ignore His justice. We fail to realize that in the realm where God exists, mercy and justice go hand in hand. The Mercy Seat is the cover of the ark - where God’s law is contained. At the Throne of Grace - mercy and justice meet and kiss each other.

Our Scripture for today gives us a snapshot of the attitude of those who will be lost when Christ returns.  Much of the imagery in these verses are figurative. However, there is one feature of the narrative that is quite clear and easy to understand - the attitude of the lost:  “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands.” You get the feeling that if they had been given another opportunity they would have continued with “business as usual.” It is hard to imagine them being happy in heaven, of their free choice.

It is important that we understand that hell and destruction were never God’s plan for His creatures. Scripture makes it plain that, hell was created to destroy the author and the perpetrators of sin. Let us take a look at the following portion of Scripture:  ” ‘ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” ‘ ” (Matthew 25: 41). Emphasis provided.

We do not understand God’s justice because we do not think the way God thinks, nor act the way He acts (Isaiah 55:  8, 9). Therefore, we cannot comprehend how justice and mercy can be on the same side of an equation. We do not understand how you can love someone and yet allow that person to destroy him or her (self). That is because free choice is of divine origin, not human. That does not make God less loving. Our minds cannot grasp it. Our inability to appreciate this concept leads to persecution and sometimes death of one group of people, at the hand of another group, who is not in agreement with them.

Even when God allows the following words to be penned by His servants Moses and Joshua, respectively, in His name:  “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30: 19). Emphasis provided. ”And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell” (Joshua 24: 15a). Emphasis provided. Yet our minds cannot understand His gift of free choice.

That is because we are caught in the midst of a cosmic warfare between the forces of good and evil. God gives us free choice (as seen in the verses quoted in the paragraph above) - the Adversary does not. Therefore, God’s justice and His mercy, allows the sinner to decide where, and how, he or she will spend eternity. Not so with the Adversary – he comes in and imposes his will on those who have not answered the Savior’s call. They allow the houses of their hearts to be cleansed, but do not allow the Savior to come in (Revelation 3: 20; Luke 11: 24-26).  Some will choose heaven; some will choose hell. God will respect both choices, because He is just!

Due to our fallen nature, it is easier for us to want people to do things our way, and if necessary, force them to do so. I pray that the next time someone does not see eye to eye with us, instead of being angry with them, demonizing them, or trying to force their wills, we will remember God’s justice.

NOTE:  This devotional has been edited.

Dear God, there is such a need for Your peace in our world today. Please help us to acquaint ourselves with the Prince of Peace, as we study Your Word. This we ask in the blessed name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

One of the greatest needs in our world today, is the need for peace. We need peace in our individual lives. The nations of the world need peace. There is a need for peace in our churches. Peace is needed at home, and in the workplace. The world at large seems to be suffering from a famine – not for food – but for peace.

We may have heard the phrase “seeking love in the wrong places.” But love is not the only thing people seek in the wrong places. We also seek joy, and knowledge, and salvation, to name a few, in the wrong places. Today I am going to add peace, to the list.

I wonder why we have lost our sense of direction when seeking the most important things of life. What has caused this confusion that has become an epidemic in our world? Could the cause be found in a trait that became a part of our genes, when the serpent convinced mother Eve that the fruit that God had said should not be eaten, ”was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise” (Genesis 3: 6) ? Could we still, after more that six thousand years, be trying to prove God wrong?

Our text for today, states very clearly that, had the people of Israel hearkened to God’s commandments, their “peace” would have been “like a river.” Perhaps many, like myself, have sat and watched a river flowing slowly, and felt peace within our own souls. But you may argue that a river also has under-currents. True. But the good news is that God would have been the “Author and Finisher” (Hebrews 12: 2) of their peace. They would have been guaranteed peace, even in the midst of the storms of life.

Like Israel of old, God’s people in the twenty-first century, have forfeited that promised peace, by seeking it in the wrong places. God describes the problem this way:   ” ‘“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water” ‘ ” (Jeremiah 2: 13). Humanity’s formula for peace is deficient. It is a conditional, passing, peace. It has no “holding” (lasting) capacity. It is as broken as the human beings who create it.

So why not go to the right place if you feel a need for peace in your life today. Jesus, who cannot lie, made the following promise to you and to me:  “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14: 27). Emphasis provided. You can take Him at His Word!

Why not get acquainted with Him (Job 22: 21) today - and experience His peace!

Most Gracious God, here we are again, expecting a blessing from You. We know that we will not be disappointed as we sit at Your feet and learn of, and from, You. So please stay with us. In the name of Jesus the Christ we pray. Amen.

As we begin this new day, I have a question that I would like to ask us – will we recognize the answer to our prayers when it is granted, or, like the people of Jerusalem, will we be “troubled”?

A strange question I know, but one that it would do us good to answer as soon as possible. I believe that I am talking to people who may have some unanswered prayers. These prayers could be categorized as, urgent, not so urgent, or, not urgent at all. For the people of Jerusalem, the coming of the Messiah was urgent!

They were captives in their own land - occupied by pagans. It was true that they had their own religious-political ruling body – the Sanhedrin - but they needed Rome’s permission in  many legal matters. Many of their country men and women were still living in foreign lands as a result of the Diaspora. For a Jew in those days, the coming of the Messiah meant regaining their status as the favored people; defeating their enemies; once more being the head and not the tail (Deuteronomy 28: 1-14). There was an urgent need for Messiah to come and set them free.

I am sure that, most of us, when there is an urgency in our lives, when things are not going very well, at least not the way we had hoped that it would, we pray a lot. There is no need for anyone to remind us to, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5: 17). We do that naturally.

Nevertheless, many Jews in the time of Christ, like most of us, did not recognize the answer to their prayer - for one particular reason:  the answer did not fit their description, their specifications. Perhaps some of us are not even aware that, underlying our prayers is our own idea of how we want God to answer those prayers.  Therefore, if the answer we receive is not a perfect match of our mental picture, it is immediately rejected.

And so it was in the time of Christ, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1: 11). In our day - we write a mental note on our answer to some prayers - ”Return to sender.” Without even un-packing, and at least, trying it out, we set it aside, and continue to wait. Then oftentimes, we reach the sad conclusion that, God did not answer our prayers - at least, not yet.

I believe it would be a good idea for us to spend some thoughtful, prayerful, time, reflecting on the answers we receive in response to prayer. Before discarding any, here is a suggestion:  Let us ask yourselves, why are we discarding them? Is it because they do not look the way we believe they should? Remember, we will not recognize something that we are not expecting. Obviously, the wise men from the East were looking for “His star” in accordance with God’s Word (see verses 4-7). They recognized it when they saw it, because it was what God had promised, not their personal expectation.

I believe that the more time we spend in the study of His Word - the less prayers we will be returning to the Heavenly Sender. Today is a good day to begin studying!