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If you are impatient, sit down and talk with Job.

If you are just a little strong-headed, go and see Moses.

If you are getting weak-kneed, take a good look at Elijah.

If there is no song in your heart, listen to David.

If your faith is below par, read Paul.

If you are losing sight of the future, climb up the stairs of Revelation

And get a glimpse of the Promised Land.

Source: The Timothy Report

You know you're spending too much time in the study …

When thou speaketh to thy children and helpmate thusly.

When you start seeing the evening paper laid out in chapters
and verses.

When you answer your home phone, "First Community Church."

When a list of genealogies moves you to tears.

When you start parsing the verbs in Golf Digest.

When you comfort your 3-year-old, who just skinned her knee,
with "That will make a good sermon illustration."

When you consider all the mail addressed to the church
as personal.

When you count going home for lunch as a pastoral visit.

Source: Robert A. Altstadt, Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 4.

"Da, da, da, da, blah, blah, blah, blah"

DB Reading: Isaiah 22:1-14; 28; 29:1-21, 13; 33:1

"'Who does Isaiah think he is,' the people say, 'to speak to us like this! Are we little children, barely old enough to
talk? He tells us everything over and over again, a line at a time and in such simple words!' But they won't listen;
the only language they can understand is punishment! So God will punish them by sending against them foreigners
who speak strange gibberish! Only then will they listen to him! They could have rest in their own land if they would
obey him, if they were kind and good. He told them that, but they wouldn't listen to him. So the Lord will spell it out
for them again, repeating it over and over in simple words whenever he can; yet over this simple, straightforward
message they will stumble and fall and be broken, trapped and captured" (Isaiah 28:9-13 LB).

"Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there" (Isaiah 28:10,13 NIV). "Da, da, da,
da, blah, blah, blah, blah..." (Isaiah 28:10,13 Msg). The people were mimicking Isaiah's repetitive and simple
message, offended that he was speaking to them as he would to small children.

Many people today are still offended by the simple message of the Bible. Like the Israelites, they mimic the
words of preachers and teachers, and even well-meaning friends, as though they were only ideals for the
simple-minded or a crutch for the weak. Many haven't paid attention to what God has to say since they went
to Sunday School as little children. Many others, who still attend church as adults, have reduced God's life-
changing message to a list of "do's and don'ts" that has very little effect on their daily lives and fails to draw
them near to the heart of God. "A command here, a command there. A rule here, a rule there. A little lesson
here, a little lesson there" (Isaiah 28:10 NCV) ("Do and do..."). "The Lord says: 'These people come near to
me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is
made up only of rules taught by men'" (Isaiah 29:13).

At one time or another, we all seem to get caught up in the illusion that we can control our own lives and stuff
God into the tidy little box our minds have devised for him. "You turn things upside down, as if the potter were
thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He did not make me'? Can the pot
say of the potter, 'He knows nothing'?" (Isaiah 29:16).

God's desire is not to beat us into the ground so we'll know who's in charge, but to plant and cultivate his living
truth into the soil of our hearts. "When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on
breaking up and harrowing the soil?" (Isaiah 28:27). Isaiah uses the example of a skilled farmer to illustrate
how God deals with each of us uniquely and sensitively, taking into account our individual circumstances and
weaknesses. "Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin; caraway is beaten
out with a rod, and cummin with a stick. Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing
it forever" (Isaiah 28:27-28). Just like the farmer knows which tools to use for specific herbs and how long to use
each instrument for its particular purpose, God knows exactly what we need as he works in our individual lives.

Everyone's spiritual journey is different. God alone knows what will prick our hearts at specific times throughout
our journey. He is masterful at using just the right tool at just the right time as he carefully and lovingly guides
our fragile growth. May we trust his skillful hand in our own lives and respect his distinctive work in the lives of
others. "All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom" (Isaiah 28:29).

_______________________________________
The Daily Bible Journal Project is based on daily readings from
The Daily Bible (F. LaGard Smith, Harvest House).


Add the Daily Bible Journal Project to your website.

The devout cowboy lost his favorite Bible
while he was mending fences out on the
range.
 
Three weeks later, a cow walked up to him
carrying the Bible in its mouth. The cowboy
couldn't believe his eyes. He took the precious
book out of the cow's mouth, raised his eyes
heavenward and exclaimed, "It's a miracle!"
 
"Not really," said the cow.
"Your name is written inside the cover."

I Am a 'Kept' Woman.

You see, there are times when I think I will lose my mind,
but GOD has kept me sane.
(Isa 26:3)

There were times when I thought I could go no longer,
but the LORD kept me moving.
(Gen 28:15)

At times, I've wanted to lash out at those whom I felt had done me wrong,
but the LORD kept my mouth shut.
(Psalm 28)

Sometimes, I think the money just isn't enough,
but GOD has helped me to keep the lights on, the water on, the car paid, the house paid, etc..,
(Matt 6:25 -34)

When I thought I would fall, HE kept me up.
When I thought I was weak, HE kept me strong!
(I Peter 5:7, Matt 11:28-30)

I'm blessed to be 'kept.'

Recently while we were eating lunch after church one
Sunday, my youngest son asked me what the highest
number I had ever counted up to was.

I said I didn't know. Then I asked him how high he has
counted.

5,372," came the prompt reply.

"Oh," I said. "Why did you stop there?"

"The sermon was over."

"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
(Psalm 118:24)

The Psalmist had made a decision. The Lord God had given him that day. Now he chose to live
through it with a positive spirit and a hopeful heart.

Nothing is more crucial to the quality of our lives than the choices we make about how we will
approach the circumstances, relationships and crises of each day. In the end it is that attitude
which largely determines the outcomes we will find. I *choose* God as my refuge...I *choose*
to believe...I *choose* to find a way.

Mrs. S. had lived alone for many years and got out only with the help of a wheelchair. Every
Sunday she wheeled herself into the side aisle of our sanctuary (one without handicap access)
where she worshipped attentively. She always seemed to be "up," a radiant person who made
people smile just to be around her.

One evening Mrs. S. spoke to the youth of the church and was asked how she could always be
so alive, so full of joy. She responded, "Well, I certainly didn't choose to live the last half of my
life as a widow. And I didn't choose to have my son killed in the Korean War. I didn't choose to
have to ride around in this chair for the past ten years. But one thing I did choose?to be happy.
I decided to make the best of every day and to see the best in every person."

A friend who has been a missionary in South America for many years told me of taking some
American visitors through his city. One of them spotted a beautiful large poinsettia tree in front
of a small house as they passed by. The visitor wanted to take a picture and, not realizing that
the plant was brittle, reached up to pull down a branch for the camera. A six-foot length of
flame-red poinsettia snapped to the ground.

At that moment the woman of the house stepped out of the door and confronted the gringos
standing there, poinsettia branch in hand. Humiliated, they tried to express regret and offered
to pay for her loss. But they could no more fix the personal damage than they could repair the
tree. Still, instead of adding to their embarrassment, the woman cheerfully asked them in for tea.
She *chose* to forgive them, to overlook their clumsy behavior. She *chose* to offer them grace.

This is the day the Lord has made. We are responsible to decide how we will live in it.

_________________________________________

You can contact Mike at mhalleen@att.net to be added
to his weekly devotional email list, "Monday Moments."

Copyright 2007 Dr. Michael A. Halleen. Permission is granted to send
this to others, with attribution, but not for commercial purposes.

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