Your Daily Crossroad
God’s Words, Sweeter Than Honey
How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter found in Scripture and is mainly known for its teaching on God’s law.
Psalm 119 is not simply about what to do and not do, but about how God’s law deepens our relationship with him.
In today’s verse, the words of God are said to be “sweeter than honey.” Honey is of course a natural sweetener. God’s words or laws bring a sweetness to the life we live. Just as our tongues crave sweet desserts, our lives should crave the sweetness of God’s words if we are followers of Jesus (1 Peter 2:1-3).
This desire does not come from good works or going to church, but from the one and only giver of sweet things, God (Psalm 119:18).
While we can learn much from God’s word as we listen to a pastor preach or musician sing, we shouldn’t rely on just these as our honey. We need to learn to enjoy God’s Word by ourselves also.
Things like Bible reading plans or devotionals like this can certainly help. But without the desire to read God’s Word, even the most self-disciplined of efforts will fail.
To fall in love with God’s Word requires that we fall in love with the Author himself. So if you’re struggling with a lack of desire to spend time in the Bible, don’t start by trying to manufacture that desire.
Instead, begin by asking yourself these two questions:
Do I love God?
Do I desire to spend time in his presence?
If the answer to question two isn’t a true, “Yes,” then reconsider your answer to question one. Don’t receive this as a harsh chastisement. Instead, consider it a fresh chance to understand where you’re at.
Remember, loving God’s Word means more than loving Scripture—it means loving the Word, Jesus Christ himself.
No matter where you’re at today, join me in praying this prayer today:
God, I want to love your Word. I want to love you more than I do right now… More than I ever have before. Move on my heart and my affections. Give me a deep, burning desire to be near you. To hear your voice. To love your presence. Overshadow all things by your majesty, and become the single longing of my soul. Amen.
There is a lot to this devotion today but when I read it I felt it was filled with such truth and needed to be shared. My prayer today is that this convicts the deepest part of your soul and that you answer the questions honestly, but it doesn’t stop there, earnestly pray that prayer and watch what God will do. He is faithful. To fall in love with God’s Word requires that we fall in love with the Author himself.
Have a wonderful day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Psalm 119:103-105
Paying Attention
Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. (Psalm 41:1)
John Newton wrote, “If, as I go home, a child has dropped a halfpenny, and if, by giving it another, I can wipe away its tears, I feel I have done something. I should be glad to do greater things; but I will not neglect this.”
These days, it’s not hard to find someone in need of comfort: A care-worn cashier in a grocery store working a second job to make ends meet; a refugee longing for home; a single mother whose flood of worries has washed away her hope; a lonely old man who fears he has outlived his usefulness.
But what are we to do? “Blessed is he that considereth the poor,” wrote David (Ps. 41:1). Even if we can’t alleviate the poverty of those we meet along the way we can consider them—a verb that means “to pay attention.”
We can let people know we care. We can treat them with courtesy and respect, though they may be testy or tiresome. We can listen with interest to their stories. And we can pray for them or with them—the most helpful and healing act of all.
Remember the old paradox Jesus gave us when He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Paying attention pays off, for we’re happiest when we give ourselves away. Consider the poor.
Father, as we go through our day, show us the everyday folks who need our attention. Grant us the love and the patience to truly consider them, as You have so patiently loved us. Amen.
When I read this I couldn’t help but think what a great way to start out this beautiful Monday. What a reminder, to consider the poor, the less fortunate. Use me today Lord and this coming week to extend a hand of love, encouragement and patience for I truly don’t know what that individual is facing but I can be a light in there life when life may seem so dark to them. Choose not to engage in someone’s outrage or rudeness, who knows what they are going through but pray for them and show them love, grace and forgiveness. Help us Lord not to take things so personal but to be your hands extended. Give someone hope today, it starts with a smile.
Today’s Reading is Psalm 41:1-3
Have a wonderful day in The Lord!
Peace and Trust
When I was six years old I rode a roller coaster for the first time with my older brothers. As soon as we hit a turn at a high speed I started to yell: “Stop this thing right now! I want to get off!” Of course the roller coaster didn’t stop, and I had to “white knuckle” it, hanging on tight for the rest of the ride.
Sometimes life can feel like an unwanted roller coaster ride, with “downhill” drops and hairpin curves we never see coming. When unexpected difficulties occur, the Bible reminds us that our best recourse is to place our trust in God. It was in a tumultuous time when invasion threatened his country that the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Spirit, discerned this powerful promise from the Lord: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isa. 26:3).
The peace our Savior gives us as we turn to Him “passeth all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). I will never forget the words of a woman who was struggling with breast cancer. After a group from our church prayed for her one evening, she said, “I don’t know what will happen, but I know that I’ll be okay, because the Lord was here with us tonight.”
Life will have its difficulties, but our Savior, who loves us more than life, is greater than them all.
Lord, help me to trust in You so that I may live in peace.
When I read this it blessed me. We can either allow situations in life to make us bitter or better, we choose. Allow Jesus to be your peace.
Have a wonderful day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Isaiah 26:1-9
Search Me
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
Relationships take time. And as time passes, we can decide whether we want to go to the next level with a person and eventually open up to them.
This doesn’t have to be a husband or wife thing. It applies to every relationship.
Hopefully, we all have someone we can tell our deepest, most sensitive secrets to. Someone we know can keep our confidence.
Friends like these know when there is something wrong with us, even when others don’t. They have been our friends for so long they can sense our mood without even talking to us.
With an acquaintance, it’s different. We might tell them a little about our life, but we usually let them know all of the good stuff. We wear a mask for them.
Ironically, we sometimes try to wear this mask for Jesus.
When we pray, we might ask him to forgive us of our little sins and ask for good things to happen to us, but we never ask him to search us. We don’t tell him to look deep down in our heart and see if there is anything within us that to change.
We hesitate to open up in this way because it’s uncomfortable. When the Holy Spirit searches us and convicts us of sin, we rationalize it away. Or, we have been living our life with a particular sin for so long, that it just becomes a part of us and we are calloused.
We forget that Jesus already knows what is in our hearts (John 2:25).
Jesus is waiting for us to invite him into our hearts and cleanse us of our grievous ways. We can’t hide our sins from Jesus; only keep them from the healing power of His presence. And by holding our sin so tightly, we do nothing but embrace our own death, while pushing away the author of life.
We should daily pray as the Psalmist does, and ask God to search our hearts. We should open ourselves up to the real healing that only God can give.
Have you let Jesus look into your heart lately? If not, why are you scared to do so?
When I read this my first thought was, guilty! I can think of many times in my life when I’ve done just as they spoke of in this devotion, I go to God and ask him to forgive me of my little sins and ask for good things to happen to me but I’ve failed to ask him to search me and as I thought about it I realized it was in those moments when I got real with God and I allowed Him to search me deep down in my heart and I spoke to Him without walls and barriers that I was able to overcome that thing that held me back and tormented me. He does indeed already know, it’s our place to be so real with Him that we speak truthfully with Him and allow Him to mend us. We aren’t going to say anything He doesn’t already know, you don’t have to have the “perfect” prayer in order to speak to God, just be real and honest with Him. I myself am a work in progress and this is an area I need to work on, I don’t need to wear a mask when I talk to God. He knows me already, He knows you. Let’s be real with God!
Have a wonderful day in The Lord!
Today’s Reading is Psalm 51:1-11