ORDINARY DAYS

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

ORDINARY DAYS

Read:  Luke 2:8-20

Behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory

of he Lord shone around them. Luke 2:9

Writer Anita Brechbill observed in God’s Revivalist magazine:  “Most often the Word of the Lord comes to a soul in the ordinary duties of life.”  She cites the examples of Zacharias performing his duties as a priest and the shepherds watching their flocks.  They were at work as usual with no idea that they were about to receive a message from God.

Luke describes the ordinary days when these men received their message from God:  “While [Zacharias] was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,…an angel of the Lord appeared to him” (1:8, 11).  While the shepherds were “living out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night…an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (2:8-9).

In My Utmost for His Highest Oswald Chambers  said: “Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations.  The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord’s surprise visit.”

On this ordinary day, the Lord may have a word of encouragement, guidance, or instruction for us, if we’re listening and ready to obey.   DCM

I wonder what I did for God today:

Have many times did I once pause and pray?

But I must find and serve Him in these ways,

For life is made of ordinary days.-Macbeth

God speaks to those who are quiet before Him.

IN ABUNDANCE OF AFFLICTION

In Abundance or Affliction

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

Job 1:21

READ JOB 1:13–22

Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts encourages readers to search their lives each day for what the Lord has done for them. In it, she daily notes God’s abundant generosity to her in gifts both large and small, ranging from the simple beauty of iridescent bubbles in the dish sink to the incomparable salvation of sinners like herself (and the rest of us!). Ann contends that gratitude is the key to seeing God in even the most troubling of life’s moments.

Job is famous for a life of such “troubling” moments. Indeed, his losses were deep and many. Just moments after losing all his livestock, he learns of the simultaneous death of all his ten children. Job’s profound grief was evidenced in his response: he “tore his robe and shaved his head” (1:20). His words in that painful hour make me think Job knew the practice of gratitude, for he acknowledges that God had given him everything he’d lost (v. 21). How else could he worship in the midst of such incapacitating grief?

The practice of daily gratitude can’t erase the magnitude of pain we feel in seasons of loss. Job questioned and grappled through his grief as the rest of the book describes. But recognizing God’s goodness to us—in even the smallest of ways—can prepare us to kneel in worship before our all-powerful God in the darkest hours of our earthly lives.

By Kirsten Holmberg

REFLECT & PRAY

Why not start a gratitude list? Watch how the regular practice of thankfulness changes your daily life.

O God, You are the Giver of all good things. Help me to recognize Your generosity in even the smallest ways and to trust You in seasons of loss and hardship.

Your gift changes lives. Help us share God’s love with millions every day.

INSIGHT

Job 1 captures the weight of why God allows suffering through two vividly contrasting portraits. First, we see the joy shared in Job’s family while he wholeheartedly served God. This image is followed by one of a still-devoted Job grieving the near-complete destruction of that life.

To learn more about why God allows suffering, visit christianuniversity.org/CA211. Monica Brands

A BOOST OF COURAGE

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

A BOOST OF COURAGE

Read:  Hebrews 12:1-11

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher

of our faith.  Hebrews 12:2

When my son Joe was a child, I took him to the local YMCA for swimming lessons.  I could almost see an Olympic gold medal swinging around his neck.

To my chagrin, Joe didn’t “wow” the class.  Instead, he took one look at the water, one look at the instructor, and started bawling.

To make matters worse, the instructor motioned for me to take Joe back to the locker room.  In the midst of his sobs and pleas to go home, I gave him a little pep talk:  “You can do it, Joe!  I’ll come to all your lessons, and we’ll have a signal.  When you get scared you can look up at me, and when I hold my thumb up you’ll know it’s going to be okay because I’m here cheering you on.”  Joe finally agreed, and today he can swim circles around me.

How often we too face situations that seem overwhelming and impossible.  It’s in those times that we need to find our confidence in Jesus.  Our first instinct may be to back away in fear.  But that’s exactly when we need to look to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), who will raise His nail-scarred hand and say, “Stay with it.  Run the race.  I’ve run it before you, and in My power you can win.  You can do it!”    JS

Hold fast to Christ and He will give

The will to see you through;

And if you keep on keeping on,

Your strength He will renew. -DJD

Christ’s victory in the past give courage

for the present and hope for the future.

HOPE IS OUR STRATEGY

Hope Is Our Strategy

But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.

Micah 7:7

READ MICAH 7:1–7

My favorite football team has lost eight consecutive games as I write this. With each loss, it’s harder to hope this season can be redeemed for them. The coach has made changes weekly, but they haven’t resulted in wins. Talking with my coworkers, I’ve joked that merely wanting a different outcome can’t guarantee it. “Hope is not a strategy,” I’ve quipped.

That’s true in football. But in our spiritual lives, it’s just the opposite. Not only is cultivating hope in God a strategy, but clinging to Him in faith and trust is the only strategy. This world often disappoints us, but hope can anchor us in God’s truth and power during the turbulent times.

Micah understood this reality. He was heartbroken by how Israel had turned away from God. “What misery is mine! . . . The faithful have been swept from the land; not one upright person remains” (7:1-2). But then he refocused on his true hope: “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me” (v. 7).

What does it take to maintain hope in harsh times? Micah shows us: Watching. Waiting. Praying.

 Remembering. God hears our cries even when our circumstances are overwhelming. In these moments, clinging to and acting in response to our hope in God is our strategy, the only strategy that will help us weather life’s storms.

By Adam Holz

REFLECT & PRAY

What does it take to maintain hope in harsh times? Watching. Waiting. Praying. Remembering.

Father, You’ve promised to be an anchor for our hearts when circumstances look discouraging. Help us call out to You in faith and hope, believing that You hear our hearts’ cries.

Your gift changes lives. Help us share God’s love with millions every day.

INSIGHT

Micah prophesied some sixty-five years to Israel and Judah during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Micah 1:1). He was a contemporary with Hosea, who prophesied to Israel (Hosea 1:1), and to Isaiah, who prophesied to Judah (Isaiah 1:1). Accusing God’s people of idolatry, moral corruption, oppression (Micah 1:7; 2:1-2; 3:9-11), Micah warned of God’s discipline. He called the people “to act justly and to love mercy” (6:8). His prophesy that Israel would be destroyed (1:6) came to pass in 722 bc (2 Kings 17:5-7). Micah also warned that “[Judah] will become a heap of rubble” (Micah 3:12). Because Hezekiah, the king of Judah, repented, Jerusalem was spared destruction from the invading Assyrians (2 Chronicles 32:20-22; Jeremiah 26:18-19). K. T. Sim

UNLIMITED POWER

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

UNLIMITED POWER

Read:  Isaiah 40:25-31

[God] brings out their host by number;

He calls them all by name.  Isaiah 40:26

Why don’t the stars fall down?”  A child may ask that question, but so does an astronomer.  And they both get essentially the same answer;  A mysterious power or energy upholds everything and prevents our cosmos from collapsing into chaos.

Hebrews 1:3 tells us that it is Jesus who upholds all things by the word of His power.  He is the source of all the energy there is, whether the explosive potential packed inside an atom or the steaming kettle on the kitchen stove.

That energy is not simply a mindless force.  No, God is the personal plower who created everything out of nothing, including the stars (Genesis 1, Isaiah 40:26); who divided the Red Sea and delivered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage (Exodus 14:21-22); who brought to pass the virgin birth of Jesus (Luke 1:34-35); and who raised Him from the dead and conquered death (2 Timothy 1:10).  Our God, the one and only true God, has the power to answer prayer, meet our needs, and change our lives.

So when life’s problems are baffling, when you face some Red Sea impossibility, call upon the wonder-working God who upholds all things.  And remember that with our Almighty God, nothing is impossible.  VCG

Thou art coming to a King-

Large petitions with thee ring;

For His grace and power are such

None can ever ask too much. -Newton

God is greater than our greatest problem.

DON'T BE AFRAID!

Don’t Be Afraid!

The kingdom of God has come near.

Mark 1:15

READ LUKE 2:42–52

Nearly every time an angel appears in the Bible, the first words he says are “Don’t be afraid!” Little wonder. When the supernatural makes contact with planet Earth, it usually leaves the human observers flat on their faces in fear. But Luke tells of God making an appearance in a form that doesn’t frighten. In Jesus, born with the animals and laid in a feeding trough, God takes an approach that we need not fear. What could be less scary than a newborn baby?

On Earth Jesus is both God and man. As God, He can work miracles, forgive sins, conquer death, and predict the future. But for Jews accustomed to images of God as a bright cloud or pillar of fire, Jesus also causes much confusion. How could a baby in Bethlehem, a carpenter’s son, a man from Nazareth, be the Messiah from God?

Why does God take on human form? The scene of twelve-year-old Jesus debating rabbis in the temple gives one clue. “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers,” Luke tells us (2:47). For the first time, ordinary people could hold a conversation with God in visible form.

Jesus can talk to anyone—His parents, a rabbi, a poor widow—without first having to announce, “Don’t be afraid!” In Jesus, God draws near.

By Philip Yancey

REFLECT & PRAY

Jesus was God and man in one person, that God and man might be happy together again. George Whitefield

Heavenly Father, we pause at Christmas to remember how Your Son came to us in the form of a helpless baby . . . and we worship in amazement and wonder that God came near to us.

Your gift changes lives. Help us share God’s love with millions every day.

INSIGHT

The Feast of the Passover Jesus and His family attended was one of three annual feasts that Israelite males were required to attend (see Exodus 23:14-17). It’s estimated that 100,000 or more visitors would make their way to Jerusalem for this special occasion. At twelve years of age, Jesus was one year away from His entrance into Israelite manhood when He would become fully responsible for keeping the law. Today’s reading records Jesus’s unexplained absence from His family (Luke 2:43-45), but He was well aware of His mission (v. 49). This early scene in the temple where people were amazed at His teaching (v. 47) contrasts sharply with a later account where they would not be amazed but would try to kill Him (19:45-47). Arthur Jackson

KEEP LAUGHING

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

Keep Laughing

Read:  Psalm 126

A merry heart does good, like medicine,

but a broken spirit dries the bones.  Proverbs 17:22

A judge has ordered a German man to stop bursting into laughter in the woods.  Joachim Bahrenfeld, an accountant, was taken to court by one of several joggers who say their runs have been disturbed by Bahrenfeld’s deafening squeals of joy.  He faces up to six months in jail if he is caught again.  Bahrenfeld, 54, says he goes to the woods to laugh nearly every day to relieve stress.  “It is part of living for me,” he says, “ like eating, drink, and breathing.”  He feels that a cheerful heart, expressed through hearty laughter, is important to his health and survival.

A cheerful heart is vitamin life.  Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine.”  A happy heart affects our spirit and our physical health.

But there is a deeper, abiding joy for those who trust the Lord that is based on much more than frivolity and circumstances.  It is a joy based on God’s salvation.  He has provided forgiveness of sin and a restored relationship with himself through His Son Jesus.  That gives us a deep joy which circumstances cannot shake (Psalm 126:2-3; Habakkuk 3:17-18; Philippians 4:7).

May you experience the joy of knowing Jesus Christ today!    MW

To take a glimpse within the veil,

To know that God is mine,

Are springs of joy that never fail:

Unspeakable! Divine! -Newton

Joy comes from the Lord who lives in us, not from what’s

happening around us.