Day Thirteen

Psalm 94, Exodus 40, Esther 7, 1 Corinthians 12

Psalm 94

Ps. 94:7 - and they say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.” - This could be the life verse of most of the world today. There is a great movement of people who have turned away from Jesus. A USA Today article recently reported that the number of Americans who identify themselves as non-believers is growing at a tremendous rate. It is now the second highest category or "religious groups" in our land. So many there are who have walked away from God. And, yet, there is a remnant. God says that there always will be.

Ps. 94:14-15 - For the Lord will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; 15 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. - Notice that this verse doesn't say that the people of the Lord won't sometimes feel abandoned. But, God's faithfulness is not dependent upon our feelings. The Lord is good, and His faithfulness towards you is true. He will take care of you.

Exodus 40

Ex. 40 - In Exodus 39 we saw the people bring everything that was needed for the tabernacle and lay it at Moses' feet. In Exodus 40, Moses begins the work of putting the tabernacle together. It's quite a job. God gives Moses a step-by-step construction manual for the tabernacle. After Moses finishes the job, God shows up -- literally!

Look at verses 34-38 - Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.
As I've already written as we have gone through Exodus, for those of us who follow God today it is an awesome though that His Holy Spirit dwells within us. We have God with us every day. Let us rejoice in that magnificent truth!

Esther 7

Est. 7 - God valiantly defends Esther in this climax to the Esther story. Haman's cruelty is brought to light and he is hanged on the very gallows that he prepared for Mordecai. I truly believe that Esther was spared and the Jewish people were spared as a direct result to prayer and fasting. God loves to work through the prayers of His people. He loves when we live our lives dependent upon Him.

1 Corinthians 12

1 Cor. 12 - 1 Corinthian's twelfth chapter has been called one of the greatest teaching on spiritual gifts in the Bible. Really, 1 Corinthians 12-14 should be taken in it's entirety as a teaching on spiritual gifts. Apparently there were some divisions in the church over which spiritual gifts were the greatest. Paul talks about all of the gifts being important for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Here are some of the things we should take from this passage:

1) Every follower of Jesus has at least one spiritual gift.

2) All of the gifts are vital to the body.

3) God has given local congregations every gift needed to accomplish his purposes.

4) When one member of the Body of Christ hurts, we all hurt.

5) There was a better way for this church to go in relation to spiritual gifts, which Paul would reveal in 1 Corinthians 13. Hint: It's love!