DAY 1 – September 21, 2009
TITLE: “THEY FORGOT THEIR LORD”
WEEKLY SCRIPTURE
DAILY SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.” Judges 3:7
Tennessee Williams tells the story of Jacob Brodzky, a shy Russian Jew whose
father owned a bookstore. The older Brodzky wanted his son to go to college.
The boy, on the other hand, desired nothing but to marry Lila, his childhood
sweetheart -- a French girl as effusive, vital, and ambitious as he was
contemplative and retiring. A couple of months after young Brodzky went to college;
his father fell ill and died. The son returned home, buried his father, and
married his love. The couple moved into the apartment above the bookstore, and
Brodzky took over its management. The life of books fit him perfectly, but it
cramped her. She wanted more adventure -- and she found it, she thought, when
she met an agent who praised her beautiful singing
voice and enticed her to tour
"You had better keep this," he told her, "because you will want it some day. Your love is not so much less than mine that you can get away from it. You will come back sometime, and I will be waiting." She kissed him and left. To escape the pain he felt, Brodzky withdrew deep into his bookstore and took to reading as someone else might have taken to drink. He spoke little, did little, and could most times be found at the large desk near the rear of the shop, immersed in his books while he waited for his love to return.
Nearly 15 years after they parted, at Christmastime, she did return. But when Brodzky rose from the reading desk that had been his place of escape for all that time, he did not take the love of his life for more than an ordinary customer. "Do you want a book?" he asked. That he didn't recognize her startled her. But she gained possession of herself and replied, "I want a book, but I've forgotten the name of it." Then she told him their story. She told him the story she thought would bring him to himself. But his face showed no recognition. Gradually she realized that he had lost touch with his heart's desire, that he no longer knew the purpose of his waiting and grieving, that now all he remembered was the waiting and grieving itself. "You remember it; you must remember it -- the story of Lila and Jacob?" After a long, bewildered pause, he said, "There is something familiar about the story, I think I have read it somewhere. It comes to me that it is something by Tolstoy." Dropping the key, she fled the shop. And Brodzky returned to his desk, to his reading, unaware that the love he waited for had come and gone.
I have shared this long story as a reminder of the tragedy of forgetting God. Forgetting God is a synonym for sin or turning away from God. It is to leave God out of our daily lives forgetting who He is and what He had done. Will you take a few moments to renew your commitment to remember God through praise, prayer, Bible study, and worship?
DAY 2 – September 22, 2009
TITLE: “THE ANGER OF THE LORD”
WEEKLY SCRIPTURE
DAILY SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “The anger
of the Lord burned against
In scripture, justice and righteousness are scarcely to be distinguished from each other. The same word translated, justice can be translated, righteousness. The Psalmist praises God by ascribing to Him perfect or complete righteousness. Psalm 119:137 says, “Righteous are you, O Lord, and your laws are right.” God is not just a God with some traits or characteristics of righteousness. God is righteous through and through. Righteous is a description of who God is.
One of the names for God in the Hebrew is Jehovah-Tsidkenu, which means Jehovah, our righteousness. It
appears in Jeremiah’s prophecy of a “Righteous branch and a king who will do
what is right.” “The days are coming,”
declares the Lord,‘ when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King
who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days
In this passage, God responded to sin with His righteous anger. In His anger, He sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Aram Nahraim, and they were subject for eight years. The anger of God is a subject that is sometimes downplayed by many Christians. However, God’s anger is not a blemish on His character, but a testimony to His righteousness and holiness. In truth, if anger were absent from Him there would be an indifference to sin, which would be a moral blemish in His character. Scripture makes no attempt to conceal the facts concerning His anger. One theologian says there are more references in scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God than there are to His love and tenderness. God’s anger in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally, ignoble thing that human wrath so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. The anger of the Lord teaches us that sin is serious to God and that it cannot be ignored for He is righteous.
DAY 3 – September 23, 2009
TITLE: “THEY CRIED OUT TO THE LORD”
WEEKLY SCRIPTURE
DAILY SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.” Judges 3:9
Dr. William Frey II, of the Psychiatry Research Laboratories at the St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center, St. Paul, Minnesota, says studies he has done indicate that women cry five times as often as men. He has also stated that 85% of the women and 73% of the men thought that crying made them feel better. Most common reason for crying is sadness, followed in rank by happiness, anger, sympathy, anxiety, and fear. It has been observed that many adults cry alone. Who do you share your tears with? The Israelites shared their tears with the Lord.
The Israelites were hurting. They were subject to the Cushan-Rishathaim
king of
Their cries did not fall on deaf ears. God listened and responded by raising up a deliverer for them. Who we cry out to can make all the difference. The Israelites cried out to the one who had the resource and power to meet their need. They were crying out to the true and living God. The God we pray to has the power to meet our needs. Will you cry out to Him today in prayer? The God who met the needs of the Israelites can meet your needs today. God can do anything when we cry out in faith to Him.
“God can do anything, anything,
anything; God can do anything but fail
God can do anything, anything, anything;
God can do anything but fail.
He's the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end
He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul
God can do anything, anything, anything
God can do anything but fail.
He can save, He can cleanse; He can keep, and He will
God can do anything but fail; He can save, He can cleanse
He can keep, and He will; God can do anything but fail.” Ira F. Stanphill
DAY 4 – September 24, 2009
TITLE: “DELIVERANCE”
WEEKLY SCRIPTURE
DAILY SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz. Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.” Judges 3:9
Salvation was the end result of God’s action of providing a deliverer. The term deliver or deliverer is very frequent in the Old Testament. Their deliverance came through Othniel the son of Kenaz. He was the one God used to save them.
God is our deliverer. The Psalmist said, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.” Psalm 18:2-3. Again the Psalmist said, “Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.” Psalm 40:17. In Psalm 34, we are reminded that God is the God that delivers us from our fears and troubles.
There are several stories of deliverance in the Old Testament. One of the most popular stories in the Bible is that of Daniel and the Lions Den. God sent an angel to shut up the mouths of the lions and delivered him from them. There are many stories in the Bible that remind us of the power of God to deliver us. God is the source of our deliverance when we turn to Him.
John Paton was a missionary in the
God is the one that can deliver us from the evil one. God is the God that can deliver from fear and troubles. God is the one that can deliver from the bondage of habits and sin. Is there something you are facing today that you need deliverance from?
DAY 5 – September 25, 2009
TITLE: “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD”
WEEKLY SCRIPTURE
DAILY SCRIPTURE
KEY VERSE: “The Spirit
of the Lord came upon him, so that he became
Othniel overpowered the enemy
because the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him. It was not the strength of Othniel that won the day, but the Spirit of the Lord. Othinel was not leading or fighting in his own power. He
was inspired, empowered, and directed by the Sprit of the Lord. The endowment
of the Holy Spirit was essential for Othniel. God
equipped Othniel by breathing His life and power into
him to equip him to act in a way which he could never had done unaided. The power of Othniel
is God-given, as was the victory of
The word,“Spirit,” in Hebrew can also mean, “Wind.” In the days of the Judges, the Spirit of the Lord was regarded as a wind like force that could invade a persons
personality and be responsible for extraordinary activity. God can breathe new life into His people through His Spirit today. Will you ask God to breathe His Spirit fresh and new on you today?
“Holy Spirit, breathe
on me, until my heart is clean.
Let sunshine fill its
inmost part, with not a cloud between.
Holy Spirit, breathe
on me; my stubborn will subdue.
Teach me in words of
living flame, What Christ would have me do.
Holy Spirit, breathe
on me; Fill me with power divine. Kindle a flame of love and zeal, within this
heart of mine.
Holy Spirit, breathe
on me, till I am all Thine Own;
Until
my will is lost in Thine, to live for Thee alone.
Breathe on me, breathe
on me; Holy Spirit, breathe on me.
Take Thou my heart;
cleanse every part. Holy Spirit, breath on me.”
Edwin Hatch –alt. by B.B. McKinney