Daily Devotional http://opc.org/devotional.html A Daily Devotional from OPC.org en-us Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:01:01 EST Copyright 2007-2012 Orthodox Presbyterian Church Orthodox Presbyterian Church Twilight: God's Supply Line (2012-02-03) http://opc.org/devotional.html?devotion_id=2640 Monthly Theme: Elijah's name is his mission: "My God is the LORD." Elijah teaches us the meaning of repentance by the removal of idolatry. Unless we obey the Word, God's blessings don't descend. Instead, the land will experience a terrible drought. Bible Reading: 1 Kings 17:7–16 Bible Text: "The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry" (1 Kings 17:14). Devotional: When the brook dried up, the LORD said to Elijah, "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon." That's the country from which Jezebel and her imported religion came. "So he went to Zarephath." True servants obey God without ifs or buts. At Zarephath Elijah saw a widow, the mother of one child, gathering wood to cook a final meal. She was the woman of God's choice. So Elijah asked her for water, and she granted his request. But when he asked her for food, she swore by Elijah's God that she had only enough food left to prepare one meal for herself and her son. After they ate it, she said, they would wait for death. "Don't be afraid," Elijah said. Whenever God's messengers say that, they call their listeners to believe in the God they represent. But faith must be tested. First make a small loaf of bread for me, Elijah told the widow. Then you will experience the truth of God's Word: The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land." And she believed the Word! We believe in God only when he is on top of our list. We seek his kingdom if we seek it first. We trust and honor God if we give him the firstfruits and the first income. If we don't do that, we still think we have to take care of ourselves. Then we don't really trust God. And we will never experience the great truth that God's supply lines never run dry. ]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST http://opc.org/devotional.html?devotion_id=2640 Twilight: The Word Concealed (2012-02-02) http://opc.org/devotional.html?devotion_id=2639 Monthly Theme: Elijah's name is his mission: "My God is the LORD." Elijah teaches us the meaning of repentance by the removal of idolatry. Unless we obey the Word, God's blessings don't descend. Instead, the land will experience a terrible drought. Bible Reading: 1 Kings 17:1–6 Bible Text: "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain" (I Kings 17:1). Devotional: The true God delivered his message through the prophet Elijah: There will be no moisture in the land until I send it. If there is no water, there will be no growth. If there is no growth, there will be a famine. And if there is a famine, there will be death in this Godforsaken country. Israel was the appointed guardian of God's revelation at a time when Israel had no room for the Word of truth. Elijah was to Israel what the Bible is to us. When the prophet left the country, God's Word had departed. God's favor left, and a famine starved the land. God hid Elijah across the Jordan near a brook in the Kerith ravine. Elijah drank from the creek. At God's command the ravens brought Elijah bread and meat in the morning and evening. The ironies in the story are outstanding. Ravens are unclean birds in Israel, but they obey God better than God's own people do. Israel trusts in Baal, the god of rain and fertility; but the drought is slowly killing everything. For us as for Israel, God's judgment must lead to repentance. When we (or our children or church or nation) lose the Word, we lose life, unless we repent and cry for times of refreshment:
Apart from you I long and thirst, and naught can satisfy;
I wander in a desert land where all the streams are dry.
]]> Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST http://opc.org/devotional.html?devotion_id=2639 Twilight: Twenty-Two Years of Darkness (2012-02-01) http://opc.org/devotional.html?devotion_id=2638 Monthly Theme: Elijah's name is his mission: "My God is the LORD." Elijah teaches us the meaning of repentance by the removal of idolatry. Unless we obey the Word, God's blessings don't descend. Instead, the land will experience a terrible drought. Bible Reading: 1 Kings 16:29–33 Bible Text: Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him (1 Kings 16:30). Devotional: The wicked king Ahab learned from his dad, as most of us do. The record says that his father, Omri, "sinned more than all those before him" (v. 25). But Ahab outdid his father. Ahab "did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him," including his father. Ahab's partner in wickedness was his wife, Jezebel. With her help he imported the worship of Baal from Phoenicia to Israel. Imagine. The king and queen of the only nation that worshiped the true God importing idolatry! The leader of God's people extinguished the light of truth, and Israel groveled in the dark. Baal means "boss" or "master." In the land of Canaan most towns and regions had their own Baal. That's why in the Bible we often encounter a Baal with a second name, Baal-this or Baal-that. The religion of Baal is the worship of nature, not the God of nature. Baal's worshipers stand in awe of storm and rain, the power of growth, fertility, and sexuality. Baal worship and today's "New Age" cults aren't much different. People will either worship the true God or make an idol out of something God created. During the dark age of Ahab and Jezebel, God sent the prophet Elijah, who was like a bolt of lightning. His name means "my God is Yahweh" (Jehovah). And that confession is his mission. Elijah comes to bring judgment on idolatry and glory to the LORD his God. ]]> Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST http://opc.org/devotional.html?devotion_id=2638