May 8

Imagine having to sit outside your place of worship, destined to beg for your daily needs. You have been unable to walk your entire life, and you have to depend on your family members to take you there every day to beg. You sit there every. Single. Day, just hoping to be given enough money to make it through the day. Worse still, you have been forbidden to go through the doors of the place of worship for your entire life. You don’t even know what it’s like to worship with your family. You cannot be carried inside, because you are disabled. (Leviticus 21:16–18)

Imagine the desperation. Imagine the despair. Imagine the shame. Not because of anything you have done. Just because you were born without the ability to walk.

In Acts 3:2–10, we read of just such a man, who has been lame since birth. Dr. Luke tells us in Acts 4:22 that the man is over forty years old. As Peter and John approached him, he asked them for money. Just like he had done every day of his miserable life. Based on what Dr. Luke tells us in Acts 3:4, he probably didn’t even have the self-respect to look at the Apostles as they approached. Peter demanded that he look at them. Peter said that his pockets were empty. He didn’t have any money to give him. Surely, a mere two mites would have been sufficient. (Luke 21:1–4)

Rather than giving him money, Peter offered him something that money couldn’t buy. Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” The man probably thought Peter was nuts! But Peter reached down and took the man’s hand and raised him to his feet. Immediately, he felt something he had never felt before: his feet, his ankles, and his legs strengthened. For the first time in his life, he was able to support his weight with his own body. He didn’t just stand. He began to walk. And leap! He was praising God, and the people who saw him recognized that he was the lame beggar they had occasionally given a little pocket change to. For the first time in his life, he entered the temple! Everyone who saw him was awestruck and ecstatic! The man had experienced a genuine miracle! This was the real deal! This is the first miracle recorded in the book of Acts. Many more miracles would follow through the hands of the Apostles.

Application

How would you feel if God answered your deepest desires? Immediately, you were able to do whatever you had longed for, for so long. Your prayers were answered. “Well, there’s no need to ask God for something like that. God hasn’t done miracles like that since the Apostles died and the canon of Scripture was closed. We have doctors and medicine that help people get well now. We don’t pray for miracles, we pray that God uses the doctors and medicine to make us well.”

Have you ever heard someone say something like that? You may have even said something like that. Perhaps not in so many words, but maybe you have felt that way. Yes, God uses medical means to restore people to health. But that’s not all. We’ll see that on September 10.

Be encouraged! The Bible doesn’t tell us those things. It’s just not in the Book! Anywhere!

God continues to manifest His Kingdom on the earth today. Jesus even told His disciples to pray that God’s Kingdom would come, and His will would be done on earth just as it is in heaven.

We don’t know a great deal about heaven. The destination isn’t as important as Who is there, anyway! We do know that there are no tears in heaven. Further, there’s no more death. No more pain. No more grief or crying, because the previous things — even sin and the effects of sin — have passed away. (Revelation 21:4)

And Jesus tells us to pray that God would manifest that. Here on earth!

Do it again, Lord! May Your Kingdom come. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The post The First Miracle appeared first on Psalm 34:8.

January 26

John 20 records Thomas’ first encounter with Jesus after His resurrection. The other disciples had already seen Jesus, but Thomas wasn’t there. When they said they had seen Jesus, Thomas scoffed, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in His hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.^” (John 20:25)

The word of the other disciples was insufficient for Thomas. He wanted proof that Jesus had come back to life. Thomas demanded a personal encounter with Jesus before committing himself.

And when he had that personal encounter, Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” John provides, yet another clear statement of Jesus’ Deity. Thomas’ statement in Greek is not, “Oh, my Lord God,” as someone might say as a simple exclamation of astonishment.

No, Thomas’ statement was “My Lord. My God!” Thomas declared that Jesus was both his Lord and his God. And, notice that Jesus didn’t correct Thomas, “No, Thomas, that’s not right; I’m not God,” as the angel corrected John in Revelation 19:10. There is only one God. There is only One Who is worthy of worship, and Jesus praised Thomas for connecting the dots and worshipping Him as God.

Application

The testimony of other people is good, but personal experience trumps the word of other people. When it comes to spiritual things, are you content to take other people’s word at face value or do you need proof? As I have said before, we need to test what we hear.

Each of us needs to have a personal experience with Jesus, and each of us needs to read and study God’s Word for ourselves. (Acts 17:11) Don’t just take the notes in your study Bible as the final authority; look at the text itself. Don’t just take the comments from a Bible teacher, a pastor, or a devotional writer as the final authority. Look at the text itself, for yourself.

Thomas wanted proof. Thomas felt that he needed proof. For Thomas, seeing was believing. As for the other disciples, they didn’t need proof. But, in the end, they didn’t exercise blind faith, taking a leap in the dark in the absence of evidence. Instead, their belief was validated by evidence, evidence they’d seen in miracle after miracle in Jesus’ ministry, and evidence now confirmed in their risen Lord. Jesus pointed out that Thomas believed because he had seen, but He praised others for believing without having seen. (John 20:29)

The point here, though, is that nowhere does the Bible tell us to check our brains at the door. Nowhere are we told to believe in spite of a lack of evidence or believe in the presence of contrary evidence. Nowhere in the Bible are we told to just take a blind leap of faith. Instead, the Bible presents evidence of Jesus’ Deity and evidence of His resurrection. We are simply invited to step from the darkness into the light. (1 Peter 2:9b) That is the true essence of faith, stepping into the light with God.

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. (Hebrews 11:1, CSB)

The post Believing is Seeing appeared first on Psalm 34:8.

January 24

John has much to say to us about authority and truth in this eighteenth chapter, and how we as humans can handle or mishandle it. Judas has now betrayed Jesus, selling his friendship for a mere thirty pieces of silver—the cost of a common slave. Think about the message in that… everything Judas has seen, and how he has responded to both the revelation of Jesus and a relationship with Him. He has not only sold Truth Himself, but said—in effect—that He is worth nothing more than a slave.

Judas leads a group of soldiers and officials from the chief priests to arrest Jesus. Twice, Jesus asks them who they have come for, and they reply, “Jesus of Nazareth”. Both times, He responds with “I am,” clearly looking back to what is called the Tetragrammaton—the sacred Name God used to identify Himself to Moses. (Exodus 3:13–15) Once more Jesus, while revealing His power to men, simultaneously reveals His authority to His disciples—who He is.

If you question the weightiness of this point, just look at the way the men responded the first time: they stepped back and fell to the ground. (John 18:6) In the Bible, falling to the ground was a common response to an encounter with God and His messengers. (Ezekiel 1:28; 44:4; Daniel 2:46; Acts 9:4; Revelation 1:17) There is unfathomable authority in the Name of our God!

But contrary to popular theology, using God’s Name does not function as an incantation to unlock the storehouses of God’s blessings by simply speaking it. That is definitely not what Jesus means when He promises to answer requests prayed in His name. (John 14:13–14; 16:24) The key point in those verses is giving glory to Jesus, not getting what we want.

Finally, at the end of the chapter, the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, asks Jesus the question of questions, “What is truth?” (John 18:38) This exalted yet deluded Roman official has no more clue or concern about truth than many politicians today. But now, just as then, God is concerned with truth and integrity in the hearts of those holding the seats of authority. After all, He places them in those seats. (Daniel 2:21; Romas 13:1-4)

Pilate tries to wiggle out of his responsibilities as one in authority, kowtowing to the Jewish authorities. The governor could have stood on the truth, “I find no grounds for charging this man,” (John 19:4) and he could have exercised his authority to release Jesus.

Yet that would have violated the authority of the ultimate Authority who had already planned His redemption of mankind through the sacrificial death of His Son. Everyone is subject to authority. (John 19:11)

Application

What is truth?

Well, “There’s your truth, and there’s my truth,” as they say. Right? No. You and I may have our own version of truth, but there is only one objective Truth, one actual Truth—THE TRUTH, and His name is Jesus, and any and all “truth” is judged by Him.

Isn’t it ironic that Pilate asked this question as he looked into the face of Truth Himself? (John 14:6) Where are you looking into the face of truth today and perhaps missing or refusing to see what God has placed right in front of you?

The post Authority and Truth appeared first on Psalm 34:8.

January 16

There are several Marys mentioned in the Gospels, and sometimes it’s easy to get confused distinguishing between them. The Mary in today’s Bible reading is Mary of Bethany—the sister of Martha and Lazarus (the friend Jesus raised from the dead in John 11). This Mary is not to be confused with Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary, the wife of Cleopas; Mary, the mother of James and Joses; Mary, the mother of John Mark; nor was she the Mary of Rome, greeted by Paul in Romans 16:6. Just by this list in the Gospels, we get an idea of how popular this name was back in Jesus’ day.

This sister of Martha and Lazarus made the “right choice” (Luke 10:42) of sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to what He said. In Luke’s account, we see that there are different—and important—ways of expressing our love and worship of Jesus. We’ll read that story on April 13.

Because of her family’s close (platonic) relationship with Jesus, however, and possibly in light of what she’d just witnessed in her brother’s resurrection, Mary emptied a half-liter bottle of perfume on Jesus’ feet, then wiped His feet with her hair. In this, there are three important things we should not miss:

1.) This was a very expensive perfume, one which cost 300 days’ wages! (John 12:5) Think of a year’s income of your salary. This kind of perfume was imported from India and used by the Romans to anoint the dead, hence Jesus’ comment that Mary was preparing Him for His burial. This was the beginning of Jesus’ final week of ministry; He would be crucified just six days later. (vv. 1, 7)

2.) Wiping someone’s feet was the duty of servants and slaves. Wiping someone’s feet with one’s own hair was a sign of deep humility, gratitude, and love.

3.) Women rarely let down their hair. Even today, women from Middle-Eastern cultures do not expose their hair. Exposing her hair to wipe Jesus’ feet was a scandalous act on Mary’s part. She didn’t just break all social etiquette and protocol; she obliterated them.

This is a very striking and deeply moving sight—a woman utterly abasing herself by using her hair as a towel to wipe a year’s worth of wages’ in perfume across a man’s feet.

Application

How extravagant are you in your humility, sacrifice, and honor of Jesus? Are you satisfied with giving only ten percent to your church? Are you satisfied with giving only to the poor?

Or will you only be satisfied with being completely humble—even humiliated—in honoring Jesus with extravagant, sacrificial giving? Are you satisfied with giving only a portion of your treasures? Or do you also give of your time and talent to worship and serve Him?

The post Mary Anoints Jesus’ Feet appeared first on Psalm 34:8.

In today’s Bible reading in Acts 12, we see that Herod kills James. Because the Jewish leaders respond favorably, Herod imprisons Peter, presumably to be executed.

Knowing how badly things have turned out in the past with Jesus and His followers, Herod assigns four squads of soldiers to guard Peter. This seems like overkill since there were four soldiers in a squad. The idea was that during each of the three night watches, there would be four soldiers, awake and guarding just one man! It turns out that an entire legion of soldiers would not have been enough!

When an angel woke Peter up, he thought he was seeing a vision (Acts 12:9). But he followed the angel out of the prison and realized that he had truly been delivered from certain death. He immediately headed to John Mark’s mother’s house, thinking the disciples were gathered to pray. When the servant girl told everyone that Peter was outside the door, they assumed it was his ghost.

Both Peter and the people gathered to pray weren’t expecting God to do what He was doing. They were truly surprised by God.

Application

John Piper has said that God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.

God doesn’t always work the way we expect. And He often surprises us. He reminds us that He’s God and we aren’t. And that’s always good! I know that if it were up to me, I would surely mess things up. Every. Time.

God is good all the time. Spend some time today asking Him to show you those three things He is doing in your life clearly.

And then praise Him for it!

This devotional was originally published on February 7, 2019.

* Chapters covered in today’s reading:
– Acts 12
– Acts 13
– Acts 14

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