Where do you turn when everything seems to be against you?
22 Jan 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
Exodus 1
Exodus 2
Exodus 3
Matthew 15:21-39
From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I (Psalm 61:2).
Where do you turn when everything seems to be against you?
Meet the individual who had multiple reasons to fold in the game of life being dealt a bad hand (Matthew 15:21-28). For one, she is a woman who comes to Jesus on account of her demon-possessed daughter. Rabbis didn’t interact with women. Two, she is a double-dip Gentile. Mark records that she is “a Syro-Phoenician by birth” (Mark 7:26). Her geographical location and ethnicity could keep her from Jesus because He came to His own place and people (John 1:11). Moreover, she’s a Canaanite, a people known as immoral pagans. Yet she acknowledges that Jesus is a rightful king, calling Him the “Son of David” (Matthew 15:22) and addressing Him as “Lord” (Matthew 15:27).
Employment Point: By faith, approach King Jesus to overcome all adversity
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Reflections
One thing that truly stands out for Christianity and other religions from one perspective is that Jesus welcomes everyone. There is no difference what race, language or religion you are. He is also well known for going to “sinner’s houses” and eating with them. So long as you seek Him, He embraces.
We all sinned against God right from the beginning in the garden of Eden. Yet the Lord opened a way for us to come back to Him. This way is not an easy one as it requires Him to sacrifice His son Jesus Christ. This grace that was given to us has no grace period. He is always there, always present. Even when people around us may give up on us, He didn’t. He loves us like He loves any one else and He taught us a love that went beyond human understanding. Just want to say thank You Lord. It is because that You love us that we can all be called children of God. And it is because of this love that our lives get transformed. It is no longer I who liveth but Christ who lives in me.
““When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.”
Exodus 1:16-17, 20-21 NIV
- when we fear God, we let Him govern our lives above what a king may say. It took courage, obedience and also the fear / reverence of the Lord for the midwives to decide what they should do and the Lord honours them.
- let not fear defines us but by the work God called us to do
“Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.”
Exodus 2:7-9 NIV
- How great is this blessing from the Lord!! Pharaoh wanted to kill every newborn son to the Hebrews and yet Pharaoh’s daughter had compassion for the baby and even paid the baby’s mother for nursing him, keeping him safe and later on made him her son even! Reminds us not to too bothered about situations because the Lord had the power to change situations if He wills it.
“The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.””
Matthew 15:25-27 NIV
- I remember reading these verses for the first time and got super confused. Could not understand what it is trying to say.
- The gist is that the children are like the Jews and the gentiles are called dogs. So this woman was telling the Lord that even as a dog, they have crumbs to eat (the same kind of blessings but one that has overflowed). It is not meant to be but yet because of His grace, the gentiles too have been blessed.
- This very straightforward prayer that just says “Lord, help me!” is perhaps the shortest prayer we can say when we reach a dead end and felt we don’t know what to do anymore. No need for fancy words or long prayers but just a simple, Lord, help! It was also this prayer that I can only afford to mouth when I felt that I hit rock bottom. No strength for other or more words even…
- She is like the persistent widow or Jacob who wrestled with God and would not give up until the blessing has been given. What audacity you may think! But the Lord tells her in the next verse “Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.” Matthew 15:28 NIV
- This also reminds us that the Lord doesn’t look at our background to choose who He wants to bless. It is more like a who really wants to be bless by Him! (Who wants it more?!)
“Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.””Matthew 15:32 NIV
- when I read this verse, what spoke to me was not food but rather ones spiritual life.
- It felt as if you see someone come to Christ and they were all eager to learn from Him. They hunger for spiritual food and yet why was it not given to them? If one as new believers were not being fed, they will eventually die off really fast because they was no support system in place. They need milk for a start.
Lord grant us a teachable heart to get to know You and to seek You always. When the world throws us curveballs, help us to deal with it like real man and woman of God, wearing a full armour and ready to battle!
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Where Am I Looking?
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
January 22
Look unto me, and be ye saved. —Isaiah 45:22 kjv
The mind wanders, casting about. It worries over today and tomorrow, growing dizzy with its troubles and trials. These troubles vanish when we look to God, but we must truly look: to look means to concentrate fully on Jesus. This, in effect, is the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount: we must narrow all our interests until the attitude of our mind and heart and body is concentration on Jesus Christ (Matthew 5–7).
To look to God is to be saved. We have stories and ideas in our minds of great Christian saints and heroes. We think we must emulate their lives to be saved. But there is no salvation in emulation; it is not simple enough. “Look unto me, and be ye saved,” says God. Not “you will be saved” but “you aresaved.” We get preoccupied and grumpy with God, and all the time he is saying, “Just look.”
Concentrating on God is a great spiritual challenge. It is easier in times of trouble, when we desperately need him, than in times of peace and contentment. God’s blessings absorb us, pulling us away in delighted distraction. We must not let them. Though a thousand wonderful things vie for our attention, we must learn to let them come and go, keeping our focus on God.
“Look unto me,” says God. The moment you look, salvation is.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Is He going to help Himself to your life, or are you taken up with your conception of what you are going to do? God is responsible for our lives, and the one great keynote is reckless reliance upon Him.
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Reflections
This devotional reminds me of the time when Mary went to look for Jesus in tomb. She was so sad that she did not even realised that Jesus is standing in front of her. She was not blinded by sight but blinded by the things that overwhelmed her.
This reminds me that where we focus on is important. Only when our eyes are on Him, are we then able to experience Him fully, where we will not feel overwhelmed by the mounting things that we need to do but by who He is. Because when the focus is on our great God, everything else becomes so small, even ourselves. The one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. And where we focus, also guides our paths.
Are we letting Him have His way or are we deciding to go by our own way? The truth is that we think we know a lot but in fact we don’t. We trust ourselves too much, thinking whatever there is, we know best. But do we really? Actually, we don’t. There’s a saying in Chinese. It says “一山还有一山高，强中自有强中手” translates to the idea that "There's always a bigger fish" or "There's always someone better,"conveying that no matter how skilled or powerful you are, there's always someone superior, so one shouldn't become arrogant or complacent.
But the focus here is not look for someone better but to look at the best, that is the Lord Jesus. We cannot trust humans 100% because everyone is flawed but we can trust Him 100% because He is omniscient. Keep our eyes on Him and never let it wander.
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