First Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Devotional: Psalm 77

Today’s passage: Psalm 77

Helpful thoughts:

  • In this psalm, we get a first hand account of the psalmists suffering, prayer, and what helped him endure.
    • In the midst of his suffering, Asaph cried out to God and asked if God had abandoned His promises and attributes.
    • In recalling God’s faithfulness and power displayed through history, Asaph found relief from his pressing despair.
  • It can be easy to overlook God’s attribute of immutability.  God never changes (Hebrews 13:8).
    • Our circumstances on this earth can change, but God’s use of them and His intentions for us never will never change!
    • The God who created the universe and promised a savior to Adam and Eve; is the same God who will bring justice to the world, usher in the new heavens, new earth and new Jerusalem and dwell forever with His people; is the same God watching over you and working in your life today.

Questions to consider:

  1. How does this psalm correlate with Philippians 4:8-9?  What is true about the ways God has redeemed you from your sin and is working even in the midst of hardships to draw you to Himself?
  2. What are some memories you have of God working in your life?  Where can you go to see all that God has done in history?  Why is it so important to continue reading the Word of God…including the Old Testament?
  3. What will result in our faithfulness to focus our attention more on God than on our present circumstances?  How would that help us to remain contented, resolved, steady, etc.?  How might that change the things we weep over or celebrate (Think: Focus off of self and on God’s big picture and plan)?

Devotional: Psalm 76

Today’s passage: Psalm 76

Helpful thoughts:

  • Salem and Zion both refer to Jerusalem.
  • The God who is to be feared by all kings and nations around the world, is the who made Himself known to and who will dwell with His people Israel.
  • The LORD is to be feared.  Right fear of the Lord produces a change of heart and actions.
    • “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” – Proverbs 1:7

Questions to consider:

  1. Who is God?  Why is it only right and only acceptable to have a right fear of Him?  What would a person be taking for granted if they made a vow to God and didn’t keep it?
  2. How do you rightly balance God’s love, mercy and grace with His holiness, righteousness, and justice?  Why is Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice such a joy and freedom for Christians?  How could we take all this grace for granted and treat God like a pushover, like our sin isn’t a big deal?
  3. How can a healthy fear of God be rightly added to motivations of love, gratitude, future gracious promises, etc. for a Christian to pursue righteousness in this life?

Devotional: Psalm 75

Today’s passage: Psalm 75

Helpful thoughts:

  • “Your name is near” is an acknowledgement of God’s presence.  Even when it looks or feels like God is not in control, He absolutely is.
  • The idea of “lifting up your horn” is that of expressing majesty or strength.  For man to “lift up his horn” before God is to think too highly of himself and too lowly of God.  It would be a form of self-exaltation. Thus the idea of a “stiff neck” in verse 5.
  • The cup of verse 8 is a cup of judgment.
  • When nations are strong, it is God’s doing.  When nations dissolve, it is God’s doing.
    • Verse 7 – He puts down one, and lifts up (exalting) the other.

Questions to consider:

  1. When do we tend to feel like God is absent or not in control?  Is there ever a time when God is not accomplishing anything?  What is God’s goal for you in every circumstance (Romans 8:28-29)?
  2. What did the psalmist choose to do in the midst of the troubling time as he awaited God’s intended results? (Verses 1 & 9)  What should all of the trouble in the world point us toward?  What does it give the church an occasion to declare?
  3. Why can we even look forward to God’s justice without fear?  What “cup” did Jesus drink on our behalf? (Matthew 26:39)  Why will our “horns be lifted up”?

Devotional: Psalm 74

Today’s passage: Psalm 74

Helpful thoughts:

  • This lament follows the destruction of the Temple by Babylon.
    • As opposed to complaining about God to others, this Psalmist goes directly to God for answers and help.  This is lament.
  • Israel’s enemies had destroyed buildings, stolen treasures, and replaced the contents of the Temple with their own religious “signs”.  However, God had created and sustains the universe.  The psalmist appeals to God’s superior power through these verses.
  • The final basis for the psalmists request is God’s own word, His covenant (Verse 20).

Questions to consider:

  1. What is the difference between grumbling and lament?  Why is lamenting a right response to our suffering?  How does it work towards resolution and comfort as opposed to grumbling and complaining?
  2. Why is the psalmist right to appeal to God’s covenant?  What was promised to God’s people in Genesis 17:1-8?  What might the psalmist have been thinking about this covenant promise in that moment in history?
  3. We have a different perspective than the writer of this psalm for a number of reasons.  How can this approach to lament and prayer help you with something you might be struggling with right now?  What promises has God made that you could appeal to?  Where do our trials fit into the grand narrative of Scripture?

Devotional: Psalm 73

Today’s passage: Psalm 73

Helpful thoughts:

  • In this Psalm, Asaph confesses to jealousy of the perceived blessings of the wicked.  When he looked at his life and the lives of the wicked, on the surface, it seemed unfair.
  • Verse 17 is the climax of the Psalm.  When Asaph desired to take sanctuary in the riches and temporary pleasures of the wicked, he had no sanctuary.  When God became his sanctuary, when he meditated/thought in truth about God, his mind was renewed/reoriented and his joy and vigor restored.
  • The “strength” of the world is no strength at all.  Our own “strength” is no strength at all.
    • God is our strength or we have no strength.
    • When we have Him we have everything.

Questions to consider:

  1. What are some of the desires this world seeks to offer that easily distract you?  What do you see others getting that you want, that you might deem unfair to have not received?
  2. How do we go into “The sanctuary of God”?  What roles do church, fellowship, Bible reading, memorization, prayer, etc. play into transforming and shaping our minds (Romans 12:2)?  How does this help us to understand what “Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4) really means?
  3. What was the result of Asaph’s change of mind and values?  Was it just that he felt better inside?  What was the fruit? (Verse 28)  Will a person who truly delights in the Lord be content to keep it to themselves?  To whom can you declare the goodness of God today?

Devotional: 1 Kings 22:29-53

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 22:29-53

Helpful thoughts:

  • The king of Syria was Ben-Hadad, the one whom Ahab had spared.
  • In the account of this event in 2 Chronicles 18, we learn that Jehoshaphat cried out to the LORD specifically.  And, that God heard his prayer and steered the Syrians away from him.
    • Perhaps hearing the king cry out to the LORD for help was part of their realization that this wasn’t Ahab!
  • From man’s perspective, that arrow was drawn at random.  With God, nothing is random.
  • There is a prophecy fulfilled in verse 38.  See chapter 21, verse 19.
    • There is also an illustration presented.  Ahab here represents the spiritual harlotry of Israel, having left her covenant with the LORD, and now these harlots are bathing with the blood of the king who continually drew them away.

Questions to consider:

  1. In what ways was God’s word shown to be reliable in this passage?  What promises of God will encourage you today?
  2. In what way does it looked like Jehoshaphat learned his lesson?  Compare verses 43-44 and 48-49.  Why would it have been difficult for Judah and Israel to truly be united at this time?  What set them (Or should have set them) apart?
  3. As we complete this book of the Old Testament, what have you learned about man?  What have you learned about God?  What have you learned about Israel’s (And all peoples’) need of redemption?  How has the overall narrative of the Bible moved forward?

Devotional: 1 Kings 22:1-28

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 22:1-28

Helpful thoughts:

  • There is a distinction between the LORD in verses 5 and 7, and the Lord in verse 6.
    • Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, wanted to hear from Yahweh (LORD).  Ahab’s prophets were all “prophets” in the golden calf worshiping (Or even Baal) ways of the northern kingdom.
  • Micaiah’s name means, Who is like Yahweh?
    • Remember, Elijah’s name means, Yahweh is God.
    • There is a definite theme being portrayed through these prophet’s names.
  • Many speculate that “all the hosts of heaven” would have included Satan and the demons.  These would certainly have been willing to be lying spirits.

Questions to consider:

  1. What kind of prophets did Ahab prefer?  How would Ahab then have defined “good” (Verse 8)?  If we are in sin, what is a “good” word we need to here?  What is our tendency still today and what has God said people will tend to want to hear? (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
  2. If Ahab had come home in peace after the battle, what kind of prophet would Micaiah have been?  What was the punishment for false prophets (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)?  What challenge did this present to the 400 other prophets who had told Ahab to go to the battle with a promise of victory?
  3. Ahab would have “loved” God if God had given him everything he wanted.  Why are we to love God?  Why are we to pursue holiness? (1 Peter 1:13-25)  Is God good because he has been kind to us – OR – Is God kind to us because He is good?  How do God’s attributes show Him worthy of all worship?  How do God’s gracious actions make worship a joy?

Devotional: 1 Kings 21:1-29

Today’s passage: 1 Kings 21:1-29

Helpful thoughts:

  • Ahab couldn’t handle not being able to have a new vineyard next to his second home, so he throws a fit.
  • Naboth was right to turn Ahab down.  Whether he had wanted to sell or not, that land could belong to no one else permanently but his family according to God’s law (Leviticus 25:23-28).
  • Jezebel manipulated God’s law to violate it.  Ahab and Jezebel were the law breakers, Naboth died for blasphemy.
    • Jezebel rebuked her husband for not acting like a king.  The kind of king she thought he should be, that is.

Questions to consider:

  1. Based on Ahab’s initial reaction and Jezebel’s response, how do you think their relationship worked?  What kind of a leader was Ahab?  How did Jezebel use her position and Ahab’s disposition to her advantage?
  2. How does God’s mercy toward Ahab show the difference between his view of leadership and Jezebel’s?  What kind of attitude would have please Jezebel (Or, the world) and what kind of attitude pleases the Lord?
  3. How was Elijah to respond to God’s revelation of his mercy toward Ahab?  Ahab had done terrible things, was Elijah supposed to be OK with God’s decision?  What is our posture to be towards others whom God chooses to show mercy?  If we call Him unfair or unjust, what must we also accept about ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9)?