Today's Daily Devotional - "TALE OF A FORGETFUL KING" - 8/15/17

Tale of a Forgetful King

"For many are called, but few are chosen." Matthew 22:14
Related image

Once upon a time there was a very sick king. So deathly ill was he that his friend, the prophet, made a bedside visit with the dire pronouncement that it was time for the king to draw up his personal will and put his house in order since death would be the next visitor knocking at the royal door.

No sooner had the prophet left than the good-hearted king turned his face to the wall and burst into tears in a sobbing plea to God. And God, who can be more tenderhearted than the one who delivers the medical prognosis, stopped the prophet before he was out of the palace.

"Go back and tell My friend that I'm going to extend his life by 15 more years." And as confirmation (because some medical reversals need empirical evidence), the shadow on the sun dial went backwards 10 degrees!

As happy as a death row inmate with a presidential pardon, King Hezekiah set out to live his extra 15 years with joyous gusto. And also, unfortunately, with a very short memory.

For when a delegation of Babylonian emissaries showed up at the same palace door excited by the news of the king's miraculous healing, Hezekiah was so flattered by their attention that he blew the golden opportunity to testify of the God who had supernaturally (even fiddling with a sundial) healed him.

Instead, the king took them on a guided tour of his royal treasury. And so the pagan ambassadors, who had come to learn of Israel's God, went home instead with a map to Israel's gold (a map that came in handy a few decades later when they sacked Jerusalem and stole the gold).

Makes you wonder, doesn't it? How quick are you and I to point to God as the source of our successes? When over a sandwich in the lunch room or a book in the library or the backyard fence at home, we're asked for the reason for our success, how easy it is to demur with an "aw shucks" humility about our ability, when in fact we've just been handed on a platter a golden opportunity to point to our God. Maybe we shouldn't be so hard on good king Hezekiah! (Unfortunately, we're all very much like him).

On His way to the cross Jesus was right. "Many are called, but few are chosen." Do you suppose the reason so few are chosen is that the many who are called have forgotten that the whole point of the blessings is to point to the Blesser? That was why God had His chosen in the beginning, and that is why He will have his chosen at the end-to point the world to Him.

-From "The Chosen" pg. 54, Ps. Dwight Nelson

 Today's Prayer Focus: School/Wisdom in our Studies    Scheduled Bible Reading: Genesis 34-36



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Today's Daily Devotion - 'It’s Friday but Sunday's Coming' - 8/11/17

Image
  'It’s Friday but Sunday's Coming' - He was dead. Now He’s Alive!     After six grueling hours of vicious taunts, mental torture and physical torment, Jesus cried with a loud voice, breathed his last breath and “yielded His Spirit.”  The centurion  guards standing by saw he was dead. Later solders came to break the legs of Jesus and the two criminals, but they said “He is dead.” The women standing at the foot of the cross,  including Mary and Mary Magdalene, said, “He is dead.’ The crowd by now had dispersed.  No doubt, wagging their heads, saying, “He’s dead.” Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy and prominent council member said, “He is  dead.”  So he came to claim the body for burial. Pilate’s surprised reaction was, “Is He already dead?” By now the report must have arrived to the Pharisees who had schemed to have Jesus executed. I can imagine a Messenger saying, “He’s dead.”  And a smug smil...
Read more

Today's Daily Devotional - "Self-righteousness Insufficient" - 8/14/17

Image
Self-righteousness Insufficient For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20 . The greatest deception of the human mind in Christ's day was that a mere assent to the truth constitutes righteousness. In all human experience a theoretical knowledge of the truth has been proved to be insufficient for the saving of the soul. It does not bring forth the fruits of righteousness.... The Pharisees claimed to be children of Abraham, and boasted of their possession of the oracles of God; yet these advantages did not preserve them from selfishness, malignity, greed for gain, and the basest hypocrisy.... The same danger still exists. Many take it for granted that they are Christians, simply because they subscribe to certain theological tenets. But they have not brought the truth into practical life. They have not believed and loved...
Read more

Today's Daily Devotion - 'It’s Friday but Sunday's Coming' - 8/18/17

Image
It's Friday but Sunday's Coming: An Exhortation from Gethsemane It was the beginning of 3 days that these 3 men would never forget. Never. The hour was late. Much had happened. The last supper. Prideful posturing. Washing feet. Judas’ departure. And the ensuing walk across the Kedron valley with Jesus teaching. Encouraging. Comforting. Promising. Peter, James, and John are invited to walk a little farther, as Jesus entered into prayer to the Father. Struggle. Sorrow. Supplication. These words describe Jesus’ emotions in Gethsemane’s garden as Thursday turned into Friday. And what words describe the disciples? Weariness. Slumbering. Sleeping. Jesus simply asked them, “Stay here and keep watch with me.” But while the Savior prayed. The disciples slept. You can hear the disappointment in Jesus’ voice as he asked “What? “Could you not watch with me one hour?” Then he issued this heart-felt exhortation. “ Watch and pray, lest you enter into tem...
Read more