Today's Reading:
Judges 6:1-40
Acts 24:1-27
Psalm 69:13-28
Click on Text Link to Read Online
Focus Verses: Judges 6:25-26
25 That
same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your
father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to
Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26 Then
build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this
height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the
second bull as a burnt offering."
Insight:
Gideon
wondered, "If God is with Israel, then why has he let us be overpowered
by the Midianites." The reason was Israel's unfaithfulness to God.
Instead of worshiping God alone, they had worshiped the gods of the
Amorites.
The first step toward deliverance for Israel
was to destroy the pagan Baal altar and Ashtoreth pole that had been set
up in his town. The road to restoration and deliverance begins with
tearing down what is false and instead offering up worship and devotion
to the One True God.
Response and Action:
When
I face difficult situations in life, I find myself asking a question
similar to Gideon's-- "If God is with me, why is this happening?" Before
questioning God's faithfulness, I should examine my own faithfulness to
God. I need to recognize the ways my family, my church, my town, my
state, my country have failed to acknowledge God.
Honest
reflection is needed if I am to recognize the idols we have erected and
the ways we have let them distort and diminish our devotion for God.
There is no God but the One True God. Any rivals for wholehearted
commitment to and reverence for God must be torn down.
O
God, free me from everything that oppresses and diminishes. Help me to
turn away from what is wrong and to do what is right. Lead me away from
temptation and deliver me from evil. Provide for my needs today. Protect
me from discouragement, and encourage me, by your Spirit, through your
Word, your people, your promises, and all that is beautiful and true.
Give me the honesty to recognize the false ideas and idols in my heart,
and give me the courage to tear them down and cast them aside in order
that I might worship and follow you with my whole heart, soul, mind, and
strength. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: Proverbs 4:23-23
"Above
all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away
perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips."
Resources:
Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters
by Timothy Keller
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Tear Down this Altar
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