Make Room for God
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:7
No room for Jesus? No room for the King of kings? No, but room for others and for other things. There was no room for Jesus in the world that He had made—imagine! It was true that first Christmas; and tragically, it’s true every day of the year.
Things have not really changed since that Bethlehem night two thousand years ago. God is still in the fringes of most of our lives. We fit Him in when it is convenient for us, but we become irritated when He makes demands on us. If God would only stay in His little box and come out when we pull the string.
Our lives are so full. There is so much to be done. Are we in danger in all of our busy activities of excluding from our hearts and lives the One who made us? Do we have time enough to begin each day by reading God’s Word and praying to the One who made us? Do we have time to make room for God in our prayers? Do we have time to ask God what He wants us to do?
“Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus; there is room in my heart for you.”
Our Father and our God, I always seem to have room for what I want. Forgive me for not always having room for You and Your Son. Please take up residence in my heart. Live in me, love through me, laugh with me. In the Savior’s name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Praying in Persecution
But I say to you [Jesus said], love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:44 RSV
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, has some commandments for us with regard to our attitude toward persecution. We are to:
1. Rejoice and be exceeding glad (Matthew 5:12)
2. Love our enemies (5:44)
3. Bless them that curse us (5:44)
4. Do good to them that hate us (5:44)
5. Pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us (5:44)
I have a friend who lost his job, a fortune, his wife, and his home. But he tenaciously held to his faith—the only thing he had left. One day he stopped to watch some men doing stonework on a huge church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of stone.
“What are you going to do with that?” asked my friend.
The workman said, “See that little opening away up there near the spire? Well, I’m shaping this down here so it will fit up there.”
Tears filled my friend’s eyes as he walked away, for it seemed that God had spoken through the workman to explain the ordeal through which he was passing, “I’m shaping you down here so you’ll fit in up there.”
After you have “suffered a while, make you perfect . . . settle you,” echo the words from the Bible.
The persecuted for “righteousness’ sake” are happy because they are identified with Christ. The enmity of the world is tangible proof that we are on the right side, that we are identified with our blessed Lord. He said that our stand for Him would arouse the wrath of the world. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22).
Our Father and our God, You created me with Your own hands. And You know me better than I know myself. Shape me, Lord, so that I can fit into heaven some day. Knock off my rough edges. Chisel away my faults and failures. Refine me with fire to purify and make me valuable to You. In Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Faith and Works
Faith without works is dead.
James 2:17
Since biblical times, men and women have argued about the doctrines of faith and works. Which should come first? Which carries the most weight with God? Jesus Christ did not offer us a choice of faith or works. The Scripture teaches that works without faith have no meaning to God, because we cannot work our way to heaven. Those who seek to testify of what they think is their goodness often talk about paying their taxes on time, never defrauding anyone, being faithful to their spouse, and giving to charity. But God is clear that our righteousness is like a filthy rag. There is nothing we can do to measure up to God’s standard.
Once we are saved, however, God expects us—in fact He commands us—to not be hearers of the Word only, but doers as well. Works, when we are in Christ, are an extension of Christ’s ministry. In fact, works are not ends in themselves, but they demonstrate God’s love toward others so that they will know God loves them and so that they will desire to learn about God’s provision for their greatest needs.
The Bible says a man in a ditch is not helped if we pass by him, wish him well, and tell him of God’s love. No, God’s love is demonstrated by attending to the man’s physical needs and helping him out of the ditch. This is how people learn that the Father has sent the Son.
Works must never replace faith and the sharing of the Gospel, but they are a natural extension of faith. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Our Father and our God, I want my life to glorify You. Help me to be an extension of Christ—in ministry and in love to all people. Let my life glorify You in every way through my example, Jesus.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Persecution
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:10
When we think of persecution, we rarely think of the kind of attack for sharing our faith that was commonplace when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. In those days, persecution meant beatings, arrest, imprisonment, even death. Yet the Bible and all of history are full of instances where bold men and women chose persecution over denial of our Lord.
Today, many of us think we are doing God a favor when we tell another about Christ, even though we were commanded to do so. And we think we are suffering real persecution when someone makes light of our faith.
There are places in the world where Christians can still be jailed for sharing their faith or face the death penalty for leading a lost soul to Christ. Most people in our society, however, don’t care what others believe in, or if they believe in anything.
The Christian faith has become a cheap faith because we too often live as if it has no value. We complain when the preacher runs over a few minutes on the Sunday sermon and consider it a great inconvenience to return to services once or twice more in the same week. No wonder so much of the world does not consider our faith relevant when we are not even willing to give of our time, much less our freedom or lives, for what we say we believe in.
Think about it. Have you ever been persecuted for sharing your faith in Christ? Has your faith cost you anything? If not, perhaps you had better reexamine your faith to see if it measures up to the One who said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11).
Our Father and our God, please forgive me for denying You so often with my words, my actions, and my thoughts. I know I have suffered so little for You and Your Son, who suffered so much for me. When persecution comes my way, help me to live as an image of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Peace Is Not Passive
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Matthew 5:9
To have peace with God and to have the peace of God is not enough. This vertical relationship must have a horizontal outworking, or our faith is in vain. Jesus said that we were to love the Lord with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. This dual love for God and others is like the positive and negative poles of a battery—unless both connections are made, we have no power. A personal faith is normally useless unless it has a social application. (A notable exception would be the thief on the cross.)
I once saw a cartoon of a man rowing a boat toward a golden shore labeled “heaven.” All around him were men and women struggling in vain to reach the shore and safety, but he was heedless of their peril. He was singing, “I am bound for heaven, hallelujah!” That is not an adequate picture of the Christian life.
If we have peace with God and the peace of God, we will become peacemakers. We will not only be at peace with our neighbors, but we will be leading them to discover the source of true peace in Christ. Every person can experience the peace of God through Christ: “For he is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14).
Our lives take on new dimensions when we find peace with God. To explain this in simpler terms, let us visualize a right-angle triangle sitting on its horizontal base. At the apex or highest point in this triangle write the letter G, representing God. At the point where the perpendicular line meets the base write the letter Y, representing you. Then, at the opposite end of the horizontal line write the letter O, which represents others. There, in geometric form, you have a visual diagram of our relationship with God and man. Our lives (which before we found the peace of God were represented by a single dot of self-centeredness) now take in an area in vital contact with two worlds. Peace flows down from God and out to our fellow men. We become merely the conduit through which it flows. But there is peace in being just a “channel.”
Our Father and our God, make me a channel of Your blessings today. Help me to reach out with Your hands of mercy, see with Your eyes of empathy, hear with Your ears of compassion, speak with Your words of peace. Let me be a lifeline through which You rescue the lost. Use me, Lord, in Your service. Because of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Possibility of Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8
Pure hearts will be Christ-like. It is God’s desire that we be conformed to the image of His Son. If Christ lives within us, and our bodies become the abode of the Holy Spirit, is it any wonder that we should be like Him? And just what do we mean by “Christ-like”?
The Bible says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Jesus had a humble heart. If He abides in us, pride will never dominate our lives. Jesus had a loving heart. If He dwells within us, hatred and bitterness will never rule us. Jesus had a forgiving and understanding heart. If He lives within us, mercy will temper our relationships with our fellow men. Jesus had unselfish interests. But even more, Jesus’ one desire was to do His Father’s will. This is the essence of Christ-likeness—eager obedience to the Father’s will.
You say, “That’s a big order!” I admit that. It would be impossible if we had to measure up to Him in our own strength and with our own natural hearts.
Paul recognized that he could never attain this heart purity by his own striving. He said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).
Christ provided the possibility of purity by His death on the cross. The righteousness and the purity of God are imputed to men who confess their sins and receive Christ into their hearts.
The greatest happiness that comes to the pure heart is twofold: not only a proper relationship with others but a sublime relationship with God. “For they shall see God.” The gates of Eden swing open once more. God and man walk together once again.
Our Father and our God, I want to be obedient to Your will, but my pride and unforgiving spirit often keep me from it. Help me to give up hatred and bitterness in all their forms. Purify my heart, O Lord, and help me to be more like Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Meekness is Not Weakness
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5
In our culture, meekness has come to mean weakness. But that is not the biblical view. A wild horse which has been broken is no less strong, but he has been made useful to man.
Jesus was meek, but by no stretch of the imagination was He weak. Jesus was and is God.
What did He mean, then, when He said that the meek will inherit the earth? He was speaking of an attitude, a form of humility that is sorely lacking in our culture. A famous baseball coach once declared that “nice guys finish last.” One of the best-selling books a few years ago was Looking Out for Number One. A recent decade was described by some sociologists as the “me decade.”
No person is meek by nature. It is the work of the Spirit of God. Moses was meek, but he was not meek by nature. God worked meekness into him over a forty-year period. Peter was certainly not meek by nature. He was impetuous, saying and doing the first thing that came into his mind. The Holy Spirit of God transformed Peter after the resurrection of Jesus. Before his conversion, Paul was not meek. His job was to persecute Christians! Yet Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, “The fruit of the Spirit is . . . gentleness, goodness . . . meekness.”
It is our human nature to be proud, not meek. Only the Spirit of God can transform our lives through the new birth experience and then make us over again into the image of Christ, our example of what pleases God in the way of meekness.
Our Father and our God, thank You for dealing gently with me in my life. Instead of the wrath I deserve, I receive Your love; instead of punishment, I receive grace; instead of destruction, I receive salvation. Help me to be meek and gentle, too, so that I reflect to my world the qualities of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Where is Your Treasure
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:21
The rich young ruler who came to Jesus was so filled with his piety, his riches, and his greed that he revolted when Jesus informed him that the price of eternal life was to “sell out” and come and follow Him. He went away sorrowfully, the Bible says, because he could not detach himself from himself. He found it impossible to become “poor in spirit” because he had such a lofty estimate of his own importance.
All around us are arrogance, pride, and selfishness: these are the results of sin. From the heavens comes a voice speaking to a tormented, bankrupt world: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. . . . Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:18, 20).
Heaven in this life and the life to come is not on a monetary standard. Nor can flesh and blood find the door to the Kingdom of heaven with its contentment, peace, joy, and happiness. Only those who are poor in spirit and rich toward God shall be accounted worthy to enter there, because they come not in their own merit but in the righteousness of the Redeemer.
Someone has said, “A man’s wealth consists not in the abundance of his possessions, but in the fewness of his wants.” “The first link between my soul and Christ,” said C. H. Spurgeon, “is not my goodness but my badness, not my merit but my misery, not my riches but my need.”
Where is your treasure? In the bank? In the driveway? In the mirror? Or are you storing up your treasure in heaven?
Our Father and our God, I come repenting of my materialism. You have blessed me beyond belief, yet so often I still want more. Forgive me, Lord, and help me to find contentment in whatever situation I find myself. Help me to know my wealth is in You and Your Son who saved me. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Death is Dead
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1 Corinthians 15:54
Death is not natural, for man was created to live and not to die. It is the result of God’s judgment because of man’s sin and rebellion. Without God’s grace through Christ, it is a gruesome spectacle. I have stood at the bedsides of people dying without Christ; it was a terrible experience. I have stood at the bedsides of those who were dying in Christ; it was a glorious experience. Charles Spurgeon said of the glory that amends the death of the redeemed, “If I may die as I have seen some die, I court the grand occasion. I would not wish to escape death by some byroad if I may sing as they sang. If I may have such hosannas and alleluias beaming in my eyes as I have seen as well as heard from them, it were a blessed thing to die.”
Death is robbed of much of its terror for the true believer, but we still need God’s protection as we take that last journey. At the moment of death the spirit departs from the body and moves through the atmosphere. But the Scripture teaches us that the devil lurks then. He is “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). If the eyes of our understanding were opened, we would probably see the air filled with demons, the enemies of Christ. If Satan could hinder the angel of Daniel 10 for three weeks on his mission to earth, we can imagine the opposition a Christian may encounter at death.
But Christ on Calvary cleared a road through Satan’s kingdom. When Christ came to earth, He had to pass through the devil’s territory and open up a beachhead here. That is one reason He was accompanied by a host of angels when He came (Luke 2:8–14). And this is why holy angels will accompany Him when He comes again (Matthew 16:27). Till then, the moment of death is Satan’s final opportunity to attack the true believer; but God has sent His angels to guard us at that time. How thankful we should be for that promise.
Our Father and our God, I know You have mastery over death and dying. I thank You for the promise that, when my life on earth has ended, Your angels will be there to accompany me in that final moment. I will trust them to lead me safely through the gates of heaven and into Your holy presence. In the name of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Bright Clouds
Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
Zechariah 10:1
I received a letter from a nineteen-year-old girl on the West Coast, whose fiancé had just broken off their engagement. Her heart was completely crushed, and life seemed no longer worth living. I wrote telling her that it is not always easy to trace God’s designs in our ill-planned hopes and dreams. But rest assured that if we are called according to His purpose, and if we love God, all things do work together for good. Who are we to dictate which way the winds will blow, or how God will maneuver our ship through life’s storms? The Psalmist said, “He . . . guided them by the skillfulness of his hands” (Psalm 78:72).
Yes, clouds will come. They are part of life. But by God’s grace we need not be depressed by their presence. Just as clouds can protect us from the brightness of the sun, life’s clouds can reveal the glory of God, and from their lofty height God speaks to us. Like the children of Israel, we are travelers to the Promised Land. As they traveled through the wilderness, the Bible says, “The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way” (Exodus 13:21).
If your life is dismal, depressed, and gloomy today, Christ can turn those dark clouds inside out. Many may be discouraged because of sins they can’t overcome. Sin can hang over us like a cloud. Sin deforms us. It causes turmoil and fighting down inside. We all need to be free from the failure and sin that binds and chains us. When faced with the clouds of defeat, we need to open our hearts and let Him in. Let Him take the clouds of sin out and transform you into a new creature.
Our Father and our God, You are my light and my hope in the middle of this dismal world. Please free me from the failures and sins of my life. Take away the turmoil and struggle that go on within my heart and soul, even if You do not take away the turmoil and struggle themselves. Open my heart to You and Your Son. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
He is Our Hope
The LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
Joel 3:16
The late British historian, Arnold Toynbee, gave his slogan to the world when he said, “Cling, and hope.” In other words, he says the storm is raging; all the ideals that we held a few years ago are crumbling; but he advised the human race to cling and hope.
However, there are thousands of people who day by day find refuge from the storms of life by their living faith in a living God!
To turn to God in an hour such as this in the history of the world is much more than a form of escapism. Multiplied thousands of normal, intelligent people have tried and proved that a vital relationship with Christ is the most satisfying experience in all the world. They have found that faith in Christ is more than adequate for the pressures of this hour.
The governor of an Eastern state told eight thousand people at a conference how faith in Christ had given him peace, security, and happiness. What Christ had done for this governor, Christ can do for you, if you surrender your will to Him.
Yet some who read these lines are held in the viselike grip of sin’s confusion. The despair of loneliness has settled down upon your soul, and at this very moment you are asking the question, “Is life worth living?”
To scores of people who write every week to our office in Charlotte, North Carolina life has ceased to be worth living. For all of them I have good news. God did not create us to be defeated, discouraged, frustrated, wandering souls, seeking in vain for peace of heart and peace of mind. He has bigger plans for us. The answer to our problem, however great, is as near as the Bible, as simple as first-grade arithmetic, and as real as one’s heartbeat.
The Bible says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).
The Bible teaches that “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).
Upon the authority of God’s Word, I declare that Christ is the answer to every baffling perplexity that plagues mankind. In Him is found the cure for care, a balm for bereavement, a healing for our hurts, and a sufficiency for our insufficiency.
Our Father and our God, my loneliness sometimes overwhelms me. I grope around in the darkness, looking for the light. Then I remember You, and the light of Your Word chases away my night. I know Your grace is sufficient for me, Lord. Give me Your peace in the middle of my troubles. Give me Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Effects of Revival
And it shall come to pass . . . that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
Joel 2:28
What would happen if revival were to break into our lives and our churches today? I am sure of one thing. At the heart of that revival would be a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
To begin with, people would have a new vision of the majesty of God. We must understand that the Lord is not only tender and merciful and full of compassion, but He is also the God of justice, holiness, and wrath.
Many Christians have a caricature of God. They do not see God in all of His wholeness. We glibly quote John 3:16, but we forget to quote the following verses: “he who does not believe has been judged already” (v. 18 NASB). Compassion is not complete in itself, but must be accompanied by inflexible justice and wrath against sin and a desire for holiness.
What stirs God most is not physical suffering but sin. All too often we are more afraid of physical pain that of moral wrong. The cross is the standing evidence of the fact that holiness is a principle for which God would die. God cannot clear the guilty until atonement is made. Mercy is what we need, and that is what we receive at the foot of the cross.
In her book, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, Hannah Whitall Smith tells us, “What we need is to see that God’s presence is a certain fact always, and that every act of our soul is done right before Him, as if our eyes could see Him and our hands could touch Him. Then we shall cease to have such vague conceptions of our relations with Him, and shall feel the binding force of every word we say in His presence.”
Our Father and our God, I worship You in spirit and in truth. I recognize and need Your compassion and love, but I know Your purity also demands Your justice, holiness, and wrath. Forgive me of my every sin, Father, and cover me with Your undeserved mercy and grace through the blood of Jesus. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
God’s Recipe for a New Heart
Turn ye even to me with all your heart . . . with weeping, and with mourning.
Joel 2:12
The mourning of repentance is not the weeping of self-pity; it is not the regret over material losses, nor remorse that our sins have been found out. It is entirely possible to be deeply sorry because of the devastation which sin has wrought in our lives and yet not repent. I have had people pour out their hearts to me with tears, because their sins have been discovered and they are in serious trouble. But true repentance is more than being sorry for our sins and regretting the way we have allowed sin to shatter our lives. True repentance is a turning from sin—a conscious, deliberate decision to leave sin behind—and a conscious turning to God with a commitment to follow His will for our lives. It is a change of direction, an alteration of attitudes, and a yielding of the will. Humanly speaking, it is our small part in the plan of salvation—although even the strength to repent comes from God. But even so, the act of repentance does not win us any merit or make us worthy to be saved—it only conditions our hearts for the grace of God.
The Bible says, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). Our part is repenting. God will do the converting, the transforming, and the forgiving.
It will not be easy to bend our warped, stubborn wills; but once we do, it will be as though a misplaced vertebra has snapped back into place. Instead of the stress and tension of a life out of harmony with God will come the serenity of reconciliation.
Our Father and our God, reconcile me to You in every area of my life. Take away my rebellion and sinfulness. Bring me back to a right relationship with You. My sins make me cry and weep in sorrow, and I turn to You in full repentance. Save me, Father, through Jesus Your Son. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Christ Crucified: An Example of Suffering
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of salvation unto all them that obey him.
Hebrews 5:8–9
The New Testament, while insisting that the true purpose for which Jesus suffered was to deal with our sins, also points us to the suffering Savior as a pattern of how we, as His believing people, should endure our sufferings.
Thus the apostle Peter, when addressing Christian slaves, urges them to bear their sufferings submissively, even though they have done no wrong: “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:21–23 NIV).
Christ has left us an example. The Greek word for example is derived from school life and refers to a pattern of writing to be copied by the child learning to write. Christ is our copybook. We look at Him and learn how suffering is to be borne.
In the passage the apostle draws attention to four things about the suffering Savior. First, His holy life: “He committed no sin”; second, His guileless speech: “no deceit was found in his mouth”; third, His patient spirit: “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats”; and fourth, His implicit faith: “he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
The author of Hebrews wrote, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (12:2–3).
Yes, consider Him. In our sufferings and tribulations Jesus Himself must be our chief consideration. We must fix our eyes upon Him. He who suffered for us shows us how we are to bear our sufferings.
Our Father and our God, thank You for Jesus, who shows me how to bear my burdens and sufferings. Help me to exhibit in my life His holiness, His guileless speech, His patience, and His faith in You. Help me, Lord, not to grow weary or to lose heart but to remember You are in control. In the Savior’s name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Sowing and Reaping
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain salvation upon you.
Hosea 10:12
The Word of God says, “They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7).
The immutable law of “sowing and reaping” has held sway. Our world is now the unhappy residence of a harvest of moral depravity, and we seek in vain for a cure. The tares of indulgence have overgrown the wheat of moral restraint. All humanity is guilty. But each fraction of society seeks to place the blame upon others.
The Republicans blame Democrats; the Democrats blame the Republicans. The Communists accuse the Americans; the Americans accuse the Communists. Capital finds fault with labor; labor finds fault with capital. An old farmer in Indiana summed it up when he said, “The whole world situation is just a mess!”
But, as a minister of the Gospel, I am an optimist. The world problems are big, but God is bigger! If we will dare to take God into account, confess our sin, and rely unreservedly upon Him for wisdom, guidance, and strength, our world problems can yet be solved. There is yet time for bringing peace, but that time is brief. What we do, we must do quickly.
What have you done recently for God?
Our Father and our God, I come to You on behalf of my world. We have lost control of it, Lord, and we need Your help to save it. Show us how to restore morality and spirituality to our people. Show us how to bring our world to You. We need You, God, because You alone are bigger than the world’s problems. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Defeat of Death
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Matthew 28:5–6
On the third day after His death the Bible says, “And behold, there was a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men” (Matthew 28:2–4).
Though some Bible students have tried to estimate how much this stone weighed, we need not speculate because Jesus could have come out of that tomb whether the stone was there or not. The Bible mentions it so that generations to come can know something of the tremendous miracle of resurrection that took place.
As Mary looked into the tomb she saw “two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain” (John 20:11, 12). Then one of the angels who was sitting outside the tomb proclaimed the greatest message the world has ever heard: “He is not here: for he is risen.” Those few words changed the history of the universe. Darkness and despair died; hope and anticipation were born in the hearts of men.
Our Father and our God, I praise Your righteous name, and I stand in awe of Your majesty. For I know it was You who rolled the stone away from the tomb of the Savior. I know it was You who presented the empty tomb to the world as proof of Your lordship. I believe in You, Lord. And I believe in Your Son. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The Fact of the Resurrection
God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his own power.
1 Corinthians 6:14
Upon great fact of the resurrection hangs the entire plan of the redemptive program of God. Without the resurrection there could be no salvation. Christ predicted His resurrection many times. He said on one occasion, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). As He predicted, He rose!
There are certain laws of evidence, which hold in the establishment of any historic event. There must be documentation of the event in question made by reliable contemporary witnesses. There is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three. It is strange that historians will accept thousands of facts for which they can produce only shreds of evidence. But in the face of the overwhelming evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ they cast a skeptical eye and hold intellectual doubts. The trouble with these people is that they do not want to believe. Their spiritual vision is so blinded, and they are so completely prejudiced, that they cannot accept the glorious face of the resurrection of Christ on Bible testimony alone.
The resurrection meant, first, that Christ was undeniably God. He was what He claimed to be. Christ was Deity in the flesh.
Second, it meant that God had accepted His atoning work on the cross, which was necessary for our salvation. “Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25).
Third, it assures mankind of a righteous judgment. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).
Fourth, it guarantees that our bodies also will be raised in the end. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20). The Scripture teaches that as Christians our bodies may go to the grave, but they are going to be raised on the great resurrection morning. Then will death be swallowed up in victory. As a result of the resurrection of Christ the sting of death is gone and Christ Himself holds the keys. He says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and death” (Revelation 1:18). And Christ promises that “because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19).
Our Father and our God, I believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ from death. I have no doubt that He was dead and rose again. And I believe that, like Him, I will be raised again from death to live with You forever. I have faith in Your promise, Lord. And that is my hope through Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The steadiness of Faith in Prayer
“And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”
—Exodus 17:12
So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed. No, in the soul’s conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour and vehemence, must join their forces, and all will be well. You must wrestle with your sin, but the major part of the wrestling must be done alone in private with God. Prayer, like Moses’, holds up the token of the covenant before the Lord. The rod was the emblem of God’s working with Moses, the symbol of God’s government in Israel. Learn, O pleading saint, to hold up the promise and the oath of God before him. The Lord cannot deny his own declarations. Hold up the rod of promise, and have what you will.
Moses grew weary, and then his friends assisted him. When at any time your prayer flags, let faith support one hand, and let holy hope uplift the other, and prayer seating itself upon the stone of Israel, the rock of our salvation, will persevere and prevail. Beware of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who can escape? It is far easier to fight with sin in public, than to pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is for flesh and blood to maintain it. Let us cry, then, for special strength, and may the Spirit of God, who helpeth our infirmities, as he allowed help to Moses, enable us like him to continue with our hands steady “until the going down of the sun;” till the evening of life is over; till we shall come to the rising of a better sun in the land where prayer is swallowed up in praise.
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).
Lift Them Up Forever
Psalm 28:9
God’s people need lifting up. They are very heavy by nature. They have no wings, or, if they have, they are like the dove of old which lay among the pots; and they need divine grace to make them mount on wings covered with silver, and with feathers of yellow gold. By nature sparks fly upward, but the sinful souls of men fall downward. O Lord, “lift them up for ever!” David himself said, “Unto thee, O God, do I lift up my soul,” and he here feels the necessity that other men’s souls should be lifted up as well as his own. When you ask this blessing for yourself, forget not to seek it for others also. There are three ways in which God’s people require to be lifted up. They require to be elevated in character. Lift them up, O Lord; do not suffer thy people to be like the world’s people! The world lieth in the wicked one; lift them out of it! The world’s people are looking after silver and gold, seeking their own pleasures, and the gratification of their lusts; but, Lord, lift thy people up above all this; keep them from being “muck-rakers,” as John Bunyan calls the man who was always scraping after gold! Set thou their hearts upon their risen Lord and the heavenly heritage! Moreover, believers need to be prospered in conflict. In the battle, if they seem to fall, O Lord, be pleased to give them the victory. If the foot of the foe be upon their necks for a moment, help them to grasp the sword of the Spirit, and eventually to win the battle. Lord, lift up thy children’s spirits in the day of conflict; let them not sit in the dust, mourning for ever. Suffer not the adversary to vex them sore, and make them fret; but if they have been, like Hannah, persecuted, let them sing of the mercy of a delivering God.
We may also ask our Lord to lift them up at the last! Lift them up by taking them home, lift their bodies from the tomb, and raise their souls to thine eternal kingdom in glory.
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).
Forsaken Trust
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
—Psalm 22:1
We here behold the Saviour in the depth of his sorrows. No other place so well shows the griefs of Christ as Calvary, and no other moment at Calvary is so full of agony as that in which his cry rends the air—“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” At this moment physical weakness was united with acute mental torture from the shame and ignominy through which he had to pass; and to make his grief culminate with emphasis, he suffered spiritual agony surpassing all expression, resulting from the departure of his Father’s presence. This was the black midnight of his horror; then it was that he descended the abyss of suffering. No man can enter into the full meaning of these words. Some of us think at times that we could cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” There are seasons when the brightness of our Father’s smile is eclipsed by clouds and darkness; but let us remember that God never does really forsake us. It is only a seeming forsaking with us, but in Christ’s case it was a real forsaking. We grieve at a little withdrawal of our Father’s love; but the real turning away of God’s face from his Son, who shall calculate how deep the agony which it caused him?
In our case, our cry is often dictated by unbelief: in his case, it was the utterance of a dreadful fact, for God had really turned away from him for a season. O thou poor, distressed soul, who once lived in the sunshine of God’s face, but art now in darkness, remember that he has not really forsaken thee. God in the clouds is as much our God as when he shines forth in all the lustre of his grace; but since even the thought that he has forsaken us gives us agony, what must the woe of the Saviour have been when he exclaimed, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).