Daniel'sWeeklyDevotions

This week brings us to Mark 3:16 (shown below through verse 19).

¹⁶ He appointed the Twelve:
To Simon, He gave the name Peter;

¹⁷ and to James the son of Zebedee,
and to his brother John,
He gave the name “Boanerges”
(that is, “Sons of Thunder” );

¹⁸ Andrew;
Philip and Bartholomew;
Matthew and Thomas;
James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus;
Simon the Zealot,

¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed Him.— Mark 3:16-19

Here, Mark lists those that Jesus called out to be His disciples while He was performing His earthly ministry.  Looking at who He chose will give us a good idea of the type of person He used, and help us see the type of person He will continue to use.  The first part of this may seem like a history lesson, but it is all background to illustrate the point that comes near the end.

First in the list is Simon Peter – he is one of the main characters in all four gospels.  He was a fisherman, and he gave 100% to everything he did, even if he hadn’t stopped to think about it first.  Much is made of his sinking while he was walking on the water towards Jesus, as an illustration of a lack of faith; while this may be true, it is also true that he is the only one who got out of the boat, and to this day the only person other than Jesus to accomplish this miracle.  He famously declared that he would never deny Jesus, then denied Him three times, just as Jesus said he would.  Peter, though, became a central figure in the early church; nearly all of the book of Acts that doesn’t concern Paul deals with Peter and his ministry.  He was even used of God to write two books that are in our New Testament today!

James and John are next in Mark’s list.  James is described as the son of Zebedee, which distinguishes him from James, Jesus’ half-brother who wrote the book of James.  Together with Peter, these two brothers were the only disciples with Jesus when Jairus’s daughter was raised, the only disciples to view the transfiguration, and the disciples that Jesus took with Him further when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His betrayal.  They were called while they were with their father by the seashore; the implication is that they were also fisherman.

Andrew was Simon Peter’s brother.  He was a fisherman as well, and was the one to whom Jesus used the term “fishers of men.”  Philip and Bartholomew are always mentioned together; they were from the same town, but the Bible doesn’t reveal their line of work, and extra-biblical writings don’t shed any more light on their history.  Matthew was a tax collector before being called by Jesus, and was used by God to write the gospel of Matthew.  Like Philip and Bartholomew, we don’t know what Thomas did for a living; however, Thomas is much more famous for his unbelief rather than his belief.  When Jesus appeared to some of His disciples, Thomas wasn’t there; he did not believe until he actually saw Jesus for himself.  James the son of Alphaeus does not appear much in the gospels past his being named in lists of disciples like the one above.  Thaddaeus is an interesting study; in some places he is called Jude, some Thaddaeus, and in one place even called “Judas not Iscariot,” to distinguish him from the last disciple in the list.  Simon the Zealot was from Canaan, but we don’t know his profession before becoming Jesus’ disciple either.

Last on the list is Judas Iscariot.  We don’t know what he did before becoming a disciple, but we do know that as a disciple, he filled the role that we would today call the treasurer.  His attention to money served the disciples well; there is no record in any of the gospels of Jesus and the disciples being out of money.  However, he seemed to have his mind more on the money than on the ministry.  Some have speculated that his objection to the expensive oil being used to anoint Jesus’ feet had less to do with his concern for the poor than it did his concern for holding even more money.  Sadly, his desire for money was his ultimate downfall, as he betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver.

Well, there’s the list.  What do each of these men have in common?  Let’s look at couple of examples.

¹⁷ “Follow Me,” Jesus told them, “and I will make you fish for people!” ¹⁸ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.— Mark 1:17-18

¹⁴ Then, moving on, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” So he got up and followed Him.— Mark 2:14

Just as in these two examples, in every calling of the disciples recorded in Scripture, Jesus said “Follow Me” and they did.  They were willing to leave their current profession, their current livelihood, and follow Jesus.  (Yes, even Judas Iscariot did this – at one point, he was a disciple in good standing.)  This is the key!  I believe this is one reason why, as we tried to look at what some of the disciples did before following Jesus, we could not figure out what everyone’s existing profession was.  If this information had been recorded, we as checklist-oriented people would have written them down.  We’d have 12-member churches where each of the 12 members was from the profession that the disciples had followed.  By leaving it a mystery, the Bible is telling us that it is not an important piece of information for us to have; if we were doing a scientific study, we’d leave that variable out of the equation.

What kind of person are you?  Are you an act-first, think-later hard-charger like Peter?  Are you a nit-picky ledger-balancer like Matthew?  Are you as unsure of yourself and everything in the world as Thomas was of Jesus’ resurrection?  Are you a behind-the-scenes sort of person, like James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, or Thaddaeus?  Do you identify with James and John more than with any of these?  This is one of the wonderful realizations from looking at the disciples; Jesus called people with lots of different personalities, backgrounds, and education levels.  And, whether they were used to write books, or you just know them from their names in a list of disciples, every single one of them (with the exception of Judas Iscariot) went out and spread God’s Word after Jesus ascended back into heaven.  Once again, in our study, personality gets left out of the equation.

I could go on, but you probably see the pattern here.  Every other factor we could come up with would, upon examination, be discarded.  There’s no formula – there’s just one step.  Look at the last three words of both passages above – “…and followed Him.”  That is the single item on the checklist of someone God can use; they must be willing to be used by God.

How is your willingness today?  Are you holding back because you don’t think God can use you?  Are you holding on because you want to do something for God, instead of letting Him do something through you?  Those are two sides of the same issue, which is a lack of willingness to follow Christ.  If you’re still, you’re not following; if you’re out ahead of Him, you’re not following.  I pray that, today, each of us will learn from the one common factor among all the disciples, and be willing to follow where Christ leads us.

This week brings us to Acts 3:16.

¹⁶ By faith in His name, His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know.  So the faith that comes through Him has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.— Acts 3:16

This is Peter speaking to people who had assembled after he and John had healed a lame man (Acts 3:1-16).  This type of healing, along with many other things described in the book of Acts, can be a bit contentious among Christians.  Is God still in the healing business?  Does He still use people like Peter and John to speak His healing?  And what role do doctors play in healing – if I took a pill and got better, it must have been the doctor, right?  The short answers to these questions are yes, no, and no.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s look at some miraculous healings at other places in the Bible.

In 1 Kings 17:8-24, we read about Elijah and the widow of Zerephath.  This is during the time when Elijah had declared to Ahab and Jezebel (through direction from the Lord, of course) that it would not rain until he said it would.  There was a famine, and Elijah was hungry.  When he arrived at the widow’s house, she was about to make the last of her food; once she and her son ate it, they would be completely out with no prospect of any more.  Elijah asked her to make him some food first, and she did; from that point on, her flour and oil never ran out for the duration of the famine.  However, the widow’s son became sick and died.  Elijah prayed over him, that the Lord would raise him.

²² So the Lord listened to Elijah’s voice, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.— 1 Kings 17:22

Elijah was succeeded by Elisha, and Elisha had some pretty radical healing experiences himself.  In 2 Kings 4:8-17, he passed through a town called Shunem, and when he did, a woman prepared food for him every time he came by, and even set up a room in her house for him to stay.  When questioned about why, she said that she recognized him as a man of God.  Elisha asked what she would like in return for her hospitality, and she said she didn’t need anything.  When he pressed her, though, she said that she had always wanted a son, but had been unable to conceive.  Elisha told her “At this time next year you will have a son in your arms.” (v. 16)  She was incredulous, but a year later, she had a son.

Fast forward a few years (2 Kings 4:18-37), and the boy is growing.  Suddenly, one day he complains of severe head pain, and quickly dies in her lap.  She immediately calls for donkeys to travel to see Elisha.  Elisha tries to send an assistant to hold his staff over the boy’s head to bring him back to life, but the mother is insistent that Elisha come himself.  Once they arrive at her house, the assistant goes in as Elisha directed, but nothing happened.  What Elisha does next I’m pretty sure isn’t in any medical textbooks, but it worked!

³² When Elisha got to the house, he discovered the boy lying dead on his bed. ³³ So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ Then he went up and lay on the boy: he put mouth to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand.  While he bent down over him, the boy’s flesh became warm. ³⁵ Elisha got up, went into the house, and paced back and forth.  Then he went up and bent down over him again.  The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.— 2 Kings 4:32-35

(While these examples are of times that God chose to heal, He does not always make that choice.  Both the Old and New Testaments have plenty of times where people died, and were not raised back to life; and, even these people did eventually die “for good.”  Don’t at all think that because someone prays, even someone who is “right with God” or “spiritual” or a “great prayer warrior,” that God is bound to heal.  He alone knows the plans He has for each of us.  The remainder of this will focus on times when God does heal, but I wanted to address this before we continue.)

Returning to my questions from the beginning…  Is God still in the healing business?  The answer to that is an emphatic yes!  One of the names of God in the Bible is Jehovah-Rophe, meaning “The Lord Who Heals.”  This was used in Exodus 15:22-26, where God provided purification for the undrinkable water at Marah so His people could drink.  In Luke 5:30-31, Jesus even used the picture of a physician when explaining why He spent so much time with sinners rather than with those who already practiced religion; if He can fix our sin, can’t He also fix our health?  Also, over this past year, I have known people who have defeated cancer and overcome a drowning.  God is definitely still in the healing business.

Does God still use people, like Peter and John, to walk up to someone and heal them just by speaking?  This is where some of the contention comes in.  I’m not interested in a deep theological debate, but I will say that I have not see this in my lifetime.  While God could still use men (or women) in this way, He has generally used different techniques for different times.  In our day and time, could you imagine the international storm that would be created by someone who did this?  It is highly unlikely that this attention would point people towards God, which is the goal of everything God does.  Besides, I don’t think He needs to, which brings me to the next question.

Don’t doctors heal more people than God these days?  No.  God has revealed medicine and the human body to physicians; He has granted drug makers the knowledge that they have, and the doctors the knowledge as to when their application is appropriate.  He created the earth and everything on the earth; even if a drug is synthesized, it’s synthesized using material He created.  This reminds me of a joke that I heard a while back – a group of scientists gets together and decides that they’re now smarter than God.  So, one of them goes up to God and says, “You know, with human cloning and all the things we can create, we don’t really need You anymore.”  God replies, “Then why don’t we have a man-making contest – and let’s do it old-school, like I did with Adam.”  “No problem,” says the scientist, and he bends down and picks up a handful of dirt.  “No, no, no,” said God, “get your own dirt!”

So, then, we see that all healing does come from God, whether He chooses to make cancer disappear, or whether He uses ibuprofen and a physical therapist, or whether He uses a replacement limb.  Recognizing Him as the source for all healing, not just the miracles, enables us to more greatly see His hand at work in our lives, and in the lives of those around us.

This week’s book, Philemon, does not have three chapters; additionally, verse 16 of the only chapter is in the middle of the sentence.  So, let’s start out by looking at the entire context – Philemon 8-16.

⁸ For this reason, although I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do what is right, ⁹ I appeal, instead, on the basis of love.  I, Paul, as an elderly man and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, ¹⁰ appeal to you for my child, whom I fathered while in chains—Onesimus. ¹¹ Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful to both you and me. ¹² I am sending him—a part of myself—back to you. ¹³ I wanted to keep him with me, so that in my imprisonment for the gospel he might serve me in your place. ¹⁴ But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent, so that your good deed might not be out of obligation, but of your own free will. ¹⁵ For perhaps this is why he was separated [from you] for a brief time, so that you might get him back permanently, ¹⁶ no longer as a slave, but more than a slave—as a dearly loved brother. This is especially so to me, but even more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.— Philemon 8-16

Onesimus had been a slave of Philemon, and had run away after stealing from him.  Philemon had several reasons to have Onesimus killed on sight; accepting him as a brother was likely the last thing on his mind.  But Paul had witnessed a change in Onesimus that Philemon could have never imagined!  In verse 10, Paul says that he has “fathered” Onesimus; while together, Paul shared the gospel with him, converted him, and trained him in the things of the Lord.

In verse 12, Paul goes on to say that Onesimus is a part of himself; and, in verses 13-14, although Paul would rather keep Onesimus there with him, that would be stealing from Philemon – taking Onesimus without Philemon’s consent.  Paul also tells Philemon that Onesimus is now much more than a slave – he is a brother in Christ, and especially valuable.

This is the context of this short epistle – it is an object lesson illustrating 2 Corinthians 5:17.

¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.— 2 Corinthians 5:17

Have you experienced this life-changing power?  If not, take a look at God’s Simple Plan of Salvation; Christ died for you, and all that He requires is that you believe in Him to cleanse your sins and make you into that new creation about which Paul wrote – it really is that simple.  If you have, are you living in that power?  The new creation is not just about saving grace, but a living, day-to-day grace, and the power to continually triumph over sin.  Don’t waste the gift you have received.

This week, we’ll look at Hebrews 3:16.

¹⁶ For who heard and rebelled?  Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses?— Hebrews 3:16

We’ve all heard certain phrases throughout our lives.  “History repeats itself.”  “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”  (This seems to also be a warning to high school students everywhere.)  “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  These phrases all point to the phenomenon of people doing the same thing over and over, regardless of the outcome.

In today’s Scripture, the author of Hebrews reminds us that it was the people who knew the truth and even experienced it – the Jews – who rebelled against God.  And rebel they did!  In three straight chapters in Exodus, the children of Israel complained and rebelled against Moses.

²³ They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter – that is why it was named Marah. ²⁴ The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?” ²⁵ So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree.  When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable.

He made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah and He tested them there.

— Exodus 15:23-25

² The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord‘s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted.  Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you.  The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.  This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow My instructions.”

— Exodus 16:2-4

² So the people complained to Moses: “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them.  “Why are you testing the Lord?”

³ But the people thirsted there for water, and grumbled against Moses.  They said, “Why did you ever bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people?  In a little while they will stone me!”

⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you.  Take the rod you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. ⁶ I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

— Exodus 17:2-6

But, surely, once they get to the promised land, the Israelites will remember God’s provision, right?  Well…

¹ Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. ² All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword?  Our wives and little children will become plunder.  Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces [to the ground] in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite community: “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and give it to us.

— Numbers 14:1-8

It’s easy to look back at the failings of the Israelites, and point fingers at them.  But, aren’t we the same?  Don’t we do the same foolish things over and over again?  It’s easy to see how other people don’t learn from their mistakes, but it’s often more difficult to see our own.  Even if we are aware of our failings, though, we still have the inner conflict between the old, selfish nature and our new holy one.  Paul expressed this sentiment in Romans 7…

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin’s power. ¹⁵ For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.  For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. ²¹ So I discover this principle: when I want to do good, evil is with me. ²² For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law. ²³ But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.— Romans 7:14-23

So what is the solution?  Later in Romans, Paul gives us the answer.

¹ Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.— Romans 12:1-2

As gold is refined, it is heated to the melting point, and its flaws are literally burned out.  I’m pretty sure that if the gold could talk, it would tell us that it doesn’t particularly enjoy this process.  However, the result is a more pure precious metal.  This is how God works in a Christian’s life; He brings challenges into our lives to mold us into His image.  Some of these challenges are external, but some are internal.  We must give this to God, and trust Him to work His will in our lives.  Will we fail at times?  Of course.  Does that mean would shouldn’t try?  Not at all!

We have been entrusted with the truth.  May we surrender our lives to it, and trust God to use the circumstances in our lives to mold us into His image.  May we learn through each of our mistakes, and may God give us the power not to repeat them.

Today’s Scripture is from Isaiah 40:26-31.

²⁶ Look up and see:
who created these?
He brings out the starry host by number;
He calls all of them by name.
Because of His great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.

²⁷ Jacob, why do you say,
and Israel, why do you assert:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?

²⁸ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Yahweh is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never grows faint or weary;
there is no limit to His understanding.

²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
and strengthens the powerless.

³⁰ Youths may faint and grow weary,
and young men stumble and fall,

³¹ but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.

— Isaiah 40:26-31

It is very easy to get discouraged in life. We may try our hardest to do something that we think is good and right, and yet we feel like we’re just spinning our wheels. Then, we may look at others who are not following God, and they seem to be doing well. This quandry is not unique to the Christian of the 21^st century; even Jeremiah the prophet asked God, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do the treacherous live at ease?” (Jeremiah 12:1)

The Jews had forgotten the promise made to their father Abraham; “He took him outside and said, ‘Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then He said to him, ‘Your offspring will be that numerous.’” (Genesis 15:5) Isaiah reminds them of this in verse 26, that not only did God create the stars, He knows each one by name. Then, in verse 27, he asks them “why do you assert: ‘My way is hidden from the Lord…?’”

In verses 28 and 29, Isaiah continues to remind them of the absolute power (omnipotence) of God. It is He Who gives “strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless.” (v. 29) These words also speak to our need of yielding to Him. If we try to do everything within our own power, we will not be able to use His power through us. Remember that Jesus said, “You can do nothing without Me.” (John 15:5) When we admit that we are powerless on our own, we can allow God to use us as an instrument of His power. And, once we let go of the controls, we can also let go of worrying about the results – how liberating!

In verse 30, Isaiah reminds us that even young people fade. If you have been around toddlers, you have seen this for yourself. They have a seemingly endless supply of energy; yet, at some point, they crash and have to sleep. I’ve often wished I had that much energy! But even that falls far short of the power that God gives to His children, as verse 31 tells us.

This last verse is the most well-known verse in this passage. It does encourage us that we will be able to continue our Christian life without growing weary or tired. But the picture of an eagle is quite intriguing. We’ve all heard the saying “you can’t see the forest for the trees.” Eagles fly very high and smooth, and from their vantage point, they can see more than just where they are now. Seeing the “big picture” is one way that God uses to keep us encouraged, and to reveal to us His plan for our lives. Proverbs 29:18 says “Without revelation, the people run wild.” Instead of running around in circles, we can follow God’s direction.

Be encouraged. No matter what is going on in your life, it is not happening unnoticed to God. He is in control of everything in your life, and “all things work together for the good of those who love God…” (Romans 8:28) Pray that He will give you the strength to endure, and that He will reveal His will for your life and His purpose in your circumstances.