The Reading Plan Daily Devotions

Everything flows from the presence of the Lord. Everything. If you have Him, you have everything that matters and lasts. Without Him, you have nothing of value. We can experience His presence in conscious awareness only as we come to Him in faith and dependency. “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:4). Trust begins with looking to God in our need. The unbelieving think they can make it on their own. The dependent begin with the humbling realization that they are nothing without Him—lost without His presence. A KING WHO DIDN’T CARE In the cycle of kings that came through after David in Israel’s history, we read of a few who understood this. Most did not. Zedekiah was in the sad line of those who forsook God. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. He did evil in the sight of the Lord like all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger ...

God is a perfect leader. He asks us to follow Him, and often the path makes no human sense to us. But God is always leading to an end ... to that which is redemptive. The question is: will we trust Him when we don't see the endgame? GOD'S UNUSUAL INSTRUCTION Jeremiah had been told by God repeatedly what He was about to do to rebellious Israel. He was going to allow the Babylonians to come and take them into captivity and ransack the land. As that was being revealed to Jeremiah, God gave him an odd instruction.  "The word of the Lord came to me," Jeremiah said. God told him that his nephew was going to come and offer him a field for sale and that Jeremiah was to buy it." (Jeremiah 32:6-7) Put yourself in Jeremiah's shoes. Knowing what he knew, he could reason that in a matter of weeks—days perhaps—this field was going to be worthless. A terrible investment. It would be a "poor use" of God's money. But Jeremiah had heard from God. "Then I kne...

It is important to know and believe that God is perfect in every way. Therefore, He is perfect in His judgments and their intent. But He is equally perfect in His mercy. JEREMIAH 21 The nation of Israel had sinned grievously against the Lord. In response, God had sent the prophet, Jeremiah, to warn them that judgment was coming. They would not listen and continued in their rebellion and sin. “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. ( Jeremiah 25:3-4 ) True to His word, God sent the King of Babylon to Israel. Nebuchadnezzar defeated Israel and took them into captivity. They were there for 70 years, just as Jeremiah had prophesied. JEREMIAH 29 God told them what to do while they were ...

God, in every age, has needed prophets. One of the great mercies of God is that He has always raised up His needed men, called by Him and equipped by Him to speak His word to His people. And as darkness increases in a nation, He needs them all the more. Jeremiah was such a man. And the reason that he successfully did his job (and the way we should do ours) is found in the opening chapter of Jeremiah. THE CALL Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." ( Jeremiah 1:4 ) Jeremiah's calling was not his idea. It was not, "I wonder what I could do for a living?" He was set apart. In fact, from heaven's perspective, this happened while he was still in the womb. Long before the need was known for a man who would boldly proclaim God's word, there was the provision. THE FEAR "Then I said, "Alas, Lord God! Behold I do n...

"Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord." ... And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes ( 2 Kings 22:8 ,  10-11 ) The Word of God is God just as much as your words are you. As such, it carries a might that is beyond explanation. It is living, active, and powerful. READING THE WORD One of its great powers is to measure us as we read it prayerfully. We can feel fairly good about ourselves as an athlete until we compete with others. We can feel wonderful about our spiritual life until it is measured against the Word of God. This measuring property of God's Word is not designed to hurt us, but to help us. Without it, we would wander and turn away like a sheep without a shepherd. Life would get dangerous and harmful. (Just look at the lives of those who pay no attention to the Bible). When Josiah read the Word (for t...

The two books of 1 and 2 Kings are filled with the accounts of leaders who did not obey God and the tragic results that occurred. Even the best kings didn't fully obey the Lord. That's why the story of Hezekiah is so refreshing. It's beautiful to see a leader who is "all in" in his surrender to God. A leader who approaches the problems of the nation spiritually. Hezekiah led Judah during a time when Israel had been taken into captivity by the Assyrians. And now, the leader of the Assyrians, Sennacherib, had come against Judah and the city of Jerusalem.  He made his taunts, which had been effective before. But what he did not know is that he was encountering a godly leader—one who would bring God into the equation. Two things stand out in Hezekiah's leadership. HE ENLISTED THE PRAYERS OF THE MAN OF GOD And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. Then he sent Eliakim who was over the hou...