SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/30/2013
3:41 PM
My Worship Time Focus: God Uses
Cyrus
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
45:1-7
Message of the
verses: “1 Thus says the LORD to
Cyrus His anointed,
Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose
the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 2
“I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the
doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. 3 "I will give you the treasures of
darkness And hidden wealth of secret places, So that you may know that it is I,
The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. 4 “For the sake of Jacob My
servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have
given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me. 5 "I am the LORD, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; 6 That men may know
from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am
the LORD, and there is no other, 7 The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”
I will have to say that there are some things in this
section of Scripture that are hard to understand for me and when that happens
in cases like this I have to go to Deuteronomy 29:29 which says, “"The
secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us
and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” Now if I may translate this verse in a way
that I can understand it better, and hopefully you too. God is saying that He has not told us
everything, but what He has told us we are to follow. God knows all things, but He has not revealed
all things to His people, but He has revealed things in the Law that we, His
children are to follow. Now what is it
that I don’t understand about this passage in Isaiah? Well it seems to me that God called Cyrus
some 150 years before He was going to use Him to do something for Him that will
bring glory to the Lord, and it will also be good for His children,
Israel. The passage states that Cyrus
did not know the Lord, but that the Lord knew Him and called Him to do a work
for the Lord. The work that Cyrus was
going to do for the Lord was to allow the children of Israel to return to their
land and to provide them with what was needed to begin to build the city of
Jerusalem and to also begin to rebuild the temple. God uses all peoples to accomplish the things
that He wants accomplished so that His plan will be worked out. God used Hitler to begin the second world war
and shortly after the end of that war because of what happened to the Jews in
that war they were given a land to again call their own, the same land that
Cyrus told the Jews of his time to return to.
Isaiah will later write in the last chapter of his book that there would
come a day when a nation would be called in one day: “Isa 66:8 “Who has heard such a thing? Who
has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought
forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.” It was on the 5th of May in 1948
that Israel was born in one day as the President of the United States recognized
that Israel was a nation, and this happened in one day.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have often said
that Balaam’s donkey is my favorite character in the Old Testament, and the
reason for that is that this donkey was available to do what the Lord wanted
her to do and she did it, that is talked to Balaam telling him the things that
the Lord wanted to tell him. In a same
sense Cyrus was like Balaam’s donkey for he was available to do what the Lord
wanted him to do. I want also to be
available to accomplish what the Lord wants me to accomplish in order to bring
glory to the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Be available to do what the Lord wants me to
do, and to do it.
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 1:1-10
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the
righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has
granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge
of Him who called us by His glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His
precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence,
in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance,
and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly
kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
8 Now if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you
neither useless nor unfruitful in true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind
or short-sighted having forgotten the purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more
diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you
practice these things, you will never stumble.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Laban” (Genesis 29:26).
Today’s Bible Question: “Where did Peter instruct us to cast our
cares?’
Answer in our next SD
10/30/2013 4:15 PM
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