SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/19/2016 9:14 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Cautious Disciples
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 11:7-16
Message of the verses: “7 Then after this He said to the disciples,
"Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi,
the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there
again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If
anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this
world. 10 “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is
not in him." 11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our
friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of
sleep." 12 The disciples then said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen
asleep, he will recover." 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they
thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus is
dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may
believe; but let us go to him." 16 Therefore Thomas, who is called
Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him."”
This
conversation happened after the two day wait was over, and this must have astonished
and even appalled His disciples to think that they would go back to the place
where they saw people trying to take the life of Jesus. Now I have to say at this point that I have
some friends who minister in the country of Turkey and have been for some
time. They came home for a month to
visit family in the United States and as they were going to the airport in the capital
of Turkey the bombings took place just as they were approaching the
airport. They arrived home safely and
spent their month here, and while they were here there was a group of people
trying to take over the government of Turkey to which many in that country
blamed the United States to be behind it.
A few weeks ago this family got back on a plane to return to Turkey to
continue to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to those people. This reminds me of this story of Jesus going
back to Judea to do the will of His Father in raising back to life His friend
Lazarus. I have heard it said and I
believe the Bible teaches us that the safest place we can be is in the will of
God. I pray for my friends most everyday
that God will continue to use them and that God will keep them safe as they do
His will.
Jesus’
disciples could not understand why it was that Jesus wanted to go back into
enemy territory, and we know that they will learn that there was nothing going
to happen to Him until that time when God had prepared for Him to die on the
cross for the sins of the world. They
were learning this, and this would be a big step in their learning it. Now perhaps His disciples were thinking about
how Jesus healed the Centurions slave from a distance, and were wondering why
He did not do the same for Lazarus, for that would have been no problem for
Him, but this would not be in the will of God for Him to do that. In thinking this His disciples at that time
did not know that Lazarus was dead, but just asleep.
Jesus
answered them with a proverbial saying which meant to calm the disciples’ fears
“"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he
does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 “But if anyone
walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.’” John MacArthur comments on this saying: “The Jews divided the daylight period into
twelve hours, which unlike modern hours varied in length at different seasons
of the year. The twelve hours in the day
symbolize the duration of the Lord’s earthly ministry as allotted by the
Father. Just as no one can lengthen or
shorten a day, so the disciples’ concern could not extend the time allotted to
Jesus, nor could the Jews’ hostility shorten it. The one who walks in the day need not fear that
he might stumble; thus Jesus was perfectly safe for the prescribed time of His
life (7:30; 8:20). The night, signifying
the end of His earthly ministry (cf. 12:35), would come at the precise time set
by God’s eternal plan, and only then would the Lord stumble in death.” We looked at this in our discussion of
chapter nine and verse four in a previous Spiritual Diary. “"We must work the works of Him who sent
Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”
We will
look further in these verses in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful for the reminder that I have
seen in this section for I have had a difficult time in accepting the fact that
my friends went back to Turkey, even though I knew this truth, but like the
disciples’ of Jesus I wasn’t looking at God’s will for their lives, and this
section has increased my faith as I trust that God will work out in their lives
His perfect will.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: As I look at what is going on
in the world today I see shadows of many end time prophecies that are coming
about and my prayer is that God will continue to use me as our time is getting
closer and closer to when our Lord will return and take us to be with Him as He
comes in the clouds at the Rapture.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:5-7) “5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness
of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection; 6
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body
of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7
for he who has died is freed from sin.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Babel” (Genesis 11:9).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who was blind, but has such strength that he overthrew a temple?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/19/2016 10:00 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment