Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Anointing of David,” pp. 637–642, in Patriarchs and Prophets. God’s plan for us may require that we do a lot of waiting, and this really can feel like a crucible. Learning patience during this time can happen as we focus on the person of God and trust that He is acting for us. There are many reasons for waiting, but all are concerned with the fulfillment of God’s plans for us and His kingdom. We can lose much if we rush ahead of God, but we can gain muc...
Sep 09, 2022•6 min•Ep. 1502
Learning to Take Delight in the Lord “Take delight in the L ord , and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4, NRSV). Psalm 37:4 is a wonderful promise. Imagine getting what you have always wanted. But getting the desires of our hearts hinges on having hearts that take delight in the Lord. So, what does it mean to “take delight in the Lord”? Read Psalm 37:1–11. The context for Psalm 37:4 is, perhaps, a little surprising. David is writing about being surrounded by people who are wor...
Sep 08, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1501
Elijah: The Problem of Rushing The showdown on top of Mount Carmel had ended (1 Kings 18). Fire had come out of heaven, all the people had acknowledged the true God, and the false prophets had been put to death. God had been vindicated. You would have thought that Elijah had been growing in spiritual strength as the day went on, but suddenly he heard something that terrified him so much that he wanted to die. Read the rest of the story in 1 Kings 19:1–9. The last words in the text are worrisome:...
Sep 07, 2022•15 min•Ep. 1500
David: An Object Lesson in Waiting In 1 Samuel 16:1–13, we see David anointed by Samuel as king. However, it was a long journey from the fields of his father, Jesse, to the throne in Jerusalem. No doubt, at times, he felt he was in the midst of a crucible. First, the lad is called to play music to soothe Saul’s troubled spirit (1 Samuel 16). Later, he becomes Israel’s hero as he kills Goliath (1 Samuel 17). Then there are many years during which David is run- ning for his life. Both Saul and his...
Sep 06, 2022•14 min•Ep. 1499
In God’s Time Read Romans 5:6 and Galatians 4:4. What do they tell us about God’s timing? In these verses, Paul tells us that Jesus came to die for us at exactly the right time. But Paul does not tell us why it was the right time. It is very easy to read these verses and wonder, Why did Jesus wait for thousands of years until He came to the earth to deal with sin—didn’t the universe understand that sin was a very bad thing long before then? We may ask why Jesus is waiting to come the second time...
Sep 05, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1498
The God of Patience Read Romans 15:4, 5. What is found in these verses for us? We are normally impatient about things that we really want or have been promised but don’t have yet. We are often satisfied only when we get what we are longing for. And because we rarely get what we want when we want it, it means that we are often doomed to irritation and impatience. And when we are in this state, it is almost impossible to maintain peace and trust in God. Waiting is painful by definition. In Hebrew,...
Sep 04, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1497
Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 15:4, 5; Rom. 5:3–5; 1 Samuel 26; Ps. 37:1–11. Memory Text: “But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . longsuffering” (Gala- tians 5:22, NKJV). Scientists did an experiment with four-year-old children and marshmallows. Each child was told by a scientist that they could have a marshmallow; however, if the child waited until the sci- entist returned from an errand, they would be given two. Some of the children stuffed the marshmallow into their mouths the moment the sci...
Sep 03, 2022•6 min•Ep. 1496
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Importance of Seeking True Knowledge,” pp. 453, 454, in The Ministry of Healing; “The Sermon on the Mount,” pp. 298–314, in The Desire of Ages; “The Worker and His Qualifications,” p. 630, in Evangelism. “The difficulties we have to encounter may be very much lessened by that meekness which hides itself in Christ. If we possess the humility of our Master, we shall rise above the slights, the rebuffs, the annoy- ances, to which we are daily exposed, and ...
Sep 02, 2022•7 min•Ep. 1495
Our Rock and Refuge So often the most proud people, the most arrogant and pushy, are those who suffer from low self-esteem. Their arrogance and pride—and total lack of meekness or humility—exist as a cover, perhaps even uncon- sciously, for something lacking inside. What they need is something we all need: a sense of security, of worthiness, of acceptance, especially in times of distress and suffering. We can find that only through the Lord. In short, meekness and humility, far from being attrib...
Sep 01, 2022•11 min•Ep. 1494
A Closed Mouth The most powerful examples of meekness in the crucible come from Jesus. When He said to come and “learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29), He meant it in ways we probably can’t imagine. Read 1 Peter 2:18–25. Peter is offering some surprising advice to slaves. He describes how Jesus responded to unjust and painful treatment and suggests to them that He has left them “an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Pet. 2:21, NKJV). What prin- ciples of meeknes...
Aug 31, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1493
Loving Those Who Hurt Us Someone once said: “Loving our enemies, then, does not mean that we are supposed to love the dirt in which the pearl is buried; rather it means that we love the pearl which lies in the dust. . . . God does not love us because we are by nature lovable. But we become lovable because He loves us.” When you look at your “enemies,” what do you normally see—the pearl or the dirt around it? Read Matthew 5:43–48. Jesus calls us to love and pray for our ene- mies. What example fr...
Aug 30, 2022•11 min•Ep. 1492
Interceding for Grace Read Exodus 32:1–14. What role do we find Moses playing here? After the people began worshiping the golden calf, God decided they had gone too far and announced that He would destroy the people and make Moses a great nation. But rather than taking up God’s offer, Moses pleaded for God to show grace to His people, and God relented. Exodus 32:1–14 raises two important issues. First, God’s offer to destroy the rebellious people and bless Moses was a test for him. God wanted Mo...
Aug 29, 2022•13 min•Ep. 1491
“Broken Bread and Poured-Out Wine” Consider: Oswald Chambers has said that we are to become “bro- ken bread and poured-out wine” for others. What do you think he means by this? All through the Bible there are examples of people who were “broken” to serve others. Moses was called to endure unending waves of gossip and criticism as he led people to the Promised Land. Joseph was called to a journey that involved betrayal and imprisonment as he was brought to a position of service in Egypt. In each ...
Aug 28, 2022•11 min•Ep. 1490
Read for This Week’s Study: Ezek. 24:15–27, Exod. 32:1– 14, Matt. 5:43–48, 1 Pet. 2:18–25, Ps. 62:1–8. Memory Text: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5, NKJV). We don’t hear the word meek used much, except maybe when reading about Moses or studying the Beatitudes. It’s not hard to figure out why, either. Meekness is defined as “enduring injury with patience and without resentment.” No wonder we don’t hear much about it; it’s hardly a trait well respected in cult...
Aug 27, 2022•7 min•Ep. 1489
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “Jehoshaphat,” pp. 190–203, in Prophets and Kings; “The Fall of Jericho,” pp. 487–498, in Patriarchs and Prophets. “Then let us educate our hearts and lips to speak the praise of God for His matchless love. Let us educate our souls to be hopeful and to abide in the light shining from the cross of Calvary. Never should we forget that we are children of the heavenly King, sons and daughters of the Lord of hosts. It is our privilege to maintain a calm repose in...
Aug 26, 2022•11 min•Ep. 1488
A Weapon That Conquers Read 2 Chronicles 20:1–30. As Jehoshaphat discovered, praise is a powerful weapon. After receiving the report that a “vast army” was coming against him, Jehoshaphat did not immediately jump to military action, but “resolved to inquire of the Lord” (2 Chron. 20:3, NIV). As the people of Judah came to Jerusalem for a fast, Jehoshaphat admitted the reality of the situation, saying that “ ‘we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do,...
Aug 25, 2022•14 min•Ep. 1487
A Witness Who Convicts In the book of Acts, praise had an astonishing effect on those who heard it. Read Acts 16:16–34. Having been stripped and beaten hard, Paul and Silas were thrown into prison. No one was there to put oint- ment on their badly cut and bruised backs. In great physical pain and with their feet in stocks, they were placed in the darkness of the inner prison. But as the other prisoners sat listening, Paul and Silas begin to pray and sing. After the earthquake, and after he had d...
Aug 24, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1486
The Life of Praise Praising the Lord might not be natural to us, even in good circum- stances. Thus, how much more difficult to do it in bad ones? Yet, that is what we are called to do. Praise is something that we must practice until it changes from being an activity done at a particular time to an atmosphere in which we live. Praise shouldn’t so much be a specific act but a specific way of life itself. Read Psalm 145. What are the reasons David gives for praising God? In what ways should the wo...
Aug 23, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1485
Praying Down Walls There’s an expression in English: “to be painted into a corner.” Imagine painting the floor of a room but then realizing that you have wound up in a corner and cannot get out—except by walking over the fresh paint. You have to stay there until it dries! Sometimes our faith seems to paint us into a corner. We arrive at a situa tion, and, like the wet paint on the floor, our faith “traps” us. We look at the situation, and either we have to reject God, faith, and everything we h...
Aug 22, 2022•14 min•Ep. 1484
Framework for Praise The great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky had been sentenced to death, only to have the sentence commuted at the last moment. He spent years in prison instead. Talking about his prison experience, he wrote: “Believe to the end, even if all men go astray and you are left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness.” In these lessons, we already have seen how Paul endured incredible opposition and persecution. But now he is sitting i...
Aug 21, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1483
S abbath A fternoon Read for This Week’s Study: Phil. 4:4–7, Josh. 5:13–6:20, Psalm 145, Acts 16:16–34, 2 Chron. 20:1–30. Memory Text: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4, NKJV). It’s always easy to shout with joy to the Lord when we feel joy. It’s not so easy, however, when things are bad, when we are in the worst situations imaginable, when the crucible heats up. Yet, it’s precisely then that we need—perhaps more than ever—to praise God, for praise is a means o...
Aug 20, 2022•5 min•Ep. 1482
Further Study: Read Ellen G. White, “In the Days of Queen Esther,” pp. 598–606, in Prophets and Kings. “Has not God said He would give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? And is not this Spirit a real, true actual guide? Some men seem afraid to take God at His word, as though it would be presumption in them. They pray for the Lord to teach us and yet are afraid to credit the pledged word of God and believe we have been taught of Him. So long as we come to our heavenly Father humbly and with a ...
Aug 19, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1481
Still Faithful When God Cannot Be Seen To think that no one cares about what is happening to us is very unpleasant. But to think that God does not know or care about us can be most distressing. To the Judaeans exiled in Babylon, God did not seem to care much about their situation. They were still exiled, still feeling abandoned by God because of their sin. But Isaiah speaks words of comfort to them. Isaiah 40 is a beautiful passage in which Isaiah speaks so tenderly to the people about their God...
Aug 18, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1480
To Carry All Our Worry There is a plaque that some people have in their homes that reads “Why pray when you can worry?” It makes us laugh because we know how often we worry rather than come to God and give Him our con- cerns. Someone once said that when our life becomes all tied up, we should give it to God and let Him untie the knots. How God must long to do this for us. Yet, amazingly, we manage to hang on to our problems until we are about to snap. Why do we wait until we are desperate before...
Aug 17, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1479
The Power of the Resurrection The Resurrection addresses the problem of human powerlessness. When we think about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we often think about how the death of Jesus was the event that made us legally right with God. And that, of course, is true. However, the Resurrection adds a specific dimension to salvation. The resurrection of Jesus is meaningful not just because it shows us that one day we will be resurrected, as well. The Resurrection placed Jesus at the ...
Aug 16, 2022•8 min•Ep. 1478
In the Name of Jesus “ ‘If you ask anything in My name, I will do it’ ” (John 14:14, NKJV). Jesus was not going to be with the disciples much longer. The One who had been their support and encouragement was going to heaven, and the disciples were beginning to feel confused and powerless. But though the disciples would not be able to see Him physically any lon- ger, Jesus gave them a remarkable promise. Read John 14:1–14. According to verses 13 and 14, Jesus promises to do for us “anything” that ...
Aug 15, 2022•13 min•Ep. 1477
Our Father’s Extravagance “If God really loved me, He would certainly do _________________ for me!” I wonder how many times that thought has flickered through our minds. We look at our circumstances and then begin to wonder whether God really loves us, because if He really did, things would be different. There are two rationales that often lead us to doubt God’s goodness. First, when we have a burning desire in our hearts and minds for some- thing that we believe is good, the idea that God might...
Aug 14, 2022•12 min•Ep. 1476
Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 8:28–39, John 14:1–14, Eph. 1:18–23, Isa. 40:27–31. Memory Text: “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27, NKJV). The definition of faith in the book of Hebrews is always challeng- ing. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1, NIV). How can we be sure about what we do not see? Yet, this is exactly what Moses illustrates in ou...
Aug 13, 2022•6 min•Ep. 1475
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The School of the Hereafter,” pp. 301–309, in Education; “Help in Daily Living,” pp. 470, 471, in The Ministry of Healing. “Into the experience of all there come times of keen disappointment and utter discouragement—days when sorrow is the portion, and it is hard to believe that God is still the kind benefactor of His earthborn children; days when troubles harass the soul, till death seems prefer- able to life. It is then that many lose their hold on God an...
Aug 12, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1474
Our Father’s Discipline Read Hebrews 12:5–13. What’s the message to us here, and how does it fit in with what we have been studying this quarter? In Hebrews 12:5–13, Paul describes trials in the context of discipline. In the New International Version Bible translation of this passage, vari- ous forms of the word “discipline” appear ten times. In the Greek world, this word was the most basic word for “education.” So, to understand “discipline” is to understand how God educates us in the school of...
Aug 11, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1473
