TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 2022)
“When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad.
Bring back our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the South.
Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:1-6 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 334TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
With deep sense of gratitude, we want to say to the almighty God, creator of Heaven and earth, “thank you LORD for keeping us from the first day of this month to today, the last day.”
If it was a man that we were dealing with, he would have gotten angry at the terrible sins some of us committed during the month or are committing, and take away breath from our nostrils. But our God is not a man that is why we are not consumed.
Which calls for repentance from the dead works.
Yes, Our God is full of mercies and compassion, giving life to even those who do not deserve it. The Bible says He cause His rain to fall on the righteous and the wicked. The essence remains for us to use His goodness in our lives and repent of our sins
For past 30-days (today) He did not just cause His rain of mercies, compassion, goodness, kindness, faithfulness and peace to fall upon us, He also caused His rain of wisdom and knowledge to fall upon our souls through this platform.
Doubtlessly, we have become wiser and more knowledgeable on matters of practical wisdom.
I believe if we will put all we learned to work, our lives will begin to prosper, and as we continue applying the secrets that came, we will continue to prosper until we become very prosperous like Isaac.
Yes, like Isaac. Concerning the father of faith, the Bible says;
“Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.
The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;” Genesis 26:12-13 NKJV
It was when He sowed that the LORD blessed Him. That has nothing to do with the sow seed syndrome in church today. It has something to do with an underlining principle of God for our success in life.
That principle is the principle of man doing His part and God doing His. We have to do our part with practical wisdom for God to do His with practical power.If we walk in foolishness, we will hinder Him from doing so much in our lives. The Bible spoke about a King who was helped by God and granted rest from all his enemies until he acted foolishly.
THE WORD SAYS FROM THE TIME HE ACTED FOOLISHLY, HE BEGAN TO HAVE WARS.
The name of the King was Asa. It says;
“Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.
Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand.
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” 2 Chronicles 16:6-9 NKJV
If you read from the beginning of the chapter, you will realize that He acted foolishly by carrying the money in the temple that was given to God, and meant for the maintenance of the temple of God to bribe his enemies to go away from him instead of relying on God for help. It is like using the money you were supposed to give to God to solve your problems.
That foolish step weakened divine backing and took him away from the realm of rest to the realm of wars.
You see, all of our decisions, actions, and reactions are seeds. That of this king, like that of many of us who repeat his kind of mistake, was a terrible seed that unlocked the harvest of wars for him. But Isaac was not a king. He was a farmer.
As farmer he also had an opportunity to act foolishly but did not. He was in adversity also, like the King was, but his adversity was a different kind of adversity. His adversity was an economic war that was launched against the region he lived in. Not by humans but by forces beyond human control. They were in famine.
Famines are more terrible than wars. Yes, they are more difficult to control than wars, so he wanted to act foolishly by going to Egypt.
BUT THE LORD MET HIM AND SAID,
“Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.
Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.” Genesis 26:2-6 NKJV
From this scripture its clear that Isaac acted wisely. He obeyed God and did all He said to him. That was the real seed that made him prosper in the land. The real seed was not the crops he planted but the obedience he planted before planting the crops. That made him begin to prosper, and to continue prospering, until he became very prosperous.
For 30 days today the LORD has been speaking to us on matters of practical wisdom. From the definition of what practical wisdom is, to things that will never happen to us if we are not walking in practical wisdom, to the sources of practical wisdom, we have received lot of keys that requires application, and instructions that requires obedience.
We are to start sowing the seed of proper application of the keys we have received and the knowledge we have gathered. Yes, we are to step into the next days or years of our lives sowing the seeds of obedience by obeying the instructions we have received during this period.
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT SAYS;
“When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad.
Bring back our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the South.
Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:1-6 NKJV
The vision of God for taking us through this 30-days journey of faith, with the Cry of His Holy Spirit on practical wisdom, is to bring us back from any kind of captivity we may be in, especially for not acting wisely in life.
Some of us have not been acting wisely, hence going through so much in life. To increase our wisdom and bring us to the place of acting wisely was the reason for the 30-day journey.
Our devotional text was originally concerning the nation of Israel. The nation was in captivity in foreign lands because of how they treated the word of the LORD in their own land.
They act foolishly most times and lost their lands. But then the LORD visited them in those land be confronting them of their foolishness and they repented and began to act wisely, he brought them back to their own lands. That was why the Psalmist said;
“When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad.” Psalm 126:1-3 NKJV
This is the kind of laughter the LORD wants to put in your mouth. But the key to unlocking it lies in the last verses of the devotional text.
IT HAS SO MUCH TRUTHS BUT WE WILL LIMIT OURSELVES TO THE ONES THAT CONCERN US TODAY.
The text says;
“Bring back our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the South.
Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:4-6 NKJV
The key as we can see in the last verses of our devotional text, lies in sowing the seeds of obedience and application of what we have learned these 30 days. Some will bring tears out of our eyes because of the pain of making some of the changes that will be required, but everything will ultimately result in joy.
Isaac had to plant the seed of obedience before planting the crops. And God blessed His life for that.
In the same Spirit, we have to sow the seed of obedience and proper application of what came to us these 30 days so that God can fulfill in our lives the vision that made Him to take us through the journey.
Again, that vision is captivity turn around.
Our lives cannot continue the way we are going. Things must change and what is not of GOD must cease. But the key lies in obeying the word of the LORD that came to us these 30 days.
Child of God Obedience is still better than sacrifice. That has not changed even after over 4000 years that the word first hit the earth in the days of king Saul.
It is my prayer that the LORD will use this word to stir our hearts to add obedience to all we have learned this month in Jesus precious name. Amen and amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:22-23 NKJV