I SEE YOU

I See You

Read: Psalm 121
Bible in a Year: Job 25–27; Acts 12

The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.—Psalm 121:8

When Xavier was two, he darted into one aisle after another in a small shoe store. Hiding behind stacks of shoeboxes, he giggled when my husband, Alan, said, “I see you.”

Moments later, I saw Alan dash frantically from aisle to aisle, calling Xavier’s name. We raced to the front of the store. Our child, still laughing, ran toward the open door leading to the busy street outside.

Within seconds, Alan scooped him up. We embraced as I thanked God, sobbed, and kissed our toddler’s chubby cheeks.

A year before I became pregnant with Xavier, I’d lost our first child during the pregnancy. When God blessed us with our son, I became a fearful parent. Our shoe store experience proved I wouldn’t always be able to see or protect our child. But I discovered peace as I learned to turn to my only sure source of help—God—when I struggled with worry and fear.

Our heavenly Father never takes His eyes off His children (Psalm 121:1-4). While we can’t prevent trials, heartache, or loss, we can live with confident faith, relying on an ever-present Helper and Protector who watches over our lives (vv. 5-8).

We may encounter days when we feel lost and helpless. We may also feel powerless when we can’t shield loved ones. But we can trust that our all-knowing God never loses sight of us—His precious and beloved children. —Xochitl Dixon

Thank You for watching over our loved ones and us, Lord.

God always keeps His eye on His children.

INSIGHT: Psalms 120-134 are known as “Pilgrim Songs”—songs for “pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem” (nlt). God commanded all male Jews to come to the temple to observe the three annual feasts (see Deuteronomy 16:16): Unleavened Bread (Passover), Weeks (Pentecost), and Tabernacles. As pilgrims trod up the hilly paths to Jerusalem, they sang from these psalms.

When we embark on a journey, we often pray for journeying mercies for safety is foremost on our minds. Psalm 121—known as “The Traveler’s Psalm”—is a prayer addressing our safety and security concerns as we journey through life. Even as the psalmist speaks of unknown dangers, he affirms God’s divine protection and preservation. He reminds us that God is our Helper, giving us the security and stability we need (vv. 1-3). And because God is our Keeper—watching our every step (vv. 4-8)—we can pray in confident trust, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe” (Psalm 4:8 nlt).

How does being led by God, our Good Shepherd, empower you to “walk through the darkest valley”? (Psalm 23:4). K. T. Sim

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THE FATHER'S FAITHFULNESS

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONS

The Father’s Faithfulness

Read:  Psalm 107:1-16

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions

fail not….Great is Your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23

Hudson Taylor, the humble servant of God to China, demonstrated extraordinary trust in God’s faithfulness.  In his journal he wrote:

“Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One.  He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning…He sustained three million Israelites in the wilderness for forty years.  We do not expect He will send three million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all…Depend on it, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.”

We may be faint and weary, but our heavenly Father is all-powerful.  Our feelings may fluctuate, but He is unchangeable.  Even creation itself is a record of His steadfastness.  That’s why we can sing these words from the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” by Thomas Chisholm:  “All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.”

What an encouragement to live for Him!  Our strength for the present and hope for the future are not based on the stability of our own perseverance but on the fidelity of God.  No matter what our need, we can count on the Father’s faithfulness.                             PVG

He who abandons himself to God will never

be abandoned by God.

LIVING OUT LOUD

Living Out Loud

Read: 1 Peter 3:8–16
Bible in a Year: Job 22–24; Acts 11

In your hearts revere Christ as Lord.—1 Peter 3:15

While staying at a hotel in Austin, Texas, I noticed a card lying on the desk in my room. It said:

Welcome
Our prayer is that your stay here will be restful
and that your travels will be fruitful.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, and make
His face shine upon you.

This card from the company that manages the hotel made me want to know more, so I accessed their website and read about their culture, strength, and values. In a winsome way, they seek to pursue excellence and live out their faith in the workplace.

Their philosophy reminded me of Peter’s words to the followers of Jesus scattered throughout Asia Minor. He encouraged them to demonstrate their faith in Christ in the society where they lived. Even as they faced threats and persecution, Peter told them not to be afraid, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

A friend of mine calls this “living a lifestyle that demands an explanation.” No matter where we live or work, may we in God’s strength live out our faith today—always ready to reply gently and respectfully to everyone who asks the reason for our hope. —David C. McCasland

May our lives cause others to ask the reason we have hope.

INSIGHT: When we think of Peter, we often think of young Peter—his rash denials of Christ (John 18:17, 25, 27), his jumping out of the boat to walk on the water to Jesus (Matthew 14:22-31), or his cutting off a servant’s ear in the garden of Gethsemane (John 18:10). Yet aged Peter—mature Peter—is a much different man who wrote letters to encourage believers in Jesus. The man who called down a curse on himself as he denied Christ (Matthew 26:73-75) now writes that believers should be prepared to give an answer for their hope—something he was once unwilling to do. Such is the difference the Spirit makes in our lives.

How has the Spirit been transforming you and helping you to live out your faith? J.R. Hudberg

THE BEST ERASER

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONS

The Best Eraser

Read:  Luke 16:19-31

I have blotted out, like a thick cloud,

your transgressions.  Isaiah 44:22

What is memory?  What is this faculty that enables us to recall past feelings, sights, sounds, and experiences?  By what process are events recorded, stored, and preserved in our brain to be brought back again and again?  Much is still mystery.

We do know that memories can be blessings-full of comfort, assurance, and joy.  Old age can be happy and satisfying if we have stored up memories of purity, faith, fellowship, and love.  If a saint looks back on a life of Christian service and remembers the faithfulness of Him who promised:  “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5), his or her sunset years can be the sweetest of all.

But memory can also be a curse and a tormentor.  Many people as they approach the end of life would give all they posses to erase from their minds the past sins that haunt them.  What can a person do who is plagued by such remembrances?  Just one thing.  He can take them to the One who is able to forgive them and blot them out forever.  He’s the One who said, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17).

You may not be able to forget your past.  But the Lord offers to blot out, “like a thick cloud, your transgressions” (Isaiah 44:22).          MRD

The deep remorse that’s in the soul

No human eye may trace;

But Jesus sees the broken heart,

And can its woes erase. -Bosch

The best eraser is honest confession to God.

WHAT IS GOD LIKE?

What Is God Like?

Read: Hebrews 1:1–10

The Son is . . . the exact representation of [God’s] being.—Hebrews 1:3

To celebrate a special occasion, my husband took me to a local art gallery and said I could choose a painting as a gift. I picked out a small picture of a brook flowing through a forest. The streambed took up most of the canvas, and because of this much of the sky was excluded from the picture. However, the stream’s reflection revealed the location of the sun, the treetops, and the hazy atmosphere. The only way to “see” the sky was to look at the surface of the water.

Jesus is like the stream, in a spiritual sense. When we want to see what God is like, we look at Jesus. The writer of Hebrews said He is “the exact representation of [God’s] being” (1:3). Although we can learn facts about God through direct statements in the Bible such as “God is love,” we can deepen our understanding by seeing the way God would act if He faced the same problems we have on Earth. Being God in human flesh, this is what Jesus has shown us.

In temptation, Jesus revealed God’s holiness. Confronting spiritual darkness, He demonstrated God’s authority. Wrestling with people problems, He showed us God’s wisdom. In His death, He illustrated God’s love.

Although we cannot grasp everything about God—He is limitless and we are limited in our thinking—we can be certain of His character when we look at Christ. —Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Dear God, thank You for making a way for us to know You. Help us to grow closer to You by looking at Jesus.

Looking at Jesus shows us God’s character.

INSIGHT: Jesus lived out the mission of revealing the heart and character of His Father to a world that had separated itself from Him. This aspect of Jesus’s incarnation was described in John 1:18: “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us” (nlt). In revealing the Father to us, we see the invisible God made visible in Jesus. Bill Crowder

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THE BUS DRIVER

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONS

The Bus Driver

Read:  1 John 4:7-12

Be imitators of God…and walk in love.

Ephesians 5:1-2

In the middle of carting seventy pieces of luggage, an electronic piano, and other equipment through airports and on and off a tour bus,  it’s easy to wonder, “Why are we doing this?”

Taking twenty-eight teenagers on an eleven-day ministry trip to a land across the ocean is not easy.  But at the end of the trip our bus driver, who had carted us all over England and Scotland, grabbed the bus microphone and in tears thanked the kids for how wonderful they had been.  Then after we got home, he e-mailed us to say how much he appreciated the thank-you cards the kids had written to him-many of which contained the gospel.

Although the students ministered to hundreds through song during the trip, perhaps it was the bus driver who most benefited from their Christlikeness.  In Ephesians we are told to be imitators of God and to walk in love (Ephesians 5:1-2).  Others see God in us when we show love to one another (1 John 4:12).  The bus driver saw Jesus in the students and told them that they might just convert him to faith in Christ.  Maybe it was for this man that we took that trip.

Why do you do what you do?  Whose life are you affecting?  Sometimes it’s not our target audience that we impact most.  Sometimes it’s the bus drivers of the world.                                         DB

Lord, may I be a shining light

For all the world to see

Your goodness and Your love displayed

As You reach out through me. -Sper

Witnessing is not just something a Christian says,

but what he is.

LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Light of the World

Read: Revelation 3:14–22
Bible in a Year: Job 17–19; Acts 10:1–23

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.—Revelation 3:20

One of my favorite pieces of art hangs in the Keble College chapel in Oxford, England. The painting, The Light of the World by English artist William Holman Hunt, shows Jesus holding a lantern in His hand and knocking on a door to a home.

One of the intriguing aspects of the painting is that the door doesn’t have a handle. When questioned about the lack of a way to open the door, Hunt explained that he wanted to represent the imagery of Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.”

The apostle John’s words and the painting illustrate the kindness of Jesus. He gently knocks on the door of our souls with His offer of peace. Jesus stands and patiently waits for us to respond. He does not open the door Himself and force His way into our lives. He does not impose His will on ours. Instead, He offers to all people the gift of salvation and light to guide us.

To anyone who opens the door, He promises to enter. There are no other requirements or prerequisites.

If you hear the voice of Jesus and His gentle knock on the door of your soul, be encouraged that He patiently waits for you and will enter if you welcome Him in. —Lisa Samra

Lord, thank You for the gift of salvation and Your promise to enter when we open the door. Please help me to respond to this gift and open the door for You today.

Open the door to Jesus; He is patiently waiting for you.

INSIGHT: Why does Jesus, like Moses and the prophets before Him, remind us that it’s possible to see without seeing, to hear without hearing, and to think without understanding? (Matthew 13:15; Deuteronomy 29:4).

Seven times in His letters to the seven churches, the resurrected Lord of the church offers counsel to those who have an ear to hear. Seven times He repeats to people who already thought of themselves as believers, “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Why such repetition? What are the distractions He mentions in these letters? (Revelation 2-3). What could possibly turn us away from the One who is waiting for us to realize we still need Him more than the air we breathe? Mart DeHaan

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