August 31, 2023

August 31, 2023

To prevent the frustration of falling behind, which most of us tend to do when following a Bible reading plan, each month of this plan gives you only twenty-five readings. Today we start a few “free days” . We encourage you to catch up on any readings you may have missed this month.

If you have finished the month’s readings, you can use these final days of the month to study the passages that challenged or intrigued you.

Daily Devotion

Deuteronomy 1:37 “Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.”

In Numbers 20:2-12, we can read where Moses struck the rock out of frustration. 
 
120 yrs of Moses life….. yet it was 10 seconds of frustration that kept him out of THE PROMISE LAND. 
 
What about our lives?
It only takes mere seconds of an indiscretion,
It only takes mere seconds of unchecked anger,
It only takes mere seconds of frustration.
 
The people that were destined for the Promise Land, kept Moses out of his promise, his inheritance.   
 
In 1 Samuel 15:15 we find it recorded that “the people” revealed Saul’s insecurity. That led to his family being cut off from their heritage. 
 
2 Corinthians 12:15 (NKJ)  “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.”
 
What a sobering statement Paul is delivering to mature saints. He is imparting to them that you are not always appreciated. You will not always be recognized for your Kingdom labor behind the scenes. 

We are faced with a choice:

  1. I can allow anger to build from many different situations, circumstances, encounters and conversations until I absolutely explode in a moment of frustration and anger… like Moses.
  2. Or I can come to the realization that my labor, whether great or small, public or private, noticed or forgotten and taken for granted, is not to please people but it is a service (as a servant) unto God.

There is a phrase from an old song that strikes to the heart of the matter–“Only one life… only what’s done for Christ, will last.”
 
~Pastor Seagraves