“And as he grew strong, his heart grew more proud, leading to his destruction. Then he acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God, for he entered the temple main hall of the Lord to burn incense on the altar.”
— 2 Chronicles 26:16

One day, Judah’s King Uzziah transgressed against the Lord God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense, and God punished him with leprosy. Well, you say that wasn’t such a great crime. Or was it? If you understand what was meant by it you would understand that it was. He was not a priest of God. He was not set aside and sanctified unto the priesthood. But he decided that this is what he would do. He should have looked forward to an old age of rest and honor and contentment. But really the problem was that he had everything that he could have desired.

This is what happens to the spoiled kid. This is why we have young people today who come from upper middle class homes, who have two or three cars in their driveways, and yet they are out knocking people in the head. They kill for the joy and excitement of doing it. They rob and take dope for the excitement because they are just bored. They have everything.

Well, Uzziah had everything. He thought that he would be the high priest. He not only usurped the position of the priest, but he usurped the position of the high priest of God. This is the same sin that had caused the kingdom to be wrested from the hands of King Saul. We must guard against the sin of pride in our hearts. As C. S. Lewis once noted, “It is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.”

Lord, give me strength for today to follow You humbly. Forgive me for the pride in my heart. Help me to remember that all good things come from You. There is nothing I have that I did not receive. Please replace my pride with gratitude…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
WALK HUMBLY WITH HIM.

“[King Uzziah] sought after God in the days of Zechariah, the one who instructed him in the fear of the Lord. And in the days that he sought after the Lord, God caused him to succeed.”
— 2 Chronicles 26:5

Following God often brings joy and contentment. But the devil is constantly engaged in his one most successful stratagem of reaching his slimy arm out of the pit of Hell and holding some bauble in front of our eyes and turning it this way and that and saying, “Ahhh, will not this bless your life, will not this make you happy, will not this fulfill your wildest dream?” And you say, “Yes,” and you bite and there is a hook. Be not deceived.

We are told of King Uzziah in the Old Testament that as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. And we see that he sought the Lord as long as the prophet Zachariah lived. But tragically there came a time when Zachariah died, and Uzziah no longer sought the Lord. And it shows us the importance of the prophetic office and the proclamation of the Word of God, and how many foolish people there are who suppose that because they have made some progress in the Christian religion that they can now ignore the various ordinances that God has established—they can go their own way and still live a good life. They suppose that the strength is in themselves and it is not there at all. Soon what was there dries up, withers away, and they find themselves totally incapable of withstanding the sin and temptation that they face. We need to be faithful in season and out.

Lord, give me strength for today to recognize those forces in my life that lead me toward You and those that lead me away from You, and to always choose the former and avoid the latter. Help me to choose my friends and associates carefully…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN BE
FAITHFUL IN SEASON AND OUT.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, you good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter the joy of your master.’”
— Matthew 25:21

Those of us in the ministry should take special care to avoid even the hint of scandal, including that involving sex. Not long ago I heard about a friend of mine in the ministry who had fallen into temptation and grievous sin, had scandalized himself, his family, and the church of Christ. He had lost his church and now was in incredible trouble.

Thankfully, he had but a small church, and the scandal never made the daily news or the newspaper. I called him long distance and spoke to him. I don’t think I have ever talked to a man who was so crushed. He said, “I… I can’t go out of the house. I feel that everybody is looking at me and pointing at me. ‘There he is. He’s the one.’ I don’t know what I’m going to do. My life is destroyed. What have I done?”

Then he said something that fell on my ears like a ton of bricks. He said, “Jim, I’ll never hear Him say, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’” With that, I choked. I thought that was the saddest thing I’ve ever heard a human being say.

How about you, my friend? Will you hear those words from Him? May God grant us the grace that moving forward we so live our lives that when we die and stand before Jesus He will look us in the eyes, call us by name, and say, “Well done, you good and faithful servant…”

Lord, give me the strength to obey You and live for You so that when I die, You may say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Please, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the fiery darts of the evil one…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE CAN FINISH STRONG.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
— Romans 6:23

What has the sexual revolution with its promotion of promiscuity brought us? First, there is the spiritual damage. Lust wages war against the soul—many have fallen away from the faith because their lust got the better of them. Then there is the psychological and sociological damage, such as broken hearts and broken homes. Furthermore, today there are more than two dozen sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) that are epidemic in our population.

So maybe God isn’t such an ogre after all. And maybe every good gift and every perfect gift does come down from above, and not up from beneath with a hook in it and Satan at the other end of the line.

Probably the basic lie of Satan underlying all of his deceptions is the lie that the laws of God will restrict and narrow and diminish one’s life. How many people have sadly learned that just the opposite is true, when their bodies have been vitiated by venereal disease, or their minds have been scrambled by various guilt-induced psychoses or neuroses, and they find only too late that had they followed God’s path their lives would have been enriched and ennobled?

The problem is that in America today we have confused love with lust, and these are almost antithetically opposed to each other. The essence of lust is a desire to get something from someone else. Love is the opposite. Love gives.

God of truth, help us never to believe the devil’s lies. Help us to trust You fully and to obey Your plan for our lives. Thank You that when we follow You faithfully You give us “none of these diseases.” Forgive us for any past sins; give us the strength to avoid them as we move forward…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE KNOW THAT HE
HAS GIVEN HIS LAW FOR OUR GOOD.

“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory…”
— Psalm 115:1 kjv

Chuck Swindoll once pointed out that President Reagan had this saying on a plaque on his desk: “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”

In contrast, envy limits itself to that for which we will get the glory. Think of all the times the apostles argued among themselves over one thing—which of them was the greatest? Jesus rebuked them for that and told them that the greatest among them was the servant of all.

If anybody just sits on their God-given gifts because they are concerned that maybe people will not praise them, they are sinning. We should use the talents and opportunities God has gifted us with on a regular basis. If you’re concerned about who gets the credit, then remember what we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “… For Thine is…the glory.” What is the point of any of our accomplishments? The Psalmist tells us: “Not unto us, Oh Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory.” If we live free from the worry of who gets top billing, of who notices us, of how well we are doing by some worldly status criterion, we can do much more work for the Lord.

So whatever task you find at hand, do it with all your might. And do it for God’s glory and others’ good. God knows what you do, and He will repay you.

Father God, give us strength for today to serve You diligently, even if we aren’t always recognized for it here on earth. Thank You, Lord, You who sees all, for being a just God. Let everything we do be truly for Your glory…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
SERVE ANONYMOUSLY.

“I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”
— Hebrews 13:5

I think I have heard almost every excuse as to why people can’t share the Gospel with others. Moses made excuses to wriggle out of His task. He asked God, “Who am I to do this?”

Excuses are as old as the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve excused their sin, blaming someone else. But like Moses we have said, and I know that I have said, because I can hear myself echoing in these things: “Who am I that I should do this? Who am I that I should go into the ministry? Who am I that I should go to someone’s home and attempt to bring him out of the bondage of sin, into the light everlasting? I am not capable of doing this. I know how strong the power and bondage of Satan and his minions and cohorts are.”

No doubt Moses thought, “I tried before and I failed,” and he most certainly did. His attempt was a miserable failure. Perhaps you have thought the same. I have. I remember when I first tried here in Fort Lauderdale, and it was a miserable failure, and I was mortified by the attempt and determined that this obviously was something I was incapable of doing. “Who am I? I am obviously not cut out to do this sort of thing, to bring God’s people out of Egypt.” And the answer that God gives is very simple: “I will be with you, and that is the all sufficient reason.”

Lord, give me strength for today to do what is before me and to do it well. Guide me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah. Thank You, Lord, for Your vast kingdom and all the opportunities to serve…

BY HIS STRENGTH,
WE SERVE THE LORD.

“Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
—Exodus 3:10

In Exodus 3 and 4, we read of the call of Moses and many things are revealed here. Moses is called by God to go back into Egypt to confront Pharaoh and to bring God’s people out of bondage into the promised land. Now I think that this should be more than merely an interesting historical lesson, remembering that all of us have the very same calling resting upon us; not just Moses, not just preachers, but every Christian is called in this same fashion as was Moses. Not as dramatically in most cases, but called nonetheless.

Recall that in the Bible, Egypt represents the world—the lost and fallen world with all of its ungodliness, iniquity, and sin. Pharaoh represents Satan who is the prince of this world. God’s people, His elect, are in the world, under the cruel dominion of Satan. We are all called to go and bring out others in order that they might be delivered from the galling bondage of sin—that they might worship and serve the only true God with joy and enter into the promised land, which He has prepared, the heavenly Canaan.

So this is the calling of each one of us. As we think about Moses, let us also think about ourselves and how we are like or unlike him. Just as Moses raised questions and excuses, so do many today. But let us be faithful in order to let the captives know they can be free in Christ.

Lord, give me strength for today that I may be faithful in fulfilling Your purpose in me. Thank You for Your call on my life…

BY HIS STRENGTH,
WE ANSWER HIS CALL.

“…for He who has mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water He shall guide them.”
—Isaiah 49:10

How important it is and how blessed we are to follow God’s guidance for our lives. You may remember the story of Peter Marshall who was the Chaplain of the Senate some years ago. His life story was made into the film A Man Called Peter.

If you recall, as a young man in Scotland, not really knowing what God would have him to do, he was walking across a moor one day and there was dense fog. He could hardly see the ground at all, and then suddenly he tripped and fell flat on his face. When he started to push himself up, one of his hands went right over the edge of the cliff that he would have been looking down into if he could have seen. Then as the fog cleared a little bit he saw, indeed, that he was right on the very edge of a deep precipice that would most certainly have cost him his life if he hadn’t tripped over the root of a tree.

He was convinced that in this circumstance God was guiding him and later brought him to America, to Columbia Seminary, where I also studied some time later. Finally, Peter Marshall felt led to the high position of the Chaplaincy of the Senate of the United States.

The Lord guides the steps of the righteous—in this case, it was literally so. We need not fear the future, but only entrust our future to Him.

Dear Father, give us strength for today to seek after You with our whole heart. Thank You that You are sovereign. Help us to not be like a parked car, waiting to be steered. Instead, help us to trust in Your guidance and to put it into practice…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE FOLLOW
HIM WHEREVER HE LEADS.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”
—Proverbs 3:5-6

The subject of guidance is one that troubles many people’s lives. We had a visiting youth minister named Cliff who said that he had dated a girl for a short time. One day she told him that the Lord had told her that they were supposed to get married.

“Isn’t that wonderful,” she said, “to have such marvelous guidance on such an important matter?” and Cliff replied that it was wonderful indeed, and just as soon as God told him, then he would call for a preacher. Alas, some people I fear are merely trying to feign some kind of an intimate relationship with God that they don’t really have, pretending that God is thus audibly speaking with them today.

That is generally not the way we get our guidance in this day in which we live. On the other hand, some people give little thought whatsoever to the matter of guidance at all. They seem not to seek God when it comes to things like where they will live, where they will work, where they will go to church, whom they will marry.

Some hymns teach us well about guidance, such as “He Leadeth Me, O Blessed Thought” or “If Thou But Suffer God To Guide Thee” (“If You Will Only Let God Guide You”). Guidance is not something that we experience merely in the great crises, the crossroads of life, but God says that He is guiding us all of the days of our lives. We are to trust Him and seek Him, and He promises to guide us.

Lord, give me strength for today to seek how I might serve You. Thank You that You do not play games with Your will—hiding it from those who truly desire to fulfill it in their lives. If there is anything holding me back from doing Your will, reveal it to me…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE KNOW WHAT
WE SHOULD DO AND WE CAN DO IT.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God…”
—Hebrews 11:6

One great philosopher said that the greatest theme in all of history, which makes every other theme seem insignificant, is the great contest that has gone on from time immemorial between faith and unbelief. All conflicts in the world are really just variations of this big war.

This contest even happens at a small level each day. For example, you get up in the morning, get dressed, go out, and you meet someone. What do they say? They say, “How are you today?” Faith says, “I am redeemed, saved, justified, and sanctified. I am on my way to Paradise. I am fantastic.” But unbelief says, “Oh, pretty good, thank you.” But faith knows the answer. “God is doing wonderful things. He is not even finished with me yet. The greatest is yet to come.”

So faith and unbelief begin their war every day in your life. Unbelief might try to make us go back to bed for fear of the day that lies before us. But faith realizes that we can do all things through Christ. Paul tells Timothy to stand firm. He tells him, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7).

The writer of Hebrews noted that without faith, it is impossible to please God. In this life, unbelief will rob us of many spiritual riches God wants to bestow on us. May He grant us faith to trust Him in all things.

Dear Lord, increase our faith. Give us strength for today to see who You are and what You have done in Christ. Forgive our unbelief. Lord, we do believe—help our unbelief…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE BELIEVE
HIM AND HIS PROMISES.