“Who is this who looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, radiant as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?”

— Song of Solomon 6:10

A beautiful description of the church of Jesus Christ was uttered centuries before she was officially inaugurated at Pentecost. Although the Song of Solomon has much to teach about human love between a man and a woman, it is also ultimately the story of the relationship of the heavenly Bridegroom and His earthly bride—the church.

Who is she? We are the bride of Christ. Who is she who looks forth as the morning? In the midst of the blackness of night of despair and death, it is the church that brings the hope of the coming morning.

Even in the Old Testament when darkness still covered most of the earth, God’s people were like the moon—that fair moon that gave borrowed light to a needy and hopeless world…a world that could see nothing beyond that hole in the ground where life had little meaning and no hope.

There was the church (as in God’s congregation), even back then, that was fair as the moon. That is, of course, an idealized picture of the church. Unfortunately, there are many who would be seen merely as pockmarks on that moon; but, nevertheless, that is the picture He draws of the church.

And yet there came a glorious day when the night would fade away. On that bright and marvelous morning when Jesus Christ walked out of the tomb and the darkness of death faded away forever, the church became clear as the sun.

Lord of the church, we thank You, Jesus, for the miracle of the church. We praise You that by Your strength, she has endured through the centuries and will stand triumphant and glorious on the last day as Your beautiful and spotless bride…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, THE BRIDE OF
CHRIST PREPARES FOR THE BIG WEDDING.

“But what is the divine reply to Elijah? ‘I have kept for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’”

— Romans 11:4

Elijah the Tishbite—his name no doubt conjures up certain images. He was a man of the wilderness and the desert. John the Baptist was a prophet like unto Elijah. He was a man of solitude—a man whom God had prepared for a most difficult time. He was a man of unbending character. He was an austere man. A man whom perhaps many people would not find particularly likeable. He was what some people would call rigid in his beliefs. He was a diamond hard man for the hard days that were there.

To set this in context, in the early years of the reign of Ahab, he married Jezebel, who was the daughter of the king of Tyre and Sidon and she brought the Sidonian religion of the worship of Baal into Israel. This religion prospered and grew and Jezebel had set herself up to see Baalism replace the worship of Jehovah in Israel. She had killed a great many of the prophets of the Lord and provided hundreds of prophets of Baal. Baalism was rampant in Israel so that there were very few worshipers of the true God.

Elijah said that they have slain the prophets of the Lord and that he was the only one left, and they were seeking his life. But God encouraged him, as seen in the verse above, that there was still a faithful remnant.

May God help us to have resolute character to faithfully serve Him for our tasks at hand.

Righteous Father, we see our own country turning away from You and we too are discouraged by all the ungodliness. Thank You that there are many more than seven thousand in our land who have not bowed their knees to Baal…

BY GOD’S GRACE AND STRENGTH, WE CAN
STAND FIRM AND STRAIGHT IN A CROOKED WORLD.

“When a servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, a force surrounded the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What will we do?’”

— 2 Kings 6:15

As noted yesterday, Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, found out that Elisha the prophet was revealing to Israel Ben-Hadad’s inner secrets for attacking Israel. Ben-Hadad decided to capture Elisha.

So he sent a large group of chariots and horses and soldiers to take Elisha. First the spies tell him that Elisha is in Dothan, and they make a march by night and then the sun rises. That morning, a young man who is a servant of Elisha goes out to look around, and he discovers in the valley all around are the horses and chariots and enemy soldiers. He is filled with terror, with trembling.

How many times in our life do we exclaim, “Alas, my master! What will we do?” There was no escape. They were completely surrounded. There was no army there, no soldiers, just two of them. They were totally outnumbered. They were helpless.

But Elisha said, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than with them” (2 Kings 6:16). Then he asked God to open his servant’s eyes, so He did, “and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17).

Dear friends, if that concept really filled our hearts and minds it would literally change our lives—most particularly in the difficult places of life. With the eyes of faith, Elisha could say, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than with them.”

Sovereign Lord, we praise You that You know and see all. We ask that You give us strength for today to go about our lives with the assurance of Your sovereign watch over our lives. Forgive us for harboring secret fears and unbelief…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH,
WE ARE PROTECTED.

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

— Ephesians 6:4

Well, dads, this is your day—Father’s day, and what is the state of fatherhood in modern America today? One lady, a few decades ago, put it like this: “Women need a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” That is what she said. That is what Gloria Steinem, one of the leading gurus of the feminist movement said.

And so, men, fathers, it seems that we are obsolete. We are unneeded. There has been a huge denigration of fatherhood and maleness in our country in our generation. It is even said that maleness is a recessive and repressive gene, and it’s a big mistake. We’d be better off without any men in this world. I’ve got news for those ladies. There wouldn’t be any civilization without men, but I guess they are working on that next.

America is suffering from a serious case of fatherlessness. An absentee or brutish father, an abusive father, a weak father, has an enormous impact upon the children. Scientists have discovered that you, gentlemen, as godly fathers, as faithful fathers, have an impact and an importance which is vastly greater than anybody imagined many years ago. Yes, it seems that fish need bicycles, doesn’t it?

God has chosen earthly fathers to essentially be His representative on earth to their children. Therefore, let all Christian fathers strive to be great examples to our children.

Lord, help us to realize the importance of our relationship to our children. Help us to fulfill our vows that we made to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord…

IN HIS STRENGTH, WE CAN REFLECT OUR
HEAVENLY FATHER TO OUR CHILDREN.

Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established.

— Proverbs 16:3

Many people make New Years’ resolutions. We see a new beginning and a new chance to make something better of our lives. Our God is a God of second chances, and with His help and in His strength, we will succeed.

We need to set our godly goals. We need to lay them out before God in prayer, importunate prayer, prevailing prayer, persistent prayer. We need to obey God with lives that are yielded up to Him, to His will. We will not be successful in doing these things if we are disobedient to God. That is why we cannot expect to have victory in our private lives or our church if we are living in disobedience.

Are we faithful in God’s work and are we faithful to our spouse and family? Are we faithful in giving? Are we keeping His commandments and do we live lives of honesty and integrity? When we live godly lives, we will have godly goals.

Question to ponder: What are the five most important goals and plans that you have for this coming year?

Question to ponder:
What are the five most important goals and plans that you have for this coming year?