DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY APRIL 9:
WORD OF WISDOM
Probably nothing in the world arouses more false hopes than the first four
hours of a diet.
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DAILY DEVOTION
Follow the Plan
"And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto
heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most
High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is
an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of
the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?"
Daniel 4:34-35
Roger Staubach served three winning seasons as the starting quarterback for
the Navy football team, won the Heisman Trophy as the best player in
collegiate football, and served in Vietnam before joining the Dallas
Cowboys. But he found that his track record did not gain him much leeway
with his coach. Coach Tom Landry called all the plays, and Staubach was told
he could only change the play he received in an emergency. Staubach later
said that he thought he should have been allowed to run the team, but he
yielded his will to his coach. The Super Bowl MVP quarterback said, "I faced
up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony,
fulfillment, and victory."
God has a purpose and plan for your life. He knows the end from the
beginning, and He wants the very best for you. Often we are tempted to think
we know better than God what should happen or what we should do. However we
should never forget that like a coach with the view of the entire field from
the press box above, God sees things we do not. His perspective allows Him
to always put us in the right game plan. Rather than insisting on having
things our way, we should yield in grateful obedience to what He has shown
us in His Word and walk according to His will.
Follow God's will in your life today rather than walking by your own wisdom.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
NOTE: I still haven't figured out what's going on with Bible Gateway. For
some reason I can't get JAWS to work with it anymore.
So, I had to Google the Bible Reading for today.
Deborah
Judges 5
Easy-to-Read Version
The Song of Deborah
5 [a] On the day that the Israelites defeated Sisera, Deborah and Barak son
of Abinoam sang this song:
2
The men of Israel prepared for battle.[b]
They volunteered to go to war.
Praise the Lord!
3
Listen, kings.
Pay attention, rulers.
I will sing.
I myself will sing to the Lord.
I will make music to the Lord,
to the God of the Israelites.
4
Lord, in the past you came from Seir.[c]
You marched from the land of Edom.
You marched and the earth shook.
The skies rained.
The clouds dropped water.
5
The mountains shook before the Lord, the God of Mount Sinai,
before the Lord, the God of Israel!
6
In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,[d]
and in the days of Jael, the main roads were empty.
Caravans and travelers traveled on the back roads.
7
There were no soldiers in Israel
until you came, Deborah,
until you came to be a mother to Israel.[e]
8
God chose new leaders
to fight at the city gates.[f]
No one could find a shield or a spear
among the 40,000 soldiers of Israel.
9
My heart is with the commanders of Israel.
They volunteered to go to war.
Praise the Lord!
10
Pay attention you people riding on white donkeys,
sitting on saddle blankets,[g]
and walking along the road.
11
At the watering holes for the animals,
we hear the music of cymbals.
People sing about the victories of the Lord,
the victories of his soldiers in Israel
when the Lords people
fought at the city gates and won!
12
Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
Wake up, wake up, sing the song!
Get up, Barak!
Go capture your enemies, son of Abinoam!
13
Now, survivors, go to the leaders.
People of the Lord, come with me and the soldiers.
14
The men of Ephraim came from the hill country of Amalek.[h]
Benjamin, those men followed you and your people.
And there were commanders from the family of Makir.[i]
Leaders from the tribe of Zebulun came with their bronze clubs.
15
The leaders of Issachar were with Deborah.
The family of Issachar was true to Barak.
Those men marched to the valley on foot.
Reuben, there are many brave soldiers in your army groups.
16
So why did you sit there against the walls of your sheep pens?[j]
The brave soldiers of Reuben thought hard about war.
But they stayed home listening to the music they played for their sheep.
17
The people of Gilead[k] stayed in their camps on the other side of the
Jordan River.
As for you, people of Dan, why did you stay by your ships?
The people of Asher remained by the sea,
camped near their safe harbors.
18
But the men of Zebulun and Naphtali risked their lives
fighting on those hills.
19
The kings of Canaan came to fight,
but they didnt carry any treasures home.
They fought at the city of Taanach,
by the waters of Megiddo.
20
The stars fought them from heaven.
From their paths across the sky, they fought against Sisera.
21
The Kishon River, that ancient river,
swept Siseras men away.
My soul, march on with strength![l]
22
The horses hooves hammered the ground.
Siseras mighty horses ran and ran.
23
The angel of the Lord said, Curse the city of Meroz.
Curse its people!
They did not come to help the Lord fight.
They did not help the Lord against his powerful enemies.
24
Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite.
She will be blessed above all women.
25
Sisera asked for water.
Jael gave him milk.
In a bowl fit for a ruler,
she brought him cream.
26
Then Jael reached out and took a tent peg.
Her right hand reached for a workmans hammer.
She put the peg against the side of Siseras head
and hit it with the hammer.
27
He sank down between Jaels feet.
He fell, and there he lay.
He sank down between her feet.
He fell there.
Where Sisera sank, he fell,
and there he lay, dead!
28
There is Siseras mother, looking out the window,
looking through the curtains and crying.
Why is Siseras chariot so late?
Why cant I hear his wagons?
29
Her wisest servant girl answers her.
Yes, the servant gives her an answer:
30
Im sure they won the war,
and they are now taking things from the people they defeated.
They are dividing those things among themselves.
Each soldier is taking a girl or two.
Maybe Sisera found a piece of dyed cloth.
Thats it! Sisera found a piece of fancy cloth,
or maybe two, to wear around his neck in victory.
31
May all your enemies die like this, Lord!
But may all those who love you be as strong as the rising sun!
And there was peace in the land for 40 years.
Footnotes
a. Judges 5:1 Chapter 5 This is a very old song, and many of the lines are
hard to understand in the Hebrew text.
b. Judges 5:2 The men
battle This might also mean When leaders led in
Israel or When men wore long hair in Israel. Soldiers often dedicated
their hair as a special gift to God.
c. Judges 5:4 Seir Another name for the land of Edom.
d. Judges 5:6 Shamgar son of Anath A judge of Israel. See Judges 3:31.
e. Judges 5:7 until you
to Israel Or until I came, Deborah, until I came,
mother of Israel. Or until I established you, Deborah, until I established
you, mother of Israel.
f. Judges 5:8 God chose
gates Or They chose to follow new gods. So they
had to fight at their city gates. The Hebrew text here is hard to
understand.
g. Judges 5:10 saddle blankets The meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain.
h. Judges 5:14 hill country of Amalek The area settled by the tribe of
Ephraim. See Judges 12:15.
i. Judges 5:14 Makir This family was part of the tribe of Manasseh that
settled in the area east of the Jordan River.
j. Judges 5:16 walls of your sheep pens Or campfires or saddlebags.
k. Judges 5:17 Gilead This area was east of the Jordan River.
l. Judges 5:21 My soul
strength Or with some changes it could be, His
mighty charging horses marched forward.
