DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 29:
WORD OF WISDOM
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
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DAILY DEVOTION
The Bible in Miniature
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God."
John 3:16-18
Without question, John 3:16 is the best-known verse in the entire Bible. It
beautifully presents the essence of God's nature and offers us hope of
eternal life. Martin Luther referred to it as "the Bible in miniature"
because it sums up the message of Scripture so well. Yet though the verse is
well known, many who could quote it have never received the gift of eternal
life offered through Jesus Christ for themselves.
In His conversation with Nicodemus, a respected leader of the Pharisees,
Jesus made the essential requirement of salvation crystal clear. "Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Because of Adam's
sin in the Garden of Eden, every man and woman born into this world is born
a sinner, and in need of a Saviour. We do not start out life innocent, but
condemned.
There are not many ways to God. The only way to reach Heaven is to accept
the gift of salvation. God's plan required the death of Jesus Christ on the
cross to make payment for our sins, and He raised Jesus from the dead after
three days. Nothing we can do or not do earns us merit with God. Our only
hope is to believe that the sacrifice of Jesus will cover us, and fully
trust Him alone to take us to Heaven.
There is no decision more tragic than for someone to reject God's free offer
of salvation.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Micah 4-7New King James Version (NKJV)
The Lord's Reign in Zion
4 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord's house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.
2
Many nations shall come and say,
"Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths."
For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3
He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.[a]
4
But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid;
For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
5
For all people walk each in the name of his god,
But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
Forever and ever.
Zion's Future Triumph
6
"In that day," says the Lord,
"I will assemble the lame,
I will gather the outcast
And those whom I have afflicted;
7
I will make the lame a remnant,
And the outcast a strong nation;
So the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion
From now on, even forever.
8
And you, O tower of the flock,
The stronghold of the daughter of Zion,
To you shall it come,
Even the former dominion shall come,
The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem."
9
Now why do you cry aloud?
Is there no king in your midst?
Has your counselor perished?
For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor.
10
Be in pain, and labor to bring forth,
O daughter of Zion,
Like a woman in birth pangs.
For now you shall go forth from the city,
You shall dwell in the field,
And to Babylon you shall go.
There you shall be delivered;
There the Lord will redeem you
From the hand of your enemies.
11
Now also many nations have gathered against you,
Who say, "Let her be defiled,
And let our eye look upon Zion."
12
But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord,
Nor do they understand His counsel;
For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
13
"Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion;
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hooves bronze;
You shall beat in pieces many peoples;
I will consecrate their gain to the Lord,
And their substance to the Lord of the whole earth."
5 Now gather yourself in troops,
O daughter of troops;
He has laid siege against us;
They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.
The Coming Messiah
2
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting."
3
Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth;
Then the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
4
And He shall stand and feed His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
5
And this One shall be peace.
Judgment on Israel's Enemies
When the Assyrian comes into our land,
And when he treads in our palaces,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight princely men.
6
They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria,
And the land of Nimrod at its entrances;
Thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian,
When he comes into our land
And when he treads within our borders.
7
Then the remnant of Jacob
Shall be in the midst of many peoples,
Like dew from the Lord,
Like showers on the grass,
That tarry for no man
Nor wait for the sons of men.
8
And the remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the Gentiles,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
Who, if he passes through,
Both treads down and tears in pieces,
And none can deliver.
9
Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,
And all your enemies shall be cut off.
10
"And it shall be in that day," says the Lord,
"That I will cut off your horses from your midst
And destroy your chariots.
11
I will cut off the cities of your land
And throw down all your strongholds.
12
I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
And you shall have no soothsayers.
13
Your carved images I will also cut off,
And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall no more worship the work of your hands;
14
I will pluck your wooden images[b] from your midst;
Thus I will destroy your cities.
15
And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations that have not heard."[c]
God Pleads with Israel
6 Hear now what the Lord says:
"Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
2
Hear, O you mountains, the Lord's complaint,
And you strong foundations of the earth;
For the Lord has a complaint against His people,
And He will contend with Israel.
3
"O My people, what have I done to you?
And how have I wearied you?
Testify against Me.
4
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5
O My people, remember now
What Balak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From Acacia Grove[d] to Gilgal,
That you may know the righteousness of the Lord."
6
With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
7
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Punishment of Israel's Injustice
9
The Lord's voice cries to the city-
Wisdom shall see Your name:
"Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
10
Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the house of the wicked,
And the short measure that is an abomination?
11
Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
12
For her rich men are full of violence,
Her inhabitants have spoken lies,
And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13
"Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you,
By making you desolate because of your sins.
14
You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
Hunger[e] shall be in your midst.
You may carry some away,[f] but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.
15
"You shall sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
16
For the statutes of Omri are kept;
All the works of Ahab's house are done;
And you walk in their counsels,
That I may make you a desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people."[g]
Sorrow for Israel's Sins
7 Woe is me!
For I am like those who gather summer fruits,
Like those who glean vintage grapes;
There is no cluster to eat
Of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires.
2
The faithful man has perished from the earth,
And there is no one upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood;
Every man hunts his brother with a net.
3
That they may successfully do evil with both hands-
The prince asks for gifts,
The judge seeks a bribe,
And the great man utters his evil desire;
So they scheme together.
4
The best of them is like a brier;
The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;
The day of your watchman and your punishment comes;
Now shall be their perplexity.
5
Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence in a companion;
Guard the doors of your mouth
From her who lies in your bosom.
6
For son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man's enemies are the men of his own household.
7
Therefore I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.
Israel's Confession and Comfort
8
Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The Lord will be a light to me.
9
I will bear the indignation of the Lord,
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my case
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.
10
Then she who is my enemy will see,
And shame will cover her who said to me,
"Where is the Lord your God?"
My eyes will see her;
Now she will be trampled down
Like mud in the streets.
11
In the day when your walls are to be built,
In that day the decree shall go far and wide.[h]
12
In that day they[i] shall come to you
From Assyria and the fortified cities,[j]
From the fortress[k] to the River,[l]
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
13
Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And for the fruit of their deeds.
God Will Forgive Israel
14
Shepherd Your people with Your staff,
The flock of Your heritage,
Who dwell solitarily in a woodland,
In the midst of Carmel;
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
As in days of old.
15
"As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them[m] wonders."
16
The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
17
They shall lick the dust like a serpent;
They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth.
They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,
And shall fear because of You.
18
Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.
19
He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our[n] sins
Into the depths of the sea.
20
You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.
Footnotes:
a.Micah 4:3 Compare Isaiah 2:2-4
b.Micah 5:14 Hebrew Asherim, Canaanite deities
c.Micah 5:15 Or obeyed
d.Micah 6:5 Hebrew Shittim (compare Numbers 25:1; Joshua 2:1; 3:1)
e.Micah 6:14 Or Emptiness or Humiliation
f.Micah 6:14 Targum and Vulgate read You shall take hold.
g.Micah 6:16 Following Masoretic Text, Targum, and Vulgate; Septuagint reads
of nations.
h.Micah 7:11 Or the boundary shall be extended
i.Micah 7:12 Literally he, collective of the captives
j.Micah 7:12 Hebrew arey mazor, possibly cities of Egypt
k.Micah 7:12 Hebrew mazor, possibly Egypt
l.Micah 7:12 That is, the Euphrates
m.Micah 7:15 Literally him, collective for the captives
n.Micah 7:19 Literally their
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James VersionR. Copyright C 1982 by Thomas
Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
