Sue Glasco is a freelance writer and a member of the Center Baptist Church in Crab Orchard Illinois. You can see some of her work at the following links:
http://sueglasco.tripod.com/
http://sueglasco.tripod.com/trailoftears
http://sueglasco.blogspot.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/id/A1AQVV87IPU442/104-9315098-0558359
November 11 Good Times
I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1 NIV
Today’s Readings: Psalm 122
I Corinthians 9, 10, 11
As a farmer’s wife, I had every reason to rejoice with those who said, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Six days of work was more than adequate to relish a day of rest and worship. I often said that the Fourth Commandment probably saved my husband’s life as he fought weather, insects, and the clock trying to accomplish all that was needed to grow good crops and produce healthy animals. How wonderful for his health that he was commanded to stop all that struggle and rest one day out of seven. How wonderful for our family that pleasing God allowed him to also please us with his time and attention as he stopped working and took us to church and worship.
The psalmist seems to be pronouncing that going to God’s house should be a time of great joy. We can create loving fellowships that bless all who come with a time of joy and happiness. Good times in God’s house can be one of life’s greatest blessings.
Prayer: Ask God to help all who come to God’s house in your city or town or village or countryside to surround one another with love and to experience great joy together worshipping the Creator. Sue Glasco
November 12 Desiring the Best
But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way. I Corinthians 12: 31 NIV
Today’s Readings: Job 37, 38
I Corinthians 12
As children we were taught to be polite and not necessarily take the biggest cookie or biggest piece of chicken. As children of the Lord, however, we are urged by Paul to desire the very best gifts as he leads us into his famous love chapter.
When I worked with families before retirement, I found that some young women had been disappointed so often in life that they were afraid to allow themselves to want anything. It had become less painful to them to not want something than to want it and not get it. I would try to figure out a way to create a desire in them for a better life. We rarely have any thing valuable thrust upon us accidentally if we have not planned and worked for it.
Desire is the fire that lights our imagination and gives us a willingness to sacrifice for an education, a better home, more obedient children, or any other goal of value. Although Paul tells us that God’s Spirit determines what gifts we are given, Paul urges us to desire the very best gifts that God has to offer. This indicates that though we all profit from the gifts of others in the body of Christ, we too can eagerly want gifts of our own to bless the rest of the body.
Prayer: Keep our thinking straight, Lord, that we desire the best You have to offer us. Please allow us to serve You and the body of Christ with our gifts. Sue Glasco
November 13 Good Words: “I don’t know”
For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 1 Corinthians 13: 7 NIV
Today’s Readings: Job 39, 40
I Corinthians 13, 14
We all cherish the three little words, “I love you.” A parent of a student in special education made a plea that teachers, doctors, and social workers learn to say, “I don’t know.” The parent said those three little words could be worth as much as, “I love you.”
Much harm has been done in the world by people who thought they knew the truth when they did not. Dire human predictions and strong human opinions pronounced with arrogant certainty can be both incorrect and devastating. We may know part of the truth, but only God knows the whole truth.
God seems to chide Job and insist that Job recognize his own limitations of knowledge and understanding of both the animal kingdom below him and the Almighty above him. At first glance, it may seem haughty and unkind of God to rub our nose in our own ignorance.
However, on second thought, there is great security and peace in learning what God is trying to teach us: God is God, and we cannot match his intelligence or attributes. Our best course is to trust Him and not ourselves. Wisdom is not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think or thinking we know more than we know.
Prayer: Thank God the Creator for His complete wisdom and understanding of all things. Ask God to help you learn to trust Him rather than your own limited understanding. Sue Glasco
November 14 Satan’s Lies Versus
God’s Delight
For the Lord takes delight in his people: he crowns the humble with salvation. Psalm 149:4 NIV
Today’s Readings: Psalms 149 I Corinthians 15, 16
When our great grandson Aidan visits, he can count on a half dozen or so of us sitting and watching his every facial expression, every move, and every babble and sound he makes. We delight in him. His little mouth opened wide to receive a spoonful of baby food. His little hands reaching for the eye glasses we can’t let him have. His friendly little smile or his look of shyness followed by hiding his head in his mother’s neck. Nothing he does is anything less than perfect for his audience. Over two decades ago, we used to watch and delight in his mother in the same way.
How full of wonder it is that our Creator also delights in us. How delightful it is to know that He delights in us. And best of all, He saves us. Let us pause right now and savor His sweet love.
The Evil One likes to make us feel worthless. The author of lies tells us we are of no account. Get thee behind me Satan! Let us rejoice that every one of us has great value to the Creator. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for watching us, loving us, and taking delight in us. Guide us and direct us in Your Way, so we might be worthy of Your delight. Sue Glasco
November 15 Peddling the Gospel
Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God. II Corinthians 2: 17 NIV
Today’s Readings: Job 41, 42
II Corinthians 1, 2
Listening to a young woman’s lament that at her elderly grandmother’s death they discovered bank records showing she had been swindled by a religious broadcaster, I wondered if she would ever get over her bitterness towards Christianity.
We occasionally get emails telling us how to recognize false stories or “phishing” appeals trying to fool us into giving criminals our identify and/or access to our credit cards. The false emails often look authentic, and we must be alert and careful to discern their wicked intent.
Likewise we must be alert to those who peddle the word of God for profit. Often they seem authentic, but their intent is not to help the poor or the ill or the homeless, but their intent to provide themselves with earthly mansions, fine cars, and fancy jewelry. These peddlers create devastation when they take advantage of the elderly or the weak-minded or even the person who gives in order to gain recognition. Meanwhile in the local community, a child goes hungry, a church struggles financially, a homeless shelter has unmet needs.
As God’s people, we must live close enough to Him to discern those who worship mammon and those who are sent from God to serve others.
Prayer: Thank God for His servants who are willing to live modestly and sacrificially in order to serve Him and the people around them. Ask that you become such a servant. Sue Glasco
November 16 Blinded by Faith
We live by faith, not by sight. II Corinthians 5: 7 NIV
Today’s Readings: II Corinthians 3, 4, 5, 6
Faith does not make sense. Faith is not created by any of our five senses. Living in a material world, we naturally rely on our senses and learn by experience to trust them. That is not wrong, but there are many times that those five senses are not adequate to steer us safely into God’s will. Sometimes we have to act on faith. Sometimes we are led by God to do things that may seem silly to others. Our actions may not seem sensible even to ourselves sometimes. Noah found that out when he built an ark without an ocean to put it in. Living by faith also allows us to learn by experience to trust the One we place our faith upon.
It may not seem sensible that God can forgive our sins and remember them no more. But when we accept His forgiveness and let His living waters wash over us, we can experience their removal as far as the East is from the West.
Prayer: Thank you, God, that I do not have to live only by my senses and my own understanding. Thank you for being faithful to forgive us and to lead us safely through this world. Grant that we might be full of faith to trust in Your leadership. Sue Glasco
November 17 Abundant Sowing
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. II Corinthians 9: 6 NIV
Today’s Readings: II Corinthians 7, 8, 9, 10
My late father-in-law gardened big even when he was widowed and living alone. He would sow huge patches of green beans and spinach, long rows of winter radishes, fields of turnips. He had farm equipment to prepare the ground and cultivate, but still growing and gathering these large amounts of vegetables took much work on his part. He never sold any.
Why did he do it? He enjoyed filling his pickup with loads of his garden produce to take to housing projects where elderly friends lived. Women would find out he was there and come outside to his truck and fill their aprons with his lettuce or tomatoes. Others would bring buckets and large pans or sacks for the largesse to can or freeze it.
Most of us are not in a position to have garden spots so large that could produce the amounts he grew. Nor would we have the knowledge and skill to be as effective as gardeners. However, he was not really sowing vegetables. He was sowing love for the those he knew needed these tasty fresh foodstuffs in their diets and had no other way to obtain them.
What did he reap? Certainly much appreciation from the recipients but also great respect from those of us who watched his charity. Best of all, he reaped the approval of his Creator who taught, “Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19 NIV
Prayer: Help us, Father, to sow love diligently and to believe that You will give an abundant increase. Sue Glasco