Truth For Life Program
Alistair Begg Devotional
C. H. Spurgeon Devotional
One-Year Bible Reading Plan
David was loyal—a brave, celebrated commander in Israel’s army, a talented musician who calmed Saul’s tormented mind, and the king’s intended son-in-law. So why did Saul increasingly hate and fear him? Hear the answer on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg.
From the Sermon
“As a Man Thinketh” — Part Two
1 Samuel 18:17–30 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 26:02 • ID: 3406
The Comfort of God’s Ways
The suffering that God brings into our lives enables and equips us to comfort others in their trials. Yet this enabling is only possible because of the great comfort we receive from God in the midst of our own affliction. Indeed, in tenderness and mercy, God ministers to us specifically “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.”
If we are to bestow compassion on those who are suffering, we must first battle the tendency to grow bitter and inward-focused as a result of our own troubles. In the Old Testament, we read the story of a young Israelite girl who was captured in a Syrian raid, taken far from her family, and forced into servitude. Her life held great potential for bitterness, anger, and vengefulness. But when she learned that the master of her household had contracted leprosy, she encouraged him to seek the Lord’s healing, even directing him to someone who could help (2 Kings 5:1-3). How was she able to have such compassion that she was willing to point him towards such comfort? At least in part, it must have been that when she witnessed all her master’s turmoil and heartache, her own experience had already so softened her heart as to make her empathetic to his concerns.
In addition, we must avoid offering merely intellectual or pat answers, which often hurt rather than heal. In-depth philosophical discussions on the nature of suffering might stimulate the mind, but nothing but the gospel can settle the heart. And we do well to remind ourselves that God’s ways are beyond our understanding. We do not have to have all the answers. We must not forget the eloquence of empathetic silence. Arguably, one of the most helpful ways in which Job’s companions entered into his suffering and offered comfort was when they simply “sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him” (Job 2:13). In fact, they were being good friends to him until they decided to open their mouths!
The greatest comfort we can extend to others in their suffering is, gently and with tears over their trials, to point them to Christ Himself, because only Christ can fully enter into our pain. As our ascended King and Great High Priest, He is able to “sympathize with our weaknesses” as “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are” (Hebrews 4:15).
Are there wounds in your life that you have never allowed to surface—deep sorrows that you have never given over to God? Today, ask the Lord to help you cast your burdens afresh on Him. Ask for His divine enabling to view your suffering through the prism of Christ’s cross so that you may be overwhelmed by His amazing compassion—and, in turn, be a blessing to others.
How is God calling me to think differently?
How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?
What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?
Naaman Healed of Leprosy
1lNaaman, mcommander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.1 2Now the Syrians on none of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. 3She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” 5And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”
So he went, otaking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels2 of gold, and ten pchanges of clothing.
9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house. 10And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, u“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12Are not Abana3 and Pharpar, the rivers of vDamascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13But his servants came near and said to him, w“My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, xand his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, yand he was clean.
Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, 2022, The Good Book Company.
Claiming God’s Promises
Remember your word to your servant,
in which you have made me hope.
Whatever your particular need may be, you will find some promise in the Bible related to it. Are you faint and feeble because your way is rough and you are weary? Here is the promise—“He gives power to the faint.”1 When you read such a promise, take it back to the great Promiser and ask Him to fulfill His own word. Are you seeking for Christ and thirsting for closer communion with Him? This promise shines like a star upon you—“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”2 Take that promise to the throne continually; do not plead anything else, but go to God over and over again with this—“Lord, You have said it; do as You have said.”
Are you distressed because of sin and burdened with the heavy load of your iniquities? Listen to these words—“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”3 You have no merit of your own to plead why He should pardon you, but plead His written promises and He will perform them. Are you afraid that you might not be able to hold on to the end and that after having thought yourself a child of God you should prove a castaway? If that is your condition, take this word of grace to the throne and plead it: “The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you.”4
If you have lost the sweet sense of the Savior’s presence and are seeking Him with a sorrowful heart, remember the promises: “Return to me . . . and I will return to you.”5 “For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.”6 Feast your faith upon God’s own Word, and whatever your fears or wants, take them to the Bank of Faith with your Father’s note, which reads, “Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.” 7
1) Isaiah 40:29
2) Matthew 5:6
3) Isaiah 43:25
4) Isaiah 54:10
5) Zechariah 1:3
6) Isaiah 54:7
7) Psalm 119:49
Devotional material is taken from Morning and Evening, written by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright © 2003, Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. Used by Truth For Life with written permission.
Daily Bible Reading for April 28
Unclean People
1The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Command the people of Israel that they iput out of the camp everyone who is leprous1 or has ja discharge and everyone who is kunclean through contact with the dead. 3You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, lin the midst of which I dwell.” 4And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the people of Israel did.
Confession and Restitution
5And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6“Speak to the people of Israel, mWhen a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, 7nhe shall confess his sin that he has committed.2 oAnd he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. 8But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to pthe ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him. 9And qevery contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. 10Each one shall keep his holy donations: whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.”
A Test for Adultery
11And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12“Speak to the people of Israel, If any man's wife goes astray and breaks faith with him, 13if a man rlies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, ssince she was not taken in the act, 14and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, 15then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah3 of barley flour. tHe shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, ubringing iniquity to remembrance.
16“And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord. 17And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and vunbind the hair of the woman's head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. 19Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband's authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, 21then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) w‘the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. 22May this water that brings the curse xpass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, y‘Amen, Amen.’
23“Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. 25And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand zand shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar. 26And the priest ashall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman bshall become a curse among her people. 28But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.
29“This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, cthough under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 30or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. 31The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman dshall bear her iniquity.”
What Is the Measure of My Days?
To the choirmaster: to vJeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1I said, “I will wguard my ways,
that I xmay not sin with my tongue;
I will yguard my mouth with a muzzle,
so long as the wicked are in my presence.”
2I was zmute and silent;
I held my peace to no avail,
and my distress grew worse.
3My aheart became hot within me.
As I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
4“O Lord, bmake me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
5Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and cmy lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely dall mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
6Surely a man egoes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing1 they are in turmoil;
man fheaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!
7“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
gMy hope is in you.
8Deliver me from all my transgressions.
hDo not make me the scorn of the fool!
9iI am mute; I do not open my mouth,
jfor it is you who have done it.
10kRemove your stroke from me;
I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
11When you discipline a man
with lrebukes for sin,
you mconsume like a nmoth what is dear to him;
osurely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah
12p“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am qa sojourner with you,
qa guest, like all my fathers.
13rLook away from me, that I may smile again,
The Bride's Dream
1On my bed rby night
I sought shim whom my soul loves;
tI sought him, but found him not.
2I will rise now and go about the city,
in uthe streets and in the squares;
I will seek shim whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but found him not.
3vThe watchmen found me
as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4Scarcely had I passed them
when I found shim whom my soul loves.
I wheld him, and would not let him go
until I had xbrought him into my mother's house,
and into the chamber of yher who conceived me.
5zI adjure you, aO daughters of Jerusalem,
bby the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
Solomon Arrives for the Wedding
6cWhat is that coming up from the wilderness
like dcolumns of smoke,
perfumed with emyrrh and frankincense,
with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
7Behold, it is the litter1 of Solomon!
Around it are fsixty gmighty men,
some of the mighty men of Israel,
8all of them wearing swords
and expert in war,
each with his hsword at his thigh,
against iterror by night.
9King Solomon made himself a carriage2
from the wood of Lebanon.
10He made its posts of silver,
its back of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love
by jthe daughters of Jerusalem.
11Go out, O kdaughters of Zion,
and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
on lthe day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.
Jesus Greater Than Moses
1Therefore, holy brothers,1 you who share in ra heavenly calling, consider Jesus, sthe apostle and high priest of our confession, 2who was faithful to him who appointed him, tjust as Moses also was faithful in all God's2 house. 3For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4(For every house is built by someone, but uthe builder of all things is God.) 5vNow Moses was faithful in all God's house was a servant, xto testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6but Christ is faithful over God's house as ya son. And zwe are his house, if indeed we ahold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.3
A Rest for the People of God
7Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
b“Today, if you hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for cforty years.
10Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
11dAs I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
12Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from ethe living God. 13But fexhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by gthe deceitfulness of sin. 14For we have come to share in Christ, hif indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15As it is said,
b“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16For iwho were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not jall those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, kwhose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom did he swear that lthey would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19So we see that mthey were unable to enter because of unbelief.
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