Entries by YMI

#30DaysOfBibleLettering

I saw the #30DaysofBibleLettering challenge on my Instagram feed. It had been a while since I lettered and painted on a daily basis, and I was itching to get back to the routine of creating and having an outlet to reflect and relax. Also, the challenge started after Easter, and it was around Easter that I was convicted to cherish the Word more and share more vulnerably about what God has been doing in my life.

ODJ: Possible

May 16, 2016 

READ: Psalm 23:1-6  

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need (v.1).

When my sister left a high-paying government job after 14 years, many people were surprised. I believe God led her to the job (a long story), used it to train and equip her (another long story) and called her away from it (yet another lengthy tale). In fact, she had to leave her work with no new job in place. There wasn’t time to ponder, because she had loads of projects to finish and hand over. Yet, by God’s grace, she didn’t fret. She was fully convinced that God her Shepherd would provide for her (Psalm 23:1).

During her first few weeks as an unemployed person, she enjoyed some much-needed rest—sleeping, reading and exercising. God began renewing her strength (v.3).

Then He opened the door for her to start her own forensics lab in Singapore! She couldn’t have foreseen that this would be possible, for setting up a lab requires huge capital investment and she had neither the money nor knowledge of any financial backers.

But with God, “everything is possible” (Matthew 19:26). And one day, through a casual conversation with a friend, she discovered that there was a lab available at an academic institution. The school had already inquired into possible collaboration. So, through God’s divine providence, she and her business partners rented the lab at a special rate and—to their amazement—the institution also allowed them to use their equipment!

While God may not always provide in such spectacular or immediate ways, He continues to work out His perfect plans in our lives. Just as the psalmist David and my sister Poh Ling have discovered, the good and merciful Shepherd is with you, and His unfailing love will provide for you “all the days of [your] life” (Psalm 23:6).

—Poh Fang Chia

365-day plan: Psalm 103:1-22

MORE
Read John 10:11-16 and consider what Jesus does as our Good Shepherd. 
NEXT
What does it mean for you to know that Jesus is your Shepherd? Why is it vital for you to bring your fears and questions to Him today? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Is He Good?

May 16, 2016 

READ: Genesis 3:1-8 

He said to the woman, “Did God really say . . . ?” Genesis 3:1

 

“I don’t think God is good,” my friend told me. She had been praying for years about some difficult issues, but nothing had improved. Her anger and bitterness over God’s silence grew. Knowing her well, I sensed that deep down she believed God is good, but the continual pain in her heart and God’s seeming lack of interest caused her to doubt. It was easier for her to get angry than to bear the sadness.

Doubting God’s goodness is as old as Adam and Eve (Gen. 3). The serpent put that thought in Eve’s mind when he suggested that God was withholding the fruit from her because “God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (v. 5). In pride, Adam and Eve thought they, rather than God, should determine what was good for them.

Years after losing a daughter in death, James Bryan Smith found he was able to affirm God’s goodness. In his book The Good and Beautiful God, Smith wrote, “God’s goodness is not something I get to decide upon. I am a human being with limited understanding.” Smith’s amazing comment isn’t naïve; it arises out of years of processing his grief and seeking God’s heart.

In times of discouragement, let’s listen well to each other and help each other see the truth that God is good.

— Anne Cetas

Lord, we will praise You in our difficult times like the psalmist did. You know us, and we turn to You because we know You are good.

Read Why Doesn't God Answer Me? at discoveryseries.org/hp112

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. Psalm 145:9  

ODJ: “Follow Me!”

May 15, 2016 

READ: Matthew 4:18-25  

Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him (vv.19-20).

Every year, hundreds of boys aged 3 to 8 play rugby in a tournament held across South Africa. Though it’s a tamer version of the adult game, children and parents still take it pretty seriously. For this is where a passion is forged for one of the most popular sports in South Africa. Young boys dream of one day playing for the national team. As they get older, however, the competition gets tougher and only the very best will play for the Springboks—the nation’s top squad.

Brothers Peter and Andrew had a fishing business (Matthew 4:18), but when “Jesus called out to them, ‘Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!’ . . . they left their nets at once and followed him” (vv.19-20). James and John were also fishermen who worked with their father, Zebedee. As they sat in the fishing boat, repairing their nets, Jesus called out to the two brothers and, “they immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind” (v.22).

What makes grown men leave their jobs and family to follow Jesus without question? These men knew who Jesus was—a rabbi with authority! Just as boys in South Africa long to play for the Springboks, some Jewish boys in ancient Israel grew up longing to become a rabbi. But the process was gruelling and only the very best succeeded. Other young Jewish boys pursued vocations such as fishing, carpentry or something else.

When Jesus called the fishermen, “Come, follow me” (v.19), He was calling men who gave up their vocations and more. But these men found, as we have, that they were following the One who proved to be the Son of God. Let us follow Him today and use our whole lives—including our vocations—to point others to Him!

—Ruth O’Reilly-Smith

365-day plan: Psalm 51:1-19

MORE
Read Matthew 9:9 and see Matthew’s response to Jesus’ call. 
NEXT
Why are you following Jesus? What are you willing to give up in order to fully surrender your life to Him? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Always in His Care

May 15, 2016 

READ: Psalm 139:1-18 

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. Psalm 139:2

 

Veteran news reporter Scott Pelley never goes on assignment without his travel essentials—a shortwave radio, camera, indestructible suitcase, laptop computer, phone, and an emergency locator beacon that works anywhere. “You extend the antenna, push two buttons, and it sends a signal to a satellite connected to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” Pelley says. “It tells them who and where I am. Depending on what country you’re in, they’ll either send a rescue team—or not” (AARP The Magazine). Pelley has never needed to use the beacon, but he never travels without it.

But when it comes to our relationship with God, we don’t need radios, phones, or emergency beacons. No matter how precarious our circumstances become, He already knows who and where we are. The psalmist celebrated this as he wrote, “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. . . . You are familiar with all my ways”  (Ps. 139:1-3). Our needs are never hidden from God, and we are never separated from His care.

Today, we can say with confidence, “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (vv. 9-10).

The Lord knows who we are, where we are, and what we need. We are always in His care.

— David McCasland

O Lord, we praise You for Your never-ending love and Your never-failing care.

We are always in His care.
   

ODJ: Here’s Hope!

May 14, 2016 

READ: 2 Corinthians 4:1-9  

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed (v.8).

Amy Bleuel tried to end her life after years of mistreatment and heartbreak. She was 6 when her parents divorced and her stepmother began abusing her. At 13, she was sexually assaulted and blamed for the crime. At 18, her father committed suicide. Addiction and more personal trauma followed. Yet Amy’s faith in Jesus enabled her to survive. In time she founded a support group for people with similar struggles—The Semicolon Project. Its message is simple, but powerful: “A semicolon is used when an author could have chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you, and the semicolon is your life.”

Paul once opened up about some intense struggles in his life. He spoke of being “pressed on every side by troubles” (2 Corinthians 4:8). He was rejected and beaten and he suffered from an unspecified illness. He was hunted down, captured and jailed. Sometimes he went without food and sleep (6:5, 12:7).

Yet he wasn’t “crushed” or driven to despair. He showed that we can have hope even when we struggle because of the Holy Spirit’s presence inside of us. Living within us is the same life giving Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). And Paul said we can “overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” (15:13).

Despite the wrong she suffered, Amy Bleuel’s hopeful message today is this: “Stay strong; love endlessly; change lives.” Hope involves believing that God can draw good even from bad circumstances (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28). When we depend on His strength, getting knocked down is different from getting knocked out. Paul said, “We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:9). God provides the hope we need!

—Jennifer Benson Schuldt

365-day plan: Psalm 23:1-6

MORE
Read 2 Corinthians 1:4 and consider what good can come from suffering. 
NEXT
Why do we sometimes keep our struggles to ourselves? How might God want to use a difficulty you’ve experienced to encourage someone else? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)

ODB: Resting and Waiting

May 14, 2016 

READ: John 4:4-14 

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” John 4:34

 

It was high noon. Jesus, foot-weary from His long journey, was resting beside Jacob’s well. His disciples had gone into the city of Sychar to buy bread. A woman came out of the city to draw water . . . and found her Messiah. The account tells us that she quickly went into the city and invited others to come hear “a man who told me everything I ever did” (John 4:29).

The disciples came back bringing bread. When they urged Jesus to eat, He said to them, “My food . . . is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (v. 34).

Now I ask you: What work had Jesus been doing? He’d been resting and waiting by the well.

I find great encouragement in this story for I am living with physical limitations. This passage tells me that I do not have to scurry about—worrying myself about doing the will of my Father and getting His work done. In this season of life, I can rest and wait for Him to bring His work to me.

Similarly, your tiny apartment, your work cubicle, your prison cell, or your hospital bed can become a “Jacob’s well,” a place to rest and to wait for your Father to bring His work to you. I wonder who He’ll bring to you today? 

— David Roper

Lord, our circumstances can often threaten to overwhelm us. Today, help us to see You in all of life. We are learning to trust You as You do Your work.

If you want a field of service, look around you.  

ODJ: Is Jesus Enough?

May 13, 2016 

READ: Exodus 3:10-15 

God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you” (v.14).

During the First World War, Oswald Chambers was walking past a woman’s house accompanied by his wife, Biddy. The woman was very sick, and Biddy asked, “I wonder what God is going to do?” Chambers replied, in essence, that he was more concerned about who God is versus what He would choose to do. Now these weren’t the words of a man indifferent to the suffering of another person. He merely spoke of his total reliance on the personality and character of God, rather than merely hoping for what He might do. Though concerned for the woman and her condition, the character of his Creator was enough for Chambers to rest in what would happen next.

In Exodus 3, Moses received a cryptic statement from God about His character. You might think it would have been better for him to receive some encouragement from God regarding His power or a revelation of future knowledge in order to spur His servant on. Instead, God stated with authority that He is the “I AM” (v.14). This was enough, apparently! God presented who He is by an intimate name: the God who Is; the One who is able to deliver, rescue and keep His covenant with His people. He gave no promise of health, prosperity or popularity—just His name!

In the New Testament, Peter declared this about Jesus and His name: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). He meant that Jesus, the Messiah, was the “Christ” and “the anointed one of God”. And Jesus once declared of Himself, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM” (John 8:58). In other words, He said that He was one with the God who spoke in Exodus 3.

Is Jesus enough for you and me? May we rest in Him and His loving character—He’s the one and only I AM!

—Russell Fralick

365-day plan: Psalm 8:1-9

MORE
Read John 6:53-71. What would your reaction be to such a teaching, and is Jesus enough when His words don’t seem to make sense? 
NEXT
How do you react when you see injustice in the world, or when circumstances are against you and God seems to be silent? Can you rest in His character and in what His name reveals about Him? 

(Check out Our Daily Journey website!)