Devotions

Even after the Lord blessed them powerfully, the Israelites turned to idols. While Moses was communing with God in the mountains, the people melted down their jewelry and made a golden calf. We cannot relate to this kind of thing today but the upshot is this: When you pursue God’s blessings without seeking God Himself, you end up in idolatry — because the focus of your pursuit is something earthen. As Paul says:

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25, ESV).

WHAT ARE OUR IDOLS?

Thankfully, today most of us don’t have to plead for water or bread. We can just turn on the tap or go to the grocery store. But we have golden idols of our own, things we seek apart from God: job success, financial security, material comfort. Those aren’t bad things but if we want them more than we want God — if they become the focus of our life’s pursuit — we have built an idol. And God will say to us, “Go ahead, pursue that. Enjoy it. But you won’t find Me present in it.”

I love Moses’ response: “God, kill me in the desert before you lead me to someplace where You aren’t.”

I pray that this becomes the church’s cry as well: “Lord, my life has been so blessed that I’ve let myself get misdirected. My eyes have been on Your unlimited favor, the blessings You give. I want something different. Let my life be defined by Your ultimate favor—to know You for who You are.”

IS GOD ENOUGH?

I want to ask you: Is God enough for you? Does knowing Him satisfy you? Does anything keep you from Him, an idol you’ve put before Him? His first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).

“Proclaim it amongst the nations, wake up the heroes! Let them come near and let the weak say: ‘I am strong!’ Let My people wake up and come together in the valley of decision” (see Joel 3:9-12).

I plead with you to pray with me, “Lord, increase our faith,” but also I challenge you to make the decision to be a hero for God. I deliberately use the expression “plead” because I believe it is appropriate and proportional to our cause and the seriousness of the times. 

A BLAZING PASSION FOR GOD

The apostle Paul had a fire burning in him. He told the Corinthians, “The love of God constrains [presses] me” (see 2 Corinthians 5:14). The eternal kingdom issues at stake were so real and pressing to him that he let out a cry with an intensity that flies like an arrow straight to our hearts, transcending centuries and cultures.

“I plead with you, in the name of Christ, to be reconciled with God” (see 2 Corinthians 5:20).

The blazing reality of this passion burns within me today. I beg you, be reconciled with the desires and purposes God has prepared for you.

REAWAKENED FAITH

There is a faith that reawakens and revives the heroes. I have often thought that if, for even a fraction of a second, heaven could open to unveil the scope of the immensity and intensity of God’s desires, love and intention for humanity, monotonous Christian living would have to be put away. We could not continue to just sit in another church service, absent-minded and disinterested, between all the movie rentals and pointless reality shows on TV.

 Dear reader, God’s voice is being heard in the hearts of millions of believers around the world: “Reawaken and revive the heroes!”

Claude Houde is the lead pastor of Eglise Nouvelle Vie (New Life Church) in Montreal, Canada. Under his leadership New Life Church has grown from a handful of people to more than 3500 in a part of Canada with few successful Protestant churches.

Scripture says King Hezekiah was God-fearing: “He clave [held fast] to the Lord” (2 Kings 18:6).

During Hezekiah’s reign, Jerusalem was besieged by the Assyrians, the great world power of the day. This vast army had already captured Samaria and the cities of Judah, and now they surrounded Jerusalem. Their captain loudly taunted, “We have overpowered the gods of all nations. How do you expect your God to deliver you?”

GOD ON TRIAL

Here we see the Lord Himself on trial. His faithfulness was being questioned before the whole empire, before Israel’s enemies, even before His own people. What if He didn’t act?

As the crisis mounted, Isaiah stood by, watching it all. He had received a word from the Lord and he trusted in it fully. Now he committed God to that word, putting the Lord’s reputation on the line. He prayed, in essence, “God, my honor doesn’t matter. If You don’t deliver, I can always hide in the wilderness. It’s Your honor that is at stake.”

With that, Isaiah calmly spoke to Hezekiah regarding the Assyrian captain:

“He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake” (2 Kings 19:32–34, my italics).

God will never let His trusting people be put to shame, and that night He delivered a powerful miracle. Scripture says 185,000 Assyrian soldiers died mysteriously, causing a huge panic, and the mighty army fled. Once again, God defended His people for His own sake.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, often referred to as “the three Hebrew children,” refused to bow in worship before Nebuchadnezzar’s ninety-foot golden idol. They stood resolute even when condemned to die in a fiery furnace. As the wicked king taunted, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15), the young men committed the Lord to His promises.

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee [we don’t hesitate in our response] in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. . . . But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (3:16–18).

TOTAL CONFIDENCE IN GOD

These young men were so confident God would honor His name that they willingly faced certain death.

Prominent leaders from throughout the land gathered for the execution: princes, governors, judges, rulers from surrounding provinces. And Nebuchadnezzar ordered the fire stoked seven times hotter than usual, a heat so fierce it killed the servants tending the furnace.

The crowds were aghast, exclaiming, “These men can’t survive! They’ll drop dead before they get near that furnace. No God can deliver from this kind of fate.”

WALKING OUT OF THE FIRE

Again, the Lord’s name was on the line. If He didn’t intervene, His name would be defamed throughout the nations.

But the Lord never puts to shame those who fully trust Him! Scripture says Jesus Himself showed up in that furnace to protect and comfort His servants. And out of the fire walked the men, without even a whiff of smoke on them.

There are times when it looks as if God hasn’t shown up — when His people are left in shame and despair — but the full story hasn’t been told. (The cross was one of those times.) What we don’t realize in the midst of our crisis is that God’s own honor is at stake.

Throughout the Bible He had a people whose flint-like faith proved His faithfulness in the most difficult times. These servants unashamedly committed the Lord to act, putting His honor at stake while trusting Him to deliver.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Consider Moses’ example at the Red Sea, a humanly impossible situation. Israel was on the run from the Egyptian army, hemmed in on one side by the sea and on the other by mountains. Moses had already prophesied that God would lead Israel into the Promised Land and now the Lord’s reputation was at stake for all to see.

What was Moses’ reaction to this crisis? Facing the vast sea before him, he cried, “Move forward!” Moses so believed in God’s care, trusting His word to lead Israel into His promise, that he declared, “I know the Lord is faithful. And I’m going to act on His word.”

WILLING TO BE THOUGHT A FOOL

Think about the consequences of such faith. If the Red Sea didn’t open up miraculously, Moses would be thought a fool. The Israelites would go back into bondage, and God would never again be trusted. Yet we all know what happened: As Moses stretched out his hand, the waters divided, and the people walked across on dry ground. I tell you, no one who fully trusts in God will ever be put to shame. God will deliver on His promise for His own name’s sake.

“O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee?” (Psalm 89:8).