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Daily Transcripts
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11/26/2015
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Daniel 2:24-3:30 ~ 1 Peter 4:7-5:14 ~ Psalm 119:81-96 ~ Proverbs 28:16-16
Today is the 26th of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Happy Thanksgiving. I mean, Happy Thanksgiving to everybody even though many of you are like, yeah, it's not our Thanksgiving, our day of giving thanks, depending on where you are in the world. Here where I live in the world, it's Thanksgiving Day and a big celebration day. It's even more than that for me. Today is my daughter China's birthday and so I'm extraordinarily thankful. So Happy Birthday China. I love you, Sweetheart. And Happy Thanksgiving everybody. It's great to be here with you today.
So we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. We began the book of Daniel yesterday. Today we’ll read Daniel 2:24 through 3:30.
Commentary
So Peter is talking about the suffering that is going on, the persecution, the marginalization that is happening among the people who have believed in Jesus and he is giving them words of encouragement on a number of fronts. One, just don’t be surprised by this when fiery trials come your way. Stand firm. God knows what is going on. He is going to be with you in this, which is ironic because we just read of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown into the fire. So Peter is saying God is with us. He is with us and when you trust in that truth and that fact you are entrusting your soul to a faithful creator while you are doing good at the same time. This is your posture. It is not easy. This is your posture and this will yield enormous fruit in the life of the kingdom and in your own heart.
And he talks about the posture towards each other and those of leaders and how that is supposed to look. One of my favorite verses or at least one of my guiding verses is 1 Peter 5:6: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. Humble yourself. Don’t wait to get yourself humbled. It is like the last thing that we do. Everything is about drawing attention or exalting ourselves in some way, to cast ourselves in the right light in some good way, some positive way. And what does that do? It keeps us self-absorbed and it keeps us anxious because what we’re trying to portray is an image of who we want to be rather than who we really are.
Peter is diving in. Listen, humble yourself. Don’t wait to be humbled. Humble yourself in advance under the mighty hand of God and at the right time, the proper time he’ll exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. That is beautiful, friends. If we could just live into that it could be revolutionary in our relationships. Think about it. If we were to all humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and cast all our anxieties on him, what would that change?
On this day of Thanksgiving it is a wonderful opportunity to think about that. This day crams families who are extended together and all the stuff that starts coming up, all that anxiety that starts coming up in this season. What if we took this one word, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, not humble yourself under the thumb of the in-law that always criticizes you or humble yourself under the domineering mother who always makes you feel like a child even when she is in your house? No, none of that. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
It is at this point that we get to a verse or a set of verses that is popular but this is its context. Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be sober-minded, be watchful. In other words, be on guard. Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking to devour you. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kind of suffering is being experienced by your brothers and sisters all over the world. That is all in the context of humbling yourself. May we heed those words today and live into these words during this season that can be full of anxiety.
Peter says something at the beginning of our reading today that is really also appropriate for the beginning of this season. Above all keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. May we live this out today and every day.
SONG played on today's DAB "When It Was Over" Sara Groves. http://apple.co/1SaXD76
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Tamarie 11/26/2015 13:34 |
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