60IN60 Day 55 - Sat Feb 28

It's Day 55 and we're in Psalm 18.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 3 - He is worthy to be praised.  I've got evidence of that in my life.

Help:
- Verses 7-15 - This is poetic, not literal, language.
- Verses 20-24 - This most likely is intended not to say that he was perfect, but that he was passionately keeping the system that God had laid out at that point.  (The Old Testament Mosaic system.)

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 54 - Fri Feb 27

It's Day 54 and we're in Psalm 16.

One thing that can impede God speaking to you is the presence of unconfessed sin in your life. Are you coming to the Word today with a clean heart or are you holding things back from God? 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 11 - I like that phrase: "in Your presence is fullness of joy."  I'd like more of that.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 53 - Thurs Feb 26

It's Day 53 and we're in Psalm 14.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 2 - God is looking for those who are looking for Him.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 52 - Wed Feb 25

It's Day 52 and we're in 1 Samuel 15.

A little reminder from James 1:22 - "Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!" 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 13-14 - Saul claims to have carried out God's command while the evidence that he didn't is making noise all around him.  So often we have motives to give partial obedience and think it's good enough.

Help:
- Verse 3 - This is just a hard verse.  Knowing that God commanded this destruction is hard to understand.  Statements like in verse 33 of the evil that this nation had done help us to understand partially, but it's still a very harsh word and one that believers have struggled with down through the centuries.
- Verse 21 - They might have been sacrificing a little, but most was just taken as spoil.
- Verse 35 - It's not that God didn't know this would happen.  It's just that, like a family tragedy you can see coming for years before, it's still heartbreaking to watch it actually unfold.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 51 - Tues Feb 24

It's Day 51 and we're in 1 Samuel 14.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 44 - It's ironic that Saul had made a stupid decision, yet he sticks by it and even invokes the name of the Lord for it.  So many stupid things done with God's name as backing.

Help:
- Verses 9-10 - This is not something that we can normally count on: that we ask God for a specific sign and He will give it to confirm our need to move forward.  God did it here, but that's not an obligation for Him to always do similar things.
- Verse 19 - Instead of waiting on a word from God, Saul decides to move forward.
- Verse 24 - This was a bad idea from Saul that lessened the victory.
- Verse 41 - In the Old Testament they sometimes discerned God's direction through casting lots.
- Verse 44 - This was Saul's decision, not God's.  The oath was Saul's idea. . . and not a good one.  Here it brings the ridiculous situation of the hero of the story potentially being executed.
- Verse 52 - Saul put all the good warriors he could find in his army.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 50 - Mon Feb 23

It's Day 50 and we're in 1 Samuel 13.

An encouragement as you read today: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8). 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verses 11-12 - We always have excuses for our disobedience.  Sometimes they're really good ones, but it's still disobedience.

Help:
- Verse 13 - This seems harsh, but God wanted someone who would trust Him and obey Him.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 49 - Sun Feb 22

It's Day 49 and we're in 1 Samuel 12.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 23 - "far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you" - That's a phrase to hold onto.

Help:
- Verses 17, 19 - They'd been told ahead of time it was sin, but "they wanted what they wanted."  Now, too late, they acknowledge their sinful desire.
- Verse 20 - This is Plan B.  God will not abandon them to their sin, but they have lost the chance for Plan A when they chose to have a human king.  There are choices we can made that remove God's Plan A for our lives.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.