for today...

Training Through Chastening
Hebrews 12:1-11
If you are now going through testing, there are three things you should especially remember.
First, God's way is the wisest way. Training is always accompanied by some type of hardship.
Even athletes realize they cannot properly train without giving up some of the pleasures of life and enduring the hardship of training. God trains us through chastening.
Second, God's time is the best time. God was working out His purpose through Joseph. It was impossible for Joseph to realize it at the time, but later he could look back and see that God's time had been exactly right--everything had worked out.
But imagine the lonely years of waiting. God does not act too early nor too late. He is never in a hurry but accomplishes things in His own time.
Too many of us either lag behind or run ahead of God's time. But we need to remember that the clock of divine providence keeps strict time. Because of our circumstances it may appear to be slow at times and fast at others, but the all-wise God knows precisely when to act.
Third, God's grace is sufficient. He will give us the grace we need to be patient.
James 1:4 says, "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." The word "perfect" means "mature" or "complete." God is seeking to teach us valuable lessons so we will be mature believers.
"Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty" (Job 5:17).

From today's devotions...

God seldom accompanies His commands with reasons or explanations, but He always accompanies them with wonderful promises.

(I personalized this section, changing the 'you' to 'I' and 'me' accordingly)
Do I trust God? When I know God wants me to do something, can I step out for Him and claim His promises, even though He hasn't given me reasons why He wants me to do it?

"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass" (Ps. 37:5).

from today's devotions

Sufficient for Each Day
1 Kings 17:8-16
Because Elijah was a man like us, he undoubtedly wondered what God had in store for him when he saw the brook beginning to dry up. Since he was trusting in God, however, he believed and help arrived.
God did not send a sudden squall of rain for that immediate neighborhood, nor did he provide some supernatural source of water in that place. Instead, Elijah was to arise, go to Zarephath and dwell there. Only at Zarephath would a widow provide food for him.
Few of us have faced the extremity this widow experienced. It seemed as though each day she might face starvation; yet each day by faith she trusted God to meet her need.
The result was that she and her house "did eat many days" (1 Kings 17:15). God supplied not a year at a time but a day at a time.
This is what we need with regard to God's grace. We do not need a great stockpile of it for future use but a daily appropriation of it, which God supplies freely.
The manna was gathered daily, not in the evening but in the morning, and each one gathered for himself. So must we accept grace from God.
We cannot hoard today's grace for tomorrow or call on yesterday's grace for today. We cannot gather enough on a Sunday to last a whole week. We need to have daily contact with God, particularly in the morning.
"Give us this day our daily bread" (Matt. 6:11).
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With all the things going on, I needed to be reminded of this. God is going to take care of everything today. He's already worked out the future but needs me to trust Him for today. He will give me the all of the tools to get through today. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"...