Devotional from the Beyond Suffering Bible

Some responsibilities seem too weighty to carry and are therefore destined for failure. Imagine the daunting nature of Ezra’s task.

King Artaxerxes had returned all of the valuables King Nebuchadnezzar had taken when he conquered Israel. Thousands of pounds of gold, silver, and other precious items were entrusted to Ezra to carry back to the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. Ezra did not have an armed escort to protect him and the treasure from almost certain danger. Most caravans during that time were vulnerable to bandits. If word leaked out about the wealth being carted to Jerusalem, the travelers would be doomed.

Ezra called twelve priests and charged them with the safe delivery of the Temple treasure. We don’t know whether they had the option of refusing such a burden, but their service was seen as a special offering to God.

As difficult as it is to fathom the enormous worth of this treasure, both in monetary value and as invaluable pieces designed for the worship of the Lord, Scripture assures us there is another treasure of even greater worth. God calls his people his treasure: “The Lord has declared today that you are his people, his own special treasure” (Deut 26:18). And in Matthew 18, Jesus speaks of God the Father giving special attention to the needs of “little ones” (18:10).

The phrase refers to children, but it also includes everyone who might be categorized as one of the “least of these” (Matt 25:40). The chronically ill, disabled, mentally ill, all those who are unable to care for themselves or provide for their own needs—God especially treasures these.

And just as Ezra entrusted the treasure to the priests, God has given us the responsibility to care for those he considers his special treasure. Whether we have been charged with the care of a dying infant for six months, a sibling with a brain injury, or simply being a friend to someone with a disability, every believer has a part to play. Though we may experience fear and feel the risks to be greater than we can manage, we can take comfort in knowing that God is protecting us and will save all of his treasured people.

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“Come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.

For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods.

He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the mightiest mountains.

The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, too.

Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
for he is our God.

We are the people he watches over,
the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!”
Psalm 95:1-7, NLT

Note from the Girls Life Application Study Bible

How to Worship

Think about a super-popular band. Their followers are pretty crazy about them, right? God wants us to feel that way about him—to know him, love him, listen to him, obey him, and tell everyone about him. That’s what worship is all about. Singing, reading the Bible, and preaching are all parts of worship. But the real heart of worship is the heart—connecting your heart to God’s. These three Rs can help:

Remember what God has done for you. This affects your attitude in worship. Approach God with a sense of gratitude and reverence. The songs will remind you of his greatness— that he is worth praising. Many worship songs are based on Bible passages that talk about God’s great deeds and his love for his people. They’re also about his faithfulness to keep the promises he has made. Think of all worship—including readings, prayers, special music, offering, Communion, testimonies, and sermons—as a celebration of who God is and what he has done.

Reflect the glory of God. When you sing a worship song or tell someone about God, you’re honoring God by spreading the truth about him. Even telling someone, “I saw a beautiful flower the other day,” can be a way of praising God, because creation itself shows God’s glory (see Psalm 19:1).

Respond to God’s grace. Worship is a response to the truth of God. Giving money in the offering is a response; so is following along in your Bible during the sermon. Responding often involves prayer—thanking God for who he is, confessing sin, or asking for help. And it also means applying the Bible lesson to the way you think or act.

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“Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.

See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.

Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.

Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.

Greet all the brothers and sisters with a sacred kiss.

I command you in the name of the Lord to read this letter to all the brothers and sisters.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” 1 Thessaloniaans 5:14-28, NLT

Note from the Every Man’s Bible

In these verses, Paul leaves us with a collection of good teaching. If we follow these many instructions, as we can with God’s help, we will be well on our way. We are called to minister to others and to actively participate in God’s ongoing work on earth.

This gives hope to others and preserves our own spiritual gains as well. Paul calls us to rebuild our relationships by repaying the wrongs of others with kindness. We are called to live joyful lives, to be always prayerful, to continually seek God’s will. We are reminded of the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s continual helping presence. God gives us what we need to fulfill his plan for our lives. Our part is to participate in the good plan he has set out for us.

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“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.

Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!

He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good.

His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.”

Psalm 100, NLT

Notes from the HelpFinder Bible

We do not think of ourselves as a worshiping culture, let alone an idolatrous culture, but our behavior suggests otherwise. Consider our weekly gatherings of up to one hundred thousand frenzied fans observing a ceremony of men dressed in strange garb acting out a violent drama of conquest. Others stay at home and join in by way of a small glowing shrine set up in the family room.

Fans of professional football are probably not even aware that their behavior could be described as worship. Or consider the way thousands of young people scream and throw themselves at the stage where their rock-star idols are performing. Human beings were created to worship. To worship is to ascribe ultimate value to an object, person, or God—and then to revere, adore, pay homage to, and obey by ordering the priorities of our lives around that which we worship. The Bible teaches that God alone is worthy of our worship. Worship, more than anything else, will connect us with God, our only source of lasting hope.

What is the ultimate purpose of my worship?
• 1 CHRONICLES 17:16-18 | “Who am I, O Lord God . . . that you have brought me this far?. . . You know what your servant is really like.”

• 1 CHRONICLES 29:10-13 | Then David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly: “O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord. . . . We adore you as the one who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength. O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name!”

• ISAIAH 6:3 | They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

• LEVITICUS 15:31 | “This is how you will guard the people of Israel from ceremonial uncleanness. Otherwise they would die, for their impurity would defile my Tabernacle that stands among them.”
Worship is the recognition of who God is and of who you are in relation to him. Ultimately, everything we do should be based on what we think of and how we worship the almighty God. If our actions don’t pay ultimate honor to him, then we are paying ultimate honor to someone or something else.

• PROVERBS 3:9 | Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce.

• EXODUS 23:19 | “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lord your God.”
Giving the firstfruits of your income to God honors him as your number one priority. Your offerings demonstrate that your work is for God and that his work is most important.

• REVELATION 4:9-11 | Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say, “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

• REVELATION 5:11-12 | Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”
Your worship of God is a foretaste of heaven.

• GENESIS 4:3-4 | When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock.
In the gifts of Abel and Cain we see that, from the very beginning, humans have an instinct for worship. We desire to offer thanks and honor to God by expressing our praise and bringing offerings from our work to God. Even if we fall short of the mark, as Cain did, the instinct is still there.

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