2025-05-14
2 Chronicles 14:11 ESV
Faced with an enemy he couldn’t conquer on his own, King Asa prayed, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us…we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.’ The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah” (vv. 11-12 NIV).
F. B. Meyer writes: “Remind God of his entire responsibility. ‘There is none like thee to help.’ The odds against Asa were enormous. There were a million men in arms… beside three hundred chariots. It seemed impossible to hold his own against that vast multitude. There were no allies who would come to his help: his only hope therefore was in God. There was none beside to help. It may be that your difficulties have been allowed to come to so alarming a pitch that you may be compelled to renounce all creature aid, to which in lesser trials you have had recourse, and cast yourself back on your Almighty friend. Put God between yourself and the foe.
To Asa’s faith, Jehovah seemed to stand between the might of Zerah and himself, as one who had no strength. Nor was he mistaken… the Ethiopians were destroyed before the Lord, and before His host, as though celestial combatants flung themselves against the foe on Israel’s behalf… Our God is Jehovah of Hosts, who can summon unexpected reinforcements at any moment to the aid of his people. Believe that he is there between you and your difficulty, and what baffles you will flee before him as clouds before the gale.”
Soul food: Heb 11:17-13:25; Mark 7:1-13; Ps 88:1-9a; Prov 11:24-26
2 Kronieke 14:11 NLV
Toe hy voor ‘n vyand wat hy nie op sy eie kon oorwin nie te staan kom, het koning Asa gebid: ‘…’Here, niemand behalwe U kan dié wat magteloos is, help teen dié wat magtig is nie. Help ons, Here ons God, want ons vertrou op U alleen. Dit is in u Naam dat ons teen hierdie hordes stelling ingeneem het. Here, U is ons God; moenie dat blote mense teen U seëvier nie!’ Die Here het die Kussiete voor Asa en die leër van Juda verslaan sodat hulle gevlug het’ (verse 11-12 NLV).
F.B. Meyer skryf: ‘Herinner God aan sy belofte: ‘…niemand behalwe U kan dié wat magteloos is, help teen dié wat magtig is nie.’ Die beproewing waarvoor Asa te staan gekom het was enorm. Daar was ‘n miljoen gewapende mans langs driehonderd strydwaens wat teen hom wou veg. Dit het onmoontlik gelyk om teen daardie groot menigte staande te bly. Daar was geen bondgenote wat hom sou help nie; sy enigste hoop het dus op God gerus. Dit mag wees dat jou moeilikhede so erg geword het dat jy nie meer op die mense wat jou in kleiner beproewinge bygestaan het, kan steun nie; al wat oorbly is om jou aan die genade van die Almagtige te onderwerp. Plaas God tussen jouself en die vyand.
Asa het geglo dat God tussen die leër van Serag, die Kussiet, en homself sou kom staan. Hy het hom ook nie misgis nie, want die Here het die Kussiete voor Asa en sy leër verslaan. Ons God kan onverwagte versterkings op enige oomblik om sy mense te help, ontbied. Glo dat Hy tussen jouself en jou vyand staan. Die moeilikheid sal dan soos wolke voor die stormwind vlug.’
Sielskos: Heb 11:17-13:25; Mark 7:1-13; Ps 88:1-9a; Spr 11:24-26
2025-05-13
Jeremiah 2:13 NLT
We are desirous by nature. We keep desiring things just like we keep taking our next breath. The trouble is, when we get the things we crave, they don’t bring us the happiness we yearn for. So, we keep looking for more and more things. Online stores are in the business of “creating need.” Things we had assigned to our “want” category are switched to our “need” category.
But according to a theologian, here is the problem: “We cannot get enough of what we do not need… No matter how much we have, we remain ‘not-enough’ people. For not-enough people, there exists no lasting soul satisfaction. I saw an ad that featured the tagline ‘yesterday I didn’t know it existed; today I can’t live without it.’ [It’s called] the myth of more, the myth that one day more will be enough. If we believe this myth, we spend our lives looking for the next thing. It might be a car, or a promotion, or the love of a beautiful woman or handsome man. It might be, depending on your age, an iPod, or a Lamborghini, or a Tickle Me Elmo doll. We keep hoping that the next thing will be it – the source of true satisfaction for our souls. For a few minutes, or perhaps days, we experience true soul satisfaction. Then it wears off. It always wears off.”
Understand this: Only Jesus can satisfy; everything else disappoints. God said, “My people have done two evil things: they have abandoned me – the fountain of living water. And… dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” If you are tired of living an empty life, come to Jesus. He won’t disappoint you.
Soul food: Heb 9:1-11:16; Mark 6:45-56; Ps 75; Prov 11:23
Jeremia 2:13 NLV
Dit is deel van ons natuur om dinge te begeer. Ons hou aan om te begeer net soos wat ons aanhou om ons volgende asemteug te neem. Die probleem is dat wanneer ons die dinge kry wat ons begeer, bring dit nie die geluk waarna ons smag mee nie. Dus bly ons na meer en meer dinge soek.
Volgens een teoloog is die probleem egter as volg: ‘Ons kan nie genoeg kry van dit wat ons nie nodig het nie. Maak nie saak hoeveel ons het nie, dis nooit genoeg nie. Daar is geen blywende sielsbevrediging nie. Ek het ‘n advertensie met die opskrif: ‘Gister het ek nie geweet dit bestaan nie; vandag kan ek nie daarsonder lewe nie,’ gesien. Dit word die mite van meer genoem, die mite dat meer op die ou einde genoeg sal wees. As ons hierdie mite glo, bestee ons ons lewens op soek na die volgende ding. Dit kan ‘n motor, of ‘n promosie, of die liefde van ‘n pragtige vrou of aantreklike man, wees. Dit kan, afhangend van jou ouderdom, ‘n iPod, of ‘n Lamborghini, of ‘n Barbiepop wees. Ons bly hoop dat die volgende ding dit waarna ons soek – die bron van ware bevrediging vir ons siele – sal wees. Vir ‘n paar minute, of dalk dae, ervaar ons ware sielsbevrediging. Dan vervaag dit. Dit vervaag altyd.’
Net Jesus kan ons bevredig; alles anders stel net teleur. God het gesê: ‘My volk het twee sondes gedoen: Hulle het My verlaat, die fontein wat lewe gee, en hulle het vir hulle bakke uitgekap, bakke wat nie water hou nie.’ As jy moeg is daarvoor om ‘n leë lewe te lei, kom na Jesus toe. Hy sal jou nie teleurstel nie.
Sielskos: Heb 9:1-11:16; Mark 6:45-56; Ps 75; Spr 11:23
2025-05-12
Ephesians 6:4 NIV
Parenting doesn’t end when your child becomes a teenager. Teens are just more mobile, spend less time with you, and are more independent. Now they value and emulate peers who are as immature as they are. Even when you have laid moral and spiritual foundations in their early years, something will happen that leaves you asking, “What happened? Where did I go wrong?” Adolescence happened!
It’s the teenager’s brain; it’s wired that way. Their frontal lobes – the part of the brain linked to moral development, emotional reactivity, impulse control, and decision-making – aren’t fully developed yet. Their frontal lobes won’t finish growing before their twenties, and sometimes later.
Meantime, what happened to all those Bible stories and your efforts to build godly beliefs into them? It’s all in there, temporarily lost in those budding lobes! They aren’t bad or stupid, though they sometimes seem to act that way. They haven’t abandoned your teachings. The belief systems you helped them construct earlier are not erased – they have been transferred to a “holding file” until their new sanity-restoring brain cells arrive. And they will!
Your job is to avoid panic, pray and allow God to work on them, love them unconditionally, and be their anchor. Stand firm, and live by your principles. Demonstrate empathy, but teach them how their decisions affect others. Help them learn self-control by letting them deal with their consequences! Be patient, supportive, and never give up on them. You have sown the seed of God’s Word into them, and “at just the right time [you] will reap a harvest of blessing if [you] don’t give up” (Galatians 6:9 NLT)!
Soul food: Heb 5-8; Mark 6:30-44; Ps 18:30-50; Prov 11:22
