Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever wished you had had the courage to speak up for truth when you didn't? What's written in the Bible is there "for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (1 Cor. 10:11). Can we learn from those who in the past failed?
* Do you repent for letting Eve cajole you into eating the forbidden fruit when you knew better (she didn't!)? (Gen. 3:6; are you better than Adam?)
* ... for not standing up alone and publicly defending Noah when he was persecuted while he was building the ark alone? We're being tested today! (7:1; Matt. 24:37-39).
* ... for not believing and defending the inspired Joseph when his ten brothers hated him? (Joseph did have some real faults, hooks on which to hang doubts; Gen. 37:5-8).
* ... for not standing with Caleb and Joshua when "all the congregation bade stone them with stones"? Were you ready to be stoned with the two? (cf. Num. 14:10).
* ... for not standing up for David, telling King Saul "you're wrong for hunting David like you do. He's a prophet!"? (1 Sam. 23:9-15; the court were loyal to Saul).
* ... for not supporting Jeremiah in his dungeon when Kings Jehoiakim and Zedekiah "shut him up" and the national leaders wanted to kill him? (38:1-13).
* ... for not confessing publicly you too believe in Jesus of Nazareth when the Jewish national leaders "took up stones to cast at Him"? (John 8:59).
* ... for being a believing "chief ruler" too cowardly to confess Jesus publicly when "the Pharisees" said anybody who does "should be put out of the synagogue"? (John 12:42).
* ... for not speaking up for Jesus when you wanted to warm yourself by the fire, and this girl was taunting you; it's so hard to take ridicule from her, isn't it? (Matt. 26:69-75).
Thank God He gives us a new day today, a new opportunity to repent and overcome!
Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Daily Bread - Readings about life and the Word of God.
