Category: Devotion of the Day

HOLY QUIETNESS

Study to be quiet.
I Thessalonians 4:11

One of our national leaders some years ago expressed doubt as to whether there could have been a Constitution of the United States if the Convention had been currently reported by radio, telegraph, and newspapers over the thirteen colonies. Now, with television added, he might wonder some more. The tempo of the times and our publicity gadgets have had a devastating effect on contemplation and deliberation. It shows up in the documents and dissertations we are turning out.

Unless somebody gets still long enough to hear from God we are going to have scant word from heaven these days. Our Lord made the people sit down before He fed them. Samuel said to Saul, “Stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God.” We are all living in a commotion and we do not know how to break out of the frenzy. Solitude is maddening to us, for we run in herds.

Habakkuk was in a stew of complaint about the times until he got off to his tower to hear what God would say. In our text Paul is calming some overexcited saints – and we could take a few lessons today!

ARE YOU GOD’S ENEMY?

Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
James 4:4

If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
I John 2:15

How conclusive these statements! The friend of the world makes himself thereby the enemy of God. We would not use so strong a term as “enemy,” but God does. “The friendship of this world is enmity with God.” Not mild disagreement but utter hostility!

And John does not say that if any man love the world the love of the Father is weak in him – it is not in him at all. Why is it that we hear so little of this today? Because Christians and churches that have compromised with the world and gone into alliance with it are in no position to say “amen” to such an unequivocal pronouncement at this. We have become artists at soft-pedaling Bible verses that come too uncomfortably close to where we live, and these certainly are two that are played pianissimo while we pull out all the stops on others.

But no exegetical sleight of hand can tone down these texts. The friend of the world is God’s enemy. The lover of the world has no love of God in him.