Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]
Now I See

Now I See

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I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. 

Job 42:5-6 

It is one thing to have heard of God. It is quite another thing to see Him. Job’s testimony was that prior to his afflictions he had heard of God, but that the result of his experiences was he saw God. This is a significant distinction because it indicates he recognized growth in his experience of God. Because of what we know about how God reveals Himself this brings us to Christ. John tells us, ‘No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.’ Job could not see God without beholding Christ, the only begotten Son. Christ is all there is to see of God. If we say we have seen God we must, of necessity, have seen Christ. We dare not sell the ancients short regarding their evangelical knowledge. He has such knowledge. Earlier on in the book he said, ‘For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!’ Therefore we conclude that Job’s increased knowledge of God involved Christ. We value this because we may endure many experiences which are difficult in every way. The end purpose of those experiences is to give us a greater knowledge of God by how He reveals Himself to us through Christ. 

God of Grace and Truth, 
we rejoice that You reveal Yourself to us. 
We praise You that Christ 
is all there is to see of You. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

I Have Heard Of You

I Have Heard Of You

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My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. 

Job 42:5-6 

Job was a spiritual man. God considered him to be. His description of Job was that he was blameless, upright, reverent, and holy. Thus Job had a relationship with God that was a good one. Having said that, no spiritual experience that we may have with God in this scene of time is above improvement. Besides that, we do not possess the knowledge or wisdom ourselves to know the best way to improve our relationship with God. We have the means of grace and may make diligent use of them, but in order for us to really gain ground spiritually, something more may be necessary. God alone knows what that is. He may bring many circumstances into our life physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially. The overall purpose is for us to advance in our experience of Him. These circumstances are rarely anything we would choose for ourselves. God knows they are the very things that will advance us spiritually from merely hearing of Him to seeing Him, which brings us to the sight of Christ, Who shows us God.  

Our Wise and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You have brought us into a relationship with You. 
We praise You that You will advance our experience of You 
until we see Christ clearly. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

My Servant Job

My Servant Job

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Then the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? 

Job 1:8 

God had a high estimation of Job. Our text reflects His view. He speaks of Job as unique, blameless, upright, reverent and holy. Because God knows all things, He was accurate in His description of Job’s character. That did not mean that Job had no more progress to make in His spiritual life. The rest of the book of Job is painful to read. God, for His Own reasons, permits Job to suffer greatly. He loses his possessions, his family, his status in the community, and his health. His erstwhile friends are worse than useless. Their tone-deaf explanations add to his burdens. Job has ground to gain spiritually and God allows Satan to afflict him to a certain degree. What God knows is that He will increase Job’s spirituality vastly by the experiences he endures. If we consider Job’s conclusion at the end of the book we will see what God has done in his life even to the point of showing him Christ. This makes a survey of Job’s experience worth our time and attention. We want to see where his affliction brought him and learn where ours will bring us.  

Our Good and Wise God, 
we rejoice at the work that You have done  
in the lives of people in the past. 
We praise You that You set it before us as an example. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
I Have Lost None

I Have Lost None

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Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none. 

John 18:8-9 

Christ takes His responsibility to care for His Own seriously. As He faced the mob who advanced into the garden to arrest Him, He interposed Himself between His arrestors and His disciples. He clearly established Himself as the Person they were seeking to capture. Once He had gotten their focus on Him, He secured His people, saying, ‘if you seek Me, let these go their way.’ Our text provides the reason, ‘that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none.’ Thus He fulfilled His responsibility to preserve His Own. This gives us insight into the character of Christ as the supreme example of servant leadership. At the critical moment when He was about to suffer injustice and cruelty, He thought first of safeguarding those entrusted to His care. We admire this kind of leadership. It is the kind we want to follow and imitate. This is the exact opposite of the self-serving behavior that passes itself off as leadership. We see in Christ the epitome of true leadership. He is as good as His word and will lose none whom the Father has given Him.  

Our Gracious God and Savior, 
we rejoice that You show us leadership that we can happily follow. 
We praise You that You keep us, 
who could never keep ourselves. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Whatever State

Whatever State

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Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:11-13 (NKJV)

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