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

Category: Devotional

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

Let These Go

Let These Go

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Then He asked them again, Whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way. 

John 18:7-8 

The scene in the Garden of Gethsemane is a tense one. Christ has completed His agonizing prayer. The disciples have roused from sleep. The mob has entered the garden with torches, lanterns, and weapons. Judas is there to play his evil part in the drama. Christ, calm as ever, asks, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ They answer, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ He responds, ‘I am He.’ They draw back and fall to the ground. He asks them the same question again. They respond with the same answer to which He says, ‘I have told you that I am He.’ What He does next is the mark of truly outstanding leadership. He says, ‘Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way.’ Christ safeguards His people by interposing Himself between them and those who would do them harm. This is the hallmark of great leadership. He shows all who would imitate Him how to look after the those who follow them. Christ continues to secure His people. He give to them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone pluck them out of His hand. This gives us abundant confidence in Him. He has shown Himself in every way to be that Great Shepherd of the sheep.  

Our Great God and our Savior, 
we rejoice that You safeguard Your people. 
We praise You that, because You do, 
they are secure forevermore. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And Will Declare It

And Will Declare It

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And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. 

John 17:26 

Christ reveals God to us. The Scripture affirms this on numerous occasions. At the beginning of his gospel John writes, ‘No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.’ As Christ closes His High Priestly Prayer He confirms this by saying, ‘I have declared to them Your name.’ He adds to that, ‘and will declare it.’ In due course of time Christ would return to heaven. Would He cease to proclaim the Father’s name then? He would not. He indicates that the Holy Spirit would take up the work. Speaking of the work of the Spirit He says, ‘All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.’ We see from the rest of the New Testament that this is exactly what happened. What about us? Will Christ continue to declare the Father’s name to us? Is our text referring to the disciples only or to us also? Inasmuch as He declared it to them, He has, in giving us their testimony, declared it to us as well. In addition, the Holy Spirit Who indwells all the redeemed does take the things of Christ and show them to us. In showing us Christ, He shows us the Father, for Christ is all there is for us to see of God. Christ reveals God to us and as He does, we come to know Him.  

Our Good and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that Christ has revealed You to us. 
We praise You that the Holy Spirit 
continues His work.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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