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

Tag: Adoption
‘The Eyes of the Lord’

‘The Eyes of the Lord’

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‘The Eyes of the Lord’

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.

Psalm 34:15

Having taken a brief break from our discussions of the blessings and benefits of adoption, let us return to the subject for more consideration. Our text for today declares, ‘The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous….’ The psalm places this within the context of familial relationships. Verse 22 says, ‘Come, Children, listen to me and I will teach you the reverence of the Lord.’ Starting from there, and moving to our text, we arrive at this conclusion:  God pays particular attention to His children. Consider this:  Have you ever observed a young mother as she goes about her daily activities? She may be sorting out the household budget, or organizing a meal, or attending to some other matter of importance. All the while she engages in these other things, she is keeping a watchful eye on her toddler, to safeguard the little one from any harm. Wherever the child wonders, indoors or out, she keeps a watchful eye to protect, to guide, and to nurture. So the Lord does with His children. ‘The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.’ We are righteous because God has, in Christ, made us so. We are His children because He has adopted us for Jesus’ sake. As the careful parent watches the small child, so God watches us, to safeguard, preserve and uphold us.

Our most Gracious and Loving Heavenly Father,
we rejoice that you never fail to see us in all the changing seasons of life.
No matter where we are, or under whatever circumstances we abide,
You are faithful and love us without change.

 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Avenging His Elect

Avenging His Elect

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Avenging His Elect

And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

Luke 18:7

It is important for us to embrace a whole God, a whole Bible, and a whole Christ. We often emphasize, and rightly so, the Love, Mercy and Grace of God, and speak of them particularly as Christ manifests them. We ought also to remember the Justice of God, of which the Scripture has much to say. Our text for today proceeds from the Mouth of Christ Himself. Having articulated the parable of the unjust judge, He concludes with, ‘And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?’ We want to concentrate upon the opening words of this text. ‘And shall God not avenge His Own elect…?’ Here is a blessing and benefit of adoption which we have not yet considered. God is, as Abraham said, ‘The Judge of all the earth.’ He will, ‘do right.’ This bears upon His handling of those who do evil to His children. Christ goes so far as to say, ‘If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.’ We may often feel like Habakkuk, that ‘the law is slack, and judgment never goes forth.’ Yet Christ declares that He will call the wicked into account, especially those who prey upon His people. This affords us great comfort, especially if we have endured the oppression of those evil ones. As the children of God, we rest in the assurance that God, will indeed, ‘avenge His Own elect.’ We are His children. He will act on our behalf.

O, Great God of Truth,
we praise You that You are indeed the Judge of all the earth.
We rejoice that You will do Judgment and Justice,
and will infallibly avenge all of Your elect.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
‘As The Mountains’

‘As The Mountains’

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‘As The Mountains’

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever.

Psalm 125:2

One of the blessings and benefits of our adoption into the Family of God is His defense of us. Our text for today, lies within the context of the Old Testament, so, within the strictest of contexts applies to the ancient people of Israel.  Given the tenor of the New Testament and the behavior of Christ, we would err greatly in refusing to apply it to all the people of God. The Head defends the Body. The Bridegroom defends the Bride. Even on the night before Christ went to the cross, as the mob was about to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, ‘If you are looking for Me, allow these people to go their way;’ thus He secured the liberty of His Own. So, God is ever the Great Defender of His adopted children. Our text uses the picture of ‘the mountains…round about Jerusalem.’ These form a natural defense for the City of God. So God encompasses His children to defend them from all their foes. This provides an abundant security for us. Christ said, of His people, ‘neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.’ He added, ‘no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.’ This is the security which we need today, and every day. It is a blessing and benefit of our adoption. Our God is to us, ‘like the mountains…round about Jerusalem.’

‘We rest on Thee our Shield and Defender.’
We rejoice that You are, in every way, the Guardian of Your people.
We are safe in Christ, and that forever.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
The Family Reunion

The Family Reunion

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The Family Reunion

And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 8:11

As we continue to consider the long term benefits of our adoption into the family of God, we combine today the two ideas of heaven and family. Before Christ healed the servant of the Roman Centurion, He made this statement, ‘And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.’ Here Christ is declaring that His ‘Family’ consists of more than merely the household of Israel. In fact, He goes on, in the verse after our text, to say that some of Israel would not make it into the kingdom. ‘But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Our text reflects a very happy circumstance for the adopted child of God. Even though we come from rather dubious pedigrees, that does not disbar us from the Family of God, nor does it keep us from the Kingdom, nor does it prevent us from arriving at the ‘Family Reunion’ which Christ describes in our text. Certainly this is one of the blessings and benefits of adoption. God has made us His sons and daughters by adoption. Christ has, by His perfect obedience, purchased our redemption. We have all the ‘rights and privileges of the sons of God.’ Therefore, we have a place at the table. We are those who having come from the farthest reaches of the globe and the most inauspicious of beginnings, have reserved seating at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We enjoy the appetizers today.  Tomorrow, we will feast.

Our Kind and Loving Father,
we rejoice today that You will bring all of us together,
from east and west,
and that Christ Himself waits for us, with out-stretched arms.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
That the World May Know

That the World May Know

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That The World May Know

I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

John 17:23

One of the blessings of Adoption is our identification as the people of God. A key point which Christ makes in His prayer is ‘that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them.’ The story of Redemption is the story of Electing Love. It is the story of the Love of God to those, ‘chosen…before the foundation of the world.’ The coming of Christ into the world, His perfect living, His sacrificial dying, His glorious resurrection are all indications of God’s love for the people to whom Christ refers as ‘my sheep.’ These are ‘all that the Father has given Me,’ of whom Christ speaks in John 6. This is a testimony to the world, whether they will accept it or not. This is the logical extension of God’s naming us and claiming us. This will, by the very nature of it, produce conflict, hatred, and estrangement from the world. The worldlings who refuse God will also refuse to accept those Whom God identifies as His Own. Christ said, ‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.’ This may not seem to us, for the minute, to be such a wonderful blessing, however, consider the alternative. The alternative is to be without Christ, without forgiveness, without peace, and without any good eternal prospect. There is no middle ground. For God to show to the world that we are His, is for Him to separate us from the world.  It is Christ Who sets us apart, it is Christ Who makes us different.

Our Gracious and Loving God,
we rejoice in Your Grace and in Your Unfailing Love.
We praise You that You have separated us unto Yourself;
that we are Your people, and the sheep of Your pasture.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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