EquipU Online Library

“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. . . For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.” (Psalm 139:1, 4)

How many words do you speak in a day? Have you ever counted? Probably not! But did you know that God knows how many words you spoke today? Not only that, but He knows what words you spoke and exactly what you were thinking when you said them! He knows if your words were kind or unkind, loving or unloving, respectful or disrespectful. He knows if you just talked about yourself all day or if you thought to ask about someone else’s life.

Psalm 139 says that God knows everything about you! It even says that He knows every time you sit down and every time you get back up. He knows everything you say, everything you do, and even everything you think…both good and bad. No one else knows that much about you, not even your Mom or Dad or your best friend.

This psalm also says that God is always with you. You cannot run away or hide from God like you can from other people.

So, if God knows everything about you, and He is always with you, what does that mean? It means that you must remember to obey Him. Ask God to help you remember to speak only good and kind words, and ask Him to help you do and think right things.

If you are a Christian, it should comfort you to know that God is always with you and that He knows all about you. You should be glad when His voice talks to your heart when you do wrong. Always listen to His voice and obey right away. There is nothing that will make you ultimately happier than pleasing Him.

God knows you better and loves you more than anyone else in the whole world.

My Response:
» Do I remember throughout the day that God is listening to my words and knowing my thoughts?

“All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.” (Proverbs 16:2)

Whenever Michele helped her mom clean the house, she always had to do the dusting. She thought dusting was a boring job, and she wanted to finish it as soon as possible. She would rub the dustrag quickly over the piano and the coffee table and the windowsills, and she would think, “This room looks pretty good.” But then Michele’s mom would come and inspect her work. Sometimes when Mom ran her finger over the piano or a table, she picked up a yucky layer of dust Michele had missed! Even though the room looked clean to Michele, her mom knew exactly how to test her dusting skills. Too often, she would find that Michele had not done a very thorough job at all.

Proverbs 16:2 tells us that we tend to look at our own lives and think that they are “clean.” To ourselves, we look pretty good, especially if we are staying out of big trouble and even doing nice things once in a while. But God looks inside of us and sees what is really there. He sees our spirits–our attitudes, our feelings about what we are doing, and our motives (the reasons we do things). Sometimes we might be obeying Him on the outside, but on the inside we are angry or bitter. Or we might be obeying Him for the wrong reasons–to make people like us or to win the prize for saying the most verses. God wants us to serve and worship Him not for our selfish reasons, but because we love Him and owe Him everything.

How does your heart measure up to God’s test? Is it really “clean” in His eyes? Or does He find layers of “dust” in your heart–wrong attitudes and motives? If He does, there is good news. His Son, Jesus Christ, is the Cleanser of impure hearts.

God sees my inner attitudes and motives, not just my outward actions.

My Response:
» Has God pointed out sinful attitudes or wrong motives in my heart?
» Have I asked Him to cleanse me of these sins?

“And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God.” (Genesis 28:20-21; see also Genesis 32 and 33)

It was night, and Jacob was alone and afraid. He knew that the next day he would meet his brother Esau–the brother he had terribly wronged and fled from long ago. As Jacob waited alone in the dark, perhaps his thoughts went back to the vow he had made at Bethel when he first set out on his journey. His father’s God had spoken to him in a dream. This God had promised Jacob many wonderful things: land, children, blessing, protection. Now Jacob had a family, servants, and livestock. The God of his father Isaac had blessed him. But tomorrow he had an angry brother to face. Would this God protect him now? Until now, Jacob had called God “the God of Abraham” and “the God of my father Isaac.” But he had never called Him “my God.” He had not yet fulfilled the promise he made at Bethel that someday his father’s God would be his own God. Could he trust the God of his father and his grandfather–personally?

That night, Jacob met God personally. He wrestled with Him until morning and begged Him for His blessing. That meeting changed everything for Jacob. He came away from it a different man. When he faced Esau the next day, he was limping because of the great strength of the God he had wrestled with. His speech was filled with love and praise to God for His grace. God had even given him a different name: Israel. One of the first things Israel did when he settled in the land of promise again was to build an altar to this God. He called it El-Elohe-Israel, which means “God, the God of Israel.” God had become more than just the God of his father and his grandfather. He had become Israel’s [Jacob’s] own personal God.

Is God your God–personally? It is not enough for Him to be the God of your parents. He must be your God. Are your parents Christians who have a right relationship with God? If they are, that is a wonderful blessing God has given you. But it is not enough for you to listen to them pray to God and talk about God in your home. You must have your own relationship with their God. You must come to know Him through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, Who paid for your sins on the cross. You must meet God for yourself, just as Jacob did. Such a meeting will change everything for you too–just as it did for Jacob.

God must be your personal God, not just the God of your parents.

My Response:
» Do I have a personal knowledge of God through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ?

“I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.” (Job 23:12b)

Have you ever been excited about a special meal you were going to eat? Maybe it was your school’s macaroni and cheese, your Mom’s yummy lasagna, or Grandma’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes. And even peanut butter and jelly can look pretty good when you are hungry! Because each one of us is special, we all like different foods. Jack’s idea of a tasty treat might be Jane’s idea of terrible torture. Whether you like Mexican, Italian, Chinese, French, or Grandma’s cooking best, we can all agree upon one thing: We all like to eat! We expect to eat several times every day, sometimes more.

Almost everyone has a very healthy physical appetite. But how is your spiritual “appetite”? Did you know that God’s Word ought to be more important to us than meeting our everyday needs like food and drink? Have you ever given God’s Word the same amount of attention you give to your body’s daily food?

The Bible says, “Desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). This verse uses a word picture that compares God’s Word with daily food that we need to survive. “Sincere” food means the “real thing,” food that is not just fake or unsatisfying. We can be sure that God’s Word is satisfying, rich, and very, very good. “O taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8).

But how do you get the “daily food” of God’s Word? When we eat breakfast, lunch, and supper, we are meeting our physical needs. When we read the Bible we are feeding our spiritual needs. Just as you must eat to stay strong, so you must read and “digest” God’s Word regularly so that you can be spiritually “healthy.”

Maybe making the Bible that much a part of your regular spiritual “diet” just sounds like way too much work for you. Think about how important your spiritual health is, even compared to your physical health! For example, would you ever treat your daily mealtimes with as little concern as you do your quiet time with God? Would you ever say, “Hmm. Tomorrow is going to be a really busy day for me. Maybe I should just skip breakfast, lunch, and supper! Sure! After all, it will save time, and I will definitely remember to eat the day after that!”

No way. That does not sound like such a good idea after all. Your day would not be better because you skipped meals! Your day would be worse! You would be very tired and hungry, and your body would be even weaker and less ready to do what you needed to get done! What a mistake!

But that is what many Christians do in the spiritual sense. They think, “I can wait on this,” or “I can skip today, no problem–I’ll just start reading and praying again tomorrow, or sometime next week when I have more time.”

You may not always feel like it, but you do need spiritual food every single day. If you do not get the strength you need from God’s Word and from spending time with Him every single day, then you will be spiritually weak and flabby. On the other hand, the more we “eat” (or, take in) the Word, the stronger we will be against the devil’s temptations to sin.

We cannot survive spiritually without God’s Word.

My Response:
» Do I strengthen myself by taking in God’s Word daily, or am I spiritually weak from “skipping meals”?
» If I am not paying attention to God’s Word daily, what does that say about how important I really think it is?

“And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” (Jonah 3:1-2)

When God told Jonah to go and preach in Nineveh, Jonah ran away. The Bible says that Jonah fled to the harbor and found a ship heading in the opposite direction of Nineveh. There was no way he was going to preach the Word of the Lord to the people of Nineveh.

The Ninevites were cruel people who tortured their enemies. Jonah wanted God to destroy the Ninevites. He knew that if he preached God’s Word, the Ninevites would probably repent from their wicked ways. So Jonah said “no” to God and ran the other way.

But God did not give up on Jonah. While Jonah was aboard the ship, God sent a raging storm. The sailors threw Jonah overboard because they thought he had caused the terrible storm. But God sent a big fish that swallowed Jonah whole. God heard Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the fish, and the fish spit Jonah up on dry land. Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah again and told him to go to Nineveh and preach.

When Jonah said “no” the first time, God could have said, “Forget you, Jonah! I’ll just find someone else!” God can do anything He wants to do, and He could have found another prophet to preach to Nineveh. But God wanted Jonah to go. So God patiently waited on Jonah. He sent a raging storm to get Jonah’s attention, but Jonah did not repent. Instead of repenting, Jonah decided it would be better to die in the sea.

But God still wanted Jonah, so He sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. Finally, Jonah cried out to God, who sent him back to Nineveh to preach to the people. God wanted Jonah to learn a lesson. God wanted Jonah to obey Him, and He patiently waited for Jonah to obey.

God is patient. He wants you to follow Him and obey Him. When you say “no” to God, He doesn’t always punish you right away. He waits for you to obey. He is “a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness” (Jonah 4:2). Sometimes He might have to send a hard time to get your attention, as he sent a storm to Jonah. But He wants you to become more like Him, and He patiently waits for you to do so.

God is patiently waiting for you to follow Him.

My Response:
» What does God want me to do today?
» Am I following the commands He has given in His Word?
» Am I saying “no” to God?