Weekly Devotional - David Guzik | Enduring Word

David Guzik’s weekly devotional, based on a verse or two from the Bible.

Kept from Sinning

June 30, 2024/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.” (Genesis 20:6)

God spoke to the pagan ruler Abimelech in a dream, telling him to stay away from the prominent, prestigious woman that came to his city of Gerar. The woman was named Sarah, the wife of Abraham the man of God and the man of God’s covenant.

The whole situation came about because Abraham didn’t act like a man of God and a man of God’s covenant. Coming to Gerar, Abraham failed to trust God as he should have and instead trusted in his lies and deceptions. Abraham was afraid that the king of Gerar would kill him and take Sarah because she was an obviously wealthy and prestigious woman. So, Abraham told Sarah to lie, saying she was his sister instead of his wife. Sarah lied and Abimelech spared Abraham’s life but planned on taking Sarah into his harem.

God then interrupted this mess with a frightful dream as Abimelech slept. God warned Abimelech and told him that Sarah was actually the wife of Abraham and not merely a sister. God said He would kill Abimelech if he did not return Sarah to Abraham. In his dream, Abimelech protested to God, pointing out that he only did this because he thought Sarah was unmarried.

God agreed and said that Abimelech had done this in the integrity of his heart. What is more, God said that He withheld Abimelech from sinning against the Lord.

Aren’t you grateful for the times God has withheld you from sinning against Him?

This doesn’t mean that God withholds His people from temptation. God may not lead us into temptation, but He allows temptation to come our way.

This doesn’t mean that God will never allow situations where it may be easy to sin. Abimelech found it easy to bring Sarah into his palace, but God confronted him before he could treat Sarah as his wife.

It does mean exactly what 1 Corinthians 10:13 says to God’s people: No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

It also means that there may be sometimes when God simply blocks the way of the person who intends to sin. That person doesn’t deserve such a gracious gift from God, but God is free to show that grace when it pleases Him.

Maybe you can remember some occasion when you intended to sin, even hoped to sin, and God blocked your way. Never presume that God will do this, but thank Him for when He does, and look to Him for the grace to hate sin more and more.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 20

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A Pattern for Evangelism

June 23, 2024/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” (Genesis 19:15)

God sent two angels to Sodom to inspect the city and to remove Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family before the Lord’s judgment came.

One significant reason the judgment of God was coming against Sodom and Gomorrah was because of their depraved sexual immorality, which included homosexuality (Genesis 19:4-5). In Ezekiel 16, God later condemned and rebuked the great sin of Judah in the latter days of the divided monarchy. God compared Jerusalem to the ancient city of Sodom, saying they were like sisters.

Ezekiel 16:48-50 describes some of those shared sins: pride, idleness, and injustice to the poor. Yet, those were not the only sins of Sodom that made them targets of judgment. Instead, those were the sins of Sodom also shared by her later “sister” Jerusalem. The Genesis text makes it plain that God was also grieved by their sexual violence and immorality, which is included Ezekiel’s list of sins under the words committed abomination(Ezekiel 16:50). In addition, Jude 1:7 clearly states that sexual immorality was one of the sins God noted at Sodom and Gomorrah, connected to going “after strange flesh.” The open and approved practice of homosexuality was one of the many sins of Sodom, Gomorrah, and their neighbor cities.

The morning dawned on the day judgment would come, and the angels had to beg Lot and his family to leave the soon to be destroyed city. The only ones to escape would be Lot, his wife, and his two daughters. Lot’s sons-in-law would be left behind as the angels urged Lot to escape the coming destruction and judgment

In how they urged Lot, these angels may serve as a pattern of evangelism.

The angels went after Lot, going to him and his house. Believers might wish that sinners would come to them, and some will. But Jesus didn’t say, “Sit back in church and let sinners come to you.” Jesus told His disciples to go out to all nations, preaching the gospel and making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).

The angels warned Lot of what was going to happen, and in plain words. Today, it’s common to mock the “hellfire and damnation preacher,” but there is an appropriate place to warn others of God’s coming wrath (Colossians 3:6). Evangelism can and should include warning.

The angels urged Lot, urging him to flee destruction. The angels didn’t make a lifeless appeal, saying “Come or don’t come, we really don’t care.” With great passion and urgency, they did all they could to persuade Lot and his family. Our evangelism should have a note of urgency and passion, working hard to persuade others for Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:11).

Dear believer, let these three things mark your sharing of the gospel. When you find evangelists who do these things, support and encourage them.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 19

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Laughing At God’s Promise

June 16, 2024/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:13-14)

In a dramatic way, God appeared to Abraham at the oak trees of Mamre (Genesis 18:1). As the story develops, we see that of the three persons who visited Abraham, two were angelic beings in human appearance who went on to the city of Sodom. The third was the LORD Himself.

One reason God made a special appearance was to tell Abraham that the promise he had long waited for would soon be fulfilled. A son would be born to Abrahm and Sarah in about a year (Genesis 18:10). Sarah was listening to the conversation between the LORD and Abraham, and when she heard this good news, she laughed (Genesis 18:12). Sarah knew that she was long past the time of bearing children, and it seemed too good to be true that God would work such a miracle to make her able to conceive.

Sarah’s laugh was silent. Genesis 18:12 says that she “laughed within herself.” Yet, God heard it and He asked Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh? God knows our thoughts and inward actions, even if hidden from others. Sarah fearfully denied that she laughed (Genesis 18:15), but God knew the truth. We might live very differently if we remembered that God hears and knows everything we think and speak.

I wonder what Abraham’s immediate reaction was when he heard God ask, why did Sarah laugh? I wonder if Abraham thought, “Oh no – now God will take away His promise to give us a son. We didn’t respond to His promise with strong faith, so He will take away the promise.”

Yet, that wasn’t what happened. Instead, God confirmed the promise by saying, at the appointed time I will return to you. When Sarah laughed at God’s twice-given promise, God didn’t take the promise away. Instead, God responded by dealing with her sin of unbelief, not by taking away the promise. Sarah’s less-than-perfect faith did not disqualify her from God’s good promise. We are grateful for what 2 Timothy 2:13 says: If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

As God confirmed His promise, He gave believers an enduring principle: Is there anything too hard for the LORD? God would demonstrate through Abraham and Sarah that there was nothing too hard for the LORD, and that God can triumph even over the weak faith of His people.

Someone can laugh at God’s promise because they think it is ridiculous, or they can laugh at it because it seems too good to be true. Sarah’s laugh seems to be of the second kind, but God assures us all: nothing is too hard for the LORD. Rest in God’s promises, even the best of those promises.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 18

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God Works In Our Waiting

June 9, 2024/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” (Genesis 17:1-2)

Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran (Genesis 12:4), and 86 when the son Ishmael was born of Hagar, the servant (Genesis 16:15-16). He had waited some 25 years for the fulfilment of God’s promise to give a son through Sarai.

Now, when he was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram. This was another appearance of God in the person of Jesus, who took on a temporary human appearance before His incarnation on earth.

God’s first words to Abram made an introduction and declared His being: I am Almighty God. By this name El Shaddai (God Almighty), God revealed His Person and character to Abram.

There is some debate as to what exactly the name El Shaddai means. Derek Kidner claimed it means, “the God who is sufficient.” Adam Clarke said it means, “the God who pours out blessings.” H.C. Leupold thought the sense was, “to display power.” Donald Barnhouse took the approach that the Hebrew word shad means “chest” or “breast.” It may have in mind the strength of a man’s chest (God Almighty) or the comfort and nourishment of a woman’s breast (God of Tender Care). The Septuagint – a translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek before the time of Jesus – translates Almighty with the ancient Greek word pantokrator, meaning the “One who has His hand on everything.”

Whatever the exact meaning of El Shaddai, after the proclamation of that name, God then told Abram what was expected of him: Walk before Me and be blameless. The word blameless literally means “whole.” God wanted all of Abram, a total commitment. The order was first revelation and then expectation. This communicates the principle that the believer can only do what God expects when they first know who He is, and know Him in a full, personal, and real way.

The last time we are told the LORD communicated with Abram directly was some 13 years before (Genesis 16:15-16). Seemingly, Abram had 13 years of “normal” fellowship with God, waiting for the promise all the time. It would be understandable if, at times during those 13 years, Abram felt that God forgot His promise.

But God had not forgotten the covenant. Though it had been some 25 years since the promise was first made, and though it maybe seemed to Abram that God forgot, God remembered His promise.

The years of waiting were not an accident. They served a purpose in Abram’s life with God. Abram was becoming a great man of faith, but great faith isn’t created overnight. It takes years of God’s work, years of ordinary trusting in the LORD, perhaps interrupted with a few special encounters with God.

God worked in Abram’s waiting, and He will work in your waiting.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 17

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The Foolishness of Helping God

June 2, 2024/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. (Genesis 16:3-4)

God promised Abram and Sarai what they desperately wanted and long waited for: a son. After waiting ten years, they decided to “help” God fulfill His promise by using an Egyptian slave woman as an ancient version of a surrogate mother. In this, Abram and Sarai both acted in unbelief. Abram did not actually marry Hagar, but he acted towards her as a man should only act towards his wife. This wasn’t the right path for Abram, the friend of God and the man of faith. God had a different way for him, but Abram and Sarai didn’t want to take that way.

Abram and Sarai were discouraged enough that they approached the problem of no children by leaving God out of the matter. It was as if they said, “If we remove God from this situation, how do we solve this?” This was wrong for many reasons.

– God is never removed from any circumstance.
– Men and women of faith must walk in faith, not in unbelief.
– Men and women of faith must live being mindful of the realm of the spirit, not only mindful of the material world.

When a believer impatiently tries to fulfill God’s promises in their own effort, it accomplishes nothing and may even prolong the time until the promise is fulfilled. Jacob had to live as an exile for 25 years, because he thought he had to arrange the fulfillment of God’s promise to get his father’s blessing (Genesis 28:1-5; 33:17-20). Moses had to tend sheep for 40 years in the desert after he tried to arrange the fulfillment of God’s promise by murdering an Egyptian (Exodus 2:11-15; 3:1).

It is better to receive God’s help than to try and help Him in our own wisdom and unbelief. When the servant woman conceived, things only became worse, especially for Sarai, the wife of Abram. Hagar’s pregnancy seemed to confirm that the inability to bear children was Sarai’s problem, not Abram’s. In a culture that so highly valued childbearing, mothering the child of a wealthy and influential man like Abram gave Hagar greater status, and made her appeared more blessed than Sarai.

This is a good reminder that results are not enough to justify what we do before God. It’s not right to say, “They got a baby out of it. It must have been God’s will.” The flesh profits nothing (John 6:63), but it can producesomething. Doing things in the flesh may get results, but they may be results that are soon regretted.

Whatever a man or woman attempts to do without God will be a miserable failure – or an even more miserable success.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 16

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Covenant Assurance

May 26, 2024/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8)

Jesus spoke of faith that could move mountains, but often our doubts seem to create those mountains. Trusting God and His promises is a constant challenge, faced by everyone who has ever tried to chase away doubt.

Sometimes doubt comes from unbelief – an attitude that doubts God will keep His word or can keep His promises. Other times doubt is connected to faith that is growing and maturing; a doubt that recognizes that there is no weakness or wavering in God, but we are weak in our ability to trust. This was the kind of doubt that led a desperate father to say to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

God promised Abram a son and he waited ten years. Abram was successful in business and every other enterprise, but he thought “what good is all that without the fulfillment of God’s promise?” This was the ache of Abram’s heart, and it prompted his doubt-filled question to God in Genesis 15:8: How shall I know that I will inherit it?

Abram did what we all should do with our doubts: he brought them to God, and let God speak to his doubts. Again, understand this was not doubt that denied God’s promise, but doubt that desired God’s promise. God is always willing to help that kind of doubt.

God, in effect, answered: “Abram, do you want to be certain? Then let’s make a contract.” In that day, one way to make a contract was to have both parties walk together through the split carcasses of sacrificed animals, while they repeated the terms of the contract. It seems bloody and barbaric to us, but to them it represented two things. First, it showed this was a blood covenant – something serious. Second, it was a dramatic warning: if one failed to live up to the contract, he could expect that his animals, and perhaps himself, would end up cut in two.

God wants to help our doubts with a contract. But our contract is not Abram’s; it is the contract Jesus called the new covenant (Luke 22:20, Hebrews 9:15). The new covenant was also established by sacrifice – by what Jesus did on the cross towards God the Father and for us.

When we want to believe but still seem to doubt, we don’t have to think God is angry and irritated with us. We can even ask God to prove Himself. But when you ask for proof, God will speak to you the same way He did to Abram. God will point you to a covenant made by sacrifice that proves God’s love and concern for you is real and His promises are true. God will point you to the new covenant.

Today, ask God to help you with your doubts, and to remember He proved His love for you by the new covenant and what Jesus did at the cross to establish it.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 15

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Trusting God, Not Man

May 19, 2024/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’—except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.” (Genesis 14:22-24)

Abram was the great patriarch of the Jewish people and the father of all who believe, those who trust God and are declared to be righteous. We don’t often think of him as a military man, but on at least one occasion he was. In Genesis 15, a group of four kings attacked a group of five kings, to punish them for rebellion. In the attack, the armies of the four kings took Abram’s nephew Lot as a hostage, and they returned to the north.

That didn’t make Abram happy. Lot was family, and Abram would protect him. Abram gathered an army of 318 trained fighters among his servants and pursued the armies holding Lot. In a bold night attack, Abram defeated the four kings, rescued Lot, and recovered all the spoil the kings had seized from the five cities. After the battle, the king of Sodom wanted to reward Abram, offering him all the plunder.

Abram replied, I will take nothing – not even a thread! Abram would not take any of the plunder because of a vow he made to God Most High. Abram made the vow because he didn’t want any man to rightly say, I have made Abram rich. Abram determined that all the credit for his success and wealth should go to God and God alone.

As a man of faith, Abram had decided to live so that whatever outward success he gained, everyone could see that it was because of the blessing of God, not because of any generosity or help from man. His faith was in God not man; his reward would be from God and not man.

This is wise living, and especially a wise way to serve God. If apparent success comes through man-centered methods and strategies, then it is difficult to confidently say the blessing came from God. It is much better to rely on God’s methods and wisdom, so if apparent success comes, then God receives the glory, and everyone sees it was God’s work.

However, at the same time, Abram did not impose his principles on his Amorite allies – they could take their portion. They were entitled to as much of the spoil as was appropriate under the customs of the time. If they wanted to live by Abram’s faith, they could choose to do so. Abram wouldn’t force it on them.

Dear brother or sister in Christ, determine to live by faith in God instead of looking to or leaning on man.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 14

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Laying Down Our Rights

May 12, 2024/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.” (Genesis 13:8-9)

God did something special when He called Abram (later named Abraham) out of Ur of the Chaldees and promised Abram all of Canaan. But when Abram brought his nephew Lot with him into the land, it wasn’t long until there was conflict. Abram and Lot each had big herds of livestock, and their workers fought over the better grazing lands.

Abram and Lot each claimed to serve Yahweh as God instead of the local Canaanite idols, and their conflict made them look like hypocrites. The logical solution was to separate the flocks and take them to different grazing lands. But who would go where? That is when Abram used his right to lay down his rights.

Abram said to his nephew, If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left. Abram was the eldest and God promised the land to Abram (not to Lot), this was pure generosity.

This was true generosity, not weakness. Abram could fight when it was the right thing to do (Genesis 14). He didn’t yield to Lot out of weakness but out of love and trust in God. Because Abram lived with an eternal perspective, a few acres of grazing land didn’t seem worth fighting for.

The giving up of rights is a theme throughout the Bible. God was glorified when Jesus, out of love, waived his right to an existence that knew no human suffering or trial by experience (Philippians 2:5-11). God was glorified when Paul, out of love, waived his right to be supported by the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:14-18). In Genesis 13, Abram fulfilled the New Testament principle of love: Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4)

But if we give up our rights, who will look out for us? Abram could do this because he learned that God would provide for him, and so Abram did not have to worry about being too generous. In this case, Abram was willing to let God look out for his interests. Right or left, it didn’t matter to Abram, because God would be there.

There are times to stand on principle and claim a right – the Bible also gives examples of this. Sometimes doing this is good for others and not only for us. Yet we are grateful for the generosity God shows to us, and we seek to show that to others.

We can do what is right by committing our rights to God.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 13

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Land, Nation, Blessing

May 5, 2024/2 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:2-3)

God told a Mesopotamian man from an idol-worshipping family to leave his land and his family, and to receive a wonderful promise. God promised Abram a land, a nation, and a blessing.

Abram only partially obeyed. First, he traveled half-way to the place God told him to go, and he brought his father and nephew with him, though God had told him to leave his family. Yet in God’s grace and goodness, He worked with Abram’s partial obedience and eventually Abram came to the land of Canaan – the land God promised him.

Abram would become a giant of faith, even being the father of the believing (Galatians 3:7-9); yet he did not start as a hero of faith. We see Abram as an example of growing in faith and obedience. Through faith and patience, he inherited the promises of God.

God promised Abram a land. In Genesis 12:1 God directed Abram to the land He would show him.

God promised to make a nation from Abram. He would have children, grandchildren, and further descendants, enough to populate a great nation. This would make the name of Abram great. There is probably no more honored name in history than the name of Abram, who is honored by Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

God also promised He would bless those who bless you and to curse him who curses you. This promise – inherited by the covenant descendants of Abram, the Jewish people – remains true and is a root reason for the decline and death of many empires. Historically speaking, nations that have treated the Jewish people well have often been blessed. The opposite may be seen in the fall of the empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Spain radically declined after the Inquisition and Poland fell after her pogroms. Germany was severely humbled after the Holocaust, and Britain lost her empire after breaking faith with Israel.

God promised to bless Abram, but also that he would be a blessing, even to the point where all the families of the earth would be blessed in Abram. This amazing promise was fulfilled in the Messiah that came from Abram’s lineage. God’s blessing to Abram was not for his own sake, or even the sake of the Jewish nation to come. It was for the whole world, for all the families of the earth through Jesus Christ. Revelation 5:9 tells us that the work of Jesus will touch every people group on the earth.

Whether you are a genetic descendant of Abram or not, this blessing is for you – in and through Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of the blessing promised to Abram. By faith, receive that blessing in Jesus today.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 12

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Fulfilling Your Potential

April 28, 2024/0 Comments/in Weekly Devotional/by David Guzik

Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:3-4)

After the flood humanity began to multiply quickly. God told Noah and his descendants to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 9:1), and they did. Instead of spreading over the earth, people stayed close, settling in southern Mesopotamia, near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The area was called Shinar (Genesis 11:2), also known as Babylon (Genesis 10:10). All this was in disobedience to another command God gave in Genesis 9:1 – the command to fill the earth, instead of sticking close together.

We could say that humanity was determined, ready to build and to accomplish things. Unfortunately, they didn’t surrender that determination to God. Speaking one language (Genesis 11:1), man advanced quickly in technology and organization. They used their determination, potential, technology, and organization to rebel against God and God’s will.

Because we are made in the image of God, people have a lot of potential – especially when they work together. First, they built themselves a city. Then, they built a tower. Using the technology of well-baked bricks and asphalt for mortar, they started building a tall tower.

Allow me to suggest something. It’s not my original thought, and we don’t have enough information to be certain. Yet, I think they made the Tower of Babel out of well-baked bricks and asphalt for mortar to make it strong and waterproof. The Bible says that Noah used the same material in waterproofing the ark (Genesis 6:14). The mother of Moses used the same material in waterproofing Moses’ basket (Exodus 2:3).

If this is true, then Babylon and the Tower of Babel were not only expressions of disobedience to God’s command to fill the earth (Genesis 9:1). The Tower of Babel means that man did not believe God’s promise to never again flood the earth. A waterproof tower was made to protect mankind against a future deluge.

The top of the tower was intended to be in the heavens. It is doubtful they thought they could build a tower all the way to heaven. It is more likely they built the tower as an observation point of the heavens; it was built “unto the heavens.” Most astrological and occult practices have a history back to Babel. This tower was real. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus said the remains of the Tower of Babel still stood in his day and he had seen it.

Disobeying God and doubting His promise didn’t do them any good. God easily defeated their plan by confusing their languages and scattering them over the earth.

You are made in God’s image and capable of amazing things. Don’t waste all that potential in disobedience and unbelief.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 11

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