Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 26th​

The Cure to Conflict​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 4:2-5

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.

Phil 4:2

In these few verses he turns the spotlight on the problem that has been dimly discernible all along in this letter. There were in the church at Philippi two lovely ladies who were quarreling with one another. They were in some kind of disagreement and the quarrel had spread to others in church. Some were taking sides, and it was beginning to threaten the unity of the church. They hadn't divided yet, it wasn't a church split, but they were on the verge of it.

He says what is needed to settle the difficulty, on the basis of the marvelous revelation given in this letter of the life we have in Jesus Christ. Now it comes down to the practical actions — two things to be done. First of all: agree in the Lord. That means finding common ground. You know how it is when we have a quarrel with someone or their personality rubs us the wrong way — they're one of those irritating people who always do things differently and are hard to live with — and our tendency is to say oh, we've nothing in common with them, and go our separate ways. But the apostle says this is absolutely wrong for Christians. Separations between believers in Jesus Christ must never be permitted, for it is quite wrong to say you have nothing in common. Christians always have something in common in the Lord. Therefore they are to agree and get together in the Lord.

It's impossible to know what this quarrel was about, but we don't need to know. For whatever the areas of disagreement, there are always vast areas of agreement in the Lord for believers. The apostle is urging these two ladies to get together and talk about those, and from that agreement begin to work on the problems on which they disagree. They would soon find that starting from that basis the areas of disagreement would begin to shrink until there was nothing left and they were agreed together in the Lord.

The second activity is the theme of the letter: Rejoice in the Lord. That is also necessary. In order to agree it is needful to find that place where you can begin to rejoice in what is taking place. Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say — this is the mark of spiritual maturity — Rejoice in the Lord. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, he writes to the Thessalonians. Learn that all that comes into your life, even these irritating disagreements with others, is sent of the Lord either to reveal something in your own heart that you haven't seen or to give you an opportunity to manifest the sweet reasonableness of the Lord Jesus.

Father, in the conflicts and disagreements in which I find myself with my brothers and sisters in Christ, teach me to agree together in the Lord and rejoice, that through these struggles you may work out your good purpose in each of us.

Life Application​

Are we learning to see disagreements with other Christians as opportunities to affirm our spiritual unity in Christ, and to deepen our mutual joy in being His fellow servants?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 27th​

The Cure to Worry​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Phil 4:6

There is nothing more prevalent in the age in which we live than the increasing problem of worry. Worry is a powerful force to disintegrate the human personality, leaving us frustrated, puzzled, baffled and bewildered by life. Sometimes you hear the expression: sick with worry, and anyone who has experienced it knows it is no empty expression. You can be literally sick with worry. Paul's answer to this is a blunt, Do not be anxious about anything. The entire Word of God is a constant exhortation to believers to stop worrying. It is everywhere forbidden to those who believe in Jesus Christ, and I think one of the most serious areas of unbelief is our failure as Christians to face the problem of worry as sin. Because that is what it is. Worry is not just something everyone does and therefore it must be all right. It is definitely labeled a sin in the scriptures, and the exhortation is everywhere: stop it!

Well you say, this is all very well to say don't worry, but how do you stop it? Every time I try to stop worrying I worry all the more. You can't stop it just by the exercise of will power. Again, that's the secret of running the race — here it is: In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

I love those words in every situation. That means there is nothing too small to bring to him. Someone asked, Is it alright to bring small things before the Lord? Is he concerned about the small things in our lives? The answer is: is there anything that looks big to God? Everything is small to him, so take everything to him in prayer. Prayer is the expression of our dependence upon his promises. It isn't necessarily on your knees, or in the closet, but it can be simply that quiet, arrow prayer of the heart, in continual recognition that you need to lean back upon his grace and strength in everything, constantly relating to that indwelling life of God the Son in you.

Petition means, keep it up, over and over again. Whenever problems develop lean back again in prayer to the one who is able and competent within you through his indwelling life. Thanksgiving is that forward look of faith that thanks God for the answer before you see it. Knowing his character, you know something — the right thing, the perfect thing — will be done.

God is not saying we should ask for everything we want. Instead, we're to ask for everything we need. Frequently we find ourselves praying for things he never promises. For instance, if you are up against some kind of trial, or some catastrophe strikes in your life, our perfectly understandable, natural human reaction is to say, Lord, take this away. But God never said he would do that. He does not always want us to have it taken away. Sometimes he will, sometimes not. That kind of prayer must always have appended to it what our Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.

But there are things for which we can immediately ask, and know that we will receive. His grace, his strength, insight, wisdom, patience, love and compassion. And as we lean back upon him in that inner dependence of faith which is prayer, we can also begin to give thanks that the answer has come, and in our thanksgiving we discover the experience of it as well. So, as in everything where we let our requests be made known to God, the result is peace. The peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I confess, Lord, that I so often prefer worry over prayer. Thank you that you invite me to cast all my cares upon you. I pray that I may learn to do that with a heart of continual thanksgiving.

Life Application​

Are we learning to confess our anxiety as sinful distrust in the character of God? Are we choosing to pray with thanksgiving, affirming our trust in God's wise and faithful care?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

Peaceful on Purpose

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give andbequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]
John 14:27


When Jesus left this earth, He said that He was leaving His peace with us. Now the decision we have to make is, are we going to choose to live in the peace He has given us? Of course, the devil works overtime to try to get you upset. Why? Because he knows that if you don't remain peaceful, you can't hear from God.

If you watch your life, you'll be amazed at how many times a week Satan launches an attack against you for the sole purpose of stealing your peace. When I finally saw that, God said to me in my spirit, "Joyce, if the devil wants your peace that badly, then there must be something pretty powerful about being peaceful." It's true!

So now when the devil tries to steal my peace, I enjoy holding on to it, knowing that I'm getting the better of him. That doesn't mean I don't feel upset, but I can do something positive about it, I can control myself and be peaceful on purpose. Being peaceful on purpose is something we have to do for ourselves. Will you choose God's peace?

Prayer Starter: Lord, thank You for providing me with Your peace. When the devil tries to steal my peace, reveal his plans to me. I won't let him take my peace. Instead, I'll remain rooted in You.

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 30th​

Why Give?​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 4:14-18

I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

Phil 4:18

Here we have an expression of warm and fragrant thanks for the gifts these people had sent to him by the hand of Epaphroditus, yet he is quick to point out that he is far more interested in what their giving does for them than what it does for him. You remember the Lord Jesus said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. This is what the apostle is saying, not that I seek the gift; but I seek the fruit which increases to your credit. These are really financial terms. The word fruit here is a common word in the business world of that day for interest. What Paul is saying is I don't desire the capital. I only want the interest, and it is continually increasing to your account. That is, as you give to me there is a blessing you receive which is continually building up for your own enjoyment. That's what he is after; not that he needs the gift. He wants them to be blessed in the giving, and that is why he so gladly receives these gifts from them.

Then he writes what is nothing more nor less than a receipt, in verse 18: I have received full payment and have more than enough. Now don't be misled. This is not necessary in order for the Internal Revenue Department so that it might be deducted from the income tax. This is the reason we give receipts today. But this receipt was given in order that they may know the gift has gone farther than Rome. It has reached to heaven as well, where it is presented as a fragrant incense delighting the heart of God. God sees this gift given so freely to the apostle out of their poverty. In another epistle he speaks of the deep poverty out of which they gave. It becomes a delightful fragrance to God's heart, pleased with the evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Each offering in the church, and each gift of any Christian to any specific need, ought to be something that is given in such a willing, gracious, generous expression of the love and thanksgiving of the heart that God is just simply delighted as he knows it is the spirit of love within that prompts this kind of giving.

Remember we are told the Lord Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. There is a sense in which he always does that. He watches as we drop our check into the offering plate or coin into the box or mail it off. And he knows the intent of our hearts in this, and that is why the apostle so strongly says, God loves a cheerful giver, a hilarious giver, one who gladly pours it out. This delights His heart, because this is the way He gives to us in His Son.

How often, Lord, I have given with the wrong motives. Thank you for the opportunity to give out of a cheerful heart that has already received so much more.

Life Application​

In the ebb and flow of giving and receiving, is self-concern our primary interest? How does it affect our contentment? Is your bottom line gratitude for all of God's good and perfect gifts?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for March 31st​

God's Supply​

Read the Scripture: Philippians 4:19-23

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Phil 4:19

This is a promise for givers, not for non-givers. It's what God does in return for the expression of your gift. Unfortunately, we often subtract it from its context and take it as a blank check we can cash any time we are in need. It has sometimes been taken to apply to everyone everywhere. It is not that. Half the world goes to bed hungry every night. This is not a promise that God is going to meet all the time every need of every human life. He will not, and permits the world to express its own innate tendencies, hungers and desires.

This is a promise in exact accord with our Lord Jesus' own words in the Sermon on the Mount. Remember what he said: Give and it will be given to you. This is a promise for givers. You give, and God will give back to you. Of course it's understood that we have all received freely from him first, and out of that sense of having received from him, let us give. The Lord says, Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.

That is what Paul is saying here. He says you have given to me out of your poverty, out of your lack, at cost to yourselves. I am grateful for that, not because of the gift which in itself was a delightful fragrance to God, but it means that my God will also abundantly give back to you and supply every need out of the riches in Christ Jesus.

Notice the source of supply: my God. Not just God will supply, but God known in personal experience. Not some remote power running the earth, giving to the just and unjust alike, but a personal Father. This is a family matter. This is a promise for the children of God, those who belong to him.

Notice also the limits of supply: all your needs. It doesn't say, all your wants. Our wants are sometimes far beyond our needs. The great theologian Dr. H.A. Ironside used to say he delighted to walk through Woolworth's dime stores because it was always such a comfort to him to see so many things he could get along without. There are so many wants in our lives, and really so relatively few needs. God has promised to supply your needs, and you must let him decide what your needs are.

Notice finally the method of supply. It's according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. There are many kinds of riches. There are the riches of his goodness which are available to all people. He makes the sun shine and the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. Then there are the riches of his grace which are available only to sinners who admit their need. God's grace takes over and forgives and cleanses and gives us purity and all we need. Then there is the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. This is available for saints, to those who know him. All that he has in terms of the glory and fullness of his deity is available to any believer. The weakest saint holds in his hands all that the greatest saint ever had. He has Christ, and in having Christ he has everything!

Father, thank you for all you have given me and will give me. You have not only supplied my every need but you have given me untold riches in Christ. Help me to live as one so blessed that I can say with Paul, My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Life Application​

Do we give to others with both care and prayer? Are we giving in order to be rewarded? What should be the motivation that prompts joyful, spontaneous, even costly giving?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for April 1st​

The Need to Belong​

Read the Scripture: Leviticus 1

The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.

Leviticus 1:1-2

There are five offerings in Leviticus: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the trespass offering and the sin offering. All five represent aspects of the work of Jesus Christ. The first offering is the burnt offering. The most important characteristic of the burnt offering is that it had to involve a death. Death in these offerings is always a picture of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. So when these Israelites offered this sacrifice they were learning the great truth that only by means of the death of an acceptable substitute can man ever satisfy this great longing to belong. Only in the recognition of the death of Jesus Christ for you, can you ever satisfy that longing. He is the expression of the love of God. So we must give ourselves to God through Christ, acknowledging that he owns us, that we belong to him: You are not your own; you are bought with a price, (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a RSV). God does not and will not exploit you and run you like a robot or a slave. He loves you and wants to fulfill you and set you free. But you do belong to him. That is the most basic truth of all.

You can find a certain amount of satisfaction in having a family. You will be very restless if you do not have a family. You can find satisfaction in having a background, an identity. But you will never satisfy it wholly that way. You will find that this cry of your heart, this clamorous hunger to be possessed and to belong, can be satisfied only by God in Jesus Christ coming into your life. By the death of Christ that door is open. Only through the death of Christ, and only through my relationship with the living God which that death enables can this hunger be stilled, can this basic desire to belong be met. That is what accounts for the sense of joy and relief upon becoming a Christian. Do you remember that? Now I belong! God is my Father! I'm in a family. I'll never be alone again! God will never forsake me nor abandon me! I belong to God!

Thank you, Father, that you have made provision for this most basic of all needs to be met in Jesus Christ, who died for me that I might have it. Teach me to rejoice in my relationship with you.

Life Application​

The death of Christ has purchased the basic needs for our human longings, at immeasurable cost, and all intended for our joy. Are we accessing this inheritance as our first and primary resource for living?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for April 2nd​

The Need to Respond​

Read the Scripture: Leviticus 2

When anyone brings a grain offering to the Lord, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it and take it to Aaron's sons the priests.

Leviticus 2:1-2a

Now we come to the grain offering. Many versions call it the meal offering. In the King James Version it is called the meat offering because meat was the old English word for food, or meal. But there is no meat in it at all. In fact, this is the only one of the offerings that is bloodless. In all the others animals had to die but in this one no blood was shed.

It is obvious that the essence of this offering was that it was bread. It was food, the staff of life. This theme is the key to the grain offering. All through the Old Testament you find people offering meal offerings, often in the form of three loaves of bread. And in the tabernacle there was the showbread.

The reason for all this becomes apparent when you remember that in the New Testament, after the great miracle when he took loaves and fishes and fed five thousand people, Jesus stood before the people and said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35). He was indicating that he himself is to be our food and that we are to feed upon all of his character and his life.

This gives us a clue to what the grain offering is depicting. It is a description of humanity as God intended it to be. This was seen in its perfect form only in Jesus Christ — the perfect, unsullied, spotless, God-pleasing humanity of the Lord Jesus. It bears relationship to us only if we as Christians are drawing from, feeding upon, the humanity of Jesus which is given to us.

I find that many people have the idea that the gospel, the good news, is that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross in order that you might go to heaven when you die. That is a portion of the gospel — it is a part of it. Unfortunately that is all of it which you hear in many places. But that is not the whole gospel by any means. If that is all you think the good news is then you have believed only a part of the gospel. The really good news is that Jesus Christ died for you in order that he might live in you. It is his living in you now which is the exciting part of Christianity. You see, if you are not linked with his humanity and all that he is, if his perfect humanity is not available to you, then you are not enjoying the fullness of the Christian life or experience, because that is what it is all about.

This is what the grain offering is looking toward. Eventually it is looking toward us — we who can say with Paul, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, (Galatians 2:20a KJV). His perfect humanity is available to me. All the fullness of his life, the fineness of his character, the balanced quality of his humanity is available to me. And as I draw upon it by faith, as I expect him to link himself with me and to be an indwelling part of me as I work and live, I shall find that I am privileged to present that perfect humanity back to God to be used as he wants. That is the fullness of the gospel and that is what the grain offering is all about.

Thank you for the love which is always reaching out toward me, and which never seems to stop. Take me this day, Lord, and be my God, and live through me, so that everything you are, I may be.

Life Application​

Is it possible to miss the core truth of authentic Christian living, resorting to our own best self-efforts? Are we ready and willing to exchange this futility for the exciting adventure of Christ living His Life through us?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for April 3rd​

The Need For Peace​

Read the Scripture: Leviticus 3

If your offering is a fellowship offering, and you offer an animal from the herd, whether male or female, you are to present before the Lord an animal without defect.

Leviticus 3:1

Now we come to the fellowship offering, which is better rendered the peace offering. In the peace offering we are recognizing another basic, fundamental need of the human heart. No proper life is possible without peace.

I am not referring here to the peace of forgiveness. That will come in the next two offerings: the sin and the trespass offerings. It is not peace with God; it is the peace of God we are talking about here. It is peace not in the sense of hostility ceased but in the sense of emotional stability, of an untroubled heart. That is what we need — a sense of security, of well-being, of confidence that things are under control and that it is all going to work out. That is the kind of peace this offering represents.

Perhaps you remember the story of the artists who were commissioned to paint a picture of peace. One artist depicted peace as an absolutely calm and tranquil sea lying under the moonlight without a ripple on the water. But the one who won the prize pictured a turbulent mountain waterfall, a cataract, with its noisily plunging waters. But half-hidden behind the waterfall, in the midst of all the thunder and tumult, was a bird's nest with a mother bird sitting quietly and serenely on her eggs. That was peace. That is what this offering is all about — peace in the midst of trouble, in the midst of conflict.

This kind of peace is perhaps best known and visible by its absence. We know when we are not at peace. We all have had the sense of tension and pressure, that knot at the back of the head, those butterflies in the stomach which won't leave you. There's a restlessness so intense you feel that you can't sit down, that you have got to do something, anything, to overcome the inability to get your mind off the subject that is troubling you. No matter what you do it is there, throbbing away, and it keeps coming back again and again. You have a troubled heart, and that is the absence of peace.

We all are familiar with the physical difficulties which can come with such an absence of peace. It is an excellent way to build a good case of ulcers. It can create all kinds of disturbances in the body — tics, nervous twitches, indigestion, stuttering, and various other maladies. Even emotional breakdown and nervous collapse can follow. So it is very evident that we are dealing here with a fundamental need. If you do not think the Bible is practical you have not even begun to understand this Book. It deals with human life as it really is.

Thank you, Father, for these eloquent truths taught through these Old Testament sacrifices. Give me an open and responsive heart so that I will recognize that in the dying of the Lord Jesus, and in his living again, I have all that it takes to bring me through my troubles and bring me peace.

Life Application​

Is our peace sadly dependent upon outward circumstances? Have we discovered the secret of inner tranquility as we increasingly trust in our Father's wise, loving and sovereign control of it all?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for April 4th​

The Need to Confess​

Read the Scripture: Leviticus 4

Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.

Leviticus 4:30

In the book of Leviticus, the five great offerings specified there set forth for us so clearly and helpfully the basic needs of our humanity, needs which God has built into every one of us, and how these needs can be met — the only way in which they can be met. Here we come to the fourth of these offerings, the sin offering.

Remember that in the previous offerings, just as in the sin offering, blood had to be shed, and a death had to occur. But all the blood of the animal was poured out at the foot of the altar. But with the blood of the sin offering something unusual was always done. The blood had to be sprinkled seven times before the LORD. Then, in the case of the offering for the anointed priest as we see here, it had to be put on the horns of the altar of incense which stood in the holy place, right in front of the veil which guarded the holy of holies — i.e., right before the presence of the LORD.

What is the significance of this? It is obvious that a special emphasis is being placed upon the blood. It is to be put in a visible place, and in a place which is obviously connected with God. It is to be recognized openly as being on the horns of the altar before the LORD. And the individual for whom the offering is being made is to be able to see the blood there. That is the point. In other words, there is to be an understanding on the part of the one who sinned that this blood has now covered his sin, forgiven it, and before God it is acknowledged to be forgiven. And when he understands that, then his own conscience can be at rest.

I find many people who have never seen that God accepts the death of Jesus fully on their behalf. They are always troubling themselves about some terrible degree of sin they have committed, and which they think God is not able to forgive. They do not see the blood on the horns of the altar. As a result, they torture themselves endlessly with guilt. But God is trying to make very clear that there is a way to be free of guilt. And once the blood is there on the altar, it provides a way out. There is no guilt left! He shall be forgiven, the Scripture says — not only of the sinful acts but of the guilt of his very nature. That is what this offering is teaching. It teaches us that this is the only way that man ever has of being free from his nagging, hidden, inward sense of guilt which alienates him from God.

Men are always trying to find their own ways to be free of guilt. Some try to forget it. Most are trying simply to avoid the whole subject. They don't want to think of their guilt. But you remember how David said he felt when he tried that. These are his words from Psalm 32: When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. (Psalms 32:3-4)

This is what unacknowledged guilt will do. It will dry up your life, will reduce it to a shallow, superficial level of living in which you have to be caught up endlessly in some diversion in order not to think about your relationship with God. And forgetting will never work either.

Help me to be honest, Lord, about my guilt, and not try to avoid it but to know that there is no way out unless I acknowledge it. Thank you that there is a way out of my guilt, and that I no longer need to be far off from you.

Life Application​

Honest confession and open repentance is never risk-taking with God, but rather the open door to forgiveness of all our sin. Do we seek this invaluable gift often and with joyful expectancy?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for April 5th​

Unintentional Sin​

Read the Scripture: Leviticus 5

The Lord said to Moses: When anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the Lord's holy things, they are to bring to the Lord as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. It is a guilt offering.

Leviticus 5:14-15

A distinction of the sin offering is that often the sin was said to be unintentional. It is dealing not with acts of deliberate evil, which all of us commit from time to time, but it is dealing with the nature which prompts those acts, and which takes us by surprise.

Haven't you noticed that? Most of us, if we were asked our private opinion, would have to say that we are pretty nice people. Most of us have a fairly good opinion of ourselves. We acknowledge that we do still have a few minor problems, yes, a few peccadillos which, if we merely had the proper motivation, could be taken care of with but slight effort on our part. That is true, isn't it?

But every now and then something happens which surprises us, and we act in a way we didn't expect. Some situation catches us unaware and all of a sudden we do the very thing that we never thought we'd do. Does that ever happen to you? We come to the sudden and shattering realization that there is evil in us deeper than we had realized. That is what the sin offering is talking about — that kind of evil, embedded in us, part of our nature, which takes us by surprise because we may fancy that we had gotten rid of it, or did not even possess it.

Dostoevski, in The Brothers Karamazov, tells a fable about a wicked woman who died. The devils took her to hell and threw her into the lake of fire. Her guardian angel was very puzzled as to how he might do something to help her. So he thought through her whole life to see if he could find at least one good thing that she had done which he might present before God. Finally he went to God and said, Once a beggar came by when she was weeding her garden, and she pulled an onion out and gave it to him to eat. God said to the angel, All right, then you go down and get that onion and hold it out to her in the lake of fire. Tell her to take hold of it, and if you can pull her out with that onion she can come to Paradise. So the angel took the onion, went down to the lake of fire, and held it out to the woman. She grabbed hold and he began to pull. He pulled and pulled and, sure enough, he began to pull her right up out of the lake. She was almost completely free when some other sinners around her grabbed hold of her ankles so as to be pulled out with her. At first the onion held, and they too began to be pulled out. But the woman became very angry and cried, This is my onion, and you're not going to go out with me! And, as she kicked them loose, the onion broke and she fell back in and she is burning there to this day.

That is a graphic illustration of the very thing which this offering addresses. Even in moments of triumph there is that taint of selfishness, that evil, in every human heart. That is what the sin offering is dealing with.

Father, how thoroughly you understand me! You know what can lurk in my life, hidden away, keeping me from knowing the full measure of your grace. Thank you that you have made provision for all my sins, even those I am not aware of.

Life Application​

As we encounter the surprise, often shock, of our sinfulness, does it increase our awe at the astounding sacrifice paid for our forgiveness? Do we respond with life-changing gratitude and worship?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for April 6th​

The Need To Restore​

Read the Scripture: Leviticus 6

If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor... when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion... And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the Lord, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value.

Leviticus 6:2,4,6

Here we will deal with the last of the five basic, fundamental human needs represented by the five offerings which God taught the Israelites from the tent of meeting. The guilt offering is the last of these five. This offering is the final one of this series of five because it deals with the relationship of man with man, with how to maintain a workable relationship with our neighbor. This is the offering which teaches us how to restore harmony to broken human relationships.

One of the sins covered by the trespass offering deals with when we cheat or rob or defraud a neighbor. When this is faced, it must be restored. The relationship is broken, and what we need to learn from this offering is that it will never heal until the offense is admitted. Time will not cure this kind of hurt. You can injure somebody in this way today and fifty years might go by before you see that individual again. But when you see them the relationship is still broken, the hurt is still there, and the restraint on your own spirit will be felt immediately.

I remember that as a young Christian I was working for a contractor. It was my task to make out the checks at the end of the month, including my own. One month I needed some money and asked my boss if I could have an advance of $25.00, to which he consented. I wrote out a check which he signed and I cashed it. Then at the end of the month when I was making out the regular checks I actually forgot that I had already drawn $25. So I made out my own check for the usual amount. It wasn't until after the boss had signed it and given it to me that I remembered. I realized that he hadn't remembered either. I rationalized, saying to myself, Well, he really owes it to me anyway. I've been working very hard. So I'll just say nothing about it. My job soon ended and I went back to school, and for a couple of years I went on and lived with that, but I never could forget it. So one day, I wrote him a letter and I sent back the $25. I told him what I had done, said that I was wrong, and asked him to forgive me. Soon I received a gracious letter from him inviting me to come back and work for him any time. What a load this lifted off my own spirit.

And so this trespass offering is provided for us, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, that we might heal all the broken relationships of the past. If you want to have a clear conscience before God some of you may have to go back and heal some broken relationships. You may have to make some restitutions. You may have to admit some errors. But once you do, those relationships will be healed before God, and will be a glory and a blessing to you for the rest of your life.

Father, how thoroughly you understand what can lurk in my life, hidden away, and keep me from living together comfortably with one another. And how wonderfully and wisely you have made provision for me in your Word so that I can live, love, and enjoy life with others without constant strain and tension.

Life Application​

The scriptures equate defrauding our neighbor with unfaithfulness to our Lord. Are we taking care to guard the integrity of our human relationships, to the end that God is glorified?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.