Weekly Devotional – Nov 9-13
Click the Blue Heading Above to Download the Devotional in a Word Doc.
Monday: The Morning After the Election
Ben came down the stairs the morning after the election with his phone in his hand. Beth sat at the kitchen table. Her cereal sat untouched. She had stayed up past one o’clock watching the results come in. For two months the family had worked alongside their church. They registered voters at the fall festival. They handed out voter guides after Sunday service. Ben spent three Saturdays knocking on doors with the youth group. Every evening at supper, John led the family in prayer for their country.
“It’s the same thing every time,” Beth said. “Whoever wins, the country keeps drifting further from God.” Ben dropped into his chair. “Yeah. It’s like everybody’s okay with stuff that’s wrong now. Half the kids at school think church is a joke.” He set his phone face down. “Do you think America is ever coming back to God?”
Beth looked at her parents. “And how are you two so calm about it?” John set his coffee down. “Honestly? It may be a long time before this country turns back to God. Your mom and I see the same things you see. We still pray for this country every day.” Jane sat down across from Beth. “We’ve followed the Lord a long time. We’ve watched God work in ways we would have chosen. We’ve also watched Him work in ways we would have avoided. Every time, He proved Himself faithful. That’s where the calm comes from.”
“So we just watch it get worse?” Ben asked. “We keep trusting,” John said. “We vote, we pray, we serve. Then we leave the outcome with the One who rules over every nation. God sees all the wickedness in this country. He deals with it in His own time.” Jane added, “Our part is obedience. The results belong to God. He’s on His throne this morning, the same as yesterday.” Beth wiped her eyes. “I hope Pastor has something good Sunday.” John smiled. “He’s preaching on that very thing.”
What Scripture Says
Daniel lived as a captive in Babylon under a king who worshiped false gods. After God revealed the king’s dream to him, Daniel praised God: “he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Daniel 2:21). Daniel’s confidence rested on the God who rules over every king.
Solomon wrote, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” (Proverbs 21:1). Every ruler, elected or appointed, stands under God’s authority.
God’s people do their part: they pray, vote, and serve. Then they rest in the God who sets up kings and removes them in His own time.
Tuesday: Cancel Your Breakdown
The Sunday after the election, John, Jane, Ben, and Beth sat in their usual row at church, third from the front. All week Ben and Beth had worried that America was drifting further from God. Beth sat between her parents with her arms folded. Pastor opened with a question: “God has to come back soon? Have you ever said that statement?” Beth caught herself nodding. She had felt that way all week.
Pastor explained what people usually mean. “Typically, people are assuming that because the world is wicked, God can’t possibly wait much longer before coming and judging the evil.” Then he added, “A statement like that only reveals that the person making it and the people agreeing with it do not have a biblical understanding of God.” Pastor smiled. “Many years ago, I heard a preacher say some of you are about to have a breakdown and you need to cancel it.” Laughter rolled through the room. “If you are stressed, anxious, or angry about the most recent election you may only need to learn about the God of the Bible.” Jane squeezed Beth’s hand.
Pastor took them to Genesis 15. God made a covenant with Abraham. He promised Abraham innumerable descendants. He promised those descendants the land of Canaan. Then God told Abraham the hard part. His descendants would first go to Egypt as slaves. During that time, the Amorites would keep living in Canaan. Ben leaned toward his dad and whispered, “Wait. God let His own people be slaves and let the wicked people keep the land?” John pointed to the verse on the screen: “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”
Beth wrote one line in the margin of her handout: God’s timeline is longer than mine. She had wanted God to fix America by the end of election week. Abraham’s family waited until the fourth generation.
What Scripture Says
God told Abraham the hard part and the ending at the same time. “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13). Then God gave the promise: “And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance” (Genesis 15:14).
Abraham’s descendants would suffer in Egypt. God would judge Egypt. His people would come out with great substance. The suffering and the rescue both sat inside God’s plan. This is the God of the Bible, the Creator of Heaven and earth, the God whose kingdom will eventually fill the earth. His plan runs on His timing.
Wednesday: Not Yet Full
Sunday’s sermon kept going, and John, Jane, Ben, and Beth followed along from their usual row. Pastor had just read God’s words to Abraham: his descendants would serve as slaves in Egypt while the Amorites kept living in Canaan, “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” Pastor asked the room, “What is going on?” Then he said it plainly. “God is NOT acting in this passage like the God many modern day ‘Christians’ describe. Is it possible you don’t really know the God of the Bible the way you think you do?” John glanced at Ben and Beth. This was the question they had been wrestling with all week.
Pastor explained who the Amorites were. “They are descendants of Canaan, and occupied part of the land of Canaan.” God would judge them because of their sins. Pastor read the list from his notes: adultery, idolatry, consulting spirits of the dead, witchcraft and sorcery, incest and other vile sexual actions, homosexuality, and child sacrifice. Ben thought about his school group chat. Everybody there seemed okay with stuff that’s wrong. The Amorites had gone much further, and God still waited.
Then Pastor answered the question on everyone’s mind. “This statement means that God is giving the Amorites time to continue until it reached a specific level!” He showed them three more passages. Each one used the same picture of sin filling up to a full measure. “God does not judge sin immediately; He is very longsuffering while mankind continues filling up the cup of God’s wrath with our sins.”
Beth leaned toward her mom. “So that’s why God waits. He’s giving them time, and the cup is still filling.” Jane pointed to her notes. She had underlined one sentence: “God was telling Abraham, your descendants will have to wait 430 years before they get this land because the time of judgment has not yet come for the Amorites.” Beth underlined it too.
What Scripture Says
Pastor’s three passages come from three different speakers. An angel explained a vision to the prophet Daniel about a future kingdom: “when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up” (Daniel 8:23). Jesus spoke to the religious leaders who were plotting against Him: “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers” (Matthew 23:32). The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica about those who persecuted believers. They were working “to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost” (1 Thessalonians 2:16).
Each speaker described sin as something that fills a measure. God records every sin. He judges at the moment He has set. The waiting is God’s patience at work.
Thursday: Serve God in Egypt
By the end of Sunday’s sermon from Genesis 15, Ben had filled the margins of his handout. Pastor asked, “What does this teach us about God?” He gave three answers. First, “God is longsuffering toward sinners. This allows time for repentance.” Second, “God’s longsuffering has a limit.” God waited 430 years before His judgment came on the Amorites, “BUT it came.” Third, “God expects His people to respect His plan and timing.” Pastor reminded them that “God expected His people to serve and obey Him in Egypt before they were to serve and obey Him in Canaan.”
Ben wrote that last line on his handout and drew a box around it. Abraham’s descendants served God in Egypt while they waited for Canaan. Ben could serve God right here in America while he waited for God’s kingdom.
Then Pastor asked, “What Does This Mean for Christians in America?” He gave three responses. “Submit yourself to God’s plan and timing.” “Serve and Image God. Let the light of God shine through you in the darkness of this world.” “Separate yourself from the sins God is going to judge.” He read Ephesians 5 and stopped on verse 8: “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”
Beth thought about her group chat. The day after the election she had spent the evening scrolling bad news and texting her friends about how worried she was. The light Pastor described looked different. It looked like living for Jesus in front of her friends, whatever the news said.
In the parking lot, Ben caught up with his dad. “So after the election you said we keep trusting. That’s what Pastor meant, right? We do what God says in Egypt, and God handles Canaan.” John laughed and put his arm around Ben’s shoulders. “That’s it exactly.” Jane looked at Beth. “Still feel like everything is falling apart?” Beth smiled. “It feels like God has a plan. I just needed to hear it.”
What Scripture Says
Paul wrote to Christians in Rome about how God treats sinners: “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). God’s patience gives every sinner time to turn from sin and come to Him.
Jesus told His followers what their lives should look like in a dark world: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). God’s people serve Him right where He has placed them. Their good works point others to their Father in heaven.
Friday: Citizens of God’s Kingdom
This week we followed John, Jane, Ben, and Beth from the morning after the election through Sunday’s sermon. Ben and Beth asked the questions many in our church are asking. Will America ever come back to God? How do we stay calm while the country drifts further from Him? Their parents answered from years of following God. Sunday’s sermon answered from Genesis 15.
God promised Abraham a land. Then He told Abraham his descendants would wait four generations to receive it. They would serve as slaves in Egypt first, because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” God saw every sin in Canaan. He gave the Amorites time. When their sin reached its full measure, His judgment came.
Sunday’s sermon showed us three truths about God. God is longsuffering toward sinners, and His patience gives time for repentance. God’s longsuffering has a limit. God expects His people to respect His plan and timing. These truths explain the calm John and Jane showed the morning after the election. They trusted God because they knew Him.
Sunday’s sermon also gave us three responses. We submit ourselves to God’s plan and timing. We serve and image God, letting His light shine through us in the darkness of this world. We separate ourselves from the sins God is going to judge.
Just like the children of Abraham had to wait 430 years before they were freed from Egypt and went into the promised land, the children of God will, in God’s timing, inherit the Kingdom of God. God will renew this earth. God will bring down the Holy City, New Jerusalem. God will be our God, and we will be His people. God will bind Satan and cast him in the lake of fire. God will remove all sin, sadness, suffering, and death.
In light of that, we can stop being anxious about this world. This country, this part of world history, is only temporary. Shining Light Baptist Church will pray for our nation, serve our neighbors, and shine God’s light in Danville. We can live now as citizens of God’s Kingdom!
What Scripture Says
The apostle John saw the end of God’s plan in a vision. “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). Every promise God made to Abraham points to this day. God keeps every promise on His timing.