Christian Devotionals and Scripture Applied to Everyday Life

I dragged myself out of bed a few months ago burdened by many questions and concerns. I had tossed and turned all night as my mind churned on and on, unwilling to shut down. I had only just fallen into a deep sleep when the grating sound of the alarm startled me and I knew I had to get up. After making lunches and saying goodbye to you kids leaving for school I sat down in my chair and wondered how I would ever get through the day. I opened my Bible to Isaiah 40 hoping to supernaturally imbibe some hidden strength from the words on the page. I waited and prayed and after a few minutes felt that I could at least take a shower and get going to work.

What had started out as a joyous day was near disaster. The bride and groom had waited excitedly for the celebration of their marriage. The invitations had been sent out, the feast prepared and the crowd had gathered for the festivities. As the unsuspecting guests danced the night away, Mary, the mother of Jesus, realized with horror that they had run out of wine. She understood immediately that, in this culture, the current predicament was a terrible faux pas. Such a miscalculation would be a great humiliation for the newly married couple.

There were many times years ago when the voices of talking vegetables would entertain you kids while I would sit down for a much needed rest. Though I didn't always like for you to watch lots of TV, I didn't mind the VeggieTales episodes because I knew it would keep you happily busy while at the same time teaching wholesome Bible lessons. That is why when Dad suggested I read a book he had just finished, Me, Myself, & Bob by Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, my interest was piqued.

Do you have an insatiable desire to know God? Moses did. Reading this verse I recognize the passion of one craving to experience God and His ways on a deeper level than most of us do today. What brought Moses to this place of desire?

This seems like a very bold request for a man to ask of God, but God granted Moses this desire. Moses had been called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and through the desert to the place that He had prepared for them. This was not an easy task and there were many discouragements along the way. 

A deep loud voice echoed through the wilderness of Judah, "Take notice, this man is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Two weathered men smelling of fish and sea salt listened to the words of the hairy man dressed in camel skin. "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Could this be the promised Messiah?" they wondered. "Lamb of God" brought to their minds the many times they had travelled to the temple to sacrifice a perfect lamb to pay for sins committed. The blood of those lambs never took sin away, but only provided a temporary covering.  How many lambs had died over the years as those sacrifices needed to be completed over and over again? But now this rugged, long-haired man with the powerful voice was pointing to One who could completely remove the sins of the world. These two disciples packed up their things and followed this man called Jesus, the Lamb of God, to see if it was true.