MAGNIFY ~ Day 20

~ Day Twenty ~

MAGNIFY

No Other Name

The Book of Job ~ Chapter Twenty

"The increase of his house will depart,

and his goods will flow away in the day of Your wrath.

This is the portion from God for a wicked man,

the heritage appointed to him by God."

(Job 20:28, 29)

MORNING MEDITATION

Portion

The tabernacle years in the wilderness were used by God to prepare His people for the prosperity of the promised land. The rich, fertile land of Canaan, which flowed with milk and honey, would soon become a source of temptation for His people and lead them to forget the Lord who had delivered them out of their life of bondage into the land of freedom and abundance. "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey..." (Exodus 3:7, 8a). If their hearts were not fully consecrated to the Lord's purposes and will, their selfish pride would lead them to trust in themselves and the abundance of the land rather than the gracious, good, and mighty hands of God (Deuteronomy 8!). The Lord delivered the Hebrew people out of slavery and poverty, separating them from all the other nations, and setting them apart, to be "His own special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 7:6), so He could reveal through them His plan of salvation for the world. Israel belonged to God; they were His inheritance. "For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance" (Deuteronomy 32:9).

"Then the LORD said to Aaron:

"You shall have no inheritance in their land,

nor shall you have any portion among them;

I am your portion and your inheritance

among the children of Israel."

(Numbers 18:20)

The Lord is the portion or "share" of His people, He is sufficient for their every need. When He led His people those forty years in the wilderness, "to humble and to test" them, He proved His all-sufficiency by allowing them to physically hunger and then fed them with heavenly manna, so they would be disciplined and learn that man's life does not depend entirely on bread alone for sustenance and satisfaction, instead man is sustained and spiritually satisfied by the eternal Word of God (Deuteronomy 8:2, 3). "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me, hear, and your soul shall live" (Isaiah 55:2, 3a). To have God as our possession is better than all the world has to offer. Whatever present mercies we enjoy in this life are mere morsels that will never satisfy us in full. Through His relationship with Israel, the Lord purposed to show us that He has spread a rich banqueting table in this wilderness world where we are invited to come and feast and experience the fullness of God who alone will satisfy the desire of our souls. Israel's journey out of bondage from slavery and oppression in Egypt, through the baptismal waters of the sea, and into the wilderness that would prepare them for their promised land of abundance and fruitfulness, is a picture of the Christian life. From the moment we trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior the shackles of sin come off, and we are baptized into newness of life. We then begin our walk of faith through this wilderness world under the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit, whose soul sanctifying work within begins to turn over the tables of our carnal appetites, and awakens our spiritual appetite by igniting an insatiable hunger and thirst for righteousness as we feast upon the Word of God and experience the joy of God's presence in the inner chamber of prayer (Psalm 16:11). And just as the Levitical priesthood had a special relationship with God and were not given an inheritance in the land itself (Numbers 18:20), because the Lord was their portion; we, the royal priesthood, have no promise of an inheritance in this world, our portion lies in the promise of an inheritance in the future kingdom of God. "You are my portion, O LORD, I have said that I would keep Your words" (Psalm 119:57). As we continue our journey as pilgrims and sojourners, let us praise the Lord our Portion for the blessing of our eternal allotment, for there is no greater inheritance than our relationship with God! May we spend our lives cultivating a life with God and making much of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is worthy! "O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance" (Psalm 16:5-6). "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3).

"The Portion of Jacob is not like them,

for He is the Maker of all things,

and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;

the LORD of hosts is His name."

(Jeremiah 10:16)

AFTERNOON DEVOTION

Read: Job Chapter Twenty

"Though evil is sweet in his mouth,

and he hides it under his tongue,

though he spares it and does not forsake it,

but still keeps it in his mouth,

yet his food in his stomach turns sour;

it becomes cobra venom within him."

(Job 20:12-14)

As Job buckled his seat belt for another bumpy ride on the refuse railway, Zophar stepped onto his soapbox and began to hurl accusations from the same old bag of tricks, patterned after a technique he learned from his father ("the father of lies")! "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:16). Job had patiently endured beneath the dark cloud of undeserved suffering from the loss of his family, finances, and health, but to have to remain silent while his so-called friends threw false accusations in his face (words which were not only ruining his reputation but were twisting the truth and dishonoring the Lord as well), was something he was not just going to sit back and take. Job must have shook his head in utter disbelief as Zophar's cruel and careless words overflowed so easily from his wicked heart; and he surely must have wondered if Zophar was even paying attention to the words that were coming from his own lips: "Yet his food in his stomach turns sour; it becomes cobra venom within him. He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly...he will not see the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream" (vv. 14-15, 17). Zophar's words for the wicked man were true enough, but they weren't true of Job. The wicked man enjoys sin as much as anyone else enjoys eating food. Tragically, his taste for sin robs him of his ability to enjoy any other pleasures in life; and he soon finds that nothing will satisfy him. "A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and whose who love it will eat its fruit" (Proverbs 18:20, 21). The words we say wield great power for inflicting harm or doing good; not just for the people they are aimed at, but also for the person speaking them. The Lord's remedy for curing his people of idolatrous, senseless, profane, meaningless speech, was given in the wilderness: "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your Father's know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD" (Deuteronomy 8:3). Our Portion as the royal priesthood is our Lord Jesus Christ, may we feast upon every tender and tasty morsel of Himself He places on our plate each day, and pray that He would give us the tongue of the learned, so we will know how to speak and have a word in season to help those who are weary (Isaiah 50:4). "He who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven - not as your fathers at the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever " (John 6:57, 58). "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:25, 26).

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

"Therefore I hope in Him!"

The LORD is good to those who wait for Him

to the soul who seeks Him.

It is good that one should hope and wait quietly

for the salvation of the LORD."

(Lamentations 3:24-26)

EVENING PRAYER

"LORD, I know that You can do everything,

and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You."

(Job 42:2)

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"Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord - that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (James 5:10).