Donate"God First" by Oswald Chambers
Put God First in Trust.
Jesus did not commit Himself unto them,…for He knew what was in man.[John 2:24-25]
Our Lord trusted no man; yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, never in despair about any man, because He put God first in trust; He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for any man. If I put my trust in human beings first, I will end in despairing of everyone; I will become bitter, because I have insisted on man being what no man ever can be — absolutely right. Never trust anything but the grace of God in yourself or in anyone else.
Put God’s Needs First.
Lo, I come to do Thy will, 0 God.[Hebrews 10:9]
A man’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need; Our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father. The cry to-day is — “We must get some work to do; the heathen are dying without God; we must go and tell them of Him.” We have to see first of all that God’s needs in us personally are being met. “Tarry ye until….” The purpose of this College is to get us rightly related to the needs of God. When God’s needs in us have been met, then He will open the way for us to realize His needs elsewhere.
Put God’s Trust First.
And whoso receiveth one such little child in my name receiveth Me.[Matthew 18:5]
God’s trust is that He gives me Himself as a babe. God expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.” Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transfigured by the indwelling life of the Son of God? God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be manifested in my mortal flesh.
Bible in One Year: 2 Chronicles 13-14; John 12:1-26
2 Chronicles 13:1 It was in the eighteenth year of King Yarov‘am that Aviyah began his reign over Y’hudah. 2 He ruled three years in Yerushalayim; his mother’s name was Mikhayahu the daughter of Uri’el from Giv‘ah.
There was war between Aviyah and Yarov‘am. 3 Aviyah joined the battle with an army of valiant soldiers, 400,000 select troops; while Yarov‘am took the field against him with 800,000 select troops who were valiant, strong men.
4 Aviyah, standing on Mount Z’marayim, in the hills of Efrayim, cried, “Yarov‘am and all Isra’el! Listen to me! 5 Don’t you know that Adonai, the God of Isra’el, gave rulership over Isra’el to David forever, to him and his descendants, by a covenant of salt [which is unbreakable]? 6 Yet Yarov‘am the son of N’vat, servant to Shlomo the son of David, rose in rebellion against his lord. 7 There rallied around him worthless brutes who were too strong for Rechav‘am the son of Shlomo to withstand when he was young and inexperienced. 8 Now you expect to withstand the kingdom of Adonai in the hands of the descendants of David. Yes, there are a great number of you, and you have with you the gold calves that Yarov‘am made as gods for you. 9 Yes, you drove out the cohanim of Adonai, the descendants of Aharon, and the L’vi’im; and you made yourselves priests as do the peoples in other countries, so that anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of those non-gods.
10 “But we are different. Adonai is our God, and we have not abandoned him. We have cohanim performing the service for Adonai, descendants of Aharon. With the L’vi’im doing their work, 11 they burn to Adonai every morning and evening burnt offerings and sweet incense; they arrange the showbread on the pure table, and they prepare the gold menorah with its lamps to burn every evening. For we observe the order of Adonai our God. But you have abandoned him.
12 “So look here! God is with us, leading us and his cohanim with the battle trumpets to sound an alarm against you. People of Isra’el! Don’t fight against Adonai, the God of your ancestors; because you will not succeed.”
13 But Yarov‘am prepared to ambush them from behind, so that the main body was ahead of Y’hudah, while the ambush was behind them. 14 Thus when Y’hudah looked back, the battle had to be fought in front of them and behind them.
They cried to Adonai, and the cohanim sounded the trumpets. 15 Then the men of Y’hudah gave forth a shout, and as the men of Y’hudah shouted, God struck Yarov‘am and all Isra’el before Aviyah and Y’hudah. 16 The people of Isra’el fled before Y’hudah, and God handed them over to them. 17 Aviyah and his army inflicted a great slaughter on them — 500,000 of Isra’el’s select soldiers fell dead. 18 Thus the people of Isra’el were subdued that time, and the people of Y’hudah won the victory, because they relied on Adonai the God of their ancestors. 19 Aviyah pursued Yarov‘am, taking from him the towns of Beit-El with its villages, Y’shanah with its villages and ‘Efrayin with its villages. 20 Yarov‘am did not recover his strength during the time of Aviyahu. Finally Adonai struck him, and he died. 21 But Aviyahu grew strong; he married fourteen wives and became the father of twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
22 Other activities of Aviyah, together with his ways of doing things and his sayings, are recorded in the commentary of the prophet ‘Iddo. 23 (14:1) Aviyah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son became king in his place; during his time the land was quiet for ten years.
14:1 (2) Asa did what was good and right from the perspective of Adonai his God; 2 (3) for he removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashing the standing-stones and chopping down the sacred poles. 3 (4) He ordered Y’hudah to seek Adonai, the God of their ancestors, and to obey the Torah and the mitzvah. 4 (5) He removed the high places and pillars for sun-worship from all the cities of Y’hudah, and under him the kingdom was quiet.
5 (6) Because the land was quiet, and he had no war during those years, since Adonai had given him rest, he built fortified cities in Y’hudah. 6 (7) “Let’s build these cities,” he said to Y’hudah; “we’ll surround them with walls, towers, gates and bars. The land is there for us to use, because we have sought Adonai our God; we have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered.
7 (8) Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Y’hudah, equipped with shields and spears, and another 280,000 from Binyamin, with shields and bows; all were brave, strong men. 8 (9) Zerach the Ethiopian came out to attack them with an army of one million and three hundred chariots. When he arrived at Mareshah, 9 (10) Asa went out to fight him, and the forces were arranged for battle in the Tz’fat Valley at Mareshah.
10 (11) Asa cried out to Adonai his God, “Adonai, there is no one besides yourself, strong or weak, who can help. Help us, Adonai our God, because we are relying on you, and we are coming against this vast throng in your name. You are Adonai our God; don’t let human beings stop you!” 11 (12) So Adonai struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Y’hudah, and the Ethiopians fled. 12 (13) Asa and the army with him pursued them to G’rar, and the Ethiopians were defeated beyond recovery; they were shattered before Adonai and his army, who carried off much spoil. 13 (14) Then they attacked all the cities in the vicinity of G’rar, for a panic from Adonai had overcome them. They plundered all the cities, for they were full of spoil. 14 (15) They also attacked the tents of those tending the livestock and carried off sheep and camels in abundance. Then they returned to Yerushalayim.
John 12:1 Six days before Pesach, Yeshua came to Beit-Anyah, where El‘azar lived, the man Yeshua had raised from the dead; 2 so they gave a dinner there in his honor. Marta served the meal, and El‘azar was among those at the table with him. 3 Miryam took a whole pint of pure oil of spikenard, which is very expensive, poured it on Yeshua’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair, so that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But one of the talmidim, Y’hudah from K’riot, the one who was about to betray him, said, 5 “This perfume is worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” 6 Now he said this not out of concern for the poor, but because he was a thief — he was in charge of the common purse and used to steal from it. 7 Yeshua said, “Leave her alone! She kept this for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
9 A large crowd of Judeans learned that he was there; and they came not only because of Yeshua, but also so that they could see El‘azar, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 The head cohanim then decided to do away with El‘azar too, 11 since it was because of him that large numbers of the Judeans were leaving their leaders and putting their trust in Yeshua.
12 The next day, the large crowd that had come for the festival heard that Yeshua was on his way into Yerushalayim. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Deliver us!”[John 12:13 Psalm 118:25]
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai,[John 12:13 Psalm 118:26] the King of Isra’el!”
14 After finding a donkey colt, Yeshua mounted it, just as the Tanakh says —
15 “Daughter of Tziyon, don’t be afraid!
Look! your King is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt.”[John 12:15 Zechariah 9:9]
16 His talmidim did not understand this at first; but after Yeshua had been glorified, then they remembered that the Tanakh said this about him, and that they had done this for him. 17 The group that had been with him when he called El‘azar out of the tomb and raised him from the dead had been telling about it. 18 It was because of this too that the crowd came out to meet him — they had heard that he had performed this miracle. 19 The P’rushim said to each other, “Look, you’re getting nowhere! Why, the whole world has gone after him!”
20 Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greek-speaking Jews. 21 They approached Philip, the one from Beit-Tzaidah in the Galil, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Yeshua.” 22 Philip came and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Yeshua. 23 Yeshua gave them this answer: “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless a grain of wheat that falls to the ground dies, it stays just a grain; but if it dies, it produces a big harvest. 25 He who loves his life loses it, but he who hates his life in this world will keep it safe right on into eternal life! 26 If someone is serving me, let him follow me; wherever I am, my servant will be there too. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.
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My Utmost for His Highest © 1927 in the U.K. by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All rights reserved. United States publication rights are held by Discovery House, which is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries.---------------------
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