Doyle Smith Daily

 Exodus 3:7-8 (ESV) Originally published 01/24/2015  When we go through troubled time, we feel alone and isolated, but for those who submit to the authority of God it is different. "Then the LORD said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and heard their cry because of their taskmasters, I know of their suffering, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians...'" Exodus 3:7-8 (ESV). If we have submitted our lives to God's control, we may feel alone because the Devil will tell us we are alone, but we are not. God sees our needs, hears our prayers, and has plans for our rescue from the problems we have. Lord, when times of discouragement and trouble come, remind me that, if I am obedient, you will take care of me.

 Exodus 3:5-6 (ESV) Originally published 01/23/2015 Moses recognized that God was addressing him: "Then he (God) said, ' Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.' And he said, ' I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God" Exodus 3:5-6 (ESV). Lord, sometimes I know that you are telling me that I should do something or should not have done something. When you put thoughts in my mind, help me to remember that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses is talking to ME. Help me to recognize the holiness of this moment and do what you tell me to do

 Exodus 3:2-4 (ESV) Originally published 01/20/2015 God wanted to talk with Moses, but first he had to get his attention. "And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, 'I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.' When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am'" Exodus 3:2-4 (ESV). How does God get my attention to be able to speak to me? Lord, are there times you want to talk to me, but I am not listening? Help me to notice the unusual things that happen and stop what I am doing to ask you if you are trying to talk to me. Don't let me miss any conversation you want to have with me.

 Exodus 2:23-25 (ESV) Originally published 01/19/2015 "During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel---and God knew" Exodus 2:23-25 (ESV). God had not forgotten his covenant promises, and he had always been ready to keep them, but the people of Israel were not ready to leave Egypt. God had to wait until it was so bad, they would be ready to listen and leave.  Lord, I have experienced that sometimes; you do not help me until I am desperate enough to do whatever you tell me to do. You knew my trouble all along, but you were waiting for me to be ready to pay the price for obedience.

 Exodus 2:11-12 (ESV) Originally published 01/17/2015 "One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand" Exodus 2:11-12 (ESV). Moses was a murderer. Thinking this shocked me. I want to make an excuse for him. . . that it was necessary to save a man's life, but the Bible doesn't justify it. God did not give up on Moses; he made him into one of his most powerful servants. Lord, I want to always believe that you can transform anyone. Help me never to give up on anyone because of their past.

 Exodus 2:9-10 Originally published 01/16/2015   01/16/2015 God is so constantly amazing. Pharaoh wanted to destroy the Hebrew boys, but his daughter finds a Hebrew baby boy. "And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, (Moses mother) 'Take the child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.' So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, 'Because,' she said, 'I drew him out of the water'" Exodus 2:9-10 (ESV). Pharaoh, who wants to kill the Hebrew boy children, pays for a Hebrew woman to nurse a Hebrew boy. The Hebrew boy is a part of his family, and this Hebrew boy will lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and destroy the Egyptian army. Lord, you cause your greatest enemies to do your work and not even know it. When it seems your enemies are winning, remind me of this story so I will never be discouraged.

 Exodus 2:9-10 (ESV) Originally published 01/16/2015 God is so constantly amazing. Pharaoh wanted to destroy the Hebrew boys, but his daughter finds a Hebrew baby boy. "And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, (Moses mother) 'Take the child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.' So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, 'Because,' she said, 'I drew him out of the water'" Exodus 2:9-10 (ESV). Pharaoh, who wants to kill the Hebrew boy children, pays for a Hebrew woman to nurse a Hebrew boy. The Hebrew boy is a part of his family, and this Hebrew boy will lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and destroy the Egyptian army. Lord, you cause your greatest enemies to do your work and not even know it. When it seems your enemies are winning, remind me of this story so I will never be discouraged.

 Exodus 2:3-8 (ESV) Originally published 01/15/2015 The king of Egypt ordered all male children to be killed, but a Hebrew woman had a son: "When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, 'Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?' And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Go.' So the girl went and called the child's mother" Exodus...

Exodus 1:17,20-21 (ESV) Originally published 01/14/2014  God was building a great nation to fulfill the promise he made to Abraham, but the king of Egypt, in fear of this growing nation, ordered the midwives to kill all male babies. "But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live... So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families" Exodus 1:17, 20-21 (ESV). From the midwives' obedience to God Moses will be born and God's great work will be done. They probably never knew the significance of what they did.  We never know in the great plan of God where our small part will fit. Lord, help me to do everything I know you want me to do, as if the whole world depends on my obedience to you.

 Genesis 1:16-17 (ESV) Originally published 01/13/2015 The followers of Christ live in two worlds: one with human laws and the other with the laws of God, and they are often in conflict. The king of Egypt was afraid of the growing population of Hebrews, so he said: "'When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.' But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live" Exodus 1:16-17 (ESV). Lord, I want to keep the laws of my country as you commanded, but I want to be even more passionate about obedience to your commands about how I live and treat those around me.

 Exodus 1:10-12 (ESV) Originally published 01/12/2015 God was building a nation of people to take back to the land promised to Abraham, but the growing population of foreigners alarmed the Egyptians. The new Pharaoh said to his people: "'Come let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.' Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Ramses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad" Exodus 1:10-12 (ESV). The trouble the Israelites experienced was the result of a battle between Satan who was trying to stop God from keeping his promise to Abraham and God who was keeping his promise. The people of Israel didn't realize what was really taking place; they just knew they had trouble. Lord, when trouble comes to me,  remind me that Satan is trying ...

 Genesis 50:18-19 (ESV) Originally published 01/10/2015 When Jacob died, Joseph's brothers were afraid Joseph would now get even with them for what they had done to him. "His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, 'Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, 'Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?'" Genesis 50:18-19 (ESV). Joseph realized that anger and revenge were terrible sins against God. Retaliation is offensive to God because we are trying to take God's role as judge. And we are trying to punish what we see as evil, which is God' job? When someone hurts us and we try to hurt them in return, we are exalting ourselves to the place of God, which is a greater offense than what was done to us. Lord, when people don't treat me as I think they should, give me peace that you will bring justice and protect me.

 Genesis 49:5-7 (ESV) Originally published 01/09/2015  Because of their anger two tribes could not be blessed. This was Jacob's blessing for Simeon and Levi. "Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel" Genesis 49:5-7 (ESV). Angry people take control, so the tribe of Levi was broken into 48 different cities, and Simeon's land was surrounded by the tribe of Judah, and by the time the Israelites entered Canaan they were no longer mentioned. These two tribes became the least significant tribes in Israel. Lord, help me not to let anger destroy me or my relationships. I want to trust you to be in control of people, so I won't feel the need to control the...

 Genesis 49:3-4 (ESV) Originally published 01/08/2015 As death drew near, Israel gathered his sons to tell them what would happen to them. "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the first fruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it--he went up to my couch!" Genesis 49:3-4 (ESV). As the first born, Reuben would have been the head of the family with strength, dignity, and power, but he lost that place of leadership because he had sex with his father's concubine. God forgives sin but does not remove the consequences of sin. Lord, help me to fear disobedience to you as a spiritual cancer and never to take it lightly. Give me a passion to obey you in every little detail of my life that I won't disqualify myself from what you have planned for me.

 Genesis 48:17-9 (ESV) Originally published 01/07/2015  Jewish custom was that the firstborn son of a man was to be in charge of the estate and receive a double portion of it for himself. "When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, 'Not this way, my father; since this one is the first born, put your right hand on his head.' But his father refused and said, 'I know my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations’" Genesis 48:17-9 (ESV). Often God chose the least likely persons to show that their success came not from them but from God. Lord, I want to do my very best to do the work you have given me, but remind me constantly that what is accomplished is ...

 Genesis 45:5-8 (ESV) Originally published 01/06/2015 We are tempted to be upset when bad things happen to us. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. Through the hand of God on his life and because of Joseph's obedience to God he became second in command in Egypt. The brothers who sold him came to get food and Joseph revealed himself to them. They were terrified that he would get even with them, but Joseph said: "And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither 'plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here but God" Genesis 45:5-8 (ESV). Of course, it was his brothers who sold him to be a slave in Egypt, but Joseph saw that God  had turned their act of evil in...

 Genesis 42:21 (ESV) Originally published 01/03/2015 Sometimes we think that people who do terrible things get away with it. Joseph's brothers "got away with" what they did to him it might have appeared on the outside. Joseph is forcing them to go back and get his brother while one of them is confined until they do. "Then they said to one another, 'In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us'" Genesis 42:21 (ESV). God tells us not to try to get even with people who hurt us because he will take care of it. God settles all scores for his followers. Lord, it is a great comfort to know that no one gets away with evil. Remind me that there is no secret sin - that I would be obedient.

 Genesis 41:37-40 (ESV) Originally published 01/02/2015  In one day Joseph's whole life changed. He had been the favorite son, then a slave, then in prison, but now he tells Pharaoh God's message in the dream God had given Pharaoh. "This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, 'Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?' Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you'" Genesis 41:37-40 (ESV). God rewards faithfulness, and when we are faithful, he accomplishes his purpose in our lives. Lord, fill me with your Spirit that I might be faithful regardless of how things appear and that you will accomplish your purpose for and through my life.

 Genesis 41:28-30, 33-34 (ESV) Originally published 01/01/2015    Joseph interpreted the dream of Pharaoh: "It is as I told Pharaoh: God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of plenty, and all the plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt...Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years" Genesis 41:28-30,33-34 (ESV). God gave these troubling dreams to a pagan king and put Joseph in place to interpret them. He gave this pagan king the warning and plan to avoid disaster. Unknown to Pharaoh God was using Pharaoh to fulfill his plan. God even works in the lives of those who do not follow him to accomplish his will. Lord, you are amazing. Worl...

 Genesis 41:15-16 (ESV) Originally published 12/31/2014 God had given Joseph an interpretation of the dream of the cupbearer of Pharaoh. When Pharaoh had a dream that no one could interpret, the cupbearer told Pharaoh about Joseph's ability to interpret dreams. "And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.' Joseph answered Pharaoh, 'It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer'" Genesis 41:15-16 (ESV). Joseph is no longer a spoiled child, but a man of faith that God could and would use to do what was needed, and he was a man of humility. This was a man God could and would use. Lord, I want to know you well enough to know what you would do in situations, so I know how to pray. Help me to grow to be a person that you can use.

 Genesis 41:12-13(ESV) Originally published 12/30/2014 God had given Joseph the interpretation of a dream that Pharaoh's cupbearer had while in prison and Joseph asked the cupbearer to tell Pharaoh about Joseph's unjust prison sentence, but the cupbearer did nothing. It was two years later that Pharaoh had a dream and no one could interpret it, and the cupbearer told Pharaoh what Joseph had done for him. "A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us, so it came about" Genesis 41:12-13 (ESV). Sometimes we think God has forgotten us when he is hard at work creating the exact situation that we need. Lord, give me more faith in your promises than in what I can see with my eyes.

 Genesis 40:23 (ESV) Originally published 12/29/2014  Joseph was in prison because of false charges, and God gave him the interpretation of the dreams of Pharaoh's former cupbearer and chief baker. He asked the cupbearer to take Joseph's situation to Pharaoh when he got out. "Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him" Genesis 40:23 (ESV). Lord, it is so easy to take your blessings for granted and forget to thank you for what you have done for me. Remind me to keep my promises to you and others and to be grateful to you and the people through whom you help me.

 Genesis 40:6-8 (ESV) Originally published 12/26/2014 This is characteristic of someone controlled by God. "When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house. 'Why are your faces downcast today?' They said to him, 'We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.' And Joseph said to them. 'Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me'" Genesis 40:6-8 (ESV). Joseph noticed that the people he met were troubled and was concerned to help them. We don't all have the experience of interpreting dreams. But when we see people who have problems that God has helped us overcome, God expects us to tell them what God can do for them. Lord, open my eyes to people that you have placed in my life to tell them what you want to say to them and give me the boldness to tell them what you want them to know.

 Genesis 40:1-4 (ESV) Originally published 12/25/2014  Joseph was in prison because of lies told about him, but even there God was with him, and he was put in charge of the prisoners. "Some time after this, the cup bearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them" Genesis 40:1-4 (ESV). This unrelated event will have a great impact on Joseph's life. Joseph could have given up on God, but he was faithful, and as a result God was at work to bless Joseph. Lord, help me to be faithful in every relationship I have that you could do everything you desire with my life and bless the people around me.

 Genesis 39: 19-29 (ESV) Originally published 12/24/2014  Obedience to God does not guarantee that everything will go well in your life. Joseph refused sex with his boss's wife and she accused him of trying to rape her. "As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, 'This is the way your servant treated me,' his anger was kindled. And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined,..." Genesis 39:19-20 (ESV). If you have been obedient to God and disaster comes, don't blame God; Satan is trying to destroy you. Lord, help me not to be concerned about whether good or bad things happen to me but to be passionate about obedience to you.

 Genesis 39:6-9 (ESV) Originally published 12/23/2014 What a change in Joseph! He was no longer a spoiled kid, but a man of integrity. "Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, 'Lie with me' But he refused and said to his master's wife, 'Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?'" Genesis 39:6-9 (ESV). Joseph was a long way from his family and religion, and they would never know. He had no Bible or 10 commandments and this woman was throwing herself at him. He was doing what was right because he wanted to please God. Lord, there are many temptations to please people and do things that no person will ever know ab...