Doyle Smith Daily

Exodus 6:6-9 (ESV) Originally published 02/10/2015 The Israelites were in harsh slavery, and God wanted to encourage them. He told Moses: "Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.' Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery" Exodus 6:6-9 (ESV). As followers of Christ, we get discouraged and depressed because we live looking at the present instead of the promises God has made. Lord...

Exodus 5:22-23 (ESV) Originally published 02/09/2015 Sometimes, when we obey God, things get worse instead of better. When Moses asked Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, he made their lives worse. "Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, 'O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all'" Exodus 5:22-23(ESV). Serving God requires that we focus on obedience, not results. Lord, help me to know for certain what you want me to say and do. Then I will never have to worry about the outcome or think of what could go wrong. Give me the courage to trust you more.

Exodus 4:14-15 (ESV) Originally published 02/07/2015 God told Moses to deliver his message to Pharaoh, but Moses asked God to send someone else. "Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, 'Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well...You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do'“ Exodus 4:14-15 (ESV). God shows us two things about himself. He gets angry when we do not trust him enough to obey, and he may not change his plans, but he does sometimes change his methods when we refuse to obey him. Lord, give me the faith and courage to obey you so that I will not make you angry or stand in the way of your plans.

Exodus 4:12-13 (ESV) Originally published 02/06/2015 Moses said he did not want to obey God because he wasn't skilled at speaking, but the real reason became clear: God told Moses to tell Pharaoh his message. '"Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.' But he said, 'Oh, my Lord, please send someone else'" Exodus 4:12-13 (ESV). God  never asks us to do something that he has not provided everything that we need to get it done. When I don't do what God puts in my mind to do because of lack of skill, time, or money, I am really telling God I don't trust him. Lord, when you put it in my mind to do something that will help your Kingdom or people, remind me that it is a test as to whether or not I have faith in you. Help me to obey immediately.

Exodus 4:10-12 (ESV) Originally published 02/05/2015 God told Moses to take his message to Pharaoh: "But Moses said to the LORD, 'Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue,' Then the LORD said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak'" Exodus 4:10-12 (ESV). God didn't tell Moses that he was wrong about his abilities, but that Moses was ignoring God's power. If we know God wants us to do something, we have to ignore our real fears and trust his wisdom and power. Lord, forgive me for disobedience because of my fear of failure. When something comes to my mind to do for you or others, I immediately think of what could go wrong. Give me courage to trust you more.

Exodus 4:9 (ESV) Originally published 01/31/2013 God told Moses not to give up telling the message he had given him to say. God said he would show them his power by turning a stick into a snake and then back into a stick. He would give Moses leprosy and heal it. God said: "If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to our voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground" Exodus 4:9 (ESV). It is God's job to convince people that what we tell them is true, and we keep on telling them what God tells us to say. Lord, help me to focus on doing what you tell me to do and say and not on the results. Don't let me give up on anyone that you are trying to save.

Exodus 4:1-4(ESV) Originally published 01/30/2015 God told Moses to tell the king of Egypt to release his Hebrew slaves. "Then Moses answered, 'But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.' The LORD said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' He said, 'A staff.’ And he said, 'Throw it on the ground.' So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the LORD said to Moses, 'Put out your hand and catch it by the tail'----so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand" Exodus 4:1-4 (ESV). Moses was right when he saw only his human abilities, but he failed to account for the power of God. Lord, when I prepare to speak, or you tell me to talk to someone, I immediately think that what I have to say will not make a difference. Remind me that when I obey you, your unlimited power will make the words life - changing.

Exodus 3:21-22 (ESV) Originally published 01/29/2015 Sometimes the promises of God seem impossible. God told Moses not only would Pharaoh let the Israelite slaves go free, but: "And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you  shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians" Exodus 3:21-22 (ESV). I am sure it was hard enough for the Israelites to believe that they would be set free from slavery, let alone that those who beat them would give them silver, gold, and clothes; but it happened just as God said it would! Lord, it is hard for me to believe some of the promises that you make can happen to me, so when I read them and doubt, remind me of this story where you do things too good to be true.

Exodus 3:18-20 (ESV) Originally published 01/28/2015  "...and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.' But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go" Exodus 3:18-20 (ESV). What appeared to be a failed mission was instead God’s loving effort to help Egypt avoid the disaster of the plagues. Lord, help me not to judge my success by the immediate result of what you ask me to do, but by my complete obedience to you. 

Exodus 3:13-14 (ESV) Originally published 01/27/2015 Moses needed to know what authority he had to do what God asked of him. "Then Moses said to God, 'If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?' God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you’" Exodus 3:13-14 (ESV).  Egypt had many gods, but this was the one God that made all that exists. Lord, thank you for reminding me who you are. With one word you could make the whole universe disappear as if it never existed. How can I ever worry about anything when I am obeying you?

Exodus 3:9-12 (ESV) Originally published 01/26/2015 God said to Moses: "'And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.' But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?' He said, ’But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain'" Exodus 3:9-12 (ESV). Everything that God asks us to do is impossible for us unless God is with us. But he never asks us to do anything without him. Lord, remind me of your promise to be with me in everything you ask of me, even though I might not see the sign that you were with me immediately.

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 (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 01/14/2015 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.

Exodus 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, remind me that Satan is trying to de...

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 them ...

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 so that I won't disqualify myself from what you have planned for me.

Genesis 48:17-19 (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 into Go...

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 so that I will be obedient.