Today’s AMI QT Devotional is written by Doug Tritton of Symphony Church.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR TODAY
God Remembers
Exodus 2:23-25
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. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
Yesterday, as we covered the above passage in Exodus, I mentioned the American proverb “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”, meaning that the loudest cries best attract help. In the passage, the Israelites cried out loudly–in their prayers, in their groaning, in their desperation for God to return their freedom.
The reason we can be loud before God is that He is the One with the “grease” for our squeaking. What this passage tells us is that, after hearing the cries of the Israelites, God remembered His covenant with Abraham. It can be easy to read this and think, “Did God remember because He previously forgot about the covenant?” No, of course not! God does not forget. Rather, in the Hebrew mind, remembering was not about recalling something that was forgotten – it was actively responding to knowledge, which in this case, was the knowledge of the promise that God had made with the Israelites through their forefather Abraham.
When we declare that God remembers us, we are declaring that God actively responds to our cries and our groans, because He is faithful. God’s remembrance is a demonstration of His faithfulness to us; it’s why we cry and plead with God in the first place, because He is faithful to respond to us. Once, King Jehoshaphat, facing a huge enemy force, declared to the Lord: “We will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save” (2 Chron. 20:9). He did.
So, as we discussed yesterday, let’s bring our distress and desperation to Him, and let’s remind ourselves that we have a faithful God who listens, and more than that, responds to our cries.
Prayer: Lord, thank You that You are a God who remembers us. You do not leave us to our own ways, but rather You remember us and respond to us. Lord, hear our prayers, hear our cries, remember us and Your promises to us. Come and bring Your deliverance, for we know You are faithful! Thank You, Lord, for You are the only One who can help us.
Bible Reading for Today: Joshua 15
Do you know the saying “The squeaky wheel gets the grease?” According to Wikipedia, it’s a proverb used to “convey the idea that the most noticeable (or loudest) problems are the ones most likely to get attention.”
After He was baptized, three of the four Gospel writers point out that Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, was led into the wilderness for forty days. As I was reading the passage this time around, it dawned on me that according to conventional human wisdom, the moment right after the baptism would have been most ideal for public ministry. Think about it: when Jesus was baptized by John, the heavens opened up and the visible presence of the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. This was no secluded matter, as many had come to be baptized by John in the Jordan River. How could you not believe someone if you saw the very presence of the Holy Spirit fall upon Him, not to mention hearing an audible voice saying, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased”? If I were Jesus’ PR manager, I would have told Him to start His ministry now.
Many of us are familiar with the story of the paralyzed man who was lowered through a roof. The faith of his friends seems central to the miracle and, of course, it is important. Yet what often goes less appreciated is the incredible hospitality of Jesus.
The AMI QT Devotionals from July 11-12 are provided by Emerson Lin. Emerson, a graduate of University of California, San Diego, serves as a staff at Kairos Christian Church, while studying at Talbot School of Theology. He is married to Annie.
In my freshman year of college, I played pick-up basketball with my suitemates. One particular game I ran toward the basket for a layup and jammed my thumb, swelling it fiercely. For days after, I couldn’t use chopsticks, open jars or even grab a tooth brush. I didn’t realize that such a small part of my body could be so valuable!
In 2014, Psychology Today came out with an article titled “7 Ways Facebook is bad for our mental health,” arguing that the website can make people feel like their lives aren’t as exciting as everyone else’s or even leading us to envy our friends’ successes.
After being attacked, arrested, beaten with rods, thrown in jail, and put into the stocks, Paul and Silas have little idea what will happen to them next. Yet what are they doing at midnight? Singing.
Jennifer Kim, a graduate of Boston University, spent a year in Shanghai as one-year intern from 2013-14. She is currently serving as a staff at Catalyst Agape Church (New Jersey), while attending Alliance Theological Seminary.
Growing up I had one dream in life, and unlike most kids, my dream never changed: I wanted to be the first female Asian Spielberg. To kick-start this dream, when I was in 6th grade I asked my parents for a very specific camcorder—the Sony DCR-TRV22. Now this camcorder was the most state-of-the-art recorder of its day, and I took care of this thing like it was my baby! This camera was my most prized possession because at the heart of it, I believed it would bring me closer to my dream of becoming Director Jennifer Kim.
Our church has recently wrapped up another successful summer VBS, and despite all the crying, the endless chaotic bundles of energy, unintentional food fights, and the over-tired/over-hyped volunteers, it’s one of my favorite programs at our church. Every year I walk away with another special memory of our time together which blesses me until the next summer. This year, my new moment involves a little girl from the community who had been dropped off by her grandma. Once her grandma had left, the girl cried for at least an hour, begging us to go home to her mommy. I made an attempt to cheer her up, but the moment she saw me approaching, her crying worsened! I helplessly walked away and returned about fifteen minutes later to see her in the arms of one of our volunteers, reciting the memory verse for the day. What a miracle! But the happiest moment was to see her actively participating in the Bible lessons, and later dancing and singing to the songs of worship. She left the church that day with a big smile on her face.
The AMI QT Devotionals from July 3-8 are written by Andy Kim. Andy, a graduate of Northwestern University, has recently completed his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is currently serving as a staff at Radiance Christian Church in San Francisco (and also soon to be married 😊).
When we were young, my friends and I spent hours playing as superheroes, using whatever we could find around the house for weapons. Our fantasy battles were the stuff of legends, complete with sound effects from our mouths. My favorite superhero was always Batman; for me, he seemed to be the most human while still standing toe-to-toe with all the other supernaturally-powered heroes. As I look back at my decision, I wonder if it was because I thought he was the closest I could get to making this fantasy a reality. It was my own fairy tale where I would fight crime, save lives, and be the hero of a dark world. We all enjoy such fairy tales and fantasies—many of them also being the story lines for most Hollywood blockbusters. Theologian Matt Smethurst explains it as “a gnawing suspicion—a hope—present deep within us, that our world isn’t the way it’s supposed to be and isn’t the way it always will be.” In fact these desires point to an underlying reality which we inwardly sense to be somehow true—that perhaps there exists something greater than the broken and finite reality we live in today. And we all hope one day it will come to pass.