Great Questions

Daily Reading: John 19

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” (John 19.15)

Devotional Thought: When my dad was alive, I enjoyed spending time with him. He was very kind, and his wisdom was always on target. We enjoyed each other's company, and I knew I could ask him any question on my mind.  Jesus' final hours are filled with many great questions:

• When Judas arrived in the garden with the officers of the temple, Jesus met them and asked, "Whom do you seek?" They said, "Jesus the Nazarene."  Do you seek Jesus?

• In the garden, Simon Peter drew a sword to defend Jesus.  Jesus asked, "Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?"  Are you willing to drink the cup from the Father's hand?

• While Jesus was before the high priest, a servant girl asked Peter, "You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?"  Peter got the answer wrong, denying Jesus, but are there not times when our lives deny that we are followers of Jesus?

• Standing before Pilate, the governor, Jesus was asked "Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?"  Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above."  Do you realize that God has left it up to you to choose what to do with Jesus?

• That brings us to Pilate's final question: "Shall I crucify your king?"  God answered that question, "Yes, crucify him for I so love the world that I give my one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."  Have you accepted the gift of God?  Have you believed in Jesus?

John Beasley

Prayer: When questions outnumber answers, help me to remember that you, O Lord, are The Answer.  Amen. 

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 40.1-8

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. ”