Sin may rock you to sleep, but it is not a restful sleep. Matthew Henry observed, ?Sin brings storms and tempests into the soul, into the family, into churches and nations; it is a disquieting, disturbing thing.? You may forget sin is there. You may forget you were ever holding on to it. Others may forget you were ever holding on to it. But God remembers. If we pray to be changed, He will lead us to repentance. In Jonah?s case, God wanted to point it out because the fate of a whole nation was at stake.

Do you want peace in your life or do you want to hold on to difficulties? Philippians 3:12 urges, ?Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not count myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.? Like Paul, I urge you to let go and accept the peace God freely offers instead.

Are you holding on to something you shouldn?t? Unclench your fist, go running to God, and leave it in His more-than-capable hands.

Having been discouraged by the bad report of the ten spies, the hearts of the people were already resigned to the impossibilities of the conquest. And the ten spies bearing the evil report would not be moved. Forgetting that God had delivered them from slavery, brought them through the Red Sea, and given them victory over the Amalekites, they persisted in discouraging Israel from moving forward.

The Bible reports, ?And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!? (Numbers 14:2). ?In their unbelief they [Israel] limited the power of God and distrusted the hand that had hitherto safely guided them.? And what could God do then? Reward their lack of faith? Hardly!

We can only imagine the wonder and anger that must have filled God?s heart as He looked down upon His unbelieving children who were so close and yet so far from reaching their promised home. ?How long will this people provoke Me?? He asked Moses. ?How long will it be before they trust My word? How many signs and wonders do I have to show them to prove that I can take care of them and give them victory over their enemies??

If you find your devotional time interrupted by thoughts of your long to-do list or other unrelated thoughts, instead of feeling guilty, just take a second and jot them down on a separate sheet of paper so that you can remember them after your devotional time is over.

Admittedly, for those with young children, finding quality time alone is always a struggle. If you can?t manage to wake up before your children do, or you don?t have help from a spouse in giving you some undistracted quiet time, just do the best you can with what time you have. It may not be ideal, but remember that God always honors our sincere efforts. Even if it?s just a few minutes here and there, He can multiply the blessing just as He multiplied the loaves and fishes.

On the other hand, if our lack of quality devotional time is due to laziness or mismanaged priorities, we shouldn?t expect God to make up the difference. He?s asking us to put Him first, not just in theory but literally. Once we start doing this, everything else in our day will fit together!

Spiritual life must be sustained by communion with Christ through His Word. The mind must dwell upon it, the heart must be filled with it. The Word of God laid up in the heart and sacredly cherished and obeyed, through the power of the grace of Christ can make man right, and keep him right.?God?s Amazing Grace, p. 228.

Jesus did not gratify their curiosity. He sadly said, ?Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.? They did not seek Him from any worthy motive; but as they had been fed with the loaves, they hoped still to receive temporal benefit by attaching themselves to Him. The Saviour bade them, ?Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.? Seek not merely for material benefit. Let it not be the chief effort to provide for the life that now is, but seek for spiritual food, even that wisdom which will endure unto everlasting life. This the Son of God alone can give; ?for Him hath God the Father sealed.??The Desire of Ages, p. 384.

One of the themes of the Gospel of John is that Jesus knows human thought and intent. This is illustrated in the conversation with the crowd when they caught up with Jesus the next day. Recognizing their objective, He took control of the conversation, saying, ?Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him? (verse 27).

The crowd asked how they could do the works of God. Jesus answered, ?This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent? (verse 29).

The crowd then asked, ?What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ?He gave them bread from heaven to eat? ? (verses 30, 31).

Imagine! Jesus had just fed the five thousand the day before, and now they asked for a sign that they might believe! The lesson is inescapable: we believe, and then we see the miracles. Faith is not based upon empirical verification. We see miracles when we come with eyes of faith. This miracle of feeding the five thousand helps John make the case that Jesus, the humble carpenter, is indeed the promised Messiah.

Clearly, Jesus wanted to encourage His followers. For we find ourselves in this story not just as the soil. We are also called to be sowers. We are given the privilege of sowing the seed.

Jesus knew this would present a tough test. So He tells us up front that most seed will fall on unproductive soil. "Nonetheless," He says, "don?t despair. Don?t quit. Keep planting seeds because the harvest is coming. And when that happens, watch out. The results will blow your mind!"

Remember this the next time you feel discouraged with the anemic results of your soul-winning efforts. Think about Jesus and the failure He experienced. He drew massive crowds, but most of them melted away. When He shared hard truth, John 6:66 says, "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."

Friend, don't be discouraged. Don't let the barren crops bump you off mission. And whatever you do, don't stop sowing seeds.

There are many things in life that we don?t fully understand, and most of them are outside of our control. Even though Mary was a virgin, when the angel Gabriel announced to her that she would supernaturally conceive the Son of God, she surrendered to the plan, though not because she understood it fully. God?s ways are not our ways, and we can?t always make sense of God?s direction for our lives. Still we can trust Him fully and surrender to His plan instead of following ours.

In the Lord?s Prayer, Jesus taught His disciples to pray: ?Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.? (Matthew 6:10). We all want God?s will to be done on earth, don?t we? But there is a small Greek word that sometimes gives us trouble; it is the word moi, which is translated ?to me.? Mary?s response was: ?May it be done to me according to your word? (Luke 1:38).

At some point, God?s direction for our lives becomes personal and often unfathomable. When we face perplexing circumstances, we might question how a particular situation could turn out for God?s glory. But most of these answers await us on the other side of eternity. As in Mary?s case, we are called to submit to God?s plan, and by His grace fulfill our part in that plan. ?A person?s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand their own way?? (Proverbs 20:24, NIV). In those situations, it is imperative to trust in God?s goodness, love, and grace towards us. He who gave His life so that we may live also directs our steps.

?Trust in the Lord with all your heart . . . and He shall direct your paths? (Proverbs 3:5, 6, NKJV).

In His graciousnesss, God extends the spoils of victory to all who are in Christ. We, by faith in Christ's fully effective and sufficient work, may be adopted as God's children and thus as heirs to the inheritance that Christ has won for us. Thus we can partake of God's victory; there is a place for us at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Yet we must never forget that this place was not won by our works or our contribution but was won for us by the Lamb who was slain. Worthy, then is the Lamb to receive all glory and power and honor forever and ever!

We know Jesus is coming back, and many of us are waiting for that great getting up morning when we will see Him face-to-face. But did you know that how we wait for His return makes a difference? Heaven is, after all, a prepared place for a prepared people. Ellen G. White writes, ?We are waiting and watching for the grand and awful scene which will close up this earth?s history. But we are not simply to be waiting; we are to be vigilantly working with reference to this solemn event. The living church of God will be waiting, watching, and working. None are to stand in a neutral position. All are to represent Christ in active, earnest efforts to save perishing souls.?

Just imagine how it will feel to arrive at our heavenly home. As we run into Jesus? waiting arms, we will know at that moment that everything will be right as we step into eternity with the One who loves us best.

I have tried so many ways to let go of worry without success. It is not a Christian virtue to hang on to, so it demands dealing with it. I do not worry over food, drink, or clothes, as listed in Matthew 6:25?33. It is verse 34, quoted above, that gets me down. I worry over the troubles I have with my computer, printer, cell phone, passwords, Zoom meetings, and all things techy. This is not the world many of us grew up in, and we are left behind.

What do you worry about? There are so many issues that upset our daily lives, including our health, relationships, climate change, floods, droughts, fires, inflation, politics, wars, gun violence, pandemics, and new viruses! Listening to the news every day probably is not a good thing to do, but we all want to know what?s going on in our world.

Maybe the best thing for me to do is bury my worries deep in the ground since I cannot change the world of technology or most of the other things listed above. When I find myself worrying unduly, my favorite Bible promise comes to mind:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5, 6, NKJV).

God understands all things, including technology. The closer we get to the end of all things, the more we need to trust our lives with God and let Him take our worries away. He is faithful, and His promises are sure. More trustworthy than an old wives? remedy!

What speech is to thought, so is Christ to the invisible Father. He is the manifestation of the Father, and is called the Word of God. God sent His Son into the world, His divinity clothed with humanity, that man might bear the image of the invisible God. He made known in His words, His character, His power and majesty, the nature and attributes of God.

As legislator, Jesus exercised the authority of God; His commands and decisions were supported by the sovereignty of the eternal throne. The glory of the Father was revealed in the Son; Christ made manifest the character of the Father. He was so perfectly connected with God, so completely embraced in His encircling light, that he who had seen the Son had seen the Father. His voice was as the voice of God. . . . He says, ?I am in the Father, and the Father in me.? ?No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.? ?He that hath seen me hath seen the Father? (John 14:11; Matthew 11:27; 14:9)?That I May Know Him, p. 38.

These Old Testament themes are picked up in the New Testament but with a twist?the Messiah has arrived. He is the loving and caring God made human, and John aims to make this clear. ?Truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name? (John 20:30, 31).

John tells us exactly why he wrote his Gospel: so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, we might have life in His name! John tells us that he could have recorded many more signs or miracles, but he chose these specifically because they point to Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, through whom we might receive eternal life.

It is important to note that John did not choose to report a miracle to prove the authenticity of Jesus? miracles. He chose to report it because of the character of the miraculous work?because it pointed to Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise of the coming Messiah.