For Reading and Meditation:      Isaiah 11:1-9Yesterday we said that envy is born out of two things: ignorance and making wrong comparisons. Having seen how a wrong comparison can produce envy, we focus now on ignorance. How can ignorance give rise to envy? Far too often our judgments of people are based only on what we see, and we fail to take into account other things that may be going on in their lives. Years ago, A.C. Gardiner wrote a little essay on Lord Simon and spoke at length of his many successes. In one place he described him as "prancing down a rose-strewn path to a shining goal". Gardiner thought that success, in the measure Lord Simon had experienced it, was free of all sorrow. Then he remembered some of the bitter disappointments that Lord Simon had faced and so he added in parenthesis: "I speak here only of his public career." Many of us forget the parenthesis. We see simply the surface of our neighbours' lives and know nothing of their secret sorrows. If we saw beneath the surface of those lives we tend to envy - the hidden hurts, the emptiness, the heartaches, the guilt and the fears - then I doubt whether the emotion of envy would ever rise within us. But even if there were no secret sorrows we would still have no reason to envy others. God is the rightful Lord of all life: "It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves" (Psalm 100:3, NKJ). Let us keep our eyes fixed only on Christ and resist all other attempts at comparison. Practise comparing yourself with Him, and only good will come out of it. Blessed Lord Jesus, I see how easily the spirit of envy can filch away my peace and happiness. Uproot this rank weed in my heart and teach me to compare myself with none other but You. For Your own dear Name's sake. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>2 Corinthians 10:1-18</li><li>1 Corinthians 2:13</li><li>Psalm 89:6</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is it not wise to do?</li><li>What is the right way to make comparisons?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes " (v. 3) 

One of the most deep-seated frailties of fallen humanity is the persistent tendency to judge according to appearance. We judge a person according to his looks. We judge a used car by its body. We judge a book by its cover. No matter how often we are disappointed and disillusioned, we stubbornly refuse to learn that "all is not gold that glitters."In his book Hide or Seek, Dr. James Dobson says that physical beauty is the most highly valued personal attribute in our culture. We have made it what he calls "the gold coin of human worth." Thus a beautiful child is more favored by adults than a plain one. Teachers tend to give better grades to attractive children. Pretty children get less discipline than others. Homely children are more subject to blame for misdemeanors.Samuel would have chosen the tall, good-looking Eliab to be king (1 Samuel 16:7), but the Lord corrected him, "Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."The greatest case of misjudgment in history occurred when the Lord Jesus visited our planet. Apparently He was not prepossessing as far as physical appearance was concerned. He had no form or comeliness, and when men saw Him, no beauty that they should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2). They could see no beauty in the only truly beautiful Person who ever lived!Yet He Himself never fell into this terrible trap of judging according to looks, for before His advent, it was prophesied of Him, "He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears" (Isaiah 11:3). To Him it was not the face but the character that counted. Not the cover but the contents. Not the physical but the spiritual.

With reverence, humor and skill, William MacDonald wove a daily devotional tapestry that challenges the reader to think deeply and Biblically, and apply God's Word to their lives.

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24)

Solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, 
those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and 
evil. (Hebrews 5:14)
In our natural, physical man we 
have five senses. We have our sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Those are 
the five senses of our physical natural life. But there is also an inner man 
called the "hidden man of the heart," and that inward man has what corresponds 
to the outer man's five senses. There is a faculty of spiritual sight, of 
spiritual hearing, of spiritual smelling or sensing, of spiritual taste and 
spiritual touch, and these senses are very important to the life of the inward 
man – yes, more important even than the senses of the physical man. 
We know how we feel the tragedy 
of people who have lost any of those outward senses. It is a great loss; it is 
an imperfect life, a life of limitation. But it is equally true of the inward 
man. To be without spiritual sight is a tragic loss and a terrible limitation; 
or without spiritual hearing, that capacity for answering to the Spirit – "he 
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith": if there is no capacity 
for hearing, that is a desperate situation. What loss there is if there is no 
sensing – sensing as in the matter of smell, so that you at once scent things. I 
know how wrongly that has been used, in an everlasting attempt to scent heresy 
and fault and wrong, but there is a right faculty of spiritual scent which is 
very important. I believe it was to that that reference was made concerning our 
Lord – "His scent shall be in the fear of the Lord" (Isa. 11:3, A.R.M.) – quick 
of scent, right on the mark in scenting what the Lord wanted. And how true it 
was of His heavenly life: what it saved Him to scent the enemy and what the 
enemy was up to, to scent what the Father wanted and when He did not want 
things. It is important to be quick of scent. And so with our taste and with our 
touch – our contact, and what we register by contact. This is a very real inward 
man, and these are the senses which form the basis of spiritual capacity: these 
are the things to be exercised, to be "put through it" for increase and 
development.

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

Spiritual Exercise

 Spiritual Senses 

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord. Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? “To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O you simple ones, understand prudence, and you fools, be of an understanding heart. Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things … Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.” The Lord of hosts … is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. § If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. § 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.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Evening Daily Light

 His name will be called . . . Counselor. 

3 <poetry>and he will delight in the fear of the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap>.<poetry>He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, <indent>or decide by what he hears with his ears; </indent> </poetry>

and he will delight in the fear<cr>1</cr> of the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap>.<pb/><poetry>He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,<cr>2</cr> <indent>or decide by what he hears with his ears;<cr>3</cr> </indent>

Isaiah 11:3

 3 and he will delight in the fear   of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,   or decide by what he hears with his ears;   

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 

<poetry>and he will delight in the fear of the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap>.<poetry>He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, <indent>or decide by what he hears with his ears; </indent> </poetry>

 and he will delight in the fear   of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,   or decide by what he hears with his ears;   

Bible Verse of the Day

May 21, 2000

Isaiah 11:3 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

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