ANCHOR DEVOTIONS (JUNE 29, 2012)

Earmarked

Mark 1:2-8; 6:17-27

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb....All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
(Psalm 139:13 and 16b)

I moved recently - an unexpected opportunity necessitating a quick decision. I kept asking, "Lord is this the right way? If not, please close the door." But doors kept flying open.

Sometimes God's omniscient plan is obvious. John the Baptist's life was like that. His birth, name, God-driven life and ministry were all foretold. John was born, prepared spiritually, and then preached the baptism of repentance in preparation for Christ's message of forgiveness. He was imprisoned and martyred for this cause. That was John's life - prophesied, lived, and completed - beginning to end on track with God's map.

As much as we'd like the path to always be so clear, we all have experienced the opposite. Often we feel like the children's book character Waldo in glasses and striped shirt, hidden in a sea of people and activity. Where am I anyway? Be assured that God planned and watched over you from before your birth, just as He did John. We are earmarked by Him and are never hidden from Him. He always knows where we are.

INSIGHT
"We have been in God's thought from all eternity, and in His creative love, His attention never leaves us."
(Michael Quoist)

READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Job 7-8
Psalm 46
Luke 9

Mark 1:2-8
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
2 It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”[a] —
3 “a voice of one calling in the desert,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”[b]
4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with[c] water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Footnotes:
a. Mark 1:2 Mal. 3:1
b. Mark 1:3 Isaiah 40:3
c. Mark 1:8 Or in

Mark 6:17-27
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled[a]; yet he liked to listen to him.
21 Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.
The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”
“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.
25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison,
Footnotes:
a. Mark 6:20 Some early manuscripts he did many things

GOD WHO SEES ME

with Ann Spangler

What is your greatest need today? Do you wonder if God sees your need? Does he care? God tells us that he is the God who sees. And there is one example of this that towers above all the others