Praise God that our lives are secure in Christ.
Binder
I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
—Ezek 34:16a
• God compares the leaders of Israel to shepherds and the people to sheep. He condemns these selfish, negligent, and abusive men for their failure to care for those in the land who are weak, defenseless, and abused.
• God declares that he will be their shepherd and he will see that his flock is cared for. He will bind up the wounds of the injured sheep and tenderly nurse them back to health.
• We are God’s sheep, and Jesus is the Good Shepherd. It was prophesied of him, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion” (Isa 61:1–3a).
• Praise God for Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who cares for his sheep, binding up our hurts.
Bird-knower
I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.
—Ps 50:11
• “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father” (Matt 10:29).
• Birds are an amazing part of God’s creation. The music that pours forth from some of the smallest of songbirds is enthralling. Their agility in flight, their plumage, and their habits are mesmerizing. How is it they do they not freeze to death in the cold winter snows? How do they fly so fast and then alight on a twig in a flash, without a wobble or a misstep?
• Have you ever wondered how many birds live within a five-minute walk from your home? Hundreds? Thousands? However many, God knows each one.
• God knows birds. Whereas in all our busyness, we may not take time to notice our surroundings, it is not so with God. He is on a first-name basis with every bird.
• God is not only a bird expert. He also knows every cow, cricket, and crocodile. What kind of a mind does God have to relate to all his creation in such detail?
• Praise God today for his creation and for the high value he places on all he has made, including humankind: “you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matt 10:30b).
Blesser
When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.
—Acts 3:26
• Peter was preaching to a crowd that gathered after he and John healed a crippled beggar. He reminded these Jewish listeners of God’s promise to bless all people on earth through his covenant with Abraham. Peter then stated that those who heard Jesus that day would be the first to be blessed by God through Jesus, who turned them from their sins to the Savior.
• Praise God, who is a blessing-giving God. He delights in bringing good to people.
• An old hymn encourages us to count our blessings. How long would your list be if you wrote out as many blessings as you could recall in the span of five minutes? We may be surprised by all the Lord has done!
Boldness-giver
Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
—Acts 4:29
• Peter and John prayed this prayer to God after their release from arrest for preaching about Jesus. They were ordered to no longer preach in the name of Jesus.
• Threats by powerful people tempt us to be fearful. Realizing this, the disciples asked God to give them boldness, knowing they could not conjure boldness up within themselves.
• Parents at times wish for the ability to give boldness to their children as they try some new sport or venture. It is a hard, if not impossible task to give someone boldness.
• Praise God, the One who can and does give boldness to timid and fearful people. When we need it, we can ask him for it, and through the wonderful agency of his indwelling Holy Spirit, we are “enabled” to be bold.
Bread
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
—John 6:35
• Bread comes in a variety of shapes and textures and is comprised of various grains, rice, or potato. It is a basic food staple in many cultures and has been called “the staff of life.”
• If we want to live, we need to eat. What is true physically is also true spiritually. We need the Lord, the bread of life, to sustain us spiritually. He is “the bread that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27).
• Praise God for giving us Jesus, the staff of life.
Brother
Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.
—Mark 3:35
• While Jesus’s birth family stood outside the house, Jesus made this amazing statement to those inside. Anyone who does God’s will is considered a member of Jesus’s own family. This is a staggering truth. Why would Jesus want us as members of his family? Yet he does.
• That means that all Christians are our siblings. Regardless of the size of our birth families, our spiritual family dwarfs them all.
• Praise God for including us in his family. How privileged we are!
Burden-bearer
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.
—Ps 68:19
• In the movie The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Frodo the hobbit is called upon to carry a great burden—a destructive ring of power—to Mount Doom on a quest to destroy it before it falls into the hands of the evil Sauron. As he draws nearer to Mount Doom, Frodo finds his burden too great to bear. Seeing Frodo labor under the weight of the ring, his friend, Samwise Gamgee, carries Frodo’s pack—and eventually Frodo himself, when his friend is no longer able to walk.
• The strong carry the burdens of the weak, whether by helping with a fellow hiker’s pack or carrying a weary child.
• Praise God, who is our Burden-bearer. When we become weary and come to the end of our physical, emotional, or spiritual strength, we can look to God to bear
