Luke 21:25-28 The Sea Roars
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: November 20, 2018 Luke 21:25-28
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
(Understanding the Text) I have always applied this to the past and ongoing troubles, but I wonder if this is saying that for a time before Jesus’ coming there will be these types of catastrophic events happening. Jesus said that the powers of the heavens would be shaken including signs in the sun, moon, and stars and the roaring of the sea and waves.
(Revelation of God) God’s ways are always backwards to human ways. Normal human reactions will be to faint with fear because of the disasters surrounding them, but Jesus tells us that when we see these disasters, we should lift up our heads and look to the sky without fear because it is simply Him coming to take us home.
(Understanding the Text) The more I read this, the more it seems to be an extended period of time that this is happening, not simply a few days, but how extended? Are the signs in the sun and moon and stars the ones that happened before the 1844 movement? If so, what is the roaring of the sea and the waves? Is that more tsunamis? Is that yet to come? What does it mean that the powers of the heavens will be shaken? It seems that in the very last days, Jesus is warning us more about natural disasters on the earth than about fearing a specific nation or leader. The SDA commentary says that this “takes place under the seventh plague.” In the SDA commentary’s comments on Matthew 24:29, it says that the signs in the sun and moon took place on May 19, 1780 which was known as the great dark day and continued throughout the night. The stars’ sign happened on November 13, 1833, which was “the greatest star shower in all history” The reasoning for this is the timing, as well as the extremity of the phenomenon. The same section of the commentary goes on to say “The shaking of the ‘powers of the heavens’ does not refer to the phenomena described in the earlier part of the verse, but to a time yet future when the heavenly bodies ‘will be moved out of their places . . . Shaken by the voice of God.'”
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that no matter how bad the world seems and no matter how horrifying the natural disasters, I should not fear. The worst that they can do is maim or kill my body. Jesus is promising that He will be coming soon and that I will receive a new body, and if I have died, I will be resurrected from the dead. Therefore, there is no need to fear and every reason to hope. I pray that I will have faith and understanding of what is happening around me and never falter in my trust in Jesus.