The Story Devotional: Discover Your Role in God's Story

By Zondervan

Like The Story, The Story Devotional will guide readers through the overarching narrative of the Bible in 365 days. Combining Scripture with bite-sized reflections and a daily takeaway, readers will be able to work their way through God's epic Story and focus on His plan for their lives. Following the same chronological organization as The Story, readers will see their lives in a whole new light, with purpose as part of God's eternal story. Using the takeaway message at the end of each devotion, readers can apply the teachings of the Bible to their daily life. This book can be used in conjunction with The Story or as a stand alone devotional.

This is the first devotional product in The Story line.

Trim Size: 5 x 7

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9780310352167

Book preview

TESTAMENT

DAY 1

OUT OF NOTHING, SOMETHING

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

GENESIS 1:1–3

We all know the power of words. You may remember what the bully said to you on the kindergarten playground, or what one of your parents said to you in a moment of utter frustration.

On the other hand, maybe you remember as if it were yesterday what the coach said to let you know he believed in you. Or when your sixth-grade teacher helped you recognize in yourself an area of giftedness.

Human words are powerful—powerful to tear down and powerful to build up. And God’s words are infinitely more powerful. God said—and things happened! Where nothing had been, there was now something!

Consider what words God has spoken over you: you are his chosen (Colossians 3:12), loved (Ephesians 5:25), provided for (Matthew 6:32–33), protected (Psalm 18:2), child (1 John 3:1). What God speaks, happens; so live in the reality of what he says about you!

LET THE CREATIVE POWER OF GOD’S WORDS RE-CREATE YOU IN CHRIST’S IMAGE.

DAY 2

LET . . .

God said, Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so.

GENESIS 1:11–13

The simple statement Let the land produce vegetation belies the almost unimaginable complexity needed for the task.

Plants need water and the God-designed water cycle—evaporation, condensation, precipitation. Plants need sunlight, and God had placed the earth the perfect distance from the sun so that this planet could sustain life. God created different plants for warm and wet and cool and dry climates. Plants need a constant source of carbon monoxide—and the animals God was planning needed a constant source of oxygen. The perfect symbiotic relationship—per God’s design.

God also saw that each plant had the right nutrients, the ideal temperature, and the necessary protection from the elements. Let the land produce vegetation—those simple words hardly suggest the intricacy, the complexity, of God’s creation, and they don’t begin to explain the mystery of the spark of life existing in every seed.

WHAT KIND OF POWER ARE YOU SPEAKING INTO PEOPLE’S LIVES WITH YOUR WORDS—CREATIVE POWER OR DESTRUCTIVE?

DAY 3

A GLIMPSE OF GOD’S GLORY

God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. And God saw that it was good.

GENESIS 1:16, 18

As Psalm 19:1 says, the heavens truly do declare the glory of God, and those glorious heavens are mind-bogglingly vast.

If Earth were the size of a grape, Jupiter would be a large grapefruit; Saturn, an orange; Uranus and Neptune, lemons; and the sun’s diameter, five feet.

Now imagine the grape-sized Earth on the corner of a city block. The moon would be about a foot from the grape-Earth. The sun would be about a city block away—and Jupiter, five blocks away from the sun. Saturn, ten blocks; Uranus, twenty blocks; and Neptune, thirty. And you’d be the size of an atom.¹ And there’s the massive star Betelguese, the red supergiant Mu Cephei, and VY Canis Majoris with its 1.7-billion-mile diameter.²

God’s heavens declare his glory—his size, his magnificence, his grandeur, his majesty, his power, his order, his wonder. When you look at the stars, let them prompt you to worship their maker—and yours!

YOUR GOD HOLDS THE PLANETS IN THEIR ORBITS AND NUMBERS THE HAIRS ON YOUR HEAD.

DAY 4

AN INTELLIGENT DESIGN

God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

GENESIS 1:21

If a pocket watch washed up on shore and was discovered by people who had never seen one before, what might their reactions be after they inspected the moving second hand and its inner workings? Would anyone consider it an amazing result of pure chance? Would anyone suggest that all the materials coincidentally came together in the perfect size, shape, and organization and, once all was in place, the watch started to work? Doubtful, isn’t it? The very existence of the pocket watch suggests the existence of a Creator.

Individuals today look around at God’s amazing creation and don’t see (or don’t let themselves see) that there must be a Creator behind it all. Each one of the variety of creatures living in the skies and in the oceans eats, breathes, and reproduces . . . by chance?

We human beings are without excuse: every aspect of creation points to our Creator-God!

MAY GOD’S AMAZING CREATION PROMPT US TO PRAISE HIM!

DAY 5

WHAT A MENAGERIE!

God said, Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind. And it was so.

GENESIS 1:24

What critters come to mind when you hear the word livestock? Cows and horses and pigs? What about Brahman bulls and water buffalo and donkeys and llamas? And did you know over eight hundred breeds of cattle are recognized around the world?

What do you think of when you hear the words wild animals? Don’t limit yourself to lions and tigers and bears. What about manatees, platypi, and anteaters?

Then there are those members of the animal world you’ve probably never met: the blobfish, the aye-aye, the star-nosed mole, the three-foot, coconut-eating coconut crab, and the list goes on. The creativity God used in designing the animal kingdom is only a fraction of the energy he used in making you.

THE CARE GOD EXERCISED IN CRAFTING YOU IS THE PINNACLE OF GOD’S CREATIVE CRAFTSMANSHIP, CARE, AND JOY!

DAY 6

GOD’S HANDIWORK

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

GENESIS 1:27

You are created in God’s own image. You are not a biological accident. You are not some beating-the-infinite-odds chance arrangement of cells into organs into systems into a body.

No, you are created and crafted. You are God’s handiwork (Ephesians 2:10). And he created not only your body, but he created [your] inmost being (Psalm 139:13). And the model for this work of art? Himself. You are created in God’s image.

This image is not physical. God’s image is reflected in our inmost being, in our abilities to think and reason, understand good and evil, create and invent, make choices, appreciate beauty, be in relationship, have a sense of justice, and love.

And this image of God is reflected in every human being, in our enemies as well as our neighbors. May we see everyone around us as God sees them: as his precious handiwork.

CREATED IN GOD’S IMAGE, MAY WE LIVE—MAY WE SPEAK, ACT, INTERACT—IN A WAY THAT HONORS HIM AND REFLECTS HIS IMAGE.

DAY 7

THE BEST FOR LAST

God blessed [the man and the woman] and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

GENESIS 1:28, 31

Maybe you’ve noticed the chorus in Genesis 1—And God saw that it was good. Of course our perfect and infinitely wise, powerful, and good God would make his creation good.

But did you notice the variation on that chorus? After the Lord completed his creative efforts, he made human beings in his image, he blessed us with the responsibility of caring for his creation, and he pronounced his work very good.

Yes, God definitely saved his best creation for last. Human beings have been called the crown of his creation. As such, we are blessed with the opportunity to be in relationship with the Holy and Eternal One, our Savior and Redeemer. And that privilege to be in relationship with God—to be welcomed by God as his friend and his child—is also very good.

YOU ARE GOD’S HANDCRAFTED CREATION, ONE OF HIS MASTERPIECES.

DAY 8

COUNTERINTUITIVE

The LORD God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.

GENESIS 2:16–17

The study was simple. Case #1: Let the elementary school students play on a playground without a fence: they were free to go wherever they wanted—the basketball courts, hopscotch grids, four-squares, tetherballs, jungle gyms. Case #2: Let the elementary school students play on that same playground, but now with a fence around the perimeter.

In the first case, the researchers were surprised to see the students cluster in the middle of the play area. In the second case—when a fence set the boundaries—the students took full advantage of the entire area and all the fun it offered.

Boundaries mean freedom, and the one boundary in Eden was simple: You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God established this boundary—and this is true for every law he established—for the good of the people he loves. Life goes well when we live within the fence God has provided us.

GOD’S BOUNDARIES MEAN YOUR FREEDOM!

DAY 9

KNOWING OUR NEEDS—AND MEETING THEM

The LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.

So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and he took one of the man’s ribs. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib.

GENESIS 2:18, 21–22

Do you have a friend who knows what you need without your having to say a word? What a blessing to be known and loved like that! And God loved Adam that way.

At God’s instruction, Adam had just done a basic inventory of every animal the Lord had created and given each a name. The last of the menagerie passed by, but for Adam no suitable helper was found (Genesis 2:20). Without Adam even voicing the need or desire, and perhaps without Adam even recognizing it on his own, God knew exactly what Adam needed. Our Creator-God was not finished yet!

God outdid himself in crafting a helper suitable for Adam: she took his breath away.

God knew Adam’s need for companionship and gave him a gift beyond his imagining. Likewise, God knows your needs, and he will meet them—often with a blessing beyond your imagining!

THE LORD KNOWS OUR NEEDS AND GENEROUSLY MEETS THEM.

DAY 10

REALLY?

The serpent said to the woman, Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?

GENESIS 3:1

Picture a snake-oil peddler from the Old West. That special tonic of his could cure anything and everything that folks in the crowd were suffering from—guaranteed! Really!

And that word, really, could have—should have—been in the garden. "Did God really say . . .?" Can’t you hear the word pronounced, drawn out, dripping with disbelief? "Reaaaally?"

The crafty serpent’s expression of disbelief continued, underlining God’s unreasonable rule: "You mean you can’t eat from any of these beautiful trees? You can’t eat any of this delicious-looking fruit?"

Taking the bait, Eve agreed that God had been awfully strict with Adam and her. She clarified that they could eat from any and all trees except that tree in the middle—and that one they couldn’t even touch!

Of course the serpent didn’t correct Eve’s overstatement, for she was playing right into his hand. He even sweetened the deal: Eat the fruit from that tree, and the effects will be amazing! You will be like God! The snake’s snake-oil pitch was complete.

IF YOU’RE DOUBTING GOD’S GUIDELINES FOR LIFE, THAT MAY BE SATAN SPEAKING.

DAY 11

JUST DON’T DO IT!

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

GENESIS 3:6

Maybe you’ve noticed that we’re not especially interested in something—until someone says, No! We don’t especially want to do something—until someone says, Don’t! No and Don’t can sometimes prompt action more quickly than encouragement would!

So, Eve wondered, what could be so bad about that fruit? Clearly, it was good for food. Could anything so pleasing to the eye be bad? Wouldn’t it be good to gain wisdom? And wouldn’t God want them to enjoy all he had created? In a word, no—and he had clearly said so.

One wonders what Eve was thinking as she gave some to her husband, why Adam, who was with her, was silent, and why he ate. Moot points, all. Their eyes were opened. They realized they were naked.

We human beings are attracted to forbidden fruit. And being like God sounds great—doing what we want, when we want, the way we want—whatever the warnings and despite the fact that God said no.

DON’T LET DON’T TEMPT YOU TO DO!

DAY 12

BEFORE THEY ATE—AND AFTER

The man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, Where are you?

GENESIS 3:8–9

Before Adam and Eve ate the fruit, fellowship with each other was easy, comfortable, free of any type of barrier because they were free of sin. Their privileged fellowship with the Lord was open, relaxed, life-giving, satisfying. He had given them this beautiful garden home, and he was meeting all their needs. Why would they want anything else?

But after Adam and Eve acted in order to be like God—to be independent, on their own, instead of dependent on him—the hiding and the blame began.

The two hid from each other behind coverings made of fig leaves. And the two hid from God.

The man blamed not only the woman but also God himself who had put her with me. The woman blamed the serpent’s deception.

The sweet fellowship of God, man, and woman had been shattered when they embraced sin rather than their Creator. Yet God did not turn his back on them.

WHATEVER YOUR FELLOWSHIP-SHATTERING SIN, GOD WILL NOT TURN HIS BACK ON YOU.

DAY 13

BECAUSE YOU HAVE DONE THIS

To the woman [the LORD God] said,

I will make your pains in childbearing very severe.

To Adam he said,

"By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground."

GENESIS 3:16–17, 19

They had boldly disobeyed, but afterward neither was willing to take responsibility, to ask forgiveness, to repent. So the Holy God responded with a curse, but within God’s curses are reasons for hope.

The serpent was cursed, the woman would experience pain in childbirth, and the man would have to work hard to wrest food from the ground. Yet hear the promises and the hope. God made work harder for man, yet he limited the days of that hard work. Also, God’s holy wrath did not mean the end of the human race: the woman will know the joy of being a mother—and the woman’s offspring will one day crush the serpent’s.

Consequences and promises are intertwined in a pronouncement of judgment and mercy. God’s justice and his love for humanity intersect here in Eden.

DON’T DOUBT GOD’S LOVE WHEN YOU ARE EXPERIENCING THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS.

DAY 14

OUR COMPASSIONATE AND GRACIOUS GOD

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, The man must not be allowed to take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden.

GENESIS 3:21–23

When he placed the man in the garden, God established a rule. Adam and Eve broke that rule. The consequences would come—and with them, God’s compassion and grace.

First, God clothed Adam and Eve. He killed an animal he had created—its blood was shed—to cover the nakedness of the man and woman. Then, showing more grace, God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden, lest they eat from the tree of life and live forever. A fallen world, populated by sinners, is no place anyone would want to live forever!

Our disobedience, our sin has continued. But two thousand years ago more blood was shed. This time the blood of Jesus was spilled in order to cover—to pay the price for—our sins and to enable us to be in relationship with God now and forever.

Life outside the garden can make us long for the intimate fellowship with God that Adam and Eve knew in the garden.

GOD’S GRACE TOWARD US SINNERS COST HIM HIS HOLY SON.

DAY 15

CROUCHING SIN

The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, Let’s go out to the field. While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

GENESIS 4:4–5, 8

Why did God reject Cain’s offering? Maybe Cain had not offered his best. Perhaps his heart’s attitude had not been right, and his offering was more an act of duty than a gift of gratitude. The LORD looks at the heart, so God knew (1 Samuel 16:7). We can only guess about Cain’s heart, but we can be confident that God is always just, always good, always righteous. The fault could only be Cain’s.

God had cautioned the angry Cain: Sin is crouching at your door (v. 7)—and sin pounced. Angry, perhaps at God, and possibly jealous (God had accepted Abel’s sacrifice), Cain slew his brother.

In this tragedy, we see the ongoing ripple effect of sin. Adam and Eve were estranged from God and from one another. Now two blood brothers were estranged, one the murderer, the other the victim. All were far removed from garden living.

SIN IS CROUCHING AT THE DOOR. WHAT IS YOUR DEFENSE?

DAY 16

HEARTBROKEN YET FAITHFUL

The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

GENESIS 6:5–6

Regret is a heavy burden. We can never rewind the clock. Often we can do absolutely nothing to make right what is wrong, to unsay or undo those things that hurt someone we love.

But when God experienced regret that he had made human beings, he announced a plan of action. Radical action. As in wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created as well as the animals, birds, and other creatures he had delighted in.

But more significant than his action—an act he promised to never again do—is his heart.

Sinful human beings did not choose to love him and live according to his ways, and he was deeply troubled. God’s heart will always break when people—when you—turn away from him.

Yet God responded to the faithfulness he did find: he spared Noah and his family from the destruction to come. God will always notice, acknowledge, and honor your faithfulness to him.

THE FAITHFULNESS OF ONE SHINES BRIGHTLY IN THE WORLD’S DARKNESS.

DAY 17

LORD, DID I HEAR YOU RIGHT?

God said to Noah, I am going to put an end to all people. So make yourself an ark. You will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

GENESIS 6:3–14, 18–19

Three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Think football fields. One and a half football fields long and three-quarters of a football field wide, to be precise. And think, regarding its height, at least a four-story building. Yes, the ark God commanded Noah to build for the coming rainstorm was huge.

And what would the neighbors have thought about Noah’s project? Rain? Water falling from the sky? Next you’ll be trying to convince us that some band of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple will be arcing across the sky!

There was nothing easy about Noah’s assignment. And there may have been nothing appealing about having two of all living creatures as shipmates. But—looking for a positive in this—jellyfish, sharks, piranhas, alligators, and anacondas did not need a place on the boat! They’d do just fine with the precipitation! We may not feel equipped for the task, but God provides.

WHEN GOD CALLS, HE ENABLES.

DAY 18

LIFE IN THE ARK—AND YOU ARE THERE!

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

GENESIS 7:17, 24

It lasted a little longer than a year, that multisensory experience on steroids. Yes, we’re talking about Noah’s extraordinary time aboard the ark.

Sights: Parrots, peacocks, pandas, polar bears.

Sounds: Caws, growls, roars, trumpetings.

Touch: Puppies, porcupines, kittens, snakes.

Smells: Unhappy skunks. And the stable floors . . .

Tastes: With smells that intense, who could really taste food?

God calls. We obey, and it’s not always a luxury cruise.

God had told Noah to bring onboard the ark two of all living creatures, male and female (Genesis 6:19). The future of the animal world was, literally, riding with Noah! Noah could at least know the satisfaction of obeying God. The rest was up to the Almighty.

And maybe that solid sense of contentment that comes with obeying God made the sounds and smells very, very unimportant.

WHATEVER THE SURROUNDINGS, BEING RIGHT WHERE GOD WANTS US TO BE IS BETTER THAN BEING ANYWHERE ELSE.

DAY 19

WHEW! I MEAN, THANK YOU!

God remembered Noah . . . and he sent a wind over the earth . . . The water receded steadily. . . . The ark came to rest.

Then God said to Noah, Come out of the ark . . .

So Noah came out. All the animals . . . came out of the ark.

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD.

GENESIS 8:1, 3–4, 15–16, 18–20

Noah and his family spent a week on the ark before the rain began (Genesis 7:4). Then came forty days and forty nights of rain (v. 12), and the resulting flood lasted for a hundred and fifty days (v. 24). For another one hundred and fifty days the water steadily receded (8:3). After forty days, Noah sent a raven and then a dove for any sign that the earth was dry. Seven days later the dove went out again and this time returned with an olive leaf. Then God spoke: Come out of the ark.

What would your reaction have been? Whew! Glad that’s over! I never want to visit a zoo as long as I live! Noah’s reaction was none of those. He built an altar, worshiped the Lord, and thanked him for his faithfulness. A good example for all of us.

MAY WE REACT TO GOD’S FAITHFULNESS NOT JUST WITH RELIEF BUT WITH REJOICING!

DAY 20

NEVER AGAIN!

God said to Noah . . . I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you . . . Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood . . .

And God said . . . I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant.

GENESIS 9:8–13, 15

Pinky promise! Cross my heart! Somehow just saying, I promise" doesn’t seem sufficient. As if there were a gray area when it comes to keeping a promise. But there is no gray area: a promise is kept, or it’s not. And God always keeps his promises. Always.

Consider the promise God made in Genesis 9. The once angry, heartbroken God had exercised his judgment and sent a flood that covered the earth. After the waters receded, God made this promise: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood.

The Almighty didn’t need to do anything to reinforce the validity of his eternal promise—but he chose to: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

The physical beauty of a rainbow spanning the sky is