Understand the times and know what you ought to do!

1 Chronicles 12:32 And from the sons of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, the heads of them were two hundred. And all their brothers were at their command.

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end shall come.

We are on the brink of something huge this year— it’s REVOLUTIONARY. If you’re following Worthy News, you’ll see we posted an interesting article yesterday about the rise of Artificial Intelligence and the ability to produce the Bible in untranslated languages more quickly because of it. I guess God can use anything to further His Kingdom!

According to the president of Wycliffe, they are aiming to have the Bible translated to EVERY LANGUAGE ON EARTH by 2025. In other words, there are now less than only 900 translations to go for the Gospel to be proclaimed to every nation! This is exciting news! This is prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes, as the Bible says that when this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and THEN the end will come.

The speed at which biblical events are taking place now is unprecedented. This is not the time to sit back and relax — on the contrary, it’s a time for all of us to push FORWARD! I want to be a part of this, don’t you? I really believe that we are about to witness more souls coming into the Kingdom in our generation than in all previous generations COMBINED!

Let’s aim to be like the sons of Issachar, who understood the times and knew exactly what to do! We have marching orders from the Lord: to spread this gospel to the far corners of the earth and make disciples, teaching them to observe all that He taught us. We are essential instruments in the Lord’s hand, proclaiming the good news—that Yeshua (Jesus) came, sacrificed His life for our redemption, and is soon returning to establish His Kingdom! Maranatha!

Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.

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When we think of a good citizen, we probably think of a law-abiding, productive contributor to society who takes pride in his country. I’m sure all of us would like to be thought of as good citizens of the countries in which we live. My wife has dual citizenship, she’s both Israeli and American — I guess that means she has to work extra hard at being loyal!

The Apostle Paul’s discourse in 1 Corinthians 10 recalls the great miracles God performed for the children of Israel during the time of the Exodus. Delivered from Egypt and Pharaoh’s slavery, they were dismayed to discover his maniacal rage pursuing them anew, driving them into a deadly corner and imminent destruction. Humanly speaking, their terror and panic was understandable. With their eyes they could only see the wrath of Egypt succeeding at last to utterly destroy them. In that state of mind, how might they have remembered the consecutive miracles God had wrought against Egypt which had brought them to this very place?

Is there something about miracles that makes them forgettable? Or is the problem with us? After journeying for a season the children of Israel were faced with hunger — another test. This time, naturally faced with starvation, they murmured against the Lord, AGAIN! You’d think they might begin to put it together that God truly wanted them to trust Him. Apparently not yet. The dire circumstances attacked their mass cerebral cortex (memory) and once again they went into attack mode, bitterly complaining in unbelief. The Ten Plagues, the pillar of fire, the Red Sea walk, the Egyptian chariot soup, none of these connected to the present hunger pangs. Nature trumped super-nature, and sadly, God Himself.

When I was in school, it seemed they ran a “fire drill” at least once a year. A long, loud, kind of scary bell would sound and we knew it was either a real fire, or, more likely, just another drill. We were formed into lines, ushered down the halls, and out the doors we went. Of course, the point was practice….so we would be prepared for a real fire.

The children of Israel are facing yet another test, this one, even more severe than hunger– dehydration – which, unabated, quickly leads to a miserable death. Yet, now, every day they are also seeing the miracles of God, who is feeding them regularly with manna, and surrounding them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Once again, they fail the test, even in the midst of their daily witness of miracles. So even though the test is more severe, the evidence for trust is that much greater.

There is a long standing tradition of cleaning one’s house in the springtime – hence the term “spring cleaning”. One source for this tradition is certainly the Jewish Passover (Pesach). Each spring as the holiday approaches observant householders in Israel and around the world perform a meticulous cleaning of their homes, especially to be sure there is no leaven in the house before Pesach begins. Leaven, in scripture, is often a metaphor for sin and impurity; and this season of the year is often a time for emphasizing “spiritual housecleaning”.

This season of the Resurrection also occurs during a significant Old Testament feast day, the feast of “Firstfruits” (Hebrew, “bikoreem”). When Yeshua (Jesus) rose from the dead he was the firstfruit of the resurrection. On that day the keys of Hell and Death were obtained by our Lord. The apostle Paul connected the resurrection with the feast of Firstfruits in his letter to the congregation at Corinith. “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”