Max Lucado Daily: Life's a Jungle
For many people, life is-well, life is a jungle. Not a jungle of beasts and trees. Would that it were so simple. Our jungles are thickets of failing health, broken hearts, and empty wallets. Our forests are framed with hospital walls and divorce courts. It is a jungle out there. And for many, hope is in short supply.
Let's see if we can brighten up the picture. The first answer would be a person. Someone to look you in the face and say, Don't give up. There's a better place and I'll lead you there. David says in Psalm 23, "He restores my soul." God is our good Shepherd and He majors in restoring hope to the soul. When God comes, your loneliness diminishes, your despair decreases, and your confusion begins to lift. You haven't left the jungle, but you have hope because you have someone who can lead you out.
From Traveling Light
1 Samuel 24
David Spares Saul’s Life
After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-gedi. 2 So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats.
3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. But as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in that very cave!
4 “Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the Lord is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe.
5 But then David’s conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the Lord’s anointed one, for the Lord himself has chosen him.” 7 So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul.
After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, 8 David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him.
9 Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? 10 This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn’t true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ‘I will never harm the king—he is the Lord’s anointed one.’ 11 Look, my father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of the hem of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.
12 “May the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you. 13 As that old proverb says, ‘From evil people come evil deeds.’ So you can be sure I will never harm you. 14 Who is the king of Israel trying to catch anyway? Should he spend his time chasing one who is as worthless as a dead dog or a single flea? 15 May the Lord therefore judge which of us is right and punish the guilty one. He is my advocate, and he will rescue me from your power!”
16 When David had finished speaking, Saul called back, “Is that really you, my son David?” Then he began to cry. 17 And he said to David, “You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil. 18 Yes, you have been amazingly kind to me today, for when the Lord put me in a place where you could have killed me, you didn’t do it. 19 Who else would let his enemy get away when he had him in his power? May the Lord reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today. 20 And now I realize that you are surely going to be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will flourish under your rule. 21 Now swear to me by the Lord that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!”
22 So David promised this to Saul with an oath. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went back to their stronghold.
24:1 Verses 24:1-22 are numbered 24:2-23 in Hebrew text.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Read: Genesis 2:7-15
Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.
INSIGHT: Genesis 2:7-15 gives us a glimpse into the perfect living environment of Adam and Eve before the fall. God provided everything necessary for their sustenance and enjoyment—food (v. 9), water (v. 10), and other natural resources (vv. 10-12)—and gave man the responsibility to manage these resources (v. 15). God had originally intended for humanity to live forever, but after the fall Adam and Eve were prevented from eating from the Tree of Life so that they would not live forever in their sinful condition (3:22-24).
The Great Healer
By Julie Ackerman Link
I am the Lord, who heals you. —Exodus 15:26
The doctors I know are smart, hard-working, and compassionate. They have relieved my suffering on many occasions, and I am grateful for their expertise in diagnosing illnesses, prescribing medication, setting broken bones, and stitching up wounds. But this does not mean that I place my faith in physicians rather than in God.
For reasons known only to God, He appointed humans to be His partners in the work of caring for creation (Gen. 2:15), and doctors are among them. Doctors study medical science and learn how God designed the body. They use this knowledge to help restore us to a healthy condition. But the only reason doctors can do anything to make us better is that God created us with the ability to heal. Surgeons would be useless if incisions didn’t heal.
Scientists can learn how God created our bodies to function, and they devise therapies to help restore or cure us, but they are not healers; God is (Ex. 15:26). Doctors simply cooperate with God’s original intent and design.
So I am grateful for science and doctors, but my praise and thanksgiving go to God, who designed an orderly universe and who created us with minds that can discover how it works. I believe, therefore, that all healing is divine because no healing takes place apart from God.
Father God, You are the Great Physician, and I ask for healing, whether mind, body, spirit, or in all of these. I believe You will give what is best. Thank You for Your goodness, kindness, and love in all things.
When you think of all that’s good, give thanks to God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Living Simply— Yet Focused
Look at the birds of the air….Consider the lilies of the field… —Matthew 6:26, 28
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin”— they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars, and the moon— all of these simply are as well— yet what a ministry and service they render on our behalf! So often we impair God’s designed influence, which He desires to exhibit through us, because of our own conscious efforts to be consistent and useful. Jesus said there is only one way to develop and grow spiritually, and that is through focusing and concentrating on God. In essence, Jesus was saying, “Do not worry about being of use to others; simply believe on Me.” In other words, pay attention to the Source, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). We cannot discover the source of our natural life through common sense and reasoning, and Jesus is teaching here that growth in our spiritual life comes not from focusing directly on it, but from concentrating on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually— just as “the lilies of the field.”
The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and “the lilies of the field”— simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.
If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on Him, and He will make use of you every minute you live— yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
When You Don't Like the Advice You Need - #7397
The longer I drive on given days the heavier my eyelids get. Like 99% of the men in the world, I like to do the driving. And once in a while I drive past my primetime alertness shall we say. That's when my wife starts to think of things to keep me awake longer, like turning on the radio.
She doesn't turn on music I like. No, she chooses some style of music that I like the least and turns up the volume. It works! I'm so irritated I can't fall asleep. If she changed to a station that played music I liked, that would probably be like a lullaby for me. See, that's a time when what I like to hear isn't what I need to hear.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You Don't Like the Advice You Need."
Our word for today from the Word of God, here's an interesting story out of 1 Kings 22. King Ahab of Israel is preparing to go to battle against the King of Syria to take back some Jewish land. He's trying to get the King of Judah to be his ally, and that king gives him some excellent advice. In fact, it's some advice you and I could use when we're facing an important decision.
First of all, he inquires of the Lord. Here's what King Ahab does. It says in verse 6, "So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, 'Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?' 'Go' they answered, 'for the Lord will give it into the king's hand.' (When the king asks you a question, you want to give him the answer he's looking for, right?) But Jehoshaphat (whose the king of Judah, who he's asked to help him) asked, 'Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?'" Well, "The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, 'There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah.'"
So as expected, he predicted disaster if they go into this battle. In verse 18, after that prophecy it says, "The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'Didn't I tell you he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?'" So Ahab went to battle and he never came back alive. He thought he was safe; not listening to what he didn't want to hear.
I wonder how many times I've done that. Maybe it's happening to you right now. There's someone in your life who's giving you advice that goes against what you want. In that case, most people just keep asking for advice until they find someone who will tell them what they want to hear. And in many cases, that stubbornness has led to a whole lot of heartache. Because God loves you, I'm thinking He's probably put someone in your life who will speak truth to you. Maybe it's someone who seems like they're being mean to you. They've told you what you really look like sometimes; what you really sound like.
Those people are often like the prophet Micaiah tried to be for Ahab, a voice from God. But maybe like Ahab, you're listening to the wrong people. And like Ahab, you may end up responsible for the result. It may be a response to a person in your life who holds up an honest mirror, who loves you enough to tell you the truth. Don't resist the truth, whoever delivers it and in whatever way, even if it's not a particularly good tone in which they deliver it. Be thankful for them. It might be a parent, a son or daughter, or a pastor, a friend, or Christian leader.
The person who tells you things you don't want to hear may not always present it positively or sensitively, but that doesn't mean it's not true. It doesn't mean you don't need the message just because the messenger did not deliver it well. Ask yourself, "Lord, are you trying to tell me something through this person? I need someone who cares enough to do something to wake me up, even if it's something I don't appreciate very much."
Don't drive to disaster because you're only listening to music you like to hear. What you need to be listening to; the advice, the counsel that God has for you, it's probably coming from a person who loves you, even if you don't like what you hear. Be thankful for them and listen for the voice of God.
