Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
February 3
There’s Only One You
From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually.
Psalm 33:14-15 (NCV)
You are the only you God made.
He made you and broke the mold….Every single baby is a brand-new idea from the mind of God.
No one can duplicate your life. Scan history for your replica; you won’t find it. God tailor-made you. He “personally formed and made each one” (Isa. 43:7 MSG). No box of “backup yous” sits in God’s workshop. You aren’t one of many bricks in the mason’s pile or one of a dozen bolts in the mechanic’s drawer. You are it! And if you aren’t you, we don’t get you. The world misses out.
You are heaven’s Halley’s comet: we have one shot at seeing you shine.
Psalm 51
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts [a] ;
you teach [b] me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are [c] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Exodus 33:1-11 (New International Version)
Exodus 33
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."
4 When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.' " 6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.
The Tent of Meeting
7 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the "tent of meeting." Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. 11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
February 3, 2009
A Refresher Course On God’s Majesty
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READ: Exodus 33:1-11
You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live. —Exodus 33:20
My book Disappointment With God explores three questions many Christians ask: Is God hidden? Is God silent? Is God unfair? It struck me that those questions did not trouble the Hebrews in the Sinai wilderness. They saw evidence of God every day, heard Him speak, and lived under a contract signed in His own hand. Out of this relationship emerged a great gift from the Jews to the world: monotheism—the belief in one sovereign, holy God.
Today many treat God like a cosmic good buddy. We could use a refresher course from the Old Testament on God’s majesty.
Pastor Gordon MacDonald writes, “The most costly sins I have committed came at a time when I briefly suspended my reverence for God. . . . I quietly (and insanely) concluded that God didn’t care and most likely wouldn’t intervene were I to risk the violation of one of His commandments.”
MacDonald says his own love for God has moved away from a sentimental model, which never satisfied him, to something closer to a father/son model. He is learning to reverence, obey, and thank God; to express appropriate sorrow for sin; to pursue a quietness in which he might hear God whisper. He seeks a relationship with God appropriate to the profound difference between the two parties.
As God’s children, we may “come boldly to the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16). But let us ever be mindful of our Father’s inestimable majesty. — Philip Yancey
To worship is to recognize the supreme worth of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 3, 2009
Becoming the "Filth of the World"
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READ:
We have been made as the filth of the world . . . —1 Corinthians 4:13
These words are not an exaggeration. The only reason they may not be true of us who call ourselves ministers of the gospel is not that Paul forgot or misunderstood the exact truth of them, but that we are too cautious and concerned about our own desires to allow ourselves to become the refuse or "filth of the world." "Fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . ." ( Colossians 1:24 ) is not the result of the holiness of sanctification, but the evidence of consecration-being "separated to the gospel of God . . ." ( Romans 1:1 ).
"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you . . ." (1 Peter 4:12). If we do think the things we encounter are strange, it is because we are fearful and cowardly. We pay such close attention to our own interests and desires that we stay out of the mire and say, "I won’t submit; I won’t bow or bend." And you don’t have to— you can be saved by the "skin of your teeth" if you like. You can refuse to let God count you as one who is "separated to the gospel . . . ." Or you can say, "I don’t care if I am treated like ’the filth of the world’ as long as the gospel is proclaimed." A true servant of Jesus Christ is one who is willing to experience martyrdom for the reality of the gospel of God. When a moral person is confronted with contempt, immorality, disloyalty, or dishonesty, he is so repulsed by the offense that he turns away and in despair closes his heart to the offender. But the miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst and the vilest offender can never exhaust the depths of His love. Paul did not say that God separated him to show what a wonderful man He could make of him, but "to reveal His Son in me. . ." ( Galatians 1:16 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Out Of Service - #5757
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
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If you've ever spent a lot of time in the city, you've probably waited for a bus. And sometimes it's cold, you've got a lot of packages, and some weird people are starting to cruise by. Suddenly, you see the dim outline of a bus on the horizon, and Biblically speaking, your heart leapeth within you. Finally, the bus gets close enough for you to read the sign in the window which displays three very discouraging words, "Out Of Service."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Out Of Service."
If you've needed a vehicle like that and you found that it's out of service, you know how discouraging that is. It's just not available for you to use. Actually, God knows that feeling. He may be wanting to use you as a vehicle for some great things He wants to do, but you've got that sign up "Out Of Service."
The Apostle Paul was at the end of his great run for Jesus when he wrote our word for today from the Word of God. It's in 2 Timothy 4:6-7. Now, he has every right to rest finally, to retire, to leave the battles to someone else. Sure, he could hang out a sign that says "Out Of Service." No way.
He says, "I am already being poured out...I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Here's a picture of an Olympic runner giving it everything he's got to the finish line. Paul isn't going to retire spiritually until he gets retired by his Lord to heaven. And his attitude is a model for every one of us who claims to follow Jesus Christ.
It may be that you've worked hard for the Lord over the years and you've done many of the jobs there are to do and you're tired. But now you're saying, "I served my time." The truth is we don't have enough time to serve the Lord who gave everything for us. We've only got maybe 70 or 80 years! That's not near enough! There's too much to do. There are too few to do it. Please don't hang out an "Out Of Service" sign!
Maybe you're just really busy surviving; you're barely keeping your head above water. You say, "Well, I just don't have time to serve the Lord in this stage of my life. You'll have to get someone else, Lord." You're "out of service," aren't you? But this life - this very brief 70 or 80 years is all we have to do God's work on earth, to build something that we will still have a hundred million years from now. We've only got these few years to make an eternal difference - to give back to Jesus just a little bit of what He has given to us.
This is no time to give up, to slow down. This is no time to postpone serving the Lord. This is no time to say, "Well, I've worked hard enough. I've worked long enough." We don't have enough time left to glorify the Lord who has done so much for us.
I love what it says about David in Acts 13. "David served the Lord's purpose in his generation, and then he fell asleep." You keep pursuing that purpose until you do. God has put us here to live "poured out lives" like Paul said. He said, "I'm already being poured out." You want to finish well, don't you? Well, God has called us to hold nothing back; to never retire from the front lines until God calls us home. God is looking for human vehicles He can use to change some lives. Literally, for heaven's sake, don't pull up in front of Him with a sign that says you are "out of service."