Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
April 29
God Cares About You
Look at the birds in the air. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them.
Matthew 6:26 (NCV)
Consider the earth! Our globes weight has been estimated at six sextillion tons (a six with twenty-one zeroes). Yet it is precisely tilted at twenty-three degrees; any more or any less and our seasons would be lost in a melted polar flood. Though our globe revolves at the rate of one-thousand miles per hour or twenty-five thousand miles per day or nine million miles per year, none of us tumbles into orbit....
As you stand ... observing God's workshop, let me pose a few questions. If he is able to place the stars in their sockets and suspend the sky like a curtain, do you think it is remotely possible that God is able to guide your life? If your God is mighty enough to ignite the sun, could it be that he is mighty enough to light your path? If he cares enough about the planet Saturn to give it rings or Venus to make it sparkle, is there an outside chance that he cares enough about you to meet your needs?
Ezekiel 1
The Living Creatures and the Glory of the Lord
1 In the [a] thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
2 On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin- 3 the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, [b] by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. [c] There the hand of the LORD was upon him.
4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.
10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward; each had two wings, one touching the wing of another creature on either side, and two wings covering its body. 12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. 14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not turn about [d] as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.
19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome. 23 Under the expanse their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, [e] like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
25 Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, [f] and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Job 1:13-22 (New International Version)
13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart. [a]
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
April 29, 2009
Drifting Away
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READ: Job 1:13-22
Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? —Job 2:10
Imagine relaxing on a rubber raft along the shore, eyes closed, soaking up the sun and listening to the gentle crash of waves. You don’t have a care in the world—until you open your eyes! Suddenly the shore is alarmingly distant.
We tend to drift like that spiritually. It’s subtle yet shocking when we suddenly realize how far we’ve drifted from God. The point of departure begins when Satan steals our affection for our loving Creator by putting a deceitful twist on our experiences and causing us to suspect God instead of trust Him.
Consider Job and his wife. Both had plenty of reasons to be mad at God. Their children were dead, their fortune lost, and Job’s health destroyed. His wife told him, “Curse God and die!” But Job replied, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and . . . not accept adversity?” (Job 2:9-10).
There are many attitudes that can set us adrift: believing that we need more than God to be happy; placing meaningful relationships above loyalty to God; thinking God should live up to our expectations; resisting His reproofs; turning a deaf ear when His Word is uncomfortable.
If you’re beginning to drift, remember to stay close to the One who is the sole source of satisfaction. — Joe Stowell
Lord, help me to stay close to You
And trust You more each day,
So when the storms of life appear
I will not drift away. —Sper
To avoid drifting away from God, stay anchored to the Rock.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
April 29, 2009
Gracious Uncertainty
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READ:
. . . it has not yet been revealed what we shall be . . . —1 John 3:2
Our natural inclination is to be so precise— trying always to forecast accurately what will happen next— that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We think that we must reach some predetermined goal, but that is not the nature of the spiritual life. The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty. Consequently, we do not put down roots. Our common sense says, "Well, what if I were in that circumstance?" We cannot presume to see ourselves in any circumstance in which we have never been.
Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life— gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. As soon as we abandon ourselves to God and do the task He has placed closest to us, He begins to fill our lives with surprises. When we become simply a promoter or a defender of a particular belief, something within us dies. That is not believing God — it is only believing our belief about Him. Jesus said, ". . . unless you . . . become as little children . . ." (Matthew 18:3 ). The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what He is going to do next. If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, ". . . believe also in Me" (John 14:1 ), not, "Believe certain things about Me". Leave everything to Him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how He will come in— but you can be certain that He will come. Remain faithful to Him.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Garbage Where it Doesn't Belong - #5818
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
I am the waste management engineer at our house. I get to collect and take out the garbage. Take it from an expert, do not buy cheap garbage bags. Or maybe don't wait as long as I do to sometimes collect the garbage. Here's the problem. You've just tied up a brimming bagful of things you really don't want to see any more, you don't want to smell them any more. They're supposed to be in the garbage can. But sometimes they don't make it to the garbage can when the bag rips open and dumps it all over the kitchen floor. Garbage isn't bad. Garbage dumped in the wrong place - oh, that's bad.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Garbage Where it Doesn't Belong."
From God's perspective, there's way too much garbage that gets dumped where it should never go - in the hearing, in the lives of people who have no business having to deal with your garbage. God really doesn't like it.
You can tell that from our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 11:1. Here's what it says about God's ancient people, "The people complained about their hardships (now, here comes the sobering part) in the hearing of the Lord, and when He heard them, His anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp."
Now, this passage could be entitled, "How to Make God Really Angry." It's called complaining - which amounts to dumping your garbage out in front of the people around you. It's not uncommon to check and see who's listening before we go ahead and start complaining, or whining, or criticizing. When you do, don't forget the One who's always in the room - your Lord. He obviously does not like it at all.
One big problem with our complaining is that it focuses on what's frustrating us and it forgets the big picture. For example, these people in Numbers 11 went on to complain about their wilderness diet. They went on to talk about what great food they had in Egypt for, as they said, "no cost." No cost? You were slaves, guys! But when we get all nearsighted and just looking at the irritations and the frustrations in front of us, we lose our perspective, we blow today's little messes way out of proportion, and we forget the larger picture of the great things God's doing in our lives. We miss the big tapestry.
But God isn't expecting us just to ignore our frustrations, or bury our frustrations. He just wants us to dump them out in the right place, which David spells out in Psalm 142:1, "I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble." Bring your complaints straight to God. First, He's not going to be hurt by them. He's not going to be poisoned by them like the people around you will. Secondly, He can do something about your complaints much more than the people around you can do.
Now, we all go through some garbage in our lives, and it's true we often need a place to dump that garbage. And, God has offered us a wonderful place to do that. Of all places, in His Throne Room. But if you've been dumping on the people around you, you've been unloading garbage where it is not supposed to be and you've probably been polluting them in the process. They don't need it. It makes your Father very unhappy and it really pollutes the environment!