Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
December 8
God’s Help Is Near
Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.
Hebrews 11:1 (NCV)
Faith is the belief that God is real and that God is good. ... It is a choice to believe that the one who made it all hasn't left it all and that he still sends light into the shadows and responds to gestures of faith....
Faith is the belief that God will do what is right.
God says that the more hopeless your circumstances, the more likely, your salvation. The greater your cares, the more genuine your prayers. The darker the room, the greater the need for light.
God's help is near and always available, but it is only given to those who seek it.
From: He Still Moves Stones
Copyright (Word Publishing, 1993)
Max Lucado
2 Samuel 8
David's Victories
1 In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the control of the Philistines.
2 David also defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on the ground and measured them off with a length of cord. Every two lengths of them were put to death, and the third length was allowed to live. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought tribute.
3 Moreover, David fought Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his control along the Euphrates River. 4 David captured a thousand of his chariots, seven thousand charioteers [o] and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses.
5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of them. 6 He put garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to him and brought tribute. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
7 David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 From Tebah [p] and Berothai, towns that belonged to Hadadezer, King David took a great quantity of bronze.
9 When Tou [q] king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of Hadadezer, 10 he sent his son Joram [r] to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory in battle over Hadadezer, who had been at war with Tou. Joram brought with him articles of silver and gold and bronze.
11 King David dedicated these articles to the LORD, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued: 12 Edom [s] and Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines, and Amalek. He also dedicated the plunder taken from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
13 And David became famous after he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Edomites [t] in the Valley of Salt.
14 He put garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
David's Officials
15 David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people. 16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder; 17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was secretary; 18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David's sons were royal advisers. [u]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
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.
December 8, 2009
A Legacy Of Repentance
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READ: Psalm 51
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. —Psalm 51:17
All nations have heroes, but Israel may be alone in making epic literature about its greatest hero’s failings (Ps. 51). This eloquent psalm shows that Israel ultimately remembered David more for his devotion to God than for his political achievements.
Step-by-step, the psalm takes the reader through the stages of repentance. It describes the constant mental replays, the gnawing guilt, the shame, and finally the hope of a new beginning that springs from true repentance.
In a remarkable way, Psalm 51 reveals the true nature of sin as a broken relationship with God. David cries out, “Against You, You only, have I sinned” (v.4). He sees that the sacrifices God wants are “a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart” (v.17). Those, David has.
In his prayer, David looks for possible good that might come out of his tragedy and sees a glimmer of light. Perhaps by reading this story of sin others might avoid the same pitfalls, or by reading his confession they might gain hope in forgiveness. David’s prayer is answered and becomes his greatest legacy as king. The best king of Israel has fallen the farthest. But neither he, nor anyone, can fall beyond the reach of God’s love and forgiveness. — Philip Yancey
How blest is he whose trespass
Has freely been forgiven,
Whose sin is wholly covered
Before the sight of heaven. —Psalter
Repentance is the soil in which forgiveness flourishes.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 8, 2009
The Impartial Power of God
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READ:
By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified —Hebrews 10:14
We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of Christ, which He has provided for us. ". . . Christ Jesus . . . became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption . . ." ( 1 Corinthians 1:30 ). Once we realize that Christ has become all this for us, the limitless joy of God begins in us. And wherever the joy of God is not present, the death sentence is still in effect.
No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless. It is knocking at a door other than the one which Jesus has already opened. We protest by saying, "But I don’t want to come that way. It is too humiliating to be received as a sinner." God’s response, through Peter, is, ". . . there is no other name . . . by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12 ). What at first appears to be heartlessness on God’s part is actually the true expression of His heart. There is unlimited entrance His way. "In Him we have redemption through His blood . . ." ( Ephesians 1:7 ). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.
God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement by the Cross of Christ is the propitiation God uses to make unholy people holy.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Biggest Mistake of All - #5977
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Amy Biehl was 26 years old, and she really wanted to make a difference. Her graduate studies took her to South Africa in the turbulent days when the repressive system of apartheid was coming down and that nation's first all-race elections were approaching. She actually helped develop voter registration programs to help black South Africans participate in a system that up until then had always shut them out. She was driving three black coworkers back to the township where they lived. Suddenly a group of youths pelted her car with stones and forced it to stop. Dozens of young men surrounded the car and they started chanting, "One settler - one bullet! One settler - one bullet!" They pulled Amy from the car, hit her with a brick, beat her, and stabbed her in the heart. During that attack her black friends were yelling that she was a friend to black South Africans, all to no avail. Amy died from her wounds.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Biggest Mistake of All."
Someone who knew Amy underscored the tragedy of her death this way: "She was killed by some of the very people she had come to help." Some of those she came to help loved her, but others attacked her. And it is an ugly thing to brutalize someone who has come to help you. Of course, that happens to Jesus all the time. Often at the hands of people who have no idea that's what they're doing; people who have actually come close to Jesus, people who know a lot about Jesus.
That's the sobering scenario described in our word for today from the Word of God in Hebrews 10:29. These verses talk about what happens "if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth." The Bible appears to be talking about people who know about Jesus but keep on running their own lives. And that person, according to Hebrews 10:29, "has trampled the Son of God under foot...treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him...and insulted the Spirit of grace." This is heavy duty stuff. In fact, Hebrews 6:6 says that those who have tasted what Jesus offers and then go live their own way "are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace."
I'll tell you, if you know that Jesus has died on the cross to pay for your sin, if you've been "into Jesus" to some extent and you remain unchanged, that is serious business. And even though you're for Jesus and you agree with Jesus, you may be missing Jesus. The only response worthy of the sacrifice He made for us is to fall on our knees and give ourselves completely to the One who gave Himself completely for us. Anything less than a life-changing personal commitment to Jesus amounts to "trampling the Son of God under foot" and "crucifying the Son of God all over again." In essence, turning on the very One who came to help you, to save you.
And that is the greatest mistake anyone can ever make. This isn't about Christianity, it's not about Christians. It's about Jesus. And maybe right now, Jesus is speaking to you in your heart saying, "Don't do this. Don''t come this close to Me and miss Me. I love you, and I'm giving you this chance to make things right with Me. Come on home."
Are you ready to finally give yourself to Him completely? Well, you can tell Him that right where you are. He's been waiting to hear from you, "Jesus, I believe You died on that cross. It was for my sins. You walked out of that grave to give me life, and beginning this very day I want to be Yours." And you know what? A lot of people at this point of being on the edge of beginning their relationship with Jesus Christ have found a lot of hope and help and encouragement at our website. I want to direct you that way this very day. It's YoursForLife.net. I hope you'll check it out.
Please, do not risk another day away from Jesus.