Max Lucado Daily: He Calls It Worship
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He Calls It Worship
Posted: 18 Feb 2010 10:01 PM PST
“The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” Genesis 22:5 NKJV
Abraham is about to sacrifice his only son—and what word does he use to describe the act? “Worship.” He’s headed up the mountain to place the biggest part of his life on an altar and he calls it “Worship.”
When we think of worship we typically think of offering a song, or a prayer, or a gift. But when Abraham worshiped, he offered his son. He offered the biggest part of his life to God.
Micah 1
1 God's Message as it came to Micah of Moresheth. It came during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. It had to do with what was going on in Samaria and Jerusalem. God Takes the Witness Stand
2Listen, people—all of you.
Listen, earth, and everyone in it:
The Master, God, takes the witness stand against you,
the Master from his Holy Temple.
3-5Look, here he comes! God, from his place!
He comes down and strides across mountains and hills.
Mountains sink under his feet,
valleys split apart;
The rock mountains crumble into gravel,
the river valleys leak like sieves.
All this because of Jacob's sin,
because Israel's family did wrong.
You ask, "So what is Jacob's sin?"
Just look at Samaria—isn't it obvious?
And all the sex-and-religion shrines in Judah—
isn't Jerusalem responsible?
6-7"I'm turning Samaria into a heap of rubble,
a vacant lot littered with garbage.
I'll dump the stones from her buildings in the valley
and leave her abandoned foundations exposed.
All her carved and cast gods and goddesses
will be sold for stove wood and scrap metal,
All her sacred fertility groves
burned to the ground,
All the sticks and stones she worshiped as gods,
destroyed.
These were her earnings from her life as a whore.
This is what happens to the fees of a whore."
8-9This is why I lament and mourn.
This is why I go around in rags and barefoot.
This is why I howl like a pack of coyotes,
and moan like a mournful owl in the night.
God has inflicted punishing wounds;
Judah has been wounded with no healing in sight.
Judgment has marched through the city gates.
Jerusalem must face the charges.
10-16Don't gossip about this in Telltown.
Don't waste your tears.
In Dustville,
roll in the dust.
In Alarmtown,
the alarm is sounded.
The citizens of Exitburgh
will never get out alive.
Lament, Last-Stand City:
There's nothing in you left standing.
The villagers of Bittertown
wait in vain for sweet peace.
Harsh judgment has come from God
and entered Peace City.
All you who live in Chariotville,
get in your chariots for flight.
You led the daughter of Zion
into trusting not God but chariots.
Similar sins in Israel
also got their start in you.
Go ahead and give your good-bye gifts
to Good-byeville.
Miragetown beckoned
but disappointed Israel's kings.
Inheritance City
has lost its inheritance.
Glorytown
has seen its last of glory.
Shave your heads in mourning
over the loss of your precious towns.
Go bald as a goose egg—they've gone
into exile and aren't coming back.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
James 1
1I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello! Faith Under Pressure
2-4Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
5-8If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.
9-11When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don't ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.
February 19, 2010
If Day
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READ: James 1:1-11
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. —James 1:2-3
February 19, 1942, was a fascinating day for Canada. It was “If Day”—a World War II staging of a fake Nazi invasion of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The intent was to show what it would be like “if” Canada fell under the harsh occupation of Nazi forces, and so that Canadians would support the war effort more fully.
As one person described the event: “If Day brought home the reality of Nazi occupation. Manitobans got a very bitter taste of nearly every aspect of Nazi brutality.” The key word there is nearly. While “If Day” was a valiant attempt to educate people about danger in the world, it could not begin to recreate the actual suffering that was sweeping Europe.
Real trials in life are not ifs—they are whens. In fact, life’s most profound lessons cannot simply be observed, they must be experienced. It is there, in actual seasons of heartache and loss, that we gain greater insights into life, faith, and our need of God. To that end, James wrote, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3).
Trials come because we live in a broken world, but we decide if we will learn the lessons taught. There are no “ifs” about it—it is an important way to grow. — Bill Crowder
Though you cannot see the outcome,
Trust the Lord—He knows what’s best;
Be assured He sees your trial,
And He’s with you in your test. —Hess
Tough times can teach us to trust.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
February 19, 2010
Taking the Initiative Against Drudgery
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READ:
Arise, shine . . . —Isaiah 60:1
When it comes to taking the initiative against drudgery, we have to take the first step as though there were no God. There is no point in waiting for God to help us— He will not. But once we arise, immediately we find He is there. Whenever God gives us His inspiration, suddenly taking the initiative becomes a moral issue— a matter of obedience. Then we must act to be obedient and not continue to lie down doing nothing. If we will arise and shine, drudgery will be divinely transformed.
Drudgery is one of the finest tests to determine the genuineness of our character. Drudgery is work that is far removed from anything we think of as ideal work. It is the utterly hard, menial, tiresome, and dirty work. And when we experience it, our spirituality is instantly tested and we will know whether or not we are spiritually genuine. Read John 13. In this chapter, we see the Incarnate God performing the greatest example of drudgery— washing fishermen’s feet. He then says to them, "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet" (John 13:14 ). The inspiration of God is required if drudgery is to shine with the light of God upon it. In some cases the way a person does a task makes that work sanctified and holy forever. It may be a very common everyday task, but after we have seen it done, it becomes different. When the Lord does something through us, He always transforms it. Our Lord takes our human flesh and transforms it, and now every believer’s body has become "the temple of the Holy Spirit"
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Fog Cannot Win - #6030
Friday, February 19, 2010
Even though I was really busy speaking at a conference, I was blessed with a beautiful mountain cabin as my accommodation while I was there. The best time, and about the only time I could enjoy it, was early in the morning. This cabin has a large porch from which you can see majestic forest views and an awe-inspiring tapestry of green mountains and deep valleys. As I stepped out onto that porch one morning, the scenery had undergone a significant makeover. The fog was winning. I watched as these large clouds of fog billowed up. First they filled the valley below and then steadily rising to totally obscure the mountains. It looked almost as if the mountains were being consumed by the fog. So, the morning light from the sun that should have been illuminating the area by that time was nowhere to be seen. Well, briefly. You know what happened. The sun continued to rise behind that conquering fog, and in a short time, that fog began to quickly shrink and pretty soon totally disappear.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Fog Cannot Win."
The fog never really stands a chance; it's no match for the inevitable victory of the sun in a majestic mountain landscape, or in the dark moments of your life and mine. And maybe you're just in one of those seasons right now. It's been a time of loss, of grief, of doubt and confusion, maybe a prodigal loved one, or just no answers. Maybe you've been walking through a fog where evil seems to be winning; where injustice seems to be prevailing. The fog has rolled into your life and it's obscured things that you once were really sure of. It's covered the joy you once had with a sense of sadness and fear and maybe even thoughts of giving up.
But if you belong to the Sovereign Lord, the One who rules the galaxies and cares about your daily bread, the fog cannot ultimately win! The sun of God's power and love on your life is more powerful than the fog in your valley, no matter how dense, no matter how stubborn that fog may seem to be. Psalm 84:11 promises that "the Lord God is a sun and a shield...no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless."
And in our word for today from the Word of God, you have five hope-filled words straight from your Father's heart to yours. They're in Psalm 112:4, "Even in darkness light dawns." OK, let's get the context of that promise for every foggy day. "Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man." Don't let the darkness change the kind of person you are. Your mission is to keep on being gracious, keep on being upright, and keep on being compassionate. Don't let the light inside you go out. Psalm 112 goes on to say: "Good will come to him...surely he will never be shaken...he will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord...in the end he will look in triumph on his foes."
Bottom line: the fog that seems so impenetrable right now actually stands no chance against the rising sun of your Lord's breakthrough. The evil may have its hour of filling your horizon, but the Son's going to win! The grief will not last forever. Your prodigal will one day be carried home on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd. The doubts you're having in the darkness can't change what you heard from God when it was light. The answers you need will break through your confusion and struggle. The sadness of the fog is going to succumb to the joy of God's much more powerful sunlight.
Yes, the fog's been billowing up, it's been filling your view and maybe even making you forget the sun sometimes. But the fog can never ultimately win. Don't lose hope now. Don't stop trusting now. Don't stop doing what you know is right just because the fog has rolled in. The light may have been delayed, but there's no way it can be cancelled. The sun's coming up, and the fog doesn't stand a chance!
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