Max Lucado Daily:Gentle Thunder
When you were in trouble, you called, and I saved you. I answered you with thunder. Psalm 81:7
God is as creative as he is relentless. The same hand that sent manna to Israel sent Uzzah to his death. The same hand that set the children free from Israel also sent them captive to Babylon. Both kind and stern. Tender and tough. Faithfully firm. Patiently urgent. Eagerly tolerant. Softly shouting. Gently thundering.
Job 42
Job
1 Then Job replied to the LORD:
2 “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Epilogue
7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Mark 2:13-17
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Cross The Divide
November 15, 2010 — by Dave Branon
As [Jesus] was dining in Levi’s house, . . . many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus. —Mark 2:15
Two young men with mischief on their minds approached a missionary’s outreach bus parked in a downtown area of a German city.
The missionaries were there to offer refreshments as a way to open up conversations about Christ. The two visitors, wearing skull-and-crossbones bandannas, were there to offer trouble.
But the missionaries didn’t respond to the ruffians as they expected. The Christians welcomed them warmly and engaged them in discussion. Surprised, the guys hung around long enough to hear the gospel. One trusted Jesus that day. The other, the next day.
Those two young men and the missionaries who reached them were light-years apart culturally. The guys were German; the missionaries, American. The guys were involved in a culture of darkness and death; the missionaries were shining the light. The cultural divide was crossed with cookies and nonjudgmental love.
Look at the people around you. How can you show those on the other side of the cultural fence unconditional, unquestioning love? How can you cross the divide and help them see that Jesus’ love knows no boundaries?
Cross the divide. Take Christ to the culture—even if it doesn’t look anything like yours.
To cross a cultural divide
Takes love that shows we really care;
And once the door is open wide,
Christ’s saving gospel we can share. —Sper
Our witness for Christ is a light for a world in darkness.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
November 15th, 2010
"What Is That to You?"
Peter . . . said to Jesus, ’But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ’. . . what is that to you? You follow Me’ —John 21:21-22
One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God’s plan for others. You see someone suffering and say, “He will not suffer, and I will make sure that he doesn’t.” You put your hand right in front of God’s permissive will to stop it, and then God says, “What is that to you?” Is there stagnation in your spiritual life? Don’t allow it to continue, but get into God’s presence and find out the reason for it. You will possibly find it is because you have been interfering in the life of another— proposing things you had no right to propose, or advising when you had no right to advise. When you do have to give advice to another person, God will advise through you with the direct understanding of His Spirit. Your part is to maintain the right relationship with God so that His discernment can come through you continually for the purpose of blessing someone else.
Most of us live only within the level of consciousness— consciously serving and consciously devoted to God. This shows immaturity and the fact that we’re not yet living the real Christian life. Maturity is produced in the life of a child of God on the unconscious level, until we become so totally surrendered to God that we are not even aware of being used by Him. When we are consciously aware of being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, we have yet another level to reach— a level where all awareness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is completely eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint— a saint is consciously dependent on God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Turn Around, Don't Drown - #6221
Monday, November 15, 2010
Where I've lived most of my life, the only place you drive over a body of water is on a big bridge; as in George Washington, Brooklyn, Triboro - big bridges. But there are parts of the country where you'll be driving along and you'll suddenly see a sign that says, "low water crossing." That means that when the water is low, you can cross. In drier times, you're good to go. But when you hear the words "flash flood warning" or you see water ponding in that crossover area, that's a good time to find another way to go. The warning the weather and traffic people give you goes like this: "Turn around, don't drown." Well, that's not just an idle warning. And not long ago, I saw the story of a driver who decided his van could make it through a crossing that had been covered by water after a heavy rain. The water was running deeper and faster than he realized. It tipped his van and began to carry it down this river that had suddenly been created. Several of his passengers were injured. For him, that crossing was his last stop on earth because he refused to heed the warning.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Turn Around, Don't Drown."
When there's been heavy rain in a low water crossing area, the media people give that warning often. And they should. It's based on so many tragic experiences where people didn't turn around and they drowned because they thought they could handle the road, and they ended up in deeper than they thought.
"Turn around, don't drown." That's pretty good moral advice, too. I've known way too many people who thought they could handle the temptation, handle being around some stuff that could bring them down, handle flirting with what they should have been fleeing. And they have suddenly found themselves in deeper than they ever imagined - way over their head. And morally, spiritually they've drowned.
God knows that someone who's listening today is going to drown if they don't turn around. So, I believe He's led me to pass on His warning today. Our word for today from the Word of God is a "turn around, don't drown" warning. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 says: "If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" See, there's a spiritual arrogance, or sometimes a spiritual carelessness, that usually precedes someone getting swept away. If you're flirting with some sin and you're thinking, "Hey, I can handle it," you are overestimating yourself and you are underestimating sin. You can't handle it. There are thousands of fallen saints who could stand up and tell you that's true.
The Bible goes on to say, "God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." For every sin-trap, there's another road you could take. But you have to choose the way out. It means not even getting close to the edge. Take the road that leads you away from that compromise of your integrity, away from that deception, away from that flirtatious relationship that could become adultery before you know it. Away from the website, the music, the movies you think you can handle, away from that spiritually dark stuff, away from the people whose company you keep but whose sin you think you can avoid.
The Bible doesn't say to fight with temptation. It says to flee temptation (2 Timothy 2:22 ). It may not look very deep. But, believe me, it has carried away people stronger than you. God knows where the road you're on is taking you. And He loves you. And you've heard His warning, "Turn around, my child. Don't drown." You still have time to turn around. You won't have time when the flood is carrying you where you thought you'd never go.
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