Max Lucado Daily: It’s Not Fair
It’s Not Fair
Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:01 PM PST
“Guide me in your truth, and teach me, my God, my Savior.” Psalm 25:5
“It’s not fair,” we say. It’s not fair that I was born in poverty or that I sing so poorly or that I run so slowly. But the scales of life were forever tipped on the side of fairness when God planted a tree in the Garden of Eden. All complaints were silenced when Adam and his descendants were given free will, the freedom to make whatever eternal choice we desire. Any injustice in this life is offset by the honor of choosing our destiny in the next.
Isaiah 54
Spread Out! Think Big!
1-6 "Sing, barren woman, who has never had a baby.
Fill the air with song, you who've never experienced childbirth!
You're ending up with far more children
than all those childbearing women." God says so!
"Clear lots of ground for your tents!
Make your tents large. Spread out! Think big!
Use plenty of rope,
drive the tent pegs deep.
You're going to need lots of elbow room
for your growing family.
You're going to take over whole nations;
you're going to resettle abandoned cities.
Don't be afraid—you're not going to be embarrassed.
Don't hold back—you're not going to come up short.
You'll forget all about the humiliations of your youth,
and the indignities of being a widow will fade from memory.
For your Maker is your bridegroom,
his name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
Your Redeemer is The Holy of Israel,
known as God of the whole earth.
You were like an abandoned wife, devastated with grief,
and God welcomed you back,
Like a woman married young
and then left," says your God.
7-8Your Redeemer God says:
"I left you, but only for a moment.
Now, with enormous compassion, I'm bringing you back.
In an outburst of anger I turned my back on you—
but only for a moment.
It's with lasting love
that I'm tenderly caring for you.
9-10"This exile is just like the days of Noah for me:
I promised then that the waters of Noah
would never again flood the earth.
I'm promising now no more anger,
no more dressing you down.
For even if the mountains walk away
and the hills fall to pieces,
My love won't walk away from you,
my covenant commitment of peace won't fall apart."
The God who has compassion on you says so.
11-17"Afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied:
I'm about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
Lay your foundations with sapphires,
construct your towers with rubies,
Your gates with jewels,
and all your walls with precious stones.
All your children will have God for their teacher—
what a mentor for your children!
You'll be built solid, grounded in righteousness,
far from any trouble—nothing to fear!
far from terror—it won't even come close!
If anyone attacks you,
don't for a moment suppose that I sent them,
And if any should attack,
nothing will come of it.
I create the blacksmith
who fires up his forge
and makes a weapon designed to kill.
I also create the destroyer—
but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged.
Any accuser who takes you to court
will be dismissed as a liar.
This is what God's servants can expect.
I'll see to it that everything works out for the best."
God's Decree.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Genesis 32:3-13 (The Message)
3-5 Then Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir in Edom. He instructed them: "Tell my master Esau this, 'A message from your servant Jacob: I've been staying with Laban and couldn't get away until now. I've acquired cattle and donkeys and sheep; also men and women servants. I'm telling you all this, my master, hoping for your approval.'"
6 The messengers came back to Jacob and said, "We talked to your brother Esau and he's on his way to meet you. But he has four hundred men with him."
7-8 Jacob was scared. Very scared. Panicked, he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two camps. He thought, "If Esau comes on the first camp and attacks it, the other camp has a chance to get away."
9-12 And then Jacob prayed, "God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, God who told me, 'Go back to your parents' homeland and I'll treat you well.' I don't deserve all the love and loyalty you've shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me—two camps! Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I'm afraid he'll come and attack us all, me, the mothers and the children. You yourself said, 'I will treat you well; I'll make your descendants like the sands of the sea, far too many to count.'"
13-16 He slept the night there. Then he prepared a present for his brother Esau from his possessions: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty camels with their nursing young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put a servant in charge of each herd and said, "Go ahead of me and keep a healthy space between each herd."
March 11, 2010
God’s Mercies
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READ: Genesis 32:3-13
I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies. —Genesis 32:10
Less than the least of all God’s mercies.” This was the motto 17th-century English poet and clergyman George Herbert engraved on his signet ring, and it was the phrase with which he signed his letters and books. Jacob had spoken these words when he pondered God’s goodness despite his own sin and shame: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant” (Gen. 32:10).
The word “mercies” is from the Hebrew word chesed, meaning “God’s enduring love.” I think it is significant that it rose from the heart of one who saw himself as utterly unworthy.
Relying solely on God’s faithful love, Jacob cries out: “Deliver me!” What an odd combination of thoughts: “I am not worthy . . . . Deliver me” (vv.10-11). Unlike some who seem to have it all together, Jacob knew that everything he brought to God had been ruined by sin. He thought of himself as a man undeserving of God’s grace. But his hope lay not in his worth but in the promise of God to look with favor on those who throw themselves on His mercy. Humility and contrition are the keys that open the heart of God.
As He did with Jacob, God hears us when we humbly cry out to Him for mercy. — David H. Roper
For mercies so great, what return can I make?
For mercies so constant and sure?
I’ll love Him, I’ll serve Him with all that I have
As long as my life shall endure. —Chisholm
Mercy is an unearned blessing bestowed by God on an unworthy recipient.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
March 11, 2010
Obedience to the "Heavenly Vision"
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READ:
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision —Acts 26:19
If we lose "the heavenly vision" God has given us, we alone are responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled. The only way to be obedient to "the heavenly vision" is to give our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision. But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public meetings.
"Though it tarries, wait for it . . ." ( Habakkuk 2:3 ). We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work, and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it. Waiting for a vision that "tarries" is the true test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.
Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you will "bear much fruit" ( John 15:8 ).
It is essential that we live and "walk in the light" of God’s vision for us ( 1 John 1:7 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
No Timeouts, No Victory - #6044
Thursday, March 11, 2010
When I worked with our championship high school football team, I was there for a lot of timeouts called by the coach. And I know how important they were. He told the players what they were doing wrong, what they needed to do more of, and how to play against the other team and their weaknesses. It was a strategy for winning, actually. When you watch sports on TV, they usually run commercials during the timeout. A timeout may not be very exciting to watch, but what happens during a timeout can determine the outcome of the game.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Timeouts, No Victory."
We're busy playing the game. We lose our perspective because we can only see things from the position we're playing. But the Coach, of course, can see it all. It's worth it to stop the game for a little while to get the perspective of the one who's got the big picture. If you're a child of God, that timeout is called prayer. And we can't win without it, but we sure try.
There is probably no more dramatic Biblical example of prayer as a non-negotiable than the story in Daniel 6, beginning with verse 10. It's our word for today from the Word of God. Daniel has so won the confidence of the Persian king, Darius - the most powerful man in the world at that time - that he is placed in a top position in the Persian government. And the word is out that he is about to be promoted as basically second-in-command to the king. He has some jealous associates, who try everything to slander Daniel and find some way to discredit him with the king, but he has so much integrity, they can't find one thing to accuse him of. But knowing Daniel is a man of prayer, they set him up by convincing the king to issue a decree that anyone who prays to anyone but him would be executed.
Daniel's response is utterly amazing. "When Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. These men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help." Even when Daniel knows it may cost him his life, he will not miss his timeout with his God. He will let nothing preempt his praying. Wow! We are pretty pitiful by comparison! We let almost anything preempt our praying; we're too busy, we're too tired, we're too wounded, or we're too distracted.
When we don't pray our way through our day, we start to make more an more mistakes, we start fighting battles that aren't ours to fight, we start stressing out, and we start taking detours from the great plan of God. Prayer can't just be a compartment in your life where you pray in prayer meetings, pray at the beginning and the end of your day. Can you imagine a sports team only having a timeout with their coach at the beginning and the end of the game? You need what only He can give you throughout your day.
So pray before you take that call. Pray before you make that call. Pray before you write that e-mail. Pray before you start your journey. Pray before you answer, before you make that commitment, before you make that purchase, or before you ask someone for a date or accept that date. Pray through your day before you face your day.
And then all through your day whisper a prayer to heaven for what's in front of you at that moment. It may only be, "Lord, give me Your wisdom" or "Lord, give me Your strength" or just "Help, Lord!" But it opens up all of heaven and all that heaven has for the moment you're facing. Get used to getting in touch with heaven all day long. Checking in regularly with your Coach will make all the difference in the final score.