Max Lucado Daily: God’s Hands
God’s Hands
Posted: 27 Dec 2010 10:01 PM PST
I look at your heavens, which you made with your fingers. I see the moon and stars, which you created. Psalm 8:3
We serve the God who designed the universe and set our world in motion. But those hands that hung the stars in the heavens also wiped away the tears of the widow and the leper. And they will wipe away your tears as well.
Exodus 1
The Israelites Oppressed
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 77:1-14
Psalms 77:1-14 (NIV)Ps 1 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted. 3 I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint. Selah 4 You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. 5 I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; 6 I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused and my spirit inquired: 7 "Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? 8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?" Selah 10 Then I thought, "To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High." 11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12 I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. 13 Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? 14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.
The Year In Review
December 28, 2010 — by David C. McCasland
I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. —Psalm 77:11
During the last week of December, newscasters often look back at the significant events of the past year—the triumphs and failures of prominent people, natural disasters, economic challenges, and the deaths of celebrities and leaders. The most surprising events usually receive top billing.
If you reviewed the past year of your life, what would appear on the list? Has an unexpected event caused you to question God or to more deeply experience His goodness?
Psalm 77 chronicles the lament of a person in distress who felt as if God no longer cared (vv.7-9). “Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore?” (v.8). Yet, even in anguish, the psalmist said, “I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old” (v.11). The result was a renewal of trust and hope: “You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples” (v.14).
As you think back over this past year, why not write down the significant events in your life. Don’t be afraid to include your difficulties and disappointments, but remember to consider all the ways God has been with you.
During every difficulty, we can always find the faithfulness of God.
When we look back and contemplate
What we’ve been through this year,
We’ll praise You, Lord, for all You’ve done—
Your faithfulness is clear. —Sper
Difficulties in our lives give us the opportunity
to experience the faithfulness of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 28th, 2010
Continuous Conversion
. . . unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven —Matthew 18:3
These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must “put on the new man . . .” (Ephesians 4:24). God holds us accountable every time we refuse to convert ourselves, and He sees our refusal as willful disobedience. Our natural life must not rule— God must rule in us.
To refuse to be continuously converted puts a stumbling block in the growth of our spiritual life. There are areas of self-will in our lives where our pride pours contempt on the throne of God and says, “I won’t submit.” We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness, we call strength. There are whole areas of our lives that have not yet been brought into submission, and this can only be done by this continuous conversion. Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Banning the Poison That Brings You Down - #6252
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
The eagles are coming back! We almost lost certain kinds of eagles - for good! They were on their way to becoming extinct. That's why they were legally declared an endangered species. It meant that if you hurt an eagle, you might end up in a steel nest of your own for a few years! But the good news is that in state after state, the eagle population is actually making a strong comeback. One huge reason: the banning of the widely-used pesticide called DDT. It turned out to be a poison that wasn't just killing pests; it was killing the majestic eagle.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Banning the Poison That Brings You Down."
Now our sons have run an exciting part of our work - a life-changing youth ministry on a remote Indian reservation. Not long ago, one young man came to Christ from a painful and drug-ridden life, and he brought a sledgehammer to their weekly meeting called "Jump Start." Now, they may have been wondering if he was bringing it to use on them! But he brought it to use on a stack of his favorite music CDs; music he said he felt he could no longer listen to and live the way that Jesus wants him to live.
He's beginning to understand, actually, a basic principle of learning to soar spiritually - you have to ban from your life the poison that brings down an eagle. And soul DDT is all around us. It's in music, it's in movies, fantasy games, TV shows, the Internet. It's in things we read or look at, it's in humor, it's in conversation. So God's charge to us in our word for today from the Word of God is as timely as ever. Philippians 4:8 - "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." How about what you've been watching or listening to? Honestly, can you call it "pure, noble, true, right, lovely"?
That verse describes God's mental diet for any child of His who is serious about being God's man or God's woman. You are what you eat - garbage in, garbage out. Or, in the crystal-clear directive of Proverbs 4:23 , "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Everything you do and say originates with what's in your heart - it's the reservoir from which everything comes. And what's in your heart depends on what you put in your heart, what you let in your heart. And you need to post a 24-hour guard around your heart; a guard who refuses to let in anything that will feed your anger, your lust, your depression, your wrong desires, your dark side.
Ephesians 5:11 commands us to "have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness." But somehow, if it's in music we really like or a show or a movie or a web site we really enjoy, we just let the poison in because we like the package it comes in. But, it's still soul poison. Maybe you struggle with why the old you keeps coming back and taking over - the "you" that you hate, that brings you down, that hurts your relationship with your Savior. Could it be that your dark side keeps winning because you keep feeding it with influences that keep pushing the same old sinful buttons? You've got to starve what you want to die!
Romans 16:19-20 gives us a powerful plan for living in victory over Satan and the dark side he has used against us so many times. It says: "Be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil." Bulk up on what's "noble, pure, right, praiseworthy." And slam the door on anything that portrays or celebrates ideas and actions that Jesus died to destroy.
You're an eagle! You're destined by God to fly. But when you let soul poison in, you're not flyin', you're dyin'.