Judges 15, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals (Click to listen)

Max Lucado Daily: Amazed at Jesus

“When the Lord Jesus comes . . . all the people who have believed will be amazed at Jesus.”

Amazed at Jesus . . . Paul doesn’t measure the joy of encouraging the apostles or embracing our loved ones. If we will be amazed at these, which we certainly will, he does not say. What he does say is that we will be amazed at Jesus.

What we have only seen in our thoughts, we will see with our eyes . . . What we’ve seen in a glimpse, we will then see in full view. And . . . we will be amazed.

Judges 15

Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines

1 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in.
2 “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”

3 Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.

6 When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.”

So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.

9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10 The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”

“We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”

11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?”

He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”

12 They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.”

Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.”

13 “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

16 Then Samson said,

“With a donkey’s jawbone
I have made donkeys of them.[c]
With a donkey’s jawbone
I have killed a thousand men.”

17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.[d]

18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore,[e] and it is still there in Lehi.

20 Samson led[f] Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Proverbs 2:1-9

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.

A Teachable Spirit

Do not be wise in your own eyes. —Proverbs 3:7

August 31, 2011 — by Anne Cetas

Just before our church service began, I overheard a young man behind me talking with his mother. They were reading an announcement in the bulletin about a challenge to read one chapter of Proverbs each day for the months of July and August. He asked his mom, “What will we do with chapter 31 in August since there are only 30 days?” She said she thought there were 31 days in August. He responded, “No, there are only 30.”
When it was time in the service to greet each other, I turned back toward him and said hello. Then I added, “August does have 31 days.” He insisted, “No, it doesn’t. There can’t be 2 months in a row with 31 days.” The singing started, so I just smiled.
This brief encounter made me think about our need to develop a teachable spirit, seeking wisdom beyond our own. In Proverbs 3, the attitude the father recommends to the son is one of humility: “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord” (v.7). In chapter 2, he says, “Incline your ear to wisdom . . . ; search for her as for hidden treasures” (vv.2,4).
Knowing whether August has 30 or 31 days doesn’t matter much, but having a teachable spirit does. It will help us gain wisdom from God and others. Reading a chapter from Proverbs each day next month may give us a start.


Lord, teach us from Your holy Word
The truth that we must know,
And help us share the joyous news
Of blessings You bestow. —D. De Haan


True wisdom begins and ends with God.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 31st, 2011

"My Joy . . . Your Joy"

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full —John 15:11

What was the joy that Jesus had? Joy should not be confused with happiness. In fact, it is an insult to Jesus Christ to use the word happiness in connection with Him. The joy of Jesus was His absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice to His Father— the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do— “. . . who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross . . .” (Hebrews 12:2). “I delight to do Your will, O my God . . .” (Psalm 40:8). Jesus prayed that our joy might continue fulfilling itself until it becomes the same joy as His. Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?
Living a full and overflowing life does not rest in bodily health, in circumstances, nor even in seeing God’s work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the same fellowship and oneness with Him that Jesus Himself enjoyed. But the first thing that will hinder this joy is the subtle irritability caused by giving too much thought to our circumstances. Jesus said, “. . . the cares of this world, . . . choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). And before we even realize what has happened, we are caught up in our cares. All that God has done for us is merely the threshold— He wants us to come to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim who Jesus is.
Have the right relationship with God, finding your joy there, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). Be a fountain through which Jesus can pour His “living water.” Stop being hypocritical and proud, aware only of yourself, and live “your life . . . hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). A person who has the right relationship with God lives a life as natural as breathing wherever he goes. The lives that have been the greatest blessing to you are the lives of those people who themselves were unaware of having been a blessing.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

You're Not All There - #6428

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The five members of the Hutchcraft family have the same last name, of course, you know except for our married daughter, but that's pretty much where the sameness ends. And I think it's good we're different.

When we needed an emotional lift, for example, well we've always had our oldest son there with his sense of humor. If we needed a physical lift, he was there with his very well developed physical strength. When we needed a job done or something fixed, oh, go to our youngest son. He has sort of had the helping hands and the figure-it-out mind in the family. And when it comes to greeting people or talking with people, or giving guidance, well our daughter was always there with her great people gifts. And, Mom was always there with her common sense. Thank the Lord for my sake! We need that, and she's got this great "drop everything for you" attitude.

I guess every family's like that. You have the same name, but you've got different styles; you make different contributions. That includes God's family. And some of the family who are the most different from you, guess what? They're the ones you need the most.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You're Not All There."

Our word for today from the Word of God is from 1 Corinthians 12. I'll be reading from verses 12, 21, 25 and 27. Basically it tells you that you're not all there. Yeah. Listen to this: "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts. And though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you.' And the hand cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you.'"

Then verse 25 says, "So there should be no division in the body, but its parts should have equal concern for each other. Now, you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." You know what God is saying here is that basically He has made all of us incomplete. None of us has all of Him. But you put us all together and we've got it all. Or to put it another way, you're not all there. There is no family member in God's family that you don't need.

You say, "Well, wait a minute! What about those folks who..." You need them! "Yeah, but I know a group of people who are very different from us. They don't have as much (you know, whatever)..." You need them. See, we're not all there. We need those people who are different from us. We tend to get into our little clusters and we appreciate only Christians who see it our way, say it our way, do it our way, express it our way. But you're not all there; I'm not all there; we're incomplete!

If you're a feeling-oriented Christian, you need the stabilizing influence of some believers who are more content-oriented. But if you're real fact-oriented, content-oriented, guess what? You could use some of the warmth and spontaneity of the more feeling-oriented Christians. Or maybe you're a free-wheeling believer, well you need some Christians who are more structured, who stress boundaries in the Christian life. You need that. But if you're real structured, you need some of those more spontaneous people. You could use their openness.


See, some of God's children will teach you how to really worship, because they're really good at that; they're experienced in that. Others will stimulate your vision for a lost world. Some will teach you to give; other Christians may teach you how to really pray. There are others who will teach you to go to reach the lost. Others will show you how to love unconditionally. And then there will be others who will teach you to dig into the Bible as your source of authority. I'll just say of my life I feel like I'm a river that has been created by many tributaries and I've been so enriched by the variety of the body of Christ. I've needed them all.

See, if you will open up to the rest of the family, you're going to be really rich! Let different Christians challenge you, and balance you, complete you. There is no family member in God's family that you don't need and who doesn't need you, because we're just not all there.