Max Lucado Daily: Where Does My Help Come From?
David said in Psalm 121, “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?” And David answers his own question, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip, He who watches over you will not slumber. The Lord watches over you. The Lord will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life.”
God—your rescuer, has the right vision. He also has the right direction. He made the boldest claim in the history of man when He declared, “I am the way.” People wondered if the claim was accurate. He answered their question by forging a path through the underbrush of sin and death—escaping alive.
Maybe you need your hope restored. If so, lift up your eyes. Like David said, look unto the hills…look unto the One who made you and He will give you help.
From Traveling Light
Jeremiah 4
“If you, Israel, will return,
then return to me,”
declares the Lord.
“If you put your detestable idols out of my sight
and no longer go astray,
2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’
then the nations will invoke blessings by him
and in him they will boast.”
3 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:
“Break up your unplowed ground
and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
circumcise your hearts,
you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire
because of the evil you have done—
burn with no one to quench it.
Disaster From the North
5 “Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say:
‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’
Cry aloud and say:
‘Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities!’
6 Raise the signal to go to Zion!
Flee for safety without delay!
For I am bringing disaster from the north,
even terrible destruction.”
7 A lion has come out of his lair;
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his place
to lay waste your land.
Your towns will lie in ruins
without inhabitant.
8 So put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned away from us.
9 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“the king and the officials will lose heart,
the priests will be horrified,
and the prophets will be appalled.”
10 Then I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our throats!”
11 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; 12 a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”
13 Look! He advances like the clouds,
his chariots come like a whirlwind,
his horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us! We are ruined!
14 Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.
How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?
15 A voice is announcing from Dan,
proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
16 “Tell this to the nations,
proclaim concerning Jerusalem:
‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land,
raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.
17 They surround her like men guarding a field,
because she has rebelled against me,’”
declares the Lord.
18 “Your own conduct and actions
have brought this on you.
This is your punishment.
How bitter it is!
How it pierces to the heart!”
19 Oh, my anguish, my anguish!
I writhe in pain.
Oh, the agony of my heart!
My heart pounds within me,
I cannot keep silent.
For I have heard the sound of the trumpet;
I have heard the battle cry.
20 Disaster follows disaster;
the whole land lies in ruins.
In an instant my tents are destroyed,
my shelter in a moment.
21 How long must I see the battle standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “My people are fools;
they do not know me.
They are senseless children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil;
they know not how to do good.”
23 I looked at the earth,
and it was formless and empty;
and at the heavens,
and their light was gone.
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking;
all the hills were swaying.
25 I looked, and there were no people;
every bird in the sky had flown away.
26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert;
all its towns lay in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger.
27 This is what the Lord says:
“The whole land will be ruined,
though I will not destroy it completely.
28 Therefore the earth will mourn
and the heavens above grow dark,
because I have spoken and will not relent,
I have decided and will not turn back.”
29 At the sound of horsemen and archers
every town takes to flight.
Some go into the thickets;
some climb up among the rocks.
All the towns are deserted;
no one lives in them.
30 What are you doing, you devastated one?
Why dress yourself in scarlet
and put on jewels of gold?
Why highlight your eyes with makeup?
You adorn yourself in vain.
Your lovers despise you;
they want to kill you.
31 I hear a cry as of a woman in labor,
a groan as of one bearing her first child—
the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands and saying,
“Alas! I am fainting;
my life is given over to murderers.”
Our Daily Bread
reading and devotion
Read: Job 7:11-21
New International Version (NIV)
11 “Therefore I will not keep silent;
I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
that you put me under guard?
13 When I think my bed will comfort me
and my couch will ease my complaint,
14 even then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I prefer strangling and death,
rather than this body of mine.
16 I despise my life; I would not live forever.
Let me alone; my days have no meaning.
17 “What is mankind that you make so much of them,
that you give them so much attention,
18 that you examine them every morning
and test them every moment?
19 Will you never look away from me,
or let me alone even for an instant?
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
you who see everything we do?
Why have you made me your target?
Have I become a burden to you?[a]
21 Why do you not pardon my offenses
and forgive my sins?
For I will soon lie down in the dust;
you will search for me, but I will be no more.”
Her Worst Day Ever
June 26, 2013 — by Anne Cetas
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. —Job 7:11
In May 2011, a young woman took cover in a bathtub during a tornado that devastated her city of Joplin, Missouri. Her husband covered her body with his and took the blows from flying debris. He died, and she survived because of his heroism. She naturally wrestles with the question, “Why?” But a year after the tornado, she said that she finds comfort because even on her worst day ever, she was loved.
When I think about “worst days ever,” I think of Job right away. A man who loved God, he lost his animals, his servants, and his 10 children in one day! (Job 1:13-19). Job mourned deeply, and he also asked the “Why?” questions. He cried out, “Have I sinned? What have I done to You . . . ? Why have You set me as Your target?” (7:20). Job’s friends accused him of sinning and thought he deserved his difficulties, but God said of his friends: “You have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has” (42:7). God did not give him the reasons for his suffering, but He listened to Job and did not fault him for his questions. God assured him of His control over everything, and Job trusted Him (42:1-6).
The Lord may not give us the reasons for our trials. But, thankfully, even on our worst day ever, we can know for sure we are loved by Him (Rom. 8:35-39).
We’re grateful, Father, that You know our hearts
with our pain and joy. Thank You that You never
leave us nor forsake us, as Your Word tells us.
Please hold us close during our trials.
God’s love does not keep us from trials, but sees us through them.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 26, 2013
Drawing on the Grace of God— Now
We . . . plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain —2 Corinthians 6:1
The grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. “. . . in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses”— that is where our patience is tested (2 Corinthians 6:4). Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, “Oh well, I won’t count this time”? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, “I will endure this until I can get away and pray.” Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.
“. . . in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors . . .” (2 Corinthians 6:5)— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.
“. . . having nothing . . . .” Never hold anything in reserve. Pour yourself out, giving the best that you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful with the treasure God gives you. “. . . and yet possessing all things”— this is poverty triumphant (2 Corinthians 6:10).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Fill It Right Or Leave It Empty - #6903
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Gary had a hotel on the Jersey Shore. It's one of those big, old rambling hotels with a lot of style the East Coast is famous for; kind of a bed and breakfast place. Now, if you had just taken over a hotel, what would be your greatest need? Well, of course, fill the rooms! How do you get all these rooms filled to pay off all that you've just invested in the place?
Well, a man stopped and offered to fill Gary's hotel for a week. That sounded pretty good. Gary was about to give in to the possibility, but he asked this important question, "Who'll be staying here?" The man said, "Oh, it's senior week! Our seniors will come down and take over your hotel for a week." Gary thought about that, thought about the kind of damage and mayhem that those high school students could do with a week of senior partying. And he very wisely said, "No, thank you."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fill It Right Or Leave It Empty."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Samuel 13. Let's get a little background. Saul is in a dilemma. He is the king of Israel, his enemy the Philistines are marching their troops. He is wanting to get to battle and stop this enemy. He's waited a week, and there's one thing they needed to do before they went. They had to present a burnt offering to the Lord. That was the way to seek God's favor to present that offering. That's a good thing to do.
The problem was only a man of God could do that, like a priest. Samuel promised he'd be there in seven days. It is the seventh day, the troops are leaving, the enemy troops are amassing, the day is almost over, so Saul decides to do something. He invades holy ground and he himself - not a priest - offers the sacrifice. That's a good thing to do, right? It's the wrong way to do it.
It's kind of like Gary who needed to fill his hotel. That was a good thing to do, but he knew there was a wrong way to meet that need. Saul knew that the end he was working toward was positive, but the means were wrong. He went ahead because he was in a jam.
1 Samuel 13:10, "Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived." Samuel asks, "What have you done?" Saul explains his predicament, and he says, "'I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.' 'You acted foolishly,' Samuel said. 'You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom.'" Listen to this, "Now your kingdom will not endure.'"
There's a principle here: When you're in a jam, it's tempting to compromise, especially if the result would be something good. Don't do it! It will cost you what you need the most. It will cost you God's blessing. You have a need right now. You have a chance to meet that need if you just shave the truth a little bit, if you allow yourself to get into a romantic relationship with someone who doesn't know Christ or who doesn't love Him as much as you do, if you just give in to a temptation to get even a little bit, if you just take matters into your own hands because after all, God hasn't come through yet, right?
Look at the price Saul paid. I've often thought impatience may cost us God's will more than any other thing we do. And the end does not justify the means. It is better to have your need unmet than to cross God's line to save the situation. That hotel owner knew it was better to fill it right or leave it empty because of the damage that would be left behind. When it comes to meeting your needs, don't panic because God is taking longer than you think He should. Let God fill that need the right way. It's worth the wait.