Max Lucado Daily: A New Definition
With God-all things are possible! (Matthew 19:26).
Consider Abram. Pushing a century of years, his wife, Sarai, ninety. The wallpaper in the nursery faded, baby furniture out of date. The topic of a promised child brings sighs and tears. . . and God tells them they'd better select a name for their new son. They laugh! Partly because it's too good to happen and partly because it might. They've given up hope, and hope born anew is always funny before it's real. They laugh a little at God, and a lot with God-for God is laughing too.
With the smile still on His face, He gets busy doing what He does the best-the unbelievable. Abram, the father of one, will now be Abraham, the father of a promised multitude. Sarai, the barren one, will now be Sarah, the mother.
Their names aren't the only thing God changes. He changes the way they define the word impossible!
From The Applause of Heaven
Psalm 80
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” Of Asaph. A psalm.
1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
shine forth 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
come and save us.
3 Restore us, O God;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
4 How long, Lord God Almighty,
will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears;
you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
6 You have made us an object of derision[b] to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.
7 Restore us, God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea,[c]
its shoots as far as the River.[d]
12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
13 Boars from the forest ravage it,
and insects from the fields feed on it.
14 Return to us, God Almighty!
Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
15 the root your right hand has planted,
the son[e] you have raised up for yourself.
16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;
at your rebuke your people perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, Lord God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
Footnotes:
Psalm 80:1 In Hebrew texts 80:1-19 is numbered 80:2-20.
Psalm 80:6 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text contention
Psalm 80:11 Probably the Mediterranean
Psalm 80:11 That is, the Euphrates
Psalm 80:15 Or branch
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 4
Answer me when I call to you,
my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
2 How long will you people turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods[b]?[c]
3 Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
4 Tremble and[d] do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
5 Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
and trust in the Lord.
6 Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?”
Let the light of your face shine on us.
7 Fill my heart with joy
when their grain and new wine abound.
8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.
Footnotes:
Psalm 4:1 In Hebrew texts 4:1-8 is numbered 4:2-9.
Psalm 4:2 Or seek lies
Psalm 4:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 4.
Psalm 4:4 Or In your anger (see Septuagint)
Insight
The Bible is not an unrealistic book, for it expresses the full range of human experience. Yet the negative is often accompanied by a redeeming faith in God that helped the writers to endure trials and strengthened their character—and it does the same for us today. This psalm by King David is animated with a variety of life experiences. He takes both the good and the bad and projects them heavenward to God in prayer. He writes: “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (v.8). The peace available to us in God quiets us in a way that the world does not understand or enjoy.
Sweet Rest
January 14, 2014 — by David C. Egner
You have put gladness in my heart. —Psalm 4:7
Try as we might—tossing, turning, fluffing the pillow, pounding the pillow—sometimes we just can’t fall asleep. After offering some good suggestions on how to get a better night’s sleep, a news article concluded that there really is no “right way” to sleep.
There are numerous reasons why sleep eludes us, many of which we can’t do much about. But sometimes unwanted wakefulness is caused by anxious thoughts, worry, or guilt. It’s then that the example of David in Psalm 4 can help. He called out to God, asking for mercy and for God to hear his prayer (v.1). He also reminded himself that the Lord does hear him when he calls on Him (v.3). David encourages us: “Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still” (v.4). Focusing our minds on the goodness, mercy, and love of God for His world, our loved ones, and ourselves can aid us in trusting the Lord (v.5).
The Lord desires to help us set aside our worries about finding solutions to our problems and place our trust in Him to work things out. He can “put gladness” in our hearts (v.7), so that we might “lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make [us] dwell in safety” (v.8).
Give me a spirit of peace, dear Lord,
Midst the storms and the tempests that roll,
That I may find rest and quiet within,
A calm buried deep in my soul. —Dawe
Even when we cannot sleep, God can give us rest.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
January 14, 2014
Called By God
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ’Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ’Here am I! Send me’ —Isaiah 6:8
God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “. . . who will go for Us?” The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). That is, few prove that they are the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and have had their spiritual condition changed and their ears opened. Then they hear “the voice of the Lord” continually asking, “. . . who will go for Us?” However, God doesn’t single out someone and say, “Now, you go.” He did not force His will on Isaiah. Isaiah was in the presence of God, and he overheard the call. His response, performed in complete freedom, could only be to say, “Here am I! Send me.”
Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead with you. When our Lord called His disciples, He did it without irresistible pressure from the outside. The quiet, yet passionate, insistence of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men whose every sense was receptive (Matthew 4:19). If we will allow the Holy Spirit to bring us face to face with God, we too will hear what Isaiah heard-”the voice of the Lord.” In perfect freedom we too will say, “Here am I! Send me.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
The Next Exciting Episode - #7047
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
You can become fairly addicted to a predictable television adventure series. You know how it's going to go. There's a victim you like; there's a villain you don't like, and there's a predicament. And you want to see the predicament resolved, but what if the predicament isn't resolved? You see this wrong sense of values as it goes down to three minutes, two minutes, one minute. You know it's going to end very quickly and it's getting worse. The villain you don't like is winning. The victim you really do like, well how are they going to fix it? And finally, one of the heroes appears on the scene and it's resolved.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Next Exciting Episode."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 8, and I'll begin reading at verse 39. It's the familiar story of Jesus being asked to heal Jairus' daughter. She was very sick with a fever, and then as Jairus comes to Him, Jesus has stopped, and He's healed someone else. We pick up the story there, "While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus and said, 'Your daughter is dead. Don't bother the teacher any more.' Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, 'Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.'" Now, this is kind of like on those TV shows where they just put "Continued" and you're hanging on to see what will happen in the next episode.
Well, finally He arrives at the house of Jairus. It says, "He did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. 'Stop wailing,' Jesus said, 'She is not dead but asleep.'" Then Jesus spoke to her and she returned to life. The servant had said, "Don't bother Jesus any more. Wrap it up. Go home. It's too late. The end!" Like a television adventure, it was time to give up; all was lost!
But when God writes a series, it continues. That's always how it is when your life is in God's hands. It ain't over till it's over! And it ain't over because God isn't finished yet. You might be. You might have tried every human solution you can think of, but God isn't finished yet. And He doesn't need much time to change the ending.
No matter how dark a chapter you're living in, no matter how final it seems to be, in Christ there is always another chapter. This might be just like the middle of the book. Don't act like it's the end of the book. Don't give up.
If it weren't for the dark episodes, you would never have the opportunity to see how powerful your Savior is. He does His best work when we are powerless. See, if you look at the book of your life, there is a word that God writes over every hopeless situation - the word "continued." Jairus thought it was over, but it wasn't. "She's dead. It's over." It wasn't over. "I'm not finished yet," Jesus said, "no matter how it looks."
You know, one of the strange things is that when we reach a point in our life where it is hopeless for us, we are at the edge of the greatest hope a human being can discover. When you get to the point where there is something you can't fix, and you can't change, and you can't control, that's the time you begin to look around for someone bigger and more powerful than you. And those are the times when people finally discover the Jesus who has all the power to conquer death, who walked out of His grave under His own power. But only after He died on the cross to pay for every wrong thing we've ever done, demonstrating beyond any shadow of a doubt how loved you are by Jesus.
This very day He may have brought you to what seems like the end of the story to begin a whole new story. And, actually, I want to invite you to a website called ANewStory.com, because I'd like to meet you there and explain to you how this day you can begin your personal relationship with this all-powerful, all-loving Savior named Jesus, who's changed the lives of so many. That's ANewStory.com.
If you know Jesus, don't let anybody treat you like you're over. Because when you've got Jesus, you can always say about your life, "Stay tuned for the next exciting episode."
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