Max Lucado Daily: Jesus Understands You
When Jesus saw people, He saw an opportunity to love and affirm value. When we see people, we often only see thousands of problems. What did Jesus know that enabled Him to do what He did? He knew how people felt, and He knew that they were special. I hope you never forget that.
Are you under the gun at work? Jesus knows how you feel. Do people take more from you than they give? Jesus understands. He knows what that’s like. Your teenagers won’t listen? Believe me, Jesus knows how you feel. You’re precious to Him. So precious that He became like you so that you would come to Him. When you struggle, He listens. When you yearn, He responds. When you question, He hears. He loves you. He understands you. And He paid a great price to take you home.
From In the Eye of the Storm
Exodus 14
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen[a] and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed[b] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward[c] it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, August 04, 2014
Read: Romans 7:18-25
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[b] a slave to the law of sin.
Footnotes:
Romans 7:18 Or my flesh
Romans 7:25 Or in the flesh
Insight
The Christian life is one of struggle with sin and growth in holiness. On this side of heaven, we will not be totally freed from this struggle (James 3:2; 1 John 1:8–2:1). In today’s text, the apostle Paul writes of the war between good and evil that wages within him. Elsewhere Paul explains, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (Gal. 5:17 niv). Yet we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus delivers us from this “body of death” (Rom. 7:24).
All We Need To Know
By David H. Roper
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells. —Romans 7:18
In a Fernando Ortega rendition of “Just As I Am,” Billy Graham’s voice can be heard faintly in the background. Dr. Graham is reminiscing about an illness during which he believed he was dying. As he mused on his past, he realized what a great sinner he was and how much he continues to need God’s daily forgiveness.
Billy Graham was putting an end to the notion that apart from God we’re okay. We can feel good about ourselves, but that confidence must come from the knowledge that we’re greatly loved children of God (John 3:16), not that we’re very good children (Rom. 7:18).
The first step in becoming a truly “good” person as a follower of Christ is to stop pretending that we’re good on our own and to ask God to make us as good as we can be. We will fail many times, but He will keep growing us and changing us. God is faithful and—in His time and in His way—He’ll do it.
In his final years, the writer of “Amazing Grace,” John Newton, suffered from dementia and lamented the loss of his memory. Yet he confided, “I do remember two things: I am a great sinner, and Jesus is a great Savior.” When it comes to faith, those are the only things anyone needs to know.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures. —Newton
God’s grace accepted is God’s peace experienced.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 04, 2014
The Brave Friendship of God
He took the twelve aside . . . —Luke 18:31
Oh, the bravery of God in trusting us! Do you say, “But He has been unwise to choose me, because there is nothing good in me and I have no value”? That is exactly why He chose you. As long as you think that you are of value to Him He cannot choose you, because you have purposes of your own to serve. But if you will allow Him to take you to the end of your own self-sufficiency, then He can choose you to go with Him “to Jerusalem” (Luke 18:31). And that will mean the fulfillment of purposes which He does not discuss with you.
We tend to say that because a person has natural ability, he will make a good Christian. It is not a matter of our equipment, but a matter of our poverty; not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us; not a matter of natural virtues, of strength of character, of knowledge, or of experience— all of that is of no avail in this concern. The only thing of value is being taken into the compelling purpose of God and being made His friends (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). God’s friendship is with people who know their poverty. He can accomplish nothing with the person who thinks that he is of use to God. As Christians we are not here for our own purpose at all— we are here for the purpose of God, and the two are not the same. We do not know what God’s compelling purpose is, but whatever happens, we must maintain our relationship with Him. We must never allow anything to damage our relationship with God, but if something does damage it, we must take the time to make it right again. The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 04, 2014
Miscarriages of God's Best - #7191
We have three children. My wife has had four pregnancies. At the end of the third month of her first pregnancy, she had a miscarriage. It was tough but God gave us grace to deal with it. That might be an experience you've had. We were all geared up for this new life to come, and suddenly there wasn't going to be one. When people heard that we'd experienced a miscarriage, it seemed like women came from every direction basically saying, "Me too."
In fact, had I done my own informal survey at that point, I was pretty sure I would have found out that fifty percent of American women had experienced a miscarriage. (At least that's what it felt like from the people who came to us.) So many people talked with us about it and how you can get through it. It's sad when something God has conceived doesn't come to full term. You know, there's another kind of miscarriage that is happening all the time.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Miscarriages of God's Best."
Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Psalm 37; one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I'll be reading verses 4 and 5, and then I'll jump to verse 7. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and He will do this. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." Now, there are many verses like this in scripture that indicate that there is a plan that has your name on it; a plan for your life, a plan for the different decisions you have to make that will decide that life.
God in His great Father love wants you as His child to have His best, and He's laid out a roadmap, a pathway, a will for your life that is the road to His best. It's the life that He put you here to live, including the choices you're making right now. You're not just making choices, you're picking a road, whether you know that or not. There's a plan that covers all of this. But all too often, the baby of God's best is never delivered full term, because there are miscarriages of God's best.
You may be in a situation right now where God's plan isn't very clear to you, or where the outcome is unsure. Your needs are great. Well, I want you to know today about the three reasons you might miss God's best so you don't. I've watched it happen over the years in my own life, the lives of a lot of other people, these three reasons for miscarriages of God's will.
First one - loneliness. God says in Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord." "Let Me, (He's saying) be your central relationship." He will give you the desires of your heart. Let this relationship with Him be enough, or your desires could carry you right out of God's will.
Did you know that lonely people often leave God's will because they want to somehow help their loneliness? They often make lousy decisions that end up making them even lonelier in the long run. Don't rush into a wrong relationship. It might look good now. It might meet your need right now, and all you're doing is setting yourself up for a greater loneliness and discontentment in the future. Don't leave God's path because of loneliness. There is a loneliness worse than being alone. It's being connected to the wrong person.
Secondly, God's will can be miscarried by stubbornness. Verse 5 says, "Commit your way to the Lord." Release it to the Lord; let it be His to decide. Maybe you've already made up your mind how this is going to come out and you're going to figure out a way to make your will God's will. That's backwards. We're supposed to be making God's will our will. If you're insisting on one particular outcome, stubbornness is going to carry you right out of God's best--miscarriage.
The third miscarriage comes from impatience. That's why we're told to "wait patiently for the Lord." But some of us can't wait. We make our own answer and we regret it for years to come. See, God's best often comes at the eleventh hour and it requires a wait of faith. God's conceived a beautiful provision for this moment in your life. Don't miscarry it because of loneliness, or stubbornness, or impatience.
The plaque that was on my daughter's wall said it right: "God reserves His very best for those who leave the choice to Him."
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