Max Lucado Daily: Just Right
When my daughter was small, she wrote a song for me. From a musical standpoint, everything was wrong with it. The lyrics didn't rhyme. The rhythm was off. Technically the song was a failure. But for me, the song was a masterpiece. Why? Because she wrote it for me. What dad wouldn't like that? What father wouldn't bask in the praise of even an off-key adulation?
Ideally, when we approach God, our motive and the way we sing is as strong as the reason we sing. The words are just right; our worship is as attractive as it is sincere. But many times it isn't. Many times our worship is less than what we want it to be. "Lord, help!"
"You will search for me," God declared. "And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. I will let you find me" (Jeremiah 29:13). What a promise!
From And The Angels Were Silent
Esther 7
Haman Impaled
So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, 2 and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.[a]”
5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”
6 Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”
Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.
The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?”
As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits[b] stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”
The king said, “Impale him on it!” 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Psalm 55:1-8,16-17
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil[b] of David.
1 Listen to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my plea;
2 hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
3 because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;[c]
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.”
Footnotes:
Psalm 55:1 In Hebrew texts 55:1-23 is numbered 55:2-24.
Psalm 55:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 55:7 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and in the middle of verse 19.
Psalm 55:16-17
16 As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice
Insight
Psalm 55 is a song of the shepherd-king David. It was written during a season of great distress and may have been the expression of David's despair as he fled from his son Absalom. The oldest of David's sons, Absalom had enlisted men of Israel in a conspiracy to overthrow David as king so that he could then take the throne for himself (2 Sam. 15). If this indeed is the context, the lament of verses 12-14 likely refers to David's trusted friend and counselor Ahithophel (1 Chron. 27:33), who abandoned David and joined the conspiracy with Absalom.
Before And After
February 6, 2014 — by Dave Branon
Give ear to my prayer, O God . . . . My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. —Psalm 55:1,4
What changes take place in a life of faith after severe testing? I thought of this as I read the tragic story of a Jamaican dad who accidentally shot and killed his 18-year-old daughter while trying to protect his family from intruders.
News reports said he went to church (as was his habit) the next day—distraught but still seeking God’s help. Faith in God guided him before, and he knew God could sustain him after.
I thought about this in regard to my own life—having also lost a teenage daughter. To review how I viewed life and faith before Melissa’s death, I dug into my computer archives to read the last article I had written before we lost her in June 2002. How would what I said then correspond to what I know now? Had severe testing changed my view of faith in God? In May of that year, I had written this: “David was not afraid to go boldly to God and tell Him what was on his heart. . . . We don’t have to be afraid to tell God what is on our heart.”
Before I went through tough times, I went to God and He listened to me. After, I discovered that He still listens and comforts and sustains. So I continue to pray in faith. Our faith remains intact and is strengthened because He is the God of the before and the after.
God is still on the throne,
He never forsaketh His own;
His promise is true, He will not forget you,
God is still on the throne. —Suffield
What we know of God encourages us to trust Him in all we do not know.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, February 06, 2014
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (2)
I am already being poured out as a drink offering . . . —2 Timothy 4:6
Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.
“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents-burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose-the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice . . . to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?
Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Dirty Up Close - #7064
Thursday, February 6, 2014
It was a steep trail! It was during the summer and we were up about 12,000 feet on this mountain. Of course the air was pretty thin, but it was worth the climb because my wife and I were hiking up to this magnificent glacier. Now, you can't see it from the road, but as you climb the mountain, you finally get a peek at it near the top of the trail. That would be shortly before I collapsed from oxygen deprivation. There's this beautiful white blanket on top of the mountain, especially at the end of the summer. Actually, it looked more beautiful from a distance.
See, we finally reached the lake at the foot of the glacier and we sat there and rested and congratulated ourselves and enjoyed God's artwork up there on that mountain. We even watched a couple of guys skiing in one of the few places they could find any snow at the end of the summer. And then they came down. We asked these guys as we walked down with them how it was up there at the top of the mountain. They said, "Well it was fun, but it's really dirty up there!" See, these guys had been in direct contact with that snow, and they didn't think it was quite as beautiful as I did from a distance.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dirty - Up Close."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 10:9 . God is praising a person who is clean all the way through. Here's what it says, "The man of integrity walks securely. But he who takes crooked paths will be found out." In other words, when you have nothing to hide-you're full of integrity-you have nothing to fear. You've got no fear of discovery. So you can be a pretty secure person; there's nothing for anyone to find out about you, to catch you doing.
Proverbs 11:3 says, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity." Integrity? Well, good idea. What is it? Well, it's obviously the deciding factor in every choice for a righteous person. What does integrity demand? It means there's only one you. Like a whole number in math; an integer; there's only one number. There's only one you; no duplicity; not another you. A lot of issues are settled when you settle this one issue, "Is integrity going to be my bottom line or not?"
Now, integrity means you don't just look good from a distance like my glacier. When you got close to that snow cap, you saw how dirty it really was. How about the people who get really close to you: your mate, close friends, your kids, your parents? The people around you whom you feel like you can be yourself. Are they impressed? See, a lot of people are good from a distance, and maybe you have a great image. You're making a great impression. Maybe you're even getting a lot of strokes for it.
But like those boys who were in direct contact with the glacier, the people who are in close contact with you know what you're really like. Would they say you're patient? Would they say you always tell the truth, you're kind, you're gentle, you're an unselfish person? Would they say you walk with God when no one else sees you, you're consistent, you keep your promises, you're pure in what you watch and what you listen to, what you talk about?
See, if you're a real quality human being, the closer they get the better you look. Because there's only one you. The public and the private you are the same person. Then people aren't unpleasantly surprised when they get close. That's a pretty free and very powerful way to live.
Remember to live in such a way that no one who gets close to you will ever say, "Oh, yeah, they look good from a distance, but man, when you get close." Be full of integrity, clean all the way through no matter how close they ge
