Max Lucado Daily: He Will Give You Rest
When my daughters were young, I didn’t want them to be afraid of the deep end of the pool, so with each I played Shamu, the whale. My daughter would be the trainer. She would pinch her nose, and put her arm around my neck, then down we’d go. Deep, deep, deep until we could touch the bottom of the pool. Then up we’d explode, breaking the surface. After several plunges they realized they had nothing to fear. Why? Because I was with them.
And when God calls us into the deep valley of death, dare we think He’d abandon us in that moment? Would a father force his child to swim the deep alone? Would God require his child to journey to eternity alone? Absolutely not! He is with you! In Exodus 33:14 God said to Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest!”
From Traveling Light
Job 32
Elihu
So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. 3 He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.[a] 4 Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. 5 But when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused.
6 So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite said:
“I am young in years,
and you are old;
that is why I was fearful,
not daring to tell you what I know.
7 I thought, ‘Age should speak;
advanced years should teach wisdom.’
8 But it is the spirit[b] in a person,
the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.
9 It is not only the old[c] who are wise,
not only the aged who understand what is right.
10 “Therefore I say: Listen to me;
I too will tell you what I know.
11 I waited while you spoke,
I listened to your reasoning;
while you were searching for words,
12 I gave you my full attention.
But not one of you has proved Job wrong;
none of you has answered his arguments.
13 Do not say, ‘We have found wisdom;
let God, not a man, refute him.’
14 But Job has not marshaled his words against me,
and I will not answer him with your arguments.
15 “They are dismayed and have no more to say;
words have failed them.
16 Must I wait, now that they are silent,
now that they stand there with no reply?
17 I too will have my say;
I too will tell what I know.
18 For I am full of words,
and the spirit within me compels me;
19 inside I am like bottled-up wine,
like new wineskins ready to burst.
20 I must speak and find relief;
I must open my lips and reply.
21 I will show no partiality,
nor will I flatter anyone;
22 for if I were skilled in flattery,
my Maker would soon take me away.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Job 2:11-13
When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Insight
Job was in financial ruin, had just lost all 10 of his children (Job 1:13-19), and had suddenly taken ill (2:7). As a result, three of Job’s friends did what normal good friends would do in the face of life’s pain: they traveled long distances to be with Job in order to comfort him (vv.11-12). Participating in Job’s grief and pain (v.12), “they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights” (v.13). This was the normal duration for grieving the loss of a loved one in the ancient Near East (Gen. 50:10; 1 Sam. 31:13). And sitting on the ground was their way of showing deep sorrow (Isa. 3:26; Lam. 2:10; Jonah 3:6). Yet, despite his friends’ initial good start, the majority of the counseling they gave him was unhelpful or wrong.
Listening
By David H. Roper
Oh, that I had one to hear me! —Job 31:35
In her book Listening to Others, Joyce Huggett writes about the importance of learning to listen and respond effectively to those in difficult situations. As she relates some of her own experiences of listening to suffering people, she mentions that they often thank her for all she’s done for them. “On many occasions,” she writes, “I have not ‘done’ anything. I have ‘just listened.’ I quickly came to the conclusion that ‘just listening’ was indeed an effective way of helping others.”
This was the help Job sought from his friends. While it is true that they sat with him for 7 days in silence, “for they saw that his grief was very great” (2:13), they didn’t listen when Job started talking. Instead, they talked and talked but failed to comfort him (16:2). “Oh, that I had one to hear me!” Job cried (31:35).
Listening says, “What matters to you matters to me.” Sometimes people do want advice. But often they just want to be listened to by someone who loves and cares about them.
Listening is hard work, and it takes time. It takes time to listen long enough to hear the other person’s true heart, so that if we do speak, we speak with gentle wisdom.
Oh, Lord, give us a loving heart and a listening ear.
I cried, and from His holy hill
He bowed a listening ear;
I called my Father, and my God,
And He subdued my fear. —Watts
When I’m thinking about an answer while others are talking—I’m not listening.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 22, 2014
The Explanation For Our Difficulties
. . . that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us . . . —John 17:21
If you are going through a time of isolation, seemingly all alone, read John 17 . It will explain exactly why you are where you are— because Jesus has prayed that you “may be one” with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or do you have some other goal for your life? Since you became a disciple, you cannot be as independent as you used to be.
God reveals in John 17 that His purpose is not just to answer our prayers, but that through prayer we might come to discern His mind. Yet there is one prayer which God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus— “. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” (John 17:22). Are we as close to Jesus Christ as that?
God is not concerned about our plans; He doesn’t ask, “Do you want to go through this loss of a loved one, this difficulty, or this defeat?” No, He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, and nobler men and women, or they are making us more critical and fault-finding, and more insistent on our own way. The things that happen either make us evil, or they make us more saintly, depending entirely on our relationship with God and its level of intimacy. If we will pray, regarding our own lives, “Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42), then we will be encouraged and comforted by John 17, knowing that our Father is working according to His own wisdom, accomplishing what is best. When we understand God’s purpose, we will not become small-minded and cynical. Jesus prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself, just as He was one with the Father. Some of us are far from this oneness; yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him— because Jesus prayed, “. . . that they all may be one . . . .”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Lifetime Programming - #7139
Thursday, May 22, 2014
It's 1:00 A.M....the telephone rings. I mumble in my pillow. It was our daughter. See, all through college, if the phone rang when it was late at night, then it was a good guess that it was our daughter. That's even true now. She's a night person. And my wife always reminds me, "Well, it's your fault." See, when our daughter was born I was a director for a youth organization and most nights I'd get home about 10:30.
My wife had a decision to make. She could follow the conventional mother wisdom that you put the baby to bed early. Right? In which case that little girl would seldom see her Daddy. Or she could let her stay up. Well, guess what she decided to do. Yes, I'd come home. There's my little girl waiting. It was play time! I'd crawl around with her, and goof off with her, and swirl her around in the air. I had no idea I was programming her for life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lifetime Programming."
Our word for today from the Word of God is a familiar statement from the Bible, It's Galatians 6:7. But I want you to think about it today in terms of parenting. "A man reaps what he sows." Isn't that interesting? That little phrase "A man reaps what he sows." Now, that verse is primarily speaking of spiritual consequences, but it is a principle that really applies to parenting. Our children are going to reproduce the rest of their lives the relationship they have with us; the positives, the negatives. And we're going to reap from them what we sow in them. Like sowing a night person and getting one who calls you late at night. That's it. You know.
The Bible challenges parents to really get serious about what they're sowing. For example, "Train a child in the way he should go..." That's sowing. "...and when he is old, he will not turn from it." That's reaping. (Proverbs 22:6) Or "Discipline your son..." That's sowing. "...and he will give you peace. He will bring delight to your soul." That's reaping. (Proverbs 29:17)
In Colossians 3:21, "Fathers, do not embitter your children." That's what you sow. "...or they will become discouraged." That's what you reap. A mom or dad is doing lifetime programming of a child without even realizing it, and neither does the child. It might be interesting to try to role play your son or daughter and fill in the blank in the following sentence as you think they would fill it in honestly.
"Most of the time I feel _____ by my Mom or Dad." Fill in the blank. Possible answers: "I feel criticized. I'm not good enough." Well, if that's how they feel, you're going to reap a child with a little sense of worth and they will make choices that show they don't feel like they're worth much. "I feel neglected." Okay, you're going to reap a child who's not sure they're loved, and they're going to go looking for love in all the wrong places.
There are other answers that can produce a heart-breaking crop. Like, "I feel pressured by my parents. I feel not trusted. I feel manipulated." Let's get back from the trees of every day with our family and look at the forest for a minute, the kind of person that we're building with our everyday words and actions. Work on making sure the sentence would say, "I feel loved no matter what. I feel respected by my Mom or Dad. I feel cared for, listened to. I feel included, trusted, encouraged." They're never too young or never too old for you to start on this.
What about the destructive seed that maybe you've already sown in the past? Will you tell your son or daughter that you're sorry? Would you apologize? Would you ask for their forgiveness? It will tear down walls. It will start building bridges.
I didn't know what I was doing when I programmed my daughter to be a lifelong night person. That's only cost me a little sleep. But every parent is doing lifetime programming one day at a time, and a negative program can cost a lot later on. God has trusted you with a precious life to shape. Sow seed that makes that child feel valuable, important, loved and trusted, because it's worth it later when the crop comes in.
