Max Lucado Daily: Sitting Duck
If you go to the grocery store on an empty stomach, you're a sitting duck! You buy everything you don't need. Doesn't matter if it's good for you, you just want to fill your tummy.
When you're lonely-you do the same, pulling stuff off the shelf, not because you need it, but because you're hungry for love. For fear of not fitting in, we take drugs. For fear of appearing small, we go into debt and buy the house. For fear of going unnoticed, we dress to impress. But all that changes when we discover God's perfect love. The perfect love that 1 John 4:18 says "casts out fear."
Loneliness. Could it be one of God's finest gifts? If a season of solitude is His way to teach you to know His love, don't you think it's worth it? So do I.
From Traveling Light
Job 36
“Bear with me a little longer and I will show you
that there is more to be said in God’s behalf.
3 I get my knowledge from afar;
I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Be assured that my words are not false;
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.
5 “God is mighty, but despises no one;
he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive
but gives the afflicted their rights.
7 He does not take his eyes off the righteous;
he enthrones them with kings
and exalts them forever.
8 But if people are bound in chains,
held fast by cords of affliction,
9 he tells them what they have done—
that they have sinned arrogantly.
10 He makes them listen to correction
and commands them to repent of their evil.
11 If they obey and serve him,
they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
and their years in contentment.
12 But if they do not listen,
they will perish by the sword[a]
and die without knowledge.
13 “The godless in heart harbor resentment;
even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth,
among male prostitutes of the shrines.
15 But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering;
he speaks to them in their affliction.
16 “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress
to a spacious place free from restriction,
to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
17 But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked;
judgment and justice have taken hold of you.
18 Be careful that no one entices you by riches;
do not let a large bribe turn you aside.
19 Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts
sustain you so you would not be in distress?
20 Do not long for the night,
to drag people away from their homes.[b]
21 Beware of turning to evil,
which you seem to prefer to affliction.
22 “God is exalted in his power.
Who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has prescribed his ways for him,
or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?
24 Remember to extol his work,
which people have praised in song.
25 All humanity has seen it;
mortals gaze on it from afar.
26 How great is God—beyond our understanding!
The number of his years is past finding out.
27 “He draws up the drops of water,
which distill as rain to the streams[c];
28 the clouds pour down their moisture
and abundant showers fall on mankind.
29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
how he thunders from his pavilion?
30 See how he scatters his lightning about him,
bathing the depths of the sea.
31 This is the way he governs[d] the nations
and provides food in abundance.
32 He fills his hands with lightning
and commands it to strike its mark.
33 His thunder announces the coming storm;
even the cattle make known its approach.[e]
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Micah 7:8-9,18-20
Israel Will Rise
Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
9 Because I have sinned against him,
I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
I will see his righteousness.
18 Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
19 You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
20 You will be faithful to Jacob,
and show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
in days long ago.
Insight
Today’s reading contains a song of victory. Israel, who has been judged for a cold heart and acts of disobedience, will one day respond gladly with obedience to God. The nation will find light in the Lord’s presence. Interestingly, the passage shares a similar spirit to Moses’ Song of the Sea: “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11).
Micah underscores that God detests those leaders who unscrupulously use their position of power to fleece the helpless and to corrupt courts of justice. But the message of hope is clear to all who repent with heartfelt sincerity and wish to return to a place of genuine obedience.
The Crash
By Randy Kilgore
He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness. —Micah 7:9
For years after the Great Depression, the stock market struggled to win back investors’ confidence. Then, in 1952, Harry Markowitz suggested that investors spread their stock holdings over several companies and industries. He developed a theory for portfolio selection that helped investors in uncertain times. In 1990, Markowitz and two others won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their theory.
Like those jittery investors, we followers of Jesus may also find ourselves frozen in fear after a “crash” in our personal lives, unsure how to pick up the pieces and move on. We might even spend our remaining lives waiting for a “Markowitz moment,” when one big idea or action can help us recover from a previous failure.
We forget that Jesus has already done that on our behalf. He covered our shame, and He set us free to fellowship with God and serve Him daily. Because He gave His life, and rose from the dead, when we “fall,” we can “arise” with Him, for “He delights in mercy” (Micah 7:8,18).
The moment we find Jesus, our eternity with Him begins. He walks alongside us so He can change us into the people we long to be and were created to be.
Father, my actions aren’t adequate to fix my
failures. Thank You for doing that through
Your Son Jesus who gave Himself for us.
Help me to look up and walk with You.
Look up from your failure, and you’ll find God standing ready to receive you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Unquestion Revelation
In that day you will ask Me nothing —John 16:23
When is “that day”? It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. “In that day” you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, “In that day you will ask Me nothing.” Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone— you don’t seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why aren’t you?
“In that day” there may be any number of things still hidden to your understanding, but they will not come between your heart and God. “In that day you will ask Me nothing”— you will not need to ask, because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will. The faith and peace of John 14:1 has become the real attitude of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature— that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. “In that day you will ask Me nothing.”
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Knowing When It's Time To Run - #7143
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Our son-in-law can only sit still for so long. When we lived back East, there was this one time when he was visiting us that he reached his limit regarding that. So he grabbed his basketball and went out to the hoop in our back yard. Now, it was a pretty primitive basketball setup. It was just several boards nailed to a tree at the back of our driveway. So, you know, very homemade, wooden backboard.
He was working up a sweat out there, shooting and dribbling. And suddenly he noticed a big bee buzzing around his head. He realized that it had come from around the hoop and the backboard. Upon closer inspection, he saw a beehive there. Not too much closer, he just looked and there it was.
Apparently, those bees were not happy about that basketball causing repeated hive-quakes, or whatever you call it. So they began to respond. My son-in-law told me what he had to do. He didn't try to ignore the bees and keep playing his game. No! He didn't try to kill the bees. He ran into the house as fast as he could. He really was smart and ran into the house. He demonstrated his intelligence.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Knowing When It's Time To Run."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Timothy 2:22. It says, "Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace." Notice, "flee the evil desires of youth." Now, lots of people have ended up in a sexual sin that they thought they would never commit. Very few people of character plan to fall into adultery or sexual sin or premarital sex or going farther than their standards and God's standards would allow them.
I once received a letter from a young listener, and she poured out her heart in it. I had begun a program talking about some of the statistics about how many young people have had pre-marital sex. And she said, "Until a month ago, I never dreamed I'd be one of those statistics." She went on to talk about how she had made a series of choices that brought her into a situation where she was vulnerable, where there was an opportunity to sin. She never wanted to, she never planned to, but she did. She was really hurting. It was a heartbreaking letter.
Now, this verse addresses how to avoid that. "Flee evil desires of youth." There are three things you can do with sexual temptation. One, you can flirt with it. That would be like if our son-in-law got on a ladder and inspected that beehive; trying to see how close he could get to it without getting stung. That would be dumb. And it's dumb when you try to do that with sexual temptation. The Bible calls sexual desire "fire in your lap." That's pretty explicit language to describe how you're only going to get burned if you flirt with it.
The second thing you can do is you can fight sexual temptation. Well, that would be like our son-in-law staying out there still shooting his baskets, just trying to swat or kill every bee. Sexual desire will almost always ultimately win unless you get away from it. It's overpowering stuff if you allow yourself to be in a situation where you can dwell on it, where you can act on it, or be around it for very long.
The third thing is what the Bible says to do. "Flee from it." Be realistic. Don't underestimate sexual temptation. Don't underestimate your ability to fall. Don't get anywhere close to it. You're never going to win morally unless you get as far from sexual temptation as possible. That girl in that letter spoke for millions who have had sex before marriage or outside their marriage vows. She said it just isn't worth it.
So get rid of any input that feeds your lust; a movie channel, a website, music, a magazine, humor, certain things on television. And avoid settings where you're alone with someone of the opposite sex for any extended time. Change what you're doing at the very first thought of anything wrong.
Hey, our son-in-law was smart. He knew you don't flirt with or you don't even fight what can really sting you. He ran! That's how you win against temptation. Believe me, too many people have already been stung.