Max Lucado Daily: Anger Lives in Sorrow's House
Why does grief linger? Because you're dealing with more than memories-you're dealing with unlived tomorrows. You're battling disappointment. You're also battling-anger!
It may be a flame. It may be a blowtorch. But anger lives in sorrow's house. Anger at self. Anger at life. Anger at the military or the hospital or the highway system. But most of all, anger at God. Anger that takes the form of the three-letter question-why? Why him? Why her? Why now? Why us? You and I both know I cannot answer that question. Only God knows the reasons behind His actions.
But a key truth on which we can stand is this-our God is a good God! Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the LORD is good." God is a good God. We must begin here. Though we don't understand His actions, we can trust His heart!
From Traveling Light
Luke 23:1-25
Jesus’ Trial before Pilate
Then the entire council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. 2 They began to state their case: “This man has been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is the Messiah, a king.”
3 So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus replied, “You have said it.”
4 Pilate turned to the leading priests and to the crowd and said, “I find nothing wrong with this man!”
5 Then they became insistent. “But he is causing riots by his teaching wherever he goes—all over Judea, from Galilee to Jerusalem!”
6 “Oh, is he a Galilean?” Pilate asked. 7 When they said that he was, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas, because Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time.
8 Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle. 9 He asked Jesus question after question, but Jesus refused to answer. 10 Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Finally, they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. 12 (Herod and Pilate, who had been enemies before, became friends that day.)
13 Then Pilate called together the leading priests and other religious leaders, along with the people, 14 and he announced his verdict. “You brought this man to me, accusing him of leading a revolt. I have examined him thoroughly on this point in your presence and find him innocent. 15 Herod came to the same conclusion and sent him back to us. Nothing this man has done calls for the death penalty. 16 So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.”[a]
18 Then a mighty roar rose from the crowd, and with one voice they shouted, “Kill him, and release Barabbas to us!” 19 (Barabbas was in prison for taking part in an insurrection in Jerusalem against the government, and for murder.) 20 Pilate argued with them, because he wanted to release Jesus. 21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
22 For the third time he demanded, “Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death. So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.”
23 But the mob shouted louder and louder, demanding that Jesus be crucified, and their voices prevailed. 24 So Pilate sentenced Jesus to die as they demanded. 25 As they had requested, he released Barabbas, the man in prison for insurrection and murder. But he turned Jesus over to them to do as they wished.
Footnotes:
23:16 Some manuscripts add verse 17, Now it was necessary for him to release one prisoner to them during the Passover celebration. Compare Matt 27:15; Mark 15:6; John 18:39.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Read: Psalm 40:1-5
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
3 He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.
4 Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord,
who have no confidence in the proud
or in those who worship idols.
5 O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us.
Your plans for us are too numerous to list.
You have no equal.
If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds,
I would never come to the end of them.
INSIGHT: David wrote about his struggles to trust God during difficult times, but he persisted in praying for His help (vv. 11-17). Despite his prolonged and uncertain waiting (vv. 13,17), David testified that God hears and answers prayers (vv. 1-2) and is worthy of our trust (vv. 3-4). In response to God’s faithfulness, David committed himself to obeying God’s Word and doing His will (vv. 6-8), and he calls on all who seek and long for God to join him in praising God (v. 16).
Stuck In The Mud
By Marion Stroud
He . . . brought me up out of . . . the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock. —Psalm 40:2
We were absolutely stuck! While I was laying the wreath in place on my parents’ grave, my husband eased the car off the road to allow another car to pass. It had rained for weeks and the parking area was sodden. When we were ready to leave, we discovered that the car was stuck. The wheels spun, sinking further and further into the mud.
We weren’t going anywhere without a push, but my husband had a damaged shoulder, and I had just come out of the hospital. We needed help! At a distance I saw two young men, and they responded cheerfully to my frantic waves and shouts. Thankfully, their combined strength pushed the car back onto the roadway.
Psalm 40 recounts God’s faithfulness when David cried for help. “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he . . . heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire” (vv.1-2 nlt). Whether this psalm refers to an actual pit or to challenging circumstances, David knew that he could always call on God for deliverance.
God will help us too when we call on Him. Sometimes He intervenes directly, but more often He works through other people. When we admit our need to Him—and perhaps to others—we can count on His faithfulness.
I praise You, heavenly Father, that You can rescue me from any pit, no matter how deep. Help me to accept the help of others and to be ready to offer it to those in need.
Hope comes with help from God and others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Our Careful Unbelief
…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. —Matthew 6:25
Jesus summed up commonsense carefulness in the life of a disciple as unbelief. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will squeeze right through our lives, as if to ask, “Now where do I come into this relationship, this vacation you have planned, or these new books you want to read?” And He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.
“…do not worry about your life….” Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the Word He puts in us? Is it the devil? No— “the cares of this world” (Matthew 13:22). It is always our little worries. We say, “I will not trust when I cannot see”— and that is where unbelief begins. The only cure for unbelief is obedience to the Spirit.
The greatest word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.
