Max Lucado: Keep Waiting-God is at Work
I'm convinced the Sabbath was created for frantic souls like me, people who need a weekly reminder that the world will not stop if I do.
In one of the most dramatic examples of waiting in the Bible, Daniel prays for people who had been oppressed for seventy years. He abstained from food and drink for twenty-one days, as he labored in prayer, persisted, pleaded, and agonized. No response. On the twenty-second day an angel of God appeared. He revealed to Daniel that his prayer had been heard on the first day.
From an earthly perspective, nothing was happening. But from a heavenly perspective a battle was raging in the heavens. God was working! What if Daniel had given up…lost faith…or walked away from God? Consider these better questions: What if you give up? Lose faith? Walk away? Don't! God is at work. Keep waiting!
From You'll Get Through This
2 Samuel 15
Absalom’s Rebellion
After this, Absalom bought a chariot and horses, and he hired fifty bodyguards to run ahead of him. 2 He got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city. When people brought a case to the king for judgment, Absalom would ask where in Israel they were from, and they would tell him their tribe. 3 Then Absalom would say, “You’ve really got a strong case here! It’s too bad the king doesn’t have anyone to hear it. 4 I wish I were the judge. Then everyone could bring their cases to me for judgment, and I would give them justice!”
5 When people tried to bow before him, Absalom wouldn’t let them. Instead, he took them by the hand and kissed them. 6 Absalom did this with everyone who came to the king for judgment, and so he stole the hearts of all the people of Israel.
7 After four years,[a] Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron to offer a sacrifice to the Lord and fulfill a vow I made to him. 8 For while your servant was at Geshur in Aram, I promised to sacrifice to the Lord in Hebron[b] if he would bring me back to Jerusalem.”
9 “All right,” the king told him. “Go and fulfill your vow.”
So Absalom went to Hebron. 10 But while he was there, he sent secret messengers to all the tribes of Israel to stir up a rebellion against the king. “As soon as you hear the ram’s horn,” his message read, “you are to say, ‘Absalom has been crowned king in Hebron.’” 11 He took 200 men from Jerusalem with him as guests, but they knew nothing of his intentions. 12 While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel, one of David’s counselors who lived in Giloh. Soon many others also joined Absalom, and the conspiracy gained momentum.
David Escapes from Jerusalem
13 A messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell David, “All Israel has joined Absalom in a conspiracy against you!”
14 “Then we must flee at once, or it will be too late!” David urged his men. “Hurry! If we get out of the city before Absalom arrives, both we and the city of Jerusalem will be spared from disaster.”
15 “We are with you,” his advisers replied. “Do what you think is best.”
16 So the king and all his household set out at once. He left no one behind except ten of his concubines to look after the palace. 17 The king and all his people set out on foot, pausing at the last house 18 to let all the king’s men move past to lead the way. There were 600 men from Gath who had come with David, along with the king’s bodyguard.[c]
19 Then the king turned and said to Ittai, a leader of the men from Gath, “Why are you coming with us? Go on back to King Absalom, for you are a guest in Israel, a foreigner in exile. 20 You arrived only recently, and should I force you today to wander with us? I don’t even know where we will go. Go on back and take your kinsmen with you, and may the Lord show you his unfailing love and faithfulness.[d]”
21 But Ittai said to the king, “I vow by the Lord and by your own life that I will go wherever my lord the king goes, no matter what happens—whether it means life or death.”
22 David replied, “All right, come with us.” So Ittai and all his men and their families went along.
23 Everyone cried loudly as the king and his followers passed by. They crossed the Kidron Valley and then went out toward the wilderness.
24 Zadok and all the Levites also came along, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God. They set down the Ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices[e] until everyone had passed out of the city.
25 Then the king instructed Zadok to take the Ark of God back into the city. “If the Lord sees fit,” David said, “he will bring me back to see the Ark and the Tabernacle[f] again. 26 But if he is through with me, then let him do what seems best to him.”
27 The king also told Zadok the priest, “Look,[g] here is my plan. You and Abiathar[h] should return quietly to the city with your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. 28 I will stop at the shallows of the Jordan River[i] and wait there for a report from you.” 29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the Ark of God back to the city and stayed there.
30 David walked up the road to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered and his feet were bare as a sign of mourning. And the people who were with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed the hill. 31 When someone told David that his adviser Ahithophel was now backing Absalom, David prayed, “O Lord, let Ahithophel give Absalom foolish advice!”
32 When David reached the summit of the Mount of Olives where people worshiped God, Hushai the Arkite was waiting there for him. Hushai had torn his clothing and put dirt on his head as a sign of mourning. 33 But David told him, “If you go with me, you will only be a burden. 34 Return to Jerusalem and tell Absalom, ‘I will now be your adviser, O king, just as I was your father’s adviser in the past.’ Then you can frustrate and counter Ahithophel’s advice. 35 Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, will be there. Tell them about the plans being made in the king’s palace, 36 and they will send their sons Ahimaaz and Jonathan to tell me what is going on.”
37 So David’s friend Hushai returned to Jerusalem, getting there just as Absalom arrived.
Footnotes:
15:7 As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads forty years.
15:8 As in some Greek manuscripts; Hebrew lacks in Hebron.
15:18 Hebrew the Kerethites and Pelethites.
15:20 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads and may unfailing love and faithfulness go with you.
15:24 Or Abiathar went up.
15:25 Hebrew and his dwelling place.
15:27a As in Greek version; Hebrew reads Are you a seer? or Do you see?
15:27b Hebrew lacks and Abiathar; compare 15:29.
15:28 Hebrew at the crossing points of the wilderness.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:30-38
And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? 31 For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you. 32 And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus[a]—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”[b] 33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36 What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. 38 Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed.
Footnotes:
15:32a Greek fighting wild beasts in Ephesus.
15:32b Isa 22:13.
INSIGHT:
First Corinthians 15 is known by many as the resurrection chapter, for it is a key passage that defends the truth of Jesus’ resurrection and the believer’s hope of a future resurrection, after which we will live forever with Christ. Other accounts in the Bible of people who were raised from the dead include the widow’s son in Zarephath (1 Kings 17), Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5), a widow’s son (Luke 7), and Lazarus (John 11). In these instances, however, those raised from the dead would later die of natural causes.
Worth It All
By Mart DeHaan
What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. —1 Corinthians 15:36
By the end of the 4th century, followers of Christ were no longer being fed to the lions for the entertainment of Roman citizens. But the games of death continued until the day one man jumped out of the crowd in a bold attempt to keep two gladiators from killing each other.
His name was Telemachus. As a desert monk, he had come to Rome for the holidays only to find himself unable to tolerate the bloodlust of this popular pastime. According to the 5th-century bishop and church historian Theodoret, Telemachus cried out for the violence to stop but was stoned to death by the crowd. The Emperor Honorius heard about his courageous act and ordered an end to the games.
Some may question Telemachus. Was his action the only way to protest a tragic blood sport? The apostle Paul asked a similar question of himself: “Why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?” (1 Cor. 15:30). In 2 Corinthians 11:22-33, he chronicled some of his travails for the love of Christ, many of which could have killed him. Had it all been worth it?
In Paul’s mind the matter was settled. Trading things that will soon come to an end for honor that will last forever is a good investment. In the resurrection, a life that has been lived in behalf of Christ and others is seed for an eternity we will never regret.
Give us courage, Father, to make and live by choices that show the difference the love of Jesus makes in our lives. Help us not to trade away eternal values for convenience and comfort.
Now is the time to invest in eternity.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Receiving Yourself in the Fires of Sorrow
…what shall I say? "Father, save Me from this hour"? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name." —John 12:27-28
As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.
We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.
Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Seeing The Bigger Thing God's Doing - #7424
Back in the 1990s, the United Nations announced the appointment of a new Secretary General. His name was Kofi Annan. He was a highly respected African diplomat. And as the spotlight shifted to this new Secretary General, well, the reporters wanted to learn more about his life, including what I found to be an enlightening story that he told from his childhood.
His teacher came into his class one day when he was a boy and hung this big, white piece of paper on the board with a little black dot on it. Then the teacher asked a simple question of his class, "What do you see?" Well, of course, they're all shouting, "The dot! The black dot!" That's when the teacher said, "Interesting that everyone saw the black dot. Didn't anybody see this big white sheet of paper?" The Secretary General of the UN said he never forgot that lesson from that day in times when he was negotiating in the world's hot spots. People were divided because they were stuck staring at a little dot.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeing The Bigger Thing God's Doing."
Don't let the little dot make you miss the big picture. That was the lesson that changed the outlook of a future world leader, and it may be the same lesson you need right now because we usually make mistakes when all we're looking at is the dot in front of us. It was actually the mistake that the psalmist was making in our word for today from the Word of God, Psalm 73, beginning at verse 2, "But as for me, my feet had almost slipped. I had nearly lost my foothold, for I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked."
See, the writer was looking at his own struggle and comparing it with the apparently easy lives of those who didn't care about God. And he was in a downward spiral emotionally and spiritually. He says, "Surely in vein have I kept my heart pure." Well, part of his frustration is that he really can't tell anyone his dark feelings, because it would hurt people. He says, "If I had said I would speak thus.." In other words, if he had told how he felt, "...I would have betrayed your children."
This man's really hurting, and maybe you can identify. But in verse 17 - a sudden, dramatic turn. He says, "It was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God." From that point on in the psalm, the psalmist is hopeful and victorious. He's celebrating a God who guides him, who's always with him, who's working on a big, perfect plan. He says, "Whom have I in heaven but you, and on earth there's nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart." This is Psalm 73. Read it for yourself.
We have just read the heart of one man who was sinking for one basic reason. He was focused on the dot of his present circumstances, and a man who finally found relief and found hope when he focused instead on the big picture of God and all God was doing in his life; which is the same choice you have right now.
When you're only looking at the dot right in front of you, you usually make mistakes. It distorts your perspective and you sink into worry or discouragement when you focus on that dot of just the current situation. You hurt those you love when you focus just on what they're doing right now instead of on the big picture of your whole relationship with them.
You will fall to temptation when you just focus on that sinful opportunity - that temptation. Satan is dangling this desirable, seemingly good thing in front of you and he's got you focused on that, and you've lost your focus on the big picture of what this will do to your whole life. Maybe God's asking you right now, "So what do you see?" Did you see the dot right in front of you? Well, then, you're probably going to get it wrong.
Would you let your Lord lift your eyes to the larger canvas on which today's dot is very small? It's the canvas of an all-powerful, all-loving Father, working in your life His unstoppable, eternal plan for you.