Max Lucado Daily: Only You and God
When I lived in Brazil I took my mom and her friend to see Iguacu Falls, the largest water falls in the world. I’d become an expert by reading an article in National Geographic magazine. Surely, I thought, my guests would appreciate their good fortune in having me as their guide.
To reach the lookout point, you must walk a winding trail that leads through a forest. I used the time to give a nature report to my mom and her friend. I caught myself speaking louder and louder. Finally I was shouting above the roar. Even my mother would rather see the splendor than hear my description. So, I shut my mouth.
There are times when to speak is to violate the moment. When silence represents the highest respect. The word for such times is reverence. The prayer for such times is “Hallowed be Thy name!” (Matthew 6:9).
from The Great House of God
Psalm 117
Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Praise him, all you people of the earth.
2 For his unfailing love for us is powerful;
the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, April 03, 2016
Read: Exodus 31:1-11
Craftsmen: Bezalel and Oholiab
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Look, I have specifically chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. 4 He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. 5 He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft!
6 “And I have personally appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to be his assistant. Moreover, I have given special skill to all the gifted craftsmen so they can make all the things I have commanded you to make:
7 the Tabernacle;[a]
the Ark of the Covenant;[b]
the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement;
all the furnishings of the Tabernacle;
8 the table and its utensils;
the pure gold lampstand with all its accessories;
the incense altar;
9 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils;
the washbasin with its stand;
10 the beautifully stitched garments—the sacred garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to wear as they minister as priests;
11 the anointing oil;
the fragrant incense for the Holy Place.
The craftsmen must make everything as I have commanded you.”
Footnotes:
31:7a Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
31:7b Hebrew the Ark of the Testimony.
INSIGHT:
The tabernacle was to function as God’s dwelling place where the Israelites could come before His presence (Ex. 25:8). It was built according to God’s blueprint. He especially appointed two craftsmen—Bezalel and Oholiab (31:1–6)—and gave them the ability to lead the work and teach others (35:30–35). God spoke of a special empowering of Bezalel: God “filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills” (31:3). God also provided the skilled workers needed to build the tabernacle and gave each of them the ability to make everything exactly as He wanted it made (vv. 6,11; 36:1). Sim Kay Tee
The Blacksmith and the King
By Randy Kilgore
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23
In 1878, when Scotsman Alexander Mackay arrived in what is now Uganda to serve as a missionary, he first set up a blacksmith forge among a tribe ruled by King Mutesa. Villagers gathered around this stranger who worked with his hands, puzzled because everyone “knew” that work was for women. At that time, men in Uganda never worked with their hands. They raided other villages to capture slaves, selling them to outsiders. Yet here was this foreign man at work forging farming tools.
Mackay’s work ethic and life resulted in relationships with the villagers and gained him an audience with the king. Mackay challenged King Mutesa to end the slave trade, and he did.
God calls us to know Him more fully—and He will show us how to serve Him
In Scripture, we read of Bezalel and Oholiab, who were chosen and gifted by God to work with their hands designing the tent of meeting and all its furnishings for worship (Ex. 31:1-11). Like Mackay, they honored and served God with their talent and labor.
We tend to categorize our work as either church work or secular. In truth, there is no distinction. God designs each of us in ways that make our contributions to the kingdom unique and meaningful. Even when we have little choice in where or how we work, God calls us to know Him more fully—and He will show us how to serve Him—right now.
Father, grant me an awareness of my place in Your work. Help me to see You at work in the people and places where I spend my time.
God will show us how to serve Him—wherever we are.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, April 03, 2016
“If You Had Known!”
If you had known…in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. —Luke 19:42
Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly and the city was stirred to its very foundations, but a strange god was there– the pride of the Pharisees. It was a god that seemed religious and upright, but Jesus compared it to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).
What is it that blinds you to the peace of God “in this your day”? Do you have a strange god– not a disgusting monster but perhaps an unholy nature that controls your life? More than once God has brought me face to face with a strange god in my life, and I knew that I should have given it up, but I didn’t do it. I got through the crisis “by the skin of my teeth,” only to find myself still under the control of that strange god. I am blind to the very things that make for my own peace. It is a shocking thing that we can be in the exact place where the Spirit of God should be having His completely unhindered way with us, and yet we only make matters worse, increasing our blame in God’s eyes.
“If you had known….” God’s words here cut directly to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind them. These words imply responsibility for our own faults. God holds us accountable for what we refuse to see or are unable to see because of our sin. And “now they are hidden from your eyes” because you have never completely yielded your nature to Him. Oh, the deep, unending sadness for what might have been! God never again opens the doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut– doors which had no need to be shut. Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R
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