Max Lucado Daily: Trust Me
"Daddy, how much farther?" It's the single question hated most by moms and dads on a trip. Our girls loved to watch The Little Mermaid, so Denalyn and I used the movie as an economy of scale. "How long, daddy?" they asked. And we'd respond, "About as long as it takes you to watch The Little Mermaid three times!" And for a few minutes it helped. But sooner or later they'd ask again and we'd say, "Just trust me. Enjoy the trip and don't worry about the details. I'll make sure we get home okay."
Sound familiar? In John 14:1-3 Jesus says, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. . .I will come back and take you to be with me. . ." Most all of his words here can be reduced to two: Trust me! A healthy reminder when it comes to anticipating the return of Christ!
From When Christ Comes
Psalm 33
Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
2 Praise the Lord with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.
4 For the word of the Lord is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
5 The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars[a];
he puts the deep into storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the people of the world revere him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
11 But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
13 From heaven the Lord looks down
and sees all mankind;
14 from his dwelling place he watches
all who live on earth—
15 he who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do.
16 No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
Footnotes:
Psalm 33:7 Or sea as into a heap
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, March 02, 2016
Read: Numbers 14:1–9
The People Rebel
Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. 2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained. 3 “Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the whole community of Israel. 6 Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. 7 They said to all the people of Israel, “The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! 8 And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. 9 Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!”
INSIGHT:
Twelve spies were sent to survey the land (Num. 13:17–20). They reported that the cities were well fortified and the people were of such great size that the spies felt like grasshoppers (vv. 28–33). This instilled fear and mistrust in the Israelites (14:1–4; Josh. 14:8). But Joshua and Caleb encouraged the people to trust God for protection (Num. 14:9).
Lurking Lions
By Tim Gustafson
The Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.
Numbers 14:9
When I was young, my dad would “scare” us by hiding in the bush and growling like a lion. Even though we lived in rural Ghana in the 1960s, it was almost impossible that a lion lurked nearby. My brother and I would laugh and seek out the source of the noise, thrilled that playtime with Dad had arrived.
One day a young friend came for a visit. As we played, we heard the familiar growl. Our friend screamed and ran. My brother and I knew the sound of my father’s voice—any “danger” was merely a phantom lion—but a funny thing happened. We ran with her. My dad felt terrible that our friend had been frightened, and my brother and I learned not to be influenced by the panicked reaction of others.
Caleb and Joshua stand out as men unfazed by the panic of others. As Israel was poised to enter the Promised Land, Moses commissioned 12 scouts to spy out the region. They all saw a beautiful territory, but 10 focused on the obstacles and discouraged the entire nation (Num. 13:27-33). In the process, they started a panic (14:1-4). Only Caleb and Joshua accurately assessed the situation (vv. 6-9). They knew the history of their Father and trusted Him to bring them success.
Some “lions” pose a genuine threat. Others are phantoms. Regardless, as followers of Jesus our confidence is in the One whose voice and deeds we know and trust.
Lord, we face many fears today. Help us distinguish between real danger and empty threats, and help us trust You with all of it. May we live not in fear, but in faith.
The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, March 02, 2016
Have You Felt the Pain Inflicted by the Lord?
He said to him the third time, "…do you love Me?" —John 21:17
Have you ever felt the pain, inflicted by the Lord, at the very center of your being, deep down in the most sensitive area of your life? The devil never inflicts pain there, and neither can sin nor human emotions. Nothing can cut through to that part of our being but the Word of God. “Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ ” Yet he was awakened to the fact that at the center of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus. And then he began to see what Jesus’ patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest bit of doubt left in Peter’s mind; he could never be deceived again. And there was no need for an impassioned response; no need for immediate action or an emotional display. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he simply said, “Lord, You know all things….” Peter began to see how very much he did love Jesus, and there was no need to say, “Look at this or that as proof of my love.” Peter was beginning to discover within himself just how much he really did love the Lord. He discovered that his eyes were so fixed on Jesus Christ that he saw no one else in heaven above or on the earth below. But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord were asked. The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.
Oh, the wonder of the patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Rarely, but probably once in each of our lives, He will back us into a corner where He will hurt us with His piercing questions. Then we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than our words can ever say.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, March 02, 2016
The Operation You Can't Perform - #7603
I'll sure never forget my Grandmother Irene. She was one funny lady. She laughed a lot, she gave me money a lot, and she was the life of the party. Some people in our family think she was a big influence on my personality. That's not a very nice thing to say about a woman who is no longer here to defend herself, right? But there's no doubt my grandmother did have a great impact on my life. I almost never got to meet her though, because she had a serious bout with cancer before I was even born. But she made it and I got an awesome grandma out of the deal. It took some radical action on the part of the doctor to save her though. He went in and totally removed the cancer and the areas around it. It was painful, it left some scars, but I'm sure thankful that he did what he had to do to keep her alive.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Operation You Can't Perform."
Removing the cancer – that was my grandmother's only hope for living longer. It's your only hope, too, of living forever.
Our word for today comes from John 1:29 where the prophet John has come to the wilderness of Israel, announcing that God's long-awaited Messiah was about to appear on the scene. Then one day John sees Jesus. And in one simple sentence he identifies Him and he announces the Savior's life-saving mission. "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.'" John says, "Man, this is it! The Sin-Remover is here. It's Jesus!"
That's why Jesus came, to remove the sin of the world. Or to understand the personal significance of what Jesus did, put your name in there. "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of (There's your name.) __________." Sin – that spiritual cancer that eats away at all our close relationships, that puts a wall between us and God, the God whose love we just need so desperately. It's a terminal spiritual cancer. The Bible says the wages of our sin is death – eternal banishment from the God who made us.
Somewhere deep in our soul, we're haunted by the sin of our lives. I know we are. I mean, there's shame, and there's guilt, and there's the fear of God's punishment. But how can you treat this cancer that poisons our life here and costs us heaven later? Removal – just like my grandmother's physical cancer. I'm glad the doctor didn't just give her a pain reliever to make her feel better. Some of us try one anesthetic after another to calm that sin-storm in our soul, and it never goes away.
Or we try to defend ourselves with all the good things we've done, "Hey, I'm not so bad after all." But talking about all the ways you're OK doesn't remove the cancer. God strikes down all our religiousness and goodness with these "straight talk" words from Ephesians 2:8-9, "By grace you are saved...not by works." There was nothing my grandmother could do to remove her own cancer except trust herself totally to the one who could remove it.
Isn't it time you did that with the deadly sin-cancer you've got? Isn't it time to trust yourself totally to the only One who can remove it? Not cover it, not compensate for it. Remove it so it never comes between you and God again; so it will not be there when you die, locking you out of heaven.
Jesus is your Sin-Remover because He became the Lamb of God. Like the Old Testament lambs slaughtered to pay sin's death penalty, God's own Son came to be put to death for your sin so you wouldn't have to pay that death penalty yourself. No one has ever loved you like Jesus.
If you've never trusted yourself to the only One who can remove your sin and its death penalty, if you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, this could be your day. Tell Him that you believe He's your only hope of being forgiven because He's the One who died to do that.
I would love to give you the information you need to begin your relationship with Jesus and be sure you belong to Him if you'd just go to our website. That's ANewStory.com.
The cancer is deadly, but it's not incurable. When you trust yourself to the Doctor – Dr. Jesus – you trade death for a life that will never end.