Max Lucado Daily: Loaded With Fears
I don’t care how tough you are. You may be a Navy SEAL. Doesn’t matter. Every parent melts the moment he or she feels the full force of parenthood!
How did I get myself into this? My moment came in the midnight quiet of an apartment in downtown Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, as I held a human being—my daughter—in my arms.
The semi-truck of parenting comes loaded with fears. Will we have enough money? Enough answers? Enough education? It’s enough to keep a parent awake at night.
God has a heart for parents! Are we surprised? After all, God himself is a father. What parental emotion has he not felt? But because of his great love for us, Romans says, “he did not spare his own son but gave him for us all. So with Jesus, God will surely give us all things!”
ALL THINGS—must include courage and hope!
1 Chronicles 1
From Adam to Noah’s Sons
1 The descendants of Adam were Seth, Enosh, 2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, 3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, 4 and Noah.
The sons of Noah were[a] Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Descendants of Japheth
5 The descendants of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
6 The descendants of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath,[b] and Togarmah.
7 The descendants of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.
Descendants of Ham
8 The descendants of Ham were Cush, Mizraim,[c] Put, and Canaan.
9 The descendants of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The descendants of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan. 10 Cush was also the ancestor of Nimrod, who was the first heroic warrior on earth.
11 Mizraim was the ancestor of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 12 Pathrusites, Casluhites, and the Caphtorites, from whom the Philistines came.[d]
13 Canaan’s oldest son was Sidon, the ancestor of the Sidonians. Canaan was also the ancestor of the Hittites,[e] 14 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 15 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 16 Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites.
Descendants of Shem
17 The descendants of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
The descendants of Aram were[f] Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.[g]
18 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah.
Shelah was the father of Eber.
19 Eber had two sons. The first was named Peleg (which means “division”), for during his lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language groups. His brother’s name was Joktan.
20 Joktan was the ancestor of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 21 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 22 Obal,[h] Abimael, Sheba, 23 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were descendants of Joktan.
24 So this is the family line descended from Shem: Arphaxad, Shelah,[i] 25 Eber, Peleg, Reu, 26 Serug, Nahor, Terah, 27 and Abram, later known as Abraham.
Descendants of Abraham
28 The sons of Abraham were Isaac and Ishmael. 29 These are their genealogical records:
The sons of Ishmael were Nebaioth (the oldest), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 30 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, 31 Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael.
32 The sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine, were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
The sons of Jokshan were Sheba and Dedan.
33 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah.
All these were descendants of Abraham through his concubine Keturah.
Descendants of Isaac
34 Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac were Esau and Israel.[j]
Descendants of Esau
35 The sons of Esau were Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
36 The descendants of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho,[k] Gatam, Kenaz, and Amalek, who was born to Timna.[l]
37 The descendants of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.
Original Peoples of Edom
38 The descendants of Seir were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.
39 The descendants of Lotan were Hori and Hemam.[m] Lotan’s sister was named Timna.
40 The descendants of Shobal were Alvan,[n] Manahath, Ebal, Shepho,[o] and Onam.
The descendants of Zibeon were Aiah and Anah.
41 The son of Anah was Dishon.
The descendants of Dishon were Hemdan,[p] Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.
42 The descendants of Ezer were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.[q]
The descendants of Dishan[r] were Uz and Aran.
Rulers of Edom
43 These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites[s]:
Bela son of Beor, who ruled from his city of Dinhabah.
44 When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah became king in his place.
45 When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites became king in his place.
46 When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad became king in his place and ruled from the city of Avith. He was the one who destroyed the Midianite army in the land of Moab.
47 When Hadad died, Samlah from the city of Masrekah became king in his place.
48 When Samlah died, Shaul from the city of Rehoboth-on-the-River became king in his place.
49 When Shaul died, Baal-hanan son of Acbor became king in his place.
50 When Baal-hanan died, Hadad became king in his place and ruled from the city of Pau.[t] His wife was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Me-zahab. 51 Then Hadad died.
The clan leaders of Edom were Timna, Alvah,[u] Jetheth, 52 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 53 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 54 Magdiel, and Iram. These are the clan leaders of Edom.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, May 08, 2016
Read: Isaiah 49:13-21
Sing for joy, O heavens!
Rejoice, O earth!
Burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on them in their suffering.
14 Yet Jerusalem[a] says, “The Lord has deserted us;
the Lord has forgotten us.”
15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
I would not forget you!
16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
17 Soon your descendants will come back,
and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
18 Look around you and see,
for all your children will come back to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.
19 “Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land
will soon be crowded with your people.
Your enemies who enslaved you
will be far away.
20 The generations born in exile will return and say,
‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
21 Then you will think to yourself,
‘Who has given me all these descendants?
For most of my children were killed,
and the rest were carried away into exile.
I was left here all alone.
Where did all these people come from?
Who bore these children?
Who raised them for me?’”
Footnotes:
49:14 Hebrew Zion.
INSIGHT:
The love of a mother for her newborn child serves as a powerful symbol of God’s love for us. Life has its inevitable painful surprises and upsets, and we can sometimes be tempted to doubt the goodness, protection, and provision of the God who has redeemed us. But as this wonderful Bible passage shows, our heavenly Father could no more forget about us than a nursing mother can turn her back on her child. The example of faithful parental care can serve as a reminder of God’s never-ending love.
Not Forgotten
By Lawrence Darmani
I will not forget you! Isaiah 49:15
At her mother’s 50th birthday celebration with hundreds of people present, firstborn daughter Kukua recounted what her mother had done for her. The times were hard, Kukua remembered, and funds were scarce in the home. But her single mother deprived herself of personal comfort, selling her precious jewelry and other possessions in order to put Kukua through high school. With tears in her eyes, Kukua said that no matter how difficult things were, her mother never abandoned her or her siblings.
God compared His love for His people with a mother’s love for her child. When the people of Israel felt abandoned by God during their exile, they complained: “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me” (Isa. 49:14). But God said, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (v. 15).
Thank You, Lord, that I am Yours forever.
When we are distressed or disillusioned, we may feel abandoned by society, family, and friends, but God does not abandon us. It is a great encouragement that the Lord says, "I have engraved you on the palms of my hands" (v. 16) to indicate how much He knows and protects us. Even if people forsake us, God will never forsake His own.
Thank You, Lord, that I am Yours forever. I’m thankful that I won’t have to walk through any experience alone.
God never forgets us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, May 08, 2016
The Faith to Persevere
Because you have kept My command to persevere… —Revelation 3:10
Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.
God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption
