Max Lucado Daily: God’s Thoughts
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts—we aren’t even in the same neighborhood! Psalm 92:5 sets the standard! “Lord you have done such great things! How deep are your thoughts!”
When we’re thinking preserve the body, God is thinking save the soul. When we dream of a pay raise God dreams of raising the dead. We avoid pain and seek peace while God uses pain to bring peace. I’m going to live before I die, we resolve. But God instructs, Die so you can live. We love what rusts but God loves what endures. We rejoice at our successes but God rejoices at our confessions.
We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, “Be like him!” God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and a torn side and says, “Be like Christ!”
From Grace for the Moment
Hosea 10
You Thought You Could Do It All on Your Own
Israel was once a lush vine,
bountiful in grapes.
The more lavish the harvest,
the more promiscuous the worship.
The more money they got,
the more they squandered on gods-in-their-own-image.
Their sweet smiles are sheer lies.
They’re guilty as sin.
God will smash their worship shrines,
pulverize their god-images.
3-4 They go around saying,
“Who needs a king?
We couldn’t care less about God,
so why bother with a king?
What difference would he make?”
They talk big,
lie through their teeth,
make deals.
But their high-sounding words
turn out to be empty words, litter in the gutters.
5-6 The people of Samaria travel over to Crime City
to worship the golden calf-god.
They go all out, prancing and hollering,
taken in by their showmen priests.
They act so important around the calf-god,
but are oblivious to the sham, the shame.
They have plans to take it to Assyria,
present it as a gift to the great king.
And so Ephraim makes a fool of himself,
disgraces Israel with his stupid idols.
7-8 Samaria is history. Its king
is a dead branch floating down the river.
Israel’s favorite sin centers
will all be torn down.
Thistles and crabgrass
will decorate their ruined altars.
Then they’ll say to the mountains, “Bury us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9-10 You got your start in sin at Gibeah—
that ancient, unspeakable, shocking sin—
And you’ve been at it ever since.
And Gibeah will mark the end of it
in a war to end all the sinning.
I’ll come to teach them a lesson.
Nations will gang up on them,
Making them learn the hard way
the sum of Gibeah plus Gibeah.
11-15 Ephraim was a trained heifer
that loved to thresh.
Passing by and seeing her strong, sleek neck,
I wanted to harness Ephraim,
Put Ephraim to work in the fields—
Judah plowing, Jacob harrowing:
Sow righteousness,
reap love.
It’s time to till the ready earth,
it’s time to dig in with God,
Until he arrives
with righteousness ripe for harvest.
But instead you plowed wicked ways,
reaped a crop of evil and ate a salad of lies.
You thought you could do it all on your own,
flush with weapons and manpower.
But the volcano of war will erupt among your people.
All your defense posts will be leveled
As viciously as king Shalman
leveled the town of Beth-arba,
When mothers and their babies
were smashed on the rocks.
That’s what’s ahead for you, you so-called people of God,
because of your off-the-charts evil.
Some morning you’re going to wake up
and find Israel, king and kingdom, a blank—nothing.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, December 04, 2016
Read: Psalm 119:161–168
I’ve been slandered unmercifully by the politicians,
but my awe at your words keeps me stable.
I’m ecstatic over what you say,
like one who strikes it rich.
I hate lies—can’t stand them!—
but I love what you have revealed.
Seven times each day I stop and shout praises
for the way you keep everything running right.
For those who love what you reveal, everything fits—
no stumbling around in the dark for them.
I wait expectantly for your salvation;
God, I do what you tell me.
My soul guards and keeps all your instructions—
oh, how much I love them!
I follow your directions, abide by your counsel;
my life’s an open book before you.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. It uses eight different Hebrew words (each of them found between nineteen and twenty-five times in the chapter) related to God’s “law”—God’s written Word. Often Psalm 119 describes God’s Word as being more precious than gold (see vv. 72, 127). If God’s Word is your most treasured possession, how is that reflected in your life? Have you considered memorizing verses that stand out in your mind as you hear them proclaimed, sung, or read? How might you plan during this annual season to incorporate more of Scripture’s joyful message into your life?
The Treasure in Tomb 7
By Keila Ochoa
I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. Psalm 119:162
In 1932, Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Caso discovered Tomb 7 at Monte Alban, Oaxaca. He found more than four hundred artifacts, including hundreds of pieces of pre-Hispanic jewelry he called “The Treasure of Monte Alban.” It is one of the major finds of Mexican archaeology. One can only imagine Caso’s excitement as he held a jade cup in its purest form.
Centuries earlier, the psalmist wrote of a treasure more valuable than gold or rock crystal. He said, “I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil” (Ps. 119:162). In Psalm 119, the writer knew how valuable God’s instructions and promises are to our lives, so he compared them to the great treasure that comes in hand with the victory of a conqueror.
God’s Word is a valuable possession and a guide to life.
Caso’s name is remembered today because of his discovery in Tomb 7. We can enjoy it if we visit a museum in Oaxaca. However, the psalmist’s treasure is at our fingertips. Day by day we can dig into the Scriptures and find diamonds of promises, rubies of hope, and emeralds of wisdom. But by far the greatest thing we find is the person whom the book points to: Jesus Himself. After all, He is the Author of the book.
Let us seek diligently with the confidence that this is the treasure that will enrich us. As the psalmist said, “Your laws are my treasure; they are my heart’s delight” (v. 111 nlt).
Father, I want to value the Scriptures as a treasure. Help me enjoy Your Word every day.
God’s Word is a valuable possession and a guide to life.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, December 04, 2016
The Law of Opposition
To him who overcomes… —Revelation 2:7
Life without war is impossible in the natural or the supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life.
Health is the balance between the physical parts of my body and all the things and forces surrounding me. To maintain good health I must have sufficient internal strength to fight off the things that are external. Everything outside my physical life is designed to cause my death. The very elements that sustain me while I am alive work to decay and disintegrate my body once it is dead. If I have enough inner strength to fight, I help to produce the balance needed for health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a strong and active mental life, I have to fight. This struggle produces the mental balance called thought.
Morally it is the same. Anything that does not strengthen me morally is the enemy of virtue within me. Whether I overcome, thereby producing virtue, depends on the level of moral excellence in my life. But we must fight to be moral. Morality does not happen by accident; moral virtue is acquired.
And spiritually it is also the same. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation…” (John 16:33). This means that anything which is not spiritual leads to my downfall. Jesus went on to say, “…but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.
Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Facing Reality, 34 R
