Max Lucado Daily: 25 QUESTIONS FOR MARY
A teacher friend of mine asked her students to make a list of questions they would like to ask Mary. Their responses included: What was Jesus’ first word? Did he ever get sick? Did Jesus ever misbehave? All legitimate questions. The fact that we can ask these questions raises an even greater one. Why did God go so far? Why did He become a human being?
A chief reason is God wants you to know that he gets you. The Bible says in the Book of Hebrews that he understands how you feel and has faced what you face (4:15-16). Jesus has been through weakness and testing; he’s experienced it all—all but the sin! So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help! Because of Bethlehem, you can boldly go to him!
From Because of Bethlehem
Hosea 14
Come Back! Return to Your God!
1-3 O Israel, come back! Return to your God!
You’re down but you’re not out.
Prepare your confession
and come back to God.
Pray to him, “Take away our sin,
accept our confession.
Receive as restitution
our repentant prayers.
Assyria won’t save us;
horses won’t get us where we want to go.
We’ll never again say ‘our god’
to something we’ve made or made up.
You’re our last hope. Is it not true
that in you the orphan finds mercy?”
4-8 “I will heal their waywardness.
I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out.
I will make a fresh start with Israel.
He’ll burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring.
He’ll put down deep oak tree roots,
he’ll become a forest of oaks!
He’ll become splendid—like a giant sequoia,
his fragrance like a grove of cedars!
Those who live near him will be blessed by him,
be blessed and prosper like golden grain.
Everyone will be talking about them,
spreading their fame as the vintage children of God.
Ephraim is finished with gods that are no-gods.
From now on I’m the one who answers and satisfies him.
I am like a luxuriant fruit tree.
Everything you need is to be found in me.”
9 If you want to live well,
make sure you understand all of this.
If you know what’s good for you,
you’ll learn this inside and out.
God’s paths get you where you want to go.
Right-living people walk them easily;
wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 08, 2016
Read: Nehemiah 12:27–43
Dedication of the Wall
27-29 When it came time for the dedication of the wall, they tracked down and brought in the Levites from all their homes in Jerusalem to carry out the dedication exuberantly: thanksgiving hymns, songs, cymbals, harps, and lutes. The singers assembled from all around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites, from Beth Gilgal, from the farms at Geba and Azmaveth—the singers had built villages for themselves all around Jerusalem.
30 The priests and Levites ceremonially purified themselves; then they did the same for the people, the gates, and the wall.
31-36 I had the leaders of Judah come up on the wall, and I appointed two large choirs. One proceeded on the wall to the right toward the Dung Gate. Hashaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed them, including Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah. Some of the young priests had trumpets. Next, playing the musical instruments of David the man of God, came Zechariah son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, and his brothers Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani. Ezra the scholar led them.
37 At the Fountain Gate they went straight ahead, up the steps of the City of David using the wall stairway above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east.
38-39 The other choir proceeded to the left. I and half of the people followed them on the wall from the Tower of Furnaces to the Broad Wall, over the Ephraim Gate, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred as far as the Sheep Gate, stopping at the Prison Gate.
40-42 The two choirs then took their places in The Temple of God. I was there with half of the officials, along with the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah with their trumpets. Also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers, directed by Jezrahiah, made the rafters ring.
43 That day they offered great sacrifices, an exuberant celebration because God had filled them with great joy. The women and children raised their happy voices with all the rest. Jerusalem’s jubilation was heard far and wide.
INSIGHT:
Nehemiah spearheaded a magnificent public music celebration. Four types of musical instruments are identified in verses 27 and 35—cymbals, harps, lyres, and trumpets. Cymbals are an example of metal percussion instruments. Like drums, cymbals usually help sustain a musical beat. Also included were harps and lyres. Harps may have been smaller than lyres and less lavish (2 Chron. 9:11). Trumpets (Neh. 12:35, 41) were the wind instruments. These were not the curvy rams’ horns or shofars, but were straight metal horns used for assembling armies and ambushes (Num. 10:1–10; 2 Chron. 5:12).
Surround Sound
By Dave Branon
The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. Nehemiah 12:43
Walt Disney Studios was the first to introduce a new concept in listening to movies. It was called “stereophonic sound” or surround sound, and it was developed because producers wanted the movie-going audience to hear the music in a new way.
But this wasn’t the first use of “surround sound.” Thousands of years earlier, Nehemiah introduced the idea at the dedication of the rebuilt wall of Jerusalem. “I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall,” he explained. “I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks” (Neh. 12:31). The two choirs began at the southern part of the wall, at the Dung Gate. One went to the left, one went to the right, and they surrounded the city of Jerusalem in praise as they marched toward the temple (vv. 31, 37–40).
We offer You our hearts in response to Your great power, loving provision, and constant care.
The choirs led the people in rejoicing because “God had given them great joy” (v. 43). In fact, their rejoicing “could be heard far away” (v. 43).
Their praise resulted from God’s help as the people overcame the opposition of enemies like Sanballat and rebuilt the wall. What has God given us that causes our joy to overflow into praise? God’s clear direction in our lives? The comfort He alone can provide in times of trouble? Or our ultimate gift: salvation?
Perhaps we can’t create “surround sound” with our praise, but we can rejoice in the joy God has given us. Then others can hear us praise God and see how He works.
We praise You, O Lord—with words, with song, and with our lives. We offer You our hearts in response to Your great power, loving provision, and constant care.
We can never praise Jesus too much!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 08, 2016
The Impartial Power of God
By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. —Hebrews 10:14
We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of Christ, which He has provided for us. “…Christ Jesus…became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Once we realize that Christ has become all this for us, the limitless joy of God begins in us. And wherever the joy of God is not present, the death sentence is still in effect.
No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless. It is knocking at a door other than the one which Jesus has already opened. We protest by saying, “But I don’t want to come that way. It is too humiliating to be received as a sinner.” God’s response, through Peter, is, “… there is no other name…by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). What at first appears to be heartlessness on God’s part is actually the true expression of His heart. There is unlimited entrance His way. “In Him we have redemption through His blood…” (Ephesians 1:7). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.
God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement by the Cross of Christ is the propitiation God uses to make unholy people holy.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God. Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 08, 2016
Needless Pain - #7804
My dad was a tenderhearted man. If he was around when we had to discipline our daughter, he left the room. He knew she needed it, but he just couldn't stand to be there for it. I had a little of that feeling at one point when our son had one of those defining disciplinary moments with our then three-year-old granddaughter over a piece of gum. We were in the car and our little girl had been chewing some gum, and she was starting to fall asleep. Mommy told her to spit out her gum so she wouldn't choke on it when she went to sleep. This little girl, who is amazingly well-behaved because of her parents' really fair and consistent discipline, chose to defy her Mother on this one. It's funny the battles they choose, isn't it? She wasn't going to relinquish her gum.
Daddy reinforced Mommy's order from the driver's seat. The more she was told to do it, the more defiant she got. It wasn't about gum, of course; the gum had to taste totally flat by this time. It was about her having her way no matter what. Well, Daddy threatened to ban chewing gum for a while. It didn't matter. Then he threatened to pull the car over and give her a spanking. (His spankings are kind but they're firm). Still no backing down on the gum. Finally, Daddy had no other responsible choice but to pull over, get out of the car with our little granddaughter and enforce the law. Afterwards, he hugged her, he reassured her of his love and Mommy's love, but the showdown over obeying...that was intense. Nobody was having fun, believe me. And no piece of gum could be that good.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Needless Pain."
As the showdown over getting rid of that gum escalated; as the price for disobeying got higher and higher, I thought, "Is that piece of gum really worth going through all of this?" Then I thought, "How many times has God looked at me and said the same thing? ‘Ron, why won't you obey Me on this? Is it really worth all the pain you're going through because you won't do what I say?'" We're all stubborn children, even when the Father we're defying is God Himself.
God's way is always the best way for us-the path of ultimate peace and joy and satisfaction and no regrets. But many of us have these showdown issues with God over something we refuse to let go of or we refuse to change. Maybe there's something in your life like that right now. You know God isn't happy with what you're doing or with the way you've let someone or something become more important to you than He is.
So the loving process described in Hebrews 12, beginning with verse 5 kicks in. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "The Lord disciplines those He loves...God disciplines us for our good...No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."
God loves you enough to discipline you when you're out of bounds. Maybe you're blaming the pain you're going through on the devil or on circumstances when, in fact, maybe your Heavenly Father is just trying to get your attention. And the more you defy Him, the more He has to increase the pain so you'll get the point.
It could be the pain you're going through right now is needless pain-pain which will actually stop at a time of your choosing when you finally give in and do it God's way. Whatever you have to stop, whatever you have to drop, whatever you have to fix, whatever you have to change, it's worth it to finally have God's full blessing along with His peace and His joy again.
And, you know, it may be that God has been turning up the heat simply because He knows how lost you have been without your relationship with Him. Often He will simply drive us by the storm into the port and the harbor of the love of Christ, expressed when He died on the cross to pay for your sin, walked out of His grave under His own power, and right now a lot of what you've been experiencing is to drive you into the arms of your Savior.
If you've never begun a relationship with this Jesus, who will walk through every dark valley of your life with you; you'll never be alone again. I invite you to our website, ANewStory.com where many people have found how they can discover a relationship with Him.
In a defiant little girl I saw myself, and maybe she's a picture of someone who's listening, too. Knowing what your Father has told you to do, stubbornly refusing to do it, experiencing ever more painful consequences, going through so much needless pain over something that just isn't worth it. It's time to obey and then experience again the enveloping, loving hug of your Heavenly Father. Come on back home.