Max Lucado Daily: TEXAS CHURCH TRAGEDY
Hello, everyone. This is Max Lucado joining with you in offering urgent prayers for the community of Sutherland Springs, Texas. It’s hard to believe that this peace-loving, God-fearing community was victimized in, of all places, a church service.
We pray for their recovery and for peace. And we are reminded that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers of this present darkness.
We are praying for the quick and speedy demise of the devil. And we are urgent in our prayers for the return of Christ in which He will establish a kingdom of peace, once and for all, with the banishment of evil, and filled with the goodness of God. Amen.
Job 15
Eliphaz Attacks Again
You Trivialize Religion
1-16 Eliphaz of Teman spoke a second time:
“If you were truly wise, would you sound so much like a
windbag, belching hot air?
Would you talk nonsense in the middle of a serious argument,
babbling baloney?
Look at you! You trivialize religion,
turn spiritual conversation into empty gossip.
It’s your sin that taught you to talk this way.
You chose an education in fraud.
Your own words have exposed your guilt.
It’s nothing I’ve said—you’ve incriminated yourself!
Do you think you’re the first person to have to deal with
these things?
Have you been around as long as the hills?
Were you listening in when God planned all this?
Do you think you’re the only one who knows anything?
What do you know that we don’t know?
What insights do you have that we’ve missed?
Gray beards and white hair back us up—
old folks who’ve been around a lot longer than you.
Are God’s promises not enough for you,
spoken so gently and tenderly?
Why do you let your emotions take over,
lashing out and spitting fire,
Pitting your whole being against God
by letting words like this come out of your mouth?
Do you think it’s possible for any mere mortal to be sinless
in God’s sight,
for anyone born of a human mother to get it all together?
Why, God can’t even trust his holy angels.
He sees the flaws in the very heavens themselves,
So how much less we humans, smelly and foul,
who lap up evil like water?
Always at Odds with God
17-26 “I’ve a thing or two to tell you, so listen up!
I’m letting you in on my views;
It’s what wise men and women have always taught,
holding nothing back from what they were taught
By their parents, back in the days
when they had this land all to themselves:
Those who live by their own rules, not God’s, can expect
nothing but trouble,
and the longer they live, the worse it gets.
Every little sound terrifies them.
Just when they think they have it made, disaster strikes.
They despair of things ever getting better—
they’re on the list of people for whom things always turn out
for the worst.
They wander here and there,
never knowing where the next meal is coming from—
every day is doomsday!
They live in constant terror,
always with their backs up against the wall
Because they insist on shaking their fists at God,
defying God Almighty to his face,
Always and ever at odds with God,
always on the defensive.
27-35 “Even if they’re the picture of health,
trim and fit and youthful,
They’ll end up living in a ghost town
sleeping in a hovel not fit for a dog,
a ramshackle shack.
They’ll never get ahead,
never amount to a hill of beans.
And then death—don’t think they’ll escape that!
They’ll end up shriveled weeds,
brought down by a puff of God’s breath.
There’s a lesson here: Whoever invests in lies,
gets lies for interest,
Paid in full before the due date.
Some investment!
They’ll be like fruit frost-killed before it ripens,
like buds sheared off before they bloom.
The godless are fruitless—a barren crew;
a life built on bribes goes up in smoke.
They have sex with sin and give birth to evil.
Their lives are wombs for breeding deceit.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, November 07, 2017
Read: Ruth 4:13–17
Naomi Gains a Son
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
INSIGHT
Placed in the same time period as the book of Judges, the book of Ruth complements the bleak tone of Judges with a hopeful focus on God’s unconditional faithfulness. The most central character in this book is Naomi, who receives renewed hope after her own resources are gone.
The concept of “redemption” in Ruth refers to the practice of a “guardian-redeemer.” The redeemer restores losses due to tragedy for a close relative. The guardian-redeemer’s role might involve some self-sacrifice, for restoring the relative’s inheritance or family line meant the possibility of not creating his own family line. In the book of Ruth, after the death of Naomi’s husband and sons, Boaz chooses to restore Elimelek and Naomi’s family line through marrying Ruth and considering her child as Naomi’s.
But “redemption” also had a deeper meaning for Israel, pointing them to their hope of God restoring them (often portrayed as redemption; see, for example, Ex. 6:6–8; Isa. 43:1). Ultimately, it was God, not Boaz, who restored Naomi (Ruth 4:14). And from Ruth’s family came David (v. 22) and eventually Jesus, who restores all believers into relationship with God.
When have you, like Naomi, experienced God’s restoration despite feelings of despair? - Monica Brands
Second Chances
By Keila Ochoa
He has not stopped showing his kindness. Ruth 2:20
“How can you be so kind if you don’t even know me!”
By making some wrong decisions, Linda had ended up in jail in a country not her own. For six years she remained in prison, and when she was set free she didn’t have anywhere to go. She thought her life was over! While her family gathered money to buy her ticket home, a kind couple offered her lodging, food, and a helping hand. Linda was so touched by their kindness that she willingly listened as they told her the good news of a God who loves her and wants to give her a second chance.
Dear Lord, thank You that You let us begin again and again.
Linda reminds me of Naomi, a widow in the Bible who lost her husband and two sons in a foreign land and thought her life was over (Ruth 1). However, the Lord hadn’t forgotten Naomi, and through the love of her daughter-in-law and the compassion of a godly man named Boaz, Naomi saw God’s love and was given a second chance (4:13–17).
The same God cares for us today. Through the love of others we can be reminded of His presence. We can see God’s grace in the helping hand of people we may not even know well. But above all, God is willing to give us a fresh start. We just need, like Linda and Naomi, to see God’s hand in our everyday lives and realize He never stops showing us His kindness.
Dear Lord, thank You that You let us begin again and again.
God gives us second chances.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 07, 2017
The Undetected Sacredness of Circumstances
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God… —Romans 8:28
The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of your circumstances and say, “I’m going to be my own providence here; I will watch this closely, or protect myself from that.” All your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.
Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being vague and unsure, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession— utilizing the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them.
Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, “…but the Spirit Himself makes intercession” in each of our lives (Romans 8:26). And without that intercession, the lives of others would be left in poverty and in ruin.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 07, 2017
Your Really Amazing Grace - #8042
Our neighbor, Dan, is a walking miracle. One year he was in a terrible automobile accident that many say should have killed him. He was evacuated from the crash site by a helicopter actually, with multiple injuries, including his back being broken in two places. But God wasn't finished with Dan yet. He miraculously spared his life--and miraculously delivered Dan from the paralysis that his injuries should have given him. And through it all, Dan surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. What a testimony Dan has! Now, I've never had a serious injury in my life. I've never been in a hospital for a long time facing possible death or paralysis. So my story is nowhere near as dramatic as Dan's. But that's OK. I'm excited about how God put Dan back together, but I'm glad I didn't have to be put back together!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Really Amazing Grace."
You may know someone who has a really dramatic testimony of how God put the broken pieces of their life back together. You've heard the stories of the people Jesus saved from the bondage of drugs or alcohol or crime or sexual sin. And maybe in the back of your mind you've said to yourself, "You know, compared to them, my testimony is pretty lame - boring. Sure, I'm a sinner and I needed to invite Christ to be my Savior, but there wasn't too much to save me from. I never did anything that bad."
I've actually had people confide to me a feeling I would call testimony envy - the sense I almost got cheated because I didn't have a lot of really sinful sin to be saved from. Well, maybe "amazing grace" doesn't seem all that amazing to you because you weren't much of a "wretch." Well, His grace is just as amazing for you - and in some ways more amazing - as it is for that person who was dramatically lost and dramatically found.
All right, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Timothy 1:4-5 and then chapter 3:15. Paul, who was saved from being the chief persecutor of Christians, writes to his son in the faith Timothy. "I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." Timothy had grown up with Jesus. Christian Mom, Christian grandma. A good boy. In chapter 3:15, Paul reminds Timothy "how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."
Timothy knew the Bible for as long as he could remember. But he, too, had to have his own saving transaction with Jesus Christ. His Bible knowledge couldn't give him that relationship. It could only lead him to put his "faith in Christ Jesus." Even though Paul had committed horrendous, well-known sins, and Timothy had always been a good guy, they were both sinners, separated from God, needing to get to the same Cross to be forgiven.
But the grace of God was every bit as amazing in Timothy's life as it was in Paul's. Yes, it takes powerful grace to rescue someone from sin's bondage. But it takes grace at least as powerful to keep a person from ever getting into that bondage! Michael is one of our Native American team members, and he'll tell you how Jesus Christ rescued him from a life of drugs and alcohol and gangs and violence. He and I were talking the other day about a young woman who we both know - a young woman who grew up in a Christian home and who has never been down any of those roads. She was lamenting her "not having much of a testimony." You know what he told her? "People like you are my heroes because God kept you from those roads."
My friend, Dan, has a dramatic testimony of going to the edge of death and paralysis, but I don't wish I had his story to tell. I'm grateful I've never been to that edge. If God has kept you from the scars and the wasted years of sin, thank Him for that! Glorify Him for that!
It is amazing grace when God takes a broken life and puts it back together again. It is really amazing grace when God keeps a life from ever getting broken in the first place!
