Max Lucado Daily: SLOW DOWN AND REST
God said, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter” (Exodus 20:9-10).
God knows us so well. He can see the store owner thinking, Somebody needs to work that day. If I can’t, my son will. So God says, “Nor your son.” Then my daughter will, thinks the store owner. “Nor your daughter,” God has declared. No, God says, one day of the week you will say no to work and yes to worship. You will slow down and sit down and lie down and rest. Still we object. We offer up one reason after another. God’s message is plain. If creation didn’t crash when I rested, it won’t crash when you do. Repeat these words after me– It is not my job to run the world!
Read more Grace for the Moment II
1 Samuel 18
Saul’s Growing Fear of David
After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
5 Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops, and Saul’s officers as well.
6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. 7 As they danced, they sang:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands.”
8 Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” 9 And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.
10 The next day an evil[g] spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.
12 Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul. 13 So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. 14 In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.
17 Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”
18 But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” 19 So[h] when the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. 21 “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”
22 Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king likes you, and his attendants all love you; now become his son-in-law.’”
23 They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man and little known.”
24 When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, 25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, 27 David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
28 When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, 29 Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.
30 The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.
1 Samuel 18:10 Or a harmful
1 Samuel 18:19 Or However,
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, November 26, 2018
Read: Hosea 6:1–6
Gangs of Priests Assaulting Worshipers
6 1-3 “Come on, let’s go back to God.
He hurt us, but he’ll heal us.
He hit us hard,
but he’ll put us right again.
In a couple of days we’ll feel better.
By the third day he’ll have made us brand-new,
Alive and on our feet,
fit to face him.
We’re ready to study God,
eager for God-knowledge.
As sure as dawn breaks,
so sure is his daily arrival.
He comes as rain comes,
as spring rain refreshing the ground.”
4-7 “What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What do I make of you, Judah?
Your declarations of love last no longer
than morning mist and predawn dew.
That’s why I use prophets to shake you to attention,
why my words cut you to the quick:
To wake you up to my judgment
blazing like light.
I’m after love that lasts, not more religion.
I want you to know God, not go to more prayer meetings.
You broke the covenant—just like Adam!
You broke faith with me—ungrateful wretches!
INSIGHT
James Limburg comments on today’s passage in his book Interpretation: Hosea—Micah: “The contrast which comes to expression in Hosea 6:6 is between two fundamentally different notions of religion. The one thinks in terms of discharging religious obligations through . . . sacrifice and offering; the other speaks of loyal love and of acknowledging God as God. . . . When religion becomes preoccupied with the niceties of liturgy, the nuances of language, the novelties of music, art, and architecture, but forgets the neighbor, then religion has been reduced to cultic correctness . . . . True religion has that rich word hesed [steadfast love] at its center, recalling God’s steadfast love (Ps. 136) and mercy (Titus 3:5–7) and then calling for lives which respond to that love with loyal devotion to God and loving service to the neighbor.”
Are there areas of your life where the line between religion and relationship has become blurry?
For more on true devotion to God, read Following Jesus: Relationship or Religion? at discoveryseries.org/q0215. - J.R. Hudberg
God Is Here
By Lisa Samra
Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. Hosea 6:3
A plaque in our home states “Bidden or not bidden, God is present.” A modern version might read, “Acknowledged or unacknowledged, God is here.”
Hosea, an Old Testament prophet who lived in the late eighth century bc (755–715), wrote similar words to the Hebrew nation. He encouraged the Israelites to “press on” (Hosea 6:3) to acknowledge God because they had forgotten Him (4:1). As the people forgot God’s presence, they began to turn away from Him (v. 12) and before long there was no room for God in their thoughts (see Psalm 10:4).
Hosea’s simple but profound insight to acknowledge God reminds us He’s near and at work in our lives, in both the joys and struggles.
To acknowledge God might mean that when we get a promotion at work, we recognize God gave us insight to finish our work on time and within budget. If our housing application is rejected, acknowledging God helps to sustain us as we trust Him to work in the situation for our good.
If we don’t make it into the college of our choice, we can acknowledge God is with us and take comfort in His presence even in our disappointment. As we enjoy dinner, to acknowledge God may be to remind ourselves of God’s provision of the ingredients and a kitchen to prepare the meal.
When we acknowledge God, we remember His presence in both the successes and sorrows, whether big or small, of our lives.
Lord Jesus, please forgive me for the times I am prone to forget You. Help me to acknowledge Your presence in my life.
God is always present and at work.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 26, 2018
The Focal Point of Spiritual Power
…except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
If you want to know the power of God (that is, the resurrection life of Jesus) in your human flesh, you must dwell on the tragedy of God. Break away from your personal concern over your own spiritual condition, and with a completely open spirit consider the tragedy of God. Instantly the power of God will be in you. “Look to Me…” (Isaiah 45:22). Pay attention to the external Source and the internal power will be there. We lose power because we don’t focus on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these. We are to preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s focal point in your preaching, and even if your listeners seem to pay it no attention, they will never be the same again. If I share my own words, they are of no more importance than your words are to me. But if we share the truth of God with one another, we will encounter it again and again. We have to focus on the great point of spiritual power— the Cross. If we stay in contact with that center of power, its energy is released in our lives. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings, the focus tends to be put not on the Cross of Christ but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 26, 2018
Close-But Not Compromised - #8316
One of the wonderful gifts the Lord has given us in our Ministry Headquarters is a great studio for producing our radio programs. (Oh, that's where I am.) As our building was being built, the builders had to keep the concrete floor of the studio area separate from the floor of the rest of the building. It's called a floating floor, which simply means that the studio floor is totally isolated from the floor under everything else. And why would that be? A radio studio has to have an environment where no outside sound affects what you're recording. So to help create a totally controlled sound environment, you have a floating floor so other sounds won't travel through the floor and infect the studio area. (Aren't you glad you tuned in today to get so smart? Wow!) If you want a pure sound, you have to isolate yourself from all outside vibrations.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Close-But Not Compromised."
You and I face a challenge that is not unlike the challenge of building a radio studio. There are vibrations all around us that can really mess things up. And they will if we don't isolate ourselves from the bad vibrations. The Beach Boys hit -- (I can't get it out of my head when I'm talking about vibrations.) I'm picking up good vibrations. We get in spiritual trouble when we start picking up bad vibrations.
Which is why Jesus prayed for His followers the way He did in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in John 17 beginning with verse 15. Jesus said to His Father, as he prayed for all of us who would follow Him, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth."
Jesus is concerned here about the sin vibrations we would pick up from the world around us. So He prays that His Father will protect us from what the evil one is trying to poison our lives with. But notice what He doesn't pray. Jesus doesn't pray that we would be totally separate from the world, or withdrawn to a spiritual island where we have no contact with the people He died for.
Let's go back to our radio studio. It's not in a separate building. It sets right in the middle of everything else that's going on; in the middle of vibrations that could infect its purity. It's in the building, but it's not connected to the building. The studio is in contact with the rest of the building, but it's not infected by the rest of the building. To put it in a few words, it's close but it's not compromised.
That's how Jesus described how our relationship should be with the lost world and the lost people around us. We shouldn't be retreating into a cocoon that's totally separate. Later in this same prayer, Jesus prays for those who will "believe in Me through their message." Now, obviously, we can't be bringing people to believe in Him if we're not with them. Jesus calls us to purity in the middle of impurity, not on an island totally separated from the people who need us the most. We're supposed to be, well, like a certain radio studio I know and I am in-close but not compromised.
How do we protect ourselves from the deadly erosion of sin and godless values, and self-centered living? Jesus said we would be sanctified-that means set apart-not by total isolation but by total immersion in God's truth. And, as Jesus said, "Your word is truth." At the beginning of every new day, you look at your life, you look at your yesterday, you look at your today and your choices in light of what you read that morning in His Word.
At the end of each day, you again open His Word and you let it be the shower that cleanses you from the dirt maybe you've picked up in your behavior, your attitude, or your thoughts. Continual cleansing; that's what will keep you clean, not living in a room with no dirt.
Close to a dying world, but not compromised by it. It's a delicate balance. But Jesus will not allow us either extreme; becoming like our environment or retreating from our environment. He calls you to the great spiritual challenge of infecting your world with Jesus without letting your world infect you.
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