Let the sleigh bells ring! I love Christmas! Let the carolers sing. The more Santas the merrier. I don’t complain about the crowded shops. I don’t grumble at the jam-packed grocery store. Well—it’s Christmas.
I love it because someone will ask the Christmas questions. What’s the big deal about the baby in the manger? Who was he? What does his birth have to do with me? The questioner may be a soldier stationed far from home. She may be a young mom who, for the first time, holds a child on Christmas Eve. The Christmas season prompts Christmas questions and answers.
Because of Bethlehem, God is always near us. Always for us. Always in us. We may forget Him, but God will never forget us. He called Himself “Immanuel”—God with us!
Read more Because of Bethlehem
1 Samuel 21
David Pretends to Go Crazy
21 David went on his way and Jonathan returned to town.
David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the Priest. Ahimelech was alarmed as he went out to greet David: “What are you doing here all by yourself—and not a soul with you?”
2-3 David answered Ahimelech the Priest, “The king sent me on a mission and gave strict orders: ‘This is top secret—not a word of this to a soul.’ I’ve arranged to meet up with my men in a certain place. Now, what’s there here to eat? Do you have five loaves of bread? Give me whatever you can scrounge up!”
4 “I don’t have any regular bread on hand,” said the priest. “I only have holy bread. If your men have not slept with women recently, it’s yours.”
5 David said, “None of us has touched a woman. I always do it this way when I’m on a mission: My men abstain from sex. Even when it is an ordinary mission we do that—how much more on this holy mission.”
6 So the priest gave them the holy bread. It was the only bread he had, Bread of the Presence that had been removed from God’s presence and replaced by fresh bread at the same time.
7 One of Saul’s officials was present that day keeping a religious vow. His name was Doeg the Edomite. He was chief of Saul’s shepherds.
8 David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword of any kind around here? I didn’t have a chance to grab my weapons. The king’s mission was urgent and I left in a hurry.”
9 The priest said, “The sword of Goliath, the Philistine you killed at Oak Valley—that’s here! It’s behind the Ephod wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it. There’s nothing else here.”
10-11 “Oh,” said David, “there’s no sword like that! Give it to me!”
And at that, David shot out of there, running for his life from Saul. He went to Achish, king of Gath. When the servants of Achish saw him, they said, “Can this be David, the famous David? Is this the one they sing of at their dances?
Saul kills by the thousand,
David by the ten thousand!”
12-15 When David realized that he had been recognized, he panicked, fearing the worst from Achish, king of Gath. So right there, while they were looking at him, he pretended to go crazy, pounding his head on the city gate and foaming at the mouth, spit dripping from his beard. Achish took one look at him and said to his servants, “Can’t you see he’s crazy? Why did you let him in here? Don’t you think I have enough crazy people to put up with as it is without adding another? Get him out of here!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, December 03, 2018
Read: Psalm 100
A Thanksgiving Psalm
100 1-2 On your feet now—applaud God!
Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.
3 Know this: God is God, and God, God.
He made us; we didn’t make him.
We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.
4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.
5 For God is sheer beauty,
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.
INSIGHT
Psalm 100 echoes the words of Psalm 95. Both begin with an appeal to shout for joy and together call for a resounding celebration in song to the God of gods, Yahweh. This personal name of Israel’s God is translated in English versions as Lord.
But beyond their similarities, the two songs tell a different story. While Psalm 95 attempts to rouse a nation that has lost its joy (vv. 7–11), Psalm 100 invites the whole earth to erupt in shouts of praise and songs of mirth. At least fourteen times the songwriter of Psalm 100 points to this God of gods by name or pronoun. With every line the psalmist invites people of all nations to enter into the presence of One who is infinitely more to be praised than was seen in the lagging joy of His dearly loved and chosen people. - Mart DeHaan
Thanks for Being You!
By Xochitl Dixon
Enter his gates with thanksgiving. Psalm 100:4
When I served as my mom’s live-in caregiver at a cancer center, I got to know Lori, another caregiver who lived down the hallway from us with her husband, Frank. I would chat, laugh, vent, cry, and pray with Lori in the shared living areas. We enjoyed supporting each other as we cared for our loved ones.
One day, I missed the free shuttle that took residents to buy groceries. Lori offered to drive me to the store later that evening. With grateful tears, I accepted her offer. “Thanks for being you,” I said. I truly appreciated her for who she was as a person, not just for what she did for me as a friend.
Psalm 100 demonstrates an appreciation of God for who He is, not simply for all He does. The psalmist invites “all the earth” (v. 1) to “worship the Lord with gladness” (v. 2), being confident in knowing “the Lord is God” (v. 3). Our Maker invites us into His presence to “give thanks to him and praise his name” (v. 4). Yes, the Lord remains worthy of our ongoing thankfulness because He “is good,” His “love endures forever,” and His “faithfulness continues through all generations” (v. 5).
God will always be the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and our intimately loving Father. He deserves our genuine joy-filled gratitude.
Lord, thanks for being You!
Who can you share God’s love with today?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 03, 2018
“Not by Might nor by Power”
My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power… —1 Corinthians 2:4
If in preaching the gospel you substitute your knowledge of the way of salvation for confidence in the power of the gospel, you hinder people from getting to reality. Take care to see while you proclaim your knowledge of the way of salvation, that you yourself are rooted and grounded by faith in God. Never rely on the clearness of your presentation, but as you give your explanation make sure that you are relying on the Holy Spirit. Rely on the certainty of God’s redemptive power, and He will create His own life in people.
Once you are rooted in reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith. But nothing can ever change God or the reality of redemption. Base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God Himself. Once you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. That is the meaning of sanctification. God disapproves of our human efforts to cling to the concept that sanctification is merely an experience, while forgetting that even our sanctification must also be sanctified (see John 17:19). I must deliberately give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10. Not Knowing Whither, 867 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, December 03, 2018
Soul Thirsty - #8321
For many years, my wife's father managed to squeeze out a living for his family on this little farm in the Ozarks. It was always a battle financially, but the battle got really intense the summer of the long drought. My wife talked about it so many times. First, he emptied all three of their ponds to get water; then all of the ponds on his parents' adjacent property. Then a friend let him use his well that had never gone dry. Well, it did go dry that summer. Finally, Dad had no choice but to find water and dig a well on his property. But that meant mortgaging a lot of his cattle. And as the well diggers had to go deeper, it eventually meant mortgaging all his cattle. And they never found water. His farming days were over.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Soul Thirsty."
My wife's dad had the frustrating experience of desperately needing something to satisfy thirst and pouring everything into looking for it...and coming up with nothing. That's a feeling a lot of people have-maybe you. But the search, in this case, is an emotional one; actually, it's a spiritual one. Where is the spiritual water that will satisfy this lifetime emptiness, this lifetime loneliness, this lifetime restlessness in my soul?
Maybe you have a lot of empty ponds you've looked in. Maybe you've gone looking in a special relationship, but it ultimately turned out to be a dry hole. Maybe you've searched in your work, your religion, your studies, your children, your success, but here you are today as thirsty in your soul as you were when you began. It's been the season of the long drought.
It had been a very long drought for the woman Jesus talked to in our word for today from the Word of God in John 4:13-14. In her case, her "wells" had been a series of relationships with men that she thought would satisfy the needs of her heart. No one had. One day she meets Jesus at, of all things, a well. And He begins to talk to her about a source of spiritual fulfillment that would have that quality nothing and no one on earth could offer her. It would be (in his words) "everlasting."
Here are Jesus' words to all of us who are tired of sinking everything we have into what we hope will be a well, only to find out it's ultimately a dry hole. "Jesus answered (her), 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Notice Jesus said, "I will put the source of your peace and your satisfaction in you." See, that's where no drought can ever touch it.
Jesus is actually making that same offer to people everywhere today. He's making an offer to you today. See, the reason He came to this planet was because we were all cut off from the source of everything we're looking for. We're cut off from God by our sin; by a life of doing it "my way" instead of God's way. In fact, instead of the eternal life Jesus is offering, the Bible says we're facing eternal death because that's what our sin costs. But Jesus loves you so much that He took your death penalty for your sin when He died on the cross. So now God can forgive you and come into your life and let you into His heaven when you die.
But it isn't enough just to have Jesus around you, which you may have a lot of because maybe you've had a lot of Christianity. But maybe you've never opened up your life to Jesus to be in you. All around you maybe, but that's never going to satisfy the thirst of your soul-only Jesus in your heart, in your soul. And He's in you only if you've pinned all your hopes on Him to be your Savior from your sin.
If there's never been a time that you've done that and you want this, let it be today. If you want to begin a relationship with Him and finally find the love you were made for, tell Him today, "Jesus, I believe you died for my sin. I'm not running my life anymore, you are. I'm Yours."
I'd love to help you cross that threshold which the Bible calls "from death to life". And that's what our website is there for. It's called ANewStory.com. It would be a very good time for you to visit there in the next few minutes or hours. ANewStory.com.
For you, that long drought can end today, right where you are. It really all depends on one thing: what you do with Jesus.