Max Lucado Daily: THE GLORY IN THE ORDINARY
God’s most powerful tools are the simplest. Consider the rod of Moses. God made a stick become a snake, then become a stick again. Perhaps he can do something with stubborn hearts and stiff-necked people.
Consider five smooth stones and an ordinary leather sling. The soldiers gasped. Goliath jeered. David swung. And God made his point. Anyone who underestimates what God can do with the ordinary has rocks in his head.
Consider the saliva and mud that became a balm for the blind. Once again, the mundane became majestic.
We can learn a lesson from the rod, the rock, and the saliva. They didn’t question God’s wisdom. God’s power is seen not through the ability of the instrument, but through its availability.
Read more Applause of Heaven
Proverbs 13
Intelligent children listen to their parents;
foolish children do their own thing.
2 The good acquire a taste for helpful conversation;
bullies push and shove their way through life.
3 Careful words make for a careful life;
careless talk may ruin everything.
4 Indolence wants it all and gets nothing;
the energetic have something to show for their lives.
5 A good person hates false talk;
a bad person wallows in gibberish.
6 A God-loyal life keeps you on track;
sin dumps the wicked in the ditch.
7 A pretentious, showy life is an empty life;
a plain and simple life is a full life.
8 The rich can be sued for everything they have,
but the poor are free of such threats.
9 The lives of good people are brightly lit streets;
the lives of the wicked are dark alleys.
10 Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord,
but wise men and women listen to each other’s counsel.
11 Easy come, easy go,
but steady diligence pays off.
12 Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick,
but a sudden good break can turn life around.
13 Ignore the Word and suffer;
honor God’s commands and grow rich.
14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,
so, no more drinking from death-tainted wells!
15 Sound thinking makes for gracious living,
but liars walk a rough road.
16 A commonsense person lives good sense;
fools litter the country with silliness.
17 Irresponsible talk makes a real mess of things,
but a reliable reporter is a healing presence.
18 Refuse discipline and end up homeless;
embrace correction and live an honored life.
19 Souls who follow their hearts thrive;
fools bent on evil despise matters of soul.
20 Become wise by walking with the wise;
hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.
21 Disaster entraps sinners,
but God-loyal people get a good life.
22 A good life gets passed on to the grandchildren;
ill-gotten wealth ends up with good people.
23 Banks foreclose on the farms of the poor,
or else the poor lose their shirts to crooked lawyers.
24 A refusal to correct is a refusal to love;
love your children by disciplining them.
25 An appetite for good brings much satisfaction,
but the belly of the wicked always wants more.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 13, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Deuteronomy 34:1-5
Moses climbed from the Plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the peak of Pisgah facing Jericho. God showed him all the land from Gilead to Dan, all Naphtali, Ephraim, and Manasseh; all Judah reaching to the Mediterranean Sea; the Negev and the plains which encircle Jericho, City of Palms, as far south as Zoar.
4 Then and there God said to him, “This is the land I promised to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the words ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I’ve let you see it with your own eyes. There it is. But you’re not going to go in.”
5-6 Moses died there in the land of Moab, Moses the servant of God, just as God said. God buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor. No one knows his burial site to this very day.
Insight
The final chapter of Deuteronomy recounts how Moses wouldn’t be allowed to enter the promised land because of his disobedience to God at the waters of Meribah (Numbers 20:1–13; Psalm 106:32–33). However, he was permitted to see it from the vantage point of Mount Nebo in Moab (modern-day Jordan), east of the River Jordan (Deuteronomy 34:1–4).
The first generation of Israelites aged twenty and over had all died in the wilderness, except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb (Numbers 32:11–12). Moses was preparing the second generation to enter Canaan when the Israelites complained against Moses because they had no water to drink (20:1–13). God told Moses to “speak to that rock . . . and it will pour out its water” (v. 8). But instead of speaking to the rock, he struck it twice (v. 11). By doing so, he publicly demonstrated his lack of faith in God to provide for His people and thus dishonored Him (v. 12).
A Longing in Stone
I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it. Deuteronomy 34:4
“Ah, every pier is a longing in stone!” says a line in Fernando Pessoa’s Portuguese poem “Ode Marítima.” Pessoa’s pier represents the emotions we feel as a ship moves slowly away from us. The vessel departs but the pier remains, an enduring monument to hopes and dreams, partings and yearnings. We ache for what’s lost, and for what we can’t quite reach.
The Portuguese word translated “longing” (saudade) refers to a nostalgic yearning we feel—a deep ache that defies definition. The poet is describing the indescribable.
We might say that Mount Nebo was Moses’s “longing in stone.” From Nebo he gazed into the promised land—a land he would never reach. God’s words to Moses—“I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it” (Deuteronomy 34:4)—might seem harsh. But if that’s all we see, we miss the heart of what’s happening. God is speaking immense comfort to Moses: “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants’” (v. 4). Very soon, Moses would leave Nebo for a land far better than Canaan (v. 5).
Life often finds us standing on the pier. Loved ones depart; hopes fade; dreams die. Amid it all we sense echoes of Eden and hints of heaven. Our longings point us to God. He is the fulfillment we yearn for. By Tim Gustafson
Reflect & Pray
What are your unfulfilled longings? What places in life are you trying to satisfy with wrong things? How can you find true fulfillment in God alone?
The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing—to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all beauty came from. C. S. Lewis
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 13, 2019
The Habit of Keeping a Clear Conscience
…strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. —Acts 24:16
God’s commands to us are actually given to the life of His Son in us. Consequently, to our human nature in which God’s Son has been formed (see Galatians 4:19), His commands are difficult. But they become divinely easy once we obey.
Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself to the highest standard I know, and then continually reminds me of what that standard demands that I do. It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what we regard as the highest standard. This explains why conscience is different in different people. If I am in the habit of continually holding God’s standard in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to God’s perfect law and indicate what I should do. The question is, will I obey? I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I can live without any offense toward anyone. I should be living in such perfect harmony with God’s Son that the spirit of my mind is being renewed through every circumstance of life, and that I may be able to quickly “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2 ; also see Ephesians 4:23).
God always instructs us down to the last detail. Is my ear sensitive enough to hear even the softest whisper of the Spirit, so that I know what I should do? “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…” (Ephesians 4:30). He does not speak with a voice like thunder— His voice is so gentle that it is easy for us to ignore. And the only thing that keeps our conscience sensitive to Him is the habit of being open to God on the inside. When you begin to debate, stop immediately. Don’t ask, “Why can’t I do this?” You are on the wrong track. There is no debating possible once your conscience speaks. Whatever it is— drop it, and see that you keep your inner vision clear.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them. Biblical Psychology, 189 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 13, 2019
I was speaking at a church in New York, and a couple who originally came from India greeted me very warmly. They seemed to be very much in love with the Lord and obviously in love with each other. When I asked them how long they'd been married, they said, "28 years." They didn't look old enough to have been married 28 years. Then came the second and by far the biggest surprise. They said, "It was an arranged marriage." Jokingly, I said, "Well, it will probably never last." But after thinking about what they had said for a moment, I told them, "Maybe we all should have an arranged marriage."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Beauty of an Arranged Marriage."
The best marriages in the world are the ones that have been arranged, by God, that is. Like Isaac's marriage to a woman named Rebekah. We read about how they got together in Genesis 24:44, our word for today from the Word of God. Abraham's servant is sent to find the woman that God has for his son Isaac, and here's the key factor in the search for Isaac's wife. The verse says, "Let her be the one the Lord has chosen." Listen, if you're single, wouldn't that make a wonderful verse to put somewhere you'll see it every day, "Let her" or "Let him be the one the Lord has chosen."
That's the kind of "arranged" marriage that's worth waiting for - arranged by a Heavenly Father who knows all your needs, all your potential, all your weaknesses, all your strengths, and exactly the kind of partner you need. After all, He's got some promises to keep, remember? Like Philippians 4:19, "My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." How about Psalm 23:1 - "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."
Now you may say, "Well, God is sure taking His time." Only as much time as it takes to have you ready for your partner and your partner ready for you, or as much time as it takes to lead you to an unmarried life where He will still keep His promise to meet all your needs. What you don't want to do is run ahead into a relationship that you've arranged. Impatience may be the greatest enemy of God's best. Remember, there is a far more lonely loneliness than not being married, and that's being married to the wrong person.
Now you may be a married person who's thinking, "Well, I think I'm in a marriage God didn't arrange." Well, once you have made a lifetime commitment with a person and become physically one through sexual love, your marriage has become God's will for the rest of your life. He's the One who says marriage is for life and says these pointed words, "I hate divorce" (that's in Malachi 2:16). If God does arranged marriages, then Satan does arranged divorces. But your calling is to throw everything you've got into building and fighting for the marriage you're in for life.
If God created you to be married, then don't settle for a relationship that you arrange. Please, let your Heavenly Father arrange it. Let it be the one the Lord has chosen. I can't help but remember the plaque my daughter had up in her room in high school: "God reserves His very best for those who leave the choice to Him."
If you're struggling in the marriage you're in, let God rearrange your relationship by helping you love your partner with the kind of unconditional love that He showed you at the cross. He still does marriage miracles. The best marriages in the world are "Designer marriages" conceived, controlled, and restored by the One who has designed you.
