Max Lucado Daily: GOD KNOWS WHAT IS BEST
Sovereignty. This important biblical word defines itself. Zero in on the middle portion of the term. See the word within the word? Sove-reign-ty. To confess the sovereignty of God is to acknowledge the reign of God, his regal authority and veto power over everything that happens. To embrace God’s sovereignty is to drink from the well of his lordship.
Scripture, from Old Testament to New, from prophets to poets to preachers, renders one unanimous chorus: God directs the affairs of humanity. As Paul wrote, “God…is the blessed controller of all things, the king over all kings and the master over all masters” (1 Timothy 6:15). Sovereignty! Do you trust the sovereignty of God?
Read more Come Thirsty
Song of Solomon 8
I wish you’d been my twin brother,
sharing with me the breasts of my mother,
Playing outside in the street,
kissing in plain view of everyone,
and no one thinking anything of it.
I’d take you by the hand and bring you home
where I was raised by my mother.
You’d drink my wine
and kiss my cheeks.
3-4 Imagine! His left hand cradling my head,
his right arm around my waist!
Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem:
Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up,
until the time is ripe—and you’re ready.
The Chorus
5 Who is this I see coming up from the country,
arm in arm with her lover?
The Man
I found you under the apricot tree,
and woke you up to love.
Your mother went into labor under that tree,
and under that very tree she bore you.
The Woman
6-8 Hang my locket around your neck,
wear my ring on your finger.
Love is invincible facing danger and death.
Passion laughs at the terrors of hell.
The fire of love stops at nothing—
it sweeps everything before it.
Flood waters can’t drown love,
torrents of rain can’t put it out.
Love can’t be bought, love can’t be sold—
it’s not to be found in the marketplace.
My brothers used to worry about me:
8-9 “Our little sister has no breasts.
What shall we do with our little sister
when men come asking for her?
She’s a virgin and vulnerable,
and we’ll protect her.
If they think she’s a wall, we’ll top it with barbed wire.
If they think she’s a door, we’ll barricade it.”
10 Dear brothers, I’m a walled-in virgin still,
but my breasts are full—
And when my lover sees me,
he knows he’ll soon be satisfied.
The Man
11-12 King Solomon may have vast vineyards
in lush, fertile country,
Where he hires others to work the ground.
People pay anything to get in on that bounty.
But my vineyard is all mine,
and I’m keeping it to myself.
You can have your vast vineyards, Solomon,
you and your greedy guests!
13 Oh, lady of the gardens,
my friends are with me listening.
Let me hear your voice!
The Woman
14 Run to me, dear lover.
Come like a gazelle.
Leap like a wild stag
on the spice mountains.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 17, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Corinthians 10:1-11
And now a personal but most urgent matter; I write in the gentle but firm spirit of Christ. I hear that I’m being painted as cringing and wishy-washy when I’m with you, but harsh and demanding when at a safe distance writing letters. Please don’t force me to take a hard line when I’m present with you. Don’t think that I’ll hesitate a single minute to stand up to those who say I’m an unprincipled opportunist. Then they’ll have to eat their words.
3-6 The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.
7-8 You stare and stare at the obvious, but you can’t see the forest for the trees. If you’re looking for a clear example of someone on Christ’s side, why do you so quickly cut me out? Believe me, I am quite sure of my standing with Christ. You may think I overstate the authority he gave me, but I’m not backing off. Every bit of my commitment is for the purpose of building you up, after all, not tearing you down.
9-11 And what’s this talk about me bullying you with my letters? “His letters are brawny and potent, but in person he’s a weakling and mumbles when he talks.” Such talk won’t survive scrutiny. What we write when away, we do when present. We’re the exact same people, absent or present, in letter or in person.
Insight
In 2 Corinthians 10:4 Paul writes, “The weapons [Christians] fight with are not the weapons of the world. . . . They have divine power to demolish strongholds” (the obstacles of sin and evil opposed to the truth of God). These spiritual weapons include truth, righteousness, faith, the Spirit, the Word of God, love, and the hope of salvation (Ephesians 6:11–17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8). We stand against evil through our relationship with the Son and the power of prayer and God’s Word.
Stick-Figure Lesson
What we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present. 2 Corinthians 10:11
A friend of mine—okay, it was my counselor—drew a stick figure on a sheet of paper. She labeled this the “private” self. Then she drew an outline around the figure, about a half-inch larger, and named it the “public” self. The difference between the two figures, between the private and public selves, represents the degree to which we have integrity.
I paused at her lesson and wondered, Am I the same person in public that I am in private? Do I have integrity?
Paul wrote letters to the church in Corinth, weaving love and discipline into his teachings to be like Jesus. As he neared the end of this letter (2 Corinthians), he addressed accusers who challenged his integrity by saying he was bold in his letters but weak in person (10:10). These critics used professional oratory to take money from their listeners. While Paul possessed academic prowess, he spoke simply and plainly. “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,” he had written in an earlier letter, “but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). His later letter revealed his integrity: “Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present” (2 Corinthians 10:11).
Paul presented himself as the same person in public that he was in private. How about us? By Elisa Morgan
Reflect & Pray
In what ways are you integrating your private and public life? How might you honor God even more fully with complete integrity?
Dear God, help me to be myself first to You in private, that I might present myself with integrity as the same person in public.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 17, 2019
Beware of Criticizing Others
Judge not, that you be not judged. —Matthew 7:1
Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.
There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. Not Knowing Whither, 903 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 17, 2019
The Dam That's Holding Back the Flood - #8461
Lake Cumberland is a nice place to go in central Kentucky. It's not a nice place to have come to you. That's what the Army Corps of Engineers has been concerned about. The Wolf Creek Dam holds back millions of gallons of water from Nashville and other communities along the Cumberland River. Well the Army engineers had expressed some growing concerns about a possible dam break. They said a break could kill many residents and it could cause over three billion dollars in damage. A Corps spokesman said that the failure of the dam wasn't imminent at that time but that evacuation plans would be a good idea. So they decided they would lower the water level in the lake and try to fortify the dam, because they said that dam was all that stands between a lot of lives and a major disaster.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Dam That's Holding Back the Flood."
The Apostle Paul and I have something in common - a dark side that keeps wanting to control my actions. He said: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do...For what I do is not the good I want to do. The evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing" (Romans 7:19). Then Paul asked, "Who will rescue me?" He found the answer where many of us have found the answer: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
As Jesus is given control of more and more of our lives, that flood of darkness starts to recede. For me, there's a dam that stands between me and the flood of my darkness coming in. That dam is described in Psalm 119, beginning with verse 9. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "How can a young man (or any man, for that matter) keep his way pure? By living according to Your Word. I seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You."
What's the dam that holds back the flood of the old you? God's Word, stored in your heart, answering the temptations, and keeping you pure. The writer of this psalm concludes this section of Scripture with this decisive declaration: "I will not neglect Your Word." Any more than engineers can neglect a dam that holds back the flood.
My experience has been that my daily time with the Lord in His Word, the Bible, is literally the difference between the old me showing up that day or the new me in Christ. On days when I've missed my time with Him, I don't like who shows up: sinful attitudes, sinful ways of reacting to pressure, sinful ways of treating people, sinful ways of thinking. For all of us, the selfishness, the lust, the anger, the anxiety, the negativity - it's held back by the strong wall of the Word of God.
But you can't afford a day without it. Not just running some religious words past your eyeballs, but stopping to think about how what you read applies to this day. In fact, I've found that what really helps in growing in Christ is to ask yourself two questions as you read: "What is God saying here?" and, in your own words, put it in a journal. And "What am I going to do differently today because He said it?" That's reading the Bible, not just for information, but for transformation!
If you're wondering why the old darkness has been leaking or maybe even flooding back into your life, check the dam that holds it back - the soul-cleansing Word of Almighty God. You're just going to have to make your time with Him in His book the non-negotiable of your personal schedule. Because when you neglect the strong dam provided by God's Word, you are setting yourself up for a flood that can do a whole lot of damage.
