Isaiah 36, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: FAITH NO ONE CAN TAKE

Ginger was six years old when she and her Sunday school class made get well cards for church members.  Hers was a bright purple card that said, “I love you, but most of all God loves you!”  She and her mom made the delivery.

My dad was bedfast, the end was near.  He could extend his hand, but it was bent to a claw from disease.  Ginger asked him a question as only a six-year-old can,  “Are you going to die?”  “Yes. When, I don’t know.”  She asked if he was afraid to go away.  “Away is heaven,” he told her.  “I’ll be with my Father.  I’m ready to see Him eye to eye.”

A man near death, winking at the thought of it.  Stripped of everything?  It only appeared that way. In the end, Dad still had what no one could take: faith.  And in the end, that’s all he needed!

Isaiah 36

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria made war on all the fortress cities of Judah and took them. Then the king of Assyria sent his general, the “Rabshekah,” accompanied by a huge army, from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah. The general stopped at the aqueduct where it empties into the upper pool on the road to the public laundry. Three men went out to meet him: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, in charge of the palace; Shebna the secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the official historian.

4-7 The Rabshekah said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that the Great King, the king of Assyria, says this: ‘What kind of backing do you think you have against me? You’re bluffing and I’m calling your bluff. Your words are no match for my weapons. What kind of backup do you have now that you’ve rebelled against me? Egypt? Don’t make me laugh. Egypt is a rubber crutch. Lean on Egypt and you’ll end up flat on your face. That’s all Pharaoh king of Egypt is to anyone who leans on him. And if you try to tell me, “We’re leaning on our God,” isn’t it a bit late? Hasn’t Hezekiah just gotten rid of all the places of worship, telling you, “You’ve got to worship at this altar”?

8-9 “‘Be reasonable. Face the facts: My master the king of Assyria will give you two thousand horses if you can put riders on them. You can’t do it, can you? So how do you think, depending on flimsy Egypt’s chariots and riders, you can stand up against even the lowest-ranking captain in my master’s army?

10 “‘And besides, do you think I came all this way to destroy this land without first getting God’s blessing? It was your God who told me, Make war on this land. Destroy it.’”

11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah answered the Rabshekah, “Please talk to us in Aramaic. We understand Aramaic. Don’t talk to us in Hebrew within earshot of all the people gathered around.”

12 But the Rabshekah replied, “Do you think my master has sent me to give this message to your master and you but not also to the people clustered here? It’s their fate that’s at stake. They’re the ones who are going to end up eating their own excrement and drinking their own urine.”

13-15 Then the Rabshekah stood up and called out loudly in Hebrew, the common language, “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria! Don’t listen to Hezekiah’s lies. He can’t save you. And don’t pay any attention to Hezekiah’s pious sermons telling you to lean on God, telling you ‘God will save us, depend on it. God won’t let this city fall to the king of Assyria.’

16-20 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah. Listen to the king of Assyria’s offer: ‘Make peace with me. Come and join me. Everyone will end up with a good life, with plenty of land and water, and eventually something far better. I’ll turn you loose in wide open spaces, with more than enough fertile and productive land for everyone.’ Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you with his lies, ‘God will save us.’ Has that ever happened? Has any god in history ever gotten the best of the king of Assyria? Look around you. Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? The gods of Sepharvaim? Did the gods do anything for Samaria? Name one god that has ever saved its countries from me. So what makes you think that God could save Jerusalem from me?’”

21 The three men were silent. They said nothing, for the king had already commanded, “Don’t answer him.”

22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, tearing their clothes in defeat and despair, went back and reported what the Rabshekah had said to Hezekiah.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Friday, May 08, 2020

Today's Scripture & Insight:

Psalm 96

Sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
    proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

7 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
    The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.

11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
    let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
    let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
    he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Footnotes:
Psalm 96:9 Or Lord with the splendor of

Insight
God chose Abraham as the father of His chosen people. Yet God never intended salvation to be the exclusive claim of the Hebrew nation. From start to finish of this majestic psalm of praise, we see God’s gracious inclusion of everyone who will believe. The psalm begins, “Sing to the Lord, all the earth” (v. 1). Verse 3 charges God’s people to “declare his glory among the nations.” Verse 7 calls on “all you families of nations” to praise God. The psalm concludes, “He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness” (v. 13). God’s plan was for His chosen people to bring the good news of His love to the entire human race.

The Man Who Couldn’t Talk
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. Psalm 96:4

Sitting in his wheelchair at a senior citizens home in Belize, a man joyfully listened as a group of American high school teenagers sang about Jesus. Later, as some of the teens tried to communicate with him, they discovered he couldn’t talk. A stroke had robbed him of his ability to speak.

Since they couldn’t carry on a conversation with the man, the teens decided to sing to him. As they began to sing, something amazing happened. The man who couldn’t talk began to sing. With enthusiasm, he belted out “How Great Thou Art” right along with his new friends.

It was a remarkable moment for everyone. This man’s love for God broke through the barriers and poured out in audible worship—heartfelt, joyous worship.

We all have worship barriers from time to time. Maybe it’s a relationship conflict or a money problem. Or it could be a heart that’s grown a bit cold in its relationship to God.

Our non-talking friend reminds us that the greatness and majesty of our almighty God can overcome any barrier. “O Lord, my God—when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made!”

Struggling in your worship? Reflect on how great our God is by reading a passage such as Psalm 96, and you too may find your obstacles and objections replaced by praise. By:  Dave Branon

Reflect & Pray
As you read Psalm 96, what stands out about our great God? What barriers to worship sometimes halt you? How can you grow from silence to praise?

Our great God, I do hold You in awesome wonder. How great Thou art!

To learn more about who God is, visit christianuniversity.org/CA310.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 08, 2020
The Faith to Persevere
Because you have kept My command to persevere… —Revelation 3:10

Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, “I can’t take any more.” Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).

Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.

God ventured His all in Jesus Christ to save us, and now He wants us to venture our all with total abandoned confidence in Him. There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R

Bible in a Year: 2 Kings 4-6; Luke 24:36-53

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, May 08, 2020
COVID Testing - Pass or Fail - #8695

Our high school grandson came up with "Hmmm" kind of gems. "Life's different from school. In school you have the lessons then the test. In life, you have the test, then the lessons." Like I said, "Hmmm." Now, we hear a lot about the need for more testing in this pandemic to know what's going on inside of people if we're going to contain and trace this virus. Yeah, we need to be testing for coronavirus, but the fact is the coronavirus has been testing us with fear and financial stress, disruption and distance and loss of control and connection. There's something about a crisis like this that exposes what's inside.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "COVID Testing - Pass or Fail."

So it's like three kinds of tests we're taking. One is the family test - what's really more important, my family or my work. A lot of families are, I call them carnival bumper cars. Each morning we hit the gas petal, head in different directions, and occasionally bump into each other. But suddenly we're together a lot. And all this time together can reveal several diagnoses. One, my family relationships are healthy; we're communicating, we're forgiving, listening, laughing. Or we've become strangers through neglect. Or it can show how toxic and hurtful our relationships have become. First the test, then the lessons.

Binging on being home may expose the consequences of our misplaced priorities. Business and busyness and causes, the gym, the church, sports, activities; they can push those we love to the margins of our life. And they're taken for granted and seldom heard. So, maybe of the lesson is that the people in our family are treasures that we need to re-treasure. It's time to make memories while there's still time. Make each day count for the people that count.

Beyond the family tester is the facade test. Who's the real guy behind the facade that everybody sees? To find out what's in an unmarked tube you squeeze it. Same with people. What comes out when you're squeezed? This pandemic has squeezed us all, and ugly stuff may surface that's normally hidden. Like an "all about me" bottom line, or smoldering anger, a closet control freak, mean spirit, dangerous depression, long-denied addiction.

Darth Vader is not the only one with a dark side. We all have one. And the pandemic squeeze may force it out, and that can be good if we finally face the inner darkness. And facing it could mean saying, "Please, forgive me" or "Help" in getting the help we need with our brokenness. What the squeeze has exposed could be healed. But see, facing it is the first step to fixing it and being free from it

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from actually Romans 7, beginning with verse 19. And I love the candor of the Bible writer. He said, "I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. Who will free me?" And he found the answer to that desperate to change question where millions have found it. "Thank God, the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord."

Which leads me to that last coronavirus test that I've taken a lot - the faith test. Because after all is said and done, where is my ultimate trust in my life? You see, it's not until the things we really trust in are suddenly not there that we realize where our trust really is. That basically comes down to trusting in human solutions and methods and strength. Where the Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart," but our default go-to isn't our faith. It's ourselves. When that's stripped away, we finally go beyond believing in God to really needing God.

What is there when all there's left is just you? Is there a hole in your heart? Is there an emptiness inside? Has your trust been in you? You know, the fact is that nothing like a situation we're in now will reveal, as it does, our need for a relationship with God. He is the answer to our loneliness, to our despair, to our inadequacy. And that is why Jesus came, and that is why Jesus died for our sin on the cross. And that's why it's such good news He's alive, that He walked out of His grave. And maybe today this is your day to put your trust in the One unlosable person there is.

I suspect the tests aren't over yet, but neither are the lessons. There's meaning in this mayhem. There's a point to this pain.