Max Lucado Daily: NO ORDINARY NIGHT
Only one word describes the night Jesus came—ordinary. No reason to expect a surprise. An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an extra on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed.
But God dances amid the common. And that night he did a waltz. The black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep. The next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an angel who declared, “There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
The night was ordinary no more. God had entered the world as a baby.
2 Corinthians 12
You’ve forced me to talk this way, and I do it against my better judgment. But now that we’re at it, I may as well bring up the matter of visions and revelations that God gave me. For instance, I know a man who, fourteen years ago, was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don’t know if this took place in the body or out of it; only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise—again, whether in or out of the body, I don’t know; God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard. This is the man I want to talk about. But about myself, I’m not saying another word apart from the humiliations.
6 If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I’d still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I’ll spare you. I don’t want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you’d encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.
7-10 Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
11-13 Well, now I’ve done it! I’ve made a complete fool of myself by going on like this. But it’s not all my fault; you put me up to it. You should have been doing this for me, sticking up for me and commending me instead of making me do it for myself. You know from personal experience that even if I’m a nobody, a nothing, I wasn’t second-rate compared to those big-shot apostles you’re so taken with. All the signs that mark a true apostle were in evidence while I was with you through both good times and bad: signs of portent, signs of wonder, signs of power. Did you get less of me or of God than any of the other churches? The only thing you got less of was less responsibility for my upkeep. Well, I’m sorry. Forgive me for depriving you.
14-15 Everything is in readiness now for this, my third visit to you. But don’t worry about it; you won’t have to put yourselves out. I’ll be no more of a bother to you this time than on the other visits. I have no interest in what you have—only in you. Children shouldn’t have to look out for their parents; parents look out for the children. I’d be most happy to empty my pockets, even mortgage my life, for your good. So how does it happen that the more I love you, the less I’m loved?
16-18 And why is it that I keep coming across these whiffs of gossip about how my self-support was a front behind which I worked an elaborate scam? Where’s the evidence? Did I cheat or trick you through anyone I sent? I asked Titus to visit, and sent some brothers along. Did they swindle you out of anything? And haven’t we always been just as aboveboard, just as honest?
19 I hope you don’t think that all along we’ve been making our defense before you, the jury. You’re not the jury; God is the jury—God revealed in Christ—and we make our case before him. And we’ve gone to all the trouble of supporting ourselves so that we won’t be in the way or get in the way of your growing up.
20-21 I do admit that I have fears that when I come you’ll disappoint me and I’ll disappoint you, and in frustration with each other everything will fall to pieces—quarrels, jealousy, flaring tempers, taking sides, angry words, vicious rumors, swelled heads, and general bedlam. I don’t look forward to a second humiliation by God among you, compounded by hot tears over that crowd that keeps sinning over and over in the same old ways, who refuse to turn away from the pigsty of evil, sexual disorder, and indecency in which they wallow.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, March 16, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 139:7–16
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I fleep from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens,q you are there;
if I make my bedr in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,s
your right handt will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be darku to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;v
you knit me togetherw in my mother’s womb.x
14 I praise youy because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,z
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was madea in the secret place,
when I was woven togetherb in the depths of the earth.c
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordainedd for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Insight
In this psalm, the author, King David, describes two of God’s fundamental characteristics: His omnipresence—God being present in all places at all times (vv. 1–6) and His omniscience—God’s knowledge of all things (vv. 7–18). The author describes his inability to go anyplace outside the presence of God: “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (vv. 9–10). But then there comes an interesting turn in verse 13: the author connects God’s constant presence to God’s creation of him. God is even present in the womb and will continue to be with us everywhere we go.
Amazing Skill
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14
The leader of our college singing group directed the group and accompanied us on the piano at the same time, skillfully balancing those responsibilities. At the close of one concert, he looked particularly weary, so I asked him if he was okay. He responded, “I’ve never had to do that before.” Then he explained. “The piano was so out of tune that I had to play the whole concert in two different keys—my left hand playing in one key and my right hand in another!” I was blown away by the startling skill he displayed, and I was amazed at the One who creates humans to be capable of such things.
King David expressed an even greater sense of wonder when he wrote, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it” (Psalm 139:14 nlt). Whether in people’s abilities or nature’s marvels, the wonders of creation point us to the majesty of our Creator.
One day, when we’re in God’s presence, people from every generation will worship Him with the words, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Revelation 4:11). The amazing skills God gives us and the great beauty God has created are ample reason to worship Him. By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
What parts of God’s creation cause you to respond in worship? Why is it important for you to thank and praise God for the skills He’s given you?
How wonderful You are, God! I see Your fingerprints everywhere. Thank You for all that You’ve made.
To learn more about Psalm 139, listen to discovertheword.org/series/search-me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, March 16, 2020
The Master Will Judge
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ… —2 Corinthians 5:10
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
If a man cannot prove his religion in the valley, it is not worth anything. Shade of His Hand, 1200 L
Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 28-29; Mark 14:54-72
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, March 16, 2020
A Morsel for Me - #8656
Snacks. Oh, I know a lot of them aren't the most healthy stuff in the world to put in your body. But when you're driving, I view them as something that helps with an essential function. It's called staying alive. As in staying awake at the wheel, you know. A number of times I've asked my wife to open up some cookies or chips or some other goodies for me, only to find that when she passed them to me that they weren't all there. At first, I thought maybe the company had robbed me. No. No, see, I only had to look across the seat to the passenger side to find the culprit. It was the woman I love. Yeah, the crumbs on her lip and the chewing in her mouth; that was my first clue. Our conversation predictably would go like this: I would say, "What happened?" Then, with a whimsical smile, she would answer: "Tax. There was a small service tax." Right!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Morsel for Me."
It's no big deal when your spouse snatches a little of what's yours. It's a very big deal when you do that with something that belongs to God; which a whole lot of us do, maybe without even knowing it. That's why we need the story in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in 1 Samuel 2, beginning with verse 12. It's more than a story. It is a sober warning.
Eli was the Chief Jewish Priest, and the Bible says, "Eli's sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord. Now it was the practice of the priests with the people that whenever anyone offered a sacrifice and while the meat was being boiled, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand. He would plunge it into the pan...and the priest would take for himself whatever the fork brought up."
Now remember, this is a sacrifice that belongs totally to the Lord. The Bible goes on: "The sin of the young men was very great in the Lord's sight, for they were treating the Lord's offering with contempt." And then Eli learns how his sons have even "slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting."
God announces the price tag to Eli: "Your two sons...will both die on the same day. I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind." I told you the lesson here was sobering. God will not continue to tolerate someone who is using what is God's for their own benefit.
Does that happen today? Oh, way too much! It's so easy to be serving the Lord while sticking your fork in to get something for yourself. Some people stick their fork into God's work or God's people to get a little glory for themselves, to get a little attention or recognition for themselves; maybe some money or some strokes. Jesus taught us to pray to God, "Thy Kingdom come." Well, for too many, it's all about, "My kingdom come."
If you're using what is God's to meet your needs, to somehow advance yourself, you are stealing from the Lord God Almighty. That can't have a happy ending. God's work, God's people were never meant to be a base from which you could have some personal power trip, a place to feed your ego, your lust, your selfishness. That's holy ground you're on!
Jesus modeled something so radically different from being a self-serving servant. The Bible says, "He made Himself nothing...He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7-8). How dare we, in the name of this One who gave up everything for us, try taking for ourselves?
Look in the mirror. Search your heart. Search your motives. Have you been using
the work of God or the people of God to get something for yourself? Face it. Repent of it before God comes to take back what you have stolen from Him.
