Max Lucado Daily: YOUR PROBLEM IS A PRAYER-SIZED CHALLENGE
Praying specifically about a problem creates a lighter load. Many of our anxieties are threatening because they are ill-defined and vague. If we can distill the challenge into a phrase, we bring it down to size. It’s one thing to pray, “Lord, please bless my meeting tomorrow.”
It’s another thing to pray, “I have a conference with my supervisor at 2:00 PM tomorrow. She intimidates me. Would you please grant me a spirit of peace so I can sleep well tonight? Grant me wisdom so I can enter the meeting prepared. And would you soften her heart toward me and give her a generous spirit? Help us have a gracious conversation in which both of us benefit and your name is honored.”
There! You have reduced the problem into a prayer-sized challenge. As God’s children we honor him when we tell him exactly what we need.
Isaiah 29
Doom, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David set camp!
Let the years add up,
let the festivals run their cycles,
But I’m not letting up on Jerusalem.
The moaning and groaning will continue.
Jerusalem to me is an Ariel.
Like David, I’ll set up camp against you.
I’ll set siege, build towers,
bring in siege engines, build siege ramps.
Driven into the ground, you’ll speak,
you’ll mumble words from the dirt—
Your voice from the ground, like the muttering of a ghost.
Your speech will whisper from the dust.
5-8 But it will be your enemies who are beaten to dust,
the mob of tyrants who will be blown away like chaff.
Because, surprise, as if out of nowhere,
a visit from God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
With thunderclaps, earthquakes, and earsplitting noise,
backed up by hurricanes, tornadoes, and lightning strikes,
And the mob of enemies at war with Ariel,
all who trouble and hassle and torment her,
will turn out to be a bad dream, a nightmare.
Like a hungry man dreaming he’s eating steak
and wakes up hungry as ever,
Like a thirsty woman dreaming she’s drinking iced tea
and wakes up thirsty as ever,
So that mob of nations at war against Mount Zion
will wake up and find they haven’t shot an arrow,
haven’t killed a single soul.
9-10 Drug yourselves so you feel nothing.
Blind yourselves so you see nothing.
Get drunk, but not on wine.
Black out, but not from whiskey.
For God has rocked you into a deep, deep sleep,
put the discerning prophets to sleep,
put the farsighted seers to sleep.
11-12 What you’ve been shown here is somewhat like a letter in a sealed envelope. If you give it to someone who can read and tell her, “Read this,” she’ll say, “I can’t. The envelope is sealed.” And if you give it to someone who can’t read and tell him, “Read this,” he’ll say, “I can’t read.”
13-14 The Master said:
“These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
but their hearts aren’t in it.
Because they act like they’re worshiping me
but don’t mean it,
I’m going to step in and shock them awake,
astonish them, stand them on their ears.
The wise ones who had it all figured out
will be exposed as fools.
The smart people who thought they knew everything
will turn out to know nothing.”
15-16 Doom to you! You pretend to have the inside track.
You shut God out and work behind the scenes,
Plotting the future as if you knew everything,
acting mysterious, never showing your hand.
You have everything backward!
You treat the potter as a lump of clay.
Does a book say to its author,
“He didn’t write a word of me”?
Does a meal say to the woman who cooked it,
“She had nothing to do with this”?
17-21 And then before you know it,
and without you having anything to do with it,
Wasted Lebanon will be transformed into lush gardens,
and Mount Carmel reforested.
At that time the deaf will hear
word-for-word what’s been written.
After a lifetime in the dark,
the blind will see.
The castoffs of society will be laughing and dancing in God,
the down-and-outs shouting praise to The Holy of Israel.
For there’ll be no more gangs on the street.
Cynical scoffers will be an extinct species.
Those who never missed a chance to hurt or demean
will never be heard of again:
Gone the people who corrupted the courts,
gone the people who cheated the poor,
gone the people who victimized the innocent.
22-24 And finally this, God’s Message for the family of Jacob,
the same God who redeemed Abraham:
“No longer will Jacob hang his head in shame,
no longer grow gaunt and pale with waiting.
For he’s going to see his children,
my personal gift to him—lots of children.
And these children will honor me
by living holy lives.
In holy worship they’ll honor the Holy One of Jacob
and stand in holy awe of the God of Israel.
Those who got off-track will get back on-track,
and complainers and whiners learn gratitude.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 67
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—b e
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvationf among all nations.g
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.h
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,i
for you rule the peoples with equityj
and guide the nations of the earth.k
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6 The land yields its harvest;l
God, our God, blesses us.m
7 May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earthn will fear him.
Insight
Psalm 67 is a prayer that draws from God’s blessing to Abraham in Genesis 12:1–3 as well as the Aaronic blessing in Numbers 6:24–27 (“the Lord bless you and keep you . . .”). Because it emphasizes crops as a sign of God’s blessing (Psalm 67:6), this psalm might have been composed for use during harvest celebrations like the Festival of Tabernacles.
Typically, in the Old Testament the word translated “people” (Hebrew ‘am) refers primarily to the nation of Israel; however, Psalm 67 suggests that God’s blessing on “the people” extends beyond Israel to “the nations” (v. 4) and strongly emphasizes the universal scope of God’s goodness. Through God’s goodness to His people, He becomes known and revered throughout the earth (v. 2), just as God promised Abraham.
Let Us Praise!
May the nations be glad and sing for joy. Psalm 67:4
When the alarm on Shelley’s phone goes off every day at 3:16 in the afternoon, she takes a praise break. She thanks God and acknowledges His goodness. Although she communicates with God throughout the day, Shelley loves to take this break because it helps her celebrate her intimate relationship with Him.
Inspired by her joyful devotion, I decided to set a specific time each day to thank Christ for His sacrifice on the cross and to pray for those who have yet to be saved. I wonder what it would be like if all believers in Jesus stopped to praise Him in their own way and pray for others every day.
The image of a beautiful wave of worship rolling to the ends of the earth resounds in the words of Psalm 67. The psalmist pleads for God’s grace, proclaiming his desire to make His name great in all the nations (vv. 1–2). He sings, “May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you” (v. 3). He celebrates His sovereign rule and faithful guidance (v. 4). As a living testimony of God’s great love and abundant blessings, the psalmist leads God’s people into jubilant praise (vv. 5–6).
God’s continued faithfulness toward His beloved children inspires us to acknowledge Him. As we do, others can join us in trusting Him, revering Him, following Him, and acclaiming Him as Lord. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
When can you take a few minutes today to praise God? What do you have to be thankful for?
God, You are worthy of all our praise!
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
What You Will Get
I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go. —Jeremiah 45:5
This is the firm and immovable secret of the Lord to those who trust Him– “I will give your life to you….” What more does a man want than his life? It is the essential thing. “…your life…as a prize…” means that wherever you may go, even if it is into hell, you will come out with your life and nothing can harm it. So many of us are caught up in exhibiting things for others to see, not showing off property and possessions, but our blessings. All these things that we so proudly show have to go. But there is something greater that can never go– the life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).
Are you prepared to let God take you into total oneness with Himself, paying no more attention to what you call the great things of life? Are you prepared to surrender totally and let go? The true test of abandonment or surrender is in refusing to say, “Well, what about this?” Beware of your own ideas and speculations. The moment you allow yourself to think, “What about this?” you show that you have not surrendered and that you do not really trust God. But once you do surrender, you will no longer think about what God is going to do. Abandonment means to refuse yourself the luxury of asking any questions. If you totally abandon yourself to God, He immediately says to you, “I will give your life to you as a prize….” The reason people are tired of life is that God has not given them anything— they have not been given their life “as a prize.” The way to get out of that condition is to abandon yourself to God. And once you do get to the point of total surrender to Him, you will be the most surprised and delighted person on earth. God will have you absolutely, without any limitations, and He will have given you your life. If you are not there, it is either because of disobedience in your life or your refusal to be simple enough.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.
The Place of Help
Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 3-5; Luke 20:1-26
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Shock Therapy - #8687
Hanna lives in coal country so she's been around miners a lot. Being in youth ministry for years I've been around minors a lot too. Oh wait, that's a different kind; it's spelled differently. But Hanna and a friend of mine were talking recently about the mines and the miners and a surprising fact came out. Hanna said the most common cause of death among those coal miners was electrocution. She said they live in a real remote area and the mining operation was pretty old and relatively primitive. So there were sometimes problems with the wiring in the mine, and miners actually getting electrocuted. What compounds the problem is that the nearest doctor is many miles away, which led Hanna to ask the doctor one time if there was anything the local folks could do to help while they're waiting for the doctor to arrive. She was surprised by the doctor's answer. "Well, there is one thing. Hug the injured miner." Well, obviously Hanna wanted to know why. He said, "When people are about to go into shock, there is something about a hug, about human touch - about human tenderness."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Shock Therapy."
Not all shocks are electrical are they? People around us are getting shocked every day by bad news they've just received, by bad treatment, by unexpected developments, by a death, by failure, by pain in a relationship. And not all hugs are two arms around a person - although that kind of hug is great. But a hug can be a word of encouragement, or an offer to help, a gift, a compliment, a place to rest and recover. It's practical love when someone has really been hit hard.
David never forgot the men who "hugged" him, so to speak, when he was battling shock. The king that David had served loyally turned on him out of jealousy and he wanted him dead. And so that king is in hot pursuit of David; he's ready to kill him when he finds him. This was way before electricity, but it must have been a shock to David.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes out of that incident: 1 Chronicles 11:16. It says this, "At that time David was in the stronghold and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. David longed for water and said, 'Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem.'"
That's his hometown; he's nostalgic for it. He's hurting because of the pressure and the attack he's under. The Philistines, his enemy, they're in charge of things here. But the Bible says, "So the three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David." They knew his language of love at a time when he was really needing encouragement. It was behind enemy lines, but still they sacrificed and risked to bring David a gift that would let him know that he was cared about. Years later when David was king, these men are some of his main men. He never forgot that "hug" he got from them during his shock time.
Sometimes we're so preoccupied with our own business and our own burdens we don't even notice the shock victims around us. But your hug might be just the margin for someone who's been hit really hard. And it isn't that difficult, it usually involves a simple step like a note, or an email, or a card, or a text, or a good deed, or allowing someone to use your car, or your getaway spot. It can mean just an offer to babysit, or grocery shop, or maybe cook a meal. Years ago when my wife was bedridden with hepatitis for months, people from our church hugged our family over and over again with some home cooked dinners. You never forget things like that! Neither does Jesus.
In Matthew 10:42 He said, "If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, he will certainly not lose his reward." Look at this, Jesus notices when we stop to administer shock therapy. When we find a way to show practical love to someone, like even a drink of cold water, He'll turn those hugs, those cups of water, into eternal reward someday.
So open your eyes and open your heart to see the shock victim near you and find a way to hug them. And when you do, you'll be acting so very much like your Jesus.
