Max Lucado Daily: SOMETIMES GOD TAKES HIS TIME
Sometimes God takes His time. One-hundred and twenty years to prepare Noah for the flood. Eighty years to prepare Moses for his work. God called young David to be king, but returned him to the sheep pasture. He called Paul to be an apostle and then isolated him in Arabia for fourteen years.
How long will God take with you? His history is redeemed, not in minutes, but in lifetimes. We fear the depression will never lift, the yelling will never stop, the pain will never leave. Will this sky ever brighten? This load ever lighten?
Life in the pit stinks. Yet for all its rottenness, doesn’t it do this much? Doesn’t it force us to look upward? The Bible promises, at the right time, in God’s hands, intended evil becomes eventual good. You will get through this!
Romans 3
So what difference does it make who’s a Jew and who isn’t, who has been trained in God’s ways and who hasn’t? As it turns out, it makes a lot of difference—but not the difference so many have assumed.
2-6 First, there’s the matter of being put in charge of writing down and caring for God’s revelation, these Holy Scriptures. So, what if, in the course of doing that, some of those Jews abandoned their post? God didn’t abandon them. Do you think their faithlessness cancels out his faithfulness? Not on your life! Depend on it: God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth. Scripture says the same:
Your words stand fast and true;
Rejection doesn’t faze you.
But if our wrongdoing only underlines and confirms God’s rightdoing, shouldn’t we be commended for helping out? Since our bad words don’t even make a dent in his good words, isn’t it wrong of God to back us to the wall and hold us to our word? These questions come up. The answer to such questions is no, a most emphatic No! How else would things ever get straightened out if God didn’t do the straightening?
7-8 It’s simply perverse to say, “If my lies serve to show off God’s truth all the more gloriously, why blame me? I’m doing God a favor.” Some people are actually trying to put such words in our mouths, claiming that we go around saying, “The more evil we do, the more good God does, so let’s just do it!” That’s pure slander, as I’m sure you’ll agree.
9-20 So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:
There’s nobody living right, not even one,
nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
They’ve all taken the wrong turn;
they’ve all wandered down blind alleys.
No one’s living right;
I can’t find a single one.
Their throats are gaping graves,
their tongues slick as mudslides.
Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
They open their mouths and pollute the air.
They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
Don’t know the first thing about living with others.
They never give God the time of day.
This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.
21-24 But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.
25-26 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.
27-28 So where does that leave our proud Jewish insider claims and counterclaims? Canceled? Yes, canceled. What we’ve learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.
29-30 And where does that leave our proud Jewish claim of having a corner on God? Also canceled. God is the God of outsider non-Jews as well as insider Jews. How could it be otherwise since there is only one God? God sets right all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religious system and those who have never heard of our religion.
31 But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don’t we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 05, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Kings 19:1–9
Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraid[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.
And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Footnotes:
1 Kings 19:3 Or Elijah saw
Insight
Following Israel’s dramatic return to the God of their fathers on Mount Carmel, Queen Jezebel’s threats against Elijah’s life (1 Kings 19:1–2) drove him to Mount Horeb (v. 8), where he encountered God. Horeb is also known as Mount Sinai—where Moses had encountered God many years before (Exodus 19ff.). This is one of several connections between these two Old Testament giants, but those connections aren’t limited to the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Elijah and Moses were united on another mountain—the Mount of Transfiguration—where they discussed with Jesus His coming departure from Jerusalem (Luke 9:28–31).
Strength for the Journey
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 1 Kings 19:5
One summer, I faced what seemed an impossible task—a big writing project with a looming deadline. Having spent day after day on my own, endeavoring to get the words onto the page, I felt exhausted and discouraged, and I wanted to give up. A wise friend asked me, “When’s the last time you felt refreshed? Maybe you need to allow yourself to rest and to enjoy a good meal.”
I knew immediately that she was right. Her advice made me think of Elijah and the terrifying message he received from Jezebel (1 Kings 19:2)—although, of course, my writing project wasn’t anywhere near the cosmic scale of the prophet’s experience. After Elijah triumphed over the false prophets on Mount Carmel, Jezebel sent word that she would capture and kill him, and he despaired, longing to die. But then he enjoyed a good sleep and was twice visited by an angel who gave him food to eat. After God renewed his physical strength, he was able to continue with his journey.
When the “journey is too much” for us (v. 7), we might need to rest and enjoy a healthy and satisfying meal. For when we are exhausted or hungry, we can easily succumb to disappointment or fear. But when God meets our physical needs through His resources, as much as possible in this fallen world, we can take the next step in serving Him. By: Amy Boucher Pye
Reflect & Pray
Looking back, when have you needed to slow down and receive sustenance before pressing on? How can you look for signs of burnout as you serve God?
Creator God, You formed us as Your people. Thank You for our limitations, which remind us that You’re God and we’re not. Help us to serve You with gladness and joy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 05, 2020
Vicarious Intercession
…having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus… —Hebrews 10:19
Beware of thinking that intercession means bringing our own personal sympathies and concerns into the presence of God, and then demanding that He do whatever we ask. Our ability to approach God is due entirely to the vicarious, or substitutionary, identification of our Lord with sin. We have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.”
Spiritual stubbornness is the most effective hindrance to intercession, because it is based on a sympathetic “understanding” of things we see in ourselves and others that we think needs no atonement. We have the idea that there are certain good and virtuous things in each of us that do not need to be based on the atonement by the Cross of Christ. Just the sluggishness and lack of interest produced by this kind of thinking makes us unable to intercede. We do not identify ourselves with God’s interests and concerns for others, and we get irritated with Him. Yet we are always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means a radical change of all of our sympathies and interests. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.
Am I stubborn or substituted? Am I spoiled or complete in my relationship to God? Am I irritable or spiritual? Am I determined to have my own way or determined to be identified with Him?
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.
Disciples Indeed
Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 16-18; Luke 22:47-71
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 05, 2020
How to Win When You've Been Losing - #8692
As part of our ministry among Native American young people, our sons helped out with the local high school football team on a reservation. That was a team that hadn't known much about winning until the previous season. The players were pretty much the same as the year before, but their record was dramatically different that year. The year before, they won one game. That year they were undefeated and even went to the state playoffs. Everybody was in shock! You could tell it was going to be a great season after one of their very early games, because they soundly defeated a team that had beaten them the year before 59-0! What was the difference? Pretty much same players; pretty much same opponents, but a new coach. He knew what to do with that team!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Win When You've Been Losing."
It's amazing what a difference the right coach can make...maybe even for you right now. It's seemed maybe like you've had a losing season, and you're getting discouraged and depleted. But maybe a new season begins when you get a new coach. So many times, our losing seasons are when we're coaching our life - doing it our way, doing it in the same old way, doing it the easy way, but not necessarily doing it God's way.
In our word for today from the Word of God, we discover the expensive lesson that King David learned about letting God call the plays. He's Israel's new king, and he's determined to bring the Ark of God back to God's people. 1 Chronicles 13, beginning with verse 7, describes the moving of the Ark on a new cart, pulled by oxen. The account says, "Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark because the oxen stumbled." The Bible says that Uzzah died on the spot that day, struck down for touching this holy object that no one was ever supposed to touch.
In 1 Chronicles 15, David tries again to bring back the ark. Only this time, he's listening to a different coach. Verse 2, "No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God because the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord...It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord your God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of Him about how to do it in the prescribed way." At that point, the Levites did it as God had said to do it over the years - carrying it on their shoulders, suspended on poles - so no man touched what literally represented the personal presence of a holy God.
Bottom line: when David called the play, he lost. When he let God call the play; when he did it God's way, he won. That's how it always works. And maybe you've been losing because you've been doing it your way or their way, but not His way; how you've been running your business, your love life, things you've been trying to do in your ministry, in your family, maybe how you've been spending, or how you've been trying to fix things. You've been trying to figure out why it isn't working. You may be trying to do something good. David was trying to do something good, but not in God's way and not in God's time. And, just like David, your dream is turning into a nightmare.
But David got it back because he got back to God's way, and that's what's going to turn around this losing season for you. It's the only thing that's going to turn it around. God's way may seem harder, it often is. It may seem longer; it often is. And it will mean surrendering your way to His way. But you know what? Honestly, there's no other way to win.