Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S UNCHANGING CHARACTER
We pass much of life at mid-altitude. Most of life is Monday-ish obligations of carpools, expense reports, and recipes. Occasionally we summit a peak: our wedding, a promotion, the birth of a child. But when the housing market crashes or a test report comes back negative, before we know it, we discover what the bottom looks like.
In Psalm 139:7 David asked, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?” You’ll never go where God is not. Acts 17:27 reminds us, “He is not far from each of us.” The Psalmist determined, “When I am afraid, I will trust in You. When all around my soul gives way, He then is still my hope and stay!” Remember the song? Let it encourage you, let it remind you to cling to His unchanging character. God is faithful. He is not caught off guard. He uses everything for His glory and your ultimate good. You will get through this.
Isaiah 38
At that time, Hezekiah got sick. He was about to die. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz visited him and said, “God says, ‘Prepare your affairs and your family. This is it: You’re going to die. You’re not going to get well.’”
2-3 Hezekiah turned away from Isaiah and, facing the wall, prayed to God: “God, please, I beg you: Remember how I’ve lived my life. I’ve lived faithfully in your presence, lived out of a heart that was totally yours. You’ve seen how I’ve lived, the good that I have done.” And Hezekiah wept as he prayed—painful tears.
4-6 Then God told Isaiah, “Go and speak with Hezekiah. Give him this Message from me, God, the God of your ancestor David: ‘I’ve heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll add fifteen years to your life. And I’ll save both you and this city from the king of Assyria. I have my hand on this city.
7-8 “‘And this is your confirming sign, confirming that I, God, will do exactly what I have promised. Watch for this: As the sun goes down and the shadow lengthens on the sundial of Ahaz, I’m going to reverse the shadow ten notches on the dial.’” And that’s what happened: The declining sun’s shadow reversed ten notches on the dial.
9-15 This is what Hezekiah king of Judah wrote after he’d been sick and then recovered from his sickness:
In the very prime of life
I have to leave.
Whatever time I have left
is spent in death’s waiting room.
No more glimpses of God
in the land of the living,
No more meetings with my neighbors,
no more rubbing shoulders with friends.
This body I inhabit is taken down
and packed away like a camper’s tent.
Like a weaver, I’ve rolled up the carpet of my life
as God cuts me free of the loom
And at day’s end sweeps up the scraps and pieces.
I cry for help until morning.
Like a lion, God pummels and pounds me,
relentlessly finishing me off.
I squawk like a doomed hen,
moan like a dove.
My eyes ache from looking up for help:
“Master, I’m in trouble! Get me out of this!”
But what’s the use? God himself gave me the word.
He’s done it to me.
I can’t sleep—
I’m that upset, that troubled.
16-19 O Master, these are the conditions in which people live,
and yes, in these very conditions my spirit is still alive—
fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life!
It seems it was good for me
to go through all those troubles.
Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline.
You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing.
But my sins you let go of,
threw them over your shoulder—good riddance!
The dead don’t thank you,
and choirs don’t sing praises from the morgue.
Those buried six feet under
don’t witness to your faithful ways.
It’s the living—live men, live women—who thank you,
just as I’m doing right now.
Parents give their children
full reports on your faithful ways.
20 God saves and will save me.
As fiddles and mandolins strike up the tunes,
We’ll sing, oh we’ll sing, sing,
for the rest of our lives in the Sanctuary of God.
21-22 Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and put it on the boil so he may recover.”
Hezekiah had said, “What is my cue that it’s all right to enter again the Sanctuary of God?”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, May 11, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Matthew 21:8–16
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna[a] to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[b]
“Hosanna[c] in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[d] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[e]”
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
“‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’[f]?”
Insight
In what’s called the triumphal entry, Jesus rides a colt into Jerusalem just prior to the Passover celebration (Matthew 21:5–7; Mark 11:1–7; Luke 19:30–36). This act is in fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9: “Your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” In ancient times, when a king came on a donkey, it signified that he was coming in peace (as opposed to in war). In response, the people celebrated and shouted, “Hosanna” (Matthew 21:9), which means “God delivers.” The delivering King was coming to His people in peace.
Learning from Little Ones
From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise. Matthew 21:16
When a friend and I rode into one of the slums in Nairobi, Kenya, our hearts were deeply humbled by the poverty we witnessed. In that same setting, however, different emotions—like fresh waters—were stirred in us as we witnessed young children running and shouting, “Mchungaji, Mchungaji!” (Swahili for “pastor”). Such was their joy-filled response upon seeing their spiritual leader in the vehicle with us. With these tender shouts, the little ones welcomed the one known for his care and concern for them.
As Jesus arrived in Jerusalem riding on a donkey, joyful children were among those who celebrated Him. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! . . . Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matthew 21:9, 15). But praises for Jesus were not the only sounds in the air. One can imagine the noisiness of scurrying, money-making merchants who were put to flight by Jesus (vv. 12–13). Furthermore, religious leaders who had witnessed His kindness in action “were indignant” (vv. 14–15). They voiced their displeasure with the children’s praises (v. 16) and thereby exposed the poverty of their own hearts.
We can learn from the faith of children of God of all ages and places who recognize Jesus as the Savior of the world. He’s the One who hears our praises and cries, and He cares for and rescues us when we come to Him with childlike trust. By: Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
How have your views of Jesus changed over the years? What things get in the way of seeing Him as the Son of God who has come to save you?
Jesus, help me to see You for who You are—my Lord and Savior.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 11, 2020
“Love One Another”
…add to your…brotherly kindness love. —2 Peter 1:5, 7
Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don’t know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26). Initially, when “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.
The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, “…love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). He is saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.
“The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish…” (2 Peter 3:9). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
Bible in a Year: 2 Kings 13-14; John 2
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 11, 2020
The High Ground - #8696
My wife and I had the chance to visit this Civil War battlefield at Vicksburg, Mississippi. I asked her if she had any firsthand memories of the war that she wanted to share with me, which almost started another battle at Vicksburg. President Lincoln had called Vicksburg the "key" to the Confederacy and he told his generals, "We do not yet have the key in our pocket." Standing on high cliffs overlooking the Mississippi, it was a daunting challenge for the Union Army. For more than a year there were bombardments from the river and the many hills. There were numerous clashes on land. And at the end, it was a siege that actually drove Vicksburg's residents to live in caves. Everywhere we drove, there were markers indicating Union and Confederate regiments that had battled it out for the hills all around the city. Some of the bloodiest fighting took place as Northern forces mounted bold attacks on the Southern strongholds which were atop the highest points. As in so many battles, the fight for the high ground helped determine the outcome of the battle.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The High Ground."
You can see it over and over in military history: he who holds the high ground often wins the battle. It's a principle that goes far beyond military engagements. It's a principle of winning in life: hold the high ground, whatever it takes. See, that's why integrity is so important, and honesty, and purity, and transparency. That's the moral high ground, and it's the deciding factor in the blessing of Almighty God.
The Apostle Paul expresses and actually models this passion for holding the high ground in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in 2 Corinthians 8:19-21. Paul has been collecting an offering from the churches to be given to the persecuted and impoverished believers in Jerusalem. He's explaining here the team that he's assembled to take this money to Jerusalem. He's talking about Titus, "He was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering."
Then Paul explains why he's going to all this extra effort. "We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men." See, there's the high ground - taking pains to do what is right before both God and man. And frankly, doing what's right often is a pain. It usually takes longer to do it right. It costs more to do it right. It's harder to do it right, but it's so worth it to have the full blessing of God. Will people always agree that you're doing what's right? Not always, often because they just don't have all the facts. You need to know that the more people find out about what you're doing the better you will look. Three liberating words: nothing to hide!
The high road: submitting yourself, as the Bible says, "for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted by men" (1 Peter 2:13). Never repaying anyone "evil for evil" but as the Bible says, overcoming "evil with good" (Romans 12:17, 21). No word games. No money games. No cutting corners on what's right in God's eyes if the auditors never come to check. You can be sure that we will all be audited by the Auditor who knows everything about us.
Maybe it's tempting to compromise right now, to cut corners. But when you forfeit the high ground - however tempting it might seem to surrender it - the battle starts to turn against you. Whatever it takes, whatever it costs, hold the high ground!