Max Lucado Daily: CHOOSE WHAT PLEASES GOD
Don’t make matters worse by doing something you’ll regret. Years ago, a friend gave me this counsel: “Make a list of all the lives you would impact through your sexual immorality.” I did. Every so often I re-read it: Denalyn. My three daughters. My son-in-law. My yet-to-be-born grandchildren. Every person who’s ever read one of my books or heard my sermons. My publishing team. Our church staff.
The list reminds me: one act of carnality is a poor exchange for a lifetime of lost legacy. You don’t fix a struggling marriage with an affair, a drug problem with more drugs. You don’t fix stupid with stupid. Do what pleases God. Turbulent times will tempt you to forget Him. Shortcuts will lure you. But don’t be foolish, don’t be naïve. Do what pleases God. Nothing more, nothing less
Isaiah 43
But now, God’s Message,
the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,
the One who got you started, Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That’s how much you mean to me!
That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.
5-7 “So don’t be afraid: I’m with you.
I’ll round up all your scattered children,
pull them in from east and west.
I’ll send orders north and south:
‘Send them back.
Return my sons from distant lands,
my daughters from faraway places.
I want them back, every last one who bears my name,
every man, woman, and child
Whom I created for my glory,
yes, personally formed and made each one.’”
8-13 Get the blind and deaf out here and ready—
the blind (though there’s nothing wrong with their eyes)
and the deaf (though there’s nothing wrong with their ears).
Then get the other nations out here and ready.
Let’s see what they have to say about this,
how they account for what’s happened.
Let them present their expert witnesses
and make their case;
let them try to convince us what they say is true.
“But you are my witnesses.” God’s Decree.
“You’re my handpicked servant
So that you’ll come to know and trust me,
understand both that I am and who I am.
Previous to me there was no such thing as a god,
nor will there be after me.
I, yes I, am God.
I’m the only Savior there is.
I spoke, I saved, I told you what existed
long before these upstart gods appeared on the scene.
And you know it, you’re my witnesses,
you’re the evidence.” God’s Decree.
“Yes, I am God.
I’ve always been God
and I always will be God.
No one can take anything from me.
I make; who can unmake it?”
14-15 God, your Redeemer,
The Holy of Israel, says:
“Just for you, I will march on Babylon.
I’ll turn the tables on the Babylonians.
Instead of whooping it up,
they’ll be wailing.
I am God, your Holy One,
Creator of Israel, your King.”
16-21 This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can’t get up;
they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.
22-24 “But you didn’t pay a bit of attention to me, Jacob.
You so quickly tired of me, Israel.
You wouldn’t even bring sheep for offerings in worship.
You couldn’t be bothered with sacrifices.
It wasn’t that I asked that much from you.
I didn’t expect expensive presents.
But you didn’t even do the minimum—
so stingy with me, so closefisted.
Yet you haven’t been stingy with your sins.
You’ve been plenty generous with them—and I’m fed up.
25 “But I, yes I, am the one
who takes care of your sins—that’s what I do.
I don’t keep a list of your sins.
26-28 “So, make your case against me. Let’s have this out.
Make your arguments. Prove you’re in the right.
Your original ancestor started the sinning,
and everyone since has joined in.
That’s why I had to disqualify the Temple leaders,
repudiate Jacob and discredit Israel.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 1
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Insight
Psalm 1 sets up a key theme for the rest of the book as it explains the benefits and blessings people can gain from habitually walking with God—they will be fruitful and prosper (v. 3). This prosperity may not be seen in material possessions or life circumstances, however, but rather in a relationship with God.
Psalm 1 tells us to “delight . . . in the law of the Lord” and to meditate on it “day and night” (v. 2). The Hebrew word used for meditate means “to mutter.” The definition can be expanded to mean one uttering something to oneself. This form of meditation is deliberate and thoughtful; it’s comparable to the act of studying. A deliberate focus on and study of God’s Word is a practical way readers can learn how to apply Scripture to their daily lives.
Where Choices Lead
The Lord watches over the way of the righteous. Psalm 1:6
With no cell service and no trail map, we had just our memory of a fixed map at the trailhead to guide us. More than an hour later, we finally emerged from the woods into the parking lot. Having missed the turn-off that would have made for a half-mile hike, we took a much longer trek.
Life can be like that: we have to ask not simply if something is right or wrong, but where it will lead. Psalm 1 compares two ways of living—that of the righteous (those who love God) and that of the wicked (the enemies of those who love God). The righteous flourish like a tree, but the wicked blow away like chaff (vv. 3–4). This psalm reveals what flourishing really looks like. The person who lives it out is dependent on God for renewal and life.
So how do we become that kind of person? Among other things, Psalm 1 urges us to disengage from destructive relationships and unhealthy habits and to delight in God’s instruction (v. 2). Ultimately, the reason for our flourishing is God’s attentiveness to us: “The Lord watches over the way of the righteous” (v. 6).
Commit your way to God, let Him redirect you from old patterns that lead to nowhere, and allow the Scriptures to be the river that nourishes the root system of your heart. By: Glenn Packiam
Reflect & Pray
What friendships or habits do you need to make a break from? How can you create more time in your schedule to read the Bible?
Dear Jesus, give me the grace to turn away from the things leading me down the wrong path. Lead me to the river of Your presence, and nourish me with the Scriptures. Make my life faithful and fruitful for Your honor.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Out of the Wreck I Rise
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? —Romans 8:35
God does not keep His child immune from trouble; He promises, “I will be with him in trouble…” (Psalm 91:15). It doesn’t matter how real or intense the adversities may be; nothing can ever separate him from his relationship to God. “In all these things we are more than conquerors…” (Romans 8:37). Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are dangerously real. And he said we are “super-victors” in the midst of them, not because of our own ingenuity, nor because of our courage, but because none of them affects our essential relationship with God in Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for the Christian who doesn’t have something in the circumstances of his life that he wishes were not there.
“Shall tribulation…?” Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be— whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness— it is not able to “separate us from the love of Christ.” Never allow tribulations or the “cares of this world” to separate you from remembering that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).
“Shall…distress…?” Can God’s love continue to hold fast, even when everyone and everything around us seems to be saying that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?
“Shall…famine…?” Can we not only believe in the love of God but also be “more than conquerors,” even while we are being starved?
Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver, having deceived even Paul, or else some extraordinary thing happens to someone who holds on to the love of God when the odds are totally against him. Logic is silenced in the face of each of these things which come against him. Only one thing can account for it— the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Out of the wreck I rise” every time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are in danger of being stern where God is tender, and of being tender where God is stern. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 673 L
Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 7-9; John 6:22-44
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Renewing Fire - #8702
Sadly it seems to be in every summer's headlines - fires raging in the West. Millions of acres destroyed by fires that can range for weeks on end; fires that bring a lot of bad news. But, you know, fires like these aren't all bad news. Now, there's no doubt they cause tremendous damage, but over the long haul, they also can produce a lot of new life. Somehow, nature renews itself with fire - a lot of old and dead stuff is burned away, new vegetation begins to grow, and new life actually begins to spring up.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Renewing Fire."
God seems to have established this principle in the world - the fire that destroys can also renew. If you're going through the fire right now, that might be something very important for you to remember. If you don't, all you'll see is the damage and you'll lose any sense of hope.
Maybe the fire has burned through your family recently, or your church, your business or your relationships; maybe it's burned your health. And there's no doubt that the fire has taken away a lot. There's no denying the damage and the pain from the fire, but that's never the whole story.
In 1 Peter 1:6-7, our word for today from the Word of God, we get a little glimpse of our Heavenly Father's perspective on the fires of our lives. He says, "For a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
God describes our trials here as "fire." And the fire is only applied here to something really valuable - gold. Also, the fire isn't forever; it's "for a little while" it says. And notice what the purpose of the fire is: not to destroy the gold but to "refine" the gold; to get out the impurities...to increase its value.
That's a God's-eye view of the fire that you're in right now. He thinks you're worth purifying, you're worth improving, you're worth getting ready for greater things, but first the fire. The fire that has taken away so much, can also bring new life if you'll stay close to God in the fire and not wander away from Him.
What kind of new life does God bring out the flames? For one thing, He helps us focus the rest of our life on the things that really matter. Everything in our lives goes in one of two columns - the stuff that really matters and the stuff that really doesn't. And a lot of times we get those confused, don't we? The times of struggle, the times of loss help us get everything back in the right columns. So many people emerge from the fire more committed to the eternal than they ever were before.
The fire often forces you to sort out where your identity is really anchored - not in your job, not in your title, not in your performance, not your appearance, but in your "unloseable" relationship with Jesus Christ and your infinite value to Him.
The flames often drive you to a new closeness with the people you love. Sometimes they cleanse your schedule from years of accumulation, and they can draw you deeper into your Lord than you ever thought you could go.
Yes, the fire destroys. But, thank God, that is not the end of the story. The fire also renews!