Max Lucado Daily: GOD’S WAITING ROOM
We don’t like to wait. We’re the giddy-up generation. We frown at the person who takes eleven items to the ten item express checkout. We drum our fingers while the microwave heats our coffee. “Come on, come on, come on!” We don’t like to wait.
But look around you. Do you realize where we sit? This planet is God’s waiting room. The young couple? Waiting to get pregnant. The guy with the briefcase? Waiting for work. Waiting on God to give, to help. Waiting on God to come. This is the land of waiting.
And you? Are you in God’s waiting room? You may be infertile, or inactive, in limbo, in between jobs, or in search of a house, spouse, health, or help. Here’s what you need to know: while you wait, God works. God never twiddles His thumbs. He never stops. Just because you’re idle, don’t assume God is. Trust Him. In the right time, you’ll get through this.
Isaiah 50
God says:
“Can you produce your mother’s divorce papers
proving I got rid of her?
Can you produce a receipt
proving I sold you?
Of course you can’t.
It’s your sins that put you here,
your wrongs that got you shipped out.
So why didn’t anyone come when I knocked?
Why didn’t anyone answer when I called?
Do you think I’ve forgotten how to help?
Am I so decrepit that I can’t deliver?
I’m as powerful as ever,
and can reverse what I once did:
I can dry up the sea with a word,
turn river water into desert sand,
And leave the fish stinking in the sun,
stranded on dry land . . .
Turn all the lights out in the sky
and pull down the curtain.”
4-9 The Master, God, has given me
a well-taught tongue,
So I know how to encourage tired people.
He wakes me up in the morning,
Wakes me up, opens my ears
to listen as one ready to take orders.
The Master, God, opened my ears,
and I didn’t go back to sleep,
didn’t pull the covers back over my head.
I followed orders,
stood there and took it while they beat me,
held steady while they pulled out my beard,
Didn’t dodge their insults,
faced them as they spit in my face.
And the Master, God, stays right there and helps me,
so I’m not disgraced.
Therefore I set my face like flint,
confident that I’ll never regret this.
My champion is right here.
Let’s take our stand together!
Who dares bring suit against me?
Let him try!
Look! the Master, God, is right here.
Who would dare call me guilty?
Look! My accusers are a clothes bin of threadbare
socks and shirts, fodder for moths!
10-11 Who out there fears God,
actually listens to the voice of his servant?
For anyone out there who doesn’t know where you’re going,
anyone groping in the dark,
Here’s what: Trust in God.
Lean on your God!
But if all you’re after is making trouble,
playing with fire,
Go ahead and see where it gets you.
Set your fires, stir people up, blow on the flames,
But don’t expect me to just stand there and watch.
I’ll hold your feet to those flames.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, May 29, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Jeremiah 31:33–37
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
35 This is what the Lord says,
he who appoints the sun
to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar—
the Lord Almighty is his name:
36 “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
declares the Lord,
“will Israel ever cease
being a nation before me.”
37 This is what the Lord says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
because of all they have done,”
declares the Lord.
Insight
The Noahic covenant is one of the earliest recorded covenants in the Scriptures. The rainbow is the sign of God’s promise never again to destroy the earth with a flood (Genesis 9:8–17). God made a covenant with Abraham when he called him to the land of Canaan and promised to make him a great nation, give him the land, and bless all nations through him (12:1–3; 15:5–16; 17:6–8). God sealed the Abrahamic covenant with the sign of circumcision (17:10–11). In the Davidic covenant, God promised David, Abraham’s descendant, that each king who sits on the throne of Israel would be his direct descendant (2 Samuel 7:8–16; 1 Chronicles 17:11–14). The sign is the promised Son of David (Matthew 1:1; Acts 13:23). The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31:31–34 and declares that Christ, the promised Son of David, is now the “mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrews 8:6–13; 9:15; 12:24).
The Maker of the Moon
[The Lord said,] “I will be their God and they will be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33
After astronauts set the Eagle down in the Sea of Tranquility, Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” He was the first human to walk on the surface of the moon. Other space travelers followed, including the commander of the last Apollo mission, Gene Cernan. “There I was, and there you are, the Earth—dynamic, overwhelming, and I felt . . . it was just too beautiful to happen by accident,” Cernan said. “There has to be somebody bigger than you and bigger than me.” Even from their unique view in deep space, these men understood their smallness in comparison to the vastness of the universe.
The prophet Jeremiah also considered the immensity of God as Creator and Sustainer of the earth and beyond. The Maker of all promised to reveal Himself intimately as He offered His people love, forgiveness, and hope (Jeremiah 31:33–34). Jeremiah affirms God’s enormity as He who “appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night” (v. 35). Our Creator and Lord Almighty will reign above all as He works to redeem all of His people (vv. 36–37).
We’ll never finish exploring the immeasurable vastness of the heavens and depths of the earth’s foundations. But we can stand in awe at the complexity of the universe and trust the maker of the moon—and everything else. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How does imagining God’s bigness as Creator and Sustainer of the universe help you trust Him with the obstacles that come your way? How does the complexity of the universe help you trust God with the details of your life?
Creator and Sustainer of all, thanks for inviting us to know You and trust You today and forever.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 29, 2020
Untroubled Relationship
In that day you will ask in My name…for the Father Himself loves you… —John 16:26-27
“In that day you will ask in My name…,” that is, in My nature. Not “You will use My name as some magic word,” but— “You will be so intimate with Me that you will be one with Me.” “That day” is not a day in the next life, but a day meant for here and now. “…for the Father Himself loves you…”— the Father’s love is evidence that our union with Jesus is complete and absolute. Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us.
“…whatever you ask the Father in My name…” (John 16:23). “That day” is a day of peace and an untroubled relationship between God and His saint. Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship— “…that they may be one just as We are one…” (John 17:22).
“…He will give you” (John 16:23). Jesus said that because of His name God will recognize and respond to our prayers. What a great challenge and invitation— to pray in His name! Through the resurrection and ascension power of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit He has sent, we can be lifted into such a relationship. Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name— in His nature. This is a gift granted to us through the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said, “…whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” The sovereign character of Jesus Christ is tested and proved by His own statements.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally. The Moral Foundations of Life, 721 R
Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 7-9; John 11:1-29
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, May 29, 2020
Fresh Daily - #8710
Sometimes when our son comes to visit, he comes with a box of doughnuts under his arm. Just what we need! Now these are not just any doughnuts. They're from a doughnut chain that has become very popular in America. I don't do ads, so you'll have to figure it out. But we were driving with our son through a tourist community a while back, and he suddenly exclaimed, "The hot light is on!" I thought my car was overheating. Nope! It was good news. He meant that the light in the window of this doughnut store was on, which is their signal that a hot batch of their delicious doughnuts has just come out of the oven. And I have to tell you, when you get them fresh like that, oh, can you say "irresistible"? Did I just make you hungry?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fresh Daily."
It's true of doughnuts. It's true of bread. It's always best when you get it fresh and hot out of the oven. So is bread for your soul, as in God's own words for your heart, recorded in that Bible of yours. There's nothing like getting it fresh from God to your soul - daily.
If your spiritual life has seemed a little stale lately, it might be because you've been neglecting your time with God where He gives you His word for this moment, hot out of the oven. There's a picture of this in our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 16, beginning with verse 4. God's ancient people are in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land, in desperate need of nourishment. God says: "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day..." How often was that? "...each day and gather enough for that day." Then the Bible says, "Each one gathered as much as he needed."
A few people got this bright idea that they could stock up on manna and not have to go out every day for a new supply. Bad idea. "Some of them," the Bible says, "paid no attention to Moses. They kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell."
Well, apparently, God never meant for them to live on day-old food from heaven. He doesn't mean for you to do that either. Because, as Lamentations 3:22-23 says, "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning." That is fresh daily. Your time with God, nourishing your soul with His Word, is literally the difference between your being "consumed" or being a conqueror.
Every morning, God is saying, "I'm your Heavenly Father, and I want to have a word with you today about..." And each day you discover what He wants to give you for what He knows this day will hold. Getting His fresh word for you begins by seeking His direction as to which book of the Bible He wants you to be reading in right now. Ask Him to match Scripture with this moment in your life. You may be reading verses you read many times before, but you're bringing a different life to those verses.
Stay with Him until you've digested the verses you've read, which means applying them to something you're going to face that day. Then write down what He's shown you in a daily spiritual journal. Then dwell on the word that He gave you all day long, because it's what He wanted you to be thinking about all day as you deal with whatever He knew was going to come up.
Remember, you don't just read God's Word for information. You read it for transformation! Let Him change you each new morning through the power of His Word. And don't just settle for getting someone else's devotional thoughts, or counting on church or a group Bible study to keep you going, or depending on what God said to you some "yesterday" in your life. Get it fresh! Get it hot!
The Bible said that if His people would get fresh manna each new day, "in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord." Well, so will you!