Max Lucado Daily: YOUR PAIN FOR A HIGHER PURPOSE
God promises, “When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flame scorch you.” (Isaiah 43:2) Will your unhappy marriage become happy in a heartbeat? Well not likely. Does God guarantee the absence of struggle? Not in this life. But He does pledge to reweave your pain for a higher purpose.
It won’t be quick. Joseph was 17 years old when his brothers abandoned him. He was 37 when he saw them again. Another year passed before he saw his father. Sometimes God takes His time. But remember thatmyou are a version of Joseph in your generation. His story is in the Bible for this reason: to teach us to trust God to trump evil. And what Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good. You will get through this.
Romans 9:16-33
Is that grounds for complaining that God is unfair? Not so fast, please. God told Moses, “I’m in charge of mercy. I’m in charge of compassion.” Compassion doesn’t originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God’s mercy. The same point was made when God said to Pharaoh, “I picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power.” All we’re saying is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for good or ill.
19 Are you going to object, “So how can God blame us for anything since he’s in charge of everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?”
20-33 Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right? Either or both happens to Jews, but it also happens to the other people. Hosea put it well:
I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved.
In the place where they yelled out, “You’re nobody!”
they’re calling you “God’s living children.”
Isaiah maintained this same emphasis:
If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered
and the sum labeled “chosen of God,”
They’d be numbers still, not names;
salvation comes by personal selection.
God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name.
Arithmetic is not his focus.
Isaiah had looked ahead and spoken the truth:
If our powerful God
had not provided us a legacy of living children,
We would have ended up like ghost towns,
like Sodom and Gomorrah.
How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:
Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
a stone you can’t get around.
But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me,
you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 01, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 61
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. Of David.
Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
2 From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
3 For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.
4 I long to dwell in your tent forever
and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.[b]
5 For you, God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
6 Increase the days of the king’s life,
his years for many generations.
7 May he be enthroned in God’s presence forever;
appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.
8 Then I will ever sing in praise of your name
and fulfill my vows day after day.
Footnotes:
Psalm 61:1 In Hebrew texts 61:1-8 is numbered 61:2-9.
Psalm 61:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
Insight
Historical context for Psalm 61 isn’t provided in the superscription, so the only thing we know about the background for this psalm is that David is being pursued. Fleeing from Jerusalem, he prays, “From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint” (v. 2). We’re not told who was pursuing him; however, some scholars believe there may be a clue in verse 6: David asks for God to prolong “the king’s life.” This seems to indicate that this is a different time period than when he was pursued by Saul to prevent him from becoming king. In this psalm, David is already king, which would more likely place it during the time he fled from the attempted coup orchestrated by his son Absalom.
Needing His Leading
From the ends of the earth I call to you. Psalm 61:2
Uncle Zaki was more than a friend to scholar Kenneth Bailey; he was his trusted guide on challenging excursions into the vast Sahara. By following Uncle Zaki, Bailey says that he and his team were demonstrating their complete trust in him. In essence, they were affirming, “We don’t know the way to where we are going, and if you get us lost we will all die. We have placed our total trust in your leadership.”
In a time of great weariness and heartache, David looked beyond any human guide, seeking direction from the God he served. In Psalm 61:2 we read, “From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” He longed for the safety and relief of being ushered afresh into God’s presence (vv. 3–4).
God’s guidance in life is desperately needed for people the Scriptures describe as sheep that have “gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). Left to ourselves, we would be hopelessly lost in the desert of a broken world.
But we are not left to ourselves! We have a Shepherd who leads us “beside quiet waters,” refreshes our souls, and guides us (Psalm 23:2–3).
Where do you need His leading today? Call on Him. He will never leave you. By: Bill Crowder
Reflect & Pray
What was it like when you felt lost? How can you begin to trust God’s desire to guide you like a shepherd in those times of seeking?
Loving Father, thank You for being my Shepherd and Guide. Help me to trust You and rest in Your wisdom, allowing Your Spirit to guide me through the challenging moments of life.
Listen to Psalm 23: A Psalm of a Good Shepherd at discovertheword.org/series/a-psalm-of-a-good-shepherd.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 01, 2020
The Staggering Question
He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" —Ezekiel 37:3
Can a sinner be turned into a saint? Can a twisted life be made right? There is only one appropriate answer— “O Lord God, You know” (Ezekiel 37:3). Never forge ahead with your religious common sense and say, “Oh, yes, with just a little more Bible reading, devotional time, and prayer, I see how it can be done.”
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we see the activity and mistake panic for inspiration. That is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God. We would much rather work for God than believe in Him. Do I really believe that God will do in me what I cannot do? The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The degree of panic activity in my life is equal to the degree of my lack of personal spiritual experience.
“Behold, O My people, I will open your graves…” (Ezekiel 37:12). When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has ever given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He will only do this when His Spirit is at work in you), then you know that in reality there is no criminal half as bad as you yourself could be without His grace. My “grave” has been opened by God and “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18). God’s Spirit continually reveals to His children what human nature is like apart from His grace.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption
Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 15-16; John 12:27-50
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 01, 2020
Stopped at the Gate - #8711
Wow! Talk about so near and yet so far. Poor Desmond Bishop. He missed what could have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to the White House and meet the President of the United States! Actually it was a few years ago.
Desmond was a linebacker for then the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, and his team got to meet the President. Meanwhile, Desmond took a nap on the team bus. Why? All because he inadvertently left his I.D. on the plane, and the Secret Service wasn't about to make any exceptions and let someone close to the President. You know how it goes, no ID, no White House, no President.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stopped at the Gate."
Listen, it could be a lot worse. I mean, there's something really tragic, in fact nothing more tragic, than getting to the gates of heaven, expecting to get in with others who are going and being turned away. And that is not some imaginary scenario.
Actually, it's in our word for today from the Word of God, Luke 13. I'll begin reading in verse 24. Jesus said, "Many will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you'll stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But he will answer, ‘I don't know you.' Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets.' But he will reply, 'I don't know you. Depart from me'."
That's really disturbing. The folks who are shut out of heaven are apparently church folks, people who've been around Jesus, who know a lot about Jesus. They have Christianity, but they don't have Christ.
Jesus made it really clear when He said, "I am the way...no man comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). The way. Because you can't get into heaven with your sin, and your sin can only be forgiven by the One who paid the sin penalty that we deserve. The Bible says, "He carried our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). No religion can die for your sins; no spirituality can die for your sins. Only God's sinless Son could do that. So He's the only "I.D." that will get us into God's heaven.
Actually I had a picture of that a while back. I was speaking at a large youth event in Canada, and the music was provided by one of North America's most popular Christian bands. And I had a small group of young people who really wanted to meet them. (You know, meeting a speaker - who cares? Meet the band? Freak out!) Well they kept getting stopped by security, until I showed up. I pointed to the first one, and eventually to each of them, and I said the magic words that got them in. I just said, "He's with me. She's with me."
You know, that's the only way you and I are going to get into heaven? It takes Jesus saying, "He's with Me. She's with Me." And 2 Timothy 2:19 says, "The Lord knows those who are His." That would be those who at some point in their life have pinned all their hopes on Him and put their life in His hands.
Question: "Are you one of them?" I mean, can you remember that there was a time when you said to Jesus, "Jesus, I believe that some of those sins you died for on the cross were mine, and I want to make this personal. I want to pin all my hopes on You. I'm not driving my life any more. You're going to drive from here on." At that time you actually put your life, your eternity, your future, your soul and your hopes in the hands of Jesus.
If you don't know you've done that, you probably haven't, but today you could. Today could be your Jesus day, so that He will say, "She's with me. He's with me" when you get to the gate of heaven. It's the only way you're going to get in. If you're not sure you're with Him; if you're not sure you belong to Him, get it settled today. Tell him, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
Go to our website, will you? It's really set up for the moment you want to be sure you belong to Him. It will help you get that done. The website is ANewStory.com. Go there today.
Because without Jesus...without Him saying, "He's with Me. She's with Me," there's just no getting in.