Max Lucado Daily: THE SPACE OF GRACE
Revenge builds a lonely house. Space enough for one person. The lives of its tenants are reduced to one goal: make someone miserable. They do—themselves! Keep a sharp eye out for the weeds of bitter discontent. God’s healing includes a move out of the house of spite, toward the spacious ways of grace, away from hardness toward forgiveness. Can He really? you wonder. Can He clean up this mess? This history of sexual abuse? This raw anger at the father who left my mother? Can God heal this ancient hurt in my heart?
Begin the process of forgiveness. Turn your attention away from what they did to you to what Jesus did for you, and stay the course. You’ll spend less time in the spite house and more in the grace house. You’re going to love the space of grace. You’ll get through this.
Isaiah 62
Regarding Zion, I can’t keep my mouth shut,
regarding Jerusalem, I can’t hold my tongue,
Until her righteousness blazes down like the sun
and her salvation flames up like a torch.
Foreign countries will see your righteousness,
and world leaders your glory.
You’ll get a brand-new name
straight from the mouth of God.
You’ll be a stunning crown in the palm of God’s hand,
a jeweled gold cup held high in the hand of your God.
No more will anyone call you Rejected,
and your country will no more be called Ruined.
You’ll be called Hephzibah (My Delight),
and your land Beulah (Married),
Because God delights in you
and your land will be like a wedding celebration.
For as a young man marries his virgin bride,
so your builder marries you,
And as a bridegroom is happy in his bride,
so your God is happy with you.
6-7 I’ve posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem.
Day and night they keep at it, praying, calling out,
reminding God to remember.
They are to give him no peace until he does what he said,
until he makes Jerusalem famous as the City of Praise.
8-9 God has taken a solemn oath,
an oath he means to keep:
“Never again will I open your grain-filled barns
to your enemies to loot and eat.
Never again will foreigners drink the wine
that you worked so hard to produce.
No. The farmers who grow the food will eat the food
and praise God for it.
And those who make the wine will drink the wine
in my holy courtyards.”
10-12 Walk out of the gates. Get going!
Get the road ready for the people.
Build the highway. Get at it!
Clear the debris,
hoist high a flag, a signal to all peoples!
Yes! God has broadcast to all the world:
“Tell daughter Zion, ‘Look! Your Savior comes,
Ready to do what he said he’d do,
prepared to complete what he promised.’”
Zion will be called new names: Holy People, God-Redeemed,
Sought-Out, City-Not-Forsaken.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, June 15, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Nehemiah 2:11–18
I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days 12 I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.
13 By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal[a] Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; 15 so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.
They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.
Footnotes:
Nehemiah 2:13 Or Serpent or Fig
Insight
Unlike most of the Old Testament, the book of Nehemiah isn’t told by a narrator. This becomes clear when Nehemiah says, “I was cupbearer to the king” (1:11)—a statement that not only reveals the autobiographical nature of the book but gives us a glimpse into his life. Nehemiah was a Jew in captivity in Babylon and was cupbearer to the king. In that role, he would have been highly trusted, since poisoning was a primary means of assassination in the ancient world.
How to Rebuild
They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work. Nehemiah 2:18
It was nighttime when the leader set out by horseback to inspect the work that lay ahead. As he toured the destruction all around him, he saw city walls that had been destroyed and gates that had been burned. In some areas, the vast debris made it tough for his horse to get through. Saddened, the rider turned toward home.
When it came time to report the damage to the officials of the city, he began by saying, “You see the trouble we are in” (Nehemiah 2:17). He reported that the city was in ruins, and the protecting city wall had been rendered useless.
But then he made a statement that energized the troubled citizens: “I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me.” Immediately, the people replied, “Let us start rebuilding” (v. 18).
And they did.
With faith in God and all-out effort, despite enemy opposition and a seemingly impossible task, the people of Jerusalem—under Nehemiah’s leadership—rebuilt the wall in just fifty-two days (6:15).
As you consider your circumstances, is there something that looks difficult but that you know God wants you to do? A sin you can’t seem to get rid of? A relationship rift that’s not God-honoring? A task for Him that looks too hard?
Ask God for guidance (2:4–5), analyze the problem (vv. 11–15), and recognize His involvement (v. 18). Then start rebuilding. By: Dave Branon
Reflect & Pray
What are a couple of “destroyed wall” situations that are troubling you? How will prayerfully asking for God’s help and guidance help you start the rebuilding process?
God, I need Your help. I can’t fix these problems alone. Help me to understand the situation, and then to seek Your help and guidance in resolving the challenges before me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, June 15, 2020
Get Moving! (2)
Also…add to your faith… —2 Peter 1:5
In the matter of drudgery. Peter said in this passage that we have become “partakers of the divine nature” and that we should now be “giving all diligence,” concentrating on forming godly habits (2 Peter 1:4-5). We are to “add” to our lives all that character means. No one is born either naturally or supernaturally with character; it must be developed. Nor are we born with habits— we have to form godly habits on the basis of the new life God has placed within us. We are not meant to be seen as God’s perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace. Drudgery is the test of genuine character. The greatest hindrance in our spiritual life is that we will only look for big things to do. Yet, “Jesus…took a towel and…began to wash the disciples’ feet…” (John 13:3-5).
We all have those times when there are no flashes of light and no apparent thrill to life, where we experience nothing but the daily routine with its common everyday tasks. The routine of life is actually God’s way of saving us between our times of great inspiration which come from Him. Don’t always expect God to give you His thrilling moments, but learn to live in those common times of the drudgery of life by the power of God.
It is difficult for us to do the “adding” that Peter mentioned here. We say we do not expect God to take us to heaven on flowery beds of ease, and yet we act as if we do! I must realize that my obedience even in the smallest detail of life has all of the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I will do my duty, not for duty’s sake but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience all of the magnificent grace of God is mine through the glorious atonement by the Cross of Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Sincerity means that the appearance and the reality are exactly the same. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 1449 L
Bible in a Year: Nehemiah 1-3; Acts 2:1-21
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, June 15, 2020
The God Who Knows Your Name - #8721
I was getting pretty bored with our family fishing vacation in Minnesota. So my dad decided to take little nine-year-old Ronnie to see Paul Bunyan, the legendary giant lumberjack. Actually, it's this huge Paul Bunyan, sitting on a chair with his big ax and Babe the Blue Ox nearby. And there was this little log cabin at his feet. My dad went over to the ticket booth and came back with my ticket, which I eagerly gave to the ticket taker so I could go in and see big old Paul. As I walked in, I almost became the youngest heart attack victim in Minnesota history. Paul Bunyan's big old voice boomed out across the grounds and said, "Hello, Ronnie." I was blown away! How could I know that this was all a conspiracy? The ticket booth guy gets the kid's name, relays it to the little man with a microphone in Paul's log cabin, who then uses that information to welcome some unsuspecting little guy like me. All I knew was that that big guy knew my name!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The God Who Knows Your Name."
I guess that's one of the greatest surprises in our life, isn't it? When it dawns on you that the biggest person there is in the entire universe actually knows your name and loves you, not as one of seven or eight billion inhabitants of Planet Earth, but as if you were the only one on this planet!
The day this God surprised a Jewish tax collector called Zacchaeus is the subject of our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 19, beginning with verse 1. "Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man (I love this guy!) he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Him...When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.' So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly."
OK, surprise #1: Jesus knows you. Not only can He call you by name, but He knows exactly where you are, no matter how concealed you might think you are. He knows every dream, every fear, every sin, every battle, and every wound. And knowing all He knows, He wants to be with you forever!
Surprise #2: Jesus wants to go with you into your world. Notice, Jesus said, "Zacchaeus I want to go into your world." Because of his greed and cheating, people despised this man. But Jesus scandalizes the town by picking Zacchaeus' place as the place He would go. Jesus stands ready today, upon your invitation, to go with you into your personal world, no matter how broken, how shameful, and He will meet you there, not after you've cleaned yourself up.
Surprise #3: Jesus makes you what you never dreamed you could be. Zacchaeus ends up a new person, giving half of what he has to the poor and repaying four times whatever he has stolen from people. He's a really big man for the first time in his life. When you welcome Jesus into your life, just as you are, He will make you into a man or woman you never thought possible. He died on the cross to forgive every sin of your life and to offer you the power to become a brand new person inside. But just like Zacchaeus, it starts only when you "welcome Him gladly."
Maybe you've never really thrown open your life to Jesus even though you may have been around Him for a long, long time. He's waiting to move into your life upon your invitation. In a way (maybe deep in your heart), He's calling your name, even as you're listening right now. Would you grab Him while He's in town?
Tell Him, "Jesus, from this day forward, I'm pinning all my hopes on You. I'm Yours." If you want to be sure you belong to Him, our website is there to do just that. Go there today, please - ANewStory.com.
He's calling your name. Don't miss Him.
