Max Lucado Daily: FIND GOD IN YOUR CRISIS
Calamities can leave us off balance and confused. Consider the crisis of Joseph’s generation as recorded in Genesis Chapter 47. “Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.” Joseph faced a calamity on a global scale. Joseph told his brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you.” Joseph began and ended his crisis with God.
God preceded the famine. God would outlive the famine. How would you describe your crisis? Do you recite your woes more naturally than you do heaven’s strength? You’re assuming God isn’t in the crisis. He is. Even a famine was fair game for God’s purpose!
Micah 1
The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you,
listen, earth and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem
3 Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place;
he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
4 The mountains melt beneath him
and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope.
5 All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,
because of the sins of the people of Israel.
What is Jacob’s transgression?
Is it not Samaria?
What is Judah’s high place?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble,
a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour her stones into the valley
and lay bare her foundations.
7 All her idols will be broken to pieces;
all her temple gifts will be burned with fire;
I will destroy all her images.
Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes,
as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”
Weeping and Mourning
8 Because of this I will weep and wail;
I will go about barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
and moan like an owl.
9 For Samaria’s plague is incurable;
it has spread to Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
even to Jerusalem itself.
10 Tell it not in Gath[a];
weep not at all.
In Beth Ophrah[b]
roll in the dust.
11 Pass by naked and in shame,
you who live in Shaphir.[c]
Those who live in Zaanan[d]
will not come out.
Beth Ezel is in mourning;
it no longer protects you.
12 Those who live in Maroth[e] writhe in pain,
waiting for relief,
because disaster has come from the Lord,
even to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 You who live in Lachish,
harness fast horses to the chariot.
You are where the sin of Daughter Zion began,
for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
to Moresheth Gath.
The town of Akzib[f] will prove deceptive
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will bring a conqueror against you
who live in Mareshah.[g]
The nobles of Israel
will flee to Adullam.
16 Shave your head in mourning
for the children in whom you delight;
make yourself as bald as the vulture,
for they will go from you into exile.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, July 10, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Acts 16:22–34
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
Insight
The jailer’s story in Acts 16:19–34 is intriguing. It’s possible he was a slave tasked with guarding the prison. According to Roman law, a jailer who let prisoners escape was to be executed (see 12:19). Evidently suicide was preferable to execution. But Paul stopped the jailer just in time (16:28). As a result, the guard asked about how he could be saved. He and his household placed their faith in God for salvation and were baptized (vv. 31–34).
Not Taking Advantage
Don’t harm yourself! We are all here! Acts 16:28
Several inmates were collecting roadside garbage to reduce their jail time when their supervisor, James, collapsed. They rushed to his aid and realized he was having a medical emergency. One inmate borrowed James’ phone to call for help. The sheriff’s department later thanked the inmates for helping get their supervisor prompt medical attention, especially because they could have instead neglected him—to his great detriment as he was having a stroke—or used the situation to their own advantage to escape.
The kindness of the inmates’ actions is not unlike those of Paul and Silas when they were imprisoned. After they’d been stripped, beaten, and thrown into prison, an earthquake struck so violently that it loosed their chains and shook the prison doors off their hinges (Acts 16:23–26). When the jailer awoke, he naturally assumed the prisoners had fled, so he prepared to take his own life (to preempt what would’ve been his punishment for their escape). When Paul shouted, “We are all here!” (v. 28) the jailer was so moved by their actions—uncharacteristic of prisoners—that he became curious about the God they worshiped, ultimately coming to believe in Him too (vv. 29–34).
The way we treat others reveals what we believe and value. When we choose to do good instead of harm, our actions might just prompt them to wonder about the God we know and love. By: Kirsten Holmberg
Reflect & Pray
In what situation can you choose to not take advantage for your own gain? How might that decision benefit someone else?
Loving God, help me to make choices that will draw others to You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, July 10, 2020
The Spiritually Lazy Saint
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together… —Hebrews 10:24-25
We are all capable of being spiritually lazy saints. We want to stay off the rough roads of life, and our primary objective is to secure a peaceful retreat from the world. The ideas put forth in these verses from Hebrews 10 are those of stirring up one another and of keeping ourselves together. Both of these require initiative— our willingness to take the first step toward Christ-realization, not the initiative toward self-realization. To live a distant, withdrawn, and secluded life is diametrically opposed to spirituality as Jesus Christ taught it.
The true test of our spirituality occurs when we come up against injustice, degradation, ingratitude, and turmoil, all of which have the tendency to make us spiritually lazy. While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.
“Yes, I think it is right,” Peter said, “…to stir you up by reminding you…” (2 Peter 1:13). It is a most disturbing thing to be hit squarely in the stomach by someone being used of God to stir us up— someone who is full of spiritual activity. Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up— all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement— He says, “Go and tell My brethren…” (Matthew 28:10).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from. The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R
Bible in a Year: Job 41-42; Acts 16:22-40
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, July 10, 2020
No Life Without the Source - #8740
For my wife, it was sort of a symbol of the day she was born - daffodils. Growing up in the South, she was always able to have some fresh-picked daffodils for her birthday. But then we got married and then we found ourselves living pretty much in the North, where daffodils don't grow that early in the year. So every year, as my honey's birthday approached, I had fun trying to find some florist that somehow had some daffodils for sale, and I did. And once again, my gal had daffodils for her birthday. But even though they were very beautiful, the sad secret is they didn't last long...just like most of the flowers in the florist shop. They started to die as soon as they got cut from their stem.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Life Without the Source."
Someone has said that you and I are living in a "cut-flower civilization." We look like we're alive, but we're really cut off from the source of our life. That would be the God who designed us, who wired us - who planned us. He is, as the Bible says, "The author of life" (Acts 3:15). As spiritual "cut flowers," it's not that we don't try to generate life on our own. But no matter who or what we try, that strange loneliness and emptiness keeps creeping back into our soul. What we don't realize is that our loneliness is cosmic loneliness. Our emptiness is cosmic emptiness. We are missing the God who made us.
The Bible describes our true spiritual condition in eight sobering words. They're found in our word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 59:2, "Your iniquities (That means sins or wrongdoings.) have separated you from your God." Think of that. Separated from God. In this life that means never finding the purpose of your life; never finding the love that can satisfy your heart.
At the end of this life, "separated from God" means an unspeakable eternity. In the single word the Bible uses, it means hell. God did not put up the wall that keeps us from Him-we did. Those "iniquities" are made up of every time we have done things the way we wanted to do it instead of God's way. And over a lifetime, it's impossible to add all those up. But each sin, each "me first" choice, has put another brick in the wall.
So, separated from the One our life came from, we're slowly dying inside. And every day is one day closer to the ultimate separation of an eternity away from God, of paying sin's horrific death penalty ourselves. But in spite of the way you and I have marginalized our Creator and ignored Him, He wasn't willing to let us be cut off from Him forever. Nope! To reconnect us to Him required the greatest act of love in the history of the human race. In the Bible's words, "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9). So Jesus came, and Jesus died, to remove the sin-wall that keeps us cut off from God. In fact, when He was dying on that cross, He was cut off from God the Father so you would never have to be.
That's why your decision about what you do with Jesus is the ultimate life-or-death decision you'll ever make. Because as the Bible makes very clear, "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:11-12). Either you have the Son of God in your heart and you have life forever, or you don't have the Son of God in your heart and you will miss eternal life.
You "have the Son of God" when you open your heart to Him, trusting Him as your only hope of having your sins forgiven, of having that wall between you and God finally come down, of going to heaven when you die. It's all about Jesus and whether you say yes or no to Him. And you could say "yes" to Him today and tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours. I've run my life. That's wrong. You died for that. I am Yours beginning today."
That's the life you were made for. That's the God you were made for. We want to help you get that relationship with Him started. And that help is at our website ANewStory.com. Please, do not risk another day without Him.
