Max Lucado Daily: THE STORY OF JESUS
The story of Jesus reads a bit like a scrapbook. Headline clippings, Jesus’ favorite stories and lesson outlines, Luke’s snapshot of Jesus riding in Peter’s boat. Matthew took the group photo when the seventy followers met for a party after the first mission trip. John pasted a wedding napkin from Cana in the book as well as a funeral program from Bethany. There are so many other things Jesus did. In fact, in his gospel John says, “If they were all written down, each of them…I can’t imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books” (John 21:25 The Message).
Who was this man? Jesus Christ. No question matters more. Consider reading the entire story, from the Bethlehem manger to the vacated tomb. And keep in mind that the final entries of the story are yet to come, including the snapshot of you and your Savior at heaven’s gateway.
Jeremiah 20
Life’s Been Nothing but Trouble and Tears
The priest Pashur son of Immer was the senior priest in God’s Temple. He heard Jeremiah preach this sermon. He whipped Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate of God’s Temple. The next day Pashur came and let him go. Jeremiah told him, “God has a new name for you: not Pashur but Danger-Everywhere, because God says, ‘You’re a danger to yourself and everyone around you. All your friends are going to get killed in battle while you stand there and watch. What’s more, I’m turning all of Judah over to the king of Babylon to do whatever he likes with them—haul them off into exile, kill them at whim. Everything worth anything in this city, property and possessions along with everything in the royal treasury—I’m handing it all over to the enemy. They’ll rummage through it and take what they want back to Babylon.
6 “‘And you, Pashur, you and everyone in your family will be taken prisoner into exile—that’s right, exile in Babylon. You’ll die and be buried there, you and all your cronies to whom you preached your lies.’”
7-10 You pushed me into this, God, and I let you do it.
You were too much for me.
And now I’m a public joke.
They all poke fun at me.
Every time I open my mouth
I’m shouting, “Murder!” or “Rape!”
And all I get for my God-warnings
are insults and contempt.
But if I say, “Forget it!
No more God-Messages from me!”
The words are fire in my belly,
a burning in my bones.
I’m worn out trying to hold it in.
I can’t do it any longer!
Then I hear whispering behind my back:
“There goes old ‘Danger-Everywhere.’ Shut him up! Report him!”
Old friends watch, hoping I’ll fall flat on my face:
“One misstep and we’ll have him. We’ll get rid of him for good!”
11 But God, a most fierce warrior, is at my side.
Those who are after me will be sent sprawling—
Slapstick buffoons falling all over themselves,
a spectacle of humiliation no one will ever forget.
12 Oh, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, no one fools you.
You see through everyone, everything.
I want to see you pay them back for what they’ve done.
I rest my case with you.
13 Sing to God! All praise to God!
He saves the weak from the grip of the wicked.
14-18 Curse the day
I was born!
The day my mother bore me—
a curse on it, I say!
And curse the man who delivered
the news to my father:
“You’ve got a new baby—a boy baby!”
(How happy it made him.)
Let that birth notice be blacked out,
deleted from the records,
And the man who brought it haunted to his death
with the bad news he brought.
He should have killed me before I was born,
with that womb as my tomb,
My mother pregnant for the rest of her life
with a baby dead in her womb.
Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb?
Life’s been nothing but trouble and tears,
and what’s coming is more of the same.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, August 31, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
1 Samuel 3:1–10
The Lord Calls Samuel
The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Insight
In the early chapters of 1 Samuel, the author is adept at using contrast to highlight the difference between the sons of Eli and Samuel. First Samuel 2:12 notes that “Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord” and “they slept with the women who served” as worship attendants (v. 22). Samuel, on the other hand, “continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people” (v. 26). While Eli’s sons didn’t listen to their father’s rebuke (v. 25), Samuel’s response to the Lord was, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (3:10).
The Servant Hears
The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10
Had the wireless radio been on, they would have known the Titanic was sinking. Cyril Evans, the radio operator of another ship, had tried to relay a message to Jack Phillips, the radio operator on the Titanic—letting him know they had encountered an ice field. But Phillips was busy relaying passengers’ messages and rudely told Evans to be quiet. So Evans reluctantly turned off his radio and went to bed. Ten minutes later, the Titanic struck an iceberg. Their distress signals went unanswered because no one was listening.
In 1 Samuel we read that the priests of Israel were corrupt and had lost their spiritual sight and hearing as the nation drifted into danger. “The word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions” (1 Samuel 3:1). Yet God wouldn’t give up on His people. He began to speak to a young boy named Samuel who was being raised in the priest’s household. Samuel’s name means “the Lord hears”—a memorial to God’s answering his mother’s prayer. But Samuel would need to learn how to hear God.
“Speak, for your servant is listening” (v. 10). It’s the servant who hears. May we also choose to listen to and obey what God has revealed in the Scriptures. Let’s submit our lives to Him and take the posture of humble servants—those who have their “radios” turned on. By: Glenn Packiam
Reflect & Pray
Why is it vital for you to obey what God has revealed in Scripture? How can you stay “tuned in” to His voice?
Dear Jesus, thank You for being a speaking God. Thank You for the Scriptures that help me follow You in obedience. Speak, Your servant is listening.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, August 31, 2020
“My Joy…Your Joy”
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. —John 15:11
What was the joy that Jesus had? Joy should not be confused with happiness. In fact, it is an insult to Jesus Christ to use the word happiness in connection with Him. The joy of Jesus was His absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice to His Father— the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do— “…who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2). “I delight to do Your will, O my God…” (Psalm 40:8). Jesus prayed that our joy might continue fulfilling itself until it becomes the same joy as His. Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?
Living a full and overflowing life does not rest in bodily health, in circumstances, nor even in seeing God’s work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the same fellowship and oneness with Him that Jesus Himself enjoyed. But the first thing that will hinder this joy is the subtle irritability caused by giving too much thought to our circumstances. Jesus said, “…the cares of this world,…choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). And before we even realize what has happened, we are caught up in our cares. All that God has done for us is merely the threshold— He wants us to come to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim who Jesus is.
Have the right relationship with God, finding your joy there, and out of you “will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). Be a fountain through which Jesus can pour His “living water.” Stop being hypocritical and proud, aware only of yourself, and live “your life…hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). A person who has the right relationship with God lives a life as natural as breathing wherever he goes. The lives that have been the greatest blessing to you are the lives of those people who themselves were unaware of having been a blessing.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
Bible in a Year: Psalms 132-134; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, August 31, 2020
Fingers and Fists - #8776
It's one of those classic "Peanuts" cartoons. Charlie Brown is sitting there, peacefully watching TV. Lucy comes up and tells him to change channels. Charlie Brown says, "What gives you the right to just order me to change channels?" Lucy holds up her hand with her fingers spread apart and answers, "These five little things: one, two, three, four, five. Alone they're not much" - and then as she pulls her fingers together in a fist - "but together, they are something terrible to behold." Then Lucy asks, "So what channel are you going to watch?" Poor ol' Charlie Brown looks down at his fingers and asks pitifully, "Why can't you guys get organized like that?"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fingers and Fists."
I wonder if Jesus ever looks at us, His followers, and asks that same question, "Why can't you guys get organized like that?" He knows that when we function like separate fingers, we're not much. But when we put our separate fingers together and make a fist, we're "something terrible to behold" - especially to the forces of darkness and the enemies of Jesus.
That's why Jesus prayed for us to get together in our word for today from the Word of God - it's in John 17:23. As Jesus pours out His heart to the Father on behalf of His followers, our Lord prays, "May they be brought together to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me." Jesus knows that if His followers can work together instead of separately, it will be living proof to a broken world of the power and the authenticity of Jesus. I guess we can assume the opposite is true as well. If we can't get our act together as the people of Jesus, the world has every reason to question the reality of what we believe. And believe me, they do.
When the Apostle Paul calls on Philippian Christians to "conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ," he defines it: "standing in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel." You see, anything else is unworthy of Jesus. Then he says this oneness between God's people will be "a sign (to those who oppose you) that they will be destroyed" (Philippians 1:27-28). The enemy knows he is no match for the people of Christ fighting him as one powerful fist.
So, obviously, the Devil loves to keep us apart. And we're going right along with this devilish strategy to dilute the impact of the forces of God. There are racial walls between us. Often Christians of one color don't even know the name of one Christian of another color, even though we might just be a short physical distance apart. We've let denominational walls develop, insisting on emphasizing the 10% that divides us rather than the 90% that unites us. We are so determined to stress our distinctives - the things that make us "us" - that we let them separate us from people we will share heaven with forever.
We let worship styles come between us, music styles, religious competition, the competition for finances, spiritual pride, critical spirits. And too many Christian families have let walls develop - again, by emphasizing the things that divide them rather than the things that unite them.
If you're living in a divided situation, would you be a part of the answer to your Savior's impassioned prayer that we work together? Be the one who brings people together - at least to pray together. Walls start to come down in prayer meetings. Help people raise their eyes to the common mission we all have, to rescue the dying people all around us. That goal is so big it makes the army forget its differences and to come together to accomplish our life-or-death mission on this planet!
We've been separate fingers long enough! Let's pull those fingers together and make a fist in Satan's face!
From my daily reading of the bible, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, My Utmost for His Highest and Ron Hutchcraft "A Word with You" and occasionally others.