Max Lucado Daily: DON’T STROLL THROUGH THE SWAMP
“You’re gonna regret it.” I waved away the warning without turning around. What was to regret? I took the shortcut. I was on my way to a picnic. The tables sat on the other side of a marsh. The parks department had kindly constructed a bridge over the marsh, but who needed a bridge? I ventured in. The mud swallowed my feet. Squiggly things swam past me. I think I saw a set of eyeballs peering in my direction.
I backpedaled, flip-flops sucked into the abyss. I exited, mud covered, mosquito bitten and red faced. I walked over and took my seat at the picnic table. Made for a miserable picnic, but makes for an apt proverb. Life comes with voices, and voices lead to choices, and choices have consequences!
Ezekiel 5
A Jealous God, Not to Be Trifled With
“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a straight razor, shaving your head and your beard. Then, using a set of balancing scales, divide the hair into thirds. When the days of the siege are over, take one-third of the hair and burn it inside the city. Take another third, chop it into bits with the sword and sprinkle it around the city. The final third you’ll throw to the wind. Then I’ll go after them with a sword.
3-4 “Retrieve a few of the hairs and slip them into your pocket. Take some of them and throw them into the fire—burn them up. From them, fire will spread to the whole family of Israel.
5-6 “This is what God, the Master, says: This means Jerusalem. I set her at the center of the world, all the nations ranged around her. But she rebelled against my laws and ordinances, rebelled far worse than the nations ranged around her—sheer wickedness!—refused my guidance, ignored my directions.
7 “Therefore this is what God, the Master, says: You’ve been more headstrong and willful than any of the nations around you, refusing my guidance, ignoring my directions. You’ve sunk to the gutter level of those around you.
8-10 “Therefore this is what God, the Master, says: I’m setting myself against you—yes, against you, Jerusalem. I’m going to punish you in full sight of the nations. Because of your disgusting no-god idols, I’m going to do something to you that I’ve never done before and will never do again: turn families into cannibals—parents eating children, children eating parents! Punishment indeed. And whoever’s left over I’ll throw to the winds.
11-12 “Therefore, as sure as I am the living God—Decree of God, the Master—because you’ve polluted my Sanctuary with your obscenities and disgusting no-god idols, I’m pulling out. Not an ounce of pity will I show you. A third of your people will die of either disease or hunger inside the city, a third will be killed outside the city, and a third will be thrown to the winds and chased by killers.
13 “Only then will I calm down and let my anger cool. Then you’ll know that I was serious about this all along, that I’m a jealous God and not to be trifled with.
14-15 “When I get done with you, you’ll be a pile of rubble. Nations who walk by will make coarse jokes. When I finish my angry punishment and searing rebukes, you’ll be reduced to an object of ridicule and mockery, turned into a horror story circulating among the surrounding nations. I, God, have spoken.
16-17 “When I shoot my lethal famine arrows at you, I’ll shoot to kill. Then I’ll step up the famine and cut off food supplies. Famine and more famine—and then I’ll send in the wild animals to finish off your children. Epidemic disease, unrestrained murder, death—and I will have sent it! I, God, have spoken.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 28
Of David.
To you, Lord, I call;
you are my Rock,
do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
I will be like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear my cry for mercy
as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
toward your Most Holy Place.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors
but harbor malice in their hearts.
4 Repay them for their deeds
and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
and bring back on them what they deserve.
5 Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord
and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down
and never build them up again.
6 Praise be to the Lord,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him.
8 The Lord is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.
Insight
Psalm 28 is referred to as an imprecatory psalm—one that calls down wrath or curses on a person or people who are doing wrong. The imprecations in verses 4–5 give us a picture of God’s hatred of sin. In view of his painful circumstances, David cries out to God, his Rock (v. 1). As commentator John Phillips wrote about this name for God, “There is something permanent, massive, and immutable about a rock. In the Old Testament the figure of a rock is never used of a man, only of God. God is as changeless as creation’s rocks.” As David’s world shook, he cast himself on the Rock. God heard his cry, and David responded with praise (vv. 6–7).
If Only We Could . . .
The Lord is the strength of his people. Psalm 28:8
The weeping Alaskan cedar tree whipped from side to side in the storm’s strong winds. Regie loved the tree that had not only provided shelter from the summer sun but also given her family privacy. Now the fierce storm was tearing the roots from the ground. Quickly, Regie, with her fifteen-year-old son in tow, ran to try to rescue the tree. With her hands and ninety-pound frame firmly planted against it, she and her son tried to keep it from falling over. But they weren’t strong enough.
God was King David’s strength when he called out to Him in another kind of storm (Psalm 28:8). Some commentators say he wrote this during a time when his world was falling apart. His own son rose in rebellion against him and tried to take the throne (2 Samuel 15). He felt so vulnerable and weak that he feared God might remain silent, and he would die (Psalm 28:1). “Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help,” he said to God (v. 2). God gave David strength to go on, even though his relationship with his son never mended.
How we long to prevent bad things from happening! If only we could. But in our weakness, God promises we can always call to Him to be our Rock (vv. 1–2). When we don’t have the strength, He’s our shepherd and will carry us forever (vv. 8–9). By: Anne Cetas
Reflect & Pray
When have you felt vulnerable and unable to fix a situation? How did you see God come through for you?
It seems there’s always something for which I need extra strength from You, O God. Help me to remember that without You I can do nothing.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
The Eternal Goal
By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing…I will bless you… —Genesis 22:16-17
Abraham, at this point, has reached where he is in touch with the very nature of God. He now understands the reality of God.
My goal is God Himself…
At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.
“At any cost…by any road” means submitting to God’s way of bringing us to the goal.
There is no possibility of questioning God when He speaks, if He speaks to His own nature in me. Prompt obedience is the only result. When Jesus says, “Come,” I simply come; when He says, “Let go,” I let go; when He says, “Trust God in this matter,” I trust. This work of obedience is the evidence that the nature of God is in me.
God’s revelation of Himself to me is influenced by my character, not by God’s character.
’Tis because I am ordinary,
Thy ways so often look ordinary to me.
It is through the discipline of obedience that I get to the place where Abraham was and I see who God is. God will never be real to me until I come face to face with Him in Jesus Christ. Then I will know and can boldly proclaim, “In all the world, my God, there is none but Thee, there is none but Thee.”
The promises of God are of no value to us until, through obedience, we come to understand the nature of God. We may read some things in the Bible every day for a year and they may mean nothing to us. Then, because we have been obedient to God in some small detail, we suddenly see what God means and His nature is instantly opened up to us. “All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen…” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Our “Yes” must be born of obedience; when by obedience we ratify a promise of God by saying, “Amen,” or, “So be it.” That promise becomes ours.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. Biblical Psychology, 199 R
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 5-7; Hebrews 12
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Doing it With Your Daddy - #8831
A basketful of eggs and a four-year-old girl. Got any ideas how this might turn out? The little girl was my wife. This little scene played out on the basement stairs of the church her family attended. Her Dad said, "Honey, you should hold Daddy's hand." He wasn't too sure about either his daughter or the eggs she was carrying. As she grabbed onto the stair railing with one hand and gripped the handle of the basket with the other hand, she said, "I'm okay, Daddy." (These are first-borns. Yeah, I know about this.) In an instant, she was tumbling down the steps, head over heels. She had some minor "boo-boos." The eggs - prematurely scrambled.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Doing it With Your Daddy."
We smile at a little child's stubborn self-sufficiency, and we miss how much like us that really is. At least from the vantage point of our Heavenly Father. That's why our Father gives us clear instructions on the way to make it and the way to mess it up; the way to get safely where we need to go and the way to break all the eggs.
It's summed up in two of the most quoted verses in the Bible from Proverbs 3:5-6. It could be your life verse and it still might not be the way you live! Our word for today from the Word of God: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
Trust in Him and not in yourself. Lean on what He shows you and not on what you can figure out by yourself. It could be that you're running full-steam right now, chasing your goal, managing your situation, fixing your problem. But the still, small voice of your Heavenly Father is whispering in your heart, "My child, you should hold My hand."
But you're Mr. or Miss Self-Sufficient, right? You're smart, you're skilled, you're experienced, you're strong, and from God's perspective, you're a control freak. Sure, you want Jesus with you, but you don't really want Him running things. "I can do this, Daddy. I can fix this. I can handle this." Followed soon by the crash, the breakage, and the "boo-boos."
Sure, you're officially, theologically trusting God, but in reality, are you trusting what you can do? In reality, while Jesus is your "Chairman" on the letterhead, in the stuff that really matters, are you really in charge and is Jesus' role really honorary? Let's put it this way: you're driving down the road and you see this hitchhiker by the side of the road. You go against your usual instincts and you pull over to pick him up. As you open the passenger door, you're stunned to see Jesus Himself standing there. You say, "Jesus, this is such an honor. Would you please get in and ride with me?" And He'll say, "No." You'll probably ask, "Why not?" That's when Jesus will say, "Because I don't ride. I drive. You let me know when you're ready for Me to drive."
See, you were never meant to drive. You were never meant to carry all this. That's why there are so many stumbles, so many falls, and so many breaks. Right now your Lord, who won the right to run your life when He gave His life for you on the cross, your Lord is saying it one more time, "Take My hand. Lean on Me. Let Me lead." Don't tell Him, "No, I'm okay, Daddy. I can do it myself." That's only going to lead to a fall.
Don't make another step without grabbing your Father's hand and letting Him lead.
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.