Psalm 74, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: NO FEAR OF FALLING

Your Father has no intention of letting you fall. You can’t see him, but he is present. He is “able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glory without fault and with unspeakable joy” (Jude 24). Drink deeply from this truth. Does God want you living in fear? No! Just the opposite. “The Spirit we received,” according to Romans 8:15-16 “does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of God. With that Spirit we cry out, ‘Father.’ And the Spirit himself joins with our spirits to say we are God’s children.”

What an intriguing statement. Deep within you God’s Spirit confirms with your spirit that you belong to him. Beneath the vitals of the heart, God’s Spirit whispers, “You’re mine. I bought you, and I sealed you, and no one can take you.” Isn’t that great news!

Psalm 74

You walked off and left us, and never looked back.
    God, how could you do that?
We’re your very own sheep;
    how can you stomp off in anger?

2-3 Refresh your memory of us—you bought us a long time ago.
    Your most precious tribe—you paid a good price for us!
    Your very own Mount Zion—you actually lived here once!
Come and visit the site of disaster,
    see how they’ve wrecked the sanctuary.

4-8 While your people were at worship, your enemies barged in,
    brawling and scrawling graffiti.
They set fire to the porch;
    axes swinging, they chopped up the woodwork,
Beat down the doors with sledgehammers,
    then split them into kindling.
They burned your holy place to the ground,
    violated the place of worship.
They said to themselves, “We’ll wipe them all out,”
    and burned down all the places of worship.

9-17 There’s not a sign or symbol of God in sight,
    nor anyone to speak in his name,
    no one who knows what’s going on.
How long, God, will barbarians blaspheme,
    enemies curse and get by with it?
Why don’t you do something? How long are you going
    to sit there with your hands folded in your lap?
God is my King from the very start;
    he works salvation in the womb of the earth.
With one blow you split the sea in two,
    you made mincemeat of the dragon Tannin.
You lopped off the heads of Leviathan,
    then served them up in a stew for the animals.
With your finger you opened up springs and creeks,
    and dried up the wild floodwaters.
You own the day, you own the night;
    you put stars and sun in place.
You laid out the four corners of earth,
    shaped the seasons of summer and winter.

18-21 Mark and remember, God, all the enemy
    taunts, each idiot desecration.
Don’t throw your lambs to the wolves;
    after all we’ve been through, don’t forget us.
Remember your promises;
    the city is in darkness, the countryside violent.
Don’t leave the victims to rot in the street;
    make them a choir that sings your praises.

22-23 On your feet, O God—
    stand up for yourself!
Do you hear what they’re saying about you,
    all the vile obscenities?
Don’t tune out their malicious filth,
    the brawling invective that never lets up.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Read: Isaiah 22:8–13

The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,
    and you looked in that day
    to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
9 You saw that the walls of the City of David
    were broken through in many places;
you stored up water
    in the Lower Pool.
10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem
    and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls
    for the water of the Old Pool,
but you did not look to the One who made it,
    or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.

12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    called you on that day
to weep and to wail,
    to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,
    slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
    eating of meat and drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
    “for tomorrow we die!”

INSIGHT
The reservoir built between the two walls for the water of the “Old Pool” (Isaiah 22:11) is most likely Hezekiah’s Tunnel, which can still be seen (and walked through) in Jerusalem today. Hezekiah had a tunnel dug under the old city of Jerusalem south of the Temple Mount. The tunnel connected the spring of Gihon in the Kidron Valley on the east side of the city to the pool now known as the Pool of Siloam to the west. Its purpose was to bring water from that spring inside the city walls so that any besieging army wouldn’t be able to access water, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem would have water. It was a sound military strategy, and Isaiah doesn’t critique it. Instead, he critiques the priority of physical preparation over paying attention first to the spiritual. But Hezekiah later demonstrates a faith not evident in Isaiah 22 (see ch. 37).

Desperate Solutions -By Tim Gustafson
You did not . . . have regard for the One who planned it long ago. Isaiah 22:11

In the late sixteenth century, William of Orange intentionally flooded much of his nation’s land. The Dutch monarch resorted to such a drastic measure in an attempt to drive out the invading Spaniards. It didn’t work, and a vast swath of prime farmland was lost to the sea. “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” they say.

In Isaiah’s day, Jerusalem turned to desperate measures when the Assyrian army threatened them. Creating a water storage system to endure the siege, the people also tore down houses to shore up the city walls. Such tactics may have been prudent, but they neglected the most important step. “You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool,” God said, “but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago” (Isaiah 22:11).

We aren’t likely to encounter a literal army outside our homes today. “The batterings always come in commonplace ways and through commonplace people,” said Oswald Chambers. Yet, such “batterings” are genuine threats. Thankfully, they also bring with them God’s invitation to turn to Him first for what we need.

When life’s irritations and interruptions come, will we see them as opportunities to turn to God? Or will we seek our own desperate solutions?

What ordinary threats do you face today? What do you need to face them?

Today, loving God, I turn to You first with all of my challenges, large and small.

Download Forty Days of Praying the Word at go.odb.org/40-days.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Taking the Initiative Against Depression

Arise and eat. —1 Kings 19:5

The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive— only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us; for example, things that are associated with death. Whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.

When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things— things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God. If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it. But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone. As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but a public manifestation of believers in Jesus.  Facing Reality, 34 R

Bible in a Year: Leviticus 21-22; Matthew 28

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Bad Break at the "Big Dance" - #8898

The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is known for some strange reason as "The Big Dance" - March Madness. The Louisville Cardinals came out on top for the third time in their school's history that year. But the single event that defined that tournament did not happen in the championship game. No, it was two games earlier, in the elite eight game where Louisville got a very bad break - literally.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Bad Break at the 'Big Dance.'"

I've never understood why theater folks tell a performer to "break a leg" just before they go on stage. It's supposed to be good luck. Well, breaking a leg at a college basketball tournament? That's really a bad idea. Their star guard, Kevin Ware, suddenly went down with a season-ending injury. Maybe you remember. He had a leg so badly broken every reporter I heard insisted on using the same word to describe it - "gruesome." The bone protruding some six inches. Networks deciding to quit showing it, it was so excruciating. Louisville's veteran coach - he's out there wiping tears from his eyes. Players were on the floor in tears next to their fallen teammate.

In the middle of it all this drama was Kevin in what must have been agonizing pain. But that's not what he was talking about as his teammates gathered around him. No, he pulled them close and he just kept spitting out the same three words: "Win the game! Win the game!"

When play resumed, Louisville went three minutes without scoring a point. Then they exploded. One player traded his jersey for one of Kevin's. The team and the crowd chanted together, "Ke-vin! Ke-vin!" And Kevin's team went on to an 85-63 blowout victory and a ticket to play in the "Final Four" and ultimately to win the national championship.

The drama of all this inspired people far beyond college basketball fans, and it actually touched my heart and inspired me in a somewhat surprising way. No, not to try to be a basketball star. That's hopeless. But to hear another broken Man giving His game-changing challenge.

Because I serve a Savior who was, in His words, "broken for me." For all of us. Broken body. Broken heart. Dying a death so unbearable that we actually get the word "excruciating" from it. Ex cruces - from the cross. And now Jesus pulls us close to tell us what to do with the sacrifice He made for us, "Win the game! Win the game!" He was broken so we could be healed. He took our sin so we could stop sinning. He gave His life so people with no hope of heaven could have a chance to live forever.

And not long before He left the court, here's what happened and it's in our word for today from the Word of God in John 20:20-21. "He showed them His hands and side. And then Jesus said, 'As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.'" To do what? Mark 16:15 - to "go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere" to bring the hope of heaven to people everywhere. To the people, first, who are right within your reach, the ones you see every day. They're your responsibility before God. God has made you His ambassador for Christ to them. He's placed you in their lives to tell them that it was for them Jesus gave His life.

Hear Him now, "Finish what I started. Do what I died for. Rescue those I shed my blood for." Or, in other words, "Win the game! Win the game!"

We will, Jesus. In Your Name, we will.