Genesis 14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: BE AN AGENT OF HAPPINESS - May 10, 2021

Jesus wants to bring joy to the people of this generation, and he has enlisted some special agents of happiness to do the job: you and me.

Not an easy task. The people in our world can be moody, fickle, and stubborn. And that just describes my wife’s husband. Nah, if we are going to find the joy that comes through giving joy away, we need instruction. No wonder the Bible has so much to say about finding joy in the act of sharing it. The New Testament contains more than fifty “one another” statements.

You and I indwell a lonely planet. We cannot solve every problem in society, but we can bring smiles to a few faces. And who knows? If you brighten your corner of the world and I do the same in mine, a quiet revolution of joy might break out. It can be how happiness happens.

Genesis 14

Then this: Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim went off to war to fight Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.

3-4 This second group of kings, the attacked, came together at the Valley of Siddim, that is, the Salt Sea. They had been under the thumb of Kedorlaomer for twelve years. In the thirteenth year, they revolted.

5-7 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him set out and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El Paran on the far edge of the desert. On their way back they stopped at En Mishpat, that is, Kadesh, and conquered the whole region of the Amalekites as well as that of the Amorites who lived in Hazazon Tamar.

8-9 That’s when the king of Sodom marched out with the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. They drew up in battle formation against their enemies in the Valley of Siddim—against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.

10-12 The Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into the tar pits, but the rest escaped into the mountains. The four kings captured all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, all their food and equipment, and went on their way. They captured Lot, Abram’s nephew who was living in Sodom at the time, taking everything he owned with them.

13-16 A fugitive came and reported to Abram the Hebrew. Abram was living at the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and Aner. They were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he lined up his servants, all of them born in his household—there were 318 of them—and chased after the captors all the way to Dan. Abram and his men split into small groups and attacked by night. They chased them as far as Hobah, just north of Damascus. They recovered all the plunder along with nephew Lot and his possessions, including the women and the people.

17-20 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King’s Valley. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was priest of The High God—and blessed him:

Blessed be Abram by The High God,
    Creator of Heaven and Earth.
And blessed be The High God,
    who handed your enemies over to you.

Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.

21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me back the people but keep all the plunder for yourself.”

22-24 But Abram told the king of Sodom, “I swear to God, The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, this solemn oath, that I’ll take nothing from you, not so much as a thread or a shoestring. I’m not going to have you go around saying, ‘I made Abram rich.’ Nothing for me other than what the young men ate and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; they’re to get their share of the plunder.”


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Monday, May 10, 2021

Read: Zephaniah 3:14–17

Sing, Daughter Zion;
    shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
    Daughter Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has taken away your punishment,
    he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
    never again will you fear any harm.
16 On that day
    they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
    do not let your hands hang limp.
17 The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.”

INSIGHT
Zephaniah 3:14–17 is written like a psalm of salvation (such as Psalm 98). The prophet commands praise (Zephaniah 3:14), not only for what God has done in the past and will do in the future, but for the very presence of Yahweh in the midst of Israel as the loving king who inspires confidence (vv. 15–17). As such, this “psalm” expresses the motif of God’s continued presence in Zion, the city of David (Jerusalem), as promised in the covenant in 2 Samuel 7 and echoed in Isaiah and in psalms such as Psalms 2 and 89. The Lord is Israel’s king (Zephaniah 3:15) and her mighty warrior of salvation (v. 17). But He also responds to Israel like an abandoned parent or jilted lover to whom his beloved has returned. He rejoices with vocal jubilation as well as stillness and quiet (v. 17).

By Kirsten Holmberg
Singing Over Us

[He] will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

A young father held his baby boy in his arms, singing to him and rocking him in soothing rhythm. The baby was hearing-impaired, unable to hear the melody or the words. Yet the father sang anyway, in a beautiful, tender act of love toward his son. And his efforts were rewarded with a delightful smile from his little boy.

The imagery of the father-son exchange bears a striking resemblance to the words of Zephaniah. The Old Testament prophet says that God will joyfully sing over His daughter, the people of Jerusalem (Zephaniah 3:17). God enjoys doing good things for His beloved people, such as taking away their punishment and turning back their enemies (v. 15). Zephaniah says they no longer have any reason for fear and instead have cause for rejoicing.

We, as God’s children redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, sometimes are hard of hearing—unable, or perhaps unwilling, to tune our ears to the exuberant love God sings over us. His adoration of us is like that of the young father, who lovingly sang to his son despite his inability to hear. He has taken away our punishment too, giving us further reason to rejoice. Perhaps we might try to listen more closely to hear the joy ringing loudly in His voice. Father, help us to hear Your loving melody and savor being held safely in Your arms.

What keeps you from hearing God? How can you tune your ears to hear His delight in you?

Thank You, God, for taking great delight in me. May I always listen to your voice as You joyfully sing over me.

To learn more about Zephaniah, visit ChristianUniversity.org/OT226.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, May 10, 2021
Take the Initiative

…add to your faith virtue… —2 Peter 1:5

Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must “work out” our “own salvation” which God has worked in us (Philippians 2:12). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.

Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, “I will write that letter,” or “I will pay that debt”; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.

We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion.  The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L

Bible in a Year: 2 Kings 10-12; John 1:29-51

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, May 10, 2021

Long Wait for a New Heart - #8956

The folks at the hospital asked my father-in-law if he'd like to donate his organs. He smiled and said, "Depends on how soon you want them." That's a great answer.

Someone somewhere decided to donate their heart if something happened to them. And that heart ultimately was beating in the former Vice President of the United States. Some years ago, Dick Cheney had a major heart issue, and doctors had done everything else science could do to save and extend his life. Since his first heart attack at the age of 37, they'd had the stents, and the bypasses, an implanted defibrillator. And now, at age 71, his life probably depended on the ultimate solution. Not a heart repair. He needed a totally new heart.

Right now, there are thousands of Americans whose lives depend on getting a new heart. Their average wait for one was somewhere between six months and a year. Dick Cheney had to wait 20 months for his.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about a "Long Wait for a New Heart."

Every day - somewhere in the world - people are getting a new heart. Made possible by a donor who died and the miracle-working skill of a master heart surgeon. I know Him. He performed that miracle on me and on a lot of the people I love.

The Surgeon is God Himself. The donor? That would be Jesus. It took His dying for me to have the spiritual heart transplant that changed everything.

In our word for today from the Word of God, Ezekiel 36 beginning in verse 25, God made a promise to all of us who know all too well the darkness that lives in our heart. He said, "I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols." That's all those things that push God to the edge. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh...you will be My people, and I will be your God."

A while back, a lady told me how her heart toward her husband had turned hard over the years of a difficult marriage. But then her face just lit up as she told me how Jesus had given her a "heart transplant" with a new love for her man and a new marriage. Only the Master Heart Surgeon can do that.

One of God's prophets provided a revealing "spiritual EKG" of the heart behind all of our actions. He said "The heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9 NLT). Out of our spiritually diseased hearts come words that scar people for life, betrayal of the person we committed our life to, unthinking selfishness, cancerous anger, bitterness and all kinds of darkness that poisons our relationships, our reputation and our future.

Oh, we try a lot of things to get better, just like they did with Dick Cheney's heart. But all of our resolutions and religion are temporary and unsuccessful fixes. Because we need Dr. Jesus. But He had to die to make possible the new heart that's our only hope of living right and dying right. God tells us that "the blood of Jesus His Son purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). And that happens, not through being reformed, but by being transformed from the inside out.

That's the miracle that takes place when you recognize that Jesus - the Man who died for your sin and then birthed eternal life by walking out of His grave - is your o

nly hope. And you tell Him that. When you put yourself in the hands of Dr. Jesus, He in essence, implants a new spiritual heart. With a love you never had before. A power to be the kind of person you've always wanted to be and those you love need you to be. You give them the ability to forgive, to break bondages that heal broken relationships. All this waits for you, including changing your destiny from hell to heaven.

Right now, this is your day to say, "Jesus, come into my life. I put all my hopes in You now because of what you did for me on that cross." Our website will help you make that commitment. It will help you get the rest of the way. It's ANewStory.com. It could be the beginning of your new story.

Let the new heart miracle begin for you today.