Job 3 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: SHOW PEOPLE THEY MATTER - May 27, 2021

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University concluded that “huggers are happier.” Another study linked hugging with a diminished rate of sickness. So greet people for your sake, and experience the joy of showing people that they matter. And greet people for their sake. What is small to you may be huge to them. And most of all, greet one another for Jesus’ sake. He said, “In so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

By the way, the greatest greeting in history has yet to be issued. It will be issued by Jesus to you in person. He will say, “You did well. You are a good and loyal servant. Because you were loyal with small things, I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my joy with me” (Matthew 25:23). This is how happiness happens.

Job 3

Job Cries Out
What’s the Point of Life?

Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate:

3-10 “Obliterate the day I was born.
    Blank out the night I was conceived!
Let it be a black hole in space.
    May God above forget it ever happened.
    Erase it from the books!
May the day of my birth be buried in deep darkness,
    shrouded by the fog,
    swallowed by the night.
And the night of my conception—the devil take it!
    Rip the date off the calendar,
    delete it from the almanac.
Oh, turn that night into pure nothingness—
    no sounds of pleasure from that night, ever!
May those who are good at cursing curse that day.
    Unleash the sea beast, Leviathan, on it.
May its morning stars turn to black cinders,
    waiting for a daylight that never comes,
    never once seeing the first light of dawn.
And why? Because it released me from my mother’s womb
    into a life with so much trouble.

11-19 “Why didn’t I die at birth,
    my first breath out of the womb my last?
Why were there arms to rock me,
    and breasts for me to drink from?
I could be resting in peace right now,
    asleep forever, feeling no pain,
In the company of kings and statesmen
    in their royal ruins,
Or with princes resplendent
    in their gold and silver tombs.
Why wasn’t I stillborn and buried
    with all the babies who never saw light,
Where the wicked no longer trouble anyone
    and bone-weary people get a long-deserved rest?
Prisoners sleep undisturbed,
    never again to wake up to the bark of the guards.
The small and the great are equals in that place,
    and slaves are free from their masters.

20-23 “Why does God bother giving light to the miserable,
    why bother keeping bitter people alive,
Those who want in the worst way to die, and can’t,
    who can’t imagine anything better than death,
Who count the day of their death and burial
    the happiest day of their life?
What’s the point of life when it doesn’t make sense,
    when God blocks all the roads to meaning?

24-26 “Instead of bread I get groans for my supper,
    then leave the table and vomit my anguish.
The worst of my fears has come true,
    what I’ve dreaded most has happened.
My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed.
    No rest for me, ever—death has invaded life.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Thursday, May 27, 2021

Read: Exodus 1:6–14

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

INSIGHT
From around 1650 to 1550 bc, Semitic foreigners the Egyptians called “shepherd kings,” or Hyksos, took over and ruled the northern part of Egypt where the Israelites lived. It’s possible that the expulsion of these rulers around 1540 bc form the background of Exodus, in which a “new” (Exodus 1:8) dynasty shows extreme suspicion towards remaining Semites in Egypt. Remnants of the Hyksos may be the “enemies” (v. 10) Pharaoh fears the Israelites will ally with.

Pharaoh’s proposed solution was oppressing the Israelites in increasingly severe ways, beginning with forced labor in the dynasty’s ambitious construction projects (v. 11). Because the only stone available in Egypt was to be found in the far south of the country, the Israelites were given the intense work of making bricks with clay mixed with a binder like shells or straw (v. 14). In the dry, hot climate of Egypt, these bricks were quite durable once dried.

By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
Flourish Again

The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. Exodus 1:12

Given enough sunlight and water, vibrant wildflowers carpet areas of California such as Antelope Valley and Figueroa Mountain. But what happens when drought strikes? Scientists have discovered that certain wildflowers store large quantities of their seeds underground instead of allowing them to push through the soil and bloom. After the drought, the plants use the seeds they’ve saved to begin to flourish again.

The ancient Israelites thrived in the land of Egypt, despite harsh conditions. Slave masters forced them to work in fields and make bricks. Ruthless overseers required them to build entire cities for Pharaoh. The king of Egypt even tried to use infanticide to reduce their numbers. However, because God sustained them, “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread” (Exodus 1:12). Many Bible scholars estimate that the population of Israelite men, women, and children grew to two million (or more) during their time in Egypt.

God, who preserved His people then, is upholding us today as well. He can help us in any environment. We may worry about enduring through another season. But the Bible assures us that God, who “cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and [are gone] tomorrow,” can provide for our needs (Matthew 6:30 nlt).

Why is it so hard to trust God during life’s “dry” seasons? How has God provided for you in the past, and how might the story of His faithfulness encourage someone you know?

Father, sometimes it’s so hard to keep going. Please meet my needs today, and help me to persevere through the power of Your Holy Spirit.

Read Why Doesn’t God Answer Me? Trusting in Times of Doubt and Trial at DiscoverySeries.org/HP112.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, May 27, 2021

The Life To Know Him

…tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. —Luke 24:49

The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The statement in John 7:39— “…for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified”— does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified— our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness.

The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord.

It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ— it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make you think of time or eternity— it is one amazing glorious now. “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). Begin to know Him now, and never finish.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be. My Utmost for His Highest, January 6, 736 R

Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 1-3; John 10:1-23

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, May 27, 2021

Navigating Without Going Aground - #8969

It was a dark night off the Atlantic Coast, and the captain saw a disaster just ahead - a light that was on a collision course with his ship. There wasn't much time to get the other vessel to change course. So he urgently radioed this message: "Move ten degrees north immediately." The answer came back, "Move ten degrees south." This was no time to be playing navigational games! With some growing aggravation, the captain answered back, "I'm a captain! You adjust your course ten degrees north." The reply came back: "I'm a seaman second class! Adjust ten degrees south." Well, at that point, the captain thundered his final word: "I'm a destroyer - adjust your course now!" And the answer came back: "I'm a lighthouse! Adjust your course!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Navigating Without Going Aground."

Don't try to move the lighthouse. Navigate with the lighthouse as your fixed point, unless you want to go aground. For those who belong to Jesus Christ, there is one lighthouse that is supposed to always govern what course we set. But over and over again, we set the course we want; often the course that is easiest and most convenient, ignoring the beam from the lighthouse that keeps us from ending up on the rocks. Just in case you think I'm talking about someone else, stay tuned.

In Joshua 1:7-8, our word for today from the Word of God, God reveals the secret of living a successful life; something that's very good to know. He says, "Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law...do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Look, there's no gray here, just black and white. God has revealed the truth about life in His book, the Bible, and He gives this simple formula for success. Do everything by My book - no detours.

If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, you almost surely think of yourself as a Bible person. Right? I'm sure you profess belief in God's Word and you would say it's the compass for your life. That's beliefs. Now let's look at reality. Many of us Bible people actually make our life choices based more on what we want to do, what we want to be true, on what our culture says is the thing to do. Whether it's the youth culture, the pop culture, the church culture, the business culture, the political culture, the military culture, the educational culture - whatever our niche is.

Some people follow whatever their favorite spiritual leader says, or their favorite author or teacher or personality. Paul commended the Christians at Berea as being "of more noble character" because "they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" (Acts 17:11).

If even the great Apostle Paul said it was true, they still checked it out with the Word of God. That's the only way to avoid beliefs and choices that cause shipwrecks. See what God says about it and do it, no matter how costly, how unpopular that might be.

Shall we let our kids, or ourselves, watch, read or listen to something because the culture says it's a good thing? Check with God. Turn the lighthouse light on it! Shall we base our view of divorce or sexual standards or entertainment on what "everybody" thinks? No, we'll believe what God says. His one vote decides it, even if millions are going the other way. Shall we compromise just because suddenly the issue involves us or someone close to us? Not unless we want a shipwreck.

It takes a real man, a real woman, a moral hero to say about an issue, "God hasn't changed His mind, and He's calling the shots. The lighthouse isn't moving, and I am navigating - not by my feelings, not by your feelings - but by the unchanging light from heaven called the Bible. Any other course means that sooner or later, we're going down!"