Matthew 20:1-16, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Our Reluctance

Perhaps the most amazing response to God's gift is our reluctance to accept it. We feel better if we earn it. So we create religious hoops and hop through them-making God a trainer, us his pets, and religion a circus.
If only, when God smiles and says we are saved, we'd salute him, thank him, and live like those who've just received a gift from the commander in chief. We seldom do that, though. To accept grace is to admit failure. We opt to impress God with how good we are rather than confessing how great he is. We dizzy ourselves with doctrine.  Burden ourselves with rules. We think that God will smile on our efforts. But He doesn't. God's smile is not for the healthy hiker who boasts that he made the journey alone. It is, instead, for the crippled leper who begs God for a back on which to ride!
From In the Eye of the Storm

Matthew 20:1-16

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

 “God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.

3-5 “Later, about nine o’clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.

5-6 “He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o’clock. At five o’clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, ‘Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?’

7 “They said, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“He told them to go to work in his vineyard.

8 “When the day’s work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, ‘Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.’

9-12 “Those hired at five o’clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, ‘These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.’

13-15 “He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’

16 “Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Sunday, August 22, 2021
Today's Scripture-1 Samuel 24:1–4,14–18 (NIV)

David Spares Saul’s Life

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.g” 2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to lookh for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.

3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cavei was there, and Saul went in to relievej himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, “This is the day the Lord spokek of when he saidb to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’ ”l Then David crept up unnoticed and cutm off a corner of Saul’s robe.

 “Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog?c A flea?d 15 May the Lord be our judgee and decidef between us. May he consider my cause and upholdg it; may he vindicateh me by deliveringi me from your hand.”

16 When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice,j David my son?” And he wept aloud. 17 “You are more righteous than I,”k he said. “You have treated me well,l but I have treated you badly.m 18 You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord deliveredn me into your hands, but you did not kill me.

Insight

Threatened by David’s successes (1 Samuel 18:5–9, 30) and resentful of God’s blessings upon him, Saul tried to kill him (vv. 10–12; 19:2, 9–11). Pursued by Saul, David escaped to the mountainous stronghold of En Gedi (23:26–29). In this episode, David had the opportunity to kill Saul, but refrained because Saul was “the Lord’s anointed” (24:6). Later, David had yet another opportunity, but he chose not to for the same reason. Since Saul was “the Lord’s anointed,” only God Himself had the authority to take his life (26:9–11). David wouldn’t take revenge, but left room for God’s judgment (see Romans 12:19). By: K. T. Sim

Not Seeking Revenge

[Saul said], “The Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me.”
1 Samuel 24:18

The farmer climbed into his truck and began his morning inspection of the crops. On reaching the farthest edge of the property, his blood began to boil. Someone had used the farm’s seclusion to illegally dump their trash—again.

As he filled the truck with the bags of food scraps, the farmer found an envelope. On it was printed the offender’s address. Here was an opportunity too good to ignore. That night he drove to the offender’s house and filled his garden with not just the dumped trash but his own!

Revenge is sweet, some say, but is it right? In 1 Samuel 24, David and his men were hiding in a cave to escape a murderous King Saul. When Saul wandered into the same cave to relieve himself, David’s men saw a too-good-to-ignore opportunity for David to get revenge (vv. 3–4). But David went against this desire to get even. “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master,” he said (v. 6). When Saul discovered that David chose to spare his life, he was incredulous. “You are more righteous than I,” he exclaimed (vv. 17–18).

As we or our loved ones face injustice, opportunities to take revenge on offenders may well come. Will we give in to these desires, as the farmer did, or go against them, like David? Will we choose righteousness over revenge? By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

When have you most felt like getting even with someone? How can David’s response guide you as you seek justice for yourself and others?

Jesus, lover of our enemies, may I seek justice Your way.

Visit odbu.org/SF107to learn more about finding personal peace in forgiveness.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, August 22, 2021
“I Indeed. . . But He”

I indeed baptize you with water…but He…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. —Matthew 3:11

Have I ever come to the point in my life where I can say, “I indeed…but He…”? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit means. I indeed am at the end, and I cannot do anything more— but He begins right there— He does the things that no one else can ever do. Am I prepared for His coming? Jesus cannot come and do His work in me as long as there is anything blocking the way, whether it is something good or bad. When He comes to me, am I prepared for Him to drag every wrong thing I have ever done into the light? That is exactly where He comes. Wherever I know I am unclean is where He will put His feet and stand, and wherever I think I am clean is where He will remove His feet and walk away.

Repentance does not cause a sense of sin— it causes a sense of inexpressible unworthiness. When I repent, I realize that I am absolutely helpless, and I know that through and through I am not worthy even to carry His sandals. Have I repented like that, or do I have a lingering thought of possibly trying to defend my actions? The reason God cannot come into my life is that I am not at the point of complete repentance.

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John is not speaking here of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience, but as a work performed by Jesus Christ. “He will baptize you….” The only experience that those who are baptized with the Holy Spirit are ever conscious of is the experience of sensing their absolute unworthiness.

“I indeed” was this in the past, “but He” came and something miraculous happened. Get to the end of yourself where you can do nothing, but where He does everything.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.  My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

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Bible in a Year: Psalms 110-112; 1 Corinthians 5