Psalm 91 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Your Divine Reversal - November 15, 2021

“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

Your divine reversal is coming. Assume that God is at work. Move forward as if God is moving forward in your life. Give no quarter to the voices of doubt and fear. Don’t cower to the struggle. You can’t see God’s hand? Can’t make sense of his ways?That’s okay. Obey what you know to do, and be patient for what you don’t.

When the world seems off the rails, hold fast to this truth: God determines the course of history. He did in the days of Esther. He still does today. He is, according to 1 Timothy 6:15, “the blessed controller of all things.”

Psalm 91

You who sit down in the High God’s presence,
    spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow,
Say this: “God, you’re my refuge.
    I trust in you and I’m safe!”
That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps,
    shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—
    under them you’re perfectly safe;
    his arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,
    not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness,
    not disaster that erupts at high noon.
Even though others succumb all around,
    drop like flies right and left,
    no harm will even graze you.
You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance,
    watch the wicked turn into corpses.
Yes, because God’s your refuge,
    the High God your very own home,
Evil can’t get close to you,
    harm can’t get through the door.
He ordered his angels
    to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they’ll catch you;
    their job is to keep you from falling.
You’ll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
    and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

14-16
“If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God,
    “I’ll get you out of any trouble.
I’ll give you the best of care
    if you’ll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times;
    I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.
I’ll give you a long life,
    give you a long drink of salvation!”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Monday, November 15, 2021

Today's Scripture
Psalm 27:1–6
(NIV)

The Lord is my lights and my salvationt—

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strongholdu of my life—

of whom shall I be afraid?v

2 When the wicked advance against me

to devoura me,

it is my enemies and my foes

who will stumble and fall.w

3 Though an army besiege me,

my heart will not fear;x

though war break out against me,

even then I will be confident.y

4 One thingz I ask from the Lord,

this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,a

to gaze on the beauty of the Lord

and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of troubleb

he will keep me safec in his dwelling;

he will hide med in the shelter of his sacred tent

and set me high upon a rock.e

6 Then my head will be exaltedf

above the enemies who surround me;g

at his sacred tent I will sacrificeh with shouts of joy;i

I will singj and make musick to the Lord.

Insight
Pursued by powerful enemies, David chose to focus on God rather than his difficult circumstances. David speaks of Him as his light as he navigates life’s challenges, guiding him safely into His presence and goodness (Psalm 27:1). God is also his salvation, delivering him from danger and death, and his stronghold, providing a strong fortified place for his security and stability (vv. 1–6, 13; see 23:6; 43:3–4). With these provisions from God, David confidently declares, “Whom shall I fear?” (27:1). Because being in God’s presence gives him such confidence and security, David wants to be found in His presence above all else—to “dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of [his] life” (v. 4). In another psalm, David writes of God leading him to a place of protection and provision: “The Lord is my shepherd . . . . I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (23:1, 6). By: K. T. Sim

Let Me Stay!

One thing I ask from the Lord . . . that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
Psalm 27:4

As they made their way toward their car, Zander escaped his mother’s arms and made a mad dash back toward the church doors. He didn’t want to leave! His mom ran after him and tried to lovingly wrangle her son so they could depart. When his mother finally scooped four-year-old Zander back into her embrace, he sobbed and reached longingly over her shoulder toward the church as they walked away.

Zander may merely have enjoyed playing with friends at church, but his enthusiasm is a picture of David’s desire to worship God. Though he might have asked God to thwart his enemies for his own comfort and security, David wanted peace to prevail so that he could instead “gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). His heart’s desire was to be with God—wherever He was—and to enjoy His presence. Israel’s greatest king and military hero intended to use peacetime to “sing and make music to the Lord” (v. 6).

We can freely worship God anywhere, for He now dwells within us through faith in the person of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 3:17). May we yearn to spend our days in His presence and to gather corporately to worship Him with other believers. In God we find our safety and our greatest joy. By:  Kirsten Holmberg

Reflect & Pray

When have you experienced a passionate yearning to worship God? What keeps you from experiencing that more frequently?

Father, You’re my delight and my joy. I long to worship You without distraction or interruption.

Read “Pure Worship.”

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, November 15, 2021

“What Is That to You?”

Peter…said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "…what is that to you? You follow Me." —John 21:21-22

One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God’s plan for others. You see someone suffering and say, “He will not suffer, and I will make sure that he doesn’t.” You put your hand right in front of God’s permissive will to stop it, and then God says, “What is that to you?” Is there stagnation in your spiritual life? Don’t allow it to continue, but get into God’s presence and find out the reason for it. You will possibly find it is because you have been interfering in the life of another— proposing things you had no right to propose, or advising when you had no right to advise. When you do have to give advice to another person, God will advise through you with the direct understanding of His Spirit. Your part is to maintain the right relationship with God so that His discernment can come through you continually for the purpose of blessing someone else.

Most of us live only within the level of consciousness— consciously serving and consciously devoted to God. This shows immaturity and the fact that we’re not yet living the real Christian life. Maturity is produced in the life of a child of God on the unconscious level, until we become so totally surrendered to God that we are not even aware of being used by Him. When we are consciously aware of being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, we have yet another level to reach— a level where all awareness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is completely eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint— a saint is consciously dependent on God.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R

Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 1-2; Hebrews 11:1-19

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, November 15, 2021

Loving Me Ugly - #9091

Some couples' wedding vows get tested sooner; some get tested later. My friends had theirs tested right away. When they went to Mexico for their honeymoon, they promptly picked up some Spanish speaking bug down there, and they got very, very sick in the middle of what was supposed to be their very romantic honeymoon. I think it was commonly called Montezuma's Revenge or something like that.

Well, in the middle of all of that, the power failed in the town they were honeymooning in, so they were left without lights and without plumbing. And you thought you had problems! Well the good news is they loved each other through it all and they even finally found the grace to laugh through the mess they were in...even though neither of them looked very romantic or felt very romantic at all. And you'll be glad I'm sparing you the details.

Oh, they did ok. They passed one of the most important tests of love. Remember those vows "in sickness and in health"? You know what? All of us are sick and ugly at some time, right? Unlovable. And we're pretty sure no one could love us this ugly.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Loving Me Ugly."

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Luke 15. I'm going to begin reading at verse 17. It's a familiar story. It's called the story of the prodigal son by most people. He's left his Dad, and now as you may remember, he's doing something that a good Jewish boy probably wouldn't want to do. He's feeding pigs. Not kosher. He's living with the pigs. Less kosher. Not a kosher occupation at all.

And now it says, "When he came to his senses he said, 'How many of my Father's hired men have food to spare, and here I'm starving to death. I will set out, go back to my Father and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired men."' So he got up and went to his Father. But while he was still a long way off, his Father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."

So, this son comes home and he tests whether his Dad's love is the kind of love that will love him in sickness and in health. He feels very unworthy of coming back. He has no successes to report, no fortune to show. He left with riches, and he came home poor; he left home smelling like a fine aftershave and came home stinking like pigs. He's an embarrassment to his Father's name. He expects to be rejected, but his Father runs to him. Someone has said this is the only place in the Bible where God runs. That's God as the father running.

Sort of like my honeymoon friends, this young man was experiencing unconditional love: love when he was sick, love when he was down, love when he was ugly. Let's look at it again. God's the Father, and you're the child away from home. You never thought you'd end up doing what you've done, considering what you're considering, feeling like you're feeling. You feel like you've failed God; you're unworthy - He wouldn't want you back. How could He love me like this; how could He take me back after what I've done?

We've been raised to believe that we'll only be loved if we perform and please people, and meet their expectations. But God's committed to you in your sickness and in your health, for richer, for poorer, and death will not part you. If He was ever going to turn His back on you, it would have been at the cross, and He didn't.

Why are you living away from home, from His "take you as you are" kind of love? Maybe you're not in the pigpen yet. Well, don't wait until you hit the wall at the end of a dead-end street. And even if you have, come on home.

And you'll find a Father running to meet you who will clean you up and hug you. If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus at His cross where He died for you and taken personally what He died to give you, His forgiveness, His eternal life, today tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Go to our website. There's so much there to help you on your way to Him. That website's ANewStory.com.

You can be sure if you start toward God, He'll run to you. Never in your life have you been loved like He will love you.