Max Lucado Daily: GOD USES FAILURE
Failure finds us all. Failure is so universal that we must wonder why more self-help gurus don’t address it. Bookstores overflow with volumes on how to succeed, but you’ll look a long time before you’ll find a section called “How to Succeed at Failing.” Maybe no one knows what to say.
But God does. His book is written for failures. It is full of folks who were foul-ups and flops but got a second chance. David was a moral failure, yet he became a man after God’s own heart. Jonah was in the belly of a fish when he prayed his most honest prayer and then saw revival in Nineveh. Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet. Yet God used them all. A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures.
Haggai 1
Caught Up with Taking Care of Your Own Houses
On the first day of the sixth month of the second year in the reign of King Darius of Persia, God’s Message was delivered by the prophet Haggai to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak:
2 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies: “The people procrastinate. They say this isn’t the right time to rebuild my Temple, the Temple of God.”
3-4 Shortly after that, God said more and Haggai spoke it: “How is it that it’s the ‘right time’ for you to live in your fine new homes while the Home, God’s Temple, is in ruins?”
5-6 And then a little later, God-of-the-Angel-Armies spoke out again:
“Take a good, hard look at your life.
Think it over.
You have spent a lot of money,
but you haven’t much to show for it.
You keep filling your plates,
but you never get filled up.
You keep drinking and drinking and drinking,
but you’re always thirsty.
You put on layer after layer of clothes,
but you can’t get warm.
And the people who work for you,
what are they getting out of it?
Not much—
a leaky, rusted-out bucket, that’s what.”
7 That’s why God-of-the-Angel-Armies said:
“Take a good, hard look at your life.
Think it over.”
* * *
8-9 Then God said:
“Here’s what I want you to do:
Climb into the hills and cut some timber.
Bring it down and rebuild the Temple.
Do it just for me. Honor me.
You’ve had great ambitions for yourselves,
but nothing has come of it.
The little you have brought to my Temple
I’ve blown away—there was nothing to it.
9-11 “And why?” (This is a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, remember.) “Because while you’ve run around, caught up with taking care of your own houses, my Home is in ruins. That’s why. Because of your stinginess. And so I’ve given you a dry summer and a meager crop. I’ve matched your tight-fisted stinginess by decreeing a season of drought, drying up fields and hills, withering gardens and orchards, stunting vegetables and fruit. Nothing—not man or woman, not animal or crop—is going to thrive.”
* * *
12 Then the governor, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak, and all the people with them listened, really listened, to the voice of their God. When God sent the prophet Haggai to them, they paid attention to him. In listening to Haggai, they honored God.
13 Then Haggai, God’s messenger, preached God’s Message to the people: “I am with you!” God’s Word.
14-15 This is how God got Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people moving—got them working on the Temple of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. This happened on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, January 25, 2021
Read: Ezra 8:15–21
The Return to Jerusalem
15 I assembled them at the canal that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there three days. When I checked among the people and the priests, I found no Levites there. 16 So I summoned Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshullam, who were leaders, and Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of learning, 17 and I ordered them to go to Iddo, the leader in Kasiphia. I told them what to say to Iddo and his fellow Levites, the temple servants in Kasiphia, so that they might bring attendants to us for the house of our God. 18 Because the gracious hand of our God was on us, they brought us Sherebiah, a capable man, from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Sherebiah’s sons and brothers, 18 in all; 19 and Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and nephews, 20 in all. 20 They also brought 220 of the temple servants—a body that David and the officials had established to assist the Levites. All were registered by name.
21 There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
INSIGHT
King Artaxerxes decreed that any exiled Israelites who wanted to return to their homeland could do so. Included in the king’s proclamation were priests and Levites (Ezra 7:13). So Ezra began leading a group back to Jerusalem. While traveling, however, he discovered that no Levites were part of the group (8:15). Why did Ezra need Levites? Because Artaxerxes had given Ezra permission to “appoint magistrates and judges to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates—all who know the laws of your God” (7:25). And Ezra was to teach those who didn’t know the laws. This required that Levites be part of the group that returned. They served as officers and judges (1 Chronicles 26:29) and were the ones who taught the law (2 Chronicles 35:3). After Ezra sent for Levites to join them, God’s “gracious hand” brought them home to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:18, 31–32).
Ripple Effect
Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me. Ezra 7:28
The little Bible college in northern Ghana didn’t look impressive—just a tin-roofed cinder-block building and a handful of students. Yet Bob Hayes poured his life into those students. He gave them leadership roles and encouraged them to preach and teach, despite their occasional reluctance. Bob passed away years ago, but dozens of thriving churches, schools, and two additional Bible institutes have sprung up across Ghana—all started by graduates of that humble school.
During the reign of King Artaxerxes (465–424 bc), Ezra the scribe assembled a band of Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem. But Ezra found no Levites among them (Ezra 8:15). He needed Levites to serve as priests. So he commissioned leaders to “bring attendants to us for the house of our God” (v. 17). They did so (vv. 18–20), and Ezra led them all in fasting and prayer (v. 21).
Ezra’s name means “helper,” a characteristic that resides at the heart of good leadership. Under Ezra’s prayerful guidance, he and his protégés would lead a spiritual awakening in Jerusalem (see chapters 9–10). All they had needed was a little encouragement and wise direction.
That’s how God’s church works too. As good mentors encourage and build us up, we learn to do the same for others. Such an influence will reach far beyond our lifetime. Work done faithfully for God stretches into eternity.
Who is your primary spiritual mentor? (If you don’t have one, who might you ask to mentor you?) Why is mentoring in Christ something vital for you to receive and extend to others? By Tim Gustafson
Father, show me someone I can mentor.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, January 25, 2021
Leave Room for God
When it pleased God… —Galatians 1:15
As servants of God, we must learn to make room for Him— to give God “elbow room.” We plan and figure and predict that this or that will happen, but we forget to make room for God to come in as He chooses. Would we be surprised if God came into our meeting or into our preaching in a way we had never expected Him to come? Do not look for God to come in a particular way, but do look for Him. The way to make room for Him is to expect Him to come, but not in a certain way. No matter how well we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that He may break in at any minute. We tend to overlook this element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way. Suddenly—God meets our life “…when it pleased God….”
Keep your life so constantly in touch with God that His surprising power can break through at any point. Live in a constant state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come in as He decides.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.
The Place of Help
Bible in a Year: Exodus 12-13; Matthew 16
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, January 25, 2021
The Sweet Celebration of the Loyal Fans - #8879
I guess it was inevitable. With our boys growing up in northern New Jersey, it was predestined that they, and I for that matter, would become New York Giants football fans. Big Giants fans. Even in the season when they won only three games, and even when they had a string of bad seasons. Even when the airplane flew over a game with the banner that said, "Fifteen years of lousy football." What used to really annoy my boys was when friends who claimed to be Giants fans kept "jumping ship" when they kept losing. Then came the playoff Giants, and then the Giants that won the Super Bowl. Suddenly, there were gazillions of Giants fans everywhere, jumping up and down, celebrating the champions. But they could never know the joy of fans like my two sons who never lost hope, and who never stopped rooting for their team.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Sweet Celebration of the Loyal Fans."
It's true in sports; it's true in life. Victory is sweetest for those who are loyal through it all. Like Mary Magdalene in our word for today from the Word of God, taken directly from the glorious Easter story. Mary had been there at the cross, when all but one of Jesus' disciples had disappeared like scared rabbits. She had gone to the tomb for his burial. And now, after having been, along with some friends, the first one at Jesus' tomb that early Sunday morning, she just can't leave. She has found the tomb empty and now she has sunk to even greater despair, believing that someone has now stolen her Master's body.
John 20, beginning with verse 11, says, "Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been. They asked her, 'Woman, why are you crying?' 'They have taken my Lord away,' she said, 'and I don't know where they have put Him.' At this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn't realize it was Jesus. 'Woman.' He said, 'why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?' Thinking He was the gardener, she said, 'Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him' ... Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' She turned toward Him and cried out... 'Rabboni!' (which means Teacher)."
Then it says, "Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: 'I have seen the Lord.'" You bet she had, as no one had ever seen Him before. Who did Jesus choose as the first one to ever see Him alive again? The one who had been loyal to Him when every reason to be loyal seemed gone. Those are the people who see Jesus in ways that His fair-weather fans will never see Him.
Maybe you're going through a time that could be a major test of your loyalty to Jesus. It's dark, plans have been shattered, it's tempting to desert because of that tragedy, that loss, that awful hurt. You don't understand why this is happening. Maybe a lot of others have deserted Him. God seems silent and things seem to be getting worse instead of better. Your hopes were just sealed in a tomb.
Now is the moment of truth in your relationship with the man who gave His life for you. He did not abandon you when it meant the cross. Are you going to abandon Him? It's Mary Magdalene time: time to stand by Jesus, to stand firm in your commitment to Him, even when it feels like there's no reason to. The wisdom of many a veteran, of many a spiritual battle, still rings true today, "Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light."
Yes, it's like a Good Friday for you right now. But Easter is coming. And the one who stands by Jesus when everything seems to be falling apart is the one who's going to see Jesus in all His power and all His glory. Victory is sweetest for those who never leave Him.
From my daily reading of the bible, Our Daily Bread Devotionals, My Utmost for His Highest and Ron Hutchcraft "A Word with You" and occasionally others.