Max Lucado Daily: WHAT LIES AHEAD - July 20, 2021
There’s a reason the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror. Your future matters more than your past!
God’s grace is greater than your sin. You thought the problem was your calendar, your marriage, your job. In reality, it’s this unresolved guilt. Don’t indulge it. Don’t drown in the bilge of your own condemnation. What you did was not good. But your God is good, and he will forgive you. He is ready to write a new chapter in your life. Say with Paul, “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us” (Philippians 3:13-14 TLB).
Your salvation has nothing to do with your work and everything to do with the finished work of Christ on the cross. Rejoice in the Lord’s mercy.
Job 36
Those Who Learn from Their Suffering
Here Elihu took a deep breath, but kept going:
“Stay with me a little longer. I’ll convince you.
There’s still more to be said on God’s side.
I learned all this firsthand from the Source;
everything I know about justice I owe to my Maker himself.
Trust me, I’m giving you undiluted truth;
believe me, I know these things inside and out.
5-15 “It’s true that God is all-powerful,
but he doesn’t bully innocent people.
For the wicked, though, it’s a different story—
he doesn’t give them the time of day,
but champions the rights of their victims.
He never takes his eyes off the righteous;
he honors them lavishly, promotes them endlessly.
When things go badly,
when affliction and suffering descend,
God tells them where they’ve gone wrong,
shows them how their pride has caused their trouble.
He forces them to heed his warning,
tells them they must repent of their bad life.
If they obey and serve him,
they’ll have a good, long life on easy street.
But if they disobey, they’ll be cut down in their prime
and never know the first thing about life.
Angry people without God pile grievance upon grievance,
always blaming others for their troubles.
Living it up in sexual excesses,
virility wasted, they die young.
But those who learn from their suffering,
God delivers from their suffering.
Obsessed with Putting the Blame on God
16-21 “Oh, Job, don’t you see how God’s wooing you
from the jaws of danger?
How he’s drawing you into wide-open places—
inviting you to feast at a table laden with blessings?
And here you are laden with the guilt of the wicked,
obsessed with putting the blame on God!
Don’t let your great riches mislead you;
don’t think you can bribe your way out of this.
Did you plan to buy your way out of this?
Not on your life!
And don’t think that night,
when people sleep off their troubles,
will bring you any relief.
Above all, don’t make things worse with more evil—
that’s what’s behind your suffering as it is!
22-25 “Do you have any idea how powerful God is?
Have you ever heard of a teacher like him?
Has anyone ever had to tell him what to do,
or correct him, saying, ‘You did that all wrong!’?
Remember, then, to praise his workmanship,
which is so often celebrated in song.
Everybody sees it;
nobody is too far away to see it.
No One Can Escape from God
26 “Take a long, hard look. See how great he is—infinite,
greater than anything you could ever imagine or figure out!
27-33 “He pulls water up out of the sea,
distills it, and fills up his rain-cloud cisterns.
Then the skies open up
and pour out soaking showers on everyone.
Does anyone have the slightest idea how this happens?
How he arranges the clouds, how he speaks in thunder?
Just look at that lightning, his sky-filling light show
illumining the dark depths of the sea!
These are the symbols of his sovereignty,
his generosity, his loving care.
He hurls arrows of light,
taking sure and accurate aim.
The High God roars in the thunder,
angry against evil.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Read: Job 38:24–38
What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 “Can you bind the chains[a] of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[b]
or lead out the Bear[c] with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s[d] dominion over the earth?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom[e]
or gives the rooster understanding?[f]
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
Footnotes
Job 38:31 Septuagint; Hebrew beauty
Job 38:32 Or the morning star in its season
Job 38:32 Or out Leo
Job 38:33 Or their
Job 38:36 That is, wisdom about the flooding of the Nile
Job 38:36 That is, understanding of when to crow; the meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.
INSIGHT
The structure of Job 38:1–42:6 helps readers see that we’re dealing with a specific literary unit. God’s voice dominates; Job does very little speaking (see 40:3–5; 42:1–6). In chapters 38–39, Job gets bombarded with multiple questions. The first set concerns inanimate created order (38:4–38). These scenes are stunning and cast the Almighty in the role as the grand designer of all majestic and wonderful things in this world. The next set of queries (38:39–39:30) deals with the animate created order. These creatures come into view: the lion, raven, mountain goat, wild donkey, wild ox, ostrich, horse, hawk, and eagle. God is at work in creation!
By Daniel Ryan Day
God’s Power on Display
What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Job 38:24
It was a lightning storm, and my six-year-old daughter and I were on the floor watching the dazzling display through the glass door. She kept repeating, “Wow! God is so big.” I felt the same way. It was obvious to both of us how small we were, and how powerful God must be. Lines from the book of Job flashed through my mind, “What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?” (Job 38:24).
Job needed to be reminded of God’s power (vv. 34–41). His life had fallen apart. His children were dead. He was broke. He was sick. His friends offered no empathy. His wife encouraged him to abandon his faith (2:9). Eventually, Job asked God, “Why?” (ch. 24) and He responded out of a storm (ch. 38).
God reminded Job of His control over the physical attributes of the world (ch. 38). This comforted him and he responded, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you” (42:5). In other words, “Now I get it, God! I see that you don’t fit into my box.”
When life falls apart, sometimes the most comforting thing we can do is to lie on the floor and watch the lightning—to be reminded that the God who created the world is big enough and loving enough to take care of us too. We may even start singing our favorite worship songs that tell of the might and greatness of our God.
When was the last time you saw God’s power on display? What went through your mind as you witnessed His bigness?
God, help me see how big You are and to stop trying to fit You into small boxes. Help me to trust that if You’re big enough to create and control lightning, You’re big enough to help me through life’s challenges.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Dependent on God’s Presence
Those who wait on the Lord…shall walk and not faint. —Isaiah 40:31
There is no thrill for us in walking, yet it is the test for all of our steady and enduring qualities. To “walk and not faint” is the highest stretch possible as a measure of strength. The word walk is used in the Bible to express the character of a person— “…John…looking at Jesus as He walked…said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ ” (John 1:35-36). There is nothing abstract or obscure in the Bible; everything is vivid and real. God does not say, “Be spiritual,” but He says, “Walk before Me…” (Genesis 17:1).
When we are in an unhealthy condition either physically or emotionally, we always look for thrills in life. In our physical life this leads to our efforts to counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit; in our emotional life it leads to obsessions and to the destruction of our morality; and in our spiritual life, if we insist on pursuing only thrills, on mounting up “with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), it will result in the destruction of our spirituality.
Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually. Our problems arise when we refuse to place our trust in the reality of His presence. The experience the psalmist speaks of— “We will not fear, even though…” (Psalm 46:2)— will be ours once we are grounded on the truth of the reality of God’s presence, not just a simple awareness of it, but an understanding of the reality of it. Then we will exclaim, “He has been here all the time!” At critical moments in our lives it is necessary to ask God for guidance, but it should be unnecessary to be constantly saying, “Oh, Lord, direct me in this, and in that.” Of course He will, and in fact, He is doing it already! If our everyday decisions are not according to His will, He will press through them, bringing restraint to our spirit. Then we must be quiet and wait for the direction of His presence.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The attitude of a Christian towards the providential order in which he is placed is to recognize that God is behind it for purposes of His own. Biblical Ethics, 99 R
Bible in a Year: Psalms 26-28; Acts 22
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
The Hand That Won't Let Go - #9007
The events of September 11, 2001, changed a lot of things, including our definition of the word "hero." Because we saw what real heroes look like - those police and firefighters we'll never forget. The ones who went into those burning towers, knowing they might not come out alive. But there were people to rescue. Immediately, professional football and baseball players began to speak out, telling the world they aren't the heroes. The people who risk their lives to save others are. By that definition, the rescue swimmers of the United States Coast Guard more than qualify. We saw them in action after Hurricane Katrina submerged much of New Orleans. They were the men dangling from helicopters, scooping desperate people off rooftops. That was easy compared to some of their rescues, like plunging from a hovering chopper into an angry sea to save a life. There was a movie not too long ago that told the story of these heroes and portrayed how they lived out their motto, "So others may live." The seasoned veteran who is training a class of rookies shows them the depth of a rescuer's life-saving commitment. It's all about grabbing the hand of that person who's about to die and making a promise: "I won't let go." And they don't.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Hand That Won't Let Go."
Those four words touch a nerve in my heart and maybe yours. "I won't let go." That's what we want. We want someone that will really never let us go, no matter what. But our lives are littered with so many who shouldn't have let go, but they did. Maybe your parents didn't hold on like you needed them to. Friends we thought would always be there aren't anymore, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, your family. It seems as if no one is really able to always be there to hold on when we're going down, even a great husband or wife. People change. People leave. People are human. People die.
Years ago, there was a movie with a title that stuck with me: "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter." Our hearts are hunting for an anchor person; that one person who will grab our hand and never, never let go. No matter what changes, no matter how we look or act or change, and especially when the storm is about to do us in.
Over centuries, millions of people have grabbed the one hand that will never let go, and He never has. He's the One who made the promise recorded in Hebrews 13:5-6, which is our word for today from the Word of God, "'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we may say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'" That promise is from Jesus Christ - the One who loved you enough to actually die in your place to pay for the sins that have always put God out of your reach.
A lot of people may have failed to hang on. Jesus will never fail you. He says of those who come to Him, "I will never reject them" (John 6:37). If He was ever going to turn His back on you, it would have been when He was going through your hell on the cross. But He stayed there so you could live with Him forever. He will not abandon the one He paid for with His blood. When He died for you, He proved He's got the love that won't let you go. When He walked out of His grave on that first Easter morning, He proved He's got the power to hold onto you through everything life and death can throw at you.
But you have to grab the Rescuer's hand. Has there ever been a time when you reached out to Jesus and grabbed Him as your only hope of being rescued from your sin? You could have been religious your whole life and yet never grabbed His hand for yourself. He's reaching for you today. I don't know how much longer you're going to have to take His hand. I know you have today.
If you want to experience His love for yourself, if you want to belong to Him, tell Him that, right where you are. Go to our website so you can better understand just how to begin your relationship with Him. That's ANewStory.com.
If you could hear Him talking to you right now, you'd hear Jesus saying those words that can change everything, "I won't let go."
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.