Max Lucado Daily: CONTAGIOUSLY CALM - July 28, 2021
How many disasters have been averted because one person refused to buckle under the strain? It’s this kind of composure Paul is summoning when he says: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:5-6 NIV).
The Greek word translated here as “gentleness” describes a temperament that’s seasoned and mature. It envisions an attitude fitting to the occasion, levelheaded and tempered. This gentleness is “evident to all.” Family members take note. Your friends sense a difference. Coworkers benefit from it.
The gentle person is sober minded and clear thinking. The contagiously calm person is the one who reminds others God is in control. Pursue this gentleness. The Lord is near. You are not alone. You may feel alone, you may think you’re alone, but there is never a moment in which you face life without help.
God is near—be anxious for nothing!
Job 42
Job Worships God
I Babbled On About Things Far Beyond Me
42 1-6 Job answered God:
“I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!
I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”
God Restores Job
I Will Accept His Prayer
7-8 After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, “I’ve had it with you and your two friends. I’m fed up! You haven’t been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has. So here’s what you must do. Take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my friend Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own behalf. My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer. He will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and for not being honest with me, as he has.”
9 They did it. Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did what God commanded. And God accepted Job’s prayer.
10-11 After Job had interceded for his friends, God restored his fortune—and then doubled it! All his brothers and sisters and friends came to his house and celebrated. They told him how sorry they were, and consoled him for all the trouble God had brought him. Each of them brought generous housewarming gifts.
12-15 God blessed Job’s later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job’s daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance.
16-17 Job lived on another 140 years, living to see his children and grandchildren—four generations of them! Then he died—an old man, a full life.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Read: Song of Songs 8:6–7
Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy[a] unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.[b]
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it[c] would be utterly scorned.
Footnotes
Song of Songs 8:6 Or ardor
Song of Songs 8:6 Or fire, / like the very flame of the Lord
Song of Songs 8:7 Or he
INSIGHT
Song of Songs is traditionally attributed to Solomon (named in 1:1, 5; 3:7, 9, 11; 8:11–12). Therefore, this book is also called the Song of Solomon. Of the 1,005 songs composed by him (1 Kings 4:32), this is deemed his best. The New Living Translation begins the book by saying: “This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonderful than any other” (Song 1:1). The traditional view is that this book is an allegory of Christ’s love for the church. But some interpreters today consider it an anthology of some twenty love poems, celebrating human love within the marital relationship (4:8–5:1). In Song 8:6–7, the bride celebrates her husband’s exclusive and immeasurable love for her. This love “burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame” (v. 6). The New International Version footnote gives an alternative rendering: “Like the very flame of the Lord” (which is how the nasb and esv translate it), making this the only mention of God in this book.
By Julie Schwab
God’s Love Is Stronger
Love is as strong as death. Song of Songs 8:6
In 2020, Alyssa Mendoza received a surprising email from her father in the middle of the night. The message had instructions about what to do for her mother on her parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary. Why was this shocking? Alyssa’s father had passed away ten months earlier. She discovered that he’d written and scheduled the email while he was sick, knowing he might not be there. He’d also arranged and paid for flowers to be sent to his wife for upcoming years on her birthday, future anniversaries, and Valentine’s Day.
This story could stand as an example of the kind of love that’s described in detail in Song of Songs. “Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave” (8:6). Comparing graves and death to love seems odd, but they’re strong because they don’t give up their captives. However, neither will true love give up the loved one. The book reaches its peak in verses 6–7, describing marital love as one so strong that “many waters cannot quench [it]” (v. 7).
Throughout the Bible, the love of a husband and wife is compared to God’s love (Isaiah 54:5; Ephesians 5:25; Revelation 21:2). Jesus is the groom and the church is His bride. God showed His love for us by sending Christ to face death so we wouldn’t have to die for our sins (John 3:16). Whether we’re married or single, we can remember that God’s love is stronger than anything we could imagine.
How do you feel knowing how much God loves you? What reminds you of His love for you?
Dear Jesus, thank You for loving me so much! Remind me of Your love each day and give me glimpses of it.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
God’s Purpose or Mine?
He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side… —Mark 6:45
We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.
What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself. What He desires for me is that I see “Him walking on the sea” with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see “Him walking on the sea” (Mark 6:49). It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God.
God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.
God’s purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.
Disciples Indeed
Bible in a Year: Psalms 46-48; Acts 28
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Squeezed To Obey - #9013
You might say parenting is not a precise science. You don't just mix certain ingredients and get a certain reaction. In fact, it's largely (I hate to say it) experimental. But after a while you learn more creative ways to do what is right. You can yell, you can overpower, you can threaten them until they're bigger than you are. Or you can work through the method I came to call 'The Squeeze'. It's a method that steers a child to the right choice. It's also known as "The Lousy Choice" approach.
Here's how it worked for us: You give your child two choices, the one is so bad you know they'll choose the other one. Now, maybe you should have your child cover their ears in case they're listening. We wouldn't want them to know this secret. Example: I might say to my son, "Uh, look, you can do your yard work and I'll help you if you get it done before noon today or you can do it all by yourself sometime before Friday." Okay, now obviously he's gonna want to do it when he's got some help. "Okay, you can set your own study hours or I'll set them." And usually he would end up choosing where he ought to be. It works even with a grownup child like you and me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Squeezed To Obey."
Now our word for today from the Word of God, here we go, Acts 1:8 - familiar words - Jesus says to His disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem," (that's where they were, in Jerusalem). And then He says, "and in all Judea and Samaria," (well, they had no plans to go there) "and to the ends of the earth." I'm pretty sure they didn't have any plans to go there.
Now listen to Acts 8:1 - that was Acts 1:8 - now listen to 8:1; it tells you how it happened. "On that day a great persecution broke out against the Church of Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria." Now, that's an interesting way God got it to happen isn't it?
The Christians in Jerusalem maybe would have never gotten out of Jerusalem unless they were pushed. They were supposed to be out beyond the borders of Jerusalem, but they had to be squeezed to go and do what they should do. It's kind of like the squeeze approach with our children. I'll give you two choices, you can stay where you are in this painful situation and God says, or "You can go where I have been trying to send you."
Now you and I are much like those first Christians; we get settled into a comfortable place - one way of doing things. We hunker down in a situation, not necessarily because it's best or even what God wants, but because it's familiar, safe, secure, it's comfy, and then God starts squeezing. You may be wondering why God has turned up the heat right now; why is the pressure growing? Maybe He wants to make a change in your life, and you won't move unless He squeezes you to do it. Oh you can stubbornly choose the pain of staying put if you want or you can obediently choose what He knows is best for you in His kingdom. Now if you're feeling the pressure right now, it isn't so much that God is mad at you - He's just got something better for you, something bigger for you, and He wants you to choose it. But you're probably going to have to be uncomfortable before you will.
Two thousand years ago the Gospel spread around the world by first breaking out of Jerusalem because some people were pushed and squeezed to do it, and right now maybe He's doing the same thing with you. If you're like my children or you're like those first century Jerusalem Christians...maybe if you're like me, you have to be squeezed to obey.
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.