Max Lucado Daily: Being Stuck - August 18, 2021
The man near the pool of Bethesda didn’t use the word stuck, but he could have. For thirty-eight years near the edge of a pool, it was just him, his mat, and his paralyzed body. They must have made a miserable sight. Crowds of people—blind, lame, despondent, dejected, one after the other—awaiting their chance to be placed in the pool where healing waters bubbled up.
All the gospels’ stories of help and healing invite us to embrace this wonderful promise: “Wherever Jesus went he healed people of every sort of illness. And what pity he felt for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know what to do or where to go for help” (Matthew 9:35–36 TLB). Jesus had a heart for the hurting in his day. He still does today.
Genesis 30
When Rachel realized that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She told Jacob, “Give me sons or I’ll die!”
2 Jacob got angry with Rachel and said, “Am I God? Am I the one who refused you babies?”
3-5 Rachel said, “Here’s my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her. Let her substitute for me so I can have a child through her and build a family.” So she gave him her maid Bilhah for a wife and Jacob slept with her. Bilhah became pregnant and gave Jacob a son.
6-8 Rachel said, “God took my side and vindicated me. He listened to me and gave me a son.” She named him Dan (Vindication). Rachel’s maid Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. Rachel said, “I’ve been in an all-out fight with my sister—and I’ve won.” So she named him Naphtali (Fight).
9-13 When Leah saw that she wasn’t having any more children, she gave her maid Zilpah to Jacob for a wife. Zilpah had a son for Jacob. Leah said, “How fortunate!” and she named him Gad (Lucky). When Leah’s maid Zilpah had a second son for Jacob, Leah said, “A happy day! The women will congratulate me in my happiness.” So she named him Asher (Happy).
14 One day during the wheat harvest Reuben found some mandrakes in the field and brought them home to his mother Leah. Rachel asked Leah, “Could I please have some of your son’s mandrakes?”
15 Leah said, “Wasn’t it enough that you got my husband away from me? And now you also want my son’s mandrakes?”
Rachel said, “All right. I’ll let him sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
16-21 When Jacob came home that evening from the fields, Leah was there to meet him: “Sleep with me tonight; I’ve bartered my son’s mandrakes for a night with you.” So he slept with her that night. God listened to Leah; she became pregnant and gave Jacob a fifth son. She said, “God rewarded me for giving my maid to my husband.” She named him Issachar (Bartered). Leah became pregnant yet again and gave Jacob a sixth son, saying, “God has given me a great gift. This time my husband will honor me with gifts—I’ve given him six sons!” She named him Zebulun (Honor). Last of all she had a daughter and named her Dinah.
22-24 And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and had a son. She said, “God has taken away my humiliation.” She named him Joseph (Add), praying, “May God add yet another son to me.”
* * *
25-26 After Rachel had had Joseph, Jacob spoke to Laban, “Let me go back home. Give me my wives and children for whom I’ve served you. You know how hard I’ve worked for you.”
27-28 Laban said, “If you please, I have learned through divine inquiry that God has blessed me because of you.” He went on, “So name your wages. I’ll pay you.”
29-30 Jacob replied, “You know well what my work has meant to you and how your livestock has flourished under my care. The little you had when I arrived has increased greatly; everything I did resulted in blessings for you. Isn’t it about time that I do something for my own family?”
31-33 “So, what should I pay you?”
Jacob said, “You don’t have to pay me a thing. But how about this? I will go back to pasture and care for your flocks. Go through your entire flock today and take out every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. That way you can check on my honesty when you assess my wages. If you find any goat that’s not speckled or spotted or a sheep that’s not black, you will know that I stole it.”
34 “Fair enough,” said Laban. “It’s a deal.”
35-36 But that very day Laban removed all the mottled and spotted billy goats and all the speckled and spotted nanny goats, every animal that had even a touch of white on it plus all the black sheep and placed them under the care of his sons. Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Meanwhile Jacob went on tending what was left of Laban’s flock.
37-42 But Jacob got fresh branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled the bark, leaving white stripes on them. He stuck the peeled branches in front of the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. When the flocks were in heat, they came to drink and mated in front of the streaked branches. Then they gave birth to young that were streaked or spotted or speckled. Jacob placed the ewes before the dark-colored animals of Laban. That way he got distinctive flocks for himself which he didn’t mix with Laban’s flocks. And when the sturdier animals were mating, Jacob placed branches at the troughs in view of the animals so that they mated in front of the branches. But he wouldn’t set up the branches before the feebler animals. That way the feeble animals went to Laban and the sturdy ones to Jacob.
43 The man got richer and richer, acquiring huge flocks, lots and lots of servants, not to mention camels and donkeys.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Today's Scripture
Psalm 139:1–6 23–24
(NIV)
You have searched me,f Lord,
and you knowg me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;h
you perceive my thoughtsi from afar.
3 You discern my going outj and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.k
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.l
5 You hem me inm behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,n
too loftyo for me to attain.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:1–6 — 1890 Darby Bible (DARBY)
1 Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off; 3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways; 4 For there is not yet a word on my tongue, but lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me. 6 O knowledge too wonderful for me! it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Psalm 139:1–6 — GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
Insight
Psalm 139 echoes three different types of psalms: praise, lament, and wisdom. However, one key theme throughout is indicated by verses at the beginning and end of the psalm: God searches us, and He knows us (vv. 1, 23). The word used for “search” is a term that could be used in a legal case when someone is cross-examined; in other words, it involves God’s diligent probing. The word used for “know” means to know someone intimately and personally. It’s a word that’s sometimes used to refer to sexual relations. Used here, it shows that God knows the depths of our very being, which is pointed out by the psalmist who notes that God knit us together (v. 13). When the psalmist invites God to search his heart and “anxious thoughts” (v. 23), however, he’s vulnerably asking Him to know him on an even deeper level. By: Julie Schwab
God Knows Your Story
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Psalm 139:23
As I drove home after lunch with my best friend, I thanked God out loud for her. She knows me and loves me in spite of things I don’t love about myself. She’s one of a small circle of people who accept me as I am—my quirks, habits, and screw-ups. Still, there are parts of my story I resist sharing even with her and others that I love—times where I’ve clearly not been the hero, times I’ve been judgmental or unkind or unloving.
But God does know my whole story. He’s the One I can freely talk to even if I’m reluctant to talk with others.
The familiar words of Psalm 139 describe the intimacy we enjoy with our Sovereign King. He knows us completely! (v. 1). He’s “familiar with all [our] ways” (v. 3). He invites us to come to Him with our confusion, our anxious thoughts, and our struggles with temptation. When we’re willing to yield completely to Him, He reaches out to restore and rewrite the parts of our story that make us sad because we’ve wandered from Him.
God knows us better than anyone else ever can, and still . . . He loves us! When we daily surrender ourselves to Him and seek to know Him more fully, He can change our story for His glory. He’s the Author who’s continuing to write it.
By: Cindy Hess Kasper
Reflect & Pray
What assurance do you have that God will always love you unconditionally? How can you make yielding to Him a daily practice?
Precious Father, thank You for loving me as Your child despite the times I’ve disappointed You. Help me to yield all of myself to You in full assurance that You’re faithfully walking beside me.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Have You Ever Been Speechless with Sorrow?
When he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. —Luke 18:23
The rich young ruler went away from Jesus speechless with sorrow, having nothing to say in response to Jesus’ words. He had no doubt about what Jesus had said or what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow with no words with which to respond. Have you ever been there? Has God’s Word ever come to you, pointing out an area of your life, requiring you to yield it to Him? Maybe He has pointed out certain personal qualities, desires, and interests, or possibly relationships of your heart and mind. If so, then you have often been speechless with sorrow. The Lord will not go after you, and He will not plead with you. But every time He meets you at the place where He has pointed, He will simply repeat His words, saying, “If you really mean what you say, these are the conditions.”
“Sell all that you have…” (Luke 18:22). In other words, rid yourself before God of everything that might be considered a possession until you are a mere conscious human being standing before Him, and then give God that. That is where the battle is truly fought— in the realm of your will before God. Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Jesus Himself? If so, you are likely to hear one of His harsh and unyielding statements that will produce sorrow in you. What Jesus says is difficult— it is only easy when it is heard by those who have His nature in them. Beware of allowing anything to soften the hard words of Jesus Christ.
I can be so rich in my own poverty, or in the awareness of the fact that I am nobody, that I will never be a disciple of Jesus. Or I can be so rich in the awareness that I am somebody that I will never be a disciple. Am I willing to be destitute and poor even in my sense of awareness of my destitution and poverty? If not, that is why I become discouraged. Discouragement is disillusioned self-love, and self-love may be love for my devotion to Jesus— not love for Jesus Himself.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L
Bible in a Year: Psalms 100-102; 1 Corinthians 1
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
The Single Difference That Makes a Hero - #9028
Tyler's story really touched me and showed me what makes someone a hero. In this case - an eight-year-old hero. Since he didn't have school on Martin Luther King Day, Tyler went to stay at his grandpa's trailer for the night. He wasn't the only one. Nine people slept that night in that little trailer.
Tyler woke up with a fire next to him. The blanket covering his four-year-old cousin was in flames. Tyler worked fast to get his loved ones out of that trailer. He and six of his relatives made it outside, but his grandfather and uncle didn't. And his disabled grandpa needed a wheelchair to get around. With Tyler's sister trying unsuccessfully to grab his hand, the little guy ran back into the house now engulfed in flames. He was not going to let his loved ones die in those flames.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Single Difference That Makes a Hero."
Tyler's body was found next to his grandfather's and his uncle's in the next room. The boy's mom said through her tears (I saw this on the news), "It looked like he had his arms around his grandpa, trying to find a way to carry him."
The superintendent of the district where Tyler was a 4th-grader summed it up pretty well. "According to emergency personnel, Tyler was the person who discovered the fire and tried to wake eight other people in the residence at the time. In bravely and selflessly giving his own life, he was able to save the lives of six others and he is truly a hero."
At sporting events it's very common in our country. We hear the word "hero" bandied around a lot. But little Tyler truly shows us what the word really means - self-abandonment. From Tyler's trailer fire to the collapsing Twin Towers of September 11 and virtually every rescue we've ever heard of, that's the difference that makes a person a life-saving hero - caring so much about not letting people die that you forget about yourself. It's not about me; it's about the people in danger.
Not just people in a burning building but people we know. Who are today one day closer to an unthinkable eternity because they're one heartbeat away from having to pay the eternal death penalty for their sin. Which Jesus already paid! The Bible says, "The Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins to rescue us" (Galatians 1:4). Hanging on a cross, He paid for our sin so we can trade the hell we deserve for the heaven we could never deserve.
But somebody has to tell them they're in need of rescue, and that's God's only Son. And that God's only Son loves them enough to die for them, that Jesus is reaching out His hand for them, that they only have to grab Him as their only hope.
In our word for today from the Word of God in Jude 23, God summons us this way: "snatch others from the fire and save them."
But sometimes we're with doomed people we know for years and we never tell them about our Jesus. They stay lost because we don't tell them the way home. And they'll be lost forever if we remain silent. It's because we're afraid; afraid they won't like us anymore, afraid of what they'll think, afraid we'll mess it up, afraid they might laugh at us or reject us. Did you notice all the fears that keep us from going in for the rescue have one thing in common? They're all about "me"; what might happen to me if I try to rescue them.
And that's where the hero difference can be the difference between heaven and hell for someone we care about. Self-abandonment; caring so much about not letting them die that you forget about yourself. Because you're more concerned about what will happen to them than what it might cost you.
I've stood by the casket of someone I never told. It's one of the most awful feelings in the world. I can't have that back. But there are people around me who still have a chance. They just need to know what Jesus did for them.
Our orders from God are so clear. "Rescue those being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11). The consequences of holding back are awful: "He will die for his sin, and (God says) I will hold you accountable for his blood" (Ezekiel 3:18).
But there's still time now, if I'll just forget about myself like my Savior did.
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.