Max Lucado Daily: The Greatest Reversal - November 26, 2021
The greatest reversal occurred in a cemetery outside of Jerusalem. Jesus the Christ was Jesus the corpse. No pulse, no breath, no hope. And his followers? They were hiding in the bare cupboards and corners of Jerusalem, for fear of a cross that bore their names. Their world was broken. Their hearts were broken.
And just when all joy was lost, his heart began to beat! Eyelids popped open. Pierced hands lifted. Jesus stood and placed his heel squarely on the head of Satan. And when he did, “the tables were turned.”
No matter how you write it, the Easter morning announcement is just the same. “[Christ] isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, and see the place where his body was lying” (Matthew 28:6). The God of the great turnarounds performed his greatest work.
Leviticus 8
The Ordination of Priests
God spoke to Moses: He said, “Take Aaron and with him his sons, the garments, the anointing oil, the bull for the Absolution-Offering, the two rams, and the basket of unraised bread. Gather the entire congregation at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.” Moses did just as God commanded him and the congregation gathered at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
5 Moses addressed the congregation: “This is what God has commanded to be done.”
6-9 Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water. He put the tunic on Aaron and tied it around him with a sash. Then he put the robe on him and placed the Ephod on him. He fastened the Ephod with a woven belt, making it snug. He put the Breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim in the pouch of the Breastpiece. He placed the turban on his head with the gold plate fixed to the front of it, the holy crown, just as God had commanded Moses.
10-12 Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed The Dwelling and everything that was in it, consecrating them. He sprinkled some of the oil on the Altar seven times, anointing the Altar and all its utensils, the Washbasin and its stand, consecrating them. He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head, anointing him and thus consecrating him.
13 Moses brought Aaron’s sons forward and put tunics on them, belted them with sashes, and put caps on them, just as God had commanded Moses.
14-17 Moses brought out the bull for the Absolution-Offering. Aaron and his sons placed their hands on its head. Moses slaughtered the bull and purified the Altar by smearing the blood on each of the horns of the Altar with his finger. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the Altar. He consecrated it so atonement could be made on it. Moses took all the fat on the entrails and the lobe of liver and the two kidneys with their fat and burned it all on the Altar. The bull with its hide and meat and guts he burned outside the camp, just as God had commanded Moses.
18-21 Moses presented the ram for the Whole-Burnt-Offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. Moses slaughtered it and splashed the blood against all sides of the Altar. He cut the ram up into pieces and then burned the head, the pieces, and the fat. He washed the entrails and the legs with water and then burned the whole ram on the Altar. It was a Whole-Burnt-Offering, a pleasing fragrance—a gift to God, just as God had commanded Moses.
22-29 Moses then presented the second ram, the ram for the Ordination-Offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram’s head. Moses slaughtered it and smeared some of its blood on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Then Aaron’s sons were brought forward and Moses smeared some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Moses threw the remaining blood against each side of the Altar. He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with their fat, and the right thigh. From the basket of unraised bread that was in the presence of God he took one loaf of the unraised bread made with oil and one wafer. He placed these on the fat portions and the right thigh. He put all this in the hands of Aaron and his sons who waved them before God as a Wave-Offering. Then Moses took it all back from their hands and burned them on the Altar on top of the Whole-Burnt-Offering. These were the Ordination-Offerings, a pleasing fragrance to God, a gift to God. Then Moses took the breast and raised it up as a Wave-Offering before God; it was Moses’ portion from the Ordination-Offering ram, just as God had commanded Moses.
30 Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood from the Altar and sprinkled Aaron and his garments, and his sons and their garments, consecrating Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments.
31-35 Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons: “Boil the meat at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and eat it there with the bread from the basket of ordination, just as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons are to eat it.’ Burn up the leftovers from the meat and bread. Don’t leave through the entrance of the Tent of Meeting for the seven days that will complete your ordination. Your ordination will last seven days. God commanded what has been done this day in order to make atonement for you. Stay at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days. Be sure to do what God requires, lest you die. This is what I have been commanded.”
36 Aaron and his sons did everything that God had commanded by Moses.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, November 26, 2021
Today's Scripture
Judges 6:11–16
(NIV)
The angel of the Lordt came and sat down under the oak in Ophrahu that belonged to Joashv the Abiezrite,w where his son Gideonx was threshingy wheat in a winepressz to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you,a mighty warrior.b”
13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondersc that our ancestors toldd us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandonede us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you havef and saveg Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clanh is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.i”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with youj, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
Insight
Judges 6 follows a pattern seen often in the book—Israel’s evil resulting in oppression, followed by Israel crying out to God, and God responding with deliverance. Judges 6 also differs from previous versions of this “pattern” in ways that indicate that both the evil and suffering in Israel is intensifying. In Judges 4, after the Israelites cry out for God’s help, Deborah immediately takes action. In chapter 6, however, after a much more extensive account of the Midianites’ oppression (vv. 2–6), God responds to the Israelites’ cry for deliverance by first chastising them (vv. 7–10).
Gideon emerges as a reluctant judge, his story echoing Moses’ commission. Both lacked confidence in their ability to act as God’s agents, but He commands and sends them anyway (Exodus 3:10; Judges 6:14). Both are granted signs of God’s presence and a promise that God is with them (Exodus 3:12; 4:1–9; Judges 6:16–23). By: Monica La Rose
Mighty Warrior
The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.
Judges 6:12
Diet Eman was an ordinary, shy young woman in the Netherlands—in love, working, and enjoying time with family and friends—when the Germans invaded in 1940. As Diet (pronounced Deet) later wrote, “When there is danger on your doorstep, you want to act almost like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.” Yet Diet felt God calling her to resist the German oppressors, which included risking her life to find hiding places for Jews and other pursued people. This unassuming young woman became a warrior for God.
We find many stories in the Bible similar to Diet’s, stories of God using seemingly unlikely characters to serve Him. For instance, when the angel of the Lord approached Gideon, he proclaimed, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12). Yet Gideon seemed anything but mighty. He’d been secretly threshing wheat away from the prying eyes of the Midianites, who oppressively controlled Israel at the time (vv. 1–6, 11). He was from the weakest clan of Israel (Manasseh) and the “least” in his family (v. 15). He didn’t feel up to God’s calling and even requested several signs. Yet God used him to defeat the cruel Midianites (see ch. 7).
God saw Gideon as “mighty.” And just as God was with and equipped Gideon, so He’s with us, His “dearly loved children” (Ephesians 5:1)—supplying all we need to live for and serve Him in little and big ways. By: Alyson Kieda
Reflect & Pray
Who are some other Bible characters God used despite their weakness to accomplish much for Him? How has God moved you outside your comfort zone to serve Him?
God, I’m so thankful You don’t see me as I see myself. Help me to see myself as Your dearly loved child capable of doing big and small things in service to You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, November 26, 2021
The Focal Point of Spiritual Power
…except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
If you want to know the power of God (that is, the resurrection life of Jesus) in your human flesh, you must dwell on the tragedy of God. Break away from your personal concern over your own spiritual condition, and with a completely open spirit consider the tragedy of God. Instantly the power of God will be in you. “Look to Me…” (Isaiah 45:22). Pay attention to the external Source and the internal power will be there. We lose power because we don’t focus on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these. We are to preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s focal point in your preaching, and even if your listeners seem to pay it no attention, they will never be the same again. If I share my own words, they are of no more importance than your words are to me. But if we share the truth of God with one another, we will encounter it again and again. We have to focus on the great point of spiritual power— the Cross. If we stay in contact with that center of power, its energy is released in our lives. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings, the focus tends to be put not on the Cross of Christ but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
If there is only one strand of faith amongst all the corruption within us, God will take hold of that one strand. Not Knowing Whither, 888 L
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 27-29; 1 Peter 3
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, November 26, 2021 Blindness that Makes You Crash - #9100
When you've driven as much as I have over the years, you know when it's time to stop. I've been driving along at night, and suddenly I'm enveloped in this thick fog; usually in the mountains. Semis are pulled over to the side of the road, and they're professional drivers. They know well enough not to go on. It's definitely time to stop before I hit something. Same thing when I suddenly find myself in one of those driving rainstorms, or I've been in a snow storm. You know, "whiteout" they call it. Those times when you literally can't see a car length in front of you. It's like you're temporarily blind, and you'd better not keep pushing ahead.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Blindness that Makes You Crash."
Fog can make you like temporarily blind. So can rain or snow. And so can your hormones. Yeah, it's happened even to King David, who God called "a man after God's own heart." David's hormonal blindness, which led to so many devastating crashes, is described in one of the saddest chapters in the Bible. In 2 Samuel 11, beginning with verse 2, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says, "One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her." Right about here you feel like screaming at the Bible, "David, don't do it, man!"
But he did do it. "The man said, 'Isn't this Bathsheba...the wife of Uriah the Hittite?'" Uriah, by the way, was one of David's most trusted, most loyal soldiers. The Bible goes on: "Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her." Here's David - God's man, God's king, but his sexual desires started pumping, and he followed them all the way to disaster. From these few moments of sexual pleasure will come a baby who dies, David's murder of his loyal associate to cover up his sin, rape and incest and even an attempt to overthrow him among his own children, and an agony of soul that David could never have imagined that night.
That's what's so dangerous about lust, sexual fantasies, about pornography, about flirting with sexual sin - your hormones blind you, just like they did David. You let your lust keep pulling you toward a crash, and it makes you blind to so many things you can't afford to forget: the consequences, what you stand to lose, who you're going to hurt, the agony of a broken relationship with God. But you don't care much about all that; you just care about satisfying your sexual desires, following your passions, meeting your needs.
But God has sent you this way today to send you a wakeup call. Please, consider where your passions and your desires are taking you. Count the cost. Think about all you have to lose if you keep driving down this road. Think about the price that you will pay in your soul - maybe the price you're already paying. Think about the hurt this will cause. And don't make the deadly mistake that millions of people have made, underestimating the power of sin and overestimating your power to control it.
Sexual desire is blinding. It can blind you like a thick fog. Please, don't keep going this way. Pull over now and stop before you crash!
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.