Psalm 23, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God's Not Finished With You

Pick up a high school yearbook and read the "What I want to do" sentence under each picture. You'll get dizzy breathing the thin air of mountaintop visions. Ivy league school. Write books and live in Switzerland. Physician in a Third World country. Teach inner-city kids.
Yet, take the yearbook to a twentieth-year reunion and read the next chapter. Some dreams have come true, but many haven't. Changing direction in life is not tragic. Losing passion in life is. Convictions to change the world downgrade to commitments to pay the bills. Rather than make a difference, we make a salary. Rather than look outward, we look inward. And we don't like what we see.
Philippians 1:6 says, "God began doing a good work in you, and he will continue it until it is finished." May I spell out the message? God isn't finished with you yet!
From When God Whispers Your Name

Psalm 23

God, my shepherd!
    I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
    you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
    you let me catch my breath
    and send me in the right direction.

4
Even when the way goes through
    Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
    when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
    makes me feel secure.

5
You serve me a six-course dinner
    right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
    my cup brims with blessing.

6
Your beauty and love chase after me
    every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
    for the rest of my life.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, July 03, 2022

Today's Scripture
Isaiah 11:1–5

A Green Shoot from Jesse’s Stump

1–5     11 A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump,

from his roots a budding Branch.

The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,

the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,

The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,

the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.

Fear-of-God

will be all his joy and delight.

He won’t judge by appearances,

won’t decide on the basis of hearsay.

He’ll judge the needy by what is right,

render decisions on earth’s poor with justice.

His words will bring everyone to awed attention.

A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.

Each morning he’ll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots,

and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.

Insight

Isaiah 11:1 says, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” Jesse was the father of David, the shepherd who became Israel’s greatest king. Therefore, the Branch of Jesse referred to one who would descend from David’s line to rule. The genealogy of Matthew 1 makes it clear that Jesus would be the Branch (see v. 1). The Jewish people saw their long-awaited Messiah as the Son of David—a phrase repeatedly used by people Christ encountered in the Gospels. Most notably, we see this title given to Him during His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (21:9–11), as the people cried out to Him, “Hosanna” (Lord save us). Indeed, Jesus would in a very few days go to the cross for that very purpose.

By: Bill Crowder

He Knows My Heart

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears.
Isaiah 11:3

After a customer at a grocery store self-checkout station had completed her transaction, I made my way to the station and proceeded to scan my goods. Unexpectedly, a visibly angry person confronted me. I’d failed to notice that she was actually next in line for checkout. Recognizing my mistake, I sincerely said, “I’m sorry.” She replied (though not limited to these words), “No, you’re not!”

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were wrong, acknowledged it, and tried to make things right—only to be rebuffed? It doesn’t feel good to be misunderstood or misjudged, and the closer we are to those we offend or those who offend us, the more painful it is. How we wish they could see our hearts!

The prophet Isaiah’s snapshot in Isaiah 11:1–5 is that of a God-appointed ruler with wisdom for perfect judgment. “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth” (vv. 3–4). This was fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus. Though in our sinfulness and weakness we don’t always get it right, we can take heart that the all-seeing, all-knowing God of heaven knows us fully and judges us rightly.

By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray

When have you been misunderstood or misjudged? How does it encourage you to know that God sees and knows you fully, even when others don’t?

Father, thank You for knowing everything about me. Please forgive me when I’m harsh in my judgments of others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, July 03, 2022

The Concentration of Personal Sin

Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips… —Isaiah 6:5

When I come into the very presence of God, I do not realize that I am a sinner in an indefinite sense, but I suddenly realize and the focus of my attention is directed toward the concentration of sin in a particular area of my life. A person will easily say, “Oh yes, I know I am a sinner,” but when he comes into the presence of God he cannot get away with such a broad and indefinite statement. Our conviction is focused on our specific sin, and we realize, as Isaiah did, what we really are. This is always the sign that a person is in the presence of God. There is never any vague sense of sin, but a focusing on the concentration of sin in some specific, personal area of life. God begins by convicting us of the very thing to which His Spirit has directed our mind’s attention. If we will surrender, submitting to His conviction of that particular sin, He will lead us down to where He can reveal the vast underlying nature of sin. That is the way God always deals with us when we are consciously aware of His presence.

This experience of our attention being directed to our concentration of personal sin is true in everyone’s life, from the greatest of saints to the worst of sinners. When a person first begins climbing the ladder of experience, he might say, “I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong,” but the Spirit of God will point out some definite and specific thing to him. The effect of Isaiah’s vision of the holiness of the Lord was the directing of his attention to the fact that he was “a man of unclean lips.” “He touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged’ ” (Isaiah 6:7). The cleansing fire had to be applied where the sin had been concentrated.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

To live a life alone with God does not mean that we live it apart from everyone else. The connection between godly men and women and those associated with them is continually revealed in the Bible, e.g., 1 Timothy 4:10.  Not Knowing Whither, 867 L

Bible in a Year: Job 25-27; Acts 12