Max Lucado Daily: King of Every Situation - January 19, 2022
When crowds of people came to Christ for healing, “One by one he placed his hands on them and healed them” (Luke 4:40). Jesus could have proclaimed a cloud of healing blessings to fall upon the crowd. But he is not a one-size-fits-all Savior. He placed his hands on each one, individually, personally. Perceiving unique needs, he issued unique blessings.
A precise prayer gives Christ the opportunity to remove all doubt about his love and interest. Your problem becomes his pathway. The challenge you face becomes a canvas upon which Christ can demonstrate his finest work. So offer a simple prayer and entrust the problem to Christ. “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3:6). Believe that Jesus is king of each and every situation.
Numbers 19
The Red Cow
God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “This is the rule from the Revelation that God commands: Tell the People of Israel to get a red cow, a healthy specimen, ritually clean, that has never been in harness. Present it to Eleazar the priest, then take it outside the camp and butcher it while he looks on. Eleazar will take some of the blood on his finger and splash it seven times in the direction of the Tent of Meeting.
5-8 “Then under Eleazar’s supervision burn the cow, the whole thing—hide, meat, blood, even its dung. The priest then will take a stick of cedar, some sprigs of hyssop, and a piece of scarlet material and throw them on the burning cow. Afterwards the priest must wash his clothes and bathe well with water. He can then come into the camp but he remains ritually unclean until evening. The man who burns the cow must also wash his clothes and bathe with water. He also is unclean until evening.
9 “Then a man who is ritually clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them in a ritually clean place outside the camp. The congregation of Israel will keep them to use in the Water-of-Cleansing, an Absolution-Offering.
10 “The man who gathered up the ashes must scrub his clothes; he is ritually unclean until evening. This is to be a standing rule for both native-born Israelites and foreigners living among them.
11-13 “Anyone who touches a dead body is ritually unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the Water-of-Cleansing on the third day; on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he doesn’t follow the procedures for the third and seventh days, he won’t be clean. Anyone who touches the dead body of anyone and doesn’t get cleansed desecrates God’s Dwelling and is to be excommunicated. For as long as the Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he remains ritually unclean.
14-15 “This is the rule for someone who dies in his tent: Anyone who enters the tent or is already in the tent is ritually unclean for seven days, and every open container without a lid is unclean.
16-21 “Anyone out in the open field who touches a corpse, whether dead from violent or natural causes, or a human bone or a grave is unclean for seven days. For this unclean person, take some ashes from the burned Absolution-Offering and add some fresh water to it in a bowl. Find a ritually clean man to dip a sprig of hyssop into the water and sprinkle the tent and all its furnishings, the persons who were in the tent, the one who touched the bones of the person who was killed or died a natural death, and whoever may have touched a grave. Then he is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days. On the seventh day he is considered cleansed. The cleansed person must then scrub his clothes and take a bath; by evening he is clean. But if an unclean person does not go through these cleansing procedures, he must be excommunicated from the community; he has desecrated the Sanctuary of God. The Water-of-Cleansing has not been sprinkled on him and he is ritually unclean. This is the standing rule for these cases.
“The man who sprinkles the Water-of-Cleansing has to scrub his clothes; anyone else who touched the Water-of-Cleansing is also ritually unclean until evening.
22 “Anything the ritually unclean man touches becomes unclean, and the person who touches what he touched is unclean until evening.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Today's Scripture
Matthew 26:36–46
(NIV)
Gethsemane
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedeeo along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrowp to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”q
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cupr be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”s
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with met for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.u The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”v
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hourw has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Insight
Jesus’ final prayers before His arrest and crucifixion took place in Gethsemane, which means “oil press,” a garden area among the olive groves on the Mount of Olives. Like an olive in a press, Jesus faced extreme pressure. According to Baker’s Encyclopedia of the Bible, the Mount of Olives is the “prominent north-south ridge in the Judean mountains lying due east of Jerusalem and the Kidron Valley.” This mountain features three summits and two intervening valleys. The central hill is the traditional Mount of Olives (2,684 feet). Its western face collects rainfall from the Mediterranean that along with the decomposed limestone makes for fertile orchards. By: Alyson Kieda
Stay Awake!
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26:41
A German bank employee was in the middle of transferring 62.40 euros from a customer’s bank account when he accidentally took a power nap at his desk. He dozed off while his finger was on the “2” key, resulting in a 222 million euro (300 million dollar) transfer into the customer’s account. The fallout from the mistake included the firing of the employee’s colleague who verified the transfer. Although the mistake was caught and corrected, because he hadn't been watchful, the sleepy employee’s lapse almost became a nightmare for the bank.
Jesus warned His disciples that if they didn’t remain alert, they too would make a costly mistake. He took them to a place called Gethsemane to spend some time in prayer. As He prayed, Jesus experienced a grief and sadness such as He’d never known in His earthly life. He asked Peter, James, and John to stay awake to pray and “keep watch” with Him (Matthew 26:38), but they fell asleep (vv. 40–41). Their failure to watch and pray would leave them defenseless when the real temptation of denying Him came calling. In the hour of Christ’s greatest need, the disciples lacked spiritual vigilance.
May we heed Jesus’ words to remain spiritually awake by being more devoted to spending time with Him in prayer. As we do, He’ll strengthen us to resist all kinds of temptations and avoid the costly mistake of denying Jesus.
Reflect & Pray
What part of your prayer life needs to be more devoted and disciplined? How can you intentionally spend more time alone with God this week?
Jesus, because I’ve been spiritually sleeping, I haven’t been praying. And because I haven’t been praying, I haven’t depended on You. I’m sorry. Please help me to spend more time with You.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Vision and Darkness
When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. —Genesis 15:12
Whenever God gives a vision to a Christian, it is as if He puts him in “the shadow of His hand” (Isaiah 49:2). The saint’s duty is to be still and listen. There is a “darkness” that comes from too much light— that is the time to listen. The story of Abram and Hagar in Genesis 16 is an excellent example of listening to so-called good advice during a time of darkness, rather than waiting for God to send the light. When God gives you a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will bring the vision He has given you to reality in your life if you will wait on His timing. Never try to help God fulfill His word. Abram went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all of his self-sufficiency was destroyed. He grew past the point of relying on his own common sense. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not a period of God’s displeasure. There is never any need to pretend that your life is filled with joy and confidence; just wait upon God and be grounded in Him (see Isaiah 50:10-11).
Do I trust at all in the flesh? Or have I learned to go beyond all confidence in myself and other people of God? Do I trust in books and prayers or other joys in my life? Or have I placed my confidence in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am Almighty God…”— El-Shaddai, the All-Powerful God (Genesis 17:1). The reason we are all being disciplined is that we will know God is real. As soon as God becomes real to us, people pale by comparison, becoming shadows of reality. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever upset the one who is built on God.
Wisdom From Oswald Chambers
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”;… The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 537 L
Bible in a Year: Genesis 46-48; Matthew 13:1-30
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
A Mountain of Mud and Courage - #9138
There was a group of girls at a slumber party, a plumber installing a hot water heater, the nurse who was enjoying her new home - her first home. They were all in the path of a sea of mud that without warning, suddenly engulfed a full square mile of Oso, Washington - 176 people originally "unaccounted for." Well, it went down to seven at one point, and then 39 fatalities last I had read. One of the victims was even a soldier taken leave from the Army. He went to help search for his aunt and uncle, but he couldn't find them, and his depression led him to an apparent suicide.
Now, thankfully, seven people were rescued. That's not many in light of the missing or the lost, but seven more than would have been alive if it weren't for the rescuers. And plunging into that 15-20' deep mountain of mud required a mountain of courage. Geologists called it "quicksand." That didn't stop the rescuers. One man heard screams from the mud and the debris. He told an eyewitness, "'I'm going. There's somebody out there." They tried to stop him. He said, "No. There's somebody trapped out there." And he came back with a baby he had saved.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Mountain of Mud and Courage."
Some firefighters actually waded into that muddy "quicksand" and became stuck up to their armpits. They had to be pulled out by rope. I thought the fire chief summed it up pretty well. He said, "We have people who are yelling for help, so we're going to take extreme risks." Cries for help. Dying people. Extreme risks to save them. I sat back and said to myself, "Well, that's the mission of my Jesus."
The mission to which He calls every one of us that He has rescued. Psalm 40:2 - "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire." And our Rescuer says to us in Proverbs 24:12, "Rescue those who are being led away to death." So that desperate effort in the "mud and mire" in Washington vividly pictured the life-or-death calling of every one of us who's a child of God.
First of all, to hear the cries. God told Moses in our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 3:7-10. "I have seen the misery...I have heard them crying out...So I have come down to rescue them." And then He says, "So now, go, I am sending you." That's a conversation God wants to have with me and you; with every follower of Jesus. "I have heard the cries of the lost people. Have you?"
See, the cries are heart-cries, that quiet desperation of that neighbor or coworker or fellow student, the person that's in the club with you, at the gym, at the store, the disintegrating marriage, that enslaving addiction, crushing loneliness that you may not know is there but God has heard their cry, those dark secrets, that haunting past. And He's come down to rescue them, and He's sending you. Jesus proved on the cross He cannot leave them lost, so how can I?
Secondly, the mission of Jesus - the life-or-death calling of every child of God - is to take the risks. I've had people die who I never told about my Jesus. I wasn't willing to take the risk: the risk of rejection, messing it up, losing favor, them not liking me. Now I know - with no hope of a do-over - there is no greater risk than letting them go to eternity with no Savior from their sin. I've got to be thinking about the cost to them if I don't tell them: a life without meaning, an eternity that's unthinkable.
I am someone's chance at Jesus. It's time to go in for the rescue whatever the risks, whatever the cost.
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.