Max Lucado: HALLOWED BE THY NAME - June 27, 2022
“Hallowed be thy name.” The phrase is a petition, not a proclamation. A request, not an announcement. Hallowed be your name. Do whatever it takes to be holy in my life. Take your rightful place on the throne. You be Lord, and I’ll be quiet.
The Holy One dwells on a different level from the rest of us. What frightens us does not frighten him. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). This verse contains a command with a promise. The command? Be still. Cover your mouth. Bend your knees. The promise? You will know that I am God. The vessel of faith journeys on soft waters. Belief rides on the wings of waiting.
In the midst of your daily storms, make it a point to be still and set your sights on him. Let God be God.
1 Samuel 16
God Looks into the Heart
16 God addressed Samuel: “So, how long are you going to mope over Saul? You know I’ve rejected him as king over Israel. Fill your flask with anointing oil and get going. I’m sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I’ve spotted the very king I want among his sons.”
2-3 “I can’t do that,” said Samuel. “Saul will hear about it and kill me.”
God said, “Take a heifer with you and announce, ‘I’ve come to lead you in worship of God, with this heifer as a sacrifice.’ Make sure Jesse gets invited. I’ll let you know what to do next. I’ll point out the one you are to anoint.”
4 Samuel did what God told him. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the town fathers greeted him, but apprehensively. “Is there something wrong?”
5 “Nothing’s wrong. I’ve come to sacrifice this heifer and lead you in the worship of God. Prepare yourselves, be consecrated, and join me in worship.” He made sure Jesse and his sons were also consecrated and called to worship.
6 When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Here he is! God’s anointed!”
7 But God told Samuel, “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”
8 Jesse then called up Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. Samuel said, “This man isn’t God’s choice either.”
9 Next Jesse presented Shammah. Samuel said, “No, this man isn’t either.”
10 Jesse presented his seven sons to Samuel. Samuel was blunt with Jesse, “God hasn’t chosen any of these.”
11 Then he asked Jesse, “Is this it? Are there no more sons?”
“Well, yes, there’s the runt. But he’s out tending the sheep.”
Samuel ordered Jesse, “Go get him. We’re not moving from this spot until he’s here.”
12 Jesse sent for him. He was brought in, the very picture of health—bright-eyed, good-looking.
God said, “Up on your feet! Anoint him! This is the one.”
13 Samuel took his flask of oil and anointed him, with his brothers standing around watching. The Spirit of God entered David like a rush of wind, God vitally empowering him for the rest of his life.
Samuel left and went home to Ramah.
David—An Excellent Musician
14 At that very moment the Spirit of God left Saul and in its place a black mood sent by God settled on him. He was terrified.
15-16 Saul’s advisors said, “This awful tormenting depression from God is making your life miserable. O Master, let us help. Let us look for someone who can play the harp. When the black mood from God moves in, he’ll play his music and you’ll feel better.”
17 Saul told his servants, “Go ahead. Find me someone who can play well and bring him to me.”
18 One of the young men spoke up, “I know someone. I’ve seen him myself: the son of Jesse of Bethlehem, an excellent musician. He’s also courageous, of age, well-spoken, and good-looking. And God is with him.”
19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse requesting, “Send your son David to me, the one who tends the sheep.”
20-21 Jesse took a donkey, loaded it with a couple of loaves of bread, a flask of wine, and a young goat, and sent his son David with it to Saul. David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him immediately and made him his right-hand man.
22 Saul sent word back to Jesse: “Thank you. David will stay here. He’s just the one I was looking for. I’m very impressed by him.”
23 After that, whenever the bad depression from God tormented Saul, David got out his harp and played. That would calm Saul down, and he would feel better as the moodiness lifted.
Our Daily Bread
Today's Scripture:
2 Kings 4:1–7 One day the wife of a man from the guild of prophets called out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead. You well know what a good man he was, devoted to God. And now the man to whom he was in debt is on his way to collect by taking my two children as slaves.”
2 Elisha said, “I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Well, I do have a little oil.”
3–4 “Here’s what you do,” said Elisha. “Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from all your neighbors. And not just a few—all you can get. Then come home and lock the door behind you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each container; when each is full, set it aside.”
5–6 She did what he said. She locked the door behind her and her sons; as they brought the containers to her, she filled them. When all the jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her sons, “Another jug, please.”
He said, “That’s it. There are no more jugs.”
Then the oil stopped.
7 She went and told the story to the man of God. He said, “Go sell the oil and make good on your debts. Live, both you and your sons, on what’s left.”
God’s Provision
Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
2 Kings 4:2 Three-year-old Buddy and his mom went to church each week to help unload groceries from the food ministry truck. When Buddy overheard his mom telling his grandmother that the delivery truck broke down, he said, “Oh, no. How will they do food ministry?” His mom explained that the church would have to raise money to buy a new truck. Buddy smiled. “I have money,” he said, leaving the room. He returned with a plastic jar decorated with colorful stickers and filled with coins, which amounted to a little over $38. Though Buddy didn’t have much, God combined his sacrificial offering with gifts from others to provide a new refrigerated truck, so that the church could continue serving their community.
A small amount offered generously is always more than enough when placed in God’s hands. In 2 Kings 4, a poor widow asked the prophet Elisha for financial assistance. He told her to take inventory of her own resources, reach out to her neighbors for help, then follow his instructions (vv. 1–4). In a miraculous display of provision, God used the widow’s small amount of oil to fill all the jars she collected from her neighbors (vv. 5–6). Elisha told her, “Sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left” (v. 7).
When we focus on what we don’t have, we risk missing out on watching God do great things with what we do have.
By: Xochitl Dixon Reflect & Pray
When has God multiplied your resources in a miraculous way? When has He used you to combine your resources with the gifts of others to meet a bigger need in your community?
Faithful Provider, please help me to be mindful and grateful as I faithfully manage and share all You’ve given me.
Utmost for His Highest
The Overshadowing of God’s Personal Deliverance
By Oswald Chambers
"…I am with you to deliver you," says the Lord. —Jeremiah 1:8
God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally— “…your life shall be as a prize to you…” (Jeremiah 39:18). That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are to be a matter of indifference to us, and our hold on these things should be very loose. If this is not the case, we will have panic, heartache, and distress. Having the proper outlook is evidence of the deeply rooted belief in the overshadowing of God’s personal deliverance.
The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, “Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly.” Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, “Why should I be treated like this?” If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, “Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.” Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard— we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts (see Proverbs 3:5-6).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ. The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 558 L
Bible in a Year: Job 8-10; Acts 8:26-40
A word with you by Ron Hutchcraft THE TRAGEDY OF GOD'S DIVIDED FAMILY - #9251
The scene: the maternity ward in a South Carolina hospital. In one 24-hour stretch, they had five sets of twins born! Did you ever see nurses on roller skates? Did you ever see women in a maternity ward taking numbers? One obstetrician actually met himself coming out of the delivery room! I mean, this is pandemonium! Five moms, ten deliveries, and five totally bewildered fathers! But sometimes the arrival of just one set of twins can make for an amazing night in the maternity ward. Like the birth of Alicia and Jasmin in Queensland, Australia. Yeah, it was in a hospital there. Mom is from a Jamaican-English background, and Dad is German. As for the twins: one is black, the other one is white. I was looking at a picture of them. They're calling it a million-to-one medical miracle.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Tragedy of God's Divided Family."
That's what those twin girls are. As they grow older, people will look at them and notice how different they are. But the difference is literally only skin deep. They are the daughters of the same father; from the same blood.
And that's who we are, those of us who belong to Jesus Christ, different in some "skin deep" ways, but the children of the same Heavenly Father; born the same way - from the same blood. The blood of Jesus shed for us so we could be born into the family of Almighty God. Or, as it says in our word for today from the Word of God, Galatians 3, beginning with verse 26, "You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus...There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus" (NLT).
Where we let our differences come between us, our Father is not pleased. Think about your own relationships. Think about your prejudices. Think about the categories you put people in. Look around your school, your community, your church. Are there walls, are there chasms between some of God's children, who are all carrying the same spiritual DNA?
It may be that racial differences are separating children of the same father, or social differences, or maybe it's the money we make, the clothes we wear, the education we have, the way we talk.
We can let denominational or doctrinal differences or political differences come between people who are united by the same blood - Jesus' blood. Sometimes we spend 90% of our time on the 10% that divides us instead of coming together around the 90% that God's Bible-grounded children agree on.
Meanwhile, our divisions are giving lost people just another reason to ignore our Jesus. They look at us and say, "Hey, when you guys can get together, come and talk to me." It's time we started to act like what we really are: children of the same Father, born into the same family, sharing the same spiritual DNA, rescued at the same old rugged cross, spending eternity together in the same heaven. Isn't it time we made an effort to try to worship together, to learn from each other's unique perspective, to start praying together for a mighty move of God in our area, to reach out to a community that will sit up and take notice when we work together?
We can do it. We must do it because, as the Bible says, "He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and destroyed the barrier." How? "We have been brought near through the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13-14). No, we may not look alike on the outside. But our differences are ultimately skin deep. Our Father looks at His very different kids and says, "You're both My children. You're both My blood." Why don't we treat each other like that?
