Max Lucado Daily: YOU ARE NO ACCIDENT - August 10, 2022
Has someone called you a lost cause? A failure? Has someone dismissed you as insignificant? Don’t you listen to them! They don’t know what they’re talking about. You were conceived by God before you were conceived by your parents. You were loved in heaven before you were known on earth. You aren’t an accident.
When you say yes to God you are being made into God’s image. Print that on your resume! In the eyes of God you are worth dying for. Would you let this truth define the way you see yourself? Would you let this truth define the way you see other people? Every person you see was created by God to bear his image and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. This is God’s plan, this is God’s promise, and he will fulfill it!
And because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable!
Psalm 30
I give you all the credit, God—
you got me out of that mess,
you didn’t let my foes gloat.
2-3 God, my God, I yelled for help
and you put me together.
God, you pulled me out of the grave,
gave me another chance at life
when I was down-and-out.
4-5 All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God!
Thank him to his face!
He gets angry once in a while, but across
a lifetime there is only love.
The nights of crying your eyes out
give way to days of laughter.
6-7 When things were going great
I crowed, “I’ve got it made.
I’m God’s favorite.
He made me king of the mountain.”
Then you looked the other way
and I fell to pieces.
8-10 I called out to you, God;
I laid my case before you:
“Can you sell me for a profit when I’m dead?
auction me off at a cemetery yard sale?
When I’m ‘dust to dust’ my songs
and stories of you won’t sell.
So listen! and be kind!
Help me out of this!”
11-12 You did it: you changed wild lament
into whirling dance;
You ripped off my black mourning band
and decked me with wildflowers.
I’m about to burst with song;
I can’t keep quiet about you.
God, my God,
I can’t thank you enough.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Today's Scripture Esther 4:7–14
Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him. He also told him the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to deposit in the royal bank to finance the massacre of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the bulletin that had been posted in Susa ordering the massacre so he could show it to Esther when he reported back with instructions to go to the king and intercede and plead with him for her people.
9–11 Hathach came back and told Esther everything Mordecai had said. Esther talked it over with Hathach and then sent him back to Mordecai with this message: “Everyone who works for the king here, and even the people out in the provinces, knows that there is a single fate for every man or woman who approaches the king without being invited: death. The one exception is if the king extends his gold scepter; then he or she may live. And it’s been thirty days now since I’ve been invited to come to the king.”
12–14 When Hathach told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai sent her this message: “Don’t think that just because you live in the king’s house you’re the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this.”
Insight
The story of Esther and the victory of God’s people over their long-standing enemies provide both encouragement and a warning to us today. Even when God seems absent, He’s operating behind the scenes to care for His people and protect them from their enemies. The survival of the Jewish people also means the continuance of the hope for the Messiah who would come. We also learn that God’s judgment can’t be hindered by anyone.
Adapted from Understanding the Bible: The History Books..
Standing Boldly
Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?
Esther 4:14
In a small Illinois town, domestic violence comprises 40 percent of all crimes in the community. According to a local pastor, this issue is often hidden in our faith communities because it’s uncomfortable to talk about. So instead of shying away from the problem, local ministers chose to exercise faith and courageously address the issue by taking classes to recognize the signs of violence and supporting nonprofit organizations working on the issue. Acknowledging the power of faith and action, a local minister said, “Our prayers and compassion, coupled with some tangible support, can make an important difference.”
When Esther, Queen of Persia, was hesitant to speak out against a law that authorized the genocide of her people, she was warned by her uncle that if she remained silent, she and her family wouldn't escape but would perish (Esther 4:13–14). Knowing it was time to be bold and take a stand, Mordecai queried, “Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (v. 14). Whether we are called to speak out against injustice or to forgive someone who’s caused us distress, the Bible assures us that in challenging circumstances, God will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5–6). When we look to Him for help in moments where we feel intimidated, He'll give us “power, love, and self-discipline” to see our assignment through to the end (2 Timothy 1:7). By: Kimya Loder
Reflect & Pray
What might God be asking you to do? What tools have you already been given to answer the call?
Heavenly Father, thank You for placing a unique calling over my life. Help me to overcome my fears and step out in faith.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
The Holy Suffering of the Saint
Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good… —1 Peter 4:19
Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God’s will— even if it means you will suffer— is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. And no saint should ever dare to interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint’s life.
The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. But the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us; in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy, because sympathy only serves to weaken us. No one better understands a saint than the saint who is as close and as intimate with Jesus as possible. If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult.” That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (see Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy for us to tarnish God’s character because He never argues back; He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life on earth. He refused the sympathy of people because in His great wisdom He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose (see Matthew 16:23). He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels (see Luke 15:10).
Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that ma
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony
Bible in a Year: Psalms 79-80; Romans 11:1-18
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
WHY YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AFRAID OF THE UNKNOWN AHEAD - #9283
My wife grew up on a little farm in the Ozarks just down the road from her grandparents. It was almost like a page out of that television program, The Waltons. The family was close and they never had much materially, but neither did the families around them. In fact, my wife told me if her family was poor, she didn't realize it, she didn't know it. She thought she was rich!
And then I hear the stories of her growing up, and I think she was. On one of our visits to her "old homeplace," she told me about those occasions when her grandfather would hitch up a mule to a plow and start turning up the garden with his four-year-old little granddaughter in tow - that's my honey. She said she loved to follow behind her granddad, and she'd walk barefoot in that newly plowed ground. And then she said, "You know, before granddad got to it, the ground was all hard, but after he plowed it I loved to feel that warm, moist soil between my toes." Well it wasn't uncommon then to see this little dark-haired girl following a mule, a plow, and an old man through that newly plowed soil.
Well I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why You Don't Have to Be Afraid of the Unknown Ahead."
Which brings us to our word for today from the Word of God; it actually is one of the promises of Jesus that is one of my anchors. John 10:4. And I have depended on this one more times than I could tell you, "When He has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know His voice." Jesus kind of says here, okay Ron, you sheep, Me shepherd, wherever I ask you to go I'm getting there ahead of you.
He goes ahead of them, kind of like granddad went ahead of my wife. He's getting it ready for you to walk on. You'll never be led anywhere by your Savior where He has not first gone ahead and prepared the way for you. Which means you can dare to go someplace, to risk some things you could otherwise never consider. You take risks for Jesus. You know why? Because you know He is plowing that ground ahead of you. Wow!
Look, maybe right now you're heading into this whole new season of your life, or you're moving into a new area or a new job or a new relationship, a challenge. It's possible the Lord is leading you to leave your comfort zone to do something for Him. He often asks us to do that. Or there could be ahead of you a conversation, or a confrontation, a responsibility that honestly you're not looking forward to. Listen to Jesus, He's saying, "I'm going there ahead of you. I'm going to get there ahead of you." See, that makes all the difference. Jesus is going ahead of you there; He's preparing the resources that you're going to need. He's preparing the hearts of those that you're going to be talking to. He's going to be preparing the people you'll need, the support you'll need. And He'll be taking care of any wolves that just might be there to threaten His sheep.
And if He's leading you to share Christ with someone - and He probably is - isn't it wonderful to know that He's going on ahead to get hearts ready to make a heart that otherwise might be hard - a soft heart. You could even pray for that, "Lord, please go on ahead of me before I go and talk to (fill in the name)," and that's why you can go with confidence, that's why you can go with boldness to share the difference that Jesus can make because the shepherd is getting there ahead of you.
Look, the ground ahead right now, well it might look pretty hard to you, but by the time you walk on it, He'll have it all opened up. Like that little girl in her grandfather's garden, there's someone out in front of you turning up the ground.