Max Lucado Daily: CO-HEIRS WITH CHRIST - August 17, 2022
After spending the better part of an hour reciting the woes of my life to my wife, Denalyn interrupted me with a question. “Is God in this anywhere?” I hate it when she does that.
What had happened to me? I was focusing on my resources. I wasn’t consulting God. I had limited my world to my strength, my wisdom, my power. No wonder I was in a tailspin. For such moments God gives this promise: “We are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
The cronies of dismay, gloom, and rejection have no answer for the promise of inheritance. Tell them, “The gauge may be bouncing on empty, but I will not run out of fuel. I am a child of the living and loving God, and he will help me!” And because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable.
After spending the better part of an hour reciting the woes of my life to my wife, Denalyn interrupted me with a question. “Is God in this anywhere?” I hate it when she does that.
What had happened to me? I was focusing on my resources. I wasn’t consulting God. I had limited my world to my strength, my wisdom, my power. No wonder I was in a tailspin. For such moments God gives this promise: “We are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
The cronies of dismay, gloom, and rejection have no answer for the promise of inheritance. Tell them, “The gauge may be bouncing on empty, but I will not run out of fuel. I am a child of the living and loving God, and he will help me!” And because God’s promises are unbreakable our hope is unshakable.
2 Samuel 11
David’s Sin and Sorrow
When that time of year came around again, the anniversary of the Ammonite aggression, David dispatched Joab and his fighting men of Israel in full force to destroy the Ammonites for good. They laid siege to Rabbah, but David stayed in Jerusalem.
2-5 One late afternoon, David got up from taking his nap and was strolling on the roof of the palace. From his vantage point on the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was stunningly beautiful. David sent to ask about her, and was told, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?” David sent his agents to get her. After she arrived, he went to bed with her. (This occurred during the time of “purification” following her period.) Then she returned home. Before long she realized she was pregnant.
Later she sent word to David: “I’m pregnant.”
6 David then got in touch with Joab: “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.” Joab sent him.
7-8 When he arrived, David asked him for news from the front—how things were going with Joab and the troops and with the fighting. Then he said to Uriah, “Go home. Have a refreshing bath and a good night’s rest.”
8-9 After Uriah left the palace, an informant of the king was sent after him. But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance, along with the king’s servants.
10 David was told that Uriah had not gone home. He asked Uriah, “Didn’t you just come off a hard trip? So why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah replied to David, “The Chest is out there with the fighting men of Israel and Judah—in tents. My master Joab and his servants are roughing it out in the fields. So, how can I go home and eat and drink and enjoy my wife? On your life, I’ll not do it!”
12-13 “All right,” said David, “have it your way. Stay for the day and I’ll send you back tomorrow.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem the rest of the day.
The next day David invited him to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. But in the evening Uriah again went out and slept with his master’s servants. He didn’t go home.
14-15 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front lines where the fighting is the fiercest. Then pull back and leave him exposed so that he’s sure to be killed.”
16-17 So Joab, holding the city under siege, put Uriah in a place where he knew there were fierce enemy fighters. When the city’s defenders came out to fight Joab, some of David’s soldiers were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.
18-21 Joab sent David a full report on the battle. He instructed the messenger, “After you have given to the king a detailed report on the battle, if he flares in anger, say, ‘And by the way, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”
22-24 Joab’s messenger arrived in Jerusalem and gave the king a full report. He said, “The enemy was too much for us. They advanced on us in the open field, and we pushed them back to the city gate. But then arrows came hot and heavy on us from the city wall, and eighteen of the king’s soldiers died.”
25 When the messenger completed his report of the battle, David got angry at Joab. He vented it on the messenger: “Why did you get so close to the city? Didn’t you know you’d be attacked from the wall? Didn’t you remember how Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth got killed? Wasn’t it a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the wall and crushed him at Thebez? Why did you go close to the wall!”
“By the way,” said Joab’s messenger, “your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
Then David told the messenger, “Oh. I see. Tell Joab, ‘Don’t trouble yourself over this. War kills—sometimes one, sometimes another—you never know who’s next. Redouble your assault on the city and destroy it.’ Encourage Joab.”
26-27 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she grieved for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Today's Scripture
Acts 15:36–40
After a few days of this, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit all our friends in each of the towns where we preached the Word of God. Let’s see how they’re doing.”
37–41 Barnabas wanted to take John along, the John nicknamed Mark. But Paul wouldn’t have him; he wasn’t about to take along a quitter who, as soon as the going got tough, had jumped ship on them in Pamphylia. Tempers flared, and they ended up going their separate ways: Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus; Paul chose Silas and, offered up by their friends to the grace of the Master,
Insight
Learning is one of the most important aspects of living—even for great thinkers and leaders like the apostle Paul. We see this learning in process when we consider his attitude toward John Mark in Acts 15 compared to his attitude in 2 Timothy 4. In Acts 15:38, when Paul and Barnabas agreed to visit the churches they’d planted, Paul refused to allow John Mark to accompany them because on the previous trip the young man had “deserted” them. In 2 Timothy 4:10–16, Paul wrote that when he needed support from his friends, they also had “deserted” him. Here, however, instead of throwing them away for their desertion (as he had John Mark), he pleaded that this not be held against them. An astonishing change of attitude—which is reinforced by Paul’s words of respect and appreciation for Mark in 2 Timothy 4:11.
By: Bill Crowder
The Making of Me
Barnabas wanted to take John . . . with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him.
Acts 15:37–38
Seven-year-old Thomas Edison didn’t like or do well in school. One day, he was even called “addled” (mentally confused) by a teacher. He stormed home. After speaking with the teacher the next day, his mom, a teacher by training, decided to teach Thomas at home. Helped along by her love and encouragement (and his God-given genius), Thomas went on to become a great inventor. He later wrote, “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had someone to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”
In Acts 15, we read that Barnabas and the apostle Paul served together as missionaries until they had a major disagreement about whether or not to bring along John Mark. Paul was opposed because Mark had earlier “deserted them in Pamphylia” (vv. 36–38). As a result, Paul and Barnabas split. Paul took Silas and Barnabas took Mark. Barnabas was willing to give Mark a second chance, and his encouragement contributed to Mark’s ability to serve and succeed as a missionary. He went on to write the gospel of Mark and was even a comfort to Paul while he was in prison (2 Timothy 4:11).
Many of us can look back and point to someone in our life who encouraged and helped us along our way. God may be calling you to do the same for someone in your life. Whom might you encourage?
By: Alyson Kieda
Reflect & Pray
Who had faith in you and helped you succeed? What did that person do to encourage you?
Dear God, thank You for walking alongside me and placing people in my life who helped to make me who I am today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Are You Discouraged or Devoted?
…Jesus…said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have…and come, follow Me." But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. —Luke 18:22-23
Have you ever heard the Master say something very difficult to you? If you haven’t, I question whether you have ever heard Him say anything at all. Jesus says a tremendous amount to us that we listen to, but do not actually hear. And once we do hear Him, His words are harsh and unyielding.
Jesus did not show the least concern that this rich young ruler should do what He told him, nor did Jesus make any attempt to keep this man with Him. He simply said to him, “Sell all that you have…and come, follow Me.” Our Lord never pleaded with him; He never tried to lure him— He simply spoke the strictest words that human ears have ever heard, and then left him alone.
Have I ever heard Jesus say something difficult and unyielding to me? Has He said something personally to me to which I have deliberately listened— not something I can explain for the sake of others, but something I have heard Him say directly to me? This man understood what Jesus said. He heard it clearly, realizing the full impact of its meaning, and it broke his heart. He did not go away as a defiant person, but as one who was sorrowful and discouraged. He had come to Jesus on fire with zeal and determination, but the words of Jesus simply froze him. Instead of producing enthusiastic devotion to Jesus, they produced heartbreaking discouragement. And Jesus did not go after him, but let him go. Our Lord knows perfectly well that once His word is truly heard, it will bear fruit sooner or later. What is so terrible is that some of us prevent His words from bearing fruit in our present life. I wonder what we will say when we finally make up our minds to be devoted to Him on that particular point? One thing is certain— He will never throw our past failures back in our faces.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We all have the trick of saying—If only I were not where I am!—If only I had not got the kind of people I have to live with! If our faith or our religion does not help us in the conditions we are in, we have either a further struggle to go through, or we had better abandon that faith and religion. The Shadow of an Agony, 1178 L
Bible in a Year: Psalms 97-99; Romans 16
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
LOTS OF BLESSING, NOT MUCH IMPACT - #9288
I was in a city that a hurricane had just missed. And we were very blessed to have not been hit by all that wind. But we did get two days of the wet weather leftovers. I mean, we're talking drenching rain here! One morning it was pouring, and I drove by a bank. And I saw something, and I had to laugh in the middle of the torrents coming down. The sprinklers came on right on schedule. Yeah! They were doing a beautiful job of watering the lawn, which really didn't need any water.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lots of Blessing, Not Much Impact."
Now our word for today from the Word of God. We're in 2 Kings, with this curious story that's in the 7th chapter. The capital city of Samaria is under siege, and the Syrian Army has cut off all food. So the people in the city are literally starving to death. I mean, it's so desperate in the city that people have even resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.
Now, there are these four lepers who live outside the city. And they decided since they're already going to die, they might as well try to surrender to the enemy army. If they're captured as prisoners of war, maybe they'll get fed. So when they get to the enemy camp, they discover that God has performed a miracle. The camp is empty. So they find all this food, and empty tents just standing there. And they stuff themselves all night.
Then we come to verse 9, "They said to each other, 'We're not doing right.'" It was about time they figured that out. Then it goes on, "This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this." What a scene this is! These four men are sitting on this pile of food, while multitudes in the city are starving.
It reminds me of those sprinklers on that rainy day. Water wasn't really needed; it was just soaking what was already soaked. A Christian from the former Soviet Union once said to the team our daughter was on, "The problem with American Christians is that you are 'over-feeded'" Well, he's right. We are so blessed.
We're soaked with blessings no Christians have ever had before. We've got Christian everything: Christian radio, Christian TV, Christian internet, concerts, festivals, retreats, and seminars. But it's almost all for us. We're already stuffed, but we line up for another helping of blessing don't we? We're already soaked, but we turn on the sprinklers for more showers of blessing. Something's wrong here. Let's not forget what our Master's heart is. He said, "I have come to seek and to save..." Not that which is found, but He says "that which is lost."
He talks about a harvest where "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." He says, "I can't find laborers to go get the harvest. They're too busy eating the harvest." A self-focused church, a self-focused Christian? That's not the will of God. We follow a Savior who left the comfort of heaven, to live among the lost. He laid down His life to bring them home to God.
He sure can't be very happy with us when we focus on going to our Christian meetings, going to our conferences, listening to our Christian speakers, our songs, keeping all busy with our Christian schedule and ignoring the dying people within our reach. The spiritually destitute are starving to death as surely as those people were back in the book of 2 Kings.
Like our Master, we need to live our lives for the lost people that He gave His life for. In the words of those lepers, "This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves." There are plenty of lives that get no spiritual rain. Let's not aim our sprinklers at the already soaked. Let's take them to the places where it never rains.