Max Lucado Daily: The Achievement of God
How can God punish the sin and love the sinner? Ponder the achievement of God. He doesn't condone our sin, nor does he compromise his standard. He doesn't ignore our rebellion, nor does he relax his demands. Rather than dismiss our sin, he assumes our sin and, incredibly, sentences himself. God's holiness is honored. Our sin is punished. And we are redeemed.
Hebrews 10:14 explains, "With one sacrifice he made perfect forever those who are being made holy." God does what we cannot do, so we can be what we dare not dream…perfect before him. He canceled our debt. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross. It was and is an unspeakable gift of grace!
From In the Grip of Grace
How can God punish the sin and love the sinner? Ponder the achievement of God. He doesn't condone our sin, nor does he compromise his standard. He doesn't ignore our rebellion, nor does he relax his demands. Rather than dismiss our sin, he assumes our sin and, incredibly, sentences himself. God's holiness is honored. Our sin is punished. And we are redeemed.
Hebrews 10:14 explains, "With one sacrifice he made perfect forever those who are being made holy." God does what we cannot do, so we can be what we dare not dream…perfect before him. He canceled our debt. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross. It was and is an unspeakable gift of grace!
From In the Grip of Grace
Psalm 5
Listen, God! Please, pay attention!
Can you make sense of these ramblings,
my groans and cries?
King-God, I need your help.
Every morning
you’ll hear me at it again.
Every morning
I lay out the pieces of my life
on your altar
and watch for fire to descend.
4-6 You don’t socialize with Wicked,
or invite Evil over as your houseguest.
Hot-Air-Boaster collapses in front of you;
you shake your head over Mischief-Maker.
God destroys Lie-Speaker;
Blood-Thirsty and Truth-Bender disgust you.
7-8 And here I am, your invited guest—
it’s incredible!
I enter your house; here I am,
prostrate in your inner sanctum,
Waiting for directions
to get me safely through enemy lines.
9-10 Every word they speak is a land mine;
their lungs breathe out poison gas.
Their throats are gaping graves,
their tongues slick as mudslides.
Pile on the guilt, God!
Let their so-called wisdom wreck them.
Kick them out! They’ve had their chance.
11-12 But you’ll welcome us with open arms
when we run for cover to you.
Let the party last all night!
Stand guard over our celebration.
You are famous, God, for welcoming God-seekers,
for decking us out in delight.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Today's Scripture
Psalm 18:1–3, 16–19
I love you, God—
you make me strong.
God is bedrock under my feet,
the castle in which I live,
my rescuing knight.
My God—the high crag
where I run for dear life,
hiding behind the boulders,
safe in the granite hideout.
3 I sing to God, the Praise-Lofty,
and find myself safe and saved.
But me he caught—reached all the way
from sky to sea; he pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.
They hit me when I was down,
but God stuck by me.
He stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!
Insight
We know the occasion of the writing of Psalm 18 because its superscription reads: “Of David . . . when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” C.H. Spurgeon sees this psalm as David looking back on his life (likely because Psalm 18 and the song in 2 Samuel 22 are virtually identical). However, the song also looks forward in that it points to the coming Messiah. We see this in verse 2, as David refers to God as “my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.” Several New Testament passages point out that this rock is Christ (Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:6–8). And in Psalm 18:49, David says, “I will praise you, Lord, among the nations,” foreshadowing the time when Jesus would build His church from not only Israel but all nations (Ephesians 3:4–6).
By: Tim Gustafson
Deep-Water Rescue
He drew me out of deep waters. Psalm 18:16
A record rainfall more than tripled what was forecasted in Waverly, Tennessee, in August 2021. In the wake of the powerful storm, twenty people lost their lives and hundreds of homes were destroyed. Had it not been for the compassion and skill of helicopter pilot Joel Boyers, the loss of human life would’ve been even greater.
The pilot took flight in response to a phone call from a woman who was concerned about her loved ones. In addition to seeing houses on fire and cars in trees, Boyers noted, “It was nothing but [muddy], raging water below me.” The pilot, however, bravely proceeded to rescue twelve people from the roofs of their homes.
More often than not in life, the swirling floods we face aren’t literal—but oh, how real! In days of uncertainty and instability, we can feel overwhelmed, unsafe—“in over our heads” mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. But we don’t need to despair.
In Psalm 18, we read how David’s enemies were many and mighty, but his God was greater. How great? So great and powerful (v. 1) that he used multiple metaphors (v. 2) to describe Him. God was mighty enough to rescue from deep waters and strong enemies (vv. 16–17). How great? Great enough for us to call upon Him in the name of Jesus, regardless of the volume and depth of the "waters" surrounding us in life (v. 3).
By: Arthur Jackson
Reflect & Pray
What deep waters are you facing that compel you to call upon God? What keeps you from calling on Him?
Strong, saving, rescuing God, in the midst of my distress, when life’s waters are raging, grant me the faith to see You and cleave to You in every storm.
For further study, read Clinging to Hope in the Storm.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Is There Good in Temptation?
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man… —1 Corinthians 10:13
The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.
A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.
Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.
Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else— what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations— He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and Hebrews 4:15-16).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 27-29; 2 Corinthians 10