Max Lucado Daily: GET ON YOUR KNEES - December 1, 2022
A small cathedral outside Bethlehem marks the supposed birthplace of Jesus. Behind a high altar in the church is a cave, a little cavern lit by silver lamps. You can enter the main edifice and admire the ancient church. You can also enter the quiet cave, where a star embedded in the floor recognizes the birth of the King. There is one stipulation, however – you have to stoop. The door is so low you can’t enter standing up.
The same is true of the Christ. You can see the world standing tall, but to witness the Savior, you have to get on your knees. So at the birth of Jesus, while the theologians were sleeping and the elite were dreaming and the successful were snoring, the meek were kneeling. They were kneeling before the One only the meek will see. They were kneeling in front of Jesus.
1 Kings 3
Solomon arranged a marriage contract with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David until he had completed building his royal palace and God’s Temple and the wall around Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the people were worshiping at local shrines because at that time no temple had yet been built to the Name of God. Solomon loved God and continued to live in the God-honoring ways of David his father, except that he also worshiped at the local shrines, offering sacrifices and burning incense.
4-5 The king went to Gibeon, the most prestigious of the local shrines, to worship. He sacrificed a thousand Whole-Burnt-Offerings on that altar. That night, there in Gibeon, God appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, “What can I give you? Ask.”
6 Solomon said, “You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.
7-8 “And now here I am: God, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes, hardly know the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.
9 “Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?”
10-14 God, the Master, was delighted with Solomon’s response. And God said to him, “Because you have asked for this and haven’t grasped after a long life, or riches, or the doom of your enemies, but you have asked for the ability to lead and govern well, I’ll give you what you’ve asked for—I’m giving you a wise and mature heart. There’s never been one like you before; and there’ll be no one after. As a bonus, I’m giving you both the wealth and glory you didn’t ask for—there’s not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark. And if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life-map and the God-signs as your father David did, I’ll also give you a long life.”
15 Solomon woke up—what a dream! He returned to Jerusalem, took his place before the Chest of the Covenant of God, and worshiped by sacrificing Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings. Then he laid out a banquet for everyone in his service.
16-21 The very next thing, two prostitutes showed up before the king. The one woman said, “My master, this woman and I live in the same house. While we were living together, I had a baby. Three days after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone—there wasn’t anyone else in the house except for the two of us. The infant son of this woman died one night when she rolled over on him in her sleep. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son—I was sound asleep, mind you!—and put him at her breast and put her dead son at my breast. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, here was this dead baby! But when I looked at him in the morning light, I saw immediately that he wasn’t my baby.”
22 “Not so!” said the other woman. “The living one’s mine; the dead one’s yours.”
The first woman countered, “No! Your son’s the dead one; mine’s the living one.”
They went back and forth this way in front of the king.
23 The king said, “What are we to do? This woman says, ‘The living son is mine and the dead one is yours,’ and this woman says, ‘No, the dead one’s yours and the living one’s mine.’”
24 After a moment the king said, “Bring me a sword.” They brought the sword to the king.
25 Then he said, “Cut the living baby in two—give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The real mother of the living baby was overcome with emotion for her son and said, “Oh no, master! Give her the whole baby alive; don’t kill him!”
But the other one said, “If I can’t have him, you can’t have him—cut away!”
27 The king gave his decision: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Nobody is going to kill this baby. She is the real mother.”
28 The word got around—everyone in Israel heard of the king’s judgment. They were all in awe of the king, realizing that it was God’s wisdom that enabled him to judge truly.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 01, 2022
Today's Scripture
Hebrews 3:7–19
The Centerpiece of All We Believe
So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He’s the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave him to do. Moses was also faithful, but Jesus gets far more honor. A builder is more valuable than a building any day. Every house has a builder, but the Builder behind them all is God. Moses did a good job in God’s house, but it was all servant work, getting things ready for what was to come. Christ as Son is in charge of the house.
6-11 Now, if we can only keep a firm grip on this bold confidence, we’re the house! That’s why the Holy Spirit says,
Today, please listen;
don’t turn a deaf ear as in “the bitter uprising,”
that time of wilderness testing!
Even though they watched me at work for forty years,
your ancestors refused to let me do it my way;
over and over they tried my patience.
And I was provoked, oh, so provoked!
I said, “They’ll never keep their minds on God;
they refuse to walk down my road.”
Exasperated, I vowed,
“They’ll never get where they’re going,
never be able to sit down and rest.”
12-14 So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as God’s still calling it Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn’t slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we’re in this with Christ for the long haul.
These words keep ringing in our ears:
Today, please listen;
don’t turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising.
15-19 For who were the people who turned a deaf ear? Weren’t they the very ones Moses led out of Egypt? And who was God provoked with for forty years? Wasn’t it those who turned a deaf ear and ended up corpses in the wilderness? And when he swore that they’d never get where they were going, wasn’t he talking to the ones who turned a deaf ear? They never got there because they never listened, never believed.
Insight
Because of severe persecution, Jewish believers in Jesus were pressured to revert to Judaism (Hebrews 10:32–39). To encourage them to persevere in their faith, the writer of Hebrews told them to fix their thoughts on Jesus as their supreme example (3:1–6; 12:2–3) instead of their unfaithful ancestors who missed the blessing of entering the promised land (3:7–11). With an emphasis on “today” (vv. 7, 13, 15), he urged them to obey God daily and help each other every day, so they wouldn’t develop an “unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (v. 12) and thus forfeit the blessings of salvation (v. 18). By: K. T. Sim
Mutual Encouragement
Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today.” Hebrews 3:13
After another week of being beaten down by more medical setbacks, I slumped onto the sofa. I didn’t want to think about anything. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I couldn’t even pray. Discouragement and doubt weighed me down as I turned on the television. I began watching a commercial showing a little girl talking to her younger brother. “You’re a champion,” she said. As she continued affirming him, his grin grew. So did mine.
God’s people have always struggled with discouragement and doubt. Quoting Psalm 95, which affirms that God’s voice can be heard through the Holy Spirit, the writer of Hebrews warned believers in Jesus to avoid the mistakes made by the Israelites while wandering in the wilderness (Hebrews 3:7–11). “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God,” he wrote. “But encourage one another daily” (vv. 12–13).
With our lifeline of hope secured in Christ, we can experience the power-packed fuel we need to persevere: mutual encouragement within the fellowship of believers (v. 13). When one believer doubts, other believers can offer affirmation and accountability. As God strengthens us, His people, we can offer the power of mutual encouragement to one another. By: Xochitl Dixon
Reflect & Pray
How has God used the affirming words of someone in your life to comfort and encourage you during a difficult time? How can you encourage others with your words today?
Loving God, help me live for You and lift others up in love with my words and actions.
For further study, read That Skill: How Words Invite Others into Freedom.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 01, 2022
The Law and the Gospel
Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. —James 2:10
The moral law does not consider our weaknesses as human beings; in fact, it does not take into account our heredity or infirmities. It simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either for the highest of society or for the weakest in the world. It is enduring and eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak to the weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. If we are not aware of this, it is because we are less than alive. Once we do realize it, our life immediately becomes a fatal tragedy. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:9). The moment we realize this, the Spirit of God convicts us of sin. Until a person gets there and sees that there is no hope, the Cross of Christ remains absurd to him. Conviction of sin always brings a fearful, confining sense of the law. It makes a person hopeless— “…sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). I, a guilty sinner, can never work to get right with God— it is impossible. There is only one way by which I can get right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ. I must get rid of the underlying idea that I can ever be right with God because of my obedience. Who of us could ever obey God to absolute perfection!
We only begin to realize the power of the moral law once we see that it comes with a condition and a promise. But God never coerces us. Sometimes we wish He would make us be obedient, and at other times we wish He would leave us alone. Whenever God’s will is in complete control, He removes all pressure. And when we deliberately choose to obey Him, He will reach to the remotest star and to the ends of the earth to assist us with all of His almighty power.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. Shade of His Hand, 1223 L
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 40-41; 2 Peter 3
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 01, 2022
BREAKING THE CYCLE OF PAIN - #9364
Okay, fill in the blank. Dog collars are for _________. Right! Dogs. Well, of course, there was one case, it was a not-so-bright nephew. My friend's nephew decided it would be fun to put his dog collar on around his own neck. Well, it wasn't just any dog collar; it was the kind that gives the dog a little shock when he's barking too loud. Doesn't sound like something they should be selling, but they didn't let me vote on that. Anyway, this guy owned one. You want to guess the rest? Yeah, well without thinking, he yelled something to someone across the yard, which triggered a shocking reaction from the collar, which made the young man, of course, scream in pain, which gave him another shock, which caused him to shout "Ow!" again. Which caused… You got the idea.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft. Let's move on, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Breaking the Cycle of Pain."
A bad choice. Pain as a result. Doing something because you're hurting, and causing even more pain - compounding pain. You know, that's a cycle you or someone you know may be trapped in right now, and it's hard to break out of that cycle of pain. It's hard, but it's not impossible.
A lot of our bad choices would come under the Bible heading of the word "sin" - doing something in our life our way instead of God's way. Oh, maybe it looked like fun. Maybe it looked like it would help you meet a need or get out of a jam. Or it could be you were just curious. It seemed like a good idea at the time; like putting on a collar that would ultimately inflict major pain. Our word for today from the Word of God in John 8:34 and 36 says, "Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin." See. that's what you don't count on. First sin captivates you and then it captures you. You thought you could get out any time. Wrong.
Someone's wisely pointed out that sin always takes you farther than you ever thought you'd go, it keeps you longer than you ever thought you'd stay, and it costs you more than you ever thought you'd pay. We really do become slaves to our sinning; whether it's a pattern of lying, of lusting, of living for ourselves. And there's no freedom until you first admit that you're hooked; you're powerless to stop the sinning and the compounding pain that's coming from it.
Like that young man, yelling for help when the dog collar shocked him, we do things to deal with the pain that just cause more pain. We lie, we cover up, we sin even more, we do things to try to sedate the pain, and then we get hooked on the sedative.
But here comes the hope, right after the statement about being a slave to sin. It says, "But if the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed." That son is the Son of Almighty God. Jesus Christ died on that cross to break the power of sin. The Bible says, "He carried our sins in His own body on the tree so that we could die to sin" (1 Peter 2:24). And He stands ready to help you break out of the bondage of sin and the cycle of pain that it causes. If you'll call your sin what it is and pour it all out to Jesus, that's the beginning of a new chapter. Admit you can't do a thing to beat it and then you fall at His feet in total surrender.
Look, He had the power to walk out of His grave, don't you think He's got the power to beat the sin that keeps beating you? If you have never put your trust in Him to be your Savior from your sin and told Him, "Jesus, I'm yours from today on," that's where winning starts. That's where healing starts. That's where forgiveness starts.
Today tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website and find out how to get this secured and know that you've got a relationship with Him. Go to ANewStory.com. Don't keep trying to deal with sin your way. All you're doing is making it worse. There's only one cry that will set you free. It's a cry to Jesus. You've been sin's slave long enough haven't you? Let this be the day you go free!