Max Lucado Daily: MEDITATE ON THE MASTER - January 4, 2023
Is anything too hard for God? Does he ever throw up his hands and quit? The welcome answer is No, nothing is too hard for the Lord. Don’t measure the height of the mountain. Ponder the power of the One who made it. Don’t tell God how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is. Your problem is not that your problem is so big, but that your view of God is too small. Accept the invitation of the psalmist: “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together” (Psalm 34:3 NKJV).
Our tendency is to magnify our fears. We place a magnifying glass on the diagnosis, the disease, or the debt. Stop that! Meditate less on the mess and more on the Master. Less on the problems and more on his power.
Proverbs 24
Don’t envy bad people;
don’t even want to be around them.
All they think about is causing a disturbance;
all they talk about is making trouble.
20
3-4 It takes wisdom to build a house,
and understanding to set it on a firm foundation;
It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms
with fine furniture and beautiful draperies.
21
5-6 It’s better to be wise than strong;
intelligence outranks muscle any day.
Strategic planning is the key to warfare;
to win, you need a lot of good counsel.
22
7 Wise conversation is way over the head of fools;
in a serious discussion they haven’t a clue.
23
8-9 The person who’s always cooking up some evil
soon gets a reputation as prince of rogues.
Fools incubate sin;
cynics desecrate beauty.
Rescue the Perishing
24
10 If you fall to pieces in a crisis,
there wasn’t much to you in the first place.
25
11-12 Rescue the perishing;
don’t hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,”
will that get you off the hook?
Someone is watching you closely, you know—
Someone not impressed with weak excuses.
26
13-14 Eat honey, dear child—it’s good for you—
and delicacies that melt in your mouth.
Likewise knowledge,
and wisdom for your soul—
Get that and your future’s secured,
your hope is on solid rock.
27
15-16 Don’t interfere with good people’s lives;
don’t try to get the best of them.
No matter how many times you trip them up,
God-loyal people don’t stay down long;
Soon they’re up on their feet,
while the wicked end up flat on their faces.
28
17-18 Don’t laugh when your enemy falls;
don’t gloat over his collapse.
God might see, and become very provoked,
and then take pity on his plight.
29
19-20 Don’t bother your head with braggarts
or wish you could succeed like the wicked.
Those people have no future at all;
they’re headed down a dead-end street.
30
21-22 Fear God, dear child—respect your leaders;
don’t be defiant or mutinous.
Without warning your life can turn upside down,
and who knows how or when it might happen?
More Sayings of the Wise
An Honest Answer
23 It’s wrong, very wrong,
to go along with injustice.
24-25 Whoever whitewashes the wicked
gets a black mark in the history books,
But whoever exposes the wicked
will be thanked and rewarded.
26 An honest answer
is like a warm hug.
27 First plant your fields;
then build your barn.
28-29 Don’t talk about your neighbors behind their backs—
no slander or gossip, please.
Don’t say to anyone, “I’ll get back at you for what you did to me.
I’ll make you pay for what you did!”
30-34 One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones,
and then passed the vineyard of a slob;
They were overgrown with weeds,
thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.
I took a long look and pondered what I saw;
the fields preached me a sermon and I listened:
“A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there,
sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?
Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life,
with poverty as your permanent houseguest!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 04, 2023
Today's Scripture
Isaiah 43:18–21
This is what God says,
the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
they lie down and then can’t get up;
they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sunbaked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.
Insight
The prophet Isaiah draws on the language of Genesis and Exodus to show that the God who freed the Israelites from slavery can and will bring them home again from exile.
In Isaiah 43:16–17, God reminds His people that He carved a path through the sea to bring them out of Egypt. Now He declares, “See, I am doing a new thing!” (v. 19). But how will He do a new thing? He’ll use water—a barrier that God overcame when He parted the sea—as a source of blessing to make a way for them in the desert. Even the animal kingdom would experience the renewal of life that He would grant to His people (v. 20).
Both the stories of the past and God’s work in the present point to one thing: nothing—not a sea nor a wasteland, slavery nor exile—can prevent God from making good on His promises. By: Jed Ostoich
New Vision
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19
Wearing my new eyeglasses as I stepped into the sanctuary, I sat down and spotted a friend sitting directly across the aisle on the other side of the church. As I waved at her, she looked so near and clear. It felt like I could reach out and touch her even though she was several yards away. Later, as we talked following the service, I realized she was in the same seat she always sat in. I simply could see her better because of an upgraded prescription in my new spectacles.
God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, knew that the Israelites stuck in Babylonian captivity would need a new prescription—a new view. He told them. “I am doing a new thing! . . . I am making a way in the wilderness” (Isaiah 43:19). And His message of hope included the reminders that He had “created” them, “redeemed” them, and would be with them. “You are mine,” He encouraged them (v. 1).
In whatever you’re facing today, the Holy Spirit can provide better vision for you to put the old behind you and look for the new. By God’s love (v. 4), it’s popping up all around you. Can you see what He’s doing in the midst of your pain and bondage? Let’s put on our new spiritual glasses to see the new that God is doing even in our wilderness moments. By: Katara Patton
Reflect & Pray
What new things do you see cropping up even in your wilderness? How can adjusting your vision help you focus on the new rather than the past?
God of new beginnings, thank You for all Your promises. Help me to see the new that You bring about even in my wilderness moments.
For further study, read When God Says No—Broken Dreams to New Beginnings.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 04, 2023
Why Can I Not Follow You Now?
Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?" —John 13:37
There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt— wait.
At first you may see clearly what God’s will is— the severance of a friendship, the breaking off of a business relationship, or something else you feel is distinctly God’s will for you to do. But never act on the impulse of that feeling. If you do, you will cause difficult situations to arise which will take years to untangle. Wait for God’s timing and He will do it without any heartache or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.
Peter did not wait for God. He predicted in his own mind where the test would come, and it came where he did not expect it. “I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Peter’s statement was honest but ignorant. “Jesus answered him, ‘…the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times’ ” (John 13:38). This was said with a deeper knowledge of Peter than Peter had of himself. He could not follow Jesus because he did not know himself or his own capabilities well enough. Natural devotion may be enough to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His irresistible charm, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will deny Jesus, always falling short of what it means to truly follow Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The fiery furnaces are there by God’s direct permission. It is misleading to imagine that we are developed in spite of our circumstances; we are developed because of them. It is mastery in circumstances that is needed, not mastery over them. The Love of God—The Message of Invincible Consolation, 674 R
Bible in a Year: Genesis 10-12; Matthew 4
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 04, 2023
TURNING MONEY INTO TREASURE - #9388
Our sons really enjoyed being uncles for the first time some years ago. Their sister was kind enough to give them two boys to call them uncle. The youngest grandson at the time was four years old and he really enjoyed how his uncles played with him. They kept finding quarters in his nose or his ear. (You know the old magic trick.) Now, before I receive emails about this, rest assured that he had been carefully taught not to put anything in his nose or ear. The grandson that is, not my sons. But he loved it when his uncles pretended they found money there.
I remember the time that one of the uncles told the four-year-old that he was having a particularly hard time getting that shiny thing out of his nephew's nose. So he turned him upside down and gently shook him. Four quarters fell on the carpet! Bingo! But much to uncle's surprise, the little guy picked up the dollar in change and put it back in his uncle's hand. Our son objected. He said, "No, no, no this money is yours now." To which our grandson answered, "No, I want you to have it." See, his uncle was in a ministry with Native American young people. Our grandson said, "Use it to tell more kids about Jesus." Now, that was the best trick of the day.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Turning Money Into Treasure."
Without being told, our little guy understood that some of what he has isn't for him - it's for helping other people hear about Jesus. The secret here is that he was only giving back to the person who gave it to him in the first place. Right? Just like us when we give to the work of God on earth. We're just giving it back to the one who gave it to us in the first place.
First Corinthians 4:2 is our word for today from the Word of God, and it clearly spells out this "circle of giving." It says, "Now it is required that those who have been given a great trust" (or it says in the King James "who are stewards") "must prove faithful." See, what you have is a trust from God which He expects you to use faithfully, especially when it comes to it being available for the work that His Son gave His life for.
Imagine trusting $10,000 of your money to the local bank. A few months later, you go to the bank and ask for your money for a need you have. The banker says, "Oh, I'm sorry. I spent your money." Well, he's betrayed your trust. But no more than we do when we hold onto money that God's expecting back for the work He wants to do.
Sadly, the greatest factor limiting the work of Christ in the world today is probably the lack of funds. Is God withholding money from His work? Probably not. He's entrusted it into the hands of His people. And research shows consistently that the more believers make the smaller percentage of their income they give to the Lord.
Malachi actually calls that "robbing God" (Malachi 3:9). In the prophet Haggai's day, the rebuilding of God's temple was at a standstill. Here's how God described what was happening: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? My house (God says) remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house" (Haggai 1:4, 9). That could have been written today.
There is a world of people God so loves, whose only hope is to know about Jesus; who deserve at least a chance to know Him. One hundred and fifty thousand of our fellow humans every day go into eternity ready or not. You know, there are servants of Christ poised around the world and across the country to lay down the rest of their lives to tell those people about Jesus. All they need is the money to send them and it isn't there.
Satan hasn't been able to stop the workers from stepping up, so he tries to stop the bullets from getting to the army. But you and I have the power to stop him, to participate in the life-saving work Christ spent His life on if we'll open our hand and give back what God gave us and just say to Him, "Use this, Father, to tell more people about Jesus."