Max Lucado Daily: SOVEREIGN OVER STORMS - January 10, 2023
Let’s climb into the boat with the disciples on the storm-tossed sea. Look at their rain-splattered faces. What do you see? Fear, for sure. Doubt? Absolutely. You may even hear a question shouted over the wind. “Anyone know where Jesus is?” The answer is clear and surprising: praying. Jesus became the answer to his own prayer.
The followers panicked. Peter’s faith became fear, but Jesus still walked on water. The winds howled, but Jesus was not distracted from his mission. He stayed on course until his point was made: he is sovereign over all storms. The disciples, for the first time in Scripture, worshipped him. “Truly you are the Son of God,” they said (Matthew 14:33). With a stilled boat as their altar and beating hearts as their liturgy, they worshipped Jesus. May you and I do the same.
Proverbs 28
If You Desert God’s Law
The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off
even when no one’s after them;
Honest people are relaxed and confident,
bold as lions.
2 When the country is in chaos,
everybody has a plan to fix it—
But it takes a leader of real understanding
to straighten things out.
3 The wicked who oppress the poor
are like a hailstorm that beats down the harvest.
4 If you desert God’s law, you’re free to embrace depravity;
if you love God’s law, you fight for it tooth and nail.
5 Justice makes no sense to the evilminded;
those who seek God know it inside and out.
6 It’s better to be poor and direct
than rich and crooked.
7 Practice God’s law—get a reputation for wisdom;
hang out with a loose crowd—embarrass your family.
8 Get as rich as you want
through cheating and extortion,
But eventually some friend of the poor
is going to give it all back to them.
9 God has no use for the prayers
of the people who won’t listen to him.
10 Lead good people down a wrong path
and you’ll come to a bad end;
do good and you’ll be rewarded for it.
11 The rich think they know it all,
but the poor can see right through them.
12 When good people are promoted, everything is great,
but when the bad are in charge, watch out!
13 You can’t whitewash your sins and get by with it;
you find mercy by admitting and leaving them.
14 A tenderhearted person lives a blessed life;
a hardhearted person lives a hard life.
15 Lions roar and bears charge—
and the wicked lord it over the poor.
16 Among leaders who lack insight, abuse abounds,
but for one who hates corruption, the future is bright.
17 A murderer haunted by guilt
is doomed—there’s no helping him.
18 Walk straight—live well and be saved;
a devious life is a doomed life.
Doing Great Harm in Seemingly Harmless Ways
19 Work your garden—you’ll end up with plenty of food;
play and party—you’ll end up with an empty plate.
20 Committed and persistent work pays off;
get-rich-quick schemes are ripoffs.
21 Playing favorites is always a bad thing;
you can do great harm in seemingly harmless ways.
22 A miser in a hurry to get rich
doesn’t know that he’ll end up broke.
23 In the end, serious reprimand is appreciated
far more than bootlicking flattery.
24 Anyone who robs father and mother
and says, “So, what’s wrong with that?”
is worse than a pirate.
25 A grasping person stirs up trouble,
but trust in God brings a sense of well-being.
26 If you think you know it all, you’re a fool for sure;
real survivors learn wisdom from others.
27 Be generous to the poor—you’ll never go hungry;
shut your eyes to their needs, and run a gauntlet of curses.
28 When corruption takes over, good people go underground,
but when the crooks are thrown out, it’s safe to come out.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Today's Scripture
Isaiah 43:1–7
When You’re Between a Rock and a Hard Place
But now, God’s Message,
the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,
the One who got you started, Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That’s how much you mean to me!
That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.
5-7 “So don’t be afraid: I’m with you.
I’ll round up all your scattered children,
pull them in from east and west.
I’ll send orders north and south:
‘Send them back.
Return my sons from distant lands,
my daughters from faraway places.
I want them back, every last one who bears my name,
every man, woman, and child
Whom I created for my glory,
yes, personally formed and made each one.’”
Insight
Isaiah 43 is a great promise of God’s rescue and redemption of Israel, but it must be seen in the context of what precedes it. Notice Isaiah 42:25: “So [God] poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.” Though God had disciplined His people for their spiritual waywardness, His promised rescue is a reminder of His surpassing love for them—even though they’d turned from Him. Like Hosea with Gomer (Hosea 3:1) or the father with the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), our heavenly Father longs for us to return to Him and be restored to right standing with Him. By: Bill Crowder
The God Who Redeems
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. Isaiah 43:1
As part of a sermon illustration, I walked toward the beautiful painting an artist had been creating on the platform and made a dark streak across the middle of it. The congregation gasped in horror. The artist simply stood by and watched as I defaced what she’d created. Then, selecting a new brush, she lovingly transformed the ruined painting into an exquisite work of art.
Her restorative work reminds me of the work God can perform in our lives when we’ve made a mess of them. The prophet Isaiah rebuked the people of Israel for their spiritual blindness and deafness (Isaiah 42:18–19), but then he proclaimed the hope of God’s deliverance and redemption: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you” (43:1). He can do the same for us. Even after we’ve sinned, if we confess our sins and turn to God, He forgives and restores us (vv. 5–7; see 1 John 1:9). We can’t bring beauty out of the mess, but Jesus can. The good news of the gospel is that He has redeemed us by His blood. The book of Revelation assures us that in the end, Christ will dry our tears, redeem our past, and make all things new (Revelation 21:4–5).
We have a limited vision of our story. But God who knows us “by name” (Isaiah 43:1) will make our lives more beautiful than we could ever imagine. If you’ve been redeemed by faith in Jesus, your story, like the painting, has a glorious ending. By: Glenn Packiam
Reflect & Pray
How have you messed up? What has God provided for your restoration and redemption?
Dear Jesus, thank You for never giving up on me. I surrender to You and ask that You please redeem what I’ve ruined.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
The Opened Sight
I now send you, to open their eyes…that they may receive forgiveness of sins… —Acts 26:17-18
This verse is the greatest example of the true essence of the message of a disciple of Jesus Christ in all of the New Testament.
God’s first sovereign work of grace is summed up in the words, “…that they may receive forgiveness of sins….” When a person fails in his personal Christian life, it is usually because he has never received anything. The only sign that a person is saved is that he has received something from Jesus Christ. Our job as workers for God is to open people’s eyes so that they may turn themselves from darkness to light. But that is not salvation; it is conversion— only the effort of an awakened human being. I do not think it is too broad a statement to say that the majority of so-called Christians are like this. Their eyes are open, but they have received nothing. Conversion is not regeneration. This is a neglected fact in our preaching today. When a person is born again, he knows that it is because he has received something as a gift from Almighty God and not because of his own decision. People may make vows and promises, and may be determined to follow through, but none of this is salvation. Salvation means that we are brought to the place where we are able to receive something from God on the authority of Jesus Christ, namely, forgiveness of sins.
This is followed by God’s second mighty work of grace: “…an inheritance among those who are sanctified….” In sanctification, the one who has been born again deliberately gives up his right to himself to Jesus Christ, and identifies himself entirely with God’s ministry to others.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something. The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L
Bible in a Year: Genesis 25-26; Matthew 8:1-17
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
THE ONE STEP WE MISS - #9392
It all started with an S.O.S. from a counselor at a conference where I was speaking. I'd just extended an invitation for young men and women who wanted to make a commitment to following Christ. There were many young people in the counseling room after that, and a counselor came back and said, "You've got to talk to Kelly. She's really hard."
Well, I went back and sat down with her, and she seemed to really shut down. After some small talk to try to break the ice, I said, "Kelly, why are you here in the counseling room?" She said, "I want to know Christ." I said, "Well, that's great. Why?" She said, "Because part of me is missing."
I showed her some Scripture that showed her that it was Christ who was missing from her life. And I said, "It sounds to me like you're ready to open your life to Jesus." And then her face turned very, very unexpressive and she said, "If you only knew how many times I've come and prayed and accepted Christ and nothing has ever happened." I was stuck for a moment. What do I do, just have her go through it again? It was like always meaningless and it didn't work. I said, "Lord, if there's something You know and I don't, would you tell me what it is?" And then He gave me one question for Kelly, and it made all the difference. It might change everything for you.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The One Step We Miss."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 7:10. It identifies for us the step we so often miss. "Godly sorrow," it says, "brings repentance that leads to salvation." Now, in that conversation with Kelly, the question I asked her that broke the log jam was this: I said, "Kelly, all those times you've made a commitment to follow Christ, did you ever tell the Lord you're really sorry for your sins, you're sad about your sins, and you're ready to change?" She said, "No." Oh, Kelly had said yes to Christ a number of times, but she missed the other step - saying "no" to sin.
I explained to her, "You can't hold Jesus in one hand and junk in the other - that junk is what He died for; that's the junk that killed Him." When you start to name the sins of your life and you start to confess them to the Lord, you finally realize what it is you need a Savior from. And then you go to that cross to be saved from that sin; from your sin. Repentance is so often the missing page in our Gospel. In God's Word it says you have to have Godly sorrow that leads to repentance that leads to salvation. There's no real conversion until you repent. Jesus told His disciples to "preach repentance and faith." There's no real power in your life if you keep sinning; until you let your heart be broken over your sin because of what it did to Jesus; what it took for Him to pay for it on the cross.
When I told her the step she'd missed, tears came to her eyes. She said, "I'm so sick of the junk! I want to get away from it." Then confession began, and saving faith reborn.
Could it be that the reality you've been looking for begins with you being sorry for the sins that have broken God's heart and drove His Son to the cross? Maybe this could be the day that it really comes together for you. If you say to Jesus, "You know, Lord, you were supposed to run my life. I hijacked it. I've been running it, and I know now I have broken your heart. It cost you your life to pay for that rebellion against you. And I turn from the running of my own life. And Jesus, I am now pinning all my hopes on what you did on the cross. When you died on that cross it was my sin you were dying for. Jesus, right here, right now, I'm Yours."
See. repentance isn't some good work you do to get Jesus. No, it's simply realizing that when you turn to Him, you're turning your back on the sin He died for.
You want to make sure you belong to Him? That's what our website is for. Please go there - ANewStory.com.
Repentance. Could that be one step you've missed?