Max Lucado Daily: CAST YOUR CARES - January 11, 2023
“Cast your cares upon the Lord and he will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22). Casting is an intentional act to relocate an object. Let this “throwing” be your first response to bad news. Cast your anxiety in the direction of Christ. Do so specifically and immediately.
I did a good job of casting my problems in a high school algebra class. Fortunately my wonderful, patient teacher issued this invitation: “If you cannot solve a problem, come to me and I will help you.” I wore a trail between his desk and mine. I still had the problem, but I had entrusted it to one who knew how to solve it.
Do the same. Take your problem to Christ and tell him, “You said you would help me. Would you?”
Proverbs 29
If People Can’t See What God Is Doing
For people who hate discipline
and only get more stubborn,
There’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break,
but by then it’ll be too late to help them.
2 When good people run things, everyone is glad,
but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans.
3 If you love wisdom, you’ll delight your parents,
but you’ll destroy their trust if you run with prostitutes.
4 A leader of good judgment gives stability;
an exploiting leader leaves a trail of waste.
5 A flattering neighbor is up to no good;
he’s probably planning to take advantage of you.
6 Evil people fall into their own traps;
good people run the other way, glad to escape.
7 The good-hearted understand what it’s like to be poor;
the hardhearted haven’t the faintest idea.
8 A gang of cynics can upset a whole city;
a group of sages can calm everyone down.
9 A sage trying to work things out with a fool
gets only scorn and sarcasm for his trouble.
10 Murderers hate honest people;
moral folks encourage them.
11 A fool lets it all hang out;
a sage quietly mulls it over.
12 When a leader listens to malicious gossip,
all the workers get infected with evil.
13 The poor and their abusers have at least something in common:
they can both see—their sight, God’s gift!
14 Leadership gains authority and respect
when the voiceless poor are treated fairly.
15 Wise discipline imparts wisdom;
spoiled adolescents embarrass their parents.
16 When degenerates take charge, crime runs wild,
but the righteous will eventually observe their collapse.
17 Discipline your children; you’ll be glad you did—
they’ll turn out delightful to live with.
18 If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.
19 It takes more than talk to keep workers in line;
mere words go in one ear and out the other.
20 Observe the people who always talk before they think—
even simpletons are better off than they are.
21 If you let people treat you like a doormat,
you’ll be quite forgotten in the end.
22 Angry people stir up a lot of discord;
the intemperate stir up trouble.
23 Pride lands you flat on your face;
humility prepares you for honors.
24 Befriend an outlaw
and become an enemy to yourself.
When the victims cry out,
you’ll be included in their curses
if you’re a coward to their cause in court.
25 The fear of human opinion disables;
trusting in God protects you from that.
26 Everyone tries to get help from the leader,
but only God will give us justice.
27 Good people can’t stand the sight of deliberate evil;
the wicked can’t stand the sight of well-chosen goodness.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
Today's Scripture
Daniel 6:10–23
When Daniel learned that the decree had been signed and posted, he continued to pray just as he had always done. His house had windows in the upstairs that opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he knelt there in prayer, thanking and praising his God.
11-12 The conspirators came and found him praying, asking God for help. They went straight to the king and reminded him of the royal decree that he had signed. “Did you not,” they said, “sign a decree forbidding anyone to pray to any god or man except you for the next thirty days? And anyone caught doing it would be thrown into the lions’ den?”
“Absolutely,” said the king. “Written in stone, like all the laws of the Medes and Persians.”
13 Then they said, “Daniel, one of the Jewish exiles, ignores you, O king, and defies your decree. Three times a day he prays.”
14 At this, the king was very upset and tried his best to get Daniel out of the fix he’d put him in. He worked at it the whole day long.
15 But then the conspirators were back: “Remember, O king, it’s the law of the Medes and Persians that the king’s decree can never be changed.”
16 The king caved in and ordered Daniel brought and thrown into the lions’ den. But he said to Daniel, “Your God, to whom you are so loyal, is going to get you out of this.”
17 A stone slab was placed over the opening of the den. The king sealed the cover with his signet ring and the signet rings of all his nobles, fixing Daniel’s fate.
18 The king then went back to his palace. He refused supper. He couldn’t sleep. He spent the night fasting.
19-20 At daybreak the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. As he approached the den, he called out anxiously, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve so loyally, saved you from the lions?”
21-22 “O king, live forever!” said Daniel. “My God sent his angel, who closed the mouths of the lions so that they would not hurt me. I’ve been found innocent before God and also before you, O king. I’ve done nothing to harm you.”
23 When the king heard these words, he was happy. He ordered Daniel taken up out of the den. When he was hauled up, there wasn’t a scratch on him. He had trusted his God.
Insight
Daniel 6 indicates it was unlawful for a Persian king to take back an official decree (vv. 8, 12, 15). So, despite regretting his edict (vv. 14, 18), King Darius allowed Daniel to receive the decreed sentence.
Being thrown into the lions’ den was a kind of sentence sometimes called “innocence by ordeal,” where someone accused is put in a situation that should result in death (such as death by lions, fire, or poison). If, by divine intervention, the person is miraculously saved from what should’ve been certain death, it was considered proven that they were innocent of wrongdoing. By: Monica La Rose
Out of the Lions’ Den
My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. Daniel 6:22
When Taher and his wife, Donya, became believers in Jesus, they knew they risked persecution in their home country. Indeed, one day Taher was blindfolded, handcuffed, imprisoned, and charged with apostasy. Before he appeared at trial, he and Donya agreed that they wouldn’t betray Jesus.
What happened at the sentencing amazed him. The judge said, “I don’t know why, but I want to take you out of the whale’s and lion’s mouths.” Then Taher “knew that God was acting”; he couldn’t otherwise explain the judge referencing two passages in the Bible (see Jonah 2; Daniel 6). Taher was released from prison and the family later found exile elsewhere.
Taher’s surprising release echoes the story of Daniel. A skilled administrator, he was going to be promoted, which made his colleagues jealous (Daniel 6:3–5). Plotting his downfall, they convinced King Darius to pass a law against praying to anyone other than the king—which Daniel ignored. King Darius had no choice but to throw him to the lions (v. 16). But God “rescued Daniel” and saved him from death (v. 27), even as He saved Taher through the judge’s surprising release.
Many believers today suffer for following Jesus, and sometimes they even are killed. When we face persecution, we can deepen our faith when we understand that God has ways we can’t even imagine. Know that He’s with you in whatever battles you face. By: Amy Boucher Pye
Reflect & Pray
How do you respond to the story of Taher and Donya’s commitment to Christ? How can you trust in the unlimited power of God?
Saving God, help me to trust in You when the obstacles feel insurmountable.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon…, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. —Luke 23:26
If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we obey God, it will mean that other people’s plans are upset. They will ridicule us as if to say, “You call this Christianity?” We could prevent the suffering, but not if we are obedient to God. We must let the cost be paid.
When our obedience begins to cost others, our human pride entrenches itself and we say, “I will never accept anything from anyone.” But we must, or disobey God. We have no right to think that the type of relationships we have with others should be any different from those the Lord Himself had (see Luke 8:1-3).
A lack of progress in our spiritual life results when we try to bear all the costs ourselves. And actually, we cannot. Because we are so involved in the universal purposes of God, others are immediately affected by our obedience to Him. Will we remain faithful in our obedience to God and be willing to suffer the humiliation of refusing to be independent? Or will we do just the opposite and say, “I will not cause other people to suffer”? We can disobey God if we choose, and it will bring immediate relief to the situation, but it will grieve our Lord. If, however, we obey God, He will care for those who have suffered the consequences of our obedience. We must simply obey and leave all the consequences with Him.
Beware of the inclination to dictate to God what consequences you would allow as a condition of your obedience to Him.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.
Bible in a Year: Genesis 27-28; Matthew 8:18-34
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
BEING LIGHT WHEREVER - #9393
So, how much would you pay for a piece of cardboard; like $100, $500, $2,000? Actually, people do it all the time, if that cardboard is a valuable baseball card. My sons, over the years, well they profited from collecting that cardboard strategically. They tried to anticipate rookies who would be stars and they bought those cards before there was much demand. Later, when lots of people wanted those cards and there weren't many to be found, our guys cleaned up. Now, they didn't have any of those cards that sold for thousands, because they're most valuable for one reason. There just aren't many of them. You have something like that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Being Light Wherever."
There's an asset that is increasingly rare in our world today, and if you have it, it will make you really valuable wherever you are. Apparently, the Old Testament leader, Nehemiah, was known for this asset. So much so that his boss noticed the rare occasion when he didn't have it.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Nehemiah 2:1-2. Nehemiah worked for the king (he's the king's cup bearer), but he's pretty down because of news he's gotten about the conditions back home. The Bible says, "I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before. So the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.'"
Nehemiah wasn't smiling - and apparently, that was an event. Remember, this is the man who said in Nehemiah 8:10, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." From the king's reaction, it appears that Nehemiah stood out at work for at least one big reason - his consistent smile.
You know, a smile is a powerful, attention-getting witness for Jesus Christ. Remember, baseball cards are valuable when they're rare. Smiles are increasingly rare today. Just look around. I remember our daughter's first day at high school. She came home and she said, "No one smiles there!" So, we challenged her to try to change that, and she made it a personal mission to have her smile be her trademark. Years after she graduated, teachers would still tell us how they remembered her smile. And partly as a result of the joy on her face, she saw ten of her high school friends come to Christ.
Don's a businessman I know, and he was asked, "How can you be so positive all the time?" And his smile opened the door for him to say, "Wouldn't you be happy if you'd just spent 30 minutes with the Creator of the universe?" People like this get to experience the life-giving scenario described in 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Now, that's what's going to make people curious. It's going to be your hope, your positiveness - your smile.
And this kind of joy begins in Jesus' presence every morning, where you see your Lord being so much bigger than your circumstances. So, He determines your attitude for the day. And if you're the joyful one in your situation, I think you're going to have a chance to explain the relationship that brightens your life.
I think about what the king said about Nehemiah, "he had never been sad in his presence before." Would your boss say that about you? Would your neighbors say that about you? See, if the joy of the Lord is there, it is not dependent on your circumstances. It doesn't come from around you. No, it's anchored in your relationship with Christ. It comes from in you.
If you've ever wondered, "How can I get people interested in Jesus?" have you considered the power of a positive spirit where you work, at home, at school? Believe me, you'll stand out in a world where smiles are getting more rare, more valuable all the time. Each day, ask the Lord to help you be known for your joy, that you will have His joy radiating on your face.
When it comes to attracting people to Christ, your best weapon might be your teeth!