Max Lucado Daily: MIRACLES EVERY DAY - February 6, 2023
As I look around, I find more and more things that I had labeled, To Be Expected that deserve to be labeled, Well What Do You Know.
There was a time, at the end of the day I’d step into the bedrooms of my three little girls. Their covers were usually kicked off, so I’d cover them up. Their hair usually covered their faces, so I’d brush it back. And one by one, I’d bend over and kiss the foreheads of the angels God had loaned me. Then I’d stand in the doorway and wonder why in the world God would entrust a fumbling fellow like me with the task of loving and leading such treasures.
But I’ve learned not to take these everyday miracles for granted. If I open my eyes and observe, there are many reasons to look at the Source of it all, and just say “thanks.”
Ecclesiastes 1
The Quester
These are the words of the Quester, David’s son and king in Jerusalem:
2-11 Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That’s what the Quester says.]
There’s nothing to anything—it’s all smoke.
What’s there to show for a lifetime of work,
a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?
One generation goes its way, the next one arrives,
but nothing changes—it’s business as usual for old planet earth.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
then does it again, and again—the same old round.
The wind blows south, the wind blows north.
Around and around and around it blows,
blowing this way, then that—the whirling, erratic wind.
All the rivers flow into the sea,
but the sea never fills up.
The rivers keep flowing to the same old place,
and then start all over and do it again.
Everything’s boring, utterly boring—
no one can find any meaning in it.
Boring to the eye,
boring to the ear.
What was will be again,
what happened will happen again.
There’s nothing new on this earth.
Year after year it’s the same old thing.
Does someone call out, “Hey, this is new”?
Don’t get excited—it’s the same old story.
Nobody remembers what happened yesterday.
And the things that will happen tomorrow?
Nobody’ll remember them either.
Don’t count on being remembered.
I’ve Seen It All
12-14 Call me “the Quester.” I’ve been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there’s not much to write home about. God hasn’t made it easy for us. I’ve seen it all and it’s nothing but smoke—smoke, and spitting into the wind.
15 Life’s a corkscrew that can’t be straightened,
A minus that won’t add up.
16-17 I said to myself, “I know more and I’m wiser than anyone before me in Jerusalem. I’ve stockpiled wisdom and knowledge.” What I’ve finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind.
18 Much learning earns you much trouble.
The more you know, the more you hurt.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, February 06, 2023
Today's Scripture
Genesis 39:11–22
On one of these days he came to the house to do his work and none of the household servants happened to be there. She grabbed him by his cloak, saying, “Sleep with me!” He left his coat in her hand and ran out of the house. When she realized that he had left his coat in her hand and run outside, she called to her house servants: “Look—this Hebrew shows up and before you know it he’s trying to seduce us. He tried to make love to me but I yelled as loud as I could. With all my yelling and screaming, he left his coat beside me here and ran outside.”
16-18 She kept his coat right there until his master came home. She told him the same story. She said, “The Hebrew slave, the one you brought to us, came after me and tried to use me for his plaything. When I yelled and screamed, he left his coat with me and ran outside.”
19-23 When his master heard his wife’s story, telling him, “These are the things your slave did to me,” he was furious. Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the jail where the king’s prisoners were locked up. But there in jail God was still with Joseph: He reached out in kindness to him; he put him on good terms with the head jailer. The head jailer put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners—he ended up managing the whole operation. The head jailer gave Joseph free rein, never even checked on him, because God was with him; whatever he did God made sure it worked out for the best.
* * *
Insight
The book of Genesis shows the contrast between the life of Joseph and the failures of his forefathers. Abraham and Isaac both failed by giving their wives over to foreign powers for selfish reasons (Genesis 12:10–20; 20:1–17; 26:6–16). Judah failed by committing adultery for his own pleasures (ch. 38). But when Joseph was tempted, he remained faithful to God. When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him, he said, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (39:9). God would later use faithful Joseph to save Jacob’s family and all Egypt. By: Jed Ostoich
The Loneliest Man
While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness. Genesis 39:20–21
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of their lunar landing module and became the first humans to walk on the surface of the moon. But we don’t often think about the third person on their team, Michael Collins, who was flying the command module for Apollo 11.
After his teammates clambered down the ladder to test the lunar surface, Collins waited alone on the far side of the moon. He was out of touch with Neil, Buzz, and everyone on earth. NASA’s mission control commented, “Not since Adam has any human known such solitude as Mike Collins.”
There are times when we feel completely alone. Imagine, for instance, how Joseph, Jacob’s son, felt when he was taken from Israel to Egypt after his brothers sold him (Genesis 37:23–28). Then he was thrust into further isolation by being thrown in prison on false charges (39:19–20).
How did Joseph survive in prison in a foreign land with no family anywhere nearby? Listen to this: “While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him” (vv. 20–21). Four times we’re reminded of this comforting truth in Genesis 39.
Do you feel alone or isolated from others? Hold on to the truth of God’s presence, promised by Jesus Himself: “Surely I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). With Jesus as your Savior, you’re never alone. By: Dave Branon
Reflect & Pray
When do you feel most alone? How does God remind you that He’s with you in your times of isolation?
Dear heavenly Father, please help me know, as You’ve promised in the Scriptures, that You’re with me as You were with Joseph.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, February 06, 2023
Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering? (2)
I am already being poured out as a drink offering… —2 Timothy 4:6
Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.
“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents— burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose— the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice…to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?
Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L
Bible in a Year: Exodus 39-40; Matthew 23:23-39
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, February 06, 2023
HOPE ON A VERY DARK DAY - #9411
My children were picking up their children from school, and that day they were holding them very close. Because some parents of little schoolchildren in Connecticut would not be able to pick up their children from school or hold them close. Not that day - never again.
I felt what millions were feeling the day of those shootings some years ago in Newtown, Connecticut. All of us that had a child we loved or we couldn't imagine losing; we had a deep heaviness in our spirit. And it was the Christmas season if you remember, and it suddenly obscured the "sunshine" of the Christmas season.
I watched our President, with tears in his eyes, simply saying, "Our hearts are broken." It wasn't so much a President talking at that point; it was a parent who sent his daughters off to school every morning.
As I tried to sort out my own racing thoughts and feelings with that unfolding news, my heart landed on the only bedrock I knew - God's unchanging Word - the Bible.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hope on a Very Dark Day."
Yeah, I found myself quoting again a verse that has sustained me and over the years sustained my wife through decades of parenting and then grand parenting. It didn't answer all of our questions that tragic day, but it provided some solid ground for a parent to plant their feet on. It's our word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 40:11. "God tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young."
You know, it's great to put the name of your child (or your "lamb") that you love in that verse, "He gathers (put their name in there) in His arms and carries him/her close to His heart." You can't be with them everywhere they go. He can; carrying them close to His heart. As a parent, you need to know that today. As a child, your son or daughter needs to know it, too.
And then don't forget your part of God's promise: "He will gently lead (put your name in there) who has young." He's promising to guide you in every situation, every decision, and every conversation with that child that He's entrusted to your care.
On a day when I was suddenly faced with the possibility that I might never see the love of my life again alive, when she was CODE BLUE some years ago, another word from God took over my mind. "I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard (I put my wife's name in there) who I have entrusted to Him until that Day" (2 Timothy 1:12). And He did guard her that day. He would have guarded her even if she'd gone from that hospital to heaven that day. And I know He would have guarded me, too, because He did on the day that was her last day this side of eternity.
See, that's another promise you can hang on to on a dark and tragic day. It's because of these Biblical anchors that a Mom or Dad can say, even when your parent's heart is unsettled, "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). Whatever the news of the day, God knows a parent will make wrong choices out of fear and right choices out of faith.
On days when the tragic news comes, I'm so grateful that Jesus is real, that Jesus is close, and that Jesus is a deeply personal Savior. He offers to do life with us, and then to bring into our lives and into the lives of our children the love that made Him die for us. And the power that brought Him out of His grave. He's promised, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). Or the children we hold dear.
Listen, if you've never begun a personal relationship with this Savior who loved you enough to die for you, who has the power to change the kind of Mom or Dad you are, would you go to our website and find out how to begin that? Right there you'll get that information. It's ANewStory.com. Please visit there.
You know, the children sing a song in Sunday School, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world" and they're right.