Max Lucado Daily: ONE STEP ENOUGH - May 19, 2023
Arthur Hays Sulzberger was the publisher of the New York Times during the Second World War. Because of all the world conflict, he found it almost impossible to sleep. He was never able to set aside worries from his mind, until he adopted as his motto these five words: “One step enough for me.”
He took the words from the old hymn:
Lead, kindly light…
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
Friend, God isn’t going to let you see the distant scene either. So you might as well quit looking for it. God does promise a lamp for our feet, not a crystal ball into the future. We don’t need to know what will happen tomorrow. We only need to know that Hebrews 4:16 promises “we will find grace to help us when we need it.”
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Psalm 96
Sing God a brand-new song!
Earth and everyone in it, sing!
Sing to God—worship God!
2-3 Shout the news of his victory from sea to sea,
Take the news of his glory to the lost,
News of his wonders to one and all!
4-5 For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs.
His furious beauty puts the other gods to shame;
Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags.
5-6 God made the heavens—
Royal splendor radiates from him,
A powerful beauty sets him apart.
7 Bravo, God, Bravo!
Everyone join in the great shout: Encore!
In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might.
8-9 Bring gifts and celebrate,
Bow before the beauty of God,
Then to your knees—everyone worship!
10 Get out the message—God Rules!
He put the world on a firm foundation;
He treats everyone fair and square.
11 Let’s hear it from Sky,
With Earth joining in,
And a huge round of applause from Sea.
12 Let Wilderness turn cartwheels,
Animals, come dance,
Put every tree of the forest in the choir—
13 An extravaganza before God as he comes,
As he comes to set everything right on earth,
Set everything right, treat everyone fair.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, May 19, 2023
Today's Scripture
Psalm 116:1–7
I love God because he listened to me,
listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
7-8 I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
Insight
Psalm 116 is one of six praise songs (Psalms 113–118) collectively known as the “Egyptian Hallel.” The Hebrew root word halal means “to praise,” and “Egyptian” is a designation that these songs were sung during the Passover remembrance of their deliverance from Egyptian slavery. Psalms 113–114 are recited before the Passover meal and Psalms 115–118 afterward. The hymn that Jesus and the disciples sang after the Last Supper would probably be one of these psalms (Mark 14:26).
In Psalm 116, the author writes of his near-death experience (vv. 3–4) and celebrates his deliverance from the jaws of death (v. 8). In his musing about life and death, the psalmist assures us of God’s undying care and love, giving us precious comfort when facing death: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.” Or as one translation renders it, “The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die” (v. 15 nlt). By: K. T. Sim
You Are Heard
He turned his ear to me. Psalm 116:2
In the book Physics, Charles Riborg Mann and George Ransom Twiss ask: “When a tree falls in a lonely forest, and no animal is nearby to hear it, does it make a sound?” Over the years, this question has prompted philosophical and scientific discussions about sound, perception, and existence. A definitive answer, however, has yet to emerge.
One night, while feeling lonely and sad about a problem I hadn’t shared with anyone, I recalled this question. When no one hears my cry for help, I thought, does God hear?
Facing the threat of death and overcome by distress, the writer of Psalm 116 may have felt abandoned. So he called out to God—knowing He was listening and would help him. “He heard my voice,” the psalmist wrote, “he heard my cry for mercy. . . . [He] turned his ear to me” (vv. 1–2). When no one knows our pain, God knows. When no one hears our cries, God hears.
Knowing that God will show us His love and protection (vv. 5–6), we can be at rest in difficult times (v. 7). The Hebrew word translated “rest” (manoakh) describes a place of quiet and safety. We can be at peace, strengthened by the assurance of God’s presence and help.
The question posed by Mann and Twiss led to numerous answers. But the answer to the question, Does God hear? is simply yes. By: Karen Huang
Reflect & Pray
What do you do when you’re feeling alone or abandoned? What will you ask God, who hears your every cry and cares for you?
Father, thank You for always hearing the cries of my heart. Your help and presence are my rest.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, May 19, 2023
Out of the Wreck I Rise
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? —Romans 8:35
God does not keep His child immune from trouble; He promises, “I will be with him in trouble…” (Psalm 91:15). It doesn’t matter how real or intense the adversities may be; nothing can ever separate him from his relationship to God. “In all these things we are more than conquerors…” (Romans 8:37). Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are dangerously real. And he said we are “super-victors” in the midst of them, not because of our own ingenuity, nor because of our courage, but because none of them affects our essential relationship with God in Jesus Christ. I feel sorry for the Christian who doesn’t have something in the circumstances of his life that he wishes were not there.
“Shall tribulation…?” Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be— whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness— it is not able to “separate us from the love of Christ.” Never allow tribulations or the “cares of this world” to separate you from remembering that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).
“Shall…distress…?” Can God’s love continue to hold fast, even when everyone and everything around us seems to be saying that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?
“Shall…famine…?” Can we not only believe in the love of God but also be “more than conquerors,” even while we are being starved?
Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver, having deceived even Paul, or else some extraordinary thing happens to someone who holds on to the love of God when the odds are totally against him. Logic is silenced in the face of each of these things which come against him. Only one thing can account for it— the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Out of the wreck I rise” every time.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L
Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 7-9; John 6:22-44
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, May 19, 2023
DISPROPORTIONATE POWER FOR YOUR DISPROPORTIONATE CHALLENGE
It's been a fun assignment over the years to speak for some professional football chapels, especially my old hometown team, the New York Giants. Of course it's pretty funny seeing me in a room with them. "Here's the New York Giants with special guest, "the little guy." But on several occasions I have been able to go to the game that same day with the team chaplain. In one game he leaned over to me and he said, "Now I want you to see one of the most powerful men in this stadium." There were 70,000 people there and I knew how powerful some of the men on the field were. And I wondered maybe if it was an owner or an executive. Nope! The chaplain pointed to this little man with a big bright orange glove on one hand. "Him?" "Yeah." He said, "Just watch." And after a play, that man stepped out on the field, put his orange-gloved hand on his chest and the game totally stopped. Now that is power!
Who is that man? He represents the TV producers who are broadcasting this game all over the country. And when it's time to stop everything for the next commercial, He just steps out and shows his magic glove. Nothing resumes until he puts down that glove and steps back off the field. One guy - power over lots of big people!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Disproportionate Power for Your Disproportionate Challenge."
That's what you have to call this kind of match up, or the kind talked about in our word for today from the Word of God. Joshua 23:10 - exciting words: "One of you routs a thousand because the Lord your God fights for you" just as He promised.
Let's say you're a battlefield reporter. On one side you have a force of 1,000 people. On the other side, one little guy. Who's going to win this? Well, if the Lord God is fighting for that one guy, you will see the thousand running for their lives. That is disproportionate power. A biblical principle that opens up otherwise unthinkable possibilities for you, your family, your ministry, your church. The numbers are only slightly less lopsided when God says in Leviticus 26:8, "Five of you will chase a hundred and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand and your enemies will fall by the sword before you."
When we were launching much of this ministry that our team is involved with today, we looked at the incredible work God has given us and then the comparatively small size of our team and we said, "How?" Then God gave us this verse. To this day it's still like five of us chasing a hundred because of the difference that a mighty God can make when He's fully trusted. In the unforgettable words of the invincible Apostle Paul in Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can be against us."
Right now you may be facing some overwhelming odds, or obstacles, or needs. They look very big and honestly you look very small beside them. But, that's where God's miracle math comes in. You plus God equals a majority, but if you try to anticipate the outcome based on earth math, you'll probably hold back, you'll probably miss the amazing thing God wants to do.
His ancient people looked at the walls and the giants in the Promised Land and they said, "We feel like grasshoppers" (Numbers 13:33) so they gave up. But, two spies out of all those spies, Joshua and Caleb, looked at those same walls and giants and compared them to the size of their God rather than the size of themselves, and they were ready to go for it. But because earth math and earth odds prevailed, people who could have been living in the Promised Land ended up just surviving in the wilderness for forty years.
Remember this disproportionate power and you'll be more likely to make God's will choices. Because the less there's going to be of you, and the more there's going to be of God, you know what that means. The greater the victory is going to be.
