Max Lucado Daily: NO ONE COMPARES - June 2, 2023
Psalm 89:6 asks the question, “Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord?” And the answer is: any pursuit of God’s counterpart is vain.
No one and nothing compares to him. No one advises him, no one helps him. You and I may have power, but God is power. Unlike the potter who takes something and reshapes it, God took nothing and created something. God created everything that exists by divine fiat. John said in Revelation, “You, God, created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created” (Revelation 4:11).
Even God asks, “To whom will you compare me?” And, as if his question needed an answer, he gives one: “I am God—I alone. I am God. There is no one else like me” (Isaiah 46:9). We can only stand before him with humility and praise his glorious name. Bless you, Lord.
Live Loved
Read more Live Loved
1 Thessalonians 2
So, friends, it’s obvious that our visit to you was no waste of time. We had just been given rough treatment in Philippi, as you know, but that didn’t slow us down. We were sure of ourselves in God, and went right ahead and said our piece, presenting God’s Message to you, defiant of the opposition.
No Hidden Agendas
3-5 God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you we’re not after crowd approval—only God approval. Since we’ve been put through that battery of tests, you’re guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas. We never used words to butter you up. No one knows that better than you. And God knows we never used words as a smoke screen to take advantage of you.
6-8 Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren’t standoffish with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.
9-12 You remember us in those days, friends, working our fingers to the bone, up half the night, moonlighting so you wouldn’t have the burden of supporting us while we proclaimed God’s Message to you. You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. And God knows we weren’t freeloaders! You experienced it all firsthand. With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life.
13 And now we look back on all this and thank God, a geyser of thanks! When you got the Message of God we preached, you didn’t pass it off as just one more human opinion, but you took it to heart as God’s true word to you, which it is, God himself at work in you believers!
14-16 Friends, do you realize that you followed in the exact footsteps of the churches of God in Judea, those who were the first to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ? You got the same bad treatment from your countrymen as they did from theirs, the Jews who killed the Master Jesus (to say nothing of the prophets) and followed it up by running us out of town. They make themselves offensive to God and everyone else by trying to keep us from telling people who’ve never heard of our God how to be saved. They’ve made a career of opposing God, and have gotten mighty good at it. But God is fed up, ready to put an end to it.
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17-20 Do you have any idea how very homesick we became for you, dear friends? Even though it hadn’t been that long and it was only our bodies that were separated from you, not our hearts, we tried our very best to get back to see you. You can’t imagine how much we missed you! I, Paul, tried over and over to get back, but Satan thwarted us each time. Who do you think we’re going to be proud of when our Master Jesus appears if it’s not you? You’re our pride and joy!
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 02, 2023
Today's Scripture
Isaiah 2:1–5
Climb God’s Mountain
The Message Isaiah got regarding Judah and Jerusalem:
There’s a day coming
when the mountain of God’s House
Will be The Mountain—
solid, towering over all mountains.
All nations will river toward it,
people from all over set out for it.
They’ll say, “Come,
let’s climb God’s Mountain,
go to the House of the God of Jacob.
He’ll show us the way he works
so we can live the way we’re made.”
Zion’s the source of the revelation.
God’s Message comes from Jerusalem.
He’ll settle things fairly between nations.
He’ll make things right between many peoples.
They’ll turn their swords into shovels,
their spears into hoes.
No more will nation fight nation;
they won’t play war anymore.
Come, family of Jacob,
let’s live in the light of God.
Insight
The prophet Isaiah is well known for writing about two themes: the nature and work of the coming Messiah and prophetic writing that both warns the reader and offers encouragement through hope-filled visions of the days to come.
Today’s reading, Isaiah 2:1–5, falls under prophetic writing. Verse 2 begins with the phrase “in the last days,” or when God’s plan of salvation is about to reach its final fulfillment. Isaiah sets everything he’s about to discuss in a future context. In verses 3–5, three distinct ideas emerge: the supremacy of the mountain of the Lord (v. 3)—the Jerusalem temple—here a symbol for the power and presence of God; the desire of the nations to flock to that mountain to learn from God Himself (v. 3); and God’s relationship to the nations and their disputes (v. 4). Isaiah’s writing challenges the people to join in God’s work and be a part of what’s coming. By: J.R. Hudberg
Uniting Nations
He will judge between the nations. Isaiah 2:4
The longest international border in the world is shared by the United States and Canada, covering an incredible 5,525 miles of land and water. Workers regularly cut down ten feet of trees on both sides of the boundary to make the border line unmistakable. This lengthy ribbon of cleared land, called “the Slash,” is dotted by more than eight thousand stone markers so visitors always know where the dividing line falls.
The physical deforestation of “the Slash” represents a separation of government and cultures. As believers in Jesus, we look forward to a time when God will reverse that and unite all nations across the world under His rule. The prophet Isaiah spoke of a future where His temple will be firmly established and exalted (Isaiah 2:2). People from all nations will gather to learn God’s ways and “walk in his paths” (v. 3). No longer will we rely on human efforts that fail to maintain peace. As our true King, God will judge between nations and settle all disputes (v. 4).
Can you imagine a world without division and conflict? That’s what God promises to bring! Regardless of the disunity around us, we can “walk in the light of the Lord” (v. 5) and choose to give Him our allegiance now. We know that God rules over all, and He will someday unite His people under one banner. By: Karen Pimpo
Reflect & Pray
What disunity in the world is heavy on your heart today? How does looking forward to God’s eternal kingdom give you strength?
Dear God, I acknowledge Your sovereignty over every power in the world today! You reign above it all.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 02, 2023
Are You Obsessed by Something?
Who is the man that fears the Lord? —Psalm 25:12
Are you obsessed by something? You will probably say, “No, by nothing,” but all of us are obsessed by something— usually by ourselves, or, if we are Christians, by our own experience of the Christian life. But the psalmist says that we are to be obsessed by God. The abiding awareness of the Christian life is to be God Himself, not just thoughts about Him. The total being of our life inside and out is to be absolutely obsessed by the presence of God. A child’s awareness is so absorbed in his mother that although he is not consciously thinking of her, when a problem arises, the abiding relationship is that with the mother. In that same way, we are to “live and move and have our being” in God (Acts 17:28), looking at everything in relation to Him, because our abiding awareness of Him continually pushes itself to the forefront of our lives.
If we are obsessed by God, nothing else can get into our lives— not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. And now we understand why our Lord so emphasized the sin of worrying. How can we dare to be so absolutely unbelieving when God totally surrounds us? To be obsessed by God is to have an effective barricade against all the assaults of the enemy.
“He himself shall dwell in prosperity…” (Psalm 25:13). God will cause us to “dwell in prosperity,” keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We rob ourselves of the miraculous, revealed truth of this abiding companionship with God. “God is our refuge…” (Psalm 46:1). Nothing can break through His shelter of protection.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God created man to be master of the life in the earth and sea and sky, and the reason he is not is because he took the law into his own hands, and became master of himself, but of nothing else. The Shadow of an Agony, 1163 L
Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 17-18; John 13:1-20
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 02, 2023
WHEN YOU CAN'T SEE THE WAY TO GO - #9495
Our local high school band worked hard to put on some great performances at our football games. I know. Our daughter was one of the trumpet players. I also remember going to band competitions at different schools. We have some precious memories of sitting on the top bleacher with a wind chill that would have made a polar bear go inside. My teeth were chattering loud enough to be in the percussion section! Our band also got to perform in several local parades. But, there's just a handful of high school bands that get invited to play in one of America's really big parades. You know, like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. You know, the Mountain Home, Arkansas, band - not too far from us - they had that thrill.
Inside this exciting adventure for a small town band was a wonderful true story. The band had a tuba player that you might never expect to be in a marching band. He's blind. As you think about that, it raises a lot of questions, doesn't it - about how he could possibly participate in a marching band's maneuvers. The answer is a young woman who dedicated herself to being his guide. She doesn't play an instrument. But anytime that band makes a move, she slips her arm in David's arm and directs him wherever he needs to go. And on Thanksgiving Day, there they were, doing their band routine in the middle of Manhattan's Herald Square - the blind tuba player and the one who guided him there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You Can't See the Way To Go."
Some might have thought there was no way that a blind tuba player could ever march with the band. But that would not take into account the one who made it possible - one person always there to guide him.
You have a person like that for the many times when you can't see the way to go. The sightless band member was able to go places he could otherwise never go, and do things he otherwise could never do because of the one who directed him. That's your story, too. It's my story. Because, if you belong to Christ, God's promised that you will never be left in the dark, and never be left clueless.
If you're at one of those anxious, confusing times when the road ahead isn't clear, have I got a promise for you! Oh yeah, it's one of my favorites. It's recorded in Isaiah 42:16. It's our word for today from the Word of God.
It happens to be an anchor verse for me. Your Lord says: "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." Wow!
See. this is your promise to claim! You have nothing to fear from the unknown because you belong to the One who can see it all. And how will He show you the way? First, He'll use personalized Scriptures; verses that He will, upon request, guide you to. Verses that will seem like they have your name on them, or in them, and that will be that "light for your path" that the Bible talks about (Psalm 119:105). Secondly, He'll guide you through what I call prayer-time peace. Trust what you feel most consistently in the times when you are alone with God, when other voices are not there to confuse you. God says to "let the peace of Christ rule in your heart" (Colossians 3:15). And thirdly, God will show you the way to go through confirming circumstances - open doors, recurring counsel from godly people, events that echo the Scriptures that He's been giving you.
The "don't know" times are God's instrument to drive you deeper into Him, to surrender any self-reliance for a desperate dependency on your God. You may not know which way to go, but you don't have to stand there fearful, paralyzed or marching in circles. Your Lord, your Shepherd is placing His arm inside yours to lead you where you could never go without Him.
