Max Lucado Daily: Childish Resistance
Jesus' promise is comprehensive. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6 ).
We usually get what we hunger and thirst for. The problem is, the treasures of earth don't satisfy. The promise is, the treasures of heaven do. Blessed are those, then, who hold their earthly possessions in open palms. Blessed are those who are totally dependent on Jesus for their joy.
Our resistance to our Father is childish. God, for our own good, tries to loosen our grip from something that will cause us to fall. But we won't let go. We say, "No, I won't give up my weekend rendezvous for eternal joy." "Trade my drugs and alcohol for a life of peace and a promise of heaven? Are you kidding?" There we are, desperately clutching the very things that cause us grief.
It's a wonder the Father doesn't give up!
From The Applause of Heaven
Isaiah 56
MESSAGES OF HOPE
Salvation Is Just Around the Corner
1–3 56 God’s Message:
“Guard my common good:
Do what’s right and do it in the right way,
For salvation is just around the corner,
my setting-things-right is about to go into action.
How blessed are you who enter into these things,
you men and women who embrace them,
Who keep Sabbath and don’t defile it,
who watch your step and don’t do anything evil!
Make sure no outsider who now follows God
ever has occasion to say, ‘God put me in second-class.
I don’t really belong.’
And make sure no physically mutilated person
is ever made to think, ‘I’m damaged goods.
I don’t really belong.’ ”
4–5 For God says:
“To the mutilated who keep my Sabbaths
and choose what delights me
and keep a firm grip on my covenant,
I’ll provide them an honored place
in my family and within my city,
even more honored than that of sons and daughters.
I’ll confer permanent honors on them
that will never be revoked.
6–8 “And as for the outsiders who now follow me,
working for me, loving my name,
and wanting to be my servants—
All who keep Sabbath and don’t defile it,
holding fast to my covenant—
I’ll bring them to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
They’ll be welcome to worship the same as the ‘insiders,’
to bring burnt offerings and sacrifices to my altar.
Oh yes, my house of worship
will be known as a house of prayer for all people.”
The Decree of the Master, God himself,
who gathers in the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather others also,
gather them in with those already gathered.”
9–12 A call to the savage beasts: Come on the run.
Come, devour, beast barbarians!
For Israel’s watchmen are blind, the whole lot of them.
They have no idea what’s going on.
They’re dogs without sense enough to bark,
lazy dogs, dreaming in the sun—
But hungry dogs, they do know how to eat,
voracious dogs, with never enough.
And these are Israel’s shepherds!
They know nothing, understand nothing.
They all look after themselves,
grabbing whatever’s not nailed down.
“Come,” they say, “let’s have a party.
Let’s go out and get drunk!”
And tomorrow, more of the same:
“Let’s live it up!”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Today's Scripture
Psalm 25:16–22
Look at me and help me!
I’m all alone and in big trouble.
17 My heart and kidneys are fighting each other;
Call a truce to this civil war.
18 Take a hard look at my life of hard labor,
Then lift this ton of sin.
19 Do you see how many people
Have it in for me?
How viciously they hate me?
20 Keep watch over me and keep me out of trouble;
Don’t let me down when I run to you.
21 Use all your skill to put me together;
I wait to see your finished product.
22 God, give your people a break
From this run of bad luck.
Insight
In the superscription of Psalm 25, the only information provided is that David is the author. Unlike some of his psalms (see Psalm 51), there’s no hint as to the events that triggered its writing. Based on the lyrical content, some scholars suggest that it may refer to the times when David was pursued either by Saul or Absalom, but due to the penitent nature of the psalm, others see it as perhaps following David’s sin with Bathsheba. Either way, Psalm 25 is an individual lament (as opposed to a national lament). Its main feature is that it’s an acrostic—each verse begins with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This feature is a Hebrew poetic device that’s likely intended to make the psalm easier to memorize. That same characteristic is found in Psalms 9, 10, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145. By: Bill Crowder
Calling Out to God
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Psalm 25:16
In his book Adopted for Life, Dr. Russell Moore describes his family’s trip to an orphanage to adopt a child. As they entered the nursery, the silence was startling. The babies in the cribs never cried, and it wasn’t because they never needed anything but because they’d learned that no one cared enough to answer.
My heart ached as I read those words. I remember countless nights when our children were small. My wife and I would be sound asleep only to be startled awake by their cries: “Daddy, I’m sick!” or “Mommy, I’m scared!” One of us would spring into action and make our way to their bedroom to do our best to comfort and care for them. Our love for our children gave them reason to call for our help.
An overwhelming number of the psalms are cries, or laments, to God. Israel brought their laments to Him on the basis of His personal relationship with them. These were a people God had called His “firstborn” (Exodus 4:22) and they were asking their Father to act accordingly. Such honest trust is seen in Psalm 25: “Turn to me and be gracious to me, . . . free me from my anguish” (vv. 16–17). Children who are confident of the love of a caregiver do cry. As believers in Jesus—children of God—He’s given us reason to call on Him. He hears and cares because of His great love. By: John Blase
Reflect & Pray
How comfortable are you taking your cries to God? Why? How might you offer up a lament to Him today?
Heavenly Father, thank You so much for Your faithfulness to hear my cry and to act.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Are You Fresh for Everything?
Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." —John 3:3
Sometimes we are fresh and eager to attend a prayer meeting, but do we feel that same freshness for such mundane tasks as polishing shoes?
Being born again by the Spirit is an unmistakable work of God, as mysterious as the wind, and as surprising as God Himself. We don’t know where it begins— it is hidden away in the depths of our soul. Being born again from above is an enduring, perpetual, and eternal beginning. It provides a freshness all the time in thinking, talking, and living— a continual surprise of the life of God. Staleness is an indication that something in our lives is out of step with God. We say to ourselves, “I have to do this thing or it will never get done.” That is the first sign of staleness. Do we feel fresh this very moment or are we stale, frantically searching our minds for something to do? Freshness is not the result of obedience; it comes from the Holy Spirit. Obedience keeps us “in the light as He is in the light…” (1 John 1:7).
Jealously guard your relationship with God. Jesus prayed “that they may be one just as We are one” — with nothing in between (John 17:22). Keep your whole life continually open to Jesus Christ. Don’t pretend to be open with Him. Are you drawing your life from any source other than God Himself? If you are depending on something else as your source of freshness and strength, you will not realize when His power is gone.
Being born of the Spirit means much more than we usually think. It gives us new vision and keeps us absolutely fresh for everything through the never-ending supply of the life of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Am I becoming more and more in love with God as a holy God, or with the conception of an amiable Being who says, “Oh well, sin doesn’t matter much”? Disciples Indeed, 389 L
Bible in a Year: Genesis 49-50; Matthew 13:31-58
