Max Lucado Daily: GOD IS THE FOUNTAIN - June 7, 2024
On my list of things I wish I’d learned earlier, this truth hovers near the top. Grace came my way packaged in a church. Congregations and their leaders changed me. But then churches struggled, even divided. Mature men acted less than that. The box ripped, the faucet clogged, and my heart, for a time sank.
Not a moment too soon, I heard the invitation of the still-running fountain. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” God describes himself as “the fountain of living water.” Thank him for the faucets, but don’t trust them to nourish you. Thank him for the boxes in which his gifts come, but don’t fail to open them. And most of all, do not fail to read the note: Dear child of mine. Are you thirsty? Come and drink. I delight in you, and I will never fail you or forsake you!
Lamentations 4
Waking Up with Nothing
1 4 Oh, oh, oh …
How gold is treated like dirt,
the finest gold thrown out with the garbage,
Priceless jewels scattered all over,
jewels loose in the gutters.
2 And the people of Zion, once prized,
far surpassing their weight in gold,
Are now treated like cheap pottery,
like everyday pots and bowls mass-produced by a potter.
3 Even wild jackals nurture their babies,
give them their breasts to suckle.
But my people have turned cruel to their babies,
like an ostrich in the wilderness.
4 Babies have nothing to drink.
Their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths.
Little children ask for bread
but no one gives them so much as a crust.
5 People used to the finest cuisine
forage for food in the streets.
People used to the latest in fashions
pick through the trash for something to wear.
6 The evil guilt of my dear people
was worse than the sin of Sodom—
The city was destroyed in a flash,
and no one around to help.
7 The splendid and sacred nobles
once glowed with health.
Their bodies were robust and ruddy,
their beards like carved stone.
8 But now they are smeared with soot,
unrecognizable in the street,
Their bones sticking out,
their skin dried out like old leather.
9 Better to have been killed in battle
than killed by starvation.
Better to have died of battle wounds
than to slowly starve to death.
10 Nice and kindly women
boiled their own children for supper.
This was the only food in town
when my dear people were broken.
11 God let all his anger loose, held nothing back.
He poured out his raging wrath.
He set a fire in Zion
that burned it to the ground.
12 The kings of the earth couldn’t believe it.
World rulers were in shock,
Watching old enemies march in big as you please,
right through Jerusalem’s gates.
13 Because of the sins of her prophets
and the evil of her priests,
Who exploited good and trusting people,
robbing them of their lives,
14 These prophets and priests blindly grope their way through the streets,
grimy and stained from their dirty lives,
Wasted by their wasted lives,
shuffling from fatigue, dressed in rags.
15 People yell at them, “Get out of here, dirty old men!
Get lost, don’t touch us, don’t infect us!”
They have to leave town. They wander off.
Nobody wants them to stay here.
Everyone knows, wherever they wander,
that they’ve been kicked out of their own hometown.
16 God himself scattered them.
No longer does he look out for them.
He has nothing to do with the priests;
he cares nothing for the elders.
17 We watched and watched,
wore our eyes out looking for help. And nothing.
We mounted our lookouts and looked
for the help that never showed up.
18 They tracked us down, those hunters.
It wasn’t safe to go out in the street.
Our end was near, our days numbered.
We were doomed.
19 They came after us faster than eagles in flight,
pressed us hard in the mountains, ambushed us in the desert.
20 Our king, our life’s breath, the anointed of God,
was caught in their traps—
Our king under whose protection
we always said we’d live.
21 Celebrate while you can, O Edom!
Live it up in Uz!
For it won’t be long before you drink this cup, too.
You’ll find out what it’s like to drink God’s wrath,
Get drunk on God’s wrath
and wake up with nothing, stripped naked.
22 And that’s it for you, Zion. The punishment’s complete.
You won’t have to go through this exile again.
But Edom, your time is coming:
He’ll punish your evil life, put all your sins on display.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, June 07, 2024
Today's Scripture
Acts 20:17-24, 34-35
On to Jerusalem
17–21 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the leaders of the congregation. When they arrived, he said, “You know that from day one of my arrival in Asia I was with you totally—laying my life on the line, serving the Master no matter what, putting up with no end of scheming by Jews who wanted to do me in. I didn’t skimp or trim in any way. Every truth and encouragement that could have made a difference to you, you got. I taught you out in public and I taught you in your homes, urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus.
22–24 “But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.
With these bare hands I took care of my own basic needs and those who worked with me. In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’ ”
Insight
Joyful giving for believers in Jesus should be wholehearted and wholistic. Paul’s ministry in Ephesus demonstrates this. His ministry included passionate, bold preaching and teaching that touched the souls of his hearers: “You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20). Paul’s ministry didn’t stop with speaking, however. He also labored physically for himself and others (v. 34). Through such self-giving, Paul mimicked the model of Christ who taught that, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (v. 35). By: Arthur Jackson
Joy in Giving
It is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35
When Keri’s young son was going through yet another surgery related to muscular dystrophy, she wanted to take her mind off her family’s situation by doing something for someone else. So she rounded up her son’s outgrown but gently used shoes and donated them to a ministry. Her giving prompted friends and family members and even neighbors to join in, and soon more than two hundred pairs of shoes were donated!
Although the shoe drive was meant to bless others, Keri feels her family was blessed more. “The whole experience really lifted our spirits and helped us to focus outward.”
Paul understood how important it was for followers of Jesus to give generously. On his way to Jerusalem, the apostle Paul stopped in Ephesus. He knew it would likely be his last visit with the people of the church he’d founded there. In his farewell address to the church elders, he reminded them how he’d worked diligently in service to God (Acts 20:17-20) and encouraged them to do the same. Then he concluded with Jesus’ words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (v. 35).
Jesus wants us to freely and humbly give of ourselves (Luke 6:38). When we trust Him to guide us, He’ll provide opportunities for us to do so. Like Keri’s family, we may be surprised by the joy we experience as a result. By: Alyson Kieda
Reflect & Pray
In what way might God be calling you to give of yourself to another? When have you been the beneficiary of someone’s generosity?
Dear Father, please help me to freely give of my time and resources to others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, June 07, 2024
Don’t Slack Off
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. — John 15:7
Am I fulfilling the ministry of the interior life, taking time alone with the Father to intercede for others in prayer? I need not worry that the moments I claim for prayer are selfish. There is no danger of infatuation or pride in intercession; it is a hidden ministry which brings forth the fruit that glorifies the Father. Am I slacking off in my spiritual life, allowing my spiritual energies to be frittered away? Or am I learning to remain in Jesus? To remain in Jesus is to concentrate my spiritual energies around a single point: the atonement of the Lord.
I must begin to realize this central point of power in my life. Do I give one minute out of sixty to concentrate upon it? “If you remain in me” means “If you continually act and think and work on the basis of my atonement.” What holds the most power over me right now? Is it my job? Serving others? Trying to work for God? It isn’t the thing I spend the most time on that shapes me the most; it’s the thing that exerts the greatest power over me. What ought to exert the greatest power over me is Jesus Christ. I must decide to be limited in my affinities, to choose carefully where I place my attention. If Jesus Christ is more and more my dominating interest, every phase of my life will bear fruit for him.
Jesus says that if we remain in him and his words remain in us, God will answer our prayers. Do we recognize this truth? “But,” you say, “suppose I ask for something not according to God’s will?” You won’t—not if you’re fulfilling Jesus’s wish that you remain in him. The disciple who remains in Jesus is the will of God. The choices this disciple makes, though they appear to be made freely, are actually God’s foreordained decrees. Mysterious? Yes. Logically contradictory and absurd? Yes. But a glorious truth to those who remain in him.
2 Chronicles 28-29; John 17
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”
The Shadow of an Agony, 1166 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, June 07, 2024
God's "Welcome Home" Arms - #9760
Whether you're in your car, or in your home, or almost anywhere you are right now, I think you probably have available to you what you're going to need for our next few minutes. Yeah, because you're either near one or you might even carry one. Now, some people use this object too much, other people could afford to use it a little more. Maybe you've guessed what it is by now. Yep, it's a mirror, and you'll need it today, because that's where we're going to end up.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's 'Welcome Home' Arms."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God will take us ultimately to the mirror. In fact, it's found in Luke 15:17. If you're real conversant with your New Testament, you might recognize Luke 15 as being the home of that familiar story we call the Prodigal Son. And you know in that story he had gone to his apparently well-to-do father and said, "Dad, I'm restless. I don't know if I want to stay home anymore. I wonder if you could give me my share of the inheritance, and then I'm going to get this out of my system. I want to get out of here. I know you haven't died yet, but could I have my inheritance?"
Now, I don't really know what was on his mind, and we don't know why he wanted to leave. Maybe he was tired of the rules his dad had, and then he had an older brother. Maybe he didn't get along with him. But he went away, and the Bible says, "He went to a far country." So he wanted to get far away. It didn't take him long to blow all his money. He had a lot of friends as long as he had that money.
Then he lost his friends when he lost his "bucks." And he ended up working for a pig farmer - the worst possible thing a Jewish boy could end up doing would be feeding the pigs. But he was so desperate, he had to do an unkosher job. And here he said, "Boy, I wonder if my dad would even take me back as one of his servants?" And there he is sorting it out, trying to figure out, "How did I ever get in this mess? How did I end up in a pig pen?"
Maybe for you, you're looking at your life and you're not in the pig pen right now, but things aren't going right. You're restless, you're feeling disoriented, confused, disappointed, there's a lot of frustration that's built up over the last few months, maybe some anger. You're really looking for some answers, and you're saying, "Whose fault is it I'm in this mess?"
Luke 15:17 tells us the end of the Prodigal Son's search for the answer. And in these simple words recorded in the King James Version of the New Testament it says this: "And he came to himself." Now, I know that means he came to his senses. But I think it also implies to us that after he went down the list and he said, "Okay, it's not my Father's fault. Okay, well let's see, if I didn't have that brother. No, no, it's not my brother's fault. If my friends weren't so fickle. No, I guess I can't blame my friends. If only I hadn't run out of money, if I hadn't invested in the wrong thing, or if it weren't for this boss who is giving me this crummy job."
Finally, after scratching off all the other causes, he ends up looking in the mirror. I told you we'd come back there. It says, "He came finally to himself." Maybe that's the first place you're going to begin to find deliverance from your restlessness, your frustration. You've got to look in the mirror and say, "Lord, I think I'm the one who needs to be changed. I'm not going to blame it on my circumstances, or the problem people in my life, or my wife, or my husband, or my kids, or my parents, or the economy, a lack of resources. It's not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer."
Every counselor's first job is to get a person to take the responsibility for their own situation. Whether you're a parent, or a son, or a daughter, or a worker, or a boss, I trust that you will begin to say, "Lord, begin with me."
And if you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, the life-giver, well He's what you've been missing. Right now you could change that by pinning all your hopes on Him and saying "Jesus, You died on the cross for me, rose again from the dead, now would you walk into my life today?"
Look in the mirror. Offer what you see to the Father, and just like the father of the Prodigal Son, He's going to clean you up and make you look like royalty.