Max Lucado Daily: DO YOU TRUST HIM? - June 26, 2024
The sky is dark. Sudden waves of water tilt up our sailing vessel until we see nothing but sky and then downward until we see nothing but blue. I learned this about sailing: there is nothing swell about a swell! Eyes turned first to the thunderclouds, then to the captain. We looked to him. He was deliberate and decisive. He told some of us where to sit, others what to do, all of us to hang on. And we did what he said. Why? Because he knew best.
Such winds test our trust in our Captain. Does God know what he’s doing? Why did he allow the storm? The conditions sometime worsen, his instructions perplex. How do you respond? Can you say about God what I said about our captain? “I know God knows what’s best. I know I don’t. I know he cares.” Do you trust him?
Daniel 12
The Worst Trouble the World Has Ever Seen
1–2 12 “ ‘That’s when Michael, the great angel-prince, champion of your people, will step in. It will be a time of trouble, the worst trouble the world has ever seen. But your people will be saved from the trouble, every last one found written in the Book. Many who have been long dead and buried will wake up, some to eternal life, others to eternal shame.
3 “ ‘Men and women who have lived wisely and well will shine brilliantly, like the cloudless, star-strewn night skies. And those who put others on the right path to life will glow like stars forever.
4 “ ‘This is a confidential report, Daniel, for your eyes and ears only. Keep it secret. Put the book under lock and key until the end. In the interim there is going to be a lot of frantic running around, trying to figure out what’s going on.’
5–6 “As I, Daniel, took all this in, two figures appeared, one standing on this bank of the river and one on the other bank. One of them asked a third man who was dressed in linen and who straddled the river, ‘How long is this astonishing story to go on?’
7 “The man dressed in linen, who straddled the river, raised both hands to the skies. I heard him solemnly swear by the Eternal One that it would be a time, two times, and half a time, that when the oppressor of the holy people was brought down the story would be complete.
8 “I heard all this plainly enough, but I didn’t understand it. So I asked, ‘Master, can you explain this to me?’
9–10 “ ‘Go on about your business, Daniel,’ he said. ‘The message is confidential and under lock and key until the end, until things are about to be wrapped up. The populace will be washed clean and made like new. But the wicked will just keep on being wicked, without a clue about what is happening. Those who live wisely and well will understand what’s going on.’
11 “From the time that the daily worship is banished from the Temple and the obscene desecration is set up in its place, there will be 1,290 days.
12 “Blessed are those who patiently make it through the 1,335 days.
13 “And you? Go about your business without fretting or worrying. Relax. When it’s all over, you will be on your feet to receive your reward.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Today's Scripture
Ruth 2:11-12; 3:1-6
Boaz answered her, “I’ve heard all about you—heard about the way you treated your mother-in-law after the death of her husband, and how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to live among a bunch of total strangers. God reward you well for what you’ve done—and with a generous bonus besides from God, to whom you’ve come seeking protection under his wings.”
1–2 3 One day her mother-in-law Naomi said to Ruth, “My dear daughter, isn’t it about time I arranged a good home for you so you can have a happy life? And isn’t Boaz our close relative, the one with whose young women you’ve been working? Maybe it’s time to make our move. Tonight is the night of Boaz’s barley harvest at the threshing floor.
3–4 “Take a bath. Put on some perfume. Get all dressed up and go to the threshing floor. But don’t let him know you’re there until the party is well under way and he’s had plenty of food and drink. When you see him slipping off to sleep, watch where he lies down and then go there. Lie at his feet to let him know that you are available to him for marriage. Then wait and see what he says. He’ll tell you what to do.”
5 Ruth said, “If you say so, I’ll do it, just as you’ve told me.”
6 She went down to the threshing floor and put her mother-in-law’s plan into action.
Insight
Boaz, Naomi’s relative (Ruth 2:1), noticed Ruth’s presence in his fields, inquired about her, and offered her protection (vv. 5-9). He praised her for her devotion to Naomi (2:11) and noted how she’d taken refuge under God’s wings (v. 12). In Psalm 91, using a similar metaphor of a chick under the wings of its mother, the psalmist celebrates the security and safety found in God: “The Lord . . . alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. . . . He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings” (vv. 2, 4 nlt). This endearing picture of God protecting those who take refuge in Him is also found in Psalms 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 63:7. By: K. T. Sim
Learning from Each Other
I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. Ruth 2:11
Years before Zoom was an accessible communication tool, a friend asked me to join her on a video call to discuss a project. Through the tone of my emails, she could tell I was baffled, so she suggested I find a teenager to help me figure out how to set up a video call.
Her suggestion points to the value of intergenerational relationships. It’s something observed in Ruth and Naomi’s story. Ruth is often celebrated for being a loyal daughter-in-law, deciding to leave her land to accompany Naomi back to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:16-17). When they arrived in the town, the younger woman said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain [for us]” (2:2). She helped the older woman, who then helped the younger woman marry Boaz. Naomi’s advice for Ruth prompted Boaz to take action in purchasing her deceased in-laws’ property and to take her “as [his] wife” (4:9-10).
We certainly respect the advice of those who share their seasoned wisdom with younger generations. But Ruth and Naomi remind us that the exchange can go both ways. There’s something to be learned from those younger than us as well as those who are older. Let’s seek to develop loving and loyal intergenerational relationships. It will bless us and others and help us learn something we don’t know. By: Katara Patton
Reflect & Pray
What have you learned from someone younger? How might you reach out to someone of another generation today?
Dear God, thank You for the wisdom found in the young and in the old. Teach me to value intergenerational exchanges.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Always Now
As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. — 2 Corinthians 6:1
The grace you had yesterday won’t do for today. Grace is the overflowing, endlessly renewing favor of God; you can always count on there being enough.
Are you failing to draw upon God’s grace “in troubles, hardships and distresses” (2 Corinthians 6:4)? It is in difficulty that our patience is tested and in difficulty that we must learn to draw upon his grace. Each time you fail to do so, you are saying, “Oh well, this time doesn’t count.” It isn’t a question of praying and asking God to help you; it’s a question of accepting his grace, here and now.
We make prayer a kind of preparation. It is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. It is the most practical thing. Don’t say, “I’ll endure this difficulty until I can get away and pray.” Pray now. Call upon the grace of God in the moment of need.
“In beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger . . .” (v. 5). In every hardship, draw upon the grace of God in a way that makes you a marvel to yourself and others. Draw now, not soon. One of the most important words in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances bring you wherever they will. No matter where you find yourself, no matter how difficult the situation, keep drawing on the grace of God. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on his grace is that you can be humiliated without showing the slightest trace of anything but his grace.
“. . . having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (v. 10). God has given you a priceless treasure in his grace. Never be diplomatic or careful about the treasure God gives. Pour out the best you have, and always be poor. This is poverty triumphant.
Job 5-7; Acts 8:1-25
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ.
My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Stopping for the Wounded - #9773
Voicemail I guess is better than nothing. It doesn't respond, it records. One friend captured how I feel in what he recorded tongue-in-cheek. You call, then you know, you get the little click and you hear the friend's voice saying, "In a world of cold and uncaring humans, isn't it refreshing to be greeted by a warm and friendly voicemail?" No! You just can't automate a personal response!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stopping for the Wounded"
Actually, when it comes to the needs around you, you're probably one or the other: you're an answering person or an unresponsive person, like an answering machine. Jesus was trying to point that out in Luke 10:30-34. It's our word for today from the Word of God. You know the story. He says, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, they beat him, they went away, leaving him half dead."
"A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So, too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine..."
It's a great story, huh? Yeah, but it's a troubling story. It's the professional God-lovers - the priest and the Levite - who don't stop for this obvious human need. And it's a Samaritan, one who's considered a spiritual reject by the Jews, who responds as Jesus would with above and beyond love.
Like me, I mean, you may be pretty busy in Christian activities and programs, and that can become a trap. I believe the priest and the Levite knew about meeting needs. I believe they knew about helping wounded people. But they may have confined their response to programs for helping people, to meetings to plan programs, to theological concepts about love and mercy and compassion. Tragically, the longer you've been around Christian things, the more you can replace personal acts of love with programs and structures to do it.
You know, it goes like this: "We have a program that ministers to the poor, the homeless, the brokenhearted, and the hurting. We have meetings that present Christ to the lost. We're having a seminar on reaching people for the Lord." Answering machines - machines to answer the calls of men and women in need. Now I'm very much in favor of organized, large-scale efforts to respond to the needs of desperate people around us. But they're just no substitute for you being the Good Samaritan yourself, for the natural flow of love and mercy that stops for someone who needs money, or a listening ear, a word of encouragement, a chance to hear about Christ's love or to see it in action.
Like the Good Samaritan, I hope you don't lose that beautiful characteristic of your Master. A breakable heart. You got one? Sometime this week, you'll almost surely encounter someone who is wounded or someone who is without Christ. Will you excuse yourself because you're busy in a lot of Christian activity - your answering machines? Or will you stop and be the answer with your loving, personal, above-and-beyond response? That's what Jesus commands.
When the people around you call, they don't need an answering machine, they need an answering person!
