Max Lucado Daily: THE SEED PROMISE - September 12, 2024
God said to Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3).
My passport bears multiple stamps from the nation of Israel. Pharaoh, Haman, and Hitler attempted to eradicate the Jews and failed. Modern-day neighboring nations have sworn to erase Israel from the map. They will fail as well. There are Jews all over the world. God preserves their unique identity because he plans to use them in the end.
God has blessed the world through the seed of Abraham. We have the prophets. We have King David’s psalms. But greatest by far we have a Savior – we have Jesus Christ. We have his Word, his church, and the blessed hope of his return. God kept the seed promise that he made to Abraham.
What Happens Next
Ezekiel 31
The Funeral of the Big Tree
1–9 31 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, that pompous old goat:
“ ‘Who do you, astride the world,
think you really are?
Look! Assyria was a Big Tree, huge as a Lebanon cedar,
beautiful limbs offering cool shade,
Skyscraper high,
piercing the clouds.
The waters gave it drink,
the primordial deep lifted it high,
Gushing out rivers around
the place where it was planted,
And then branching out in streams
to all the trees in the forest.
It was immense,
dwarfing all the trees in the forest—
Thick boughs, long limbs,
roots delving deep into earth’s waters.
All the birds of the air
nested in its boughs.
All the wild animals
gave birth under its branches.
All the mighty nations
lived in its shade.
It was stunning in its majesty—
the reach of its branches!
the depth of its water-seeking roots!
Not a cedar in God’s garden came close to it.
No pine tree was anything like it.
Mighty oaks looked like bushes
growing alongside it.
Not a tree in God’s garden
was in the same class of beauty.
I made it beautiful,
a work of art in limbs and leaves,
The envy of every tree in Eden,
every last tree in God’s garden.’ ”
10–13 Therefore, God, the Master, says, “ ‘Because it skyscrapered upward, piercing the clouds, swaggering and proud of its stature, I turned it over to a world-famous leader to call its evil to account. I’d had enough. Outsiders, unbelievably brutal, felled it across the mountain ranges. Its branches were strewn through all the valleys, its leafy boughs clogging all the streams and rivers. Because its shade was gone, everybody walked off. No longer a tree—just a log. On that dead log birds perch. Wild animals burrow under it.
14 “ ‘That marks the end of the “big tree” nations. No more trees nourished from the great deep, no more cloud-piercing trees, no more earthborn trees taking over. They’re all slated for death—back to earth, right along with men and women, for whom it’s “dust to dust.”
15–17 “ ‘The Message of God, the Master: On the day of the funeral of the Big Tree, I threw the great deep into mourning. I stopped the flow of its rivers, held back great seas, and wrapped the Lebanon mountains in black. All the trees of the forest fainted and fell. I made the whole world quake when it crashed, and threw it into the underworld to take its place with all else that gets buried. All the trees of Eden and the finest and best trees of Lebanon, well-watered, were relieved—they had descended to the underworld with it—along with everyone who had lived in its shade and all who had been killed.
18 “ ‘Which of the trees of Eden came anywhere close to you in splendor and size? But you’re slated to be cut down to take your place in the underworld with the trees of Eden, to be a dead log stacked with all the other dead logs, among the other uncircumcised who are dead and buried.
“ ‘This means Pharaoh, the pompous old goat.
“ ‘Decree of God, the Master.’ ”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Today's Scripture
Exodus 20:8-11
Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don’t do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.
Insight
In Jesus’ day, the Sabbath had acquired a layer of regulations that God hadn’t prescribed. This precipitated several Sabbath confrontations between Christ and the religious leaders known as the Pharisees. In John 5, Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, upsetting the Pharisees (vv. 1-10). John says that “because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him” (v. 16). Then they took exception to the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-24). Christ told them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (v. 27). Paul wrote that we shouldn’t let anyone judge us “with regard to . . . a Sabbath day” (Colossians 2:16). He also said, “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind” (Romans 14:5). By: Tim Gustafson
Retrieval Practice
Remember the Sabbath day. Exodus 20:8
Have you ever been in the middle of telling a story and then stopped, stuck on a detail like a name or date you couldn’t recall? We often chalk it up to age, believing that memory fades with time. But recent studies no longer support that view. In fact, they indicate our memory isn’t the problem; it’s our ability to retrieve those memories. Without a regular rehearsal of some kind, memories become harder to access.
One of the ways to improve that retrieval ability is by regularly scheduled actions or experiences of recalling a certain memory. Our Creator God knew this, so He instructed the children of Israel to set aside one day a week for worship and rest. In addition to the physical rest that comes from such a respite, we gain an opportunity for mental training, to recall that “in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them” (Exodus 20:11). It helps us to remember there is a God, and it’s not us.
In the rush of our lives, we sometimes lose our grip on the memories of what God has done for us and for others. We forget who keeps close watch over our lives and who promises His presence when we feel overwhelmed and alone. A break from our routine provides an opportunity for that needed “retrieval practice”—an intentional decision to stop and remember our God and “forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:2). By: John Blase
Reflect & Pray
What tempts you to skip rest? How can taking time to rest draw you closer to God?
Dear God, please remember me and give me the wisdom to stop and remember You as well.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Spiritual Confusion
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. — Matthew 20:22
Sometimes in our life with God, there is spiritual confusion. At such times, it’s no use saying there shouldn’t be confusion. Confusion isn’t a question of right and wrong. It’s a question of God taking you down a path you don’t understand. The only way you’ll get at what God wants is to keep going through the confusion until you reach clarity.
The hiding of his friendship. “Suppose you have a friend . . .” (Luke 11:5). Jesus tells the story of a man who seemed not to care for his friend. Sometimes, Jesus says, that is how your heavenly Father will appear. In your confusion, you will think he’s an unkind friend, but he is not. Don’t give up. Remember, Jesus is the one who said, “Everyone who asks receives” (Matthew 7:8).
The shadow on his fatherhood. “Which of you fathers . . .” (Luke 11:11). Jesus says there are times when your Father will appear like an unloving father, but he is not. If a shadow covers the face of your Father just now, rest in confidence that he will ultimately reveal his purposes and will justify himself in everything he has permitted. Often even love itself has to wait in pain and tears for the blessing of fuller communion.
The strangeness of his faithfulness. “In a certain town there was a judge . . .” (Luke 18:2). At times, Jesus says, your Father will look like an unjust judge, but he is not. Stand firm in the belief that what Jesus says is true, and remember that God has bigger issues at stake than the particular things you ask. The time is coming, Jesus says, when we shall see perfectly clearly. Then the veil will be lifted, the shadows will disappear, the confusion will go, and we will begin to understand the friendship, the fatherhood, and the faithfulness of God with regard to our own lives.
Proverbs 13-15; 2 Corinthians 5
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.
He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 12, 2024
A SAVIOR YOU CAN TRUST - #9829
A Pope's visit to Cuba is not an everyday thing by any means. Pope Francis more recently visited. When Pope John Paul II made the very first visit in 1998, he saw a very different Cuba than Pope Francis saw.
All visits captured the attention of the entire world. The 1998 visit was unprecedented. Here was one of the world's last totally Communist countries - an officially atheist state - welcoming the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. I hate to use the word in this context, but the visit appeared to be revolutionary. In a front page story, USA Today told about a man bicycling into Revolution Square in Havana the week before the Pope's arrival. He was quoted as saying, "I'm amazed! Look at Jesus!" The reason? There was a giant picture of Jesus that had suddenly appeared on a wall in Revolution Square, the heart of Cuban Communism. And over the picture of Jesus were inscribed these incredible words, "Jesus Christ, I trust You."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Savior You Can Trust."
"I trust you." Those might be hard words for you to say to anybody because your trust has been betrayed too many times. The list of people you can really trust may be a very short one. Maybe there's not even a list. I mean, trust takes a beating when someone who's supposed to love you betrays you or hurts you or lets you down. Maybe that's happened to you.
But your heart needs an anchor, a relationship where you really are safe. Well, our word for today from the Word of God, Romans 8:31-32 gives you that hope. "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?"
God is simply saying here, "I gave the most precious thing I have for you - my own Son. Jesus died on that brutal cross to pay for all the sinning you have ever done. If I have given my Son for you, is there anything I wouldn't do for you?" See, the issue is not trusting Christians or trusting Christianity. It's trusting Christ. It's all about Jesus.
Your search for someone that you can totally trust ends at the foot of Jesus' cross. Stand there, look at Him hanging there for you and then answer the question, "Can I trust Jesus?" Years ago there was a day when I made my choice. I put Jesus in the center of activity in my heart and I said, "After loving me this much, Jesus Christ, I trust You."
And trust is the key to beginning a personal love relationship with Jesus. It's taking down whatever other things have dominated your heart and putting Jesus there, as they did that day in Revolution Square in Havana. They may not have put that Jesus there to stay. But opening your heart to Him means you are now under new management. You've trusted your life, your pain and your eternity into the hands of Jesus - hands that, by the way, still carry the marks of the nails, scars that remove all doubt of whether He will ever let you down. He can't. He paid too much for you.
Jesus had been missing in the heart of an island nation for too long. He's been missing in your heart for too long. But that could change today. Right now, if you will finally commit yourself to the One who loves you most. Tell Him you want to belong to Him. Tell Him you are trusting Him and what He did on the cross for you. Turning from the sin He died for.
Right now you could pray, "Jesus, I am Yours because You died for me." I want to invite you to our website to anchor your relationship with Jesus there, to know you now belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com.
See, the real revolution in your life begins the day you make Jesus #1 in your heart. You are on the edge of having a peace and a calm inside, and a deep sense of being really loved and really safe; something you've never known before. Jesus is there. Will you tell Him, "Jesus Christ, I trust You."