Job 13, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: DRAW CLOSE TO THE SAVIOR - March 6, 2025

Linger too long in the stench of your hurt, and you’ll smell like the toxin you despise! I spent too much of a summer sludging through sludge. Oil field work is dirty at best. But you want to know the dirtiest job of all? Shoveling silt out of empty oil tanks. The foreman saved such jobs for the summer help (thanks, boss). My mom burned my work clothes. Oh how the stink stunk!

Your hurts can do the same. The better option? Everything from sunsets to salvation—look at what you have. Let Jesus be your friend you need. Talk to him. Spare no detail. Disclose your fear and describe your dread. Will your hurt disappear? Who knows? And in a sense, does it matter? You have a friend for life. What could be better than that? So rather than linger in the sludge, draw close to the Savior.

Facing Your Giants: God Still Does the Impossible

Job 13

I’m Taking My Case to God

1–5  13 “Yes, I’ve seen all this with my own eyes,

heard and understood it with my very own ears.

Everything you know, I know,

so I’m not taking a backseat to any of you.

I’m taking my case straight to God Almighty;

I’ve had it with you—I’m going directly to God.

You graffiti my life with lies.

You’re a bunch of pompous quacks!

I wish you’d shut your mouths—

silence is your only claim to wisdom.

6–12  “Listen now while I make my case,

consider my side of things for a change.

Or are you going to keep on lying ‘to do God a service’?

to make up stories ‘to get him off the hook’?

Why do you always take his side?

Do you think he needs a lawyer to defend himself?

How would you fare if you were in the dock?

Your lies might convince a jury—but would they convince God?

He’d reprimand you on the spot

if he detected a bias in your witness.

Doesn’t his splendor put you in awe?

Aren’t you afraid to speak cheap lies before him?

Your wise sayings are knickknack wisdom,

good for nothing but gathering dust.

13–19  “So hold your tongue while I have my say,

then I’ll take whatever I have coming to me.

Why do I go out on a limb like this

and take my life in my hands?

Because even if he killed me, I’d keep on hoping.

I’d defend my innocence to the very end.

Just wait, this is going to work out for the best—my salvation!

If I were guilt-stricken do you think I’d be doing this—

laying myself on the line before God?

You’d better pay attention to what I’m telling you,

listen carefully with both ears.

Now that I’ve laid out my defense,

I’m sure that I’ll be acquitted.

Can anyone prove charges against me?

I’ve said my piece. I rest my case.

Why Does God Stay Hidden and Silent?

20–27  “Please, God, I have two requests;

grant them so I’ll know I count with you:

First, lay off the afflictions;

the terror is too much for me.

Second, address me directly so I can answer you,

or let me speak and then you answer me.

How many sins have been charged against me?

Show me the list—how bad is it?

Why do you stay hidden and silent?

Why treat me like I’m your enemy?

Why kick me around like an old tin can?

Why beat a dead horse?

You compile a long list of mean things about me,

even hold me accountable for the sins of my youth.

You hobble me so I can’t move about.

You watch every move I make,

and brand me as a dangerous character.

28  “Like something rotten, human life fast decomposes,

like a moth-eaten shirt or a mildewed blouse.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, March 06, 2025

by Katara Patton

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Proverbs 19:8-13

Grow a wise heart—you’ll do yourself a favor;

keep a clear head—you’ll find a good life.

9  The person who tells lies gets caught;

the person who spreads rumors is ruined.

10  Blockheads shouldn’t live on easy street

any more than workers should give orders to their boss.

11  Smart people know how to hold their tongue;

their grandeur is to forgive and forget.

12  Mean-tempered leaders are like mad dogs;

the good-natured are like fresh morning dew.

13  A parent is worn to a frazzle by a stupid child;

a nagging spouse is a leaky faucet.

Today's Insights

God told Solomon, “I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be” (1 Kings 3:12). Over time, Solomon authored many of the proverbs. His divine wisdom, however, didn’t prevent him from great acts of foolishness. In Deuteronomy 17:16-17, God warned that when Israel had a king, he wasn’t to multiply horses (a symbol of military security) or foreign wives (political alliances for security of the throne). The clear implication was that the king was to find his security in God—the one true king of Israel. Solomon foolishly ignored those warnings, acquiring so many horses that he needed to build cities for their keeping and care (1 Kings 10:26). In addition, he accumulated seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (11:3). These women turned Solomon’s heart away from God (v. 4). Due to Solomon’s foolishness, God dealt with him in judgment (vv. 9-13).

Not Easily Offended

Sensible people . . . earn respect by overlooking wrongs. Proverbs 19:11 nlt

When I entered my church after several months of quarantine, I was excited to see members I hadn’t seen in a while. I realized that some members, especially older ones, just wouldn’t be back—some due to safety reasons and others, unfortunately, because they’d passed from this life. So I was quite excited when I spotted an older couple coming into the sanctuary and taking their normal seat behind me. I waved at them both. The man returned my greeting, while his wife stared at me without even smiling. I was hurt and wondered why.

It was a few Sundays later that I observed the same woman (who hadn’t returned my greeting) being helped by a friend who was showing her when to stand or sit—acting as her caregiver. My old church friend was apparently very sick and hadn’t recognized me. I’m glad I didn’t approach her or even get upset when she didn’t return my enthusiastic greeting. 

Proverbs offers a lot of advice for living wisely, and not being easily offended is one of its gems. In fact, it says “sensible people . . . earn respect by overlooking wrongs” (19:11 nlt). Choosing not to get offended and learning to “control [our] temper” (v. 11 nlt) can bring us honor. It may require patience and “wisdom” (v. 8), but the rewards also are well worth getting over ourselves and choosing to love others.

Reflect & Pray

When were you offended by someone’s actions? When is it the right thing to overlook an offense?

God of mercy, thank You for overlooking the times I’ve offended You. Please give me the wisdom to do the same for others.

Read A Prayer for Patience and invite His peace into your daily life.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, March 06, 2025

Amid a Crowd of Paltry Things

As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses. — 2 Corinthians 6:4

It takes almighty grace to take the next step—the next step in devotion, the next step in our studies, the next step in the kitchen, the next step in our duty—when there’s nothing to inspire us and no one to cheer us on. When there’s no vision from God and no enthusiasm, when it’s just the daily routine and the trivial task, it takes almighty grace.

Sometimes, it requires far more of the grace of God to take the next step than it does to preach the gospel. Perhaps at one time we had a clear vision of something God wanted us to accomplish, and we threw ourselves into it with excitement. But now the excitement has waned and we wonder how we’ll keep going. We begin to doubt that the vision will ever be realized. It will be, if we’ll keep working steadily until it is fulfilled. Every Christian has to participate in the essence of the incarnation; we have to bring it down into flesh-and-blood life and work it out through our fingertips. In the long run, what counts for God—and for people—is steady, persevering work in the unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18). The only way to live our lives uncrushed is to live looking to God.

Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to crush you. Continually get away from pettiness of mind and thought. Remember Jesus’s example: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

Deuteronomy 1-2; Mark 10:1-31

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

God engineers circumstances to see what we will do. Will we be the children of our Father in heaven, or will we go back again to the meaner, common-sense attitude? Will we stake all and stand true to Him? “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” The crown of life means I shall see that my Lord has got the victory after all, even in me. 

The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book, 530 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, March 06, 2025

SAFE IN ANY STORM - #9954

I'll always remember, it was Friday in August. All of us who were landing at O'Hare Airport in Chicago that day had plans, and schedules, and things we had to do, and places we had to be. But as far as I know, none of us made it. That day Chicago had a record-breaking rain storm followed by massive flooding. And since there's only one viaduct that goes into O'Hare Airport and out, it had four feet of water. O'Hare became an island. Welcome to Camp O'Hare! It was flooded closed.

Well, many people spent the day trying to find either a way out, which didn't work very well, or a place to spend the night, but virtually no one did what they'd planned to do that day, including me, all because of one storm. No matter how rich you were or how poor, or how powerful or insignificant, how young, how old, suddenly your destiny was out of your control. You know, storms always have that effect.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Safe in Any Storm."

Our word for today from the Word of God is going to come from the sometimes obscure book of Nahum, one of those Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. Minor because the book is short, not because what they have to say is minor. Remember as we look at this verse that life's hard times are often portrayed in scripture as storms, and that's appropriate because it speaks of situations where you can no longer control your outcome.

That's what storms in our life - what they do to us. Medical storms, financial storms, family storms; maybe that's the kind of situation you're in right now. Maybe in your business, it's an out-of-control time. Maybe your marriage, maybe it's one of your children, maybe medically. Well, listen to our word for today from the Word of God. Nahum 1:3 - "The Lord is great in power. He has His way in the whirlwind and the storm."

Wow! It seems like the storm is having its way. It seems like everything's out-of-control. But God reassures us here that even when it appears that things are out-of-control, God is having His way. Paul experienced that in the incident recorded in Acts 27. As a prisoner on a ship that was taking him to Rome where he was to witness for Christ, for two weeks they sailed from Israel and they were in this violent storm, they couldn't see the sun, the moon, the stars. They didn't know where they were. They were blown way off course, they thought, and finally they went aground two weeks later. And much to their surprise, they landed on the Island of Malta, very close to Italy - their destination.

In other words, all the time they had apparently been out-of-control, they were actually right on course. So are you. See, that's what the Old Testament prophet meant. The storm may have made things out of your control, but they're in God's control. He often teaches us through those storms how much we need Him; how much we can rely on Him.

Maybe right now the winds in your life are intensifying, storm warnings are up, the flood of your frustration is rising. You're powerless to do anything about it. Let me assure you because of what God has said about storms, everything is under control. "The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and the storm." And it is often the storm that He uses to blow us home to the harbor we were made for.

The Bible says in Hebrews 6:19, speaking of Jesus, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul firm and secure." And it often is not until things are out of our control that we understand we were never meant to run our lives. We were created by Jesus, for Jesus. He died to bring us back to Him, and maybe He is right now using your storm to blow you right into His loving arms.

If you want to begin a relationship with Him, if you never have, and find the one safe place there really is, will you go to our website and let me show you, there, how you can begin your relationship with Him. That's ANewStory.com.

See, if you let God navigate, you'll find that all the time you've been blown around, you were actually storming home.

Job 12, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A TRUE FRIEND - March 5, 2025

Proverbs 18:24 (NIV) says, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” David found such a friend in the son of Saul. Oh to have a friend like Jonathan. A soulmate who protects you, who seeks nothing but your interests, wants nothing but your happiness. An ally who lets you be you. No need to weigh thoughts or measure words. God gave David such a friend.

And God gave you one as well. David found a companion in a prince of Israel; you can find a friend in the King of Israel, Jesus Christ. He has made a covenant with you. Among his final words were these: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NKJV). Jesus also said, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me” (John 10:28 NLT). Do you long for one true friend? You have one – Jesus Christ!

Facing Your Giants: God Still Does the Impossible

Job 12

JOB ANSWERS ZOPHAR

Put Your Ear to the Earth

1–3  12 Job answered:

“I’m sure you speak for all the experts,

and when you die there’ll be no one left to tell us how to live.

But don’t forget that I also have a brain—

I don’t intend to play second fiddle to you.

It doesn’t take an expert to know these things.

4–6  “I’m ridiculed by my friends:

‘So that’s the man who had conversations with God!’

Ridiculed without mercy:

‘Look at the man who never did wrong!’

It’s easy for the well-to-do to point their fingers in blame,

for the well-fixed to pour scorn on the strugglers.

Crooks reside safely in high-security houses,

insolent blasphemers live in luxury;

they’ve bought and paid for a god who’ll protect them.

7–12  “But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;

let the birds tell you what’s going on.

Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.

Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.

Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree

that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—

Every living soul, yes,

every breathing creature?

Isn’t this all just common sense,

as common as the sense of taste?

Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom,

that you have to grow old before you understand life?

From God We Learn How to Live

13–25  “True wisdom and real power belong to God;

from him we learn how to live,

and also what to live for.

If he tears something down, it’s down for good;

if he locks people up, they’re locked up for good.

If he holds back the rain, there’s a drought;

if he lets it loose, there’s a flood.

Strength and success belong to God;

both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.

He strips experts of their vaunted credentials,

exposes judges as witless fools.

He divests kings of their royal garments,

then ties a rag around their waists.

He strips priests of their robes,

and fires high officials from their jobs.

He forces trusted sages to keep silence,

deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom.

He dumps contempt on famous people,

disarms the strong and mighty.

He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness,

hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun.

He makes nations rise and then fall,

builds up some and abandons others.

He robs world leaders of their reason,

and sends them off into no-man’s-land.

They grope in the dark without a clue,

lurching and staggering like drunks.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Wednesday, March 05, 2025

by Kenneth Petersen

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 40:25-31

 “So—who is like me?

Who holds a candle to me?” says The Holy.

Look at the night skies:

Who do you think made all this?

Who marches this army of stars out each night,

counts them off, calls each by name

—so magnificent! so powerful!—

and never overlooks a single one?

27–31  Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,

or, whine, Israel, saying,

“God has lost track of me.

He doesn’t care what happens to me”?

Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?

God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.

He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.

He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.

And he knows everything, inside and out.

He energizes those who get tired,

gives fresh strength to dropouts.

For even young people tire and drop out,

young folk in their prime stumble and fall.

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.

They spread their wings and soar like eagles,

They run and don’t get tired,

they walk and don’t lag behind.

Today's Insights

The context of Isaiah 40’s description of God’s power as creator (vv. 12, 22, 26) is one of bringing comfort to His people: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem” (vv. 1-2). After their experience of suffering in exile, God’s people needed reassurance that He was still willing and able to care for them. God through Isaiah asked, “ ‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ . . . Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?” (vv. 25-26). The question of who created the heavens likely directly challenged the commonly held belief in Babylonian and Canaanite religion that stars in the heavens represented gods. Isaiah’s question not only dismisses the idea that any gods could be compared with the true God but went further by arguing that what were believed to be gods were merely His creations.

Unfathomable God

His understanding no one can fathom. Isaiah 40:28

In February 2023, the James Webb Space Telescope made another remarkable discovery. Beyond where humankind had previously been able to peer into the universe, it discovered six new galaxies. This discovery upended much of what we know about space. One astronomer remarked, “It turns out we found something so unexpected it actually creates problems for science.” An astrophysicist said almost apologetically, “There is nothing wrong with not knowing.”

It seems that God continues to surprise us all. The prophet Isaiah, long before the advent of space telescopes, seems to be talking directly to the scientists of today: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is . . . the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28). He goes on, predating that astrophysicist’s words, “[God’s] understanding no one can fathom” (v. 28).

But if we stop there, we miss the beauty of this passage. He who is unfathomable is not impersonal. He who created those six galaxies, and all the others (v. 26), is the same God who “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (v. 29). The God of the universe is also the personal God who helps those who hope in Him to “soar on wings like eagles” (v. 31). Rest assured, the unfathomable God is the one we do know—the one who speaks into our lives with power and strength.

Reflect & Pray

What does it mean to you to think of God as unfathomable yet personal? How is He personal to you?

God of the universe, thank You for being my heavenly Father. I place my hope in You to provide me wisdom and strength.

Discover how His promises bring hope and renewal.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Wednesday, March 05, 2025

Is He Really Lord?

So that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus. — Acts 20:24

Joy comes from the ultimate fulfillment of my life’s purpose—that for which I was created and reborn. It doesn’t come from the successful performance of a task. Jesus’s joy lay in doing what the Father had sent him to do, and this is also where our joy lies: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

Have I received a ministry from the Lord? If so, I have to be loyal to it. I have to count my life precious only for its fulfillment. Think of the joy and satisfaction that will come from hearing Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21). We all have to find our place in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive our ministry from the Lord. First, though, we must get to know Jesus as more than our personal savior; we must know him as an intimate companion. Only then will he reveal to us our purpose.

“Do you love me?” Jesus asked Peter. “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). Notice how Jesus doesn’t offer Peter, doesn’t offer us, a choice about how to serve. The only possibility is absolute loyalty to his command, absolute loyalty to what we discern when we are close to him.

Sometimes we misunderstand the call. We think that we are being called by a certain need—the need of God’s children to hear the gospel, for instance, or to have someone intervene for them in prayer. But the need isn’t what’s calling us; the need is simply an opportunity for answering the call. The call itself is a call to absolute loyalty. God wants you to be loyal to the ministry you receive when you are close to him, whatever it may be. This doesn’t imply that there is a specific campaign of service marked out for you, but it does mean that you will have to ignore the demands for service along other lines.

Numbers 34-36; Mark 9:30-50

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them. 

Biblical Psychology, 189 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Wednesday, March 05, 2025

The Surprising Simplicity of Serving Christ - #9953

I wonder if someday I'm going to be banned from restaurants. I've been known to give the help a hard time. Now, believe me, that's not what I'm trying to do. And if you're a waiter or a waitress, don't write a nasty letter to me. I just figure that it can get pretty boring to be a server at a restaurant. I mean sometimes people just start to treat them like they're part of the menu or like a vending machine. I decide that I think they're people and I think we can have fun.

So, I've been known to go out to lunch with somebody and I'll tell them, "Oh by the way, he just moved her from another country and doesn't speak English." And so we have a lot of fun! Of course they start ordering in English.

I love to tell the waitress or the waiter, "Hey, you're a great cook!" And they look at me and say, "uh, I...I didn't cook it." In fact I literally have been told, "I didn't cook it, I just serve it." Yeah, I knew that.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Surprising Simplicity of Serving Christ."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 3:5. Here's what Paul says about himself and another great Christian leader of that time, Apollos. "What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe - as the Lord has assigned to each his task." Now, I'm sure there were people who would have said, "Oh, Paul got me to Christ." "Apollos got me to Christ." Paul said, "No, I didn't. It wasn't from me. It was through me." That's the power of prepositions. "We are only servants through whom, not by whom, not from whom. Only through whom you came to believe."

What is it that qualifies me to visit with you daily by radio like this? These thoughts don't come from me; they come through me. That's all. It's like that server in the restaurant. It's not her recipe, it's not her effort. She just delivers what someone else has worked on; something that someone else has made possible.

That's what Jesus was saying when He said, "I am the vine. You are the branches." The branch doesn't produce the fruit. It looks like it's producing the fruit, but it comes from the vine through the branches. You know what that means to you? There are things that you can risk doing for your Lord that you thought you could not do, that were too much for you.

You can dare to open your mouth about Jesus. You can dare to step up to that leadership role He's calling you to. You could dare to start that Christian group or Bible study, or prayer fellowship. You could dare to say "yes" to an assignment for the Lord that you've been saying "no" to. Why? Because the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:24, "The One who calls you will do it." And then Philippians 2:13 - "It is God who works in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure." God will give you the words. God will give you the insight. God will give you the plan. He'll give you the message. He'll give you the strength.

See, any true work for Christ is Christ doing the work through you, not you doing the work for Him. Through - that's the preposition that opens up your life to all kinds of powerful new possibilities. It only comes through you. Just be available.

There are a lot of meals I would have never eaten in a restaurant if it had been up to the waiter or the waitress to grow the food and prepare the food. But there was something they could do. They could deliver it. That's what Paul says we are; we're just "servants." The ones who deliver what God has prepared. That's what God's asking you to do - to deliver to hungry lives what He has prepared for them. Look, you could serve it couldn't you?

Job 11, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: YOUR FATHER KNOWS YOUR HEART - March 4, 2025

1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV) says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Those words were written for misfits and outcasts. God uses them all. Moses ran from justice, but God used him. Jonah ran from God, but God used him. Rahab ran a brothel, Lot ran with the wrong crowd, but God used them all.

And David? God saw a teenage boy serving him in the backwoods of Bethlehem. Human eyes saw a gangly teenager, smelling like sheep. Yet, “the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him; for this is the one'” (1 Samuel 16:12 NKJV). God saw what no one else saw: a God-seeking heart.

Others measure your waist size or wallet. Not God. He examines hearts. When he finds one set on him, he calls it and claims it. Your Father knows your heart, and because he does, he has a place reserved just for you.

Facing Your Giants: God Still Does the Impossible

Job 11

ZOPHAR’S COUNSEL

How Wisdom Looks from the Inside

1–6  11 Now it was the turn of Zophar from Naamath: “What a flood of words! Shouldn’t we put a stop to it?

Should this kind of loose talk be permitted?

Job, do you think you can carry on like this and we’ll say nothing?

That we’ll let you rail and mock and not step in?

You claim, ‘My doctrine is sound

and my conduct impeccable.’

How I wish God would give you a piece of his mind,

tell you what’s what!

I wish he’d show you how wisdom looks from the inside,

for true wisdom is mostly ‘inside.’

But you can be sure of this,

you haven’t gotten half of what you deserve.

7–12  “Do you think you can explain the mystery of God?

Do you think you can diagram God Almighty?

God is far higher than you can imagine,

far deeper than you can comprehend,

Stretching farther than earth’s horizons,

far wider than the endless ocean.

If he happens along, throws you in jail

then hauls you into court, can you do anything about it?

He sees through vain pretensions,

spots evil a long way off—

no one pulls the wool over his eyes!

Hollow men, hollow women, will wise up

about the same time mules learn to talk.

Reach Out to God

13–20  “Still, if you set your heart on God

and reach out to him,

If you scrub your hands of sin

and refuse to entertain evil in your home,

You’ll be able to face the world unashamed

and keep a firm grip on life, guiltless and fearless.

You’ll forget your troubles;

they’ll be like old, faded photographs.

Your world will be washed in sunshine,

every shadow dispersed by dayspring.

Full of hope, you’ll relax, confident again;

you’ll look around, sit back, and take it easy.

Expansive, without a care in the world,

you’ll be hunted out by many for your blessing.

But the wicked will see none of this.

They’re headed down a dead-end road

with nothing to look forward to—nothing.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Tuesday, March 04, 2025

by James Banks

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Acts 3:15-24

You no sooner killed the Author of Life than God raised him from the dead—and we’re the witnesses. Faith in Jesus’ name put this man, whose condition you know so well, on his feet—yes, faith and nothing but faith put this man healed and whole right before your eyes.

17–18  “And now, friends, I know you had no idea what you were doing when you killed Jesus, and neither did your leaders. But God, who through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that his Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfill his plans.

19–23  “Now it’s time to change your ways! Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you, and send you the Messiah he prepared for you, namely, Jesus. For the time being he must remain out of sight in heaven until everything is restored to order again just the way God, through the preaching of his holy prophets of old, said it would be. Moses, for instance, said, ‘Your God will raise up for you a prophet just like me from your family. Listen to every word he speaks to you. Every last living soul who refuses to listen to that prophet will be wiped out from the people.’

24–26  “All the prophets from Samuel on down said the same thing, said most emphatically that these days would come.

Today's Insights

In Acts 3:12-25, Peter preached the gospel to a crowd after healing a lame beggar. Regarding the people’s part in Jesus’ death, he said: “This is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer” (v. 18). These prophets included David (Psalm 69:4, 21), Isaiah (Isaiah 50:6; 53:4-11), and Zechariah (Zechariah 12:10; 13:7). In Psalm 22, David expresses words that Christ cries aloud from the cross (v. 1; see Matthew 27:46), His mistreatment (Psalm 22:6-8; see Matthew 27:27-31, 41-44), and the dividing of His garments (Psalm 22:18; Matthew 27:35). Peter’s words in Acts 3:17-18 are reminiscent of Joseph’s words to his brothers: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

Reading, Writing, and Jesus

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. Acts 3:15

Moses with horns? That’s the way he’s depicted in Michelangelo’s masterpiece sculpture completed in 1515. Two horns protrude from Moses’ hair just above his forehead.

Michelangelo wasn’t alone—many Renaissance and medieval artists depict Moses that way. Why? It has to do with the Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible available at the time, which described Moses’ radiant face after being in God’s presence (see Exodus 34:29). The original language uses a word related to “horns” to describe “beams” of light shining from Moses’ face, and the Latin Vulgate Bible translated it literally. Moses was “misread.”

Have you ever misread someone? After a man unable to walk from birth was healed by Peter in Jesus’ name (Acts 3:1-10), the apostle told his fellow Israelites that they had misread Jesus. “You killed the author of life,” he said pointedly, “but God raised him from the dead” (v. 15). He continued, “This is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer” (v. 18). Peter even said Moses had pointed to Christ (v. 22).

It was “by faith in the name of Jesus,” a “faith that comes through him,” that the man’s life was transformed (v. 16). No matter how we’ve misunderstood Him or what our past contains, Christ welcomes us when we turn to Him. The author of life stands ready to write new beginnings for us!

Reflect & Pray

How have you misread Jesus? What will help you understand Him even better today?

Thank You, Jesus, for always understanding and loving me.

For further study, read The Point of It All—Why We Might Miss Jesus.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Tuesday, March 04, 2025

Could This Be True of Me?

I consider my life worth nothing to me. — Acts 20:24

It’s easier to serve God without a calling than with one. It’s easier to be unbothered by his requirements and to let common sense be your guide—common sense with a thin veneer of Christian sentiment on top. If you choose to serve God in this way, you’ll be more successful and leisure-hearted. But if you have received the call, the memory of it will never let you be. Once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, it is impossible to continue working for the Lord on the basis of common sense.

What do you truly value? If you haven’t been gripped by Jesus, you value your own acts of service, your own offerings to God, your own life. You take on practical work in his name, not because you’ve been called to it but because you want to be appreciated by the people around you. “Look how useful I am,” you think. “Look how valuable.” Practical work often competes with abandoning yourself to God. Instead of letting Jesus Christ tell you where to go and what to do, you follow your own commonsense judgment about where you’ll be most valued.

The Holy Spirit warned Paul that “prison and hardships” awaited him, should he choose to follow Jesus Christ (Acts 20:23). Acts 20:24 reveals Paul’s almost sublime annoyance at the idea that he would consider himself. His own life, he says, is worth nothing to him. The only thing that matters to him is fulfilling the ministry he’s been given, and he refuses to use his energy for anything else. He is absolutely indifferent to anything except completing the Lord’s task.

Never consider whether you are useful. Ever consider that you belong not to yourself but to him.

Numbers 31-33; Mark 9:1-29

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.

The Place of Help, 1005 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Tuesday, March 04, 2025

WHY AMAZING GRACE IS AMAZING - #9952

There are lots of people digging into their family tree these days. In fact, we've done some of our own. A lot of digging around to find out where your roots are. You know, where my grandfather came from and my great grandfather, and which king or famous person I'm descended from. Of course I would be descended from someone famous, right?

Some people do find out that they are related to royalty, and then other people find out some embarrassment in their family tree - the old horse thief, you know, that they'd rather not talk about. For 2,000 years God has been developing and protecting a line for His Son to come through, and there are in that family tree some eyebrow raisers.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Amazing Grace is Amazing."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God actually comes right out of the Christmas Story. It's the story of God coming to earth really and it's found in Matthew 1. Now, you may or may not be aware that the story of God coming to earth actually begins with a genealogy; a list of Jesus' family tree. God's been preparing this line for the Messiah; it's the most special family tree in the history of planet earth. He goes down a long list of names that starts here with Abraham, works its way on down, and I'll just read a couple of them to you.

"Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth," etc. You probably don't want to hear a whole lot more of that. But all of a sudden you stop and your eye goes back and you say, "Rahab? What's she doing in Jesus' family tree?" Now, in most of this genealogy only the father is mentioned. It's only in rare cases where God wants to make a special point of it that He includes the mother. Why Rahab?

Now, if you remember your Old Testament a little bit, some years before, the Israelites were preparing to conquer the land of Canaan. God sent in a couple of spies and they went to the city of Jericho and they found one home where they were taken in to hide, and it turned out it was the home of Rahab - the prostitute. She turned out to be the prostitute who gave herself to the Jewish God for the rest of her life.

But these aren't the kind of people you talk about in your family tree - these are the ones you cover up. This isn't the king! And yet God makes it a point to include her. You see, there's a hidden message here. A message that Jesus is for people who know they need forgiving and who know that God's grace has no limits. God doesn't use the word deserve when it comes to salvation and a relationship with Him. None of us deserves to be in His family tree. It's not just Rahab that's a surprise - what is Ron Hutchcraft doing in God's family? What are you doing there?

We're sinners who must always find grace to be "Amazing grace - how sweet the sound." The hymn says, "I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how He could love me...a sinner condemned, unclean." I hope today you still find God's grace amazing, and that you haven't been around so long that you think you belong in God's family because you deserve it. There is no one listening today who cannot be forgiven by Him. After all, Rahab was. And there is no person who doesn't still need His amazing grace today.

But maybe you've never experienced that grace for yourself. Oh, you've heard that song a lot of times - Amazing Grace. It says, "I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see." But today, how appropriate. The God who will forgive all those who come to Him, holds out His hand to you and says, "Grab My hand, my child." His Son died to pay the penalty that you deserve. And God can be a forgiver because of the death of His Son on a cross. And, because His Son walked out of His grave under His own power, what began in a manger ended on a cross, and culminated with a resurrection and becomes personal for you when you let this Jesus be the forgiver of your sins.

That's the day you're welcomed into His family. Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I want You to be my personal Savior from my personal sin."

Go to our website and find out there how you can be sure you belong to Him. Just go to ANewStory.com. Because the story of Rahab tells us that there is no one who He will not welcome into the family of God.

Matthew 9:1-17 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: FOCUS ON GOD - March 3, 2025

God called David a “man after his own heart.” One might read his story and wonder what God saw in him. He fell as often as he stood. He stared down Goliath, yet ogled at Bathsheba. He could lead armies but couldn’t manage a family. Raging David. Weeping David. Bloodthirsty. God-hungry. Eight wives. One God. A man after God’s own heart? That God saw him as such gives hope to us all.

Straight-A souls find David’s story disappointing. But we need David’s story, most of us do. Giants lurk in our neighborhoods. Giants of rejection and failure and revenge. Giants. We must face them, yet we need not face them alone. Focus on God. The times David did, giants fell. The days he didn’t, David did. Lift your eyes, giant-slayer! The God who made a miracle out of David stands ready to make one out of you.

Facing Your Giants: God Still Does the Impossible

Matthew 9:1-17

Who Needs a Doctor?

1–3  9 Back in the boat, Jesus and the disciples recrossed the sea to Jesus’ hometown. They were hardly out of the boat when some men carried a paraplegic on a stretcher and set him down in front of them. Jesus, impressed by their bold belief, said to the paraplegic, “Cheer up, son. I forgive your sins.” Some religion scholars whispered, “Why, that’s blasphemy!”

4–8  Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why this gossipy whispering? Which do you think is simpler: to say, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or, ‘Get up and walk’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both.…” At this he turned to the paraplegic and said, “Get up. Take your bed and go home.” And the man did it. The crowd was awestruck, amazed and pleased that God had authorized Jesus to work among them this way.

9  Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” Matthew stood up and followed him.

10–11  Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?”

12–13  Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

Kingdom Come

14  A little later John’s followers approached, asking, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees rigorously discipline body and spirit by fasting, but your followers don’t?”

15  Jesus told them, “When you’re celebrating a wedding, you don’t skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but not now. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!”

16–17  He went on, “No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put your wine in cracked bottles.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, March 03, 2025

by Xochitl Dixon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Luke 10:27-37

 He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”

28  “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

29  Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”

30–32  Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

33–35  “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’

36  “What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”

37  “The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Today's Insights

Luke 10:27-37 features one of Jesus’ more widely known parables—the Good Samaritan. What makes it so remarkable is that Samaritans were outcasts. As a result of Assyria’s invasion of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the Israelites intermarried with Assyrians, resulting in this mixed-race people. Though hated by the Jews, Samaritans were clearly people Christ cared about, as seen not only in this parable but also in John 4:1-42 in His encounters with a Samaritan woman and in Luke 17:11-19 with a Samaritan leper. God’s care for the Samaritans is just one example of the comprehensive nature of His love described in John 3:16.

Extending God’s Love

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:37

One winter day in Michigan, a delivery man noticed an elderly woman shoveling snow off her driveway. He stopped and convinced the eighty-one-year-old to let him finish the job. Concerned that he’d be late delivering his other packages, she retrieved another shovel. They worked side by side for almost fifteen minutes as her neighbors watched from afar. “I’m thankful you helped me,” she said. “You’re God-sent.”

During a conversation with an expert in the law, Jesus redefined the concept of loving our neighbors (Luke 10:25-37). When Jesus asked him to interpret the law he knew so well, the expert said, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (v. 27).

Then Jesus shared a story about two religious leaders who ignored a robbery victim. But a Samaritan—a person most Jewish leaders in those days considered inferior—sacrificed to help the man in need (vv. 30-35). When the expert of the law realized that the one who had mercy on the man had loved like a neighbor, Jesus encouraged him to do likewise (vv. 36-37).

Loving others isn’t always easy or convenient. But as Jesus overwhelms us with His love, He’ll help us love all our neighbors like the Good Samaritan did.

Reflect & Pray

How has God shown you His love through an unexpected neighbor? Who can you show God’s love to in a practical way this week?

Dear Jesus, please give me opportunities to love all the people You created and who call my neighbors.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, March 03, 2025

The Unrelieved Quest

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” — John 21:17

This is love in the making: Peter, having confessed how deeply he loves Jesus, is told to add action to emotion and feed God’s sheep. The love of God was not created; love is God’s very nature. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we are united with God so that his love is manifested in us. But this isn’t the end of the story. The ultimate goal is that we may be one with the Father as Jesus is. “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:11). What kind of oneness is this? Such a oneness that the Father’s purpose for the Son becomes the Son’s purpose for us: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (20:21).

After Peter recognized the depth of his love for Jesus, Jesus made his point: Spend it. Don’t declare how much you love me. Don’t testify about the marvelous revelation you’ve had. “Feed my sheep.” This is a challenging request, because Jesus has some extraordinarily funny sheep! Bedraggled, dirty sheep; awkward, headbutting sheep; sheep that have gone astray (Luke 15:3–7). God’s love pays no attention to such quirks and differences. If I love my Lord, I have no business being guided by personal preference. I simply have to feed his sheep. There is no relief and no release from this part of the call.

Beware of letting your natural human sympathy decide which sheep you’ll feed. You are called to spend God’s love, not pass off a counterfeit version of it. That would end in blaspheming the love of God.

Numbers 28-30; Mark 8:22-38

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own.

Conformed to His Image, 381 L

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, March 03, 2025

THE BEST PART OF WAKING UP - #9951

So, our whole family had to go for blood tests. It was time to check everyone's cholesterol levels, we were told. Now, as our son's blood was being drawn, he suddenly said, "I'm feeling a little weak." Well, that's unusual, because this son was probably the strongest member of the family.

But this actually had to do with chemistry not strength, and he proceeded to suddenly go limp and then he passed out. When he came to just a few moments later, his first words were of course, "What happened?" He later said that all he remembered was his eyes opening and seeing a mother's concerned face. Yep, there was Mom!

And then that made him think back to a post-operative situation he had had once. Right after surgery he was in the recovery room and he said, "All I remember is opening my eyes and seeing this really old nurse." Well, it's kind of funny how strong those like just waking up impressions are.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Best Part of Waking Up."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 17, and I'm going to be reading verse 15. David says, "And I - in righteousness I will see Your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness." Now, I think he's talking primarily here about physical resurrection after he dies. You know, "After I die, I'm looking forward to seeing You." But this can also be applied to a lifestyle like this - waking up and seeing His likeness.

There's a coffee company, you might remember, that had a commercial that said, "The best part of waking up is...in your cup." You know? We don't do commercials. Well, rather than their kind of coffee in your cup, I'd like to rewrite that a little bit. The best part of waking up is Jesus in your room. That's what David's saying, "I'm satisfied when I wake up with seeing Your likeness."

The early moments of your day kind of set the tone for the day. Is it going to be a stress day, is it going to be a worry day, a dirty day, a negative day, a go-for-it day? So much depends on whether or not you consciously spend your waking moments with Jesus. And let me tell you, that takes discipline. As soon as you've got any control of your thoughts, you come out of that fog and you're starting to be able to think, that's the time, before anything else, to acknowledge Jesus. "Lord, You're here aren't You? Lord, I'm Yours." And in those groggy, getting up and getting ready moments, talk to Him; thank Him for something from yesterday, turn over to Him whatever you know will tend to be dominating your day today.

Isaiah put it this way, "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You." In the morning it's like 20 different characters are trying to get on center stage in your head, including the devil probably. The night before, make the choice that Jesus Christ is going to be the only one on center stage in the beginning of your day, the beginning of your morning. "Seek first the kingdom of God." Remember that? Maybe that includes seeking Him before you talk with or think about anyone else. Don't check your emails, don't turn on the television, and don't answer the phone. Get up early if you have to, but don't be in anybody else's presence until you've been in His. Seek Him first in your day, in those early groggy moments.

That Jesus focus can set your course for the whole day. And after a day begun with the Lord of the universe, you're ready for anything.

See, the best part of waking up? Yep, it's waking up to Jesus.

Job 10, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: The Economy of Heaven

“A crown is being held for . . . all those who have waited with love for him to come again.” 2 Timothy 4:8

We understand that in the economy of earth, there are a limited number of crowns.

The economy of heaven, however, is refreshingly different. Heavenly rewards are not limited to a chosen few, but “to all those who have waited with love for him to come again.” The three-letter word all is a gem. The winner’s circle isn’t reserved for a handful of the elite but for a heaven full of God’s children.

Job 10

To Find Some Skeleton in My Closet

1  10 “I can’t stand my life—I hate it!

I’m putting it all out on the table,

all the bitterness of my life—I’m holding back nothing.”

2–7  Job prayed:

“Here’s what I want to say:

Don’t, God, bring in a verdict of guilty

without letting me know the charges you’re bringing.

How does this fit into what you once called ‘good’—

giving me a hard time, spurning me,

a life you shaped by your very own hands,

and then blessing the plots of the wicked?

You don’t look at things the way we mortals do.

You’re not taken in by appearances, are you?

Unlike us, you’re not working against a deadline.

You have all eternity to work things out.

So what’s this all about, anyway—this compulsion

to dig up some dirt, to find some skeleton in my closet?

You know good and well I’m not guilty.

You also know no one can help me.

8–12  “You made me like a handcrafted piece of pottery—

and now are you going to smash me to pieces?

Don’t you remember how beautifully you worked my clay?

Will you reduce me now to a mud pie?

Oh, that marvel of conception as you stirred together

semen and ovum—

What a miracle of skin and bone,

muscle and brain!

You gave me life itself, and incredible love.

You watched and guarded every breath I took.

13–17  “But you never told me about this part.

I should have known that there was more to it—

That if I so much as missed a step, you’d notice and pounce,

wouldn’t let me get by with a thing.

If I’m truly guilty, I’m doomed.

But if I’m innocent, it’s no better—I’m still doomed.

My belly is full of bitterness.

I’m up to my ears in a swamp of affliction.

I try to make the best of it, try to brave it out,

but you’re too much for me,

relentless, like a lion on the prowl.

You line up fresh witnesses against me.

You compound your anger

and pile on the grief and pain!

18–22  “So why did you have me born?

I wish no one had ever laid eyes on me!

I wish I’d never lived—a stillborn,

buried without ever having breathed.

Isn’t it time to call it quits on my life?

Can’t you let up, and let me smile just once

Before I die and am buried,

before I’m nailed into my coffin, sealed in the ground,

And banished for good to the land of the dead,

blind in the final dark?”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, March 02, 2025

by Bill Crowder

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 32:1-7

 Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—

you get a fresh start,

your slate’s wiped clean.

2  Count yourself lucky—

God holds nothing against you

and you’re holding nothing back from him.

3  When I kept it all inside,

my bones turned to powder,

my words became daylong groans.

4  The pressure never let up;

all the juices of my life dried up.

5  Then I let it all out;

I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.”

Suddenly the pressure was gone—

my guilt dissolved,

my sin disappeared.

6  These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;

when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts

we’ll be on high ground, untouched.

7  God’s my island hideaway,

keeps danger far from the shore,

throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.

Today's Insights

Psalm 32 has traditionally been classified as one of seven penitential (repentant) psalms. Other psalms in this category are Psalms 6, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. In Psalm 32, the psalmist acknowledges the serious impact of unconfessed sin on the body: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. . . . My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer” (vv. 3-4). This emphasis on the impact of sin on our bodies can be found in other psalms of repentance. In Psalm 38, for example, we read, “Because of your wrath there is no health in my body” (v. 3). The focus in Psalm 32, however, is the joy and peace to be found for all who turn to God for forgiveness (vv. 1-2, 5).

Learn the true meaning of Biblical peace

Jesus—Our Place of Rest

Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29

In 1943, a camp in rural Maryland called Shangri-La was purchased as a retreat for US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Rustic, quiet, and remote, it provided “an opportunity for solitude and tranquility,” according to the White House website, “as well as an ideal place to work and host foreign leaders.” When Dwight Eisenhower became president, he renamed this retreat Camp David in honor of his father and his grandson, and the name stuck. Aside from increased security measures, there has been very little modernizing of the camp. It remains the perfect place for US presidents and their families to escape and rest.

Believers in Jesus also have a retreat where we can find rest in the midst of our turbulent world. In Psalm 32:7, King David wrote, “You [God] are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” David recognized that God was his true place of safety.

Jesus welcomes us to find rest and restoration in Him. He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).

He can be our place of rest any time, every time, and all the time.

Reflect & Pray

What robs you of peace and rest? How might you seek to find rest in Jesus?

Loving God, I’m tired. This world is tough, and sometimes I feel like the very life is drained from me. Please help me to be more intentional about coming to You and finding rest in Your gracious presence.

Discover how prayer can give you peace and rest.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, March 02, 2025

Have You Felt the Hurt of the Lord?

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, … you know that I love you.” — John 21:17

Have you ever felt the hurt of the Lord in the very center of your being—the place where your real sensitivity lies? The devil never hurts us there. Sin never hurts us there. Human emotion never hurts us there. Nothing gets through to this place but the word of God.

A third time Jesus asked if Peter loved him. Peter was hurt because he was waking up to an amazing fact: he did love Jesus, all the way through to the core of his being. Peter had begun to see what Jesus’s patient, repeated questioning meant. It meant that Peter no longer belonged to himself. It meant that, for Peter, there was no one in heaven above or on earth below except Jesus Christ. It meant that Peter could never delude himself again. It was a revelation to Peter to realize how much he truly did love the Lord, and with amazement he said, “You know that I love you.”

How skillful, patient, and direct was Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord’s questions always reveal us to ourselves, but he never asks until the right time. Peter did not know how much he loved Jesus until the patient, painful questions came. Probably once in each of our lives, the Lord backs us into a corner and hurts us with this probing question, until we realize that we do love him, far more deeply than any mere declaration can tell.

Numbers 26-27; Mark 8:1-21

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Jesus Christ can afford to be misunderstood; we cannot. Our weakness lies in always wanting to vindicate ourselves.

The Place of Help

Job 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Because of What He Did

Few things can weary you more than the fast pace of the human race.  Too many sprints for success. Too many days of doing whatever it takes eventually take their toll.  You’re left gasping for air, holding your sides on the side of the track. You’re asking yourself, “When I get what I want, will it be worth the price I paid?”

It’s this weariness that makes the words of Jesus so compelling. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).

Come to Me.  Why Him?  He offers the invitation as a penniless rabbi in an oppressed nation.  He has no political office.  He hasn’t written a best-seller or earned a diploma.  Yet they called Him Lord. They called Him Savior. Not so much because of what He said, but because of what He did. What He did—on the Cross!  He did it for the weary people of this world.

from Six Hours One Friday

Job 9

JOB CONTINUES

How Can Mere Mortals Get Right with God?

1–13  9 Job continued by saying:

“So what’s new? I know all this.

The question is, ‘How can mere mortals get right with God?’

If we wanted to bring our case before him,

what chance would we have? Not one in a thousand!

God’s wisdom is so deep, God’s power so immense,

who could take him on and come out in one piece?

He moves mountains before they know what’s happened,

flips them on their heads on a whim.

He gives the earth a good shaking up,

rocks it down to its very foundations.

He tells the sun, ‘Don’t shine,’ and it doesn’t;

he pulls the blinds on the stars.

All by himself he stretches out the heavens

and strides on the waves of the sea.

He designed the Big Dipper and Orion,

the Pleiades and Alpha Centauri.

We’ll never comprehend all the great things he does;

his miracle-surprises can’t be counted.

Somehow, though he moves right in front of me, I don’t see him;

quietly but surely he’s active, and I miss it.

If he steals you blind, who can stop him?

Who’s going to say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’

God doesn’t hold back on his anger;

even dragon-bred monsters cringe before him.

14–20  “So how could I ever argue with him,

construct a defense that would influence God?

Even though I’m innocent I could never prove it;

I can only throw myself on the Judge’s mercy.

If I called on God and he himself answered me,

then, and only then, would I believe that he’d heard me.

As it is, he knocks me about from pillar to post,

beating me up, black-and-blue, for no good reason.

He won’t even let me catch my breath,

piles bitterness upon bitterness.

If it’s a question of who’s stronger, he wins, hands down!

If it’s a question of justice, who’ll serve him the subpoena?

Even though innocent, anything I say incriminates me;

blameless as I am, my defense just makes me sound worse.

If God’s Not Responsible, Who Is?

21–24  “Believe me, I’m blameless.

I don’t understand what’s going on.

I hate my life!

Since either way it ends up the same, I can only conclude

that God destroys the good right along with the bad.

When calamity hits and brings sudden death,

he folds his arms, aloof from the despair of the innocent.

He lets the wicked take over running the world,

he installs judges who can’t tell right from wrong.

If he’s not responsible, who is?

25–31  “My time is short—what’s left of my life races off

too fast for me to even glimpse the good.

My life is going fast, like a ship under full sail,

like an eagle plummeting to its prey.

Even if I say, ‘I’ll put all this behind me,

I’ll look on the bright side and force a smile,’

All these troubles would still be like grit in my gut

since it’s clear you’re not going to let up.

The verdict has already been handed down—‘Guilty!’—

so what’s the use of protests or appeals?

Even if I scrub myself all over

and wash myself with the strongest soap I can find,

It wouldn’t last—you’d push me into a pigpen, or worse,

so nobody could stand me for the stink.

32–35  “God and I are not equals; I can’t bring a case against him.

We’ll never enter a courtroom as peers.

How I wish we had an arbitrator

to step in and let me get on with life—

To break God’s death grip on me,

to free me from this terror so I could breathe again.

Then I’d speak up and state my case boldly.

As things stand, there is no way I can do it.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, March 01, 2025

by Dave Branon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

2 Timothy 3:14-16

But don’t let it faze you. Stick with what you learned and believed, sure of the integrity of your teachers—why, you took in the sacred Scriptures with your mother’s milk! There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.

Today's Insights

The inspiration of the Scriptures is an astonishing concept to consider. God, in His matchless wisdom, breathed out the words of the Bible by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17; see Matthew 22:43) while utilizing the personalities, experiences, and even vocabularies of the individual writers. Over a span of about fifteen hundred years, God used forty different writers to produce a book that has a single and clearly coherent message: God’s love and rescue of His lost and broken creation. More specifically, that message focuses on the rescuer, Jesus Himself. The Old Testament points to and prepares the way for Him, and the New Testament explains His person and work. The Bible is so much more than a collection of sixty-six random books of religious history. It’s a cohesive message of redeeming grace, accomplished through Christ.

Discover the full story of the Bible.

Understanding the Bible

The word of God is alive and active. . . . [It] judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

How important is the Bible? It’s so vital that people in many countries risk their lives to translate it into their native languages. Often, these are ordinary believers in Jesus who face arrest for translating the words of Scripture into a heart language others can understand.

One female translator from a country hostile to believers in Jesus said, “I must complete this work. I want to see my beloved ones experience salvation in Christ.” And a man who organizes regular citizens to clandestinely translate Scripture explains that the Bible is essential to growing mature believers in local churches: “You can start a church, but . . . [without] the Bible in its heart language, it will typically only last one generation.”

Why are they doing this? Because there’s no other book like the Bible. Its preservation through the centuries is unique. Its authenticity and its representation of the human heart is accurate. It’s “alive and active . . . [and] judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). And “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), inspired by Him. And most important, it reveals the source and reality of “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (v. 15).

Let’s read, cherish, and live by the Scriptures. And as God provides, let’s help those around the world receive it and understand it.

Reflect & Pray

What’s your favorite aspect of the Bible? How can you help others understand it better?

Dear God, thank You for the Scriptures and for the privilege of sharing them with others.

For further study, read The Hard Task of Reading Well.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, March 01, 2025

The Piercing Question

Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” — John 21:17

No sin can pierce us as deeply as the question Jesus asks of Simon Peter: “Do you love me?” Sin dulls feelings; the word of God intensifies them. When Jesus asks if we love him, the feelings brought up by his question are so intense they hurt. Do we love him? Or are we fooling ourselves?

It is impossible to be casual when Jesus asks this question. Peter’s early love for Jesus was temperamental, professed in the whim of a moment and a mood. He loved Jesus on a purely natural level, in the way any person loves another who is good. It took the hurt of Jesus’s question for Peter to realize that true love never merely professes anything: it pierces straight to the core of our personality, directing not only our words but everything we do.

Unless we get hurt right out of deceiving ourselves, the word of God isn’t having its way with us. His word is sharp: “sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow” (Hebrews 4:12). Jesus’s question strikes against all our illusions, reaching past our selfish individuality into the very center of our being—a terribly painful thing. But to be hurt like this by Jesus is the most exquisite hurt imaginable. It stings away every delusion and doubt, every selfish thought and worry.

When the Lord sends the hurt of his word to his child, there is no mistaking it. But the point of the hurt is the great point of revelation: it reveals to us how we truly feel about our Lord. “Lord,” said Peter, “you know that I love you” (John 21:17).

Numbers 23-25; Mark 7:14-37

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching; it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something.

The Love of God—The Ministry of the Unnoticed, 664 L 

Job 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: AS IF UPON KNEES - February 28, 2025

Unceasing prayer may sound complicated, but it needn’t be that way. Do this: think of prayer less as an activity for God and more as an awareness of God. Seek to live in uninterrupted awareness. As you stand in line to register your car, think, “Thank you, Lord, for being here.” In the grocery store as you shop, think, “Your presence, my King, I welcome.” As you wash the dishes, worship your Maker.

Brother Lawrence called himself the “lord of all pots and pans.” He wrote: The time of busyness does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon knees at the blessed sacrament.

So talk to God, always.

Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions

Job 8

BILDAD’S RESPONSE

Does God Mess Up?

1–7  8 Bildad from Shuhah was next to speak:

“How can you keep on talking like this?

You’re talking nonsense, and noisy nonsense at that.

Does God mess up?

Does God Almighty ever get things backward?

It’s plain that your children sinned against him—

otherwise, why would God have punished them?

Here’s what you must do—and don’t put it off any longer:

Get down on your knees before God Almighty.

If you’re as innocent and upright as you say,

it’s not too late—he’ll come running;

he’ll set everything right again, reestablish your fortunes.

Even though you’re not much right now,

you’ll end up better than ever.

To Hang Your Life from One Thin Thread

8–19  “Put the question to our ancestors,

study what they learned from their ancestors.

For we’re newcomers at this, with a lot to learn,

and not too long to learn it.

So why not let the ancients teach you, tell you what’s what,

instruct you in what they knew from experience?

Can mighty pine trees grow tall without soil?

Can luscious tomatoes flourish without water?

Blossoming flowers look great before they’re cut or picked,

but without soil or water they wither more quickly than grass.

That’s what happens to all who forget God—

all their hopes come to nothing.

They hang their life from one thin thread,

they hitch their fate to a spider web.

One jiggle and the thread breaks,

one jab and the web collapses.

Or they’re like weeds springing up in the sunshine,

invading the garden,

Spreading everywhere, overtaking the flowers,

getting a foothold even in the rocks.

But when the gardener rips them out by the roots,

the garden doesn’t miss them one bit.

The sooner the godless are gone, the better;

then good plants can grow in their place.

20–22  “There’s no way that God will reject a good person,

and there is no way he’ll help a bad one.

God will let you laugh again;

you’ll raise the roof with shouts of joy,

With your enemies thoroughly discredited,

their house of cards collapsed.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, February 28, 2025

by Patricia Raybon

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

Colossians 3:8-17

But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.

9–11  Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.

12–14  So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

15–17  Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

Today's Insights

Paul wrote to the Colossian church to correct false teaching about Jesus and to instruct us how to live “worthy of the Lord”—fruitful and faithful lives that “please him in every way” (1:10). The apostle emphasizes the supremacy of Christ in creation, redemption, and the church (chs. 1-2). He then calls for Jesus to be supreme in their lives (chs. 3-4). Using the metaphors of putting on and taking off clothes, Paul says to live a transformed life—a Christlike life reflecting His character (3:1-17). The apostle lists various sins that believers must “put to death” (v. 5): “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed . . . anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language” (vv. 5, 8). Then he instructs believers to replace them with the Christ-honoring virtues of “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (v. 12). We’re to “bear with each other and forgive one another” (v. 13) and envelop everything in love (v. 14).

Peace of Christ

As members of one body you were called to peace. Colossians 3:1

Would they win by arguing? Never, a small-town leader warned residents in Adirondack Park, where a pitched battle between environmentalists and small-business owners ignited the “Adirondack Wars.” The name described their fight whether to save the area’s pristine wilderness in Upstate New York or develop it.

“Go back wherever you came from!” a local leader had shouted at an environmentalist. But soon a new message emerged: “Don’t yell at each other. Try to talk to each other.” A Common Ground Alliance was formed to build bridges between warring factions. Civic dialogue led to progress—with nearly a million acres of wild land protected even as Adirondack towns grew more prosperous than they’d been in twenty years.

Peaceful coexistence is a start, but Paul taught something even better. To the new believers in Colossae, he said, “Rid yourselves of . . . anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” (Colossians 3:8). Paul urged them to exchange their old ways for a new nature in Christ: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” he wrote (v. 12).

The invitation is offered today to all believers: surrender our old, cantankerous lives to new life in Christ. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace” (v. 15). Then, in our peace, the world will see Jesus.

Reflect & Pray

Whom could you forgive today? With whom can you make peace?

Dear God, when my old life erupts in anger, please grant me new peace in You.

Discover more on the healing power of forgiveness.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, February 28, 2025

Do You Now Believe?

Now we can see that you know all things … This makes us believe. — John 16:30-31

When the disciples finally told Jesus that they believed he was the Son of God, Jesus replied with skepticism: “Do you now believe? … You will leave me all alone” (John 16:31–32). Many Christians leave Jesus alone as they go about their work. They’re motivated by their conscience or a sense of duty, but their souls aren’t in intimate contact with their Lord; they’re leaning on their own understanding. It isn’t a sin to work for God in this way, and there’s no punishment attached to it, but when we catch ourselves acting like this, when we realize we’ve grown distant from Jesus and produced confusion and sadness for ourselves, we come back to him with shame and contrition.

We need to learn to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper level, to get into the habit of steadily referring everything back to him. We make decisions based on common sense, then ask God to bless those decisions. He cannot. Common sense is not in God’s domain; it is severed from divine reality. Common sense tells us that duty and moral obligation should be our guides. “I must do this; conscience compels me,” we say, haughtily. A decision based on common sense can always be backed up by an argument like this. But when we do something purely out of obedience to the Lord, no commonsense argument is possible. That’s why obedience is so easy to ridicule.

If we don’t want to leave Jesus alone, we must be willing to be ridiculed for his sake. We aren’t told to walk in the light of conscience or of duty; we’re told to walk in the light as God is in the light (1 John 1:7).

Numbers 20-22; Mark 7:1-13

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

Friday, February 28, 2025

EARTHQUAKE HOPE - #9950

Stranded on the highest mountain on earth. Or buried beneath the rubble of a shattered hotel.

After the earthquake that rocked that mountain kingdom of Nepal, thousands of people lost their lives. Many more found their world, their homes, actually their lives wiped away.

There were some who survived the quake, but they faced the prospect of dying in the aftermath. Like those climbers on Mt. Everest, trapped on the mountain by massive avalanches. Or that 27-year-old man, lying amidst the stench of dead bodies, trapped for 82 hours under mountains of concrete.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Earthquake Hope."

One six-letter word. That was the difference between life and death for the men on the mountain and the man in the rubble.

Rescue. That's the "hope" word that we keep hearing in the heartbreaking news from great disasters all over the world.

In this one, 18 climbers died when part of Everest collapsed on their base camp. There were 140 surviving climbers, but when they tried to go down through the escape route, it was impossibly blocked by fallen rocks. And as time passed, their food was running out; their water was running out.

And then the choppers came. One after another they landed somehow on that mountain, saved those climbers, taking out two at a time.

Then there was young Rishi. He was running out of hope, he was running out of life. Beneath that collapsed hotel. Then, after ten hours of digging through concrete, the rescuers broke through. Rishi is alive...the climbers were alive...because the rescuers came.

Hope in Nepal depended on - as it is in so many disasters - a rescuer from above.

And that's where the news intersects my life and yours. Because hope for me depended on a rescuer from above. At the spiritual crossroads of my life.

I was trapped in a place where I would have died. Except my Rescuer came. His name is Jesus. The One called "Savior" by millions of people around the world. That's Savior as in Rescuer.

In fact, the Bible says in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 1:3, "Jesus gave His life for our sins...in order to rescue us." Not to start a religion. Not to be an example or a teacher. But to rescue us. So, it isn't about a religion, called Christianity, it's about a rescuer named Jesus. He came to rescue us at the cost of His life.

Because I - and a world of folks like me - was facing spiritual death for dethroning God in my life. Letting Him run the universe while I ran me. His Book makes the outcome of those sinful choices, unmistakable. It says, "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:3). Here, a life without meaning. Hereafter, an eternity without hope.

But, thank God, the Rescuer came! From above. To a cross. To die for my sin and yours so we don't have to. Amazingly, in the words of Galatians 2:20 in the Bible, "He loved me and gave Himself for me." First person singular. The death of Christ on the cross for my sins.

Then He blasted out of His grave three days later. To reach into my rubble. To reach into your rubble. To save us from certain spiritual death.

If you're ready to make The Rescuer your personal Rescuer from your sin, if you want to begin this life-saving, eternity-changing relationship with Jesus, I invite you to tell Him right now, "Jesus, I'm yours." And go to our website where you can get this confirmed and be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.

There was a day that Jesus reached for me. This may be the day He is reaching for you. Would you grab His nail-scarred hand, my friend? You will be safe. Forever.