Max Lucado Daily: TO BE NEAR YOU - April 9, 2025
John 1:14 (MSG) says, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”
Let’s begin where the earthly ministry of Jesus began—in the womb of Mary. The God of the universe, for a time, kicked against the wall of that womb. He was born in the poverty of a peasant, spent his first night in the feed trough of a cow. He didn’t have to, did he? Jesus could have become a voice—a voice in the air. Jesus could have become a message—a message in the night. Jesus could have become a light—a light in the night. But he became flesh. Why?
Jesus came to be near you. And any concerns you might have about his power and love were removed from the discussion the moment he became flesh and entered the world. What a beginning. What an entrance. And what a moment.
Jesus, the God Who Knows Your Name
Job 36
Those Who Learn from Their Suffering
1–4 36 Here Elihu took a deep breath, but kept going:
“Stay with me a little longer. I’ll convince you.
There’s still more to be said on God’s side.
I learned all this firsthand from the Source;
everything I know about justice I owe to my Maker himself.
Trust me, I’m giving you undiluted truth;
believe me, I know these things inside and out.
5–15 “It’s true that God is all-powerful,
but he doesn’t bully innocent people.
For the wicked, though, it’s a different story—
he doesn’t give them the time of day,
but champions the rights of their victims.
He never takes his eyes off the righteous;
he honors them lavishly, promotes them endlessly.
When things go badly,
when affliction and suffering descend,
God tells them where they’ve gone wrong,
shows them how their pride has caused their trouble.
He forces them to heed his warning,
tells them they must repent of their bad life.
If they obey and serve him,
they’ll have a good, long life on easy street.
But if they disobey, they’ll be cut down in their prime
and never know the first thing about life.
Angry people without God pile grievance upon grievance,
always blaming others for their troubles.
Living it up in sexual excesses,
virility wasted, they die young.
But those who learn from their suffering,
God delivers from their suffering.
Obsessed with Putting the Blame on God
16–21 “Oh, Job, don’t you see how God’s wooing you
from the jaws of danger?
How he’s drawing you into wide-open places—
inviting you to feast at a table laden with blessings?
And here you are laden with the guilt of the wicked,
obsessed with putting the blame on God!
Don’t let your great riches mislead you;
don’t think you can bribe your way out of this.
Did you plan to buy your way out of this?
Not on your life!
And don’t think that night,
when people sleep off their troubles,
will bring you any relief.
Above all, don’t make things worse with more evil—
that’s what’s behind your suffering as it is!
22–25 “Do you have any idea how powerful God is?
Have you ever heard of a teacher like him?
Has anyone ever had to tell him what to do,
or correct him, saying, ‘You did that all wrong!’?
Remember, then, to praise his workmanship,
which is so often celebrated in song.
Everybody sees it;
nobody is too far away to see it.
No One Can Escape from God
26 “Take a long, hard look. See how great he is—infinite,
greater than anything you could ever imagine or figure out!
27–33 “He pulls water up out of the sea,
distills it, and fills up his rain-cloud cisterns.
Then the skies open up
and pour out soaking showers on everyone.
Does anyone have the slightest idea how this happens?
How he arranges the clouds, how he speaks in thunder?
Just look at that lightning, his sky-filling light show
illumining the dark depths of the sea!
These are the symbols of his sovereignty,
his generosity, his loving care.
He hurls arrows of light,
taking sure and accurate aim.
The High God roars in the thunder,
angry against evil.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, April 09, 2025
by Amy Boucher Pye
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Isaiah 43:18-25
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.
22–24 “But you didn’t pay a bit of attention to me, Jacob.
You so quickly tired of me, Israel.
You wouldn’t even bring sheep for offerings in worship.
You couldn’t be bothered with sacrifices.
It wasn’t that I asked that much from you.
I didn’t expect expensive presents.
But you didn’t even do the minimum—
so stingy with me, so closefisted.
Yet you haven’t been stingy with your sins.
You’ve been plenty generous with them—and I’m fed up.
25 “But I, yes I, am the one
who takes care of your sins—that’s what I do.
I don’t keep a list of your sins.
Today's Insights
In Isaiah 43:22-24, God grieves His people’s failure to turn from their sins; yet He offers hope. He’s a loving God who forgives. He alone can blot out sins (v. 25). He’s the one who “forgives all [our] sins” and “redeems [our] life from the pit” (Psalm 103:3-4). “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (vv. 11-12). Jesus accomplished this once and for all through His sacrificial death on the cross. Now “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43). John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just” to forgive and make us clean (1 John 1:9). Finally, when we trust in Jesus, God “remembers [our] sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25).
Forgetting Our Sins
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake. Isaiah 43:25
Julie and her husband felt sadness and regret when they learned that their daughter had been shoplifting. But with God’s help, when she came to them weighed down with sorrow, they forgave her—and they helped her make restitution and receive counseling. Some months after the revelation, when their daughter made an offhand comment about how they might not trust her anymore, Julie wondered, What does she mean? She didn’t immediately think about her daughter’s offense because God had removed the sting of it from her mind. She had decided not to dwell in the past but had asked God to help her forgive.
In that moment, God gave Julie a taste of His goodness and grace as she experienced the love He extends to His people. God told His people not to “dwell on the past” because He was “doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:18-19). He also made the beautiful declaration, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (v. 25). God could choose to hold our sins against us, but because of His love and mercy, He doesn’t. When we repent, He wipes our record clean.
Although our forgiven wrongdoing may have a negative impact on our lives and that of others, God will never hold that offense against us. He will enfold us in His mercy and grace.
Reflect & Pray
When have you experienced the surprising love of God? How does His grace change and transform you?
Forgiving Father, thank You for running toward me with love. Please help me to turn from my sinful ways and return to You.
Learn how we are called to love our enemies by watching Surprised by Grace.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 09, 2025
Have I Seen Him?
Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. — Mark 16:12
Being saved and seeing Jesus are not the same thing. Many have accepted God’s grace who have never seen Jesus. Always distinguish between seeing Jesus and seeing what he has done for you. If you see only what Jesus has done for you, you do not have a big enough God; you’ve confused him with your personal experience.
Once you have seen Jesus, you are never the same again. You remain unshaken though experiences come and go, your gaze fixed on “him who is invisible.” Moses “left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27).
We cannot dictate when we see Jesus; he comes in his own time. He may be at work in our lives, helping us, long before he actually appears. In John 9, Jesus heals a man who has been blind since birth, but the man does not know who Jesus is. Only later does Jesus appear to the man, revealing his true identity. “Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him” (John 9:38).
When Jesus appears, he appears to each of us individually. No one can see Jesus through another’s eyes; he must appear to your friend as well as to you. A severance takes place when one person and not the other has seen Jesus. If you’ve seen Jesus, you will be eager to tell others about it. But remember that you can’t bring anyone else into fellowship with God; God must do it. “These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe” (Mark 16:13). Keep telling, even if they do not believe.
Oh could I tell ye surely would believe it!
Oh could I only say what I have seen!
How should I tell or how can ye receive it, How, till He bringeth you where I have been?
—Frederic W. H. Myers
1 Samuel 13-14; Luke 10:1-24
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
It is an easy thing to argue from precedent because it makes everything simple, but it is a risky thing to do. Give God “elbow room”; let Him come into His universe as He pleases. If we confine God in His working to religious people or to certain ways, we place ourselves on an equality with God.
Baffled to Fight Better, 51 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, April 09, 2025
Putting Life Within Their Reach - #9978
When you work at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, you know there will be no physical link to the outside world for you between February and October. You are 840 miles from the nearest populated site and you're facing average winter temperatures of 80 below zero. Now, imagine being one of the women stationed there and discovering a lump that indicates you may have breast cancer. Distant medical authorities determined that this lady had to receive some emergency medical supplies. (And it really happened.) Getting those supplies though? Well, easier said than done.
A U.S. Air Force plane took on the mission, flying in driving snow and limited visibility, with just enough fuel to get back, searching in that dark polar winter for a C-shaped chain of burning barrels somewhere down there in the snow. Those barrels were marking the drop point. Once the life-giving supplies were dropped, the ground people had just seven minutes to collect those bundles before the cold weather damaged or destroyed their contents. It was an incredible true adventure, and it worked. The pilot for this amazing mercy mission said it was his most difficult mission. I'll bet! He said, "The whole thing is a loss if we don't put it where they can get it."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Putting Life Within Their Reach."
When you're bringing a delivery that can mean life-or-death, you do whatever it takes to get it there and put it where they can reach it. If you know Jesus, and you know someone who doesn't, God has assigned you to a life-or-death mission. He says, "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (1 John 5:12). People without the Savior who died for them are dying people according to God.
So, God clearly commands you and me to "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter" (Proverbs 24:11). God sent His Son on the ultimate rescue mission - to give His life for people you know - so they can live forever. But "the whole thing is a loss if we don't put it where they can get it."
That's where you come in. In our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 3:7, the Lord is telling Moses about His plans to rescue Moses' very hurting people. The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of My people - I have heard them crying out - I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them." I can just hear Moses saying, "Yes! God's going to do something about the lostness of my people! All right!"
Then God says, "So now, go. I am sending you." I could just hear Moses saying, "Wait a minute here!" But God was reaching to desperate people by bringing life within their reach - by putting Moses in the middle of them - Moses, His chosen representative. Now God says to you, speaking of the people you live close to, that you work with, that you go to school with, "I have seen their misery, I have heard them crying out, and I am coming down to rescue them, and I am sending you."
That's why you are where you are. That's why you are with the people you're with. God has dropped eternal life right in the middle of them and you're the one carrying it. It's like that Air Force crew. God went to great lengths to bring them life, and He went all the way to a cross on Skull Hill. Now He's trusting you to be His connection to some of the people He died for on that cross, who He came and died to rescue.
When it's life-or-death, you do whatever it takes to deliver the life. This is eternal life-or-death for someone you know. And you are life within their reach. Don't miss your mission. Don't let them miss heaven. Look in the mirror and say, "I am someone's chance."
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