Max Lucado Daily: PART OF GOD’S FAMILY - May 14, 2025
Were your growing up years your hard years? Family pain is the deepest pain because it was inflicted so early. It involves people who should have been trustworthy. You were too young to process the mistreatment. You didn’t know how to defend yourself. Besides, the perpetrators of your pain were so large. Your dad, mom, uncle, big brother—they towered over you, usually in size, always in rank. When they judged you falsely, you believed them.
As a result, you’ve been operating on faulty data. “You’re stupid, slow, dumb like your daddy, fat like your momma.” Decades later, these voices of defeat still echo in our subconscious. But they don’t have to. Romans 12:2 says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” You are God’s child. His creation. You’ll get through this! You’re part of his family.
You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times
Genesis 40
As time went on, it happened that the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt crossed their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the head cupbearer and the head baker, and put them in custody under the captain of the guard; it was the same jail where Joseph was held. The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to see to their needs.
4–7 After they had been in custody for a while, the king’s cupbearer and baker, while being held in the jail, both had a dream on the same night, each dream having its own meaning. When Joseph arrived in the morning, he noticed that they were feeling low. So he asked them, the two officials of Pharaoh who had been thrown into jail with him, “What’s wrong? Why the long faces?”
8 They said, “We dreamed dreams and there’s no one to interpret them.”
Joseph said, “Don’t interpretations come from God? Tell me the dreams.”
9–11 First the head cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: “In my dream there was a vine in front of me with three branches on it: It budded, blossomed, and the clusters ripened into grapes. I was holding Pharaoh’s cup; I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and gave the cup to Pharaoh.”
12–15 Joseph said, “Here’s the meaning. The three branches are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will get you out of here and put you back to your old work—you’ll be giving Pharaoh his cup just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. Only remember me when things are going well with you again—tell Pharaoh about me and get me out of this place. I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews. And since I’ve been here, I’ve done nothing to deserve being put in this hole.”
16–17 When the head baker saw how well Joseph’s interpretation turned out, he spoke up: “My dream went like this: I saw three wicker baskets on my head; the top basket had assorted pastries from the bakery and birds were picking at them from the basket on my head.”
18–19 Joseph said, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days; within three days Pharaoh will take off your head, impale you on a post, and the birds will pick your bones clean.”
20–22 And sure enough, on the third day it was Pharaoh’s birthday and he threw a feast for all his servants. He set the head cupbearer and the head baker in places of honor in the presence of all the guests. Then he restored the head cupbearer to his cupbearing post; he handed Pharaoh his cup just as before. And then he impaled the head baker on a post, following Joseph’s interpretations exactly.
23 But the head cupbearer never gave Joseph another thought; he forgot all about him.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
by Tom Felten
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
2 Kings 19:14-20
Hezekiah took the letter from the envoy and read it. He went to The Temple of God and spread it out before God. And Hezekiah prayed—oh, how he prayed!
God, God of Israel, seated
in majesty on the cherubim-throne.
You are the one and only God,
sovereign over all kingdoms on earth,
Maker of heaven,
maker of earth.
16 Open your ears, God, and listen,
open your eyes and look.
Look at this letter Sennacherib has sent,
a brazen insult to the living God!
17 The facts are true, O God: The kings of Assyria
have laid waste countries and kingdoms.
18 Huge bonfires they made of their gods, their
no-gods hand-made from wood and stone.
19 But now O God, our God,
save us from raw Assyrian power;
Make all the kingdoms on earth know
that you are God, the one and only God.
20–21 It wasn’t long before Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah:
God’s word: You’ve prayed to me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria; I’ve heard your prayer.
Today's Insights
We learn much about Hezekiah from 2 Kings 18. At age twenty-five, Hezekiah, son of Ahaz and Abijah (daughter of Zechariah), began his reign as king of Judah (the Southern Kingdom) during Hoshea’s third year as king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) (vv. 1-2). Hezekiah reigned twenty-nine years, and during this time he “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” (v. 3). This included removing the high places where the people offered sacrifices to pagan gods; cutting down Asherah poles used in the worship of the pagan goddess Asherah; and destroying the bronze snake made by Moses, which the people had begun to worship (v. 4; see Numbers 21:4-9). He “trusted in” and “held fast” to God and kept His commandments (2 Kings 18:5-6). He revolted against the king of Assyria and conquered the Philistines (18:7-8). And he sought God in prayer (19:14-19). God also invites us to spread out our concerns before Him in prayer.
Bring It to God
Hezekiah received the letter . . . and spread it out before the Lord. 2 Kings 19:14
Brian had been with the heart specialist for more than an hour. His friend remained in the waiting room, praying for wisdom and healing for his ailing friend. When Brian finally returned to the waiting room, he showed him the pile of papers he’d received. As he spread them out on a table, he discussed the various options being considered to treat his threatening condition. The two discussed the need to pray and ask God for wisdom for next steps. And then Brian said, “Whatever lies ahead, I’m in God’s hands.”
King Hezekiah “spread [a letter] out before the Lord” (2 Kings 19:14). The words in the letter didn’t address a threatening medical condition but the threat of a powerful enemy—Assyria—that had seized all the fortified cities of Judah and was preparing to attack Jerusalem, its capital. Hezekiah prayed, “You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. . . . Now, Lord our God, deliver us” (vv. 15, 19). Soon the prophet Isaiah sent a message to Hezekiah, telling him, “The Lord . . . says: I have heard your prayer” (v. 20). And “that night” God destroyed the Assyrian army (v. 35).
Whatever you face today, spread it out before God. As you “present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6), He hears you and is with you. You can rest in His hands as you experience His wisdom, love, and hope.
Reflect & Pray
What will it mean for you to spread out before God the concerns on your heart today? How can you choose to rest in His power and presence?
Loving God, thank You for hearing me when I bring my concerns to You.
We can depend on God as our good shepherd. Learn more by reading The Wolf and the Shepherd.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
The Habit of Enjoying the Disagreeable
. . . so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.— 2 Corinthians 4:11
We have to form habits that express what God’s grace has done inside us. It isn’t a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to reveal the life of the Son of God in our own lives. We know whether or not we are revealing his life when we come up against disagreeable things. When I meet with a task or a person I find unpleasant, what do I express? Is it the essential sweetness of the Son of God or the irritability of my self apart from him?
The only thing that allows us to enjoy the disagreeable is the bright enthusiasm of the life of the Son of God. If we get into the habit of saying, “Lord, I am delighted to obey you in this matter,” the Son of God will come to the forefront, and we will glorify him by revealing his life.
There must be no argument or debate. The moment we obey, the light of the Son of God shines through us. The moment we object, we grieve the Spirit. We must keep ourselves in good shape spiritually if we want the life of the Son to reveal itself, and we can’t keep in shape if we give in to self-pity. Our circumstances are opportunities for demonstrating how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make our hearts beat is a new way of revealing him. This doesn’t mean choosing the disagreeable; it means embracing the disagreeable when God places it in our path. Wherever God places us, he is sufficient.
Let the word of God be active and alive inside you, so that the life of Christ will reveal itself at every turn.
2 Kings 19-21; John 4:1-30
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
When we no longer seek God for His blessings, we have time to seek Him for Himself.
The Moral Foundations of Life, 728 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Having a Baby, Facing Life's Battles - #10003
Someone said the best cure for the population explosion would be if men had to have every other baby. That would slow it down considerably! I'll tell you, there's something that women know about that process, though, that leads to life. A woman, particularly in her first pregnancy, is introduced to a long, sometimes very difficult life process. She knows she wants the baby; there's no question about the results, but it's the process she has some questions about sometimes: nausea, discomfort, her body's doing things it never did before. And the months sometimes feel like years. And last but not least, there are the labor pains. That day alone can seem like one of the longest in her life. But then...then the baby comes.
You know, a lot of life is like child bearing. A long, sometimes unpleasant process is often the only route to the joyful result you want.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Having a Baby, Facing Life's Battles."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God is found in John 16 - it's about that motherhood experience, and I'm reading from verse 21. Jesus said, "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come. But when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world." She was waiting for the baby, the process was painful, long, and difficult, but the baby came and erased all the bad memories of the process. A painful process that leads to a glorious result.
Now, that's what might be going on with the "baby" in your life right now. I don't mean some little infant, but for you, maybe it's the goal you've been striving for, the dream you've hoped would happen and you thought would happen, the outcome you've been praying for - you've been believing God for. Maybe it's an outcome for one of your children, or a dream related to your career, something you've prayed for in your ministry, or your marriage. Maybe it's a financial recovery that you've been counting on happening and trusting God for, or a physical recovery; an answer to some fervent prayer; a cry from your heart. But it's taking so long, just like a baby.
It's causing so much pain - you didn't know it would be this tough, just like a baby. It's causing things to happen to your feelings, and to your life that you never counted on, just like a baby. The process that will get you to that result has caused you to lose sight of that result that you were hoping for. Maybe you're questioning whether or not it will ever happen. You've prayed for it, but you've got doubts now.
Well, I'm going to tell you today, "Hang in there!" Jesus was saying to His disciples, "You're going to go through some times when the process is going to be so difficult, so long, you'll despair that the result will ever happen. Hang in there, guys! Remember, the God of the outcome is also the God of the process. You're trusting Him for the result. Well, can you trust Him for the process even though it's difficult; even though it's longer than you thought? Trust the processes of God, not just the results. He's working through this process right now.
And as confusing as it may seem to you, He's trying to prepare you, to prepare others, and to do it in a way that will call everyone's attention to His love and power. When the baby comes, there'll be no question that God gets the glory for it.
That means that sometimes it even has to get worse before it gets better. Just ask any woman who has been through labor. The process is difficult but right on schedule. And when that baby comes, well it will make the process worth it all.
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