Max Lucado Daily: God is Our Guide
I can get lost anywhere. Seriously. Anywhere. I once got lost in my hotel. I told the receptionist my key wasn't working. I'd been on the wrong floor trying to open the wrong door. If geese had my sense of direction, they'd spend winters in Alaska. Can you relate? Of course you can. We've all scratched our heads a time or two. Do I take the job, or leave it? One of life's giant-size questions is "How can I know what God wants me to do?"
In 2 Samuel 2:1 David inquires of the Lord: "Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?"
"Go up."
David said, "Where shall I go up?"
He made a habit of running his options past God. We do the same and the God who guided David guides you. Are you like me? Do you get confused? Psalm 32:8 is the promise you need: God says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life." We all need that promise, don't we?
from Facing Your Giant
Leviticus 11
Foods
1–2 11 God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, Of all the animals on Earth, these are the animals that you may eat:
3–8 “You may eat any animal that has a split hoof, divided in two, and that chews the cud, but not an animal that only chews the cud or only has a split hoof. For instance, the camel chews the cud but doesn’t have a split hoof, so it’s unclean. The rock badger chews the cud but doesn’t have a split hoof and so it’s unclean. The rabbit chews the cud but doesn’t have a split hoof so is unclean. The pig has a split hoof, divided in two, but doesn’t chew the cud and so is unclean. You may not eat their meat nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.
9–12 “Among the creatures that live in the water of the seas and streams, you may eat any that have fins and scales. But anything that doesn’t have fins and scales, whether in seas or streams, whether small creatures in the shallows or huge creatures in the deeps, you are to detest. Yes, detest them. Don’t eat their meat; detest their carcasses. Anything living in the water that doesn’t have fins and scales is detestable to you.
13–19 “These are the birds you are to detest. Don’t eat them. They are detestable: eagle, vulture, osprey, kite, all falcons, all ravens, ostrich, nighthawk, sea gull, all hawks, owl, cormorant, ibis, water hen, pelican, Egyptian vulture, stork, all herons, hoopoe, bat.
20–23 “All flying insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you. But you can eat some of these, namely, those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground: all locusts, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers. But all the other flying insects that have four legs you are to detest.
24–25 “You will make yourselves ritually unclean until evening if you touch their carcasses. If you pick up one of their carcasses you must wash your clothes and you’ll be unclean until evening.
26 “Every animal that has a split hoof that’s not completely divided, or that doesn’t chew the cud is unclean for you; if you touch the carcass of any of them you become unclean.
27–28 “Every four-footed animal that goes on its paws is unclean for you; if you touch its carcass you are unclean until evening. If you pick up its carcass you must wash your clothes and are unclean until evening. They are unclean for you.
29–38 “Among the creatures that crawl on the ground, the following are unclean for you: weasel, rat, all lizards, gecko, monitor lizard, wall lizard, skink, chameleon. Among the crawling creatures, these are unclean for you. If you touch them when they are dead, you are ritually unclean until evening. When one of them dies and falls on something, that becomes unclean no matter what it’s used for, whether it’s made of wood, cloth, hide, or sackcloth. Put it in the water—it’s unclean until evening, and then it’s clean. If one of these dead creatures falls into a clay pot, everything in the pot is unclean and you must break the pot. Any food that could be eaten but has water on it from such a pot is unclean, and any liquid that could be drunk from it is unclean. Anything that one of these carcasses falls on is unclean—an oven or cooking pot must be broken up; they’re unclean and must be treated as unclean. A spring, though, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but if you touch one of these carcasses you’re ritually unclean. If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they remain clean. But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, you must treat it as unclean.
39–40 “If an animal that you are permitted to eat dies, anyone who touches the carcass is ritually unclean until evening. If you eat some of the carcass you must wash your clothes and you are unclean until evening. If you pick up the carcass you must wash your clothes and are unclean until evening.
41–43 “Creatures that crawl on the ground are detestable and not to be eaten. Don’t eat creatures that crawl on the ground, whether on their belly or on all fours or on many feet—they are detestable. Don’t make yourselves unclean or be defiled by them, because I am your God.
44–45 “Make yourselves holy for I am holy. Don’t make yourselves ritually unclean by any creature that crawls on the ground. I am God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Be holy because I am holy.
46–47 “These are the instructions on animals, birds, fish, and creatures that crawl on the ground. You have to distinguish between the ritually unclean and the clean, between living creatures that can be eaten and those that cannot be eaten.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, August 23, 2025
by Nancy Gavilanes
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
Matthew 1:1-6, 12-17
The family tree of Jesus Christ, David’s son, Abraham’s son:
2–6 Abraham had Isaac,
Isaac had Jacob,
Jacob had Judah and his brothers,
Judah had Perez and Zerah (the mother was Tamar),
Perez had Hezron,
Hezron had Aram,
Aram had Amminadab,
Amminadab had Nahshon,
Nahshon had Salmon,
Salmon had Boaz (his mother was Rahab),
Boaz had Obed (Ruth was the mother),
Obed had Jesse,
Jesse had David,
and David became king.
6–11 David had Solomon (Uriah’s wife was the mother),
12–16 When the Babylonian exile ended,
Jeconiah had Shealtiel,
Shealtiel had Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel had Abiud,
Abiud had Eliakim,
Eliakim had Azor,
Azor had Zadok,
Zadok had Achim,
Achim had Eliud,
Eliud had Eleazar,
Eleazar had Matthan,
Matthan had Jacob,
Jacob had Joseph, Mary’s husband,
the Mary who gave birth to Jesus,
the Jesus who was called Christ.
17 There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David,
another fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile,
and yet another fourteen from the Babylonian exile to Christ.
Today's Insights
The New Testament opens with these words: “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). The incarnation is the entrance of the Creator into His creation in human form. John the disciple said of Christ, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). He added, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (v. 14). John also records these words spoken by Jesus: “Before Abraham was born, I am” (8:58). The crowd rightly understood this to be a claim to divinity and wanted to stone him for blasphemy (v. 59). Because of Christ’s birth, those who believe in Him become part of the family of God.
Spiritual Ancestry
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1
After I took a genealogy test a few years ago, I became curious about my ancestors. I’m grateful I got to hear stories about a few relatives from my late father and from my mother. Hearing about my ancestors helps me feel connected to my family’s roots and helps me learn from their experiences.
When it comes to our spiritual roots, what a gift that Jesus’ earthly genealogy is recorded in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38. Jesus’ genealogy establishes that He’s the Messiah and a direct descendant of Abraham.
As we read His genealogy, we see God’s faithfulness in keeping His promise to Abraham to make him the father of many nations (Genesis 17:1-8). Two thousand years after that promise was fulfilled, the apostle Matthew wrote, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).
The biblical genealogy shows Jesus’ ancestry come to life. We see the names of royalty such as King David and ordinary people such as a carpenter named Joseph. And Matthew includes five women: Tamar, Bathsheba (Uriah’s wife), Rahab, Ruth (who some scholars believe were all gentiles), and Mary.
Whether or not we know much about our biological ancestors, we can—because we’re part of God’s family—learn about our spiritual ancestors throughout the Bible. We gain courage from seeing how faithful God was to them.
Reflect & Pray
Why is knowing your spiritual history important? What can you learn from your spiritual ancestors?
Heavenly Father, thank You that I’m part of Your family.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Prayer— Battle in “The Secret Place”
When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly —Matthew 6:6
Jesus did not say, “Dream about your Father who is in the secret place,” but He said, “. . . pray to your Father who is in the secret place. . . .” Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer.
We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thoughts begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, “This needs to be done, and I have to do that today.” Jesus says to “shut your door.” Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret, and He sees us from “the secret place”— He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in “the secret place,” it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. Enter into “the secret place,” and you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day. But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and “pray to your Father who is in the secret place,” every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of the presence of God.
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